July 2014
A revitalised space sector reduces costs and makes space data more accessible
... and those that provide other elements of space and the supporting ground-based infrastructure, including launchers, there is an evolution away from exclusively government-funded contracts to a customer base consisting of a plethora of service and...
December 2014
India joins the major league with the Mars Orbiter Mission
... mission already existed – the proven four-stage Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The use of this launcher, however, imposed weight constraints, reducing the total mass of the five payloads to 15 kg. The original plan was...
December 2014
Space for Earth: How ESA wants to use lessons learned above on the ground
... including contributions from space science, Earth observation (EO), telecommunications, navigation, human space flight, microgravity and launchers. A number of overarching themes have already been identified: energy, oceans, Arctic and the Antarctic...
March 2015
Supplanting the state: rewards and risks
..., the companies mitigate the risk (and cost) of any singular satellite failure. Small sats still need launchers Serial entrepreneur Richard Branson’s venture Virgin Galactic is another example of a commercial foray into what was previously...
March 2015
Small is the new big: why micro-satellites require new laws
... by making them build a PocketQube satellite over a weekend. The commoditisation of space technology is also happening in the launchers market. Who hasn’t heard the recent attempt from SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies Corporation), a commercial...
June 2015
Ultimate sunbather: NASA and ESA collaborate on Solar Orbiter
.... Design challenges As befits such an ambitious mission, there are a number of design challenges. Due to the constraints of the launcher fairing envelope, the spacecraft has to pack an a wful lot of equipment and instruments into a very tight space...
