Hubble has been one of the most valuable scientific projects of recent times, some even say that we have learned more with Hubble than we did with Apollo but like all good things it must come to an end and that end will be coming in the not too distant …
Could We Launch Spacecraft with a Giant Space Gun?
When we talk about blasting something in to space, most of the time you would think that they would be using a rocket but what about using a giant gun.. sounds crazy but back in the 60’s a joint project between the US and Canada used just such a giant …
How Will We Save the Apollo & Other Lunar Landing Sites?
With the 50th anniversary of the first manned moon landing coming up and the prospect of having new lunar explorers both state-sponsored and private companies, how do you protect what are arguably some of the most important scientific and culturally historic sites in human history? You would think that the …
NASA’s Next Space Station LOP-G – was the Deep Space Gateway
Goodbye Deep space gateway, hello “LOP-G”, just in case you wondering what heck I’m going on about. This is the news that the next space station, the one to replace the ISS has had a bit of a Trumpian makeover and will now be called the “Lunar Orbital Platform – …
How China is taking on the world in space
This chart shows a recent survey of satellites and space junk in Low Earth Orbit, listed by the country responsible for creating it. The third country might surprise you: China has left almost as much debris as America or Russia, despite having a much shorter history in space. In fact, …
How do spacecraft navigate in space ?
How does a space probe like Voyager 2, which was launched in 1977, visit the 4 outer planets and travel over 17 billion kilometres over 40 years with almost next to nothing in the way of fuel. By the time Voyager 2 had reached Neptune, it had swung by Jupiter, …
Animal Astronauts – The Space Races Unwitting Pioneers
Everyone remembers Yuri Gagarin the first man in space but before his famous flight, there had been many more living space pioneers who didn’t really have any choice about being strapped into an experimental rocket. Animal Astronauts – The Space Race’s Unwitting Pioneers The tidal wave of propaganda generated by Sputnik …
How Did NASA Lose a Mars Space Probe Because of Maths?
For all the knowledge of the thousands of scientists and engineers in the space industry, sometimes the old adage “The best-laid plans of mice and men” can equally be applied to their efforts. This was certainly the case on the Mars Climate Orbiter mission of 1999 and this would go …
Sputnik – 60 years on from the Start of the Space Race
That simple little beep, beep, beep was the sound that started the Space Race. It was heard for the first time 60 years ago, when, on October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 into a low Earth orbit. It was only a metal ball, 22 inches or about …
Space Station Collision – Mir Crash with Progress Supply Vessel
Of all the 100’s of thousands of pieces of space junk and nearly 1500 satellites in orbit around the earth, it may come as a surprise that so far there has been only one major collision involving a manned craft and it affected both Russians and Americans. After the Apollo …