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...
July 2019
Lessons from our first race to the Moon
Two programmes to place humans on the Moon were underway during the 1960s. The US Apollo programme was spectacularly successful, while the Soviet Union’s effort failed, and information about it was suppressed by the Soviet authorities. Looking at ...
February 2020
Climate change and spaceports – a difficult balance
... often due to the burning of solid rocket fuels, as on the US Space Shuttle and upcoming Space Launch System (SLS). The engines of the SpaceX Falcon F9 (pictured) use RP-1 and liquid oxygen, whereas the cleanest are those...
July 2020
Lego’s replica space programme
... Skylab space station (32). The closest example of real space technology to the 10,000-vote target appeared to be the SLS/Artemis set (at 2678), but one should not underestimate the competition from science fiction (Red Dwarf...
