drew@drewexmachina.com
Whenever I think “gamma ray observatory”, impressive orbiting platforms come to mind like NASA’s massive 17 metric ton Compton Gamma Ray Observatory launched in 1991 or […]
It is quite common to associate rockets with cutting edge technology. But oddly enough until the last decade or so, the rocket engines used by most […]
On December 14, 1962, NASA’s Mariner 2 became the first spacecraft to return data of closeup observations from another world. What is not as widely known […]
Even after over four decades, I still clearly recall my third-grade class field trip to the Boston Museum of Science – my first of many visits […]
At the same time the first Apollo launch abort test flight with the Little Joe II was taking place (see The First Apollo-Little Joe II Launch), […]
The 1976 Viking missions to Mars have been our only attempts to date to search directly for life on another planet. The pair of identical Viking […]
Entering orbit around another planet from an interplanetary approach trajectory is probably one of the most critical phases in a planetary mission. Everything must come together […]
In recent years there has been increasing interest in picosatellites (small satellites typically with a mass of 0.1 to 1 kilogram) which use the latest miniaturized […]
Today we almost take for granted one of the key technologies that makes spaceflight possible: the liquid propellant rocket engine. Exactly a century ago today, famed […]
It is often forgotten how much many of the new crewed space capsules currently under development in the US owe to the work done as part […]
The Soviet planetary probe, Mars 1, was the first spacecraft to survive launch to be sent on its way to the Red Planet. Although Mars 1 […]
My latest article, “…Try, try again”, has been published on line in The Space Review. It is a continuation of a series of articles that I […]
