T+56: Small Launchers and Advanced Propulsion

Rocket Lab completed their investigation into what went wrong on their first launch, Virgin Orbit’s carrier 747 arrived in Long Beach, and I discuss a few NASA-backed advanced propulsion projects.

This episode of Main Engine Cut Off is brought to you by 17 executive producers—Kris, Mike, Pat, Matt, Jorge, Brad, Ryan, Jamison, Guinevere, Nadim, Peter, Donald, Lee, and four anonymous—and 66 other supporters on Patreon.

• Main Engine Cut Off | Listen OnDemand Free | TuneIn
• Rocket Lab Completes Post-Flight Analysis | Rocket Lab
• Rocket Lab Addresses Vehicle Roll on Twitter
• Telemetry glitch kept first Electron rocket from reaching orbit - SpaceNews.com
• Rocket Lab clear on why first launch failed and confident to go again - NZ Herald
• Virgin Orbit plans 2018 first launch - SpaceNews.com
• Virgin Orbit Tweet Shows Launch Vehicle Hardware
• Virgin Orbit - NewtonThree Hotfire (5 June 2017) - YouTube
• Virgin Orbit - NewtonFour Hotfire (29 June 2017) - YouTube
• LauncherOne Service Guide (PDF, 2.5MB)
• Vector raises $21 million for small launch vehicle development - SpaceNews.com
• Ad Astra Rocket Company NextSTEP Year 2 Press Release (PDF, 82KB)
• NASA’s plasma rocket making progress toward a 100-hour firing | Ars Technica
• New NASA Contract Will Advance Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Technology | NASA
• NASA Contracts with BWXT for Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Project - Main Engine Cut Off
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