http://mae.ucdavis.edu/faculty/sarigul/aiaa2001-4619.pdf I got this link off http://www.hobbyspace.com/Links/RLVNews.html Overall, I thought this was a great...

With Mars as the current flavour of the month, I have been looking via google around sites concerned with the design of the Mars eva suit for when we...

Is the moderator dead? Yours, TDP m.l. m.s.l. p.f.p.p.

I have a theory, that if a magnetic field dissipates at a rate of x m/s, then having a second magnetic field to replenish it at ½ x/s, then the magnetic field...

I posted this in rec.arts.sf.tech a while ago and only got 1 reply. I was reading a thread in this group about star-power and thought that it might get more...

The technology described in this post has not been tested, but it looks trivial when compared to rocket launchers, and it may reduce the cost of space access...

Here's one I came across: http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Energy_amplifier A thorium fission reactor would be classified as an 'energy...

Has anyone here heard of a mass driver? I believe it is basically a long, sloping track on which sits a platform, atop which is the payload (with booster)...

Anybody out there with some thoughts on the best approach for the CEV? Simple capsule vs. some sort of aero vehicle? Myself, I lean towards the capsule just...

Armadillo is still working well on sending a man into suborbital space! http://www.armadilloaerospace.com/n.x/Armadillo/Home/News?news_id=308 is the address...

Both Thuraya 1 and 2 were launched on Zenit SL from equatorial located Odyssey mobile platform. Although the platform was located (as far as I can tell) at...

Hello All, I have a question about something I saw in the photos of this week's Titan IVB launch. It is a phenomenon I've also seen in pictures of Titan...

Would it be feasible to use aerobraking at Titan to facilitate a Titan orbiter? What about deployment of a long lived balloon within Titan's atmosphere, can...

I understand that the basic structure of the Shuttle is aluminum, rather like a Boeing 747. A titanium structure would weigh less. Further a titanium...

Are there any revisions to the NORAD TLE format planned? At the moment it uses two digit year dates. This will stop being viable around the 2060s, when it's...

Does anyone know where to find information about how this is calculated/estimated? I seem to rememeber TNT equivalent numbers given for Saturn-5 and the...

I know that the plasma halo cause by atmospheric friction cuts out radio contact from a returning space craft i.e. the Shuttle, Apollo Comand module,...

Has anyone developed such a thing? I imagine if a broadband IR pass coating could be put on one side of some clear plastic, and a IR reflective coating on the...

There are reasons why it's advantageous to have a main lunar base at low latitude, and a water mining base at the poles. But how could cargo be transported...

Hi, Crazy idea of me (again): ET/Shuttle derived heavy launcher have developpement costs associated with the modification of the external tank structure to...