Spaceman

Things are changing. The BBC's Spaceman has been assigned a new ship for his thoughts. So, as of today, this blog is moving to a new home , and taking on a format that you will recognise if you a...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jonathanamos/2011/05/changing-orbit.shtml

I’ve come to the Kennedy Space Center to witness the final launch of shuttle Endeavour. George Nelson (bottom-right) attempts to control Solar Max using the MMU It is due to lift off on Fri...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jonathanamos/2011/04/help-is-coming-for-satellites.shtml

It sits, fists clenched and arms folded to the chest. Robonaut 2 is ready for action on the space station. Humans have an innate need to explore. It cannot simply be left to robots The first...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jonathanamos/2011/04/future-space-shoulder-to-shoulder-with-robots.shtml

You have to wonder sometimes whether it is a rollercoaster that Europe plans on sending to Mars rather than a rover – such are the ups and downs and the sweeping curves on its ExoMars project ....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jonathanamos/2011/04/europe-at-mars-are-we-nearly-there.shtml

We’re a little bit clearer now in Europe on what the really big space science mission will be at the end of this decade… just a little bit. For the past four years, scientists and engineers...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jonathanamos/2011/04/europe-must-stand-tall-on-spac.shtml

The world is changing, and fast. Take the new report from the Royal Society. It's called Knowledge, Networks and Nations: Global Scientific Collaboration in the 21st Century . It examines how ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jonathanamos/2011/03/the-sun-rises-on-chinese-space.shtml

Wednesday presented an excellent example of the challenges faced by science-based industries in the UK; and, in particular, the space sector. In its Budget announcement, the London government s...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jonathanamos/2011/03/visions-of-space-separated-by.shtml

I've been troubled of late by the scale of things, by the vastness of space. It's been brought into focus by two things, I think. The first is the Voyager 1 probe - the most distant man-made o...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jonathanamos/2011/03/future-gazing-the-prospects-fo.shtml

I remember distinctly when Nigeria adopted its national space policy in 2001 someone turning to me in the BBC newsroom and saying, "what on Earth does Nigeria need a space programme for?" Nige...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jonathanamos/2011/03/nigeria-in-space.shtml

It was a big moment in every sense. When the Ariane 5 shook and lifted skyward, it marked not only the heaviest payload carried into orbit to date by Europe's premier rocket but the 200th mission...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jonathanamos/2011/02/space-freighter.shtml

I wondered how long it would take before we saw Europe's biggest space company, Astrium , step into the race to develop a follow-on to the soon-to-be retired space shuttle. It needs a US partne...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jonathanamos/2011/02/the-liberty-rocket-and-the-gen.shtml

More than 300 of Europe's leading space scientists gathered in Paris this week to discuss how to spend more than a billion euros. The options? Well, try to choose between these three: IXO would...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jonathanamos/2011/02/european-space-prepares-to-mak.shtml

So, the European Commission has hunted down that statistic I mentioned on Friday which shows just how reliant the European economy now is on GPS. I asked the EC to explain what was a fairly as...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jonathanamos/2011/02/the-small-matter-of-a-few-bill.shtml

The European Commission uses a very interesting statistic in support of its proposed satellite navigation system, Galileo. It appeared with the "mid-term review " of the project and the assess...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jonathanamos/2011/01/using-space-to-navigate-our-wa.shtml

Form follows function, they say. And if a machine works like a dream, perhaps it ought to look like one as well. Right? The Dream Chaser could be in orbit by 2014 I have no data to support th...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/jonathanamos/2011/01/chasing-the-dream-of-human-spa.shtml