Space, Science and Technology

  Back in 2013, SpaceX made a huge announcement that they were going to try land their Falcon 9 rocket back on Earth. To multiply the complexity of this idea manifolds, they were going to try landing it on a floating drone ship in the middle of the ocean. Strange thing like this had never been done before and at the time, it seemed like an impossible mission but if it was accomplished successfully, it would be a massive step forward for rocket reusability. Thus, SpaceX started experimenting with various test vehicles to learn how to land a rocket. Few year later after going through many failures and blasts, SpaceX finally made the impossible, possible. Five years on from that historic first landing, the iconic sight of a Falcon 9 landing has become normal as they do it on a regular basis. Gaining experience from so many launches they had done in past five years, they had perfected their design and this had helped them save 1.4 billion dollars in last five years! Every time the...

  People always wonder why are we still stuck with chemical rockets. Burning of hydrogen or kerosene to generate thrust is the best we can do? Well that's not the case, there are other exotic science fiction-sounding propulsion systems have already been developed which use electromagnetic fields to accelerate atoms, allowing their spacecraft to accelerate for months at a time. I’m talking about ion engines and several spacecraft have already used these ion thrusters to perform some of the most amazing missions in the exploration of the Solar System.  Why Not Chemically Propelled Rockets ? I know, chemical rockets seem really primitive. Take tonnes of liquid or solid or maybe hybrid fuels sometimes, burn it with an oxidizer, and then use the speed of the explosive gases as a in the opposite direction. Thanks Newton’s Third Law. But chemical rockets do the jon. Those gases do give  rocket the kick it needs to get into space. Because the rockets bring their own oxidizer...