Breakthrough Starshot announced back in 2016, was an extremely ambitious project to send a fleet of miniature spacecraft powered by powerful lasers to Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our Solar System.
The proliferation of social media accounts sharing astronomical content has led to a significant amount of misleading and inaccurate information, primarily driven by engagement rather than accuracy. Facebook's algorithm favors sensationalist, low-effort posts, often created with minimal knowledge, diminishing the reliability of astronomical information on the platform.
The post clarifies the distinction between a planet's rotation period and its day length, emphasizing that for planets like Venus and Mercury, these can differ significantly. It explains the calculation of a day length and examines prograde and retrograde rotation, revealing misconceptions found in popular science.
Updated 30 November 2025 A lot has happened since I wrote a post back in June 2025 about the Artemis programme. At the time it looked like America would be landing astronauts on the Moon in mid-2027. However in October, concerned by delays in SpaceX’s Starship HLS, the NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy revealed that… Continue reading NASA’s Artemis Moon Missions Update
Updated August 2026 Solar sails are the only method of spacecraft propulsion in which no fuel is needed. Until recently spacecraft powered by solar sails were the stuff of science fiction. However, following the success of the Japanese spacecraft IKAROS in 2010 the crowd-funded Light Sail 2 spacecraft in 2019 and NASA's ACS3 in 2024,… Continue reading Solar Sails: Fuel-Free Space Travel
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