The ability to reprogramme a satellite in orbit is the stuff of science fiction. Nick Peters and Maddy White visited Airbus Defence & Space to find out more about the first ever 'Chameleon’ satellite.
The UK is Europe’s leader in space technologies, in both expertise and manufacture. The furore over the UK’s possible exclusion from the EU’s Galileo GPS satellite project has obscured the fact that it is only one of the projects being developed here, as Nick Peters and Maddy White discovered when they visited Airbus Defence & Space in Portsmouth.
The NASA InSight lander has detected seismic activity on Mars via its British-built sensors, this could enable scientists to understand the internal structure of the planet in more detail.
NASA engineers are using 3D printing techniques to insulate delicate parts of its new deep space rocket that plans to take astronauts to the moon for the first time in almost half a century.
Designed to drive space planes to orbit at Mach 5, and also take airliners around the world in just a few hours, the Sabre air-breathing rocket engine has just passed a crucial testing phase.
The United States has once again risen to become the country with the greatest number of space launches in 2017, buoyed by the strength of private launch companies.
