There have been some marked changes in the race (back) to the Moon over the past year. But the question on everyone’s minds still is: who will get there first? David Todd provides an answer in the annual Seradata analysis of “The Great Space Race” as well as tackling...
While Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTR) concepts (e.g. the NERVA project) have been considered for space missions since the 1960s, their lack of suitable application combined with their technical risk has held back their actual use – until now. Seeing that a...
Launching on 22 and 23 July 2023 two rockets from China carried a total of six satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) or very low Earth orbit (VLEO). The first mission lifted-off at 0507 GMT on 22 July and saw commercial Chinese company Galactic Energy using its...
Rocket Lab achieved a successful launch – dubbed “Baby Come Back” – with an Electron KS at 0127 GMT on 18 July, from Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand. The launch vehicle carried seven satellites into orbit: a Telesat LEO 3 Vantage experimental communications satellite –...
The introduction of “full screen” cockpits is evident both in fighter jets and on human carrying spacecraft. For example, the latest F-35 stealth jet fighter in its various vanilla F-35A, hooked carrier F-35C and vertical landing F-35B guises has no HUD (Head Up...
A test to qualify a new carbon-carbon material in the nozzle on the Vega-C Zefiro-40 second stage solid rocket engine after it was indicated as the source of a launch failure in December 2022 has itself ended in failure – but not of the nozzle. While the nozzle...
