January 2017
New oceans beckon for solar sail technology
...appropriate for target environments can be developed. The NEA Scout, scheduled to launch in 2018, will use its solar sail propulsion system to send the spacecraft to flyby asteroid 1991VG and conduct reconnaissance of it (Figure 2). Figure 2 - Artist...
June 2019
Solar superstorms and their effects on Earth
... activity cover such a short period of time, we have to turn to indirect measures or ‘proxies’ of solar activity from the past. The largest solar events - CMEs, solar flares and energetic particle events - generally come together. This means that...
April 2025
Life in the Sun’s atmosphere - the looming threat of solar storms
... preparedness is crucial. Unlike hurricanes or earthquakes, space weather events can have global repercussions. Prediction timeframes vary – solar flares can impact Earth in minutes, while coronal mass ejections (CMEs) may take hours or days. Current...
April 2024
Unlocking the NewSpace economy through space-based solar power
...Station with dimensions of around 100 m. Space-based solar power is the sustainable replacement the world needs The ... current baseload technologies rely on fossil fuels. Space-based solar power is the sustainable replacement the world needs. The UK’s...
March 2016
Searching for water in the Solar System
... July 2015. At the core of this question is the abundance of volatile-rich planetesimals migrated from the outer Solar System (ie, beyond Jupiter). Observations of increasing abundance of C-type asteroids across the main belt inferred from telescopic...
April 2020
Plasma Clipper - opening the age of sail, in space travel
... travels even faster outside of the plane and you only need to be able to utilise some of it to go anywhere in the solar system in an outward direction. Plasma magnetic sail based on rotating magnetic field generating plasma currents. Two polyphase...
