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Parker Solar Probe: a Mission to Touch the Sun
On Sunday, August 12, 2018, an extraordinary mission took place: the launch of the Parker Solar Probe. This probe embarked on a journey into interplanetary space, but its destination is not another planet. No, it’s not aiming for a circular orbit to observe our star from afar. Instead, the Parker Solar Probe is set to…
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One day, two launches, fourteen satellites
Last Wednesday, on July 25, 2018, a rather rare event in the aerospace field occurred: Two launches less than 14 minutes apart! Alongside this coincidence, we naturally find ourselves with two payloads on their way to their orbits at the same time, which deserves to be highlighted. What are these payloads, you ask? There were…
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The second Falcon 9 Block 5 for the heaviest geostationary satellite.
Do you remember the launch of Bangabandhu-1? It was the first launch of the latest version of the Falcon 9: the Block 5! On Sunday, July 22, 2018, it was the turn of the Telstar 19V satellite to take off aboard a Block 5, the second one produced and launched by SpaceX. The launch took…
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American-Russian resupply of the ISS
The International Space Station constantly requires resupply, whether it be provisions for the astronauts, scientific experiments they must conduct, or spare parts to repair faulty elements of this gigantic laboratory. In less than two weeks, the station received two new cargo shipments, totaling no less than 5.5 tons of payload. These two cargos were the…
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Three newcomers on the ISS
After the return of Soyuz MS07 to Earth on June 3, 2018, there were only three astronauts left on the International Space Station. That’s why on June 8, a new crew took off from Baikonur to join the ISS after two days of travel and 34 orbits. This crew of Soyuz MS09 consisted of American…
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First Bengali communication satellite and first flight of the Falcon 9 Block 5
On Friday, May 11, 2018, a Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral. However, this one was quite different from the usual versions: the interstage is black, as well as the legs and grid fins. The reason for all these differences? This launcher underwent new modifications, but these will mainly be its last major evolutions.…
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InSight, the lander that will listen to the heart of Mars
Mars, the fourth rocky planet in our Solar System. It is all red and still has many secrets. However, it could teach us a lot about the formation of other major rocky bodies like Earth or Venus. That’s why scientists are constantly sending missions to the Red Planet. On Saturday, May 5th, a new probe…
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Europe equips itself with a new land resources surveillance force
Do you know about Copernicus? We’re not talking here about the Prussian astronomer who popularized the idea of heliocentrism, but rather about a program of the European Space Agency (ESA). The ESA developed Copernicus for the purpose of monitoring our Earth, whether it’s forests, oceans, or even air pollution. To accomplish this surveillance, the program…
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Follow the Guide #1: Key Binding
Before going any further… Make sure you have read the following tutorials: Follow the Guide #0: Discovering KSP. Remember you can translate the subtitles in any language with YouTube. Abstract In this first real tutorial of a long series, we will be discussing keyboard configuration, a necessary step in the life of a budding Kerbal…
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A new nation in the space age!
On January 21, 2018, at 2:43 a.m. (French time), RocketLab launched its Electron launcher for the second time from New Zealand. This lightweight rocket, 1.2 meters in diameter and 17 meters tall, took off for a second test flight after the partial failure on May 25, 2017. On its first flight, named It’s a test…