15 June 2018
Company aims to reach orbit with spinning rocket
... system that starts by spinning a vehicle up to 5,000 miles per hour around a centrifuge, before hurling it into space at hypersonic speeds. The approach might seem more in keeping with the latest attraction at a theme-park, but the...
20 January 2021
SpaceX buys two oil rigs to use as floating Starship launchpads
... from tweets by Musk hinting at the acquisition. “SpaceX is building floating, superheavy-class spaceports for Mars, moon, & hypersonic travel around Earth,” tweeted Musk in June last year. Starship is Musk’s huge stainless steel spaceship that...
28 July 2021
Japan successfully tests rocket engine propelled by shock waves
... so rapidly – Kasahar and JAXAs system produces self-sustained combustion waves that propagate with a shock wave at hypersonic speeds of 2-3 kilometres per second – the charge (fuel/air mix) does not have time to expand during...
20 December 2022
Outpost to develop ISS cargo ferry under NASA contract
... a NASA partnership through a Reimbursable Space Act Agreement (SAA), which enables collaboration on developing NASA's Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) to provide industry-leading payload Earth return capabilities from orbit...
10 January 2023
Virgin Orbit fails to deliver on first launch from UK
...'s carrier aircraft, successfully released the rocket. The rocket ignited its first stage engines, quickly going hypersonic and successfully reaching space. The flight then continued through successful stage separation and ignition of the...
17 June 2024
EU funds research into inflatable heatshield technology
... Europe, which will revolutionise European re-entry technologies, supporting applications like recovering rocket stages and hypersonic entry on Mars. “It also signifies a great future contribution to space sustainability. With its potential to return...
