As much crap as I give the incumbents, Maia is looking like Europe’s best bet at the moment.

It’s a bad sign that PLD isn’t targeting a Miura Next launch until 2030. Hopefully Miura 5 goes well for them in 2026.

If ULA can finally get those two NSSL launches off this year then it’ll be a win. Dreamchaser would be cool? It’ll be interesting to see how many SDA launches actually happen between Falcons and Vulcans this year.

Most SUVs are just less practical minivans for people in denial

I drove a new Hyundai Sonata hybrid and was pretty annoyed by how flaky the lane keeping and adaptive cruise control were, plus the shift knob thing and clunky hybrid/EV switching after a red light.

I had wireless Android Auto in a rental car last month and loved it. My car just has the wired version. With wireless, I just sat down and it had locations up already that I was looking at and picked up the music or podcast I was playing. I’m a fan.

🅱️

I’m glad that a bunch of startups made the cut. It makes sense that Maiaspace got in, as an arm of Ariane, but they’re probably less strapped for cash. And thank goodness at least two have reusable concepts, PLD and Maia.

Which ship had leaked photos of the inside of the payload bay during reentry with burned through areas randomly scattered all over?

But, also, can’t have heat shield issues if the ship blows up on ascent or during testing.

Yeah, I tried their configurator and was thinking about this. Once it has the bed cover and 2nd row of seats, bigger battery, speakers, power windows, fog lights…

• New Glenn 2: ESCAPADE (fall 2025)
• New Glenn 3: Firefly’s Elytra orbital transfer vehicle (end of 2025, early 2026)
• New Glenn 4: Blue Moon MK1 lander (first half of 2026)
• New Glenn 5: First batch of 49 Amazon Project Kuiper satellites (mid-2026)

Escapade going to chill at L2 for awhile is odd, but decoupling their transfer window from a new rocket’s schedule isn’t the worst.

There’s no way that Firefly rideshare is going to make them any money. Actually, these are basically all Bezos subsidized demo missions until the first Kuiper launch. Blue is just completely averse to making money.

What kills me about this is that they did the long pause and reset and infrastructure buildup between the hoppers and the first full stack.

Yeah, some of the problems are not Block 2 specific. Maybe the resonance and disappearing Raptor 2s are, but some of the leaks, blown up COPVs, and heat shield issues will destroy Block 3s, too.

My first aid kit always has some Aquatabs! They’re such a small thing to easily leave in there just in case. In that same vein, I have some pull apart fire starters about the size of earplugs in there as well.

Can we focus on Raytheon’s satellite bus dying instead of Bezos funding a cool mission

Stealth discreet delivery for all your massive ordnance penetrator needs

At least I don’t see it and want to pit maneuver it off the road like with a Mercedes GLC Coupe.

Have you seen Iron Sky?

I think it depends on where you are. Some regions cause cars to rust through and destroy themselves from salt and humidity. Others are dry as a bone, so cars last longer.

SpaceX is now targeting Monday, June 23, at 1:25 a.m. EDT (0525 UTC) for its next launch attempt

via https://spaceflightnow.com/2025/06/21/live-coverage-spacex-to-launch-27-starlink-satellites-on-falcon-9-rocket-from-cape-canaveral-2/

Starship is way too big as a 1st crewed moon lander. I think the sustainability of the whole program would be improved by having fully reusable smaller landers and transit vehicles that can be refuelled, ideally including by ISRU. Statship wasn’t architecture for this, and making it work had tons of compromises.

I really want the rest of the space industry to benefit from functional and cheap super heavy lift as soon as possible from a Statship stack with a reusable 1st stage and disposable stripped down 2nd stage. Launch some normal payloads and experimental reusable ships in between.