17 November 2020
Vega fails during launch of European Earth observation satellites
... Vega-C, a more powerful version of Vega, will offer an extra 700 kg of capacity and enlarged volume within a wider launcher fairing at a similar cost to Vega – allowing even more passengers per individual rideshare launch at significant lower cost...
March 2015
A boom and a (possible) bust in small spacecraft production
...as Dnepr could help fill the need for more launchers, but they are limited in number Nevertheless, companies ... too long to fully take care of the problem. Where to find launchers? A major problem for small spacecraft is the dependency of their launch ...
October 2015
Taking AIM with ESA: proposing the first visit to a binary asteroid system
... be a technique that could feasibly be applied to other targets should the need arise. Planned to be launched by a Soyuz-Fregat launcher from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, AIM will have a projected launch mass of 800kg – less than a third...
October 2015
Japan’s H-IIA rocket: beautiful, accurate, and on-time
...of launching the heaviest payloads into orbit and a radical, reusable launcher. The H-IIA rocket developed by NASDA (Japan’s National Space ... second stage engine for orbit plane changes. The launcher runs on liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel, the...
September 2016
Preparing the future: the right technology at the right time
... and ubiquitous smart devices, from smartphones to the emerging ‘internet of things’. In the decade ahead, a new generation of launchers will enter service, reducing the cost of access to space, at the same time as large satellite constellations look...
November 2017
Reusable air-launch and the space access paradigm
... of a modern commercial airliner. Reusability increases launcher development costs: directly, by requiring more robust... over a thousand times the cost of its propellant Most launcher development decisions have been based upon this type of assessment ...
