_Augustus_

With what rocket? The SHLV isn't going to be ready until 2028 for even tests, Angara is basically dead, and Sunkar would require several launches to get Federatsiya to the Moon.

I went a little crazy...... Moon - Ridiculously good. Limb looks really awesome with this high resolution. M38 - Quite decent, though it was behind clouds when I first saw it. M3 - A real treat. Resolved right to the center at low power, while high power showed many individual stars. M51 - Both the main galaxy and the companion were extremely obvious. No spiral structure, though. M108 - Lots of mottling, remarkable considering it's barely visible in my 6" at all. M94 - Ridiculously bright, but that's about it. A hint of the lenticular structure perhaps? NGC 4490 - Very nice, some elongation/spiral structure, companion 4485 visible. M63 - No detail at all, but visible (have never been able to see it in my 6"). Leo Triplet - M65 and M66 were quite bright with some spiral structure, but the Hamburger was barely visible as little more than an averted-vision cloud. No clue why. Virgo Cluster - I spent about 20 minutes randomly panning around here. For any given field there were at least ten galaxies. I probably observed about 50 in all? When I return I'm going to try to identify individual galaxies. M13 - Very nice resolution, with NGC 6207 nearby. M92 - Resolved, very nice. M102 - One of my new favorite galaxies, "spindle" structure very obvious. NGC 3190 group (Leo Quadruplet) - Very nice, magnitude 13.5 NGC 3187 was just visible. NGC 3226/7 - Nice little pairing, 3226 is around magnitude 13.3. NGC 3222 is barely visible nearby as a smudge. M105 group - M105 and and NGC 3384 were quite bright, and NGC 3389 was faintly visible next to them. M95/96 - Bright, but little to no detail. I have to add a better baffle and tweak a couple things, but I'm considering this scope done.

Got the new mirror. First light tonight.

If we assume SLS will be around through 2030 I think it makes a lot of sense to try using it for unmanned stuff. Europa Clipper may end up flying on an Atlas V or Falcon 9, but the Lander needs SLS. BFR can't really do the Europa Lander without some kind of kick stage/tug. FH and Glenn just don't have the oomph to haul it. An ice giant or Pluto orbiter has been in discussion for decades, and I think we may see real progress towards a real probe in the next 5 years. SLS would be great for a mission like that. Same with a Cassini follow up. Who can actually say this with a straight face? 30% of what? 50% of what?

Getting new mirror tomorrow.......

I could see a jet-engine upgrade similar to Buran if they get enough flights. That way it could fly from the landing site to KSC/Vandy.

So they're going to look for something to blame besides incompetent NASA management and Congress, turn up with nothing, and proceed like nothing ever happened. Good to know.

Probably. I see them going out of business once CRS2 ends and their current sat manufacturing contracts are over, TBH.

They don't plan on recovery for the boosters. RL10s are $25 million or more apiece, and the C version is already flying and not cheaper at all. They literally cost more than their weight in gold. Even if Orbital can produce the SRBs for dirt cheap, the two RL10s cost more than a Falcon 9 launch......

Of course they had to buy engines from the swindlers at AR....... Not much wider than Antares, if at all, and no option for a wide fairing (which might not work aerodynamically, who knows). Still, the Ares I lives again (sort of)!

This is more my style (Herschel):

It's interesting to note that for EM-5 and later NASA needs new engines for the Orion SM and SLS Core Stage. So by completely wasting the remaining engines, NASA may make Congress choose not to fund SLS after EM-4 and kill the program.

Crew on ICPS confirmed. EUS could be cancelled. Possibly more test flights, all with ICPS, with unmanned Orion before a crew mission. Seems unlikely.

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/roscosmos/putin-lays-priorities-russias-space-program-cosmonautics-day/ Info from this article: Federatsiya test flight in 2021/2022 Russia wants in on LOP-G Lunar lander based at LOP-G by 2030 SHLV by 2028, launch from Vostochny, pad needs to be built before the rocket Federatsiya might fly to LOP-G before the SHLV is done. Perhaps a rendezvous with a Proton Stage 3 and Block-DM in LEO/MEO?

They have already selected the engine, just not announced yet. Almost definitely BE-4.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A/2018_F4 Poorly constrained orbit and it may be just another hyperbolic comet without signs of activity, but we'll see........

AR1 would require a complete redesign from what they currently have. They've already selected the engine (it's probably BE-4). ULA is pretty much locked in now.

Tory must be cursing right now that they ever agreed to buy BE-4s.

Aaand.... crap. The mirror is still super astigmatic, basically unusable. Probably going to send it to Nova for refiguring. Good news is everything but the mirror works fine.

Here we go.....

NASA following their own certification standards? Say what?

Solely so they can say "well, we looked for other engines!" - we all know what will win.

Why? F9 has ridiculous margins on this launch - easy to RTLS.......

It's.... real???

Pledna was abandoned a really long time ago, Kerbol Plus is now Kerbol Origins, and Trans-Keptunian is maintained by somebody else now.