Tag: Electric Propulsion
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Ariane 5 launches two satellites on 7-year voyage to Mercury
Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – JM Guillon A powerful European Ariane 5 rocket blasted off from French Guiana late Friday and boosted a pair of satellites into space for a seven-year plunge into the inner solar system, a voyage requiring seven planetary flybys to slow down enough in the sun’s gravitational…
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Photos: BepiColombo stacked for launch to Mercury
The BepiColombo spacecraft is pictured in launch configuratin shortly before stacking atop the Ariane 5 rocket in French Guiana. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG – S. Martin Ground crews at the Guiana Space Center in South America have spent the last few months preparing the BepiColombo spacecraft, a tandem mission with European…
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Live coverage: Probe heading to Mercury blasts off from French Guiana
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of an Ariane 5 rocket with the BepiColombo mission to Mercury. Text updates will appear automatically below; there is no need to reload the page. Follow us on Twitter. [tabby title=”Arianespace Webcast”] [tabby title=”ESA Webcast”] [tabbyending] The European Space Agency’s live video webcast will begin approximately 30 minutes before launch…
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Boeing leads $3M round to boost Accion Systems’ electric space propulsion system
An artist’s conception shows Accion Systems’ electrospray thruster chips (in gold) arranged in a propulsion array on a satellite. (Accion Systems Illustration / Zina Deretsky) Boeing’s venture capital fund is leading a $3 million investment round for Accion Systems, a Boston-based startup whose electric propulsion system for satellites could get its next in-space test early…
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SpinLaunch raises $40M from Airbus, Google and others for space catapult
SpinLaunch’s hangar is home to a vehicle that’s designed to be launched from a catapult. (SpinLaunch Photo) A stealthy Silicon Valley startup called SpinLaunch says it’s raised a total of $40 million from a high-profile array of investors to get a space catapult system ready for launch by 2022. The company, founded in 2015 by…
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Zunum Aero strikes deal with JetSuite for debut of hybrid electric airplanes in 2022
An artist’s conception shows Zunum Aero’s hybrid-electric airplane in JetSuite’s livery. (Zunum Aero Illustration) Zunum Aero says its first hybrid-to-electric airplanes will wear the colors of JetSuite, a private aviation company that’s a partner of JetBlue Airways. Kirkland, Wash.-based Zunum Aero, which has financial backing from JetBlue Technology Ventures as well as Boeing HorizonX and…
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New target dates set for next two Falcon 9 launches
The two GRACE-Follow On Earth science satellites are mounted atop five Iridium Next satellites in preparation for liftoff May 22 from California. Credit: Iridium The launch of five commercial Iridium message relay satellites and a pair of U.S.-German orbiting geophysics probes on a Falcon 9 rocket from California has been delayed three days to May…
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Japanese H-2A rocket lifts off with two satellites
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 0300 GMT Saturday (10:00 p.m. Friday) with confirmation of a successful launch. A Japanese H-2A rocket lifts off at 0126:22 GMT Saturday (8:26:22 p.m. EST Friday) from the Tanegashima Space Center. Credit: JAXA Two research satellites to probe Earth’s climate patterns and test ion engine technology to counter atmospheric drag in an…
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Titan drone, comet sampler picked as finalists for NASA mission
Artist’s concept of the Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s moon Titan. Credit: NASA NASA has narrowed its choices for a new billion-dollar robotic space mission: A nuclear-powered quadcopter to explore the hazy landscape of Saturn’s largest moon Titan, or a probe to scoop up a piece of a comet and return it to Earth. The space…
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Photos: Vega rocket lifts off from French Guiana
A four-stage Vega rocket streaked into space Tuesday night from French Guiana, hauling two Israeli-made satellites into polar orbit on military surveillance and environmental research missions. The 98-foot-tall (30-meter) rocket took off at 0158:33 GMT Wednesday (9:58:33 p.m. EDT; 10:58:33 p.m. French Guiana time) with the Optsat 3000 and Venµs spacecraft, each weighing less than a…