By Devika S How does a sail on a boat work? Simply put, the forces of the wind on the sails (aerodynamics) work against the drag force from the water (hydrodynamics) to propel the boat through the water. But not all sails are powered by the winds on Earth. Applying sail technology to space has led to the development of the “solar sail”, a technology that relies on powering spaceflight by the force of radiation from a star. Solar sailing […]

By Ignacy Górecki There is no doubt that being an astronaut may be among the toughest jobs on the planet. Despite the dangers of working in space and the incredibly demanding selection process, many people dream of going into space. It is clear that being an astronaut requires excellency and a remarkable set of skills. But are those skills universal? What differentiates the class of “Mercury Seven” from candidates of the latest European Space Agency astronaut selection? Each class of […]

by Andrea Di Mauro The fascination of space exploration lies not only in the immensity of discoveries and knowledge offered, but also due to the variety of disciplines and fields of study that it requires. From an early age, when we think of space, images of satellites, spacecraft, and/or rockets may often come to mind. Those of us who even dream of building some of these spacecraft in the near future cannot help but venture into the arduous but rewarding […]

By Andrew Bartnik “We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch – we are going back from whence we came…”  John F. Kennedy Covering three quarters of the Earth’s surface and containing 97% of the planet’s water, it is unsurprising that the ocean has an immense influence on life on Earth. The ocean is the Earth’s “Great Moderator” — by sequestering enormous amounts of carbon it […]

By Davi Souza As the worldwide human population continues to increase, the concern to meet global nutritional demands is growing as well. A study in 2013 showed that current trends in yield improvement alone will not be sufficient to meet expected global food demand, and suggest that a further expansion of agricultural area may be required. Meanwhile, agriculture is the main driver of loss in biodiversity and a major contributor to climate change and pollution, and so further expansion may […]

by Oliver Kimmance Introduction The concept of traveling between stars throughout the universe has been envisioned by humanity for thousands of years. Until recently, this has purely been through our imagination, but with recent leaps in technological development in the last 50 years, this notion has turned from fiction into a real and exciting possibility. Not only this, interstellar space travel is becoming increasingly necessary as our pursuit to find and understand extraterrestrial life grows exponentially, and as we uncover […]

by Daniel Runyan In the 1500s, Spanish explorers traveled across New Mexico searching for fabled cities of gold. They never did discover a city of gold, but one thing they did find was a treacherous, sprawling,  ancient volcanic landscape. They marveled at the land laid before them, and the sheer variety of basaltic formations and remnants of past lava flows made the place an absolute pain to navigate. Such a pain in fact that Spanish mapmakers named the barren volcanic […]

By Arpita Saha “The Earth is the cradle of Humanity, but mankind cannot stay in the cradle forever.” Konstantin Tsiolkovsky What comes to your mind first when you hear the name of Voyager 1? Perhaps you’re aware that it’s the name of a spacecraft that has been traveling through space for a very long time. Perhaps you know of it due to the famous Pale Blue Dot image or because of it being the first thing created by humanity to […]

By: Reilly Sleater A cave is comparable to the oh-so-dreaded cavity your dentist may or may not find upon your next check-up. However, unlike a sugar-induced cavity, most caves were formed many thousands of years ago by Mother Nature! Caves can often be defined as natural openings or chambers in the Earth (sometimes also referred to as caverns when there is more than one chamber). There are many different types of caves, all categorized by how they were formed. For […]

By: Danna Camila Jaimes  Have you ever wondered if rocks have the ability to speak? Have you ever tried to understand what they are telling you? You probably think that this is a task that only concerns geologists or people who have advanced knowledge on the subject, but today I will give you basic information so that you can understand any rock that you find in your environment, if you wish. What are rocks made of? To begin with, rocks, […]