The electronic solar sail (ESAIL) is a technology that utilizes the solar wind to provide propulsion to a spacecraft. Not to be confused with the more commonly studied solar light sail, ESAIL captures momentum from the solar wind by means of an electric field generated by a web of long wire tethers. Invented by Dr. Pekka Janhusen at the Finnish [...]
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NanoThor Aims to Fling NanoSats into Orbit
NASA has awarded $100,000 to Tethers Unlimited to develop its “Nanosatellite Tethered High-Orbit Release” (NanoTHOR) module. NanoTHOR, whose name derives from the Norse god Thor’s thrown hammer, would enable multiple nanosatellites to be carried as secondary payloads on upper stages launched into GTO to be injected into Earth-escape trajectories by scavenging orbital momentum and propellant from the upper stage. It utilizes a [...]
Crash and Burn for Morpheus Lander
In its first untethered test, the experimental lander Morpheus flopped on its head, crashed into its launch pad, and burst into flames before exploding. “No one was injured, and the resulting fire was extinguished by KSC fire personnel,” NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) said in a statement. ”Engineers are looking into the incident, and the agency will release information as it becomes [...]
ElectroDynamic Debris Eliminator Receives Funding
In February, NASa awarded a $1.9 million contract to Star Technology and Research (STAR) to develop the ElectroDynamic Debris Eliminator (EDDE) vehicle, designed to collect debris from low Earth orbit (LEO). “The focus is maturing technologies for EDDE on the ground,” said Joe Carroll of Tether Applications, which is partnered on the project. “We may get a flight experiment later [...]
