The Hubble Space Telescope is one of those engineering marvels that have been in service far longer than originally anticipated. Launched on April 24, 1990, the telescope was originally meant to operate for fifteen years. Now, after thirty years in space, five servicing missions by astronauts, and over a million […]
Tag: Space
Earth’s Web of Satellites Trajectories
It’s no secret: satellites power our world. Our phones, GPS, TV channels, and other modes of networking and navigation rely almost exclusively on orbiting satellites. But where are these man-made marvels situated? Do they fly slightly above the clouds or as far away as some asteroids? The National Aeronautics and […]
The Alcubierre Drive: Where Aerospace Meets Science Fiction
Faster-than-light (FTL) travel is commonly thought to be impossible. Einstein established this in his Special Theory of Relativity in 1905. The speed of light, he said, is an unbreakable constant. FTL travel will never exist if his theory is to be accepted—and it is, almost universally. However, gravity is a […]
The Ash Heap Above the Clouds
Spaceflight is a booming business. In 2020, the world’s first private manned space mission heralded a new era of increased accessibility to spaceflight. Since then, actors and civilians have been taken above the clouds, too—and it looks like things are only getting faster with the increase in economies centered on […]