06 January 2021
India lays out its space plans for the next 10 years
...(GTO) payload capability to almost 5.5 tonnes. In addition, the LPSC will also advance development on on liquid oxygen (LOX)/Methane propulsion, Green and electric propulsion. NASA also uses liquid oxygen as an oxidiser in its RS-25 main engines that...
12 March 2021
Scientists find a rocky exoplanet rebuilding its atmosphere
... at the exoplanet instead. To the team’s surprise, observations with Hubble picked up spectral signs of hydrogen cyanide (HCN), methane, and an aerosol haze – not the water-rich one previously indicated. Where did this “secondary atmosphere...
19 May 2021
Scientists unexpectedly find heavy metal vapour in comets throughout our Solar System, and beyond
... of water – material left over from when the planets formed – such as carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), and ammonia (NH3). Even when close to the Sun, these gases do not change much in composition...
28 July 2021
Japan successfully tests rocket engine propelled by shock waves
Japan successfully tested a rocket engine that was propelled by shock waves produced by burning a mixture of methane and oxygen gases, the country’s space agency said Tuesday. Known officially as a pulse detonation engine (PDE), it ...
18 October 2021
NASA's Lucy mission launches, encounters problem with solar panel
... has been observed, it is thought that they are coated in tholins, organic compounds such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and ethane (c2H6) formed by the Sun's radiation. To date, no mission has gone through the regions...
01 December 2021
SpaceX risks bankruptcy due to Raptor problems, says Musk
... operations Ricky Lim; although it is not clear what their motives for leaving are. Raptors are a family of methane/liquid oxygen rocket engines under development by SpaceX since the late 2000s. They are designed to power...
