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Writing this blog is a labour of love, and one which I evidently need a little encouragement towards on occasion. If you like what I write, the best way to show your gratitude would be to fuel my caffeine addiction and buy me a coffee to say thank you. All coffee donations are gratefully accepted!
Category Archives: Tech
Suddenly, paperclips. Billions of them.
So I may have spend some of my idle brain and CPU time yesterday making paperclips. Wait! I promise this is more interesting than it sounds! The game Universal Paperclips, shown to me by a friend (thanks Wil!) after my … Continue reading
An Uncomfortable Truth About Spacecraft
Since Juno’s arrival at Jupiter, a lot of people have noted how impressively technology has improved, with Juno being powered by solar panels. Indeed, without the progress we’ve made, Juno wouldn’t have been possible. It may not be immediately apparent … Continue reading
Posted in chemistry, physics, Tech
Tagged elements, space exploration, spaceflight
Artificial Trees, Real Energy
Take a look at this thing. It may look like an art installation of some kind, but it’s much more than that. This is a Wind Tree, made by a French startup company called New Wind, and it may hopefully … Continue reading
Riding a Dragon to the Moon
SpaceX have managed to make quite a splash by announcing yesterday that they plan to send a couple of space tourists on a trip around the Moon by the end of next year! Fly me to the moon … Okhttps://t.co/6QT8m5SHwn … Continue reading
Oh print me a home where the cosmic rays roam…
3D printing really is pretty amazing. By laying down successive layers of precursor material (typically liquid or powder), a 3D printer can create essentially any solid object, no matter how intricate. On the small scale, 3D printing technology has already … Continue reading
Eyes in the sky – looking at exoplanets
Anyone who’s been paying attention this last year will know that it’s been a turbulent year for space telescopes. Turbulent, but not without some unexpected windfalls. One in particular is that earlier this year, the US National Reconnaissance Organisation (NRO) … Continue reading
Now leaving the Solar System…?
There was an interesting tweet from the UK Space Agency yesterday… I have to agree. While it’s difficult to say exactly where the boundary of the solar system lies, it’s certainly true that the cosmic rays which Voyager’s reading seem … Continue reading
Shiny!
When constructed, the James Webb Space Telescope (or JWST for short) is scheduled for launch in 2018. When it does, it will be the largest and most complex orbital telescope ever constructed, with a 6.5 m primary mirror giving it … Continue reading
Posted in space, Tech
Tagged space exploration, telescopes
Second star to the right, and straight on till morning…
Dreamed up by the British Interplanetary Society in the 1970s, Daedalus was an idea for an unmanned interstellar space probe. It was to be powered by a nuclear fusion rocket, using a rocket engine bell larger than St Paul’s Cathedral. Continue reading
Warp drives! Nothing’s gonna stop us now?
Starships. The idea captures the imagination, doesn’t it? But special relativity is a harsh law to live by if we, as a species, ever plan to make it beyond the constraints of our own solar system. It imposes the ultimate … Continue reading
