March 2015
Chasing comets together: the Vega project in the USSR and beyond
... characteristics, moved into orbit close to Phobos’ orbit, took measurements that were unique at the time and filmed Phobos’ surface for a period of two months. It was about to start moving in closer to Phobos. Considering the loss...
October 2015
Space debris, Kessler Syndrome, and the unreasonable expectation of certainty
... scientist Donald Kessler – the reality is not likely to be on the scale of these predictions or the events depicted in the film Gravity. Indeed, results presented by the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) at the Sixth European...
October 2015
Baikonur, Kibo and beyond: Japan’s leading role in space
... with the probe was lost at one point. The dramatic story of Hayabusa was made into several films in Japan. From satellites to deep space In 2008, Japan enacted the Fundamental Space Act, and has formulated...
February 2016
Is Jupiter Really Our Protective Shield?
... be capable of supporting more than microbial life.’ [18] The ‘Jupiter as a comet shield’ scenario became ubiquitous in television/film documentary productions as well as the popular press. Yet, for this scenario, there appears to be a selection bias...
March 2016
Why We Need Space Artists
... editor that ‘the figures (of astronauts) are included only to give scale’! Bonestell worked on special effects for films under producer George Pal, including Destination Moon and Conquest of Space. He went on to lead a team of illustrators, working...
July 2016
Plasma Crystals - from space research to medicine on Earth and back to space again
..., the ‘surface micro-discharge’ electrode, developed at the Max Planck Institute and hence developed further (to a ‘thin film electrode’) by terraplasma GmbH (a spin-off company from the Max Planck Society). Before leaving the topic...
