Articles

Thoughts on Space Policy and Latest Space News. Published Monthly by the Sherwood Observatory.

My New Book is Out!

Finally, after over a year of hard work, the second edition of my first book is out! I’m thrilled about this new edition—essentially a...

Extraordinary Claims on Mars?

Let me put this out in front: Carl Sagan is a hero of mine. How could he not be? He was a scientific communicator par excellence. His...

Bennu's Secrets Unveiled

In October of last year, I shared my insights on the significance of sample return missions, with a particular emphasis on the OSIRIS-REx...

The Struggle for Freedom Beyond Earth

At some junctures in life, one often reevaluates their deeply ingrained beliefs. This introspection might involve spiritual reflection,...

Fresh Insights on Martian Methane

In this month's post, we review one of the most exciting discoveries made in our Solar System: the detection of methane gas on Mars. This...

Lake Vostok, Ocean Worlds Analogue

Within the field of astrobiology, Earth-based analogues of habitable environments found in space (e.g., early Mars) can provide deep...

Could Eris and Makemake be Ocean Worlds?

Building on the November post about the trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) and the remarkable observations made by the James Webb Space...

More Precursors of Life Found on Enceladus

Planetary exploration missions are journeys of epic endurance, stretching across many years and, more often than not, decades. Even after...

Another Great Year Ahead

The year 2023 has been exceptional in many regards, from the avalanche of JWST scientific papers covering many fields of astronomy to the...

Mars Mission in Trouble

Luck had it that as soon as I had decided to write an article for my October post on the importance of sample return missions on the back...

Trans-Neptunian Objects Under the Spotlight

When the James Web Space Telescope (JWST) was launched almost two years ago now—time flies—one of the key observations I was looking...

The Holy Grail of Planetary Science

After travelling for over 160 million kilometres in space, the OSIRIS-Rex spacecraft whizzed by Earth on the 24th of September to release...

India is on the Moon

Having written about the ups and downs of India’s past Chandrayaan missions in my second book – Imaging Our Solar System – it was with...

The Wanderers

Interstellar space, this vast region of space that lies between stars, is a very empty place with an average density of only about one...

Why Technosignatures is the Way

Is there anybody out there? The question of whether or not there is another life or even intelligent life in the universe is one of the...

Could There Be Another Kuiper Belt?

I have always been fascinated by the Kuiper Belt and the worlds that lay beyond it. The Kuiper Belt, home to Pluto and Arrokoth, is...

We're off to Ganymede!!

A few weeks ago, a booming sound rumbled throughout the lush jungles of French Guiana as Ariane V took off for its penultimate launch,...

A New Case for Ariel's Ocean

When Voyager 2 whizzed past Uranus in January 1986, it encountered a system tilted by 97.7 degrees, as if lying on its side. Such a...

First Step

‘Five minutes to go. You’re still OK, Harper?’ said a man through the intercom. Her voice was too dry to reply, so she gave a thumbs up...

Retrograde

This is the beginning of a novel. Chapter 1 Near Sarakka Crater, on Callisto Freyja’s pickaxe hit on the rock-solid ice hard. It made a...