A Handful of (Lunar) Dust

Last month, I was absolutely privileged to be invited to write a blog post for PTScientists, a German team competing to win the Google Lunar X-Prize. They are currently working on a landing vehicle that will transport their rover from sun-synchronous Earth orbit to the lunar surface, and I was honoured to take up their offer. Huge thanks to Sven, Robert and Karsten, as well as everyone else in Berlin. Here is the full text of that piece.

The other ocean world

As it turns out, we are not the only ocean world in our solar system. You just have to look for them.

Man versus machine

In the past week, a battle has been fought for the future of the world. A battle between man and machine. A battle taking place on a 45 cm squared wooden board.

Form and function

Architecture is difficult, for a lot of reasons. But there is one key question that every architect has to consider in the design of a building.

The glory of unity

In this time of British anxiety and debate over our future as part of the European Union, I think it was about time that I pitched in.

The beauty of death

There is something inexplicably beautiful about ruin and decay. I mean, this image should be sad – an ancient building has just been blown to bits. But there is still something oddly appealing about this sight.

The stars look very different today.

RIP Bowie.

The deadly lifesaver

Radiation is, when you think about it, really scary. You should actually be terrified of it. And also, it isn’t nearly as dangerous as you probably think it is.

Top tips for designing a giant orbiting death station

If you hadn’t already guessed, this is in response to The Force Awakens, which I had the great pleasure of seeing yesterday. 10/10, would definitely recommend.

I will do my best to avoid spoilers, but if you are an extreme purist, it might be best to read this with your eyes closed, just in case.

The future of electricity

In literally 1 week, the entire future of the human race may have changed. And this time, the chances of that happening are reasonably high.