Near-Earth orbits are filled with useful satellites, and also flying junk. If we’re not careful they may collide - literally.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on Space
Displaying 661 - 680 of 769 articles
Twenty-five years on and the Hubble Space Telescope is still taking some amazing images. But there have been a few glitches over the years, right from day one.
From a big blue marble to a tiny dot in space – reflections on our images of Earth.
Star Trek fans were especially drawn to Leonard Nimoy’s Mr. Spock – who showed many that it “was okay to be a nerd, that even in the future not everyone fit in, or needed to.”
At the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society earlier this month, the NASA Kepler Space Telescope team announced its 1,000th discovery of a planet outside our solar system. This brings the…
As a headline, “No gas leak on the International Space Station” ranks alongside recent news stories, such as “Mild earthquake in North Texas – no damage reported” and “No-one hurt in bedroom fire”. But…
SpaceX is attempting a huge feat in spacecraft engineering. It is seeking to land the first stage of its Falcon 9-R rocket on a floating platform at sea. Normally this would end up at the bottom of the…
There is no doubt that 2014 was a fantastic year for planetary sciences – the high points were the successful landing of Philae on comet 67P, the discovery of methane by the Curiosity rover on Mars and…
The Theory of Everything is a film about two people who meet at university and fall in love. But what makes it remarkable is that one of them is Professor Stephen Hawking and that when he and Jane Wilde…
NASA has revealed that a whiff of methane has been detected twice in the last couple of years at the Martian surface by the Curiosity Rover. The source of the methane is uncertain. It is not even clear…
After a 24-hour delay due to bad weather, the first test launch of the Orion spacecraft by NASA is underway with the ultimate goal of putting human beings on Mars. Weeks after the landing on a comet by…
The thing everyone seems to talk about with the moon landings is the idea of the whole world stopping to watch. It was a mission that overcame nationalism, it wasn’t “America” putting a man on the moon…
Interstellar has been praised for its attempt to make the “hard science” of astrophysics both accessible and exciting to a popular audience. Through cutting-edge special effects, it takes audiences on…
What’s the betting that Agilkia makes it into the baby name charts in 2015? This romantic, lyrical word is the name of an island in the Egyptian Nile, but it’s also just been given to the patch of Comet…
The recent accident involving Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo – and the tragic death of one pilot and critical injury of another – highlights the dangers inherent in any type of space flight. It has also…
The final week in October was widely reported as having been disastrous for space exploration. First we had the explosion of the crewless Antares launcher as it lifted off to take provisions to the International…
With only a week to go before the Rosetta spacecraft drops its Philae lander onto the surface of comet 67P, I wonder whether there will be another space mission in my lifetime that is so inspiring. Part…
This week, I can predict with a high degree of accuracy that more than 50,000 car accidents will occur in the US, over 500 of which will involve fatalities. Last week was no different. Is social media…
Sputnik was launched more than 50 years ago. Since then we have seen missions launched to Mercury, Mars and to all the planets within the solar system. We have sent a dozen men to the moon and many more…
The golden age of planetary exploration had voyagers navigating new sea routes to uncharted territory. These territories were then claimed in the name of the monarchs who had financed the expeditions…
Top contributors
-
Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, The Open University
-
University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona
-
Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland
-
Associate Professor in Archaeology and Space Studies, Flinders University
-
Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, Air University
-
Emeritus Professor of International Law, Western Sydney University
-
Associate Professor in Astronomy, Monash University
-
Reader in Astrophysics, Keele University
-
Senior Lecturer in Physics, Nottingham Trent University
-
Sterrenkenner, History & Philosophy of Science, The University of Melbourne
-
Andrew Dempster is a Friend of The Conversation.
Director, Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research; Professor, School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, UNSW Sydney
-
Lecturer in Astronomy, Nottingham Trent University
-
Space Plasma Physicist, Imperial College London
-
Associate Professor of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology
-
Professor of Hypersonic Aerodynamics, The University of Queensland
