All articles tagged with #spacecraft propulsion
Rocket Lab's Blue and Gold spacecraft for the ESCAPADE mission to Mars have successfully launched and are undergoing trajectory correction maneuvers, with planned burns to adjust their paths and optimize their journey to Mars, where they will conduct scientific research and orbit maintenance over several years.
A heliophysicist team is developing the SWIFT satellite constellation, which uses solar sails for propulsion to provide earlier warnings of space weather events, potentially up to 60 minutes in advance, thereby protecting Earth's space infrastructure and future space missions.
NASA is preparing to launch its next-generation solar sail spacecraft, the Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3), which aims to demonstrate a more effective solar sail design using lightweight carbon fiber and flexible polymers for booms. The spacecraft will be deployed from a CubeSat and will head for a Sun-synchronous orbit 1,000 km above Earth, where it will unfurl its sail with a photon-gathering area of 80 square meters. If successful, this technology could revolutionize space propulsion and enable long-duration missions using the Sun's abundant energy.
NASA is set to launch a new solar sail spacecraft, ACS3, with a more effective design that utilizes solar wind for propulsion. The spacecraft aims to demonstrate the deployment of lightweight carbon fiber and polymer booms, which could support sails as large as 2,000 square meters. If successful, this technology could revolutionize space exploration by providing a limitless source of propulsion and enabling unique scientific missions, such as studying the Sun and serving as early warning systems for solar hazards.
Argo Space, a startup founded by three SpaceX veterans, plans to build spacecraft powered by water harvested from the moon. The company recently closed a $2 million funding round and plans to conduct a demonstration flight in Earth orbit in 2024, with commercial service starting in 2025. The company's initial vehicle, the Argonaut, will be a water-propelled vehicle that offers high-altitude orbits and on-orbit pickup of payloads. Argo Space plans to expand to the moon later in the decade, using lunar water as propellant for transportation and partnering with lunar lander companies to extract and transport resources.