March 2015
Dawn of ion propulsion
... has completed its repetitive loops around the sun more than seven times, its ambassador to the cosmos has had a much more varied itinerary. It has spent most of its time in space reshaping its orbit...
October 2015
Russian business: a long road to the stars for private space initiative
.... There is also another interesting Russian space enthusiast group, Tvoi Sektor Cosmosa (literally: Your Sector of the Cosmos), headed by former Dauria chief engineer Prof Alexander Shayenko. Tvoi Sektor is currently at work on the Mayak satellite...
October 2015
Down to Earth: how to deorbit satellites and save money
...debris colliding with a satellite could damage it or worse, as happened in 2009 when a defunct Russian satellite, Cosmos, destroyed an operational Iridium satellite. Today, satellite operators sacrifice propellant — and therefore the satellite’s life...
March 2016
Space Oddities: The Problem with Imagination
... by the lack of imagination around them. Veterok and Ugolyok, launched into space on 22 February 1966 aboard the Cosmos-110 biosatellite, pictured at the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems, USSR Ministry of Health As she says: “I always...
March 2016
Space debris conundrum for international law makers
... train of debris created by the February 2009 collision between the commercial satellite Iridium-33 the Russian satellite Cosmos-2251; in September 2013, the US Air Force reported the Cubesat had passed less than 75 m away from...
September 2016
Transforming US space policy
... Earth orbit will continue to grow due to collisions, even if nothing new is launched. Catastrophic collisions such as Iridium 33-Cosmos 2251 will occur every five to nine years. Each such collision will create thousands of pieces of debris...
