Science

Autonomous triangular modules could build tomorrow's mega-observatories

Source: Phys.org · Published 23 Oct 2026, 00:40

Private companies are getting better at launching more mass into space with larger rockets. But there is still a major constraint on the size of objects we can get into orbit—fairing size. This places physical constraints on the overall shape of what we can launch and severely limits the sizes of, say, a communications array or a power satellite. But a new paper from researchers at Nanjing…

Key points

Private companies are getting better at launching more mass into space with larger rockets.
But there is still a major constraint on the size of objects we can get into orbit—fairing size.
This places physical constraints on the overall shape of what we can launch and severely limits the sizes of, say, a communications array or a power satellite.
But a new paper from researchers at Nanjing…

Autonomous triangular modules could build tomorrow's mega-observatories

Key points

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