ESA designs its smallest ever space engine to push back against sunshineThis month an ESA team is preparing to test the performance of the smallest yet most precisely controllable engine ever built for space, sensitive enough to counteract the force of... — full story
The Cassini spacecraft will swap to a backup set of propulsion thrusters in mid-March due to degradation in the performance of the current set of thrusters... — full story
Inspired by the aquatic wriggling of beetle larvae, a University of Pittsburgh research team has designed a propulsion system that strips away paddles, sails, and motors and harnesses... — full story
Dawn glides toward a Mars flybyNASA's Dawn spacecraft shut down its ion propulsion system today as scheduled. The spacecraft is now gliding toward a Mars flyby in February of next year. 'Dawn has completed the thrusting... — full story
Ripple effect: Water snails offer new propulsion possibilitiesA UC San Diego engineer has revealed a new mode of propulsion based on how water snails create ripples of slime to crawl upside down beneath the surface. Eric Lauga, an assistant professor... — full story
Propulsion technology mostly unchanged after 50 yearsAlthough it's been a half century since America entered the space age, the basic propulsion concepts used to push Explorer I into space will be the same type of propulsion that the... — full story
European Mercury mission swings into actionThe European Space Agency (ESA) signalled the start of a busy period for the planet Mercury, when it signed the contract for industrial development to start for the BepiColombo mission... — full story
Boosting capability: Santa Maria station to join ESTRACKA new station will join ESA's tracking network on 17 January 2008. Located on the Portuguese island of Santa Maria in the Azores, the station will track launches from Europe's spaceport... — full story