March 2016
Rosetta – Starting from Scratch
...instrumentation - such as cryogenically cooled amplifiers and maser clocks - needed to establish and maintain a radio link with a spacecraft over several hundreds of millions km distance. When Manfred first told me of his idea to build ESA’s own deep...
August 2017
On-orbit assembly will deliver major benefits in coming decade
... Agency’s (DARPA) Orbital Express in 2007. The mission involved a surrogate next generation satellite and a prototype servicing spacecraft. The satellites docked several times, and the prototype servicer refuelled the satellite and exchanged modules...
February 2020
Investigation of the Coriolis effect in rotating space platforms
...several passengers on board would be both impractical and most likely infeasible from the engineering perspective. Spacecraft design Is a rotating spacecraft feasible? What would be the Coriolis effect experienced in such a vessel? How big should the...
June 2015
European lab in the sky: OP-SAT and new potential for ESA spacecraft
... or data-gathering mission. Also, you have to reckon with people’s ‘comfort zones’. The profession – and craft – of spacecraft operations requires perfect execution every time. No one wants to risk a mission due to buggy software. Unforgiving Space...
01 February 2019
First private spacecraft gearing up for Moon landing
... with blasts off successfully, then an Israeli company will be the first private non-profit organisation to land a spacecraft on the Moon. SpaceIL, which was founded by three young engineers, was established in order to participate in the Google...
02 October 2019
First look at China's new spacecraft capable of deep-space travel
..., propulsion and life support facilities for the crew packed inside. The spacecraft is up to 9 metres (30 feet) long and has a maximum... operated by China, Shenzou is based around the Soyuz spacecraft after the nation signed a deal with Russia in 1995...
