Dry immersion, which is a ground-based simulation model of prolonged conditions of microgravity, is widely used in Russia but is less well known elsewhere.

The exploration of space and extra-terrestrial bodies has always been an incentive for significant scientific and technical breakthroughs.

The problem with electric propulsion and advanced concepts is that the rate of implementation is so glacial it tends to stifle innovation. The perspective, ‘We won’t need that for at least XX years so why work on it?’

The European Space Agency (ESA) is an organisation continuously planning the impossible. Future missions and applications are first outlined when they are still well beyond the current edge of the technology envelope.

The space industry is ripe for change and aging space architectures must be updated to meet the dynamic nature of the modern world.