28 August 2019
SpaceX's Skyhopper impresses with its highest test flight
... of test flights up to 20 kilometres high. Starhopper is the first vehicle to use a SpaceX-designed Raptor engine burning cryogenic methane with liquid oxygen. The finished version will be much larger and will be composed of six engines compared...
16 December 2019
Cheops, ESA's exoplanet watching telescope launches tomorrow
... across many disciplines. It will be used to search for, amongst many other things, the signatures of water and methane and other important elements in the quest for habitable words. “We want to look at atmospheres, following planets in their...
01 January 2020
What has been in 2019 and what is to come in 2020!
... made the news. ESA's planet watching telescope finally took to the skies The presence, or absence of water, methane and oxygen on our nearest planetary neighbour is still a point of debate and like the Moon, organisations and...
14 February 2020
Arrokoth helps resolve longstanding controversy on Solar System evolution
... as to how methanol could have formed on this object, including formation by cosmic ray irradiation of mixed water and methane ices Despite the individual nature of each study, there was one recurring, underlying feature that lead...
27 April 2020
SpaceX's first full-scale Starship passes key test
... therefore proving the vehicle is flight-worthy. Although the finished design will use sub-cooled liquid methane and liquid oxygen (CH4/LOX) as a propellant, LN2 is chemically neutral and therefore won’t catch fire or cause...
05 August 2020
SpaceX’s Mars rocket prototype completes important test flight
... weeks by SpaceX teams on the Texas coast, in Boca Chica, the latest incarnation, SN5 is powered by the same methane and oxygen-fuelled Raptor engine SpaceX intends to use to reach Mars. Although SN5 featured a single Raptor...
