January 2019
Visiting an asteroid to find out how life began
... above our planet, the spacecraft will release the sample return capsule, which is equipped with a heat shield and parachutes to bring its celestial burden safely through our atmosphere and back to Earth. Analysed in a specially...
January 2019
Preparing for a robotic revolution in Earth orbit
... space environment, being emitted both by the sun and galactic sources. Electronics that are not sufficiently shielded, and not specifically designed for radiation tolerance, will experience upsets, latch-ups and damage that...
February 2019
A universal spaceship design concept
... furthermore has the advantage of an inner hull wall cavity for heat distribution or an optional water-based radiation shielding, a whole variety of usage scenarios are enabled. The main intention of this research was to produce a basic, standard...
August 2019
Lessons from the Sun
... along the southern coast of Britain. Spacecraft in geostationary orbit effectively became solar wind detectors as Earth’s magnetic shield buckled under the extreme solar wind pressure. Lacking today’s sensors, no one knew of the ultra-fast...
February 2020
Preserving our space heritage
.... Small particles would create impact features on our museum exhibits and, although these might be deflected using shields, collision with a large piece of debris at a closing velocity of up to 15 km/second could completely destroy a valuable asset...
February 2020
Opportunity knocks for UK space industry
... modular space equipment which can undertake a whole range of roles - from the production of power in space to the shielding of the atmosphere and all these other areas. This is in addition to the advanced work required on a global scale...
