Helicopter catches booster rocket over the Pacific
Rocket Lab has been successful its attempt to catch an Electron booster midair using a helicopter. The US-New Zealand startup revealed it had grabbed the booster midair over the Pacific earlier this week, May 2nd, after it took off from the companies New Zealand 'Launch Complex 1'....
Shetland spaceport gets planning approval
Construction of a spaceport has cleared its last planning hurdle after Shetland Islands Council granted permission for it to be built. Work on the Saxavord Spaceport could start as early as next month if Scottish ministers opt not to review the planning application. The Planning approval for the...
Engineering Questions – why can’t we put a space station on the Moon?
A space station on the Moon could be very useful. It would provide future space missions with a stopping point between leaving the Earth and reaching further into the Solar System or even the Milky Way. One reason we haven’t built a space station on the Moon is...
The road to assembling NASAs mega-rocket.
Nasa has announced that it has assembled the first Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The massive SLS is designed to have enough power to carry humans to the Moon later this decade. The ship is built around a huge core stage which contains four engines and field tanks....
Promising advances in rocket propulsion offer a new era of spaceflight
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) has recently commissioned three private companies, Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin and General Atomics, to develop nuclear fission thermal rockets for use in lunar orbit. Such a development, if flown, could usher in a new era of spaceflight. That said, it...
SpaceX shows off its awe-inspiring heavy booster
SpaceX has successfully stacked its' 'Super Heavy' booster, the largest rocket booster ever built. The booster marks a milestone in SpaceX's long journey to creating its Mars-bound Starship off the ground. The booster is part of the SpaceX Starship System. The system is made from a booster stage,...