Assembly of the augmented version of the Indian Space Research Organisation Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle has begun for the expected September launch of...

The Ares I crew launch vehicle first-stage solid rocket motor's 20.7m (68ft)-diameter drogue parachute was successfully drop tested on 24 July at the US Army's Yuma proving ground by NASA and its contractors. Researchers dropped the drogue parachute and its 16,300kg (36,000lb) load that simulated the spent first-stage motor from a US Air Force Boeing C-17 flying at 25,000ft. Part of the reusable first-stage motor's recovery system, the drogue parachute is designed to slow its descent following separation from the Ares I rocket's upper stage at 189,000ft. After separation 126s into the ascent and then free-falling for about 15,700ft, the first-stage's nose cap is jettisoned. The pilot parachute is then released, which in turn releases the drogue, slowing the stage's desce

NASA administrator Michael Griffin tells EAA Airventure audience, the space agency's Constellation programme's rockets could in future be used for commercial...

Branson pledges Eve for AirVenture 2009

NASA's Altair lunar lander ascent engine is facing the challenges of not having enough propellant tank pressure for an emergency start if the astronauts decide to abort a landing, but too much pressure long before the end of the planned 210 day lunar base missions. The engine, expected to be a development of the Apollo programme's Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne RS-18, uses liquid methane (LCH4) and liquid oxygen that is fed at about 22.4bar (325lb/in2). Using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) NASA's cryogenic fluid management project's storage analysis simulated propellant tank conditions with pressures starting at 6.9bar and 13.8bar, for a 210-day outpost mission. But before the mission's end, the 6.9bar liquid oxygen tank venting started at 182

Unveiling Virgin Galactic’s WhiteKnightTwo on 28 July its prime contractor Scaled Composites denied that fatigue would be a problem...

On 28 July Virgin Galactic's Scaled Composites designed White Knight II carrier aircraft was rolled out

On 28 July Virgin Galactic's Scaled Composites designed White Knight II carrier aircraft for SpaceShipTwo is rolled out of Scaled's hangar at Mojave air and space port Above: White Knight II is rolled out of Scaled's hangar at Mojave air and space port See more pictures at Rob Coppinger's Hyperbola blog

An Apollo lunar module ascent engine has been test fired after being in storage for decades to help technology development for NASA's new Moon programme...

NASA has completed a full-scale rocket motor test for the development of its Orion crew exploration vehicle's jettison motor, which will separate the spacecraft's...