Tag: Power

SpaceX and China Power Record-Breaking Year for Orbital Launches

Space News reports, “Orbital launch activity set another annual record in 2025, although future growth may depend on factors different from those that fueled the recent surge. There were 324 orbital launch attempts worldwide in 2025, according to a SpaceNews analysis of open-source data. The total excludes suborbital launches, such as five test flights of SpaceX’s Starship that did not reach orbit by design, as well as three launches of the HASTE variant of Rocket Lab’s Electron.”
Full Story (Space News)

Voyager 1 Reactivated in Interstellar Space

The Washington Post reports, “NASA engineers have succeeded in breathing new life into Voyager 1 after the spacecraft, launched in 1977, went silent seven months ago. Now comes another challenge: Keeping Voyager 1 scientifically useful for as long as possible as it probes a realm where no spacecraft has gone before.”
Full Story (The Washington Post)

Rolls-Royce Sees Hydrogen as SAF Future

Aviation International News reports that hydrogen “may be the fuel of the future, but it’s probably best used to create sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) rather than a direct fuel source for hydrogen-powered aircraft that do not yet exist today.” Rolls-Royce’s Senior Vice President of Strategy Frank Moesta said Wednesday during a panel discussion on novel propulsion at EBACE 2023, “To be honest, I’m not a big fan of thinking about burning hydrogen in an aircraft.” Moesta added that he “would prefer to see hydrogen being used to create eFuels – a synthetic form of SAF – rather than develop aircraft with entirely different propulsion systems.” Moestra explained that eFuel “can be produced locally more easily and sustainably than ordinary SAF, which is made from agricultural feedstocks.” This would make eFuel “more accessible than regular SAF, which is only produced in a handful of facilities around the world today.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)

Voyager Spacecraft to Power Down Systems after 44 Years

The Daily Mail (UK) reports that NASA is considering a potential timeline for the powering-down of the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft after 44 years of operation. NASA “is now planning to begin turning off some of the Voyagers’ systems in the hope of eking out the spacecrafts’ remaining power to extend their journeys to about 2030.”
Full Story (Daily Mail (UK))

Aviation Industry Considers Hydrogen Power

FlightGlobal reports that during the Sustainable Skies World Summit, The Boeing Company Sustainability and Future Mobility Vice President and Chief Engineer Brian Yutko said aviation engineers faced “a once in a generation renaissance” regarding hydrogen-powered aviation.
Full Story (FlightGlobal)