October 2015
Japan’s H-IIA rocket: beautiful, accurate, and on-time
... opposite directions: lighter and heavier. This demand trend mainly stems from the widespread use of electric propulsion systems. Under current plans, the H3 rocket will accommodate demand by launching a broad band of satellite masses. Three...
March 2016
Resource Prospector – a Lunar Pathfinder
... risk, reducing redesign costs later in the development flow. Reinventing the approach We discovered a surplus TDRSS satellite propulsion tank, which with some minor modifications became the main propellant tank on LCROSS! As illustrated above, the...
March 2016
Saving Earth from an Expanding Sun
... Earth’s radius from Sun (1 AU) is only ~1 nanotesla. Artist’s concept of an orbiting vehicle using an electrodynamic tethers propulsion system. Relatively short electrodynamic tethers can be used to push against a planetary magnetic field to achieve...
March 2016
Space Mining – the Reality of Tomorrow?
... likely imply systems that ran off of solar and electric propulsion systems. It is important to note that space mining activities... space transportation systems such as solar powered electric propulsion. If one could develop multi-use systems that...
September 2016
Transforming US space policy
... astronauts to Mars. Red planet priority No agency can require an operator in high density orbital regimes to maintain a transponder or propulsion for manoeuvres Mars should be the horizon goal for human space exploration and this bill instructs...
November 2016
Moon or Mars - NASA’s next logical step?
... - ground operations, a heavy-launch vehicle, crew capsule, a deep-space transit vehicle with high-efficiency in-space propulsion and power, protection from radiation, optical communication, and deep-space navigation and rendezvous. Decisions made...
