After last summer’s Pluto flyby, the New Horizons spacecraft started sending data back to Earth – at 2 kilobits per second. Here’s some of what scientists have learned so far from that rich, slow cache.
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Articles on Spacecraft
Displaying 21 - 34 of 34 articles
We’re on the cusp of being able to consistently launch and land rockets, greatly reducing the cost of space travel. But how long before there’s a Millennium Falcon in every garage?
Spaceplanes seem like a great idea – perhaps one that has come too late.
Nimble and cheap commercial science could be the way to get more eyes in the sky.
Everything in space is so far away, but probes bring us closer.
A prototype solar sailing satellite has just successfully been deployed in orbit, pointing the way to the future of space travel.
Russian space vessel Progress M-27M is falling towards Earth but what risk does it pose?
After ten years in space NASA probe will get up close and personal with Mercury a final time.
It’s no TIE fighter, but the Dawn probe is driven by the future of spacecraft propulsion: ion engines.
After a 24-hour delay due to bad weather, the first test launch of the Orion spacecraft by NASA is underway with the ultimate goal of putting human beings on Mars. Weeks after the landing on a comet by…
For decades, space exploration remained a domain within reach of only government agencies, who could command huge pools of expertise and public funds. Now the means by which our space endeavours are funded…
The Venus Express spacecraft has spent eight productive years orbiting the planet Venus and is now ready to take the plunge. Its orbit is slowly being lowered and from Wednesday it will repeatedly dive…
This weekend, the moon’s fortnightly rotation cycle turns China’s lunar rover Yutu (the Jade Rabbit) and its solar panels toward the sun once again … but whether the rover wakes up or not remains to be…
The Rosetta spacecraft is due to wake up on the morning of January 20 after a 30-month hibernation in deep space. For the past ten years, the 3-tonne spacecraft has been on a one-way trip to a 4km-wide…
Top contributors
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Senior Lecturer in Space Systems Engineering, University of Glasgow
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Associate Professor in Archaeology and Space Studies, Flinders University
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Lecturer in Astronomy, Nottingham Trent University
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Professor of Hypersonic Aerodynamics, The University of Queensland
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Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science and Planetary Exploration, University of Stirling
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Professor of Planetary Geosciences, The Open University
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Senior Curator (Astronomy), Museums Victoria and Honorary Fellow at University of Melbourne, Museums Victoria Research Institute
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Reader in Planetary Science, UCL
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Spacecraft Engineer, University of Bristol
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Associate Professor, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
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Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, The Open University
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Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Southampton
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Senior Lecturer, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Sheffield
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Research Associate, The Open University
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John Curtin Distinguished Professor (Radio Astronomy), Curtin University
