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Concept Spacecraft

Concept Spacecraft

“We should become a multi-planetary civilisation” – Elon Musk

An update from Elon Musk on SpaceX’s vision for the future.

By Tom Watts, 4 yearsSeptember 30, 2019 ago
Concept Spacecraft

The Future of Private Sector Space Travel

President John F Kennedy’s speech to the United States’ Congress on the 25th of May 1961 encapsulates the romanticism that has adorned the endeavour of space exploration to this day. A President asking the representatives of his people to fund a daring, groundbreaking mission to, “before this decade [was] out, [land] Read more…

By Courtney Allison, 4 yearsAugust 8, 2019 ago
Other Galaxies

Star Wars: A look at the Science

Star Wars, the very name brings up images of childhoods spent in front of a TV or cinema screen, absorbing up stories of a galaxy far, far away. For many, it was the thing to ignite their passion for storytelling, and for others it was the thing that ignited their Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 5 yearsDecember 15, 2017 ago
Concept Spacecraft

NASA’s Space Drive Experiments: The Plot Thickens

A research group called the Eagleworks at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas is tasked with investigating novel space propulsion techniques. These include both warp drive concepts to enable faster than light travel and reactionless drive schemes where electric power is converted directly into thrust. If proven, these concepts would Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 8 yearsMay 11, 2015 ago
Concept Spacecraft

XS-1: Spaceplane of the Future?

The good news first: a major aerospace contractor is researching how to build a reusable spaceplane that could dramatically cut the cost of accessing low Earth orbit. Now the bad news: it is purely for military users and cannot carry people.     Aerospace giant Northrop Grumman has won a Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 yearsAugust 20, 2014 ago
Concept Spacecraft

No, NASA has not verified an impossible space drive!

June 2014 saw excited reports that NASA was working on a faster than light warp drive starship. Astonishingly, weeks later we are being told that NASA has also successfully tested a device which could push along a space vehicle without consuming any propellant. If true, this would be an astonishing Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 yearsAugust 4, 2014 ago
Concept Spacecraft

No, NASA is not building a warp drive starship!

There has been a lot of excitement over reports that NASA is developing a faster than light starship propelled by a warp drive capable of making journeys to nearby stars in mere weeks. There are even very pretty artist’s impressions of the hypothetical craft. Is a wonderful space operatic future Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 yearsJune 13, 2014 ago
Concept Spacecraft

Whatever Happened to Photon Rockets?

Could humanity ever travel to the stars? Today this is an unattainable dream but world-wide researchers are studying the possibilities of starships. One concept for an interstellar craft is the photon rocket, an idea once popular but less prominent today. What happened to this appealing idea for voyaging into deepest Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 9 yearsDecember 5, 2013 ago
Concept Spacecraft

Astronauts Boarding Orion Spacecraft: Image of the Month

Our image this month shows a pair of NASA astronauts boarding a brand new spacecraft (at last). On 13 June 2013, Cady Coleman and Ricky Arnold stepped through a hatch into an Orion crew module for a series of spacesuit check tests at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 10 yearsJune 26, 2013 ago
Concept Spacecraft

How NASA Will Catch an Asteroid

NASA wants to find an asteroid, capture it, bring it towards us and send it into an orbit around our Moon. This isn’t a plot for a new Hollywood Blockbuster starring Bruce Willis, this is an idea that NASA is seeking funding for. It is hoped that this venture will Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 10 yearsMay 24, 2013 ago
Concept Spacecraft

Dennis Tito’s Mars Mission: Possible but Pointless

Imagine taking two human beings and sealing them in a box for 500 days. The pair must survive on only the boxes of food and water crammed around them. Throughout their confinement they are at risk of being sprayed with a lethal dose of radiation. This is not the cruel Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 10 yearsFebruary 22, 2013 ago
Image of z1 microgravity test
Concept Spacecraft

Spacesuits of the Future

As we further consider spacesuits we may find a question arising in many of our minds: Why build any new spacesuits at all? Why not just reuse previous designs, especially when the expense of space technology manufacture is considered? The answer is that with man’s space exploration program being in Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 10 yearsFebruary 19, 2013 ago
Concept Spacecraft

Flying Saucers From NASA

Spacecraft with a lenticular design (that is, shaped like a biconvex lens) were actively studied by NASA and US industry in the late 1950s and early ‘60s. A craft of such a shape would experience lower heating on re-entry than a winged layout as the heat would be spread over Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 11 yearsSeptember 10, 2012 ago
Concept Spacecraft

Nazis in Space: The Truth about Hitler’s Space Program

Has lurid fiction like the movie Iron Sky any basis in fact?  Everyone knows that WW2 Germany developed rockets far in advance of the Allies, but some argue that in 1945 the Third Reich was on the verge of developing a space program!   Ever since Adolf Hitler’s ‘Thousand Year’ Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 12 yearsJune 23, 2011 ago
Image of C-1057 concept
Concept Spacecraft

10 Space Shuttles which never flew

NASA’s Space Shuttles have become a familar sight in their thirty years of service, but there have been other shuttle designs which never left the ground.Some were ingenious alternative concepts to the vehicle which is shortly to be retired, some were potential replacements and there was even a couple of Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 12 yearsMay 12, 2011 ago
Concept Spacecraft

Clipperships of the Cosmos: Solar Sails Move from Theory to Fact

One day vast solar sails pushed along by rays of sunlight may carry payloads between the planets. Tracy McConnell explains how this romantic vision is slowly becoming a fact. The concept of sailing gracefully through the stars is a provocative one that has been around for longer than you may Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 12 yearsMarch 14, 2011 ago
Concept Spacecraft

Could we visit an asteroid in the next ten years?

  It is 14 November 2019 and the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, when humans first walked on another world, has been and gone but today a new and exciting voyage begins. A massive booster stage pushes a spacecraft out of Earth orbit. This vehicle comprises two Orion Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 13 yearsOctober 15, 2010 ago
Concept Spacecraft

Project Orion: the incredible nuclear spacecraft

NASA’s next manned spacecraft will be the Orion, a capsule which will be carried into space by a rocket. Weighing 25 tonnes, each Orion will carry up to six people. Accommodation on board is cosy at best, cramped at worst. Orion was intended to take astronauts to the Moon and  Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 13 yearsOctober 1, 2010 ago
Concept Spacecraft

Mars by ’85? NASA’s alternative history

In the early 1960s, the sky had no limits for NASA . Planners for the agency foresaw an ever-expanding future of exploration through the Solar System. Some amazing missions were planned. Alas in August 1967, the US Congress refused to support NASA’s plans for the 1970s. Ever since then NASA’s Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 13 yearsSeptember 27, 2010 ago
Concept Spacecraft

Rods from god: a terrifying space weapon?

“Rods from God” is the nick-name given to a hypothetical orbital weapon for bombarding targets on the Earth from space. Just how feasible is this concept?   There are undeniable links between the spaceflight and military communities but apart from a few tests of anti-satellite weapons, the odd armed space Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 13 yearsSeptember 27, 2010 ago
Concept Spacecraft

The amazing Aldebaran spacecraft

  The late ’50s and ’60s were a different time from the anxious era that is today. Nuclear power and space travel were both cool and wonderful new technologies. The only thing that could be cooler and more wonderful would be to combine the two. One suggestion was the US Read more…

By Armagh Observatory and Planetarium, 13 yearsSeptember 24, 2010 ago
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RSS Intergalactic Craic
  • S3Ep4 - Wee Bitta Craic: Bout Ye Alice?
    This month is the final 'getting to know you' episode of Intergalactic Craic: Wee Bitta Craic. Ethan and Zuri interview Alice and ask her all about how she came to be doing her PhD at AOP. Find out this and more in this info packed episode!
  • S3Ep3 - Wee Bitta Craic: Bout Ye Ethan?
    In Wee Bitta Craic this month, Zuri and Alice ask Ethan all about his PhD and how he came to be at the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium. Find out more about his research and laugh along as the guys have some more quality craic. If you love listening to our students, then you can help […]
  • S3Ep2 - Wee Bitta Craic: Bout Ye Zuri?
    In the latest Wee Bitta Craic episode, Alice and Ethan ask Zuri all about how she came to be at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium doing her PhD. Find out more about Zuri's journey to get to where she is today, and laugh along as the guys have quality banter. If you love listening to our […]
Welcome to Astronotes

Hello and welcome to Astronotes, the Armagh Observatory and Planetarium’s official blog. Here you will find the latest news and views from all those who work in our organisation, from the fascinating worlds of astronomy and space exploration. We hope you will come here to learn what is hot and exciting, profound or even weird from worlds beyond ours . So that's the introduction out of the way, now on with the Universe!

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