Japan to develop midair rocket-launch system

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jan 26, 2009 | 4 / 5 (4) | 0

The government has launched a project to develop a midair rocket-launching system that can place satellites in orbit, it has been learned.

Chemists look for cleaner, cheaper rocket fuel

Chemistry /

Dec 02, 2008 | 4.2 / 5 (10) | 4

(PhysOrg.com) -- Mark Gordon recently held up a small vial containing three liquids layered one on top of another. That middle layer, the brownish one, is an ionic liquid, Gordon explained.

Rocket launches Air Force satellite from Fla.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 06, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

(AP) -- A rocket carrying an Air Force satellite that will be used by the military has launched from Cape Canaveral.

The rocket that thinks it's a jet

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Feb 19, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (16) | 12

(PhysOrg.com) -- A reusable spaceplane that can take off from a conventional aircraft runway, carry over twelve tonnes to orbit and then return to land on the same runway could be less than a decade away thanks ...

NASA Conducts First Test On New Motor For The Ares I Rocket

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Sep 12, 2008 | 4.1 / 5 (9) | 4

(PhysOrg.com) -- Engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., have completed first-round testing of a critical motor for NASA's new Ares I rocket. The Ares I is a two-stage rocket ...

NASA Buys Additional Space Shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motors

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Dec 16, 2009 | 5 / 5 (2) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA has purchased two reusable solid rocket motors from ATK Launch Systems Inc. of Brigham City, Utah, to provide a "launch on need" rescue capability for the final planned space shuttle mission, targeted ...

Problem cancels moon rocket test firing in Utah

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Aug 27, 2009 | not rated yet | 1

(AP) -- A mechanical failure forced a NASA contractor on Thursday to call off the first test firing of the main part of NASA's powerful new moon rocket.

Discovery is mated with external fuel tank

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Sep 25, 2007 | not rated yet | 0

Space shuttle Discovery has been attached to its external fuel tank and rocket boosters in preparation for its launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

New rocket aims for cheaper nudges in space: Plasma thruster is small, runs on inexpensive gases (Video)

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Feb 23, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (11) | 7

(PhysOrg.com) -- Satellites orbiting the Earth must occasionally be nudged to stay on the correct path. MIT scientists are developing a new rocket that could make this and other spacecraft maneuvers much less ...

Rocket Racing Could be Futuristic NASCAR Sport

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jul 31, 2008 | 4.1 / 5 (10) | 6

With its first demonstration of a rocket-powered plane, the Rocket Racing League is hoping to have invented a new sport. Thousands of spectators witnessed the league´s first flight, held at the Experimental ...

New aluminum-water rocket propellant promising for future space missions

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

Oct 07, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (21) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers are developing a new type of rocket propellant made of a frozen mixture of water and "nanoscale aluminum" powder that is more environmentally friendly than conventional propellants ...

Rocket-fueled bacteria clean up waste

Other Sciences /

Oct 26, 2005 | not rated yet | 0

Bacteria that make rocket fuel as part of their metabolism are making sewage treatment less expensive and kinder to the environment, British researchers say.

Air Force report: Ares I crew couldn't survive blast in first minute

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

Jul 19, 2009 | not rated yet | 3

The crew of NASA's newest spacecraft "will not survive" an explosion of the Ares I rocket within the first minute of launch because blazing chunks of solid-rocket fuel would melt the parachutes on the crew-escape system, ...

Go Speed Racer! Revving up the world's fastest nanomotors

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

May 01, 2008 | 4.5 / 5 (25) | 3

In a “major step” toward a practical energy source for powering tomorrow’s nanomachines, researchers in Arizona report development of a new generation of sub-microscopic nanomotors that are up to 10 times ...

NASA Tests Updated Rocket Motor For Shuttle

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

May 01, 2006 | 5 / 5 (2) | 0

NASA technicians said Friday they successfully tested an updated version of the rocket motor for the space shuttle's twin solid-fuel boosters at a Utah test facility. The new flight-support motor, designated FSM-12, burned ...