From miniature satellites to giant sun shields - the extreme technology transforming space engineering
(World News Science)

Artist`s impression of the NanoSail D satellite in orbit with solar sail. NASA This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first Apollo moon landing . This was possible thanks to an extraordinary acceleration of space technology. Within a remarkably short period of time leading up to the event, engineers had mastered rocket propulsion, on-board computing and space operations, partially thanks to an essentially unlimited budget. Since the days of these heroic endeavours, space engineering has matured into a series of interconnected technologies that deliver exciting new space science missions, a fire hose of Earth observation data and a network of global communication and navigation services....