Why Katy Perry’s celebrity spaceflight blazed a trail for climate breakdown

Katy Perry and friends were savaged after their journey into space. The backlash is justified.

Steve Westlake, Lecturer, Environmental Psychology, University of Bath • conversation
April 17, 2025 • ~6 min

Bezos’ Blue Origin has successfully launched its New Glenn rocket to orbit − a feat 15 years in the making

Even without recovering New Glenn’s reusable booster, Blue Origin has joined the ranks of commercial companies with rockets able to launch into orbit.

Wendy Whitman Cobb, Professor of Strategy and Security Studies, Air University • conversation
Jan. 16, 2025 • ~8 min

Why does a rocket have to go 25,000 mph to escape Earth?

A rocket needs to overcome the force of gravity to leave Earth behind.

Benjamin L. Emerson, Principal Research Engineer, School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology • conversation
Jan. 13, 2025 • ~7 min

Nuclear rockets could travel to Mars in half the time − but designing the reactors that would power them isn’t easy

Sending a nuclear fission reactor into space means lots of technical questions. One research group is coming up with models that could improve how a nuclear rocket starts up and powers down.

Dan Kotlyar, Associate Professor of Nuclear and Radiological Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology • conversation
Oct. 4, 2024 • ~9 min

China's new space station opens for business in an increasingly competitive era of space activity

China has completed construction of the Tiangong space station, and science projects are now underway. The station is an important piece of China’s ambitious plans for space activity in coming years.

Scott Shackelford, Professor of Business Law and Ethics, Indiana University • conversation
Dec. 9, 2022 • ~9 min

Scientists calculate the risk of someone being killed by space junk

The southern hemisphere is more likely to be hit by space debris than the northern one.

Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences, The Open University • conversation
July 25, 2022 • ~7 min

Ukraine war: how it could play out in space – with potentially dangerous consequences

From harming satellites to crashing the ISS, the Ukraine war could soon extend to space.

Mark Hilborne, Lecturer of Defence Studies, King's College London • conversation
March 10, 2022 • ~7 min

An asteroid impact could wipe out an entire city – a space security expert explains NASA's plans to prevent a potential catastrophe

NASA has only mapped 40% of the potentially dangerous asteroids that could crash into Earth. New projects will boost that number, and upcoming missions will test tech that could prevent collisions.

Svetla Ben-Itzhak, Assistant Professor of Space and International Relations, West Space Seminar, Air War College, Air University • conversation
March 1, 2022 • ~10 min

Have we made an object that could travel 1% the speed of light?

The fastest things ever made by humans are spacecraft, and the fastest spacecraft reached 330,000 mph – only 0.05% the speed of light. But there are ways to go faster.

Chris Impey, University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of Arizona • conversation
Nov. 15, 2021 • ~5 min

A small telescope past Saturn could solve some mysteries of the universe better than giant telescopes near Earth

Such a mission could be developed soon, allowing astrophysicists to take selfies of the solar system and use the Sun’s gravity as a lens to peer deep into space.

Michael Zemcov, Associate Professor of Physics, Rochester Institute of Technology • conversation
Nov. 1, 2021 • ~9 min

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