Rocket Lab is buying Iridium for $8 billion, Blue Origin has a new plan to get New Glenn flying again without rebuilding the same pad architecture, and NASA just awarded four new CLPS missions.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 32 executive producers—Warren, Matt from Built, Theo and Violet, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Natasha Tsakos, Lee, Donald, David, Matt, Joonas, Russell, Steve, Frank, Will and Lars from Agile, The Astrogators at SEE, Josh from Impulse, Fred, Joel, Kris, Pat, Joakim, Miles O’Brien, Stealth Julian, Jan, Ryan, and four anonymous—and hundreds of supporters.

Topics

• Rocket Lab to acquire Iridium - SpaceNews
• Rocket Lab to Acquire Iridium in Historic Deal, Creating A
• New Glenn Return to Flight - Blue Origin
• NASA Awards More Moon Base Science, Previews New Opportunities
• NextSTEP-3 B: Moon Base Demonstrations - NASA
• Episode 154 - They Ran Into Us (with Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium) - Off-Nominal

The Show

• Like the show? Support the show on Patreon or Substack!
• Email your thoughts, comments, and questions to anthony@mainenginecutoff.com
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• Artwork photo by SpaceX
• Work with me and my design and development agency: Pine Works

Founder and CEO of Auriga Space, Winnie Lai, joins me to talk about their electromagnetic launch infrastructure and the path she sees for Auriga across space and defense markets. And yes, we talk about whether this kind of alternative launch architecture is a good fit for Earth, or a better fit for pretty much every other rock in the solar system.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 32 executive producers—Steve, Ryan, Matt from Built, Russell, Joel, David, Kris, Joakim, Fred, Pat, Matt, Theo and Violet, Natasha Tsakos, Donald, Warren, Miles O’Brien, Will and Lars from Agile, Frank, Jan, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Josh from Impulse, Stealth Julian, Lee, Joonas, The Astrogators at SEE, and four anonymous—and hundreds of supporters.

Topics

• Auriga - Electromagnetic Launch for Space and Defense
• Auriga Space raises $6M to shoot rockets off an electromagnetic launch track | TechCrunch

The Show

• Like the show? Support the show on Patreon or Substack!
• Email your thoughts, comments, and questions to anthony@mainenginecutoff.com
• Follow @WeHaveMECO
• Follow @meco@spacey.space on Mastodon
• Listen to MECO Headlines
• Listen to Off-Nominal
• Join the Off-Nominal Discord
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn or elsewhere
• Subscribe to the Main Engine Cut Off Newsletter
• Artwork photo by SpaceX
• Work with me and my design and development agency: Pine Works

I often talk about SpaceX being an extreme outlier in the industry and how many organizations have tried to replicate their approach, but very few (if any) have been successful. Matt Gjertsen of Built joins me to share a take on what exactly it is internally that drives their results, how to apply it in other organizations, and to share some perspective on his time at SpaceX leading Training and Development, and from elsewhere in the industry.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 32 executive producers—Steve, Ryan, Matt from Built, Russell, Joel, David, Kris, Joakim, Fred, Pat, Matt, Theo and Violet, Natasha Tsakos, Donald, Warren, Miles O’Brien, Will and Lars from Agile, Frank, Jan, Tim Dodd (the Everyday Astronaut!), Josh from Impulse, Stealth Julian, Lee, Joonas, The Astrogators at SEE, and four anonymous—and hundreds of supporters.

Topics

• Built Leaders
• Minimum Viable Manager – Built Leaders
• Why Steve Jobs drowned the first iPod prototype | Cult of Mac

The Show

• Like the show? Support the show on Patreon or Substack!
• Email your thoughts, comments, and questions to anthony@mainenginecutoff.com
• Follow @WeHaveMECO
• Follow @meco@spacey.space on Mastodon
• Listen to MECO Headlines
• Listen to Off-Nominal
• Join the Off-Nominal Discord
• Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket Casts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn or elsewhere
• Subscribe to the Main Engine Cut Off Newsletter
• Artwork photo by SpaceX
• Work with me and my design and development agency: Pine Works