Tag: ESA
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The Tale of Two (or more) Rockets
They were just in the news this week: announcements of launches that followed up one after another. Space X is about to launch not…
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The problem with (space) debris
I have been writing about space debris in totally different (mainly academic) settings, and, considering how dangerous debris can be to working satellites and…
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Gaia’s Beauty
This is not the title of a fantasy story (even though it could well be). No, I am talking about GAIA, ESA’s space observatory…
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Space 2018: best of the year
2018 has been another amazing year in terms of space exploration and rocket launches. Now that we’re almost at the end, I’d like to…
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Sources for your space exploration research.
Since I’m now deep down in my (non fiction) book about space (I’m due to submit to the publisher in a couple of weeks,…
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Bepi Colombo and the challenges of exploring Mercury
Among the numerous news of this week, one is worthy of further discussion. After decades of studies, BepiColombo mission is a go. The probe…
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Wordbuilding -Creating your alien life
I have already written in the past about how alien (in the sense of odd) nature can possibly be. Today I’d like to explore the…
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Space Features of the Week (26 May)
It has been a while since I’ve done this, so I think a quick roundup of some interesting space and science features recently in…
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ESA, Galileo, and Brexit -an ongoing quarrel
I generally do not talk about the EU politics on this blog (I have enough of it in my full-time job) but this story…
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2018 -what to look forward to (space-wise)
This year I’ve decided, for once, not to do any New Year Resolutions. After all, I’ve started 2018 in bed with strong flu and…
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Space Features of the Week (26 August)
As usual, some newsclipping from recent space and tech articles to keep us sharp. I haven’t done it in a while (blame holidays) but…
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Space Features of the Week (26 October)
We have been somehow spoiled in the last years by a few amazing achievements, but let’s not forget that space remains as extreme a…
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Bye Bye, Rosetta – How to crash on a comet
All good things end sooner or later, and Rosetta’s mission – an absolute first in space exploration (read the story and the success here)…
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Guest Post – The Moon Village and the Space Economy
(This is the English version of the article “Il Villaggio Lunare parlerà “europeo”? [Will the Moon Village speak “European”?] by Fausto Mescolini, first published in Italian on Il…
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Mars-bound – See you on the Red Planet
According to some recent news, it seems that pretty much everybody is on its way to Mars. You doubt? Have a look at the list…
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Costs of short-sighted politics – Brexit consequences for UK S&T
Difficult to ignore what’s happening now in the UK, and the post-Brexit mayhem. While I don’t do politics on this blog for a precise…
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Skies from other planets – The peaks of eternal light
In the day of the Summer Solstice – the longest day of the year – I thought appropriate talking about the famous peaks of…
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Space missions – updates
2015 is an amazing year for space missions (not that 2014 has been a bad one) – plenty of them under way and expectations…
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The once and future Hubble – 25 years in space, and counting
It’s impossible not to celebrate these days the incredible achievements of Hubble’s Space Telescope – which has just turned 25. A joint ESA/NASA project, launched…
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Living in the Solar System, a colonist’s guide
If you have always wondered, like me, how would it be in practice living on another world, you can’t possibly miss the series recently…
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Space Art from NASA
One thing I have not paid (so far) the right amount of attention is all artwork produced by NASA, and with that I mean…
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All the (Egyptian) names of Rosetta
Not happy with having discovered many of the secrets of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko thanks to the Rosetta mission and its Philae probe, ESA-Rosetta team scientists have…
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Seven hours of terror for space lovers – Rosetta on stage (again)
This November week brings us an exciting space event to follow, unique in kind. ESA’s spacecraft Rosetta, that has successfully reached Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last August,…
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Star Gallery: the beautiful Pleaides
If there is a space object I have always found incredibly beautiful is the star cluster of the Pleiades – alternatively called M45, or…