A satellite is anything that orbits around another object. Moons are natural satellites that orbit around planets, whereas artificial satellites...
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work in the space sector? It goes way beyond astronauts and rockets and it’s growing fast!...
Aotearoa New Zealand’s remote location and unique geography have made its residents innovative by necessity. From inventing pōhā to preserve nga tītī to initiating refrigerated meat...
When you look across a lake, what colour do you expect to see? The common answer is usually blue – but what shade of blue? The...
Methane comprises just 0.00018% of the Earth’s atmosphere – so why are we concerned about it? Methane (CH4 ) is a greenhouse gas. It is the...
In order to reduce methane emissions, we need to know where they come from. Methane, like other greenhouse gases, is invisible to human eyes – so...
Satellites are built to perform specific functions. Expecting a GPS satellite to collect weather data is a bit like expecting your mountain bike to pull water...
Aotearoa New Zealand experiences a lot of geological activity – the land is right at the junction of the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates – making...
International fishing involves some really big numbers. There are an estimated 4.6 million fishing vessels in the world. Most of these are small and local, but...
The toroa/northern royal albatross is one of the largest seabirds in the world! They are referred to as graceful giants of the ocean, and with a...
This article is an introduction to GPS – how it works via satellite systems and trilateration, and how it is used in industry, transport and recreation....
When we first met Sir Peter Beck in 2010, his company Rocket Lab (formed in 2006) had not long achieved New Zealand’s first launch of a...
In November 2014, the European Space Agency (ESA) Rosetta Mission landed a space probe called Philae onto the surface of Comet 67P, while Rosetta continued to...
The European Space Agency (ESA) launched the Rosetta spacecraft from Earth in March 2004. It then took Rosetta 10 years to catch Comet 67P. On 12...
Educational research has shown that students develop intuitive ideas and beliefs about natural phenomena. As students learn more about their physical environment, they tend to interpret...
Position: Senior Lecturer, Gateway Antarctica, College of Science, University of Canterbury. Field: Glaciology and remote sensing Dr Wolfgang Rack, a senior lecturer at the University of...
Position: Senior Lecturer, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Canterbury. Field: System design, embedded systems, software engineering, Organisation: As a child, Dr Allan McInnes...
Position: Associate Professor, University of Canterbury. Director of Gateway Antarctica. Field: Atmospheric physics Dr Adrian McDonald is a senior lecturer with the Physics and Astronomy Department...
Position: Senior Research Engineer, Field: Electronic systems in harsh environments, Organisation: University of Canterbury Most parents have dreams for their children, and Kelvin Barnsdale’s father was...
If you think it is hard to keep your bedroom tidy, spare a thought for the space around our Earth. There are over 100 million particles...
Launching a satellite into orbit requires consideration of a number of major science ideas. These include gravity, circular motion and atmospheric drag. Atmospheric drag Satellites need...
A satellite is anything that orbits around a larger object. A natural satellite is any celestial body in space that orbits around a larger body. Moons...
Communications satellites are used to send and receive radio signals for television, phone or internet communications. Large concave reflectors called satellite dishes are normally used to...
An artificial satellite is an object that people have made and launched into orbit using rockets. There are currently over 3,000 active satellites orbiting the Earth....
Gravity is a force that attracts all objects towards each other. People are attracted towards the Earth and the Earth towards people, the Moon and the...
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