Image: Solar Electric Propulsion engine's ionizing Hall thruster

Engineers at NASA's Glenn Research Center are advancing the propulsion system that will propel the first ever mission to redirect an asteroid for astronauts to explore in the 2020s. NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission will ...

Team suggests sublimating ice to propel CubeSats

(Phys.org)—A trio of researchers affiliated with Delft University in The Netherlands, has come up with a new way to provide propulsion for CubSats—use frozen water as fuel. In their paper published in Acta Astronautica, ...

The revolutionary ion engine that took spacecraft to Ceres

The NASA spacecraft Dawn has spent more than seven years travelling across the Solar System to intercept the asteroid Vesta and the dwarf planet Ceres. Now in orbit around Ceres, the probe has returned the first images and ...

NASA spacecraft nears historic dwarf planet arrival

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has returned new images captured on approach to its historic orbit insertion at the dwarf planet Ceres. Dawn will be the first mission to successfully visit a dwarf planet when it enters orbit around ...

Dawn spacecraft begins approach to dwarf planet Ceres

(Phys.org)—NASA's Dawn spacecraft has entered an approach phase in which it will continue to close in on Ceres, a Texas-sized dwarf planet never before visited by a spacecraft. Dawn launched in 2007 and is scheduled to ...

Analyzing the propulsion of a soft robotic fish

In the world of underwater robotics, fish-like structures are able to accelerate and maneuver better than most other artificial underwater vehicles. For these reasons, fish-like robots are well suited for submarine exploration ...

Virgin 'ignored' space safety warnings: expert (Update 3)

Virgin Galactic "ignored" repeated warnings in the years leading up to the deadly crash of its spacecraft in California, a rocket science safety expert said Sunday, as investigators hunted for clues to the accident.

Supersonic laser-propelled rockets

Scientists and science fiction writers alike have dreamt of aircrafts that are propelled by beams of light rather than conventional fuels. Now, a new method for improving the thrust generated by such laser-propulsion systems ...

page 11 from 24