Space – Horizon Magazine Blog

The food and water systems astronauts will need to travel to places like Mars

May 19, 2020 by Horizon Magazine

The prototype space greenhouse developed by the TIME SCALE project showed that it is possible to recycle nutrients and water to grow food. Image credit - Karoliussen

by Jonathan O’Callaghan If humans are to travel to distant destinations in space like the moon or Mars, they’ll need ways to live for long periods of time. And one of the key challenges of that includes how to have safe food and water to eat and drink when far from Earth. On the International Space … Read more

Q&A: Human spaceflight is a risk worth taking, says ESA head

April 10, 2020April 10, 2020 by Horizon Magazine

If an astronaut reports about the fragility and the beauty of the Earth, then this word is much stronger than any robotic system, says Wörner. Image credit - Pixabay, licenced under CC0

by Jonathan O’Callaghan Human spaceflight is dangerous, but worth the risk, according to Jan Wörner, the Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA). But even so, there are limits – like Mars. Robots, as proxies for human exploration, can take on dangerous missions by travelling to places astronauts are not yet capable of reaching, but … Read more

Making satellites safer: the search for new propellants

March 30, 2020March 30, 2020 by Horizon Magazine

The current standard propellant for satellites based on hydrazine, which is highly toxic, so researchers are developing safer alternatives. Image credit - NASA-JPL/Caltech

by Kelly Oakes Developing new propellants for satellites to replace toxic hydrazine would make launching and handling satellites safer but it also requires disrupting current systems, according to researchers. As the number of satellites soars, so will the amount of fuel we use to launch them. And getting into orbit is only half of the equation. … Read more

The mission to build a reusable launcher for Europe

March 16, 2020March 16, 2020 by Sandrine Ceurstemont

US company SpaceX is one of several who are developing reusable launchers. Image credit - Bill Jelen/Unsplash

The race is on to develop a European reusable rocket that can ensure Europe’s autonomous and cost-effective access to space while increasing the sustainability of launches. Launch vehicles – or rockets – are essential to deliver satellites and space probes into space. Once they’ve served their purpose, they’re typically disposed of. But with the annual … Read more

Docking, rendezvous and Newton’s third law – the challenge of servicing satellites in space

March 10, 2020 by Horizon Magazine

Satellite-fixing robots could revive the more than 3,000 dead satellites in orbit today. Image credit – Pxhere, licenced under CCO

by Jonathan O’Callaghan If you want to build or fix something in space, you might think you’d need a human to do it. But what if you didn’t? What if robotic spacecraft could be used to refuel satellites in orbit, add new instruments to outdated machinery and even build entire structures while in space? This idea … Read more

Q&A: ‘We need to improve how we keep track of objects in space’

March 2, 2020March 2, 2020 by Horizon Magazine

A near-collision between the European science satellite Aeolus and a satellite from the US company SpaceX has shown the need to keep better track of objects in space. Image credit - ESA/ATG MEDIALAB

by Jonathan O’Callaghan We need to improve how we keep track of objects in space and predict where they will go in order to avoid collisions in Earth’s increasingly crowded orbit, according to Dimitra Stefoudi, a space law researcher from Leiden University in the Netherlands. In September 2019, the European science satellite Aeolus avoided a collision with … Read more