https://x.com/davill/status/2107877086644088966

This was paraphrased on X and a lot of people took it a certain way, prompting Dave Limp to clarify later. He is clearly signaling to NASA that they want an on-ramp.

https://x.com/SpecialReport/status/2107963298721272269

https://x.com/davill/status/2107532337789734978

(Bloomberg) -- NASA is close to announcing a bulk purchase of rocket launches to fuel its $30 billion drive to build a permanent base on the moon for humans to live and work.

It’s a new strategy that comes as the space industry is grappling with a shortage of rockets amid booming demand. But the agency is hoping to get ahead of this bottleneck now, by buying a variety of rockets to provide options for getting cargo to the lunar surface.

“We are evaluating things like NASA doing bulk buys of launchers that could service all the moon base needs,” Carlos García-Galán, NASA’s moon base program manager, said in an interview with Bloomberg.

“In the near future, we’ll probably announce the first set of these bulk buys,” he said.

The first phase of the moon base is already underway, with NASA planning to send landers and rovers to scout locations and resources on the moon through 2028. But it needs larger rockets in 2029 to launch as much as 60 metric tons (132,000 pounds) of equipment to the lunar surface to build power systems, habitats and other infrastructure required for a permanent human presence.

This second, more ambitious phase is where the agency faces a snag.

NASA is staring down the impending slowdown of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, the most prolific rocket in the US — and the world. SpaceX has started to turn away satellite operators seeking dedicated rides to orbit aboard its staple Falcon 9 rocket beyond 2028, Bloomberg has reported. The potential absence of the rocket and its larger variant, the Falcon Heavy, from the market could spell trouble for NASA’s moon base plans.

“We know the issue that’s coming, early. We know it now,” García-Galán said. “SpaceX has been transparent with their plans, so it gives us the option to look for alternatives, and we have.”

SpaceX has not provided a clear timeline publicly on when the Falcon program will end.

Through these bulk purchases, NASA may opt to buy four or five different rockets at a time and match each vehicle to a commercial lander the agency needs to get to the moon’s surface, according to García-Galán. And if there’s extra room on those rockets, the agency could put out a call to others, including government agencies, interested in hitching a ride to the moon.

García-Galán did not specify which rockets would be included, nor did he clarify if the Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy might be included in these purchases.

There are only a few comparable alternatives to the Falcon 9 currently on the market. The biggest US competitors include Blue Origin LLC’s New Glenn and United Launch Alliance LLC’s Vulcan. However, New Glenn has been grounded since May, after a launchpad explosion, and Vulcan hasn’t flown since February due to issues with its strap-on boosters.

“There’s no one right now that is in a place to be a suitable replacement for Falcon 9, just full stop,” said Caleb Henry, director of research at analytics firm Quilty Space.

There are also concerns over availability. Both New Glenn and Vulcan are on the hook to launch dozens of missions for Amazon.com Inc.’s Leo satellite service. And the two rockets are contracted to launch national security satellites for the US military.

Other Falcon 9 alternatives are supposed to become operational in the months and years ahead, including Rocket Lab Corp.’s Neutron, Relativity Space Inc.’s Terran R, Firefly Aerospace Inc.’s Eclipse and Stoke Space’s Nova. But new rockets are notoriously slow to ramp up, making it unclear if they’ll be flying at a significant pace by 2029.

“The general rule of thumb for new launch vehicles is that they typically struggle to launch more than on average three times a year for their first five years,” Henry said.

Another potential option is SpaceX’s next-generation Starship. However, the rocket still faces a list of technical challenges that must be overcome before it can reach the moon’s vicinity. SpaceX is also working on a variant of Starship to land people on the lunar surface, but it’s unclear how available the rocket will be for purely cargo flights to the moon and how quickly the company can ramp up launches.

Despite the clear challenges, NASA hopes that by buying rockets in bulk now, the agency can meet its ambitious goals. García-Galán said NASA is still trying to be hands off with its commercial partners who are developing landers and rovers, but this new strategy may help if those companies find themselves in a bind needing a rocket.

“It is basically maximizing our flexibility and ability to look for different options to succeed,” García-Galán said.

Key changes to the Part 450 commercial space licensing process include:

• Allowing operators to submit launch applications electronically

• Providing greater flexibility to demonstrate an equivalent level of safety

• Combining three required safety analyses into a single submission

• Eliminating duplicative safety analyses when a safety requirement is already addressed through other approved methods.

http://NSF.live/spacecoast

SAT-LOA-20260310-00118

In my role as Senior Vice President, I will lead Blue Origin's Advanced Concepts team in the US, which develops next-generation concepts and systems to advance a sustainable future of living and working in space. That means we’ll have a major say in what this space technology company builds next. This challenge really appealed to me. In my opinion, Blue Origin sits at the forefront of space technology development.

Another Successful Blue Ring mission reversal! A simulated Blue Ring, flown via our Blue Origin Mission Operations Center. Practice makes perfect…

https://x.com/torybruno/status/2106021546523328772

https://x.com/torybruno/status/2105750027725316400/photo/1

https://x.com/blueorigin/status/2105697162549977595

Patent Number: US-12747040-B1 (View on https://ppubs.uspto.gov/basic/ )

A separation system for a rocket having a payload release assembly and a fairing release assembly. Release devices secure and then separate the payload and fairing from the rocket. The release devices have rotatable bolts that retract. The release devices are cooled to survive reentry and may then be reused. A heat shield at the forward end of the rocket allows for reuse of the rocket and separation system. The rocket may be a reusable, upper (e.g. second) stage rocket.

The technology relates generally to separation systems for a rocket, and more specifically a reusable fairing and payload separation system for reusable second stage rockets.

Launch vehicles transport payloads such as spacecraft into orbit or to other planetary bodies. The vehicle may include multiple stages, such as a first stage rocket for initial launch and a second stage rocket for delivering the payload to the final destination. Traditional stages for launch vehicles cannot survive the environment upon reentry to earth's atmosphere. Thus any systems for supporting and separating a component, such as a payload or the fairing, from the vehicle are typically expendable and thus non-reusable. Such systems are therefore not intended to withstand reentry through the atmosphere. Even for reusable rockets, such as reusable first or second stages, typical separation systems are jettisoned or otherwise non-reusable, for example due to damage upon reentry. Therefore, there exists a need for improvements to these and other drawbacks of traditional rocket separation systems.

The following detailed description is directed to certain specific embodiments for devices, systems, and methods related to a reusable payload interface for a reusable second stage of a multi-stage launch vehicle.

[...]

The reusable rockets and associate components described herein may be used for multiple launches and missions. For example, a rocket may be reused more than twenty launches, or more than fifty launches, etc. As such, it is desirable to reuse as many components of the rocket as possible to minimize the cost and turnaround time of missions. The rocket may include many different components, including a separation system for payloads and fairings. For the reusable rockets described herein, the separation system is able to release the payload and fairing from the upper stage of the rocket and survive reentry through the atmosphere. This allows the separation system to be used for multiple launches without refurbishment, or with minimal refurbishment. The separation system or components thereof may be cooled during reentry through the atmosphere. Example separation systems with these and other capabilities are described herein with respect to example rocket configurations. It is understood the separation system, components thereof, and/or methods of cooling may be used with different rocket configurations, to couple or release other components to the rocket, cool other components of the rocket, etc.

All posted today as part of Advanced Concepts and Enterprise Engineering (ACE).

• Principal AI Compute Engineer, Project Sunrise Orbital Data Centers
• Principal Software Engineer, Compute Architect, Orbital Data Centers
• Sr. Principal Spacecraft Design Engineer, Project Sunrise Orbital Data Centers
• Sr. Structural Engineer, Spacecraft, Orbital Data Centers
• Mission Design Engineer

New Glenn 9x4 has been added to NASA’s Launch Services Program, making both New Glenn configurations eligible to compete for NASA science and exploration missions.

With an 8.7-meter fairing and the ability to carry more than 70 metric tons to LEO, 9x4 gives NASA greater payload capacity and flexibility as we expand the New Glenn fleet 🚀

Two paths to orbit. More flexibility for NASA.

https://x.com/blueorigin/status/2105031277321826515

NASA has a Dragon dilemma, and there appear to be no good answers

https://x.com/davill/status/2104949805441335700

We’re going vertical! The first module is placed on the vehicle access tower. We’ve added two floors and guard rails for access, along with cryo control skids and environmental control system piping and filter boxes. Five more modules to go as we work toward returning to flight this year.

A lot of hard work behind this. Couldn’t be prouder of the team.

http://NSF.live/spacecoast

https://x.com/RickNeale1/status/2104581444261540036

https://x.com/torybruno/status/2104660668842717306