Striving for performance: Specific impulse
There are many parameters involving spacecraft design, and especially, thruster design. One of them is mass reduction. The other one is the Specific Impulse…
The weakest link in the chain
An A400M crashed near Seville Airport on May 9th. This article tries to reconstruct what could have happened during the accident.
A dangerous place: space environment
Launching a satellite in space is only the beginning of a mission. After being inserted into orbit, a satellite will have to endure a harsh and hostile environment while performing a mission, without any room for error.
The rocket equation
Once the mechanism for rocket propulsion is known, space missions can be design. However, a question is still left open: how big is the thrust generated by a rocket? How much can it accelerate a spacecraft? The answer lies in the famous “rocket equation”…
Understanding space propulsion
What is the principle of spacecraft propulsion? Common solutions that work within the Earth will not work In the vacuum of space, with no air, no atmosphere and limited energy…