“They’re away from their families. They’re away from their friends. They (can’t feel) the sun or the breeze,” – is this quote about first years at Edinburgh uni? No, it’s from a member of NASA’s astronaut selection panel. In looking for advice about flat-sharing, who better to turn to than astronauts; the experts in getting […]
In some rare but welcome positive news, the new rover Perseverance (a.k.a. Percy) safely landed on Mars on February 18 at 20:55 UTC. The rover is equipped with seven cameras uniquely tasked with filming its entry, descent and landing, which allowed NASA to collect over 30 gigabytes of information and more than 23,000 images. If […]
Since the first moon landing in 1969, twelve people have walked on the moon. All twelve have been men. But this is soon to change, thanks to NASA’s new programme Artemis, as a part of which a man and a woman will be sent to the surface of the Moon, the first humans to do […]
On the evening of the 26th November, NASA’s InSight lander successfully touched down on the surface of Mars. An explosion of cheers,high-fives and hugs erupted in theJet Propulsion Laboratory as $814 million project landed safely on the red planet. The heady mix of elation and relief that spread through the scientists, en- gineers, mathematicians and mechan- […]
Pitiful science reporting is wrong: astronaut Scott Kelly’s DNA is not 7 per cent different from that of his identical twin. Multiple articles asserted this, although it is basically impossible, as humans share around 99.9 per cent of our DNA with each other, 98 per cent with chimpanzees – and even share around 90 per […]
Cassini, so named for the Italian astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini, was launched into space in October 1997 and arrived in Saturn’s orbit in 2004. It has been providing knowledge of Saturn and its moons for the past 13 years. Now, at long last, its intrepid mission has come to a close. On September 15, Cassini […]
Space travel can do funky things to the human body. It’s possible for astronauts to return to Earth slightly taller, with smaller muscles, more fragile bones, and “the worst hangover ever”. When the American astronaut Scott Kelly returned to Earth, Nasa scientists had a unique opportunity: the ability to look at how space travel influences […]
After Donald Trump became President of the United States, any and all information about climate change disappeared from the White House website. Under the heading ‘An America First Energy Plan’, the administration mentions wanting to utilise untapped oil and shale resources on American soil, as well as wanting to revive the American coal industry. According […]