July 2016
Our changing world and the mounting risk of a calamitous solar storm
...questions regarding whether this design could be further enhanced to use part of this overall structure as a sort of space transport way-station for transitioning from chemically fuelled rocket launchers to much more efficient electric ion propulsion...
June 2017
How to build a Moon base cheaply
... after a soft landing. The California-based company is one of three selected by NASA for its Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown (CATALYST) initiative to advance lander capabilities that will enable delivery of payloads to the...
November 2017
Reusable air-launch and the space access paradigm
... over a thousand times the cost of its propellant, and this is why many believe that a mature space transportation system has to be reusable. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the rocket equation, the goal of reusability creates a fundamental...
July 2021
Collaboration and competition in lunar exploration
...programme, was designed to fill the gap in orbital transportation following the retirement of the Space Shuttle. Under this...which contracted Boeing and SpaceX to build spacecraft for crew transportation to the ISS. SpaceX now provides services to the ...
February 2022
Space travel and environmental sustainability
... of its six passengers for a sub-orbital hop up to 100 km and back. So, for every kilogram of kerosene used to transport a conventional air passenger on a single journey, a traveller in today’s Crew Dragon would consume about 600 kg of kerosene and...
June 2015
Innovation at escape velocity: from NASA’s Apollo to SpaceX
... 2015 at http: //techcrunch.com/2014/09/12/ycombinator- wants-you-to-solve-big-problems 21: NASA, (2014). Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown (Lunar CATALYST) initiative. Accessed May 2, 2015 at http:// www.nasa.gov/lunarcatalyst...
