January 2017
New oceans beckon for solar sail technology
... sail, and the spacecraft attached to it, to higher and higher speeds. And it can do so without the use of any fuel. It is a common misperception that solar sails use the solar wind for propulsion - this is incorrect This last...
23 May 2016
Soyuz’ latest mission for Europe ready for launch tomorrow
... orbit and has enabled Soyuz to perform a full range of missions. After its fuelling in the FCube (Fregat Fueling Facility), the Fregat was transferred to the Spaceport’s S3B clean room, whereby the upper stage was...
13 January 2017
New patent granted to 3D printed hybrid rocket fuel engines for low cost access to space
...soon provide the solution by means of a new patented 3D printed fuel technology, that would allow the delivery of small satellites to orbits... to power orbital launch vehicles into space. “The fuel grains we are able to produce using this technology ...
May 2017
Recipe for success on flights to Mars
.... Interior of the dome. At a later point in the mission, we had a whole week of poor weather and lacked sufficient fuel for our back-up generators. That was a very cold, dark week where we had to get by on dried fruit...
October 2015
Green cosmonautics: an ideal to strive for
... are5: pollution of the environment by toxic rocket fuel components, space debris, pollution of the Earth’s surface... 1996 and patented in 199910. The fuel is composed of microgranules that contain fuel and/or oxidiser. The microgranules are perfectly...
June 2017
Bepi-Colombo will unveil Mercury’s secrets
..., to be inserted in to an orbit a spacecraft needs to be slowed down, therefore a lot of fuel needs to be carried for the manoeuvres – in fact going to Mercury requires more fuel than going to Pluto! Even if engineers were able to stabilise a Mercury...
