How can we clean up space?
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...
The Artemis Accords and the law: Is the Moon ‘back in business’?
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...
How did the Hubble Space Telescope open our eyes to the first galaxies of the universe?
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...
Space Junk: Can we clean up earth’s orbit before it’s too late?
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...
Why is the first photo of a black hole so important?
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...
What is NASA’s new lander doing on Mars?
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...
Why are we sending worms into space?
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...
What does The Goblin tell us about the outer reaches of our solar system?
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...
A decade of commercial space travel – what’s next?
By Joel Wooten What next for space travel? Joel Wooten investigates. In many industries, a decade is barely enough time to cause dramatic change unless something disruptive comes along – a new technology, business model or service design. The space industry has...Subscribe by Email
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