September 2021
Near space - the air-space boundary question, astronauts and space tourism
Space tourism took a great leap forward on 11 July, when Richard Branson flew as ‘Astronaut 001’ on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo suborbital tourism vehicle, VSS Unity. The Unity 22 mission, launched from New Mexico’s Spaceport America and piloted ...
October 2021
Congested, contested... under-regulated and unplanned
The rise of the mega-constellations has set a new precedent in orbital congestion, simply as a result of the increased number of satellites. But that is only part of the story: it’s also an issue of regulation and planning which, as Stuart Eves ...
November 2021
Megasatellite habitat at Ceres
Building a settlement on Mars has gained a lot of traction in the last few years but is the red planet the best place to establish such a base? According to a recent study, such a settlement is possible but, instead of targeting a close planetary ...
June 2022
Pandemic parallels
Research coming out of the pandemic points to some similarities between issues created by the lockdown restrictions and those faced by spaceflight participants. The impact of those restrictions has become increasingly pronounced as time has gone on....
June 2022
Space activities and space debris - finding an ethical balance
For thousands of years, humans have gazed in wonder at the immensity of the sky above, documenting the movements of the Sun, Moon, stars and planets, incredulous at the magnificence of it all. Starry nights have inspired the greatest thinkers and ...
January 2023
Original Sin - Power, Technology and War in Outer Space
... the militarisation or weaponisation of space are novel, unprecedented issues. According to more dramatic and alarmist opinions, it is a reflection of a so-called ‘great power competition’ that may possibly extend to the Moon as US-Russian-Chinese...
