April 2025
A bun in the (space) oven - Reasons not to get pregnant while going around Earth at 7.8 kilometres per second
...: maybe there is some stage in the reproductive cycle that is irreparably damaged by the space environment, or maybe bodies can compensate for the space environment and be totally fine in the end. We just don’t know yet. Astronauts (clockwise...
October 2025
Satellite technology - from operational challenges to strategic opportunities
... that are difficult and expensive to replicate on Earth, but modern simulation tools can recreate the harsh space environment virtually, testing how materials and components will respond to radiation, thermal cycling and mechanical stresses before...
26 January 2018
NASA launches GOLD to study Earth-space boundary
... in solar flares, flurries of energised particles make their way towards Earth with the potential to disrupt our space environment. Such influences are not only difficult to predict, but dramatic changes can also occur in as little as an hour...
October 2015
Space debris, Kessler Syndrome, and the unreasonable expectation of certainty
...has been considerable interest shown in remediation of the space environment. In particular, significant effort has been invested ..., this would cost the maximum of $520. In the space environment, we have exactly the same problem: we don’t know with...
June 2017
Bepi-Colombo will unveil Mercury’s secrets
...purple). Mariner 10 remained the only spacecraft to probe Mercury until the recent MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging - a reference to the Roman mythological messenger Mercury). MESSENGER was the first spacecraft...
October 2017
Tracking air pollution and monitoring climate change
...Space Office (NSO), forms part of a joint EC-ESA undertaking which aims to acquire continuous and accurate Earth observation data to improve the management of the environment...manager. He is also involved in Space Debris Mitigation, and in particular ...
