A summary of articles from the previous week. New Space Economy provides market research, analysis, and resources related to the space economy and associated technology.
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Articles From The Previous Week
What Are the Challenges to Implementing Space Traffic Management?
The concept of "space" often brings to mind images of vast, empty blackness. But the region of space closest to Earth is far from empty. It's a complex, crowded environment,…
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Strange Facts About the Space Economy
When most people picture the "space economy," they imagine rocket launches, astronauts, and perhaps futuristic visions of lunar bases or asteroid mining. These high-visibility-symbols, while compelling, represent only a tiny…
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A Global Guide to Liquid Propulsion Rocket Engines: Active and Planned
At the heart of humanity's access to space is the liquid-propellant rocket engine. It's a machine that operates at the very edge of physics and material science, a controlled explosion…
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What Is NASA‘s Commercial Resupply Services Program?
The International Space Station (ISS) is a marvel of engineering, a permanently inhabited research laboratory orbiting 250 miles above the Earth. Like any city, it cannot survive on its own.…
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A Guide to the As-a-Service Economy in Orbit
The fundamental structure of the global economy has been quietly re-engineered over the last two decades. The change is defined by a shift away from a "goods-centered" logic, where customers…
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A History of the Global Space Economy: A Two-Decade Chronicle of Growth and Commercialization
The space economy, once a concept confined to science fiction and the strategic calculations of superpowers, has become a tangible and rapidly expanding part of our global economic infrastructure. It's…
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Why Would Governments Conceal Extraterrestrial Contact?
The conversation surrounding extraterrestrial intelligence is no longer just a matter of philosophical speculation or science fiction. In recent years, the topic of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) has migrated from…
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What Is NASA’s Spacesuit-as-a-Service xEVAS Program?
A spacesuit is not clothing. It is a miniature, human-shaped spacecraft. It provides oxygen, removes carbon dioxide, maintains perfect pressure and temperature, and shields an astronaut from the vacuum, radiation,…
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How Should We Interpret Reports of Government-Held Alien Technology?
The story of the United States government and alleged alien technology begins not with a crash, but with a craze. In the summer of 1947, the nation was gripped by…
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What Is Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI)?
For as long as humanity has understood that the stars are suns, we have wrestled with a profound, unanswered question. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, contains hundreds of billions of…
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What Is NASA’s Mars Sample Return Program?
On the rust-colored, dusty plains of Mars, a six-wheeled robotic scientist is meticulously curating a gallery of priceless, irreplaceable artifacts. This robot, NASA's Perseverance rover, has been exploring the 28-mile-wide…
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NASA Audits in 2025
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a federal agency operating with a multi-billion dollar annual budget, is subject to continuous oversight from independent government bodies. This oversight is principally…
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A Guide to NASA’s Physical Locations
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, known as NASA, is an idea that conjures images of distant galaxies, robotic explorers on Mars, and astronauts floating in the void. But the…
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Cosmic Coincidence or Connection? The Mystery of C/2025 V1 and Its Potential Link to Interstellar Visitor 3I/ATLAS
In the vast expanse of our solar system, astronomers have recently turned their telescopes toward a peculiar new arrival: the “nearly interstellar” object designated C/2025 V1 (Borisov). Discovered on November…
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Mysterious Flashes on the Moon: Recent Observations Spark Curiosity and Scientific Insight
In the quiet expanse of space, our closest celestial neighbor, the Moon, has long been a canvas for cosmic events. Recently, in late October and early November 2025, astronomers captured…
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Dragonfly: NASA’s Nuclear-Powered Rotorcraft to an Alien Earth
When many people think of NASA sending a flying machine to another world, they now think of Mars. That association is correct, but it's the story of a trailblazer, not…
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What is the Universe?
To begin a journey through space is to begin a journey through scale, emptiness, and time itself. The universe we inhabit is a place of staggering size and profound mystery,…
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What Is NASA’s Commercial Crew Program?
When the wheels of the Space Shuttle Atlantis came to a stop at NASA's Kennedy Space Center on July 21, 2011, it marked the end of a thirty-year saga of…
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A Guide to America’s Satellite Manufacturers
Before exploring the companies building hardware for orbit, it’s helpful to understand what a modern satellite is. A satellite isn't a single, monolithic object. It’s a highly complex system of…
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Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rocket: Poised for Its Second Launch to Mars
In the ever-evolving landscape of space exploration, Blue Origin is set to make headlines once again with the upcoming launch of its New Glenn rocket. Scheduled for no earlier than…
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What Was the Apollo Applications Program?
In the mid-1960s, NASA was an agency defined by a single, colossal objective. The goal, set by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, was to land a man on the…
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What Organizations Are Shaping the Rules of Space?
When the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched on October 4, 1957. This new era was defined by the intense competition for national prestige and technological firsts between the…
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Archimedes: The Engine Forging Rocket Lab’s Next Generation
In the commercial space industry, Rocket Lab etched its identity as the undisputed leader of a market it helped create: dedicated small-satellite launch. The company's Electron rocket, a sleek carbon-fiber…
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What Is the Speed of Light?
The speed of light in a vacuum is one of the most important constants in all of physics. It's denoted by the letter 'c' and is defined as exactly 299,792,458…
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How NASA Leverages Industry Capabilities Instead Of Owning Space Systems
For most of its history, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, operated on a specific model. When the agency needed a rocket, a capsule, or a space station,…
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What is NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program?
For half a century, the lunar surface remained untouched by American hardware. Since the crew of Apollo 17 kicked up the dust of the Taurus-Littrow valley in 1972, a long,…
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Rocket Lab’s Great Pivot: Analyzing the Competitiveness of the Neutron Rocket
Rocket Lab is an American aerospace manufacturer, publicly traded as RKLB, with a significant and foundational subsidiary in New Zealand, where the company was founded in 2006 by CEO Peter…
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Should Humans Colonize Space?
The question of whether humanity should expand beyond Earth, establishing permanent, self-sustaining colonies in space colonization, has migrated from the pages of science fiction to the boardrooms of aerospace companies…
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What Is NASA’s Launch Services Program?
Every few months, a new robotic mission leaves Earth, bound for Mars, Jupiter, or a distant asteroid. We see the stunning images from the James Webb Space Telescope, track the…
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What Is NASA’s Commercial Mars Payload Services Program?
A fundamental shift is underway in NASA's long-term strategy for the Red Planet. This change was formally announced with the release of the agency's Fiscal Year 2026 budget request, which…
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Why Can’t We Feel the Earth Moving?
It's a fact that can be difficult to grasp: as you read this, you are part of a complex and high-speed dance. The Earth, our seemingly solid and stationary home,…
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What Are Solar Storms and Solar Wind?
The Sun, the star at the center of our solar system, is not the static, unchanging yellow orb it might appear to be from Earth. It is a dynamic, complex,…
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Sales Opportunities: NASA’s 2024 Civil Space Shortfalls
This article provides an in-depth analysis of NASA's 2024 Civil Space Shortfall Ranking. This document, a consensus of over 1,200 experts from government and private industry, is more than a…
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What is the NASA Technical Reports Server?
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, known as NASA, is synonymous with rocket launches, astronauts, and robotic explorers on distant planets. Behind these visible achievements lies an ocean of data,…
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What Is It Like to Live On the International Space Station?
The International Space Station (ISS) represents a pinnacle of human engineering and international collaboration. It is a permanently inhabited laboratory, research outpost, and home that circles the Earth every 90…
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Why Should We Spend Money on Space Exploration?
The question of whether humanity should allocate substantial financial resources to space exploration is a persistent and valid debate. In a world facing immediate and significant challenges - such as…
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Where Does Space Begin?
The question seems simple, one that should have a clean, scientific answer. At what altitude does the sky end and outer space begin? For humanity, which has long defined itself…
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How Many Stars Are In the Sky?
The question "How many stars are in the sky?" appears simple. The answer, however, is a cascading series of numbers, each one larger and more difficult to obtain than the…
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Where Is the Center of the Universe?
It’s one of the most fundamental questions a person can ask about our place in the cosmos. It implies a starting point, a special location from which everything else originates.…
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Is Mars Really Red?
Mars, the fourth planet from the sun, has captured the human imagination for millennia. It's a fixture in our night sky, a wandering star glowing with a distinct, fiery hue.…
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Why Is Pluto Not a Planet?
For seventy-six years, Pluto was the ninth planet in our Solar System. It was the smallest, the most distant, and the final member of a family of worlds that children…
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25 Years of the International Space Station: What archaeology tells us about living and working in space
The ISS is more than a spacecraft; it's a testament to human ingenuity and international partnership. With over 200 visitors and 127 person-years of research, it pioneers space tourism and…
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SETI’s ‘Noah’s Ark’ – a space historian explores how the advent of radio astronomy led to the USSR’s search for extraterrestrial life
SETI’s ‘Noah’s Ark’ – a space historian explores how the advent of radio astronomy led to the USSR’s search for extraterrestrial life
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What’s gone wrong between Nasa and Elon Musk’s SpaceX?
Elon Musk’s company SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin have submitted simplified plans to Nasa designed to return US astronauts to the Moon’s surface.
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What is the Role of Artificial Intelligence in UAP Analysis?
The investigation of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) has historically been hindered by limited data, subjective accounts, and fragmented institutional efforts. However, as governments and scientific institutions begin to take a…
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What is NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle Program?
The story of humanity's new lunar vehicle begins with its remarkable predecessor. The Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), or "Moon Buggy," was a specialized spacecraft that looked like a simple…
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How Do Astronauts Go to the Bathroom in Space?
It’s a question that crosses nearly everyone's mind when they watch astronauts float weightlessly inside a spacecraft: How do they go to the bathroom? The query isn't juvenile; it's one…
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Can Commercial “Science as a Service” Replace NASA’s Public Mission?
For more than half a century, NASA has served as our planet's primary scientific custodian from space. Its satellites have provided the foundational data for our understanding of climate change,…
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Are the Laws of Physics Universal?
One of the deepest questions in science is also one of the simplest to ask: Are the rules the same everywhere? We know that an apple falls from a tree…
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Strange Facts About Forgotten Space Programs
The history of space exploration, as it’s often told, is a clean, televised series of triumphs. It’s a highlight reel that begins with a tiny satellite’s beep and climaxes with…
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A History of Space Exploration Failures
The story of space exploration is often told as a heroic ascent, a steady march of progress from the first orbits to footsteps on the Moon and robotic explorers on…
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ESA’s HydroGNSS Ready to Launch!
The European Space Agency (ESA) has long been at the forefront of Earth observation, and its Scout missions represent a bold step into the era of “New Space” – emphasizing…
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What is NewSpace?
The story of humanity’s journey into space has entered a dynamic new chapter. For decades, the cosmos was a realm primarily explored by a handful of government superpowers, driven by…
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What Is NASA’s Mars Telecommunications Orbiter Program?
In January 2004, NASA achieved a remarkable feat of engineering and exploration. Two robotic rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, landed successfully on opposite sides of Mars. Their mission was ambitious but…
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What Is NASA’s Human Landing System Program?
The U.S. space agency, NASA, is executing its plan to return astronauts to the surface of the Moon for the first time in over half a century. This new era…
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What Is NASA’s Lunar Communications Relay and Navigation Systems Program?
Humanity's return to the Moon is not a repeat of the past. The Apollo program of the 1960s and 70s was a series of short, brilliant sprints, a geopolitical demonstration…
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What Is NASA’s Mars Human Mission Reference Model?
When the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to send humans to a new destination, like Mars, it doesn't just build a rocket and hope for the best.…
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If UAPs Are Real, What Is Their Objective?
For decades, the subject of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, was a staple of popular culture and official government denial. The topic was largely relegated to the fringes, dismissed by…
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The Ground Segment Revolution: How As-a-Service Models are Connecting Space to Earth
The skies above are more crowded than ever before. In the past decade, the number of active satellites orbiting our planet has surged, creating a bustling, invisible infrastructure that underpins…
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A Guide to Potential Extraterrestrial Life Biology
The search for extraterrestrial life, a field of study known as astrobiology, is hampered by a fundamental, philosophical problem: we don't have a universal definition of "life." Every living thing…
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What Does History Teach Us About First Contact?
The question of "first contact" with an extraterrestrial intelligence is a mirror. It reflects humanity's deepest anxieties and aspirations, our capacity for wonder and our penchant for violence. We imagine…
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If We Can’t Communicate With Animals, How Are We Going to Communicate With Aliens?
To speak of contacting an alien intelligence, we must first look to the "aliens" who already live among us. The quest to understand animal communication is a long and fascinating…
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What Are Key Space Industry Policy Issues and Best Practices?
Space is no longer a distant frontier explored only by a few superpowers. It has become a foundational element of the modern global economy, a critical domain for national security,…
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What Is the SETI Institute, and Why Is It Important?
The question "Are we alone?" is one of the oldest and most fundamental inquiries of the human species. For millennia, it was a subject confined to philosophy, religion, and storytelling.…
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A Historical Examination of Ten Influential UAP Reports
Reports of anomalous objects in the sky are a thread woven through human history. But the modern era of what we now call Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, or UAP, began with…
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Starship and the New Realities of Orbital Warfare
SpaceX's Starship is not simply a new rocket. It represents an entirely new category of space access, defined by two factors: unprecedented scale and disruptive economics. Its military significance lies…
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A Morphological Guide to Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena
For decades, the public conversation about unidentified flying objects was driven by grainy photographs and anecdotal eyewitness accounts. The topic was, for the most part, relegated to the cultural fringe.…
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Sifting Signal from Noise: Key Features of Credible UAP Reports
The topic of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), often referred to by their older name, UFOs, occupies a unique space in public consciousness. It's a subject that evokes strong opinions, ranging…
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What Are the Most Controversial Topics In Space Today?
For decades, the public has largely viewed space as a pristine domain of scientific exploration and human aspiration. That perception is now dangerously out of date. Today, space—specifically the orbit…
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Dreams of Great Spacecraft
The history of space exploration is written by the missions that flew. We remember Apollo, Voyager, and the Hubble Space Telescope because they reached their destinations and returned images that…
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Why Earth’s “Best” Language for First Contact Isn’t a Language at All!
The scenario is a staple of human imagination. A signal arrives. It's unambiguous, patterned, and clearly not from Earth. After the initial shock, celebration, and panic, humanity faces its first…
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Did Aliens Really Visit Our Ancestors? The Evidence Says… Probably Not.
The modern era of "flying saucers" began in 1947, ushering in decades of reports, investigations, and speculation. Yet, for as long as the topic has captured the public imagination, a…
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The Nuclear Connection: UAP Sightings at Sensitive Sites
For as long as unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, have been part of the public consciousness, there have been reports of their presence near sensitive military and industrial sites. In…
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What is the Black Brant and Why is It Important?
Against the dark, frozen skies of the high arctic, a slender vehicle sits pointed at the stars. With a sudden, violent roar, it erupts in fire and smoke, pushing against…
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What are the Orbits of Planets and Asteroids?
The Solar System is a place of constant, ordered motion. It's not a static collection of objects hanging in space; it's a dynamic and intricate machine governed by a single,…
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Starship’s New Economics: How Mass and Volume Redefine the Satellite Industry
For more than six decades, the story of space has been defined by a single, unyielding constraint: launch. The sheer difficulty and expense of escaping Earth's gravity has dictated every…
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The Wolf in the Room: Should the U.S. Repeal Its Ban on Space Cooperation With China?
For more than a decade, a single piece of American legislation has defined the relationship between the world's two greatest space powers. It's not a treaty, nor a grand declaration.…
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A History of Submarine-Launched Nuclear Missiles
In the years following the Second World War, the world settled into the uneasy quiet of a new kind of conflict. The atomic bombs that had ended one war cast…
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How Are Oil and Gas Created on Earth? If We Drill on Mars, Will We Find Oil and Gas?
Oil and gas are found deep underground because their very creation demands the extreme conditions of heat and pressure that only exist at great depths. Once formed, their natural tendency…
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MURP D–10: The Unseen Shuttle
In the fervent, ambitious years of the 1960s, with the Apollo program racing toward the Moon, engineers at NASA and its partner contractors were already looking past the lunar landing.…
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The Dream Chaser Spacecraft: Current Status and Future Prospects in Late 2025
The Dream Chaser spacecraft, developed by Sierra Space, represents a bold step forward in reusable space transportation. Designed as a winged, lifting-body vehicle capable of delivering cargo to low-Earth orbit…
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What is the Single-stage Earth-orbital Reusable Vehicle (SERV) Spacecraft?
This article explores the Chrysler SERV, an ambitious spacecraft concept from the 1970s. In the era immediately following the triumphant Apollo program, the United States stood at a crossroads in…
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Starship: A New Paradigm in Space Transportation and its Potential Applications
The development of the SpaceX Starship system represents a significant undertaking in the history of spaceflight. It is not merely an incremental improvement on existing rocket technology but a fundamental…
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Project Daedalus: A Blueprint for Interstellar Travel
The sheer scale of the cosmos is difficult to comprehend. The distance from Earth to our own Moon is a vast gulf that took Apollo program astronauts three days to…
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Sales Opportunities: Understanding the NASA Acquisition Forecast
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, captures the public imagination with images of distant galaxies, robotic explorers on Mars, and astronauts floating in the microgravity of the International…
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Project TROY: The 1980s Vision for End-to End Space Logistics
The story of space exploration is often told through its spectacular launches and groundbreaking discoveries. Less visible, but just as important, are the countless studies, proposals, and conceptual projects that…
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Project Athena: Jared Isaacman’s Bold Vision for Remaking NASA
In the ever-evolving landscape of space exploration, few documents have stirred as much debate and intrigue as “Project Athena,” a confidential manifesto penned by billionaire entrepreneur and private astronaut Jared…
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What is a Generation Ship?
Humanity is a species defined by migration. From the first steps out of Africa, we have relentlessly pushed into the unknown, crossing oceans and continents, driven by curiosity, necessity, or…
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What is the Mars Transit Vehicle, and Why is It Important?
A "Mars transit vehicle" is not just a single spacecraft. It is a complex, multi-stage architecture of specialized vehicles, each designed to solve one piece of an immense logistical puzzle…
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Trump Re-Nominates Billionaire Astronaut Jared Isaacman as NASA Administrator
In a surprising turn of events, President Donald Trump has re-nominated Jared Isaacman, the billionaire entrepreneur and private astronaut, to lead NASA as its administrator. This comes just months after…
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Interstellar Visitor 3I/ATLAS Emerges from Solar Conjunction: Latest Observations and Mysteries
As of November 5, 2025, the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS (also designated C/2025 N1 ATLAS) has reappeared in Earth’s skies after passing behind the Sun, captivating astronomers and sparking renewed speculation…
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When Heroes Fall to Earth: Astronauts and Crime
The word "astronaut" conjures images of courage, intelligence, and unwavering composure. These are individuals selected from thousands of elite applicants, subjected to grueling physical and psychological tests, and trusted with…
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The HL-20: NASA’s Unbuilt Lifting Body Spaceplane
In the archives of NASA's Langley Research Center sits a full-scale, 30-foot-long model of a spacecraft that looks like a futuristic shuttle, yet it has no wings. This is the…
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The Artemis Program: NASA’s New Generation of Moon Exploration
For the first time since the Apollo program concluded in 1972, humanity is charting a sustainable path back to the Moon. This monumental effort, led by the National Aeronautics and…
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The X-38: NASA’s Unfinished Space Station Lifeboat
In the late 1990s, humanity was embarking on its most ambitious construction project, not on Earth, but 250 miles above it. The International Space Station (ISS) was a symbol of…
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Big Gemini: The Unbuilt ‘Space Taxi’ of the Apollo Era
In the 1960s, the United States was locked in a race to the Moon. The Apollo program, a monumental national effort, consumed the lion's share of NASA's budget and attention.…
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Wingless Flight: How NASA’s Lifting Body Research Taught a Generation How to Land from Space
Returning from space is a battle against physics. A spacecraft in low Earth orbit is not simply "up"; it's "sideways," moving at over 17,500 miles per hour, or roughly Mach…
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A History of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
For as long as humanity has looked to the stars, it has been haunted by a question as profound as it is simple: Are we alone? This query, once the…
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NASA’s Billion-Dollar Graveyard: The Canceled Projects That Cost a Fortune
The history of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is marked by groundbreaking achievements in space exploration. However, this path of innovation is also lined with ambitious projects that,…
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The Next Space Race: 40+ Unbuilt Rockets and Spacecraft That Will Change Humanity Forever!
Humanity is in the midst of a second, and arguably more dynamic, Space Age. This new era is defined by a global resurgence in national space ambitions and the explosive…
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