Solar Electric Propulsion – Spaceflight Now

BepiColombo flies by Earth, completing first leg of journey to Mercury

April 10, 2020 Stephen Clark

Working with a reduced staff due to coronavirus-related restrictions, European Space Agency flight controllers monitored the BepiColombo spacecraft during a flyby of Earth on Friday, a maneuver that used our planet’s gravity to steer the mission on a course toward Mercury.

NASA developing plans for commercially-built Mars orbiter

July 27, 2016 Stephen Clark

NASA is advancing a plan to send a robotic orbiter to Mars in the early 2020s, developing designs with five U.S. satellite makers for a mission to extend high-resolution mapping capabilities, telecommunications relay functions, and potentially act as a waypoint for Martian soil samples destined for return to Earth.

Photos: Falcon 9 rocket lofts satellites for Eutelsat and ABS

June 16, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Falcon 9 rocket blasted off into a brilliant morning sky over the Sunshine State on Wednesday, and these photos show the kerosene-fueled launcher climbing away from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad.

NASA turning to U.S. industry to build asteroid redirect craft

October 26, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA is seeking proposals from U.S. satellite manufacturers interested in building the spacecraft bus for the agency’s initiative to pluck a boulder from an asteroid and drive it into lunar orbit, with plans to select multiple winners for study contracts next year.