April 2020
Replacing hydrazine fuel with a greener alternative
... clouds from exploding rockets and been close enough to take videos with their phones (see YouTube: Proton M rocket explosion). The fuel and refuelling systems for hydrazine are also extremely expensive - typically US$500...
October 2020
Microgravity and its effects on the human brain
... 10,000 Gauss and Earth’s magnetic field is 0.3 Gauss - and on the application of radiofrequency pulses, which excite the protons of the tissues located within this strong magnetic field. Next to its use in the clinical routine, MRI...
April 2021
Satellite servicing comes of age
...new era of satellite servicing. Artist’s impression of MEV-1 docking with its target Intelsat spacecraft. Launch of MEV-1 on a Proton rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome Kazakhstan, on 9 October 2020. Long journey While I now work for SpaceLogistics, the...
May 2021
Taking quantum into space
... of our world. Today, we are already for a long time manipulating single quantum particles, starting from electrons to protons - take into account electricity, for instance - hundreds of electrons humming along in wires all around us, making our...
June 2021
The next ‘unthinkable’ – global disruption from a solar storm
... Sun hitting Earth. Both CMEs and solar flares can create and carry such radiation, made up of protons and other charged particles. Even if such radiation cannot directly reach humans on Earth, it can harm humans...
October 2021
Technology transfer and the ‘local’ space market
... Airbase, which was a certified emergency landing site for the NASA Space Shuttle. A stack of high temperature proton exchange membrane (HTPEM) fuel cells. Tech start-up HyPoint was a 2020 winner of NASA’s iTech Initiative, in which...
