It looks cool if you think giant dicks look cool.

Thank you for an interesting insider perspective (with full disclaimers).

9/3/2024 10:53:28 PM

And if you're going to convince people you're posting from Star City, at least throw in some Cyrillic characters, bro!

9/3/2024 11:34:55 PM

HeT!

[Edited on September 4, 2024 at 12:24 PM. Reason : ???]

9/4/2024 12:24:08 PM

Starliner flying back solo. Good luck!

9/6/2024 7:21:59 PM

Oh, we back!

9/7/2024 10:21:06 AM

Now tell us if they would have survived...

9/7/2024 3:24:09 PM

Prolly. But it wasn't a good risk. Next time don't ass it up so badly. This is expensive.

9/7/2024 5:11:29 PM

Europa Clipper was going to launch today, but got delayed due to the hurricane. It is safely stowed though and should be looking to go up this weekend, provided no major hurricane impacts. Then give it a few years and we'll observe the Europan squid aliens. Or just characterize the thickness of the surface ice. But I'm holding out for the squids.

10/10/2024 11:13:44 AM

they caught a freaking rocket out of mid air!

10/14/2024 7:35:55 PM

That was pretty cool!

10/14/2024 7:46:52 PM

Successful New Glenn launch this morning!

Also, 7 payloads I worked on just lifted off for the moon yesterday.

1/16/2025 12:31:22 PM

Congrats Wraith!

Looks like Starship didn't make it to orbit.

1/16/2025 6:19:00 PM

Who's ready to take Starshit to the moon?!

1/16/2025 8:18:18 PM

1/17/2025 10:15:59 AM

It's a good thing NASAs plan doesn't involve a dozen launches and landings of Starship in rapid succession

1/17/2025 5:18:55 PM

I don't really understand their plan and why this was the best option.

1/17/2025 7:38:25 PM

That's why you're not Ed Baldwin.

1/18/2025 9:50:02 AM

Ouch!

But true!

1/18/2025 11:41:07 AM

The payloads I mentioned on 1/16 just got to lunar orbit a few days ago and are on track for landing on March 2:

https://fireflyspace.com/news/blue-ghost-mission-1-live-updates/


Also, another spacecraft I worked on, Lunar Trailblazer, is scheduled for launch on Feb 26:

https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=L-TRLBLZR

2/18/2025 1:23:40 PM

Trailblazer launch last night went without a hitch!

2/27/2025 8:01:05 AM

Congrats on all your success!

3/1/2025 12:12:17 PM

Let me know when you steal an asteroid.

3/1/2025 2:03:58 PM

^OSIRIS-REx stole part of the asteroid Bennu and returned it to Earth in 2023.

3/3/2025 10:16:28 AM

Yeah, but not enough Iridium!

3/3/2025 12:09:45 PM

View of the moonscape and Earth from the Firefly Blue Ghost 1 lander on the moon:


Unfortunately, Lunar Trailblazer is having some issues. Not allowed to publicly talk about it much more than that, but there are a few articles out there if anyone wants to look it up. Will post some more info on it when I'm allowed.

3/5/2025 11:23:21 AM

You can PM us.

3/5/2025 2:09:14 PM

Looks like Intuitive Machines might have only been partially successful again.

Wraith, any idea why they seem to go with a lander with a high center of gravity?

3/6/2025 2:50:45 PM

Maybe not quite as intuitive as they thought!

3/6/2025 5:38:25 PM

Oh no, SpaceX lost another one.

3/6/2025 7:56:09 PM

Can't be!

3/6/2025 10:06:49 PM

This guy is really good at blowing up starships

3/6/2025 10:46:07 PM

Gonna need taxpayer money soon

3/6/2025 11:03:42 PM

Quote :

" Wraith, any idea why they seem to go with a lander with a high center of gravity?"

The IM CEO in the press release said that it looks like a high CG, but actually isn’t. Bulk of the mass would be on the aft end where the engine is. But that doesn’t explain why both landers didn’t land upright, which implies that it is a weird mass distribution of some kind. Even if they put the payloads near the top (maybe due to large sine vibe environments from the engine? Just speculation), they would still be relatively lightweight compared to the engine.

3/7/2025 11:06:30 PM

What percentage of functionality is lost at that point? 2 machines that can still take some measurements?

3/8/2025 12:23:41 AM

IM-2 is completely dead.

3/8/2025 9:14:28 AM

Rather disappointing. What about IM-1?

3/10/2025 2:05:44 AM

Quote :

"IM-2 is completely dead."

Just like bbehe. Sad.

For real though, seems like these landers were poorly designed

3/10/2025 4:36:45 PM

IM-1 suffered the same fate, if the craft aren't oriented the correct way, they don't generate enough power to operate

3/10/2025 4:59:30 PM

Seems like landing correctly would be the number one priority for engineering these things then. Or having legs that can withstand landing.

3/10/2025 8:48:16 PM

Firefly Blue Ghost 1 still operating nominally. All payloads operating as expected and we're getting good science back from them already. I read (can't find the source) that it is reported as the third most accurate lunar landing in human history, and obviously is the first [successful] landing since the Apollo days. Unfortunate for IM-2, but hoping they are making some design changes for their next lander.

[Edited on March 11, 2025 at 10:28 AM. Reason : ]

3/11/2025 10:27:25 AM

Musk said Starship to Mars by the end of 2026, which if you believe that...

Of course who am I to doubt him, he is a scientist/engineer

3/15/2025 10:15:13 AM

Hopefully he will send himself and not come back.

3/15/2025 12:10:19 PM

Musk has never made an incorrect prediction ever

3/15/2025 3:27:23 PM

welp, Firefly BG1 lander successfully completed its mission in entirety and is now going into lunar night. One of the payloads onboard (a laser retroreflector) is completely passive and requires no power/thermal hardware though, so technically the mission will live on and still continue to provide scientific data.


GNSP

3/20/2025 1:50:38 PM

Good job!

3/20/2025 5:29:56 PM