Tag: Propulsion
-
Going hypersonic: Boeing joins in $37.3M investment round for Reaction Engines
An artist’s conception shows a space plane powered by Reaction Engines’ SABRE system deploying an upper stage with a payload heading to orbit. (Reaction Engines Illustration) Boeing’s HorizonX venture investment arm is placing a big bet on hypersonic flight. Today it announced that it’s going in with Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems on a $37.3 million…
-
MSNW’s plasma thruster just might fire up Congress at hearing on space propulsion
Pulsed power units are arrayed around the business end of MSNW’s thruster. (MSNW Photo) How will we send humans to the moon, Mars and other destinations in space? The chances are good that electric propulsion will play a role, and a company called MSNW is at the cutting edge of that technology. The director of…
-
‘Impossible’ EmDrive thruster attracts rising attention, even from skeptics
The EmDrive apparatus was set up inside a vacuum chamber for testing. (White et al. via AIAA) For years, space geeks have been intrigued by the idea of propulsion systems that don’t need propellant – and now one of the best-known concepts, known as the EmDrive, is getting a serious once-over. The EmDrive, short for electromagnetic drive,…