January 2017
Elon Musk and Mars - looking for a snowball effect
... he has support from within NASA, if not from those parts of NASA most directly interested in the Orion-SLS (Space Launch System) programme. What he is clearly trying to do is to start a snowball effect to which a variety of entities from both...
August 2017
Big science from small spacecraft
... to 13 cubesats, hitching a ride on the first flight of NASA’s new heavy lift rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), planned for 2018. LunarIceCube will use a compact broadband infrared (IR) instrument (BIRCHES) to investigate the origin of volatile...
January 2018
Maximising the economic opportunities of deep space
... capability to emerge by the early 2020s. The most likely leader in this space should be SpaceX but certainly SLS and other deep space rockets could service this demand as well. In conclusion, there is little doubt that...
October 2018
Radiation study paves way for safe deep space exploration
... test flight scheduled for 2019. The EM-1 launch will be the first use of the Space Launch System (SLS), the largest rocket launched since Saturn V carried Apollo astronauts to the Moon. During EM-1, Orion will fly...
February 2019
The Space Elevator – an alternative path to space?
... competing with rockets in their latest incarnations (in the form of the SpaceX BFR, Blue Origin NewGlenn, NASA SLS, not to mention aerospike engines) is tough. Developing space infrastructure such as space solar power or habitats will require...
April 2019
Space launch industry analysis
... rocket which, like SpaceX’s Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy line, is partially reusable. Meanwhile, as NASA races to complete its SLS Block 1, SpaceX is designing an even larger rocket – the Starship/BFR Booster combination. The rocket is designed to provide...
