In addition to efficiency, a nuclear-electric propulsion system has the benefit of using conventional plasma thrusters. But instead of using solar power to energize the thrusters’ xenon fuel, SR-1 will use electricity generated from a nuclear reactor. “Our nuclear program, SR-1, is not about going and lobbying for billions of dollars to undertake a brand-new ..
Tag : space
At the end of a long day on Tuesday, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman looked down at a table littered with microphones and jokingly referred to the space agency’s new Moon base manager, Carlos Garcia-Galan, as the “Lunar Viceroy.” It was a bit of humor, but it also seemed to represent affection from Isaacman for a ..
But the Swift spacecraft will surely crash back to Earth, likely before the end of this year, without a reboost. That’s where Katalyst comes in. The company’s robotic servicing spacecraft, named Link, will attempt to rendezvous and dock with the Swift satellite, then raise its altitude to give the observatory a new lease on life. ..
Those statements suggested the Space Force was likely to transfer the GPS slated to fly on the next Vulcan rocket to a different launch vehicle. That’s exactly what happened. On Friday, Space Systems Command confirmed that GPS III SV10 will now launch on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in late April. Read our earlier story on ..
“My job now is to make sure that we can undertake such a transportation [of Discovery] within the budget dollars that we have available. And of course, most importantly, ensuring the safety of the vehicle,” said Isaacman in an interview with CNBC. “If we can’t do that, you know what? We’ve got spacecraft that are ..
For more than 60 years, nearly every large rocket used some combination of the same liquid and solid propellants. Refined kerosene was favored for its easy handling and non-toxicity, hydrazine for its storability and simplicity, hydrogen for its efficiency, and solid fuels for their long shelf life and rapid launch capability. About 15 years ago, ..
A little more than a month ago, SpaceX founder Elon Musk put down a marker of his intent to saturate low-Earth orbit with up to 1 million satellites. Its purpose? Provide always-on data center services around the planet. Now, Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos has done something similar with a filing to the ..
Artemis II rocket to roll back out to the pad. Engineers are targeting 8 pm EDT on Thursday, March 19, to start rolling the Artemis II SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft to Launch Pad 39B at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the US space agency said. NASA’s crawler-transporter 2 will ..
There was no commercial application for the P-51. The P-51 was there to be a fighter escort and sweep asset for air superiority missions. As operational concepts mature for space superiority, those operational concepts will drive a performance envelope for warfare that will be mutually exclusive of commercial applications. Not in all cases. There are ..
It may sound fanciful, but a Los Angeles-based company says it has conceived of a plan to fly out to a smallish, near-Earth asteroid, throw a large bag around it, and bring the body back to a “safe” gathering point near our planet. The company, TransAstra, said Wednesday that an unnamed customer has agreed to ..