Dec 22, 2021 | Science & Technology
By Martin Elvis With the 2021 boom in space tourism and the rapid development of the giant SpaceX Starship from a string of fiery crashes to a ready-for-orbit vehicle, the idea that lots of people may soon live and work in space has become something that feels like it...
Oct 14, 2021 | Science & Technology
By Laura Pirovano There’s too much junk in space and a real need to know where it is moving, to protect important spacecraft and satellites, writes Laura Pirovano. Space – vast and almost empty. This has always been our view and it has hardly changed even with...
Jul 28, 2021 | Science & Technology
By Gilbert Wong Space might be the final frontier, but, like all frontiers it’s strewn with junk. Luckily, Professor Guglielmo Aglietti, director of the Auckland Space Institute has a plan. Three giant monitors line the front of the Mission Operations Control Centre...
Jun 2, 2020 | Science & Technology
By Frans von der Dunk NASA has announced its Artemis programme which should land the first woman and the next man (at least as far as the United States is concerned) on the Moon by 2024. Since a few years, the Moon is fully back in business. Unmanned Chinese and...
May 18, 2020 | Science & Technology
By Rodger I. Thompson The famous telescope is celebrating thirty years of operation. The Hubble Space Telescope launched on the 24th of April, 30 years ago. It’s an impressive milestone especially as its expected lifespan was just 10 years. One of the primary reasons...
Jul 25, 2019 | Science & Technology
By Bettina Mrusek Brettina Mrusek asks if we can we clean up earth’s orbit before it’s too late. Orbital debris is a growing problem. While advances in technology have improved our ability to successfully launch satellites into orbit, the trial and error period...
Apr 15, 2019 | Science & Technology
By Chris Benton With much excitement from the press, an international team of astronomers recently announced they had directly imaged the silhouette or shadow of a black hole for the first time. Chris Benton explains why this is important. With much excitement from...
Dec 12, 2018 | Science & Technology
By Chris Benton On 26 November 2018, NASA’s lander InSight successfully touched down on Mars. But what is it doing there? With much fanfare from the press, following a six-month 483 million km journey to reach our neighbouring planet, on 26 November 2018...
Dec 6, 2018 | Science & Technology
By Christopher Gaffney & Bethan Phillips We are sending worms into space. But why? Space launches are some of the most spectacular and nerve wracking events you can witness. And when you are actually involved in one, you realise just how much can go wrong. We are...
Oct 17, 2018 | Science & Technology
By Chris Benton What does the discovery of a new dwarf planet tell us about the outer parts of our Solar System? Astronomers have recently announced the discovery of a new dwarf planet in the extreme outer parts of The Solar System, which supports evidence for the...