Science, History, and Fiction in Everyday Life
Nobody can deny that 2021 was all about Mars –with three brand new missions heading to the Red Planet and delivering new science and remarkable achievements. And not just Mars: China sent its home-built space station into orbit and began…
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It was the quieter Martian landing ever. From the US Pathfinder’s descent to the Martian surface that focused the world’s attention (and blew up the Internet) in 1997, we got used to following all Martian attempts in real life or…
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February 2021 was all blast and hype about Mars, with three missions (!) successfully managing to reach the Red Planet and get to work. About two months after the first one reaching its destination, how are they doing? Hope, the…
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This month we’ve been truly spoiled with (space) wonders. After the UAE’s Hope and the Chinese Tianwen-1 safely entering the Martian orbit, NASA Perseverance treated us on 18 February with a spectacular descent to the Jezero crater, where it is…
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The last two weeks have been quite busy for me at work –writing articles, recording science podcasts, preparing project proposals, you name it– and all of these activities had a common focus: what is happening in the next twenty days…
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I have been writing about space debris in totally different (mainly academic) settings, and, considering how dangerous debris can be to working satellites and the ISS, it sounds strange to me that specialised press and people in the business don’t…
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Halloween offered us with a fantastic full moon –quite a rare view, to be sure. As a matter of fact, it was, as space.com called it “a truly special confluence of spookiness; a Halloween full moon visible for most time…
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There are a few interesting things up in this July’s night sky and specialised press, more than worth a post about them. First of all, prepare your telescopes and look for the newfound NEOWISE comet just crossing our sky, visible…
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Pink Floyd aside, the fascination of what’s called ‘the dark side of the Moon’ is widespread, even though calling it “dark side” is actually a misnomer. As a matter of fact, that side is no darker than any other part of the lunar…
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All eyes are pointed to the sky, looking at the weather, which remains the main obstacle so far to the historical Space X’s launch (why it is so crucial, anyway? read this). The launch had to be cancelled (‘scrubbed’) on…
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