Elon Musk has set an aggressive timetable to Mars which would aim to land men there by the end of the decade. How reasonable is it?

We need better resolution on the problem.

We need better resolution on the problem.

Can profit be made from solar energy in space, and used to bootstrap our interplanetary civilisation through capitalism?

A new player joins the space race

I am launching a new, ambitious campaign in the UK

Jeff Bezos is inspired by a vision that does not involve living on Mars—or on any planet besides Earth—but inhabiting artificial worlds in free space.

Jeff Bezos is inspired by a vision that does not involve living on Mars—or on any planet besides Earth—but inhabiting artificial worlds in free space.

There are always opponents to the concept of colonising Mars. Recently some of them seem to have coalesced around a few talking points. Let's address them.

Evaluating a years worth of development in space

Half a century ago, NASA was willing to fund a detailed study into what it would take to kick off space settlement. How has it held up since then?

President-elect Trump has made a disruptive choice for NASA administrator. What is the fate of the agency?

The Starship program is accelerating - when will it take over from Falcon?

It's the tenth anniversary of a modern sci-fi classic, and a chance to talk about the real science of getting to the stars.

It is now more likely than not that humans will reach Mars, which will transform life on this planet and beyond.

My first attempt at producing space hardware did not make it to space, but was an amazing educational experience.

There are people out there who don't watch rocket launches for fun. Some of them don't even know what an O'Neill cylinder is. How do we talk to those who don't live and breathe this stuff?

Elon Musk has set an aggressive timetable to Mars which would aim to land men there by the end of the decade. How reasonable is it?

Human migration into space is a form of escape; will it be competitive with others more established methods?

Eric Berger builds on his previous book Liftoff to tell the story of the Falcon 9, the rocket which changed spaceflight forever.

A new book by Greg Autry and Peter Navarro paints a stark picture of the challenged posed by Chinese space ambitions.

Once the UK was a serious player in space. Why did we give it up, and are we going to make the same mistake again?

Tracking how likely or not it is for SpaceX to reach their ambitious launch target this year, and whether the debut of operational Starship flights will maintain the pace.

Tracking how likely or not it is for SpaceX to reach their ambitious launch target this year, and whether the debut of operational Starship flights will maintain the pace.

What will be the biggest source of mass on orbit in the coming decades? Earth launched mass, or mass sourced from the Moon and other bodies?

I've been searching for quality criticism of the project of space settlement for some time, and found mostly uninformed snark. Could this book be different?

There has been an explosion of new ideas and new capabilities in the commercial sector. What is it all for though?

For forty years a simple probabilistic argument has attempted to show that the human story is coming to an end. The argument is flawed, and our journey is just beginning.

Virgin Galactic is Richard Branson's space tourism company. They operate a single vehicle - SpaceShipTwo - which after a lengthy development program is due to take paying passengers next year, and are beginning to make noises about offering some kind of new point-to-point transport across Earth. It is a hybrid rocket propelled spacecraft that is launched from a carrier aircraft, carrying four passengers to space at an altitude of 110km. They are attempting to commercialise the X-Prize winning SpaceShipOne flight that happened 16 years ago now, which has been a slow process and has included one serious accident that cost them a vehicle and the life of a pilot. Their stock value remains reasonably steady though, with many anticipating growth in the future. Business

Can Starship continue the growth curve demonstrated by Falcon 9? What does this mean for future SpaceX plans to services Artemis missions and colonise Mars?