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Browse our most recent analyses and observations — from orbital mechanics to propulsion systems, we cover the successes, the failures, and all the moments that make you pause and think, “Sure… but why?”

Peaceful Nuclear Explosions and Other Bad Ideas

Peaceful Nuclear Explosions and Other Bad Ideas

Posted on 11th Dec 2024

Nuke Mars. You’ve probably heard about this, or maybe you have the t-shirt. The idea is simple. Mars has a cold, thin atmosphere that doesn’t support liquid water on its surface. You might think this is a non-problem not looking for a solution, but there is a segment of society intent on moving to M...

Shadow Games: Exmouth Gets Solar Eclipse

Shadow Games: Exmouth Gets Solar Eclipse

Posted on 5th May 2023

The hybrid solar eclipse in Exmouth a couple of weeks ago was a pretty rare event, but to the surprise of no-one it was predicted with more-or-less perfect accuracy (cause, science). But it wasn’t always that way – actually, it was only a few hundred years ago that Halley (the comet guy) made the fi...

The Final Frontier (Terms and Conditions Apply)

The Final Frontier (Terms and Conditions Apply)

Posted on 9th Dec 2022

Being almost the holidays, this might be a good time to talk about space tourism. Let’s ignore the advertising of well-known rocket launch companies and the hyperventilating of overly enthusiastic journalists for a moment and imagine that we have actually entered “the era of space tourism” (CBS, R...

Return to Sender (Via Ballistic Trajectory)

Return to Sender (Via Ballistic Trajectory)

Posted on 25th Nov 2022

The post office got a bad rap during COVID, but I’m not sure too many people want their mail delivered by rocket. Regardless, it seemed like a good idea to Heinrich von Kleist who was going to use fixed artillery batteries to fire letter-filled shells to speed up delivery of the mail. This was in th...

No Missiles, No Problem

No Missiles, No Problem

Posted on 24th Nov 2022

In case you’ve been living under a rock lately and missed the big announcement, Australia recently committed to ‘never conduct destructive, direct-ascent anti-satellite missile testing’. Why would we do that? Well, for starters New Zealand have already committed and we don’t want to look like we a...

Armageddon Averted: NASA Versus Dimorphos

Armageddon Averted: NASA Versus Dimorphos

Posted on 20th Oct 2022

DART is the mission based on the Hollywood blockbuster Armageddon. You know, the movie where the oil drillers are trained to go to space because there couldn’t possibly be an astronaut capable of being trained to be an oil driller. Anyway, if you think Michael Bay’s explosions are over the top, well...