April 2019
Cleaning up space
... it is not worth the high cost of cleaning up individual pieces of debris. Although it is true that an impact event has a relatively low probability, it is also something that will have an extremely significant and long-lasting effect. Indeed, the...
April 2019
Is a military space force justified?
...both defensive capabilities to protect space assets and offensive capabilities to disable the assets of opponents. While the relative merits of any specific function can be debated, the establishment of a Space Force raises a fundamental policy issue...
July 2019
Developing life support systems for human exploration missions beyond Earth
... all of the progress, significant challenges remain. To date, all of our human long duration missions have been relatively close to home and enjoy a steady resupply chain to maintain critical systems. In the event of a significant failure, crews...
February 2020
Surviving bacteria in space
... bacteria are surprisingly resistant organisms, both on Earth and in space, especially when they form ‘biofilms’. The relative isolation of astronaut crews poses a particular challenge to the field of biohazard management and this will only increase...
January 2021
What it takes to be a space entrepreneur
... just not accurate. All good entrepreneurs are relatively disciplined and most of the success stories are... then present it to others. That takes courage and skill and a relatively strong sense of yourself. The reality is that many of your ideas just...
May 2021
Forecasting space-weather effects on Earth
...heat of the interior from reaching the surface, creating relatively cooler zones called sunspots. The magnetic field lines ...most of a solar storm’s effects on the Earth are relatively harmless, some events can affect our technological systems. For ...
