Electric blue thrusters propelling BepiColombo to Mercury

In mid-December, twin discs will begin glowing blue on the underside of a minibus-sized spacecraft in deep space. At that moment Europe and Japan's BepiColombo mission will have just come a crucial step closer to Mercury.

Rolls-Royce unveils hybrid flying taxi at Farnborough

British engine maker Rolls-Royce revealed plans this week to develop a hybrid electric vehicle, dubbed the "flying taxi", which takes off and lands vertically and could be airborne within five years.

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, ...

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 ...

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 ...

'Ferrari of space' set to fall to Earth

A science satellite dubbed the "Ferrari of space" for its sleek, finned looks will shortly run out of fuel and fall to Earth after a successful mission, the European Space Agency (ESA) says.

Underwater propulsion from a 3D printer

Octopods, which are also known as octopuses or squid, are considered to be the most intelligent invertebrates. In fact, they have been referred to as the "sages of the sea". They are capable of learning; they can open tin ...

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