Spacecraft Design

A lot can go wrong when you’re trying to collect matter from deep space and bring it home. Your spacecraft could crash-land on its target, as a Japanese spacecraft did in 2005. Your capsule’s parachute could fail and the capsule could slam into the ground, breaking into thousands of pieces, as a NASA capsule did in 2004. Keith Button spoke to the team that aims to deliver bits of the asteroid Bennu home on Sept. 24 without any drama.

David Voss, director of the U.S. Space Force's Spectrum Warfare Center of Excellence

Companies in the U.S. and abroad have big plans to extend the lives of existing multimillion-dollar geosynchronous satellites and equip new ones from the start for servicing. Standardization and regulatory bodies are figuring out how to make servicing a normal part of business. Karen Kwon has the story.

The United States has had multiple dalliances over the decades with in-space nuclear propulsion. The latest resurgence of interest is happening right now, driven by the desire to settle the moon and get humans to Mars. Jon Kelvey looks at the odds of success this time around.

The next version of NASA’s expendable Space Launch System rockets will likely rely on adhesive film rather than metal fixtures to join sections of composite in parts of the structure. Keith Button tells us how engineers earned the trust of designers to incorporate the technique into rockets that will carry astronauts.

Matt Ondler