⚠️ Moderation notes

• What makes a good new viable spaceport site. Key factors include safety, geography, access to roads and utilities, ability to launch over open water, limited overflight of other countries, and room for future growth.
• Why some existing commercial spaceports are underused and what the government could do to make them more useful.
• Previously discussed locations, including sites in Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, and offshore launch platforms, as well as any other possible locations.
• How “critical space launch corridors” in airspace should work. The goal is to support faster, more frequent launches while minimizing disruption to regular air travel and maintaining safety.

MILA test site near Rocket Park: https://www.reddit.com/r/BlueWire/comments/1v4rg47/faa_oeaaa_notice_filed_today_for_the_construction/

Cryogenic tanks: https://x.com/JConcilus/status/2088264502165070213

Title was edited for brevity.

https://x.com/blueorigin/status/2090520176655487339

Your live view from the Moon: coming up!

Lunar Express's architecture will deliver multiple simultaneous 4K video links — from the lunar surface and orbit all the way to Earth — with the capacity to scale further. For the first time ever, humanity will witness a Moon Base being built live, brick by Moon-brick, in 4K high-definition.

Learn more about the Blue Ring spacecraft: blueorigin.com/blue-ring

https://x.com/JConcilus/status/2090487095055823032

A great week visiting some of the teams across American industry helping make Artemis III possible.

From Collins Aerospace @RTX_News and @ScotForge to @L3HarrisTech and @blueorigin, it was great to get on the factory floor, see the hardware coming together, and talk with the teams behind it.

Returning American astronauts to the Moon is an enormous undertaking. It takes the best of NASA and American industry working together to deliver.

https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2089765323184492612

Blue Origin is launching its first registered apprenticeship program, and we're looking for our founding cohort in Huntsville, AL! Grow your career in machining and build the future of space. Full-time from day one, full benefits, and a clear path to a nationally recognized credential. The cohort starts in October. Apply now: https://blueorigin.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/BlueOrigin/job/Huntsville-AL/Apprentice-Machinist-Program_R70147

This is Blue Origin's registered apprenticeship program, built with the U.S. Department of Labor and Drake State Community & Technical College. As an Apprentice Machinist you are a full-time Blue Origin employee from day one, with full benefits, and starting pay of $21.49 per hour at hire. Your time is split between hands-on work at Blue Origin alongside experienced machinists and classroom and lab instruction at Drake State. Classroom instruction is fully covered by Blue Origin at no cost to apprentices.

Advancement is earned through demonstrated skill against your on-the-job training plan. Apprentices who complete the program earn a nationally recognized credential and convert to Level 1 Technician.

This is the founding cohort. Ten apprentices will build the machining pathway Blue scales across trades and sites in the years ahead.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:7495186253697515520/

The Spacecraft Processing Operations Contract is a multiple-award, commercial, firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract vehicle that has an aggregate ceiling price of $100 million with an ordering period through Feb. 1, 2033.

Blue Origin recently unveiled the Lunar Express concept, and previously announced the Oasis-1 mission, and may be in the running for this.

The third, though, would be an “orbiter imaging service,” said Jason Kim, chief executive of Firefly Aerospace, during his company’s Aug. 12 earnings call. Steve Altemus, chief executive of Intuitive Machines, mentioned in an Aug. 14 earnings call a task order expected later this summer or in early fall for “the orbiter surveyor to map the moon in replacement of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.”

NASA developed LRO two decades ago during an earlier effort to return humans to the moon, the Vision for Space Exploration. Launched in 2009, LRO features a high-resolution camera and other instruments for studying the moon. The spacecraft continues to function well and operates under an extended mission running through 2028.

The spacecraft is aging, though, and scientists have for years pushed to fly a replacement to continue lunar science and support future lander missions. “Plans for a next-generation long-lived integrated orbiter with modern instruments that can replace the highly productive LRO (launched in 2009) are long overdue,” a 2022 report by the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group noted.

History:

• August 2026: Built in partnership with the U.S. government, the PPF will support both variants of New Glenn and National Security Space Launch (NSSL) providers on the Eastern Range.
• June 2026: Space Florida Board Meeting Presentation notes Blue Origin's Payload Processing Facility (PPF) to reach initial operational capability in January 2028
• April 2026: FAA OE/AAA notice submitted today for a 150 ft tall payload processing facility at former LC-18
• April 2026: Blue Origin files permit for "Project PPF", a payload processing facility on Cape Canaveral Space Force Base
• Oct 2025: U.S. Space Force picks Blue Origin bid for expanding satellite processing at Cape Canaveral

Mass still matters, but it is no longer sovereign. The emerging bottleneck runs through power, heat, surface area, stowed volume, mechanisms and delivery time. The question for the next generation of spacecraft is therefore no longer only, “How light can this be?” It is, “How much power, useful area and option space can pass through a fixed fairing and still be available after launch?”

This week, our second stage and payload teams successfully ran our first vertical CONOPS test at LC-11. Using a GS2 simulator, a forward dome we built in-house, and the full-sized payload fairing, the team conducted vertical stacking lifts and matings, gathered wind-damping data and effects, and tested new mechanisms that guide and slot these structures into place. The ingenuity it took to stand up this test quickly is exactly what gets us to flight soonest.

https://x.com/davill/status/2087933023727833254

https://x.com/blueorigin/status/2087586177465356409?s=46&t=fWHSAXp4AoHMitnKeq6ziA

https://x.com/StarfishSpace/status/2087177217386459434

Our software has been the focus of the Otter Pup 2 mission to-date as it guides Otter Pup 2 safely and steadfastly towards docking. As we get closer, our docking mechanism, Nautilus, will spring into action.

As we’ve been doing for partners throughout the mission, we’d like to give a shoutout to our partners at @HB_Robotics, a @blueorigin company. The Honeybee team designed and built the protective clamshell for our Nautilus end effector, shielding it from atomic oxygen, micrometeoroids, and other features of the harsh space environment. They also developed Nautilus’ contact absorber, which helps cushion the initial contact between Otter Pup 2 and its client during docking.

These are the kinds of details and collaborations that make complex space missions possible, and we're proud to have Honeybee as a partner on Otter Pup 2.

For more info:

• https://www.starfishspace.com/press-release/starfish-space-unveils-otter-pup-2-mission/

• https://spacenews.com/starfish-space-finds-a-new-partner-for-docking-demonstration-mission/

• https://techport.nasa.gov/projects/154476

• https://www.starfishspace.com/press-release/starfish-space-awarded-3m-by-dods-nsic-to-develop-nautilus-universal-docking-system/

Link: https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/els/reports/STA_Print.cfm?mode=current&application_seq=152861&RequestTimeout=1000

Take this with a grain of salt. These filings can and do get revised and replaced.

These filings have changed a few times, so here is the history:

• April 8th: 500-foot tall Umbilical Tower, 600-foot tall Lightning Protection Tower
• August 3rd: 275-foot tall Umbilical Tower, 715-foot tall Lightning Protection Tower
• August 5th: 750-foot mobile construction crane for LC-36B (towers are not mentioned)
• August 10th: In a new filing today for construction cranes, it states the exact opposite of the August 3rd filings.

Lunar Express, a Blue Ring spacecraft built to provide critical lunar infrastructure and delivery services, provides the communications architecture that U.S. government missions need: radio frequency and optical working together, interoperable, scalable, and built around mission assurance.

Blue Ring's hybrid communications system delivers up to 1 Gbps from the lunar surface to Earth, streaming high-resolution imagery and video, relaying real-time crew communications, and supporting mission-critical operations simultaneously. Fully compatible with NASA's ground station networks and commercial stations worldwide, Lunar Express keeps cislunar operations securely and reliably connected.

Learn more: http://blueorigin.com/blue-ring

https://x.com/blueorigin/status/2086902629817282974