by Richard Easther | Dec 22, 2025 | Personal
President Kennedy famously launched the Apollo programme with the words, We choose to go to the Moon … not because [it is] easy but because [it is] hard. I sometimes joke to my research group, in a spirit of rueful disclosure, that we do these things, not...
by Richard Easther | Nov 6, 2025 | New Zealand, Science in Our Lives
“Good, fast and cheap” MethaneSAT tried for all three and got none. MBIE and the New Zealand Space Agency missed red flags in the initial bid. The MethaneSAT project did not keep promises of open and honest communication. Government officials supported...
by Richard Easther | Sep 23, 2025 | New Zealand, Personal, Physics
Perhaps it is true of all small countries, but New Zealand loves finding the local angle on global news. Earthquake in a distant land – was a New Zealander caught up in the shaking? No? Don’t worry, let’s find a compatriot who visited earlier in the week....
by Richard Easther | Sep 15, 2025 | New Zealand, Science in Our Lives
New Zealand has unique opportunities in space. A few weeks ago, I wrote a post (which turned into a Newsroom piece) that featured a per capita plot of 2025 launches by the few countries that are capable of sending payloads to orbit. Data from http://planet4589.org...
by Richard Easther | Aug 4, 2025 | Education, Personal, Physics
For students, as for all of us, the first step into physics is via classical mechanics. Motion and force, as observed in familiar phenomena and everyday examples. A ball in play, a waka pulled through the water by its paddlers, the construction of Stonehenge: to...
