199 - The Thing That We Grow Plants

Anthony is joined by Adrian Beil of NASASpaceflight to talk about the recent mayhem at Starbase, and to kick around European space policy topics in the run up to the ESA Ministerial later this year.TopicsOff-Nominal - YouTubeEpisode 202 - Rapidly Adjusting (with Adrian Beil) - YouTubeFollowing the Loss of Ship 36, SpaceX now Focuses on Rebuilding Masseys - NASASpaceFlight.comJack Beyer on X: “Close up slow motion footage of the unexpected event(s) during Northrop Grumman’s BOLE DM-1 stb test today.”Northrop Grumman tests SLS Block 2 BOLE booster in Utah; nozzle issue seen - NASASpaceFlight.comESA studying impacts of proposed NASA budget cuts - SpaceNewsESA moving ahead with ‘resilience from space’ satellite imaging program - SpaceNewsFollow AdrianAdrian Beil (@BCCarCounters) / TwitterAdrian Beil, Author at NASASpaceFlight.comFollow Off-NominalSubscribe to the show! - Off-NominalSupport the show, join the DiscordOff-Nominal (@offnom) / TwitterOff-Nominal (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow JakeWeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to MarsWeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | TwitterJake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | TwitterJake Robins (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow AnthonyMain Engine Cut OffMain Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | TwitterMain Engine Cut Off (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceAnthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | TwitterAnthony Colangelo (@[email protected]) - jawns.club 🐘Off-Nominal MerchandiseOff-Nominal Logo TeeWeMartians Shop | MECO Shop

Anthony is joined by Casey Dreier, Chief of Space Policy at The Planetary Society, and Eric Berger, Senior Space Editor at Ars Technica, to talk about the NASA 2026 budget proposal, the Jared Isaacman saga, and all the space policy storylines you could imagine.TopicsOff-Nominal - YouTubeEpisode 201 - Bad Ass, But Also Bad (with Casey Dreier and Eric Berger) (with Casey Dreier and Eric Berger) - YouTubeNASA's disastrous 2026 budget proposal in… | The Planetary SocietyThe Space Review: How NASA’s proposed budget cuts are felt across the AtlanticThe Space Review: NASA’s 2026 budget in brief: Unprecedented, unstrategic, and wastefulThe Planetary Society’s NASA Data DashboardsIsaacman’s bold plan for NASA: Nuclear ships, seven-crew Dragons, accelerated Artemis - Ars TechnicaThe administration’s anti-consensus Mars plan will fail - SpaceNewsSpaceX’s next Starship just blew up on its test stand in South Texas - Ars TechnicaShe was a Disney star with platinum records, but Bridgit Mendler gave it up to change the world - Ars TechnicaFollow CaseyCasey Dreier | The Planetary SocietyThe Planetary SocietyFollow EricEric Berger | Ars TechnicaEric Berger (@SciGuySpace) / XFollow Off-NominalSubscribe to the show! - Off-NominalSupport the show, join the DiscordOff-Nominal (@offnom) / TwitterOff-Nominal (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow JakeWeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to MarsWeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | TwitterJake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | TwitterJake Robins (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow AnthonyMain Engine Cut OffMain Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | TwitterMain Engine Cut Off (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceAnthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | TwitterAnthony Colangelo (@[email protected]) - jawns.club 🐘Off-Nominal MerchandiseOff-Nominal Logo TeeWeMartians Shop | MECO Shop

Jake and Anthony are joined by Matt Gjertsen, founder of Better Every Day Studios, to talk about leadership and management development in the space industry (and elsewhere!).TopicsOff-Nominal - YouTubeEpisode 200 - On the Interstages of Giants (with Matt Gjertsen) - YouTubeBetter Every Day StudiosFollow MattEasily listen to Leadership Launchpad – Team Development, & Performance Improvement for Aerospace & Technology Managers in your podcast app of choiceEasily listen to A VC, a Headhunter, and a Trainer Walk into a Bar in your podcast app of choiceFollow Off-NominalSubscribe to the show! - Off-NominalSupport the show, join the DiscordOff-Nominal (@offnom) / TwitterOff-Nominal (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow JakeWeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to MarsWeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | TwitterJake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | TwitterJake Robins (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow AnthonyMain Engine Cut OffMain Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | TwitterMain Engine Cut Off (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceAnthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | TwitterAnthony Colangelo (@[email protected]) - jawns.club 🐘Off-Nominal MerchandiseOff-Nominal Logo TeeWeMartians Shop | MECO Shop

It returns. Hot drama. Also a moon lander is happening right now. Also Twitter fights break out. Also a moon lander doesn’t happen.TopicsOff-Nominal - YouTubeEpisode 199 - The Thing That We Grow Plants - YouTubeIsaacman: people with ‘axes to grind’ about Musk caused withdrawn NASA nomination - SpaceNewsWhite House to withdraw Isaacman nomination to lead NASA - SpaceNewsNASA Copes with Details of $6 Billion Budget Cut, Leadership Uncertainty – SpacePolicyOnline.comNASA withdraws support for conferences - SpaceNewsCommercial space companies to fund launch range upgrades under $4 billion contract - SpaceNewsChinese launch startup conducts vertical takeoff and splashdown test - SpaceNewsKaitlan Collins on X: “As their blowup escalates, Trump suggests terminating Musk’s federal contracts.”Eric Berger on X: “This would both end the International Space Station and simultaneously provide no way to safely deorbit it.”Elon Musk on X: “This just gets better and better 🤣🤣 Go ahead, make my day …”Elon Musk on X: “Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”Follow Off-NominalSubscribe to the show! - Off-NominalSupport the show, join the DiscordOff-Nominal (@offnom) / TwitterOff-Nominal (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow JakeWeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to MarsWeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | TwitterJake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | TwitterJake Robins (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow AnthonyMain Engine Cut OffMain Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | TwitterMain Engine Cut Off (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceAnthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | TwitterAnthony Colangelo (@[email protected]) - jawns.club 🐘Off-Nominal MerchandiseOff-Nominal Logo TeeWeMartians Shop | MECO Shop

Jake and Anthony figure out if we should panic about Starship, or just Starship Block 2, or not.TopicsOff-Nominal - YouTubeEpisode 198 - Gotahm - YouTubeStarship’s Ninth Flight Test - SpaceX - LaunchesNorthrop Grumman Invests $50 Million in Firefly Aerospace to Advance Medium Launch Vehicle Named Eclipse™Introducing the new Northrop Grumman logo. | Northrop GrummanRocket Lab's Neutron tapped for U.S. military cargo test - SpaceNewsFollow Off-NominalSubscribe to the show! - Off-NominalSupport the show, join the DiscordOff-Nominal (@offnom) / TwitterOff-Nominal (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow JakeWeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to MarsWeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | TwitterJake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | TwitterJake Robins (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow AnthonyMain Engine Cut OffMain Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | TwitterMain Engine Cut Off (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceAnthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | TwitterAnthony Colangelo (@[email protected]) - jawns.club 🐘Off-Nominal MerchandiseOff-Nominal Logo TeeWeMartians Shop | MECO Shop

Anthony is in his new studio! He and Jake catch up on his recent trip to Marotta Controls, Anthony shares the good news about valves, and they try to figure out what the hell is going on with VIPER.TopicsOff-Nominal - YouTubeEpisode 197 - Valves and Cranberries - YouTubeT+302: A Tour of Marotta Controls - Main Engine Cut OffControls Engineering | Control System Company | MarottaSpace Controls | Spacecraft Control Systems | MarottaMarotta’s post with photos of my tourBrian’s photo of a thruster firingNASA backtracks on VIPER commercial partnership - SpaceNewsBlue Origin updates work on ‘transporter’ for Blue Moon lunar lander - SpaceNewsGilmour Space on X: “𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗙𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝟭 – 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗯𝗯𝗲𝗱 Last night, during final checks, an unexpected issue triggered the rocket’s payload fairing. No fuel was loaded, no one was hurt, and early inspections show no damage to the rocket or pad.”Follow Off-NominalSubscribe to the show! - Off-NominalSupport the show, join the DiscordOff-Nominal (@offnom) / TwitterOff-Nominal (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow JakeWeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to MarsWeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | TwitterJake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | TwitterJake Robins (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow AnthonyMain Engine Cut OffMain Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | TwitterMain Engine Cut Off (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceAnthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | TwitterAnthony Colangelo (@[email protected]) - jawns.club 🐘Off-Nominal MerchandiseOff-Nominal Logo TeeWeMartians Shop | MECO Shop

Jake and Anthony talk about Firefly’s latest spectacular Alpha failure, and the skinny budget request.TopicsOff-Nominal - YouTubeEpisode 196 - ❌ Lady Telescope ❌ - YouTubeTrump Proposes $6 Billion Cut to NASA – SpacePolicyOnline.comNASA scrambles to cut ISS activity due to budget issues - Ars TechnicaFirefly Alpha launches FLTA006 Message In A Booster mission but fails to reach orbit - NASASpaceFlight.comAlpha FLTA006 "Message In A Booster" - YouTube (Timestamped to anomaly, also lol at 1969-12-31 timestamp)Follow Off-NominalSubscribe to the show! - Off-NominalSupport the show, join the DiscordOff-Nominal (@offnom) / TwitterOff-Nominal (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow JakeWeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to MarsWeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | TwitterJake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | TwitterJake Robins (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow AnthonyMain Engine Cut OffMain Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | TwitterMain Engine Cut Off (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceAnthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | TwitterAnthony Colangelo (@[email protected]) - jawns.club 🐘Off-Nominal MerchandiseOff-Nominal Logo TeeWeMartians Shop | MECO Shop

Jake and Anthony are joined by Dante Lauretta, Principal Investigator of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, and Professor of Planetary Science at the University of Arizona, to talk about—take a guess!—returning and studying pristine samples from Bennu.TopicsOff-Nominal - YouTubeEpisode 195 - Dirtiest Thing in the Cleanroom (with Dante Lauretta) - YouTubeDante Lauretta | Lunar and Planetary Laboratory & Department of Planetary Sciences | The University of ArizonaNASA's OSIRIS-REx Mission to Asteroid BennuAbundant ammonia and nitrogen-rich soluble organic matter in samples from asteroid (101955) Bennu | Nature AstronomyAn evaporite sequence from ancient brine recorded in Bennu samples | NatureContamination monitoring of the OSIRIS-REx ISO5 asteroid sample cleanroom - NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)NASA’s Asteroid Bennu Sample Reveals Mix of Life’s Ingredients - NASASurprising Phosphate Finding in NASA’s OSIRIS-REx Asteroid Sample - NASANASA’s Bennu Asteroid Sample Contains Carbon, Water - NASANASA’s First Asteroid Sample Has Landed, Now Secure in Clean Room - NASAOSIRIS-APEX - NASA ScienceNASA Asteroid Sampling Mission Renamed OSIRIS-APEX for New Journey - NASAFollow Off-NominalSubscribe to the show! - Off-NominalSupport the show, join the DiscordOff-Nominal (@offnom) / TwitterOff-Nominal (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow JakeWeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to MarsWeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | TwitterJake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | TwitterJake Robins (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow AnthonyMain Engine Cut OffMain Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | TwitterMain Engine Cut Off (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceAnthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | TwitterAnthony Colangelo (@[email protected]) - jawns.club 🐘Off-Nominal MerchandiseOff-Nominal Logo TeeWeMartians Shop | MECO Shop

Jake and Anthony are joined by Roman Chiporukha, founder of SpaceVIP, a travel agency for space.TopicsOff-Nominal - YouTubeEpisode 194 - St. Bart’s on a Tuesday (with Roman Chiporukha) - YouTubeSpaceVIP | Your Gateway to the CosmosSpace PrizeBlue Origin’s First All-Female Spaceflight Stunt - The New York TimesRadian Aerospace – World’s First Single-Stage-to-Orbit SpaceplaneFollow Off-NominalSubscribe to the show! - Off-NominalSupport the show, join the DiscordOff-Nominal (@offnom) / TwitterOff-Nominal (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow JakeWeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to MarsWeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | TwitterJake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | TwitterJake Robins (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow AnthonyMain Engine Cut OffMain Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | TwitterMain Engine Cut Off (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceAnthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | TwitterAnthony Colangelo (@[email protected]) - jawns.club 🐘Off-Nominal MerchandiseOff-Nominal Logo TeeWeMartians Shop | MECO Shop

Jake and Anthony talk about Jared Isaacman’s confirmation hearing, and the apocalyptic NASA science budget.TopicsOff-Nominal - YouTubeEpisode 193 - The Secretary of Land - YouTubeIsaacman Insists NASA Can Pursue Moon and Mars Goals Simultaneously – SpacePolicyOnline.comIsaacman’s “Golden Age of Science & Discovery” on Shaky Ground – SpacePolicyOnline.comTrump White House budget proposal eviscerates science funding at NASA - Ars TechnicaPlanetary Science Caucus Co-Chairs Bacon & Chu Statement on White House’s Proposed Budget Cuts to NASA Science | U.S. Representative Don BaconNOAA budget proposal would affect weather satellite, other space programs - SpaceNewsFollow Off-NominalSubscribe to the show! - Off-NominalSupport the show, join the DiscordOff-Nominal (@offnom) / TwitterOff-Nominal (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow JakeWeMartians Podcast - Follow Humanity's Journey to MarsWeMartians Podcast (@We_Martians) | TwitterJake Robins (@JakeOnOrbit) | TwitterJake Robins (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceFollow AnthonyMain Engine Cut OffMain Engine Cut Off (@WeHaveMECO) | TwitterMain Engine Cut Off (@[email protected]) - Spacey SpaceAnthony Colangelo (@acolangelo) | TwitterAnthony Colangelo (@[email protected]) - jawns.club 🐘Off-Nominal MerchandiseOff-Nominal Logo TeeWeMartians Shop | MECO Shop