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Futures in Space
12 reading stories
Enter the experience →Grid Fin
This movable grid fin came from a Falcon 9 rocket. Air passes through its lattice while the fin turns, helping guide the rocket toward an upright landing. Grid fins create aerodynamic forces during descent. A guidance system commands their motion so the returning booster can adjust its path before the engines perform the final landing burn.
Read the story →Katya Echazarreta’s Flight Suit
Electrical engineer Katya Echazarreta wore this suit on Blue Origin mission NS-21. She became the first Mexican-born woman in space and has used the experience to encourage girls interested in STEM. Echazarreta flew through Space for Humanity’s citizen astronaut program rather than a traditional government astronaut corps. Her flight shows how private programs can widen participation while cost, selection, training, and opportunity still shape access.
Read the story →Merlin 1D Engine
The Merlin 1D burns liquid fuel and oxidizer to make thrust. This example was reused after flight, helping show how recovering hardware can change the cost of reaching space. Merlin’s turbopump feeds propellants into the combustion chamber, where hot gas expands through the nozzle. Reuse adds a second requirement: the engine must remain inspectable and reliable after heating, vibration, and pressure cycles.
Read the story →Nandini Harinath’s Saree
Nandini Harinath wore this saree in mission control when India’s Mars Orbiter Mission left Earth orbit for Mars. She worked as a project manager, mission designer, and deputy operations director. The trans-Mars injection maneuver placed Mangalyaan on a path toward Mars. Harinath’s roles connected mission design, project management, and operations—work that had to align timing, navigation, propulsion, and teams.
Read the story →New Shepard Crew Capsule
New Shepard is a reusable capsule designed to carry as many as six people on suborbital flights. Its large windows make seeing Earth a central part of the passenger experience. The capsule must protect passengers during launch, separation, microgravity, reentry, and landing. Reuse can lower cost, but it also makes inspection and verified performance between flights essential.
Read the story →R2-D2
Adam Savage built this full-scale R2-D2 replica after the robot became famous in Star Wars. On screen, R2-D2 repairs machinery, navigates, and communicates through movement, whistles, and beeps. R2-D2 can move through spacecraft, diagnose failures, manipulate systems, communicate, and make independent decisions. Real robots divide those tasks among mobility, sensing, control, power, tools, software, and human supervision.
Read the story →RocketMotorTwo
RocketMotorTwo combined solid fuel with a liquid oxidizer. It powered SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity into space before the vehicle glided back to Earth. The motor stores solid fuel in its case and injects liquid oxidizer during operation. The design must control combustion, thrust, heat, vibration, and shutdown while fitting inside a crewed spaceplane.
Read the story →Rutherford Engine
Rocket Lab uses 3D printing for major Rutherford engine parts. Electric pumps feed propellant to the engine, helping make a compact system for launching small satellites. Additive manufacturing can reduce part count and production time, while battery-powered turbopumps replace a more traditional gas-driven pump system. These choices trade manufacturing speed and mechanical simplicity against battery mass, energy, and mission duration.
Read the story →SHERLOC Calibration Target
A version of this target rides on NASA’s Perseverance rover. It includes material samples so researchers can study how possible spacesuit fabrics respond to the Martian environment. SHERLOC uses known reference materials to check its instrument readings, while spacesuit samples provide evidence about exposure on Mars. The target turns the rover into a remote laboratory for both measurement quality and material performance.
Read the story →SORATO Lunar Rover
SORATO helped explore the idea of sending compact robots to search the Moon. Rovers can examine terrain and resources without placing a human crew in danger. A lunar rover must move across loose soil, survive temperature extremes, use limited power, communicate with Earth, and carry instruments. Small size reduces launch mass but constrains energy, mobility, and payload.
Read the story →Yuri Gagarin’s Training Pressure Suit
Yuri Gagarin trained in this pressure suit before becoming the first person to travel in space. The CCCP letters identified the Soviet Union, whose space program made him an international symbol. A pressure suit is both life-support equipment and part of a larger flight system. Gagarin used this example for training, while its national markings made the technology visible within Cold War competition.
Read the story →“Mars Across The Sand River”
Andrei Sokolov imagined a machine crossing an ancient Martian valley. Its long claw-like legs appear able to move the craft and collect samples from the ground. The painting is not a technical drawing, yet its unusual vehicle raises real questions about terrain, stability, sampling, visibility, power, and communication on Mars.
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