Nearly a week after launching to space, a microwave-sized cubesat phoned home for the first time as it prepares to embark on its mission of sailing through low Earth orbit.
NASA’s experimental solar sail is ready to take flight in Earth orbit, using the pressure of sunlight to test a new way of propulsion through the cosmos.
Arianespace’s latest Vega mission failed to deploy two of its payloads to orbit, likely due to a failure with the release mechanism with the rocket’s upper stage.
After NASA’s Moon-faring, water-hunting probe faced an untimely demise before it was ever able to reach its final destination, mission scientists have officially declared that clogged propellant lines led to the mission’s failure.
Japanese company Pale Blue pulled off the first test of its experimental water vapor propulsion system, flying a nano-satellite for the first time in space using an environmentally friendly, cost-efficient propellant.
In an attempt to optimize communication in space across vast distances, a team of researchers from the University of Arizona will rely on a unique antenna for CatSat, a small satellite that will study the ionosphere. The antenna resembles a space-age beachball that can beam information to Earth at high speeds.