Author Archives: Jonathan Goff

Jonathan Goff

About Jonathan Goff

Jonathan Goff is a space technologist, inventor, and serial space entrepreneur who created the Selenian Boondocks blog. Jon was a co-founder of Masten Space Systems, and the founder and CEO of Altius Space Machines, a space robotics startup that he sold to Voyager Space in 2019. Jonathan is currently the Director of Advanced Concepts for the space station startup Gravitics. His family includes his wife, Tiffany, and five boys: Jarom (deceased), Jonathan, James, Peter, and Andrew. Jon has a BS in Manufacturing Engineering (1999) and an MS in Mechanical Engineering (2007) from Brigham Young University, and served an LDS proselytizing mission in Olongapo, Philippines from 2000-2002.

RLV Markets VII: Four Models for Commercializing Reusable Launch

Posted on July 25, 2026 by Jonathan Goff

It’s been almost a decade since the most recent post in this series, but I’ve had a lot of different things pushing me to want to do a writeup on potential business models for RLV developers. I think that fully-reusable … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Commercial Crew, Commercial Space, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Launch Vehicles, MSS, RLV Markets, Space Development, Space Transportation, SpaceX, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Happenings Elsewhere In the Goffosphere

Posted on June 6, 2026 by Jonathan Goff

A few years ago, I split off two separate blogs, to try and keep Selenian Boondocks focused more on space, technology, and policy. I have my personal blog (Taong Boondocks) that is focused on a mixture of politics and government, … Continue reading →

Posted in Administrivia, Family, Politics, Starbright | 2 Comments

Starliner Reponendum Est? (Part II): Why Boeing’s Troubled Capsule Still Needs to be Replaced

Posted on March 4, 2026 by Jonathan Goff

[Note: I started writing this almost a year ago, but got stalled out. I wanted to finish writing this while it was still potentially relevant.] I’ll be honest, I was hoping to not have to write the rest of this … Continue reading →

Posted in Commercial Crew, Commercial Space, COTS, Launch Vehicles, NASA, Space Safety, SpaceX, ULA | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Ambition, Resources, Competence: Why SpaceX Doesn’t Yet Have Many Competitors

Posted on August 30, 2025 by Jonathan Goff

I read a tweet today that kind of rubbed me wrong, about SpaceX’s current market dominance: At least one friend asked him if he really thought that nobody else had tried, and he pointed to how both ULA and Arianespace … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Commercial Space, Launch Vehicles, Space Transportation, SpaceX | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

A City on Mars: A Quick Review

Posted on January 3, 2025 by Jonathan Goff

After sitting on my shelf for over a year, I finally had a chance to read through Zack and Kelly Weinersmith’s book on space settlement, A City on Mars, and I wanted to share a few of my thoughts. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Lunar Exploration and Development, Space Development, Space Law, Space Policy, Space Settlement | 11 Comments

Starliner Reponendum Est? Boeing’s Troubled Capsule Needs To Be Replaced

Posted on August 24, 2024 by Jonathan Goff

[Note: I started this blog post in June of 2023, and was hoping I would never have to finish it. But given the recent decision to return the CFT crew members on Dragon Crew-9 due to technical issues with its … Continue reading →

Posted in Commercial Crew, Commercial Space, NASA, Space Policy, SpaceX | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

NASA’s Selection of the Blue Moon Lander for Artemis V

Posted on May 25, 2023 by Jonathan Goff

Last week, when NASA announced that they were picking Blue Origin’s National Team to develop a sustainable human lander for the Artemis V mission, what surprised me wasn’t the selection, but the fact that I’ve come around to really liking the decision. Continue reading →

Posted in Blue Origin, Commercial Space, Lunar Exploration and Development, Propellant Depots, Reusable Lunar Landers, Space Transportation, SpaceX | Tagged , , , , , | 12 Comments

Fill ‘er Up: New AIAA Aerospace America Article on Propellant Depots

Posted on September 2, 2022 by Jonathan Goff

I was interviewed by John Kelvey for an article on propellant depots, which AIAA just published in this month’s Aerospace America magazine. Here’s an online version of the article for those of you who don’t get the print edition. Also … Continue reading →

Posted in Propellant Depots, Space Policy, Space Transportation | Leave a comment

Independent Perspectives on Cislunar Depotization

Posted on August 26, 2022 by Jonathan Goff

I was invited to participate in a workshop this week in Chantilly, VA focused on cislunar propellant depots. As part of the preparation for the workshop, they asked for stakeholder to provide their perspectives on depot architectures, the benefits of … Continue reading →

Posted in Lunar Exploration and Development, Propellant Depots, Space Development, Space Transportation | Leave a comment

Starbright Response to ISAM National Strategy RFC

Posted on July 2, 2022 by Jonathan Goff

As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m going to be providing links here to relevant blog posts on my Starbright Engineering LLC blog. This first link is to a comment I submitted to the Office of Science and Technology … Continue reading →

Posted in Satellite Servicing, Space Policy, Starbright | Leave a comment