Radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) have been the power plants of interplanetary spacecraft for fifty years. However, one major problem is that they are relatively heavy. Modern RTGs may weigh hundreds of pounds. They are fine for large-scale missions, but they are prohibitively big for small scale missions to the outer planets.
Vast is a California-based startup and one of the newest entrants in the world of privatized spaceflight. They plan to use a SpaceX rocket to launch the world’s first commercial space station which they call Haven-1.
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The U.S. Space Force’s X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV) was manufactured by Boeing. The robot spacecraft is sent into space by a launch vehicle and then lands as an aircraft upon re-entering the atmosphere.
Engineers from Aerojet Rocketdyne and NASA have started the multiyear qualification testing of the most powerful solar electronic propulsion (SEP) thrusters. These engines are expected to radically change propulsion in space, according to a press release from NASA.
Currently there are tens of thousands of chucks of space debris floating around in low Earth orbit. All of these pieces of space junk are bigger than a softball. The orbital junk yard is becoming a problem for the global economy and military forces because they are increasingly depending on satellites.
U.K. clean space propulsion systems and services company Pulsar Fusion has formed a partnership with U.S.-based Princeton Satellite Systems to use artificial intelligence (AI) to design a hyper-fast space rocket that will be capable of reaching Mars in only 30 days.
When considering colonizing another astronomical body such as the Moon or Mars, the requirements for the survival of the colonists depend on developing native sources for critical gases such as hydrogen and oxygen.
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The lunar regolith is composed of about forty five percent oxygen. However, that oxygen is tightly bound into the minerals mentioned above. In order to break those bonds, a great deal of energy must be applied.
