Spaceflight Vol 59 No 12 – December 2017

Cassini – The Grand Finale 2: Big science
In the second of a three-part series covering the end of the historic Cassini mission to Saturn and the deployment of the Huygens probe to Titan, Spaceflight looks at the people who made it happen, how they forged a way of life and what the end of this mission means to them.

Elon Musk’s BFR
Having achieved success with its Falcon 9 rocket family, SpaceX is looking to junk it and develop a new launch system, sustainable in the short term and capable of going to Mars.

Mars Society votes for the Moon
Andrew Jackson reviews thoughts from the 20th Annual Convention and brings news that the Mars Society is inclined to support lunar landings as technology demonstration of the capabilities required to put humans on Mars.

Hopping around on Pluto
With excitement showing little sign of waning in the aftermath of the New Horizons fly-by of Pluto, proposals envisage orbiters and landers to following in the wake of this pioneer to the Kuiper Belt.

Base Camp – a terminus for Mars
Lockheed Martin has developed an architecture for Mars exploration involving all the essential elements embraced by NASA but with a radical approach to reaching the surface.

Crash-test Atlases
Historian Joel Powell digs out more hidden gems from the archives and discovered when a Ford Galaxy crashed into an Atlas rocket and survived!

Regular Features

News Analysis – We’re Going Back! US announces return to the Moon

A Letter from the Editor

Briefing notes – news shorts from around the world

ISS Report – 9 September – 10 October 2017

Satellite Digest – 539 September 2017

Correspondence

Off the shelf

Society News – Charlie Duke in Milton Keynes – Joint WSW event in Bath – Birthday visitors

What’s On