The ARTES programme is ESA’s way of ensuring a thriving satcoms sector. Here is how it works in practice: from PPPs to financing innovation

A short-take-off airplane that can lift heavy cargos with ease. It sounds like a dream come true for airlines, yet the price of making such a vehicle is that it looks ‘a bit funny’.

Humanity’s cosmic expansion is bound to run up against barriers, which could include the rise of a post-human species. This, however, is nowhere near as problematic as the possibility that the Universe is a fractal, and all life within it is doomed.

In the past, the space industry has been anything but green in its approach to environmental issues. But technologies and perceptions are changing fast in a host of areas. Engines can be designed to use less fuel, rockets developed to reach orbit without dropping stages back to Earth, and launch sites made more compact. All of which will not only help preserve the natural environment, but also reduce costs

A new window on the cosmos opened at the start of the year when scientists announced for the first time they had observed gravitational waves.