Alastair Miles | Updates

Plotting

Alastair Miles — Sun, 1 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Can you digress before you even get started?

Let's find out.

Many words in English have alternative meanings, such as the word that forms the title of today's blog. However, the greatest of them all in this department is a word that runs to just three letters. And there's a major clue to what that word is in my previous sentence.

The word is 'run' and, in the 3rd Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, the entry on this particular word extends to 75 columns of text! It starts with "to go with quick steps on alternate feet" - and then the trouble starts…

As an example: After running with a group in bad weather you could get ill and run a fever, then run a bath to treat it. Because your nose is running you get distracted and the bath runs over and drenches your cotton bath runner. You then realise you've run out of medicine and also forgotten some things during your last grocery run so you run you run an app to place an online order so someone can run them over to you.

You get the idea.

Today though, I'm concerned with plot and the art of plotting. Now, plot, has only three meanings and I suggest that only 2 (maybe 2 and a half) of them have any relevance to writing. The first meaning is to 'secretly make plans and carry them out (an illegal or harmful action)'. You might want to keep a plot for a new film or novel secret, but I'd hope it isn't illegal - or harmful. Of more use are the definitions 'mark (a route or position) on a chart' and 'devise the sequence of events in (a play, novel, film or similar work)'. Sequences of events are important to good story telling as is a route through to the ultimate goal of your story.

I'm not writing this blog pretending that I'm a master of plotting. It's more to share my own haphazard approach to it in the hope to make you feel better if you're struggling with it yourself.

There's one author I read who churns out at least one book a year. They tend to be written in the same, or very similar, universe but, if you like the sort of stories he offers, then he does it very well. In an interview he once said that he comes up with rigid plots and does not allow his characters to stray off their preordained path. The upside is that this is, without doubt, the fastest way to a finished story. The downside is that it does take some of the joy away, and stories can feel unnatural when characters are required to hit story beats at regular intervals. I suppose it's all down to the skill of the writer when devising their initial plot.

I prefer to grant my characters a little more freedom. It seems strange to refer to creations that come from your own head as independent entities, but the fact remains that they can surprise you. Because it takes time to write a scene, possibly over a number of days (or weeks sometimes for me), that gives plenty of time for the old sub-conscious to come up with alternate ideas - and it feels more natural to grant characters some latitude. The downside is that it does require a little improvisation in order for your story to end up where it's supposed to - or somewhere close. But, in my view, plans change and it's all part of the journey.

As with all things in life, it's a balancing act. You don't want a stilted story but, at the same time, you don't want a story that meanders around without purpose dropping plot points along the way. I think when all is written and done, you need to be happy with what you’ve created - that is by far the most important thing.

So how to go about plotting?

I tend to start by writing a broad outline for a story, kind of like a synopsis but without any of the hard details filled in. From that I can break down the ideas into scenes with the key things that need to happen in order to move the plot forward.

The next problem is the sequencing. A novel should have more than one story thread and these need to develop in parallel. I've tried the classic of writing scenes on post-it notes and shuffling them on a whiteboard. That works very well but you need a lot of space. Being a design and development engineer I also use Excel, a program that is way more flexible than the accountancy application it was originally designed for. I create columns with my story threads and shuffle cells accordingly.

As I write, I sometime choose to interleave scenes. This is again a result of the more liberal approach I take to plotting. Sometimes it's easy to jump back and forth and write both together. Other times I write them individually and then go back and intercut them. Occasionally, I have a master scene that forms the backbone of a chapter with subsidiary scenes fitted within it. It all depends on what I think makes the story most engaging.

In conclusion, I follow my mood and am open to diversions and digressions - such as occurred at the start of this blog. However, I'm all for a basic plan, if you write without one you can get lost. Ultimately, whatever you do, writing a novel can be a daunting process so the most important thing is that you find it fun - so I say write in a way that best makes than happen.

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Apollo 17: The Last Footprints on the Moon

Alastair Miles — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Artemis II aims to send humans around the moon for the first time in over 50 years. At the time of creating this article, the mission is imminent. It could go as soon as February 2026, it may take until April. With a rocket costing billions of dollars and human lives at stake, NASA will only launch when both conditions and preparations are perfect.

So, with all this uncertainty, I thought I'd take a look back at the last time humanity visited the moon…

In December 1972, the Apollo program was winding down. NASA decided that if humanity was going to say goodbye to the Moon for a while then it should get the most out of its final, Apollo mission. The flight of Apollo 17 mixed science, symbolism, and a touch of human drama. At the heart of it all was a question. Should a scientist, a real working geologist, be allowed to walk on the Moon?

For most of Apollo, the crews had been cut from the same cloth: test pilots, military aviators, men trained to fly experimental aircraft through the unknown. They were steady, disciplined, and comfortable with risk. Scientists, on the other hand, were often seen — unfairly — as the sort of people who preferred notebooks to spacecraft. But the scientific community had long argued that if you’re going to spend billions visiting another world, shouldn’t you bring someone who actually knows what they’re looking at?

That someone was Dr. Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, a Harvard‑trained geologist who had joined NASA in the mid‑sixties. Schmitt wasn’t a pilot, but he was a master of reading landscapes, the kind of person who could glance at a rock and tell you a story about the Moon’s ancient past. After a long internal debate — and more than a little controversy — NASA made the call. Schmitt would fly on Apollo 17, replacing a highly respected test pilot. It was a bold decision, but one that would define the mission’s legacy.

Schmitt joined Commander Gene Cernan and Command Module Pilot Ron Evans, forming a crew that blended experience, curiosity, and a sense of fun. Cernan later joked that flying with a geologist meant he had to learn the names of rocks, but he also knew that Schmitt’s expertise would make Apollo 17 the most scientifically productive landing of them all.

And if you were going to send a geologist to the Moon, you needed to give him something interesting to explore. NASA chose the Taurus–Littrow Valley, a dramatic landscape on the edge of the Sea of Serenity. Orbital reconnaissance had shown that it had everything you could hope for from a lunar landing site: steep mountains, ancient lava flows, and boulders that had tumbled down from high ridges. Scientists hoped the site would offer samples from multiple eras of lunar history — perhaps even material blasted out by the enormous impact that formed the basin itself.

Cernan and Schmitt touched down on 11 December 1972, after a descent that involved dodging boulders and adjusting their landing point on the fly. When the dust settled, they found themselves in a valley unlike anything seen on previous missions. The mountains rose nearly two kilometres above them. The horizon felt close, the shadows long, and the silence absolute.

Over three days, they carried out three moonwalks, spending more than 22 hours outside the Lunar Module - the longest duration of any Apollo mission. They drove the rover across the valley floor, sampled boulders the size of cars, dug trenches, and collected one of the mission’s most famous finds: a patch of orange soil. Schmitt recognised it instantly as volcanic glass — the frozen spray of ancient fire‑fountain eruptions. It was exactly the kind of discovery a trained geologist was meant to make. Cernan and Schmidtt worked well as a team. Gene Cernan, mission commander slipped seamlessly into the role of assistant during the moonwalks, without any drama or fuss.

By the time they were done, they had gathered more than 110 kilograms of lunar material, including some of the oldest rocks ever brought back to Earth. Apollo 17 wasn’t just the last mission — it was arguably the richest in terms of scientific return.

But even the most ambitious journey has to end. On 14 December 1972, after their final traverse, Cernan and Schmitt prepared to leave the lunar surface. The moment carried a weight that neither man could ignore. They weren’t just ending a mission; they were closing the door on an era of exploration.

Before climbing the ladder, Cernan paused and delivered a short, reflective message — a kind of benediction for the Apollo age. He said:

“As we leave the Moon at Taurus–Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.”

Then, with a few final steps, he became the last human being to stand on the Moon. At 05:40 GMT, the hatch closed, and the age of Apollo moonwalks came to an end.

The ascent stage lifted off some time later, rising on a column of invisible exhaust and leaving behind the rover, the tools, and the descent stage — a silent museum in a valley of grey dust.

Apollo 17 remains an outstanding lunar mission: the longest stay on the Moon, the most samples collected, the best footage, and the only time a professional scientist walked on another world. But it also carries a bittersweet note. The footprints Cernan and Schmitt left in the Taurus–Littrow Valley are still there, untouched, waiting for someone to return.

And this is where the Artemis program comes in. Artemis II is, effectively, a test flight. In terms of crew it goes beyond the Apollo program. A woman is flying, a person of colour, a non-US citizen. Artemis is a dichotomy. It shows how far we've come as a society and, technically, how much ground we need to make up. With Artemis III, the plan is to return to the moon, and for an extended duration. But NASA has yet to receive a lunar lander capable of the job, so the date of this mission is both slipping and uncertain. The Chinese are aiming to send manned missions to the moon in 2030 - perhaps they will get there first.

But until someone returns, the last words spoken on the lunar surface belong to Gene Cernan, and the last footprints belong to a pair of explorers who made the Moon feel closer to us than ever before.

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Astronomy, the Universe and Everything

Alastair Miles — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Life, the Universe and Everything: a question to which the answer is 42… apparently. Today, I'm only going to tackle two thirds of that question, and all based on what we know so far. I'd advise you to strap in.

Astronomers like to joke that their job is simply to "look up". But if you’ve ever stood outside on a clear night, with little or no light pollution and "looked up" you've likely been staggered by all you can see. You might be able to spot a planet, the pole star, name some constellations, but you will be left struck by the immensity of it all - and how much you don't know.

So how do we start to make sense of the universe? The best way to begin is by patiently observing all that we can. Astronomers are the archivists of the universe, cataloguing what the cosmos has chosen to reveal to our ever improving instruments. Stars, galaxies, nebulae, quasars, rogue planets, supernova remnants—each object is logged, measured, compared, and placed into an ever‑expanding cosmic inventory. The universe is vast, but astronomy is built on the belief that if enough observations are made, patterns will emerge.

And indeed, they do.

However, observing the universe is only half the challenge. The other half is working out where everything actually is - and where it's going. Space does not come with convenient signposts or distance markers. When you look at a star, you have no intuitive sense of whether it is ten light‑years away or ten thousand - or if it's receding or approaching.

Measuring distances to local stars and objects is achievable by geometric techniques. Parallax is the apparent shift in an object's position when viewed from different locations. The Earth orbits the sun at a distance of about 90 million miles and, at the opposite sides of its orbit, local stars appear to shift position. By measuring these subtle shifts, their distances can be calculated. But this only works for objects that are relatively close.

To estimate distance on an intergalactic scale astronomers rely on objects with a fixed, known brightness. The further away these “standard candles” are, the dimmer they appear. So if you know how bright they are supposed to be then you can use this to estimate distance. Some examples of these standard candles are close enough to be measured by parallax, allowing their brightness to be calibrated. This is then used to measure the distances of standard candles further away and, by inference, anything (relatively) close to them. Cepheid variable stars, which pulse with a rhythm tied to their luminosity, were the first great breakthrough. Later came Type 1a supernovae, exploding stars so uniformly bright that they can be seen across billions of light‑years.

As to movement, this uses the "Doppler effect". Picture an ambulance racing past you. As it approaches, the pitch of the siren rises; as it speeds away, the pitch drops. Light behaves in the same way.

How does it work? Imagine a steady stream of joggers approaching in a line, and imagine they all want to give you a high-five. If you were to walk towards them, as they jog towards you, those high-fives would come more quickly. Alternatively, if you were to back away, those high fives would happen more slowly. Sore hand aside, what you've experienced is a change in frequency of those high-fives. With sound, a frequency shift results in a change in pitch. With light, it results in a change in colour.

In astronomy, when an object is moving towards us, the light waves shift towards blue. If it's moving away, then they shift towards the red. By measuring the redshift or blueshift of an object with a known colour you can deduce not only if it is coming or going, but how fast.

It's when we started putting these distance and speed measurements together that the story takes a dramatic turn. Astronomers used these measurements to study how galaxies move and they found something deeply unsettling. Galaxies were spinning so fast that, by rights, they should have torn themselves apart. The visible matter—stars, gas, dust—simply didn’t provide enough gravitational glue to hold them together. Something unseen had to be contributing mass, something that exerted gravity but emitted no light. This invisible scaffolding became known as dark matter. If it sounds like a vague name, it's because it is, it's a label for a phenomenon we don’t' understand. And the more astronomers looked, the more dark matter they found. In fact, it sculpts the large‑scale structure of the universe - like an invisible cosmic web.

But the surprises didn’t stop there. When researchers used the Type 1a supernovae (which I mentioned earlier) to measure how the universe’s expansion had changed over billions of years, they expected to find that gravity was slowing everything down. Instead, they discovered the opposite. The expansion was accelerating, as if some mysterious force were pushing galaxies apart faster and faster. This repulsive influence was christened dark energy, another name that admits that we have no idea what it truly is.

The really astounding thing about dark matter and dark energy is that, if it exists, it makes up about ninety‑five percent of the universe. It is humbling to think that despite all we can see, the best we can currently do is speculate that it is dwarfed by what is invisible and untouchable.

Fortunately, science is not content to stop there. Recently, astronomers and cosmologists have started asking whether dark matter and dark energy are the only—or even the best—ways to explain what we see. Some suggest that our understanding of gravity might be incomplete, or that Einstein’s equations might be missing a footnote or two when applied to the entire universe. Others argue that the apparent acceleration could be a result of the assumptions baked into our observations.

It all leads to a big cosmic cliff-hanger. Where does it all end? Or does it? If dark energy keeps pushing, the universe will expand forever, growing forever colder and lonelier. But if dark energy changes over time, or if gravity has a surprise twist waiting in the wings, the expansion could slow, stop, or even reverse. In that case, everything might one day come crashing back together in a dramatic "big crunch"—that ends where everything began.

When it comes to science, there are literally no bigger questions than this. It's what makes astronomy so compelling, a field where every answer is an invitation to ask a better question.

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Blogs! Blogs! Blogs!

Alastair Miles — Mon, 8 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I've added a few more since I last wrote some updates and, believe it or not, they're not all about space...

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Nice review from 'If This Goes On (Don't Panic)'

Alastair Miles — Mon, 8 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I love the name of the blog and I like the interview they gave me! Follow the link to check it out: https://itgodp.libsyn.com/baileys-books-sword-sorcery-science-astronauts-ais-horrors-hurricanes

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Voyager 1 - Our far flung traveller

Alastair Miles — Sat, 29 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Voyager 1 will soon achieve a cosmic milestone. Allow me to explain…

When you turn on the light in a room it looks like it becomes instantly bright. But that's not quite the case. In reality, light races from the bulb at nigh on 186,000 miles per second, so it doesn't fill the room instantaneously - but it does get mighty close

186,000 miles per second is mind bogglingly fast. At that speed you could circle the Earth seven times in the blink of an eye, or reach the moon in just over a second.

But what it we stretch that out? How far could light travel in a day? The answer is that in one full day, light covers 16 billion miles. It's a vast distance - even compared to our solar system. For example, the planet Neptune is the furthest out from the sun of the eight major planets that circle it. 16 billion miles is enough to traverse the diameter of Neptune's orbit not once, not twice, but three times, with distance to spare. In fact, 16 billion miles is roughly the distance Neptune covers during one lap around the sun. Neptune takes 165 years to cover this distance; light can do it in a day.

To put this into context, if we were to try and drive 16 billion miles at motorway speed it would take us 23 million years!

So it might seem inconceivable that a manmade object could cover such a distance. But the astonishing news is that one of our spacecraft, Voyager 1, is about to reach that very milestone in late 2026. In other words, Voyager 1 will soon be one light-day away from Earth. That means if you send it a signal, the reply won’t come back until tomorrow.

Voyager 1 began its journey back in 1977, launched from Cape Canaveral. It was part of a pair, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, designed to explore the outer planets. Voyager 1 flew past Jupiter in 1979, then Saturn in 1980, sending back images that stunned the world before hurtling out into deep space. Voyager 2 took the grand tour, also visiting Jupiter and Saturn before going on to visit Uranus and Neptune - the only spacecraft to see them up close.

When the Voyager probes were launched they didn't just fly straight out to their targets with the sun at their backs. To reach the outer planets and the speeds required to cover such vast distances they used something called a gravity assist or slingshot manoeuvre.

So how does this work? Imagine you could take a God's eye view of the solar system and look down on all the planets orbiting the sun like runners going around a circular track. When the probes launched from Earth they spiralled out towards Jupiter, like a runner changing lanes. Both of them had to catch Jupiter up, meaning that Jupiter was racing away while they were racing to catch up. All this time, Jupiter's gravity was pulling at them and this long, drawn out fall, gave them a significant increase in speed. On leaving Jupiter, they changed course and spiralled out again, repeating the trick with Saturn.

For this to work; the planets need to be in very specific positions - and this was the case in the late 1970's. It's a situation that won't happen again until the mid-2150's so NASA had to race against an immovable deadline to get the probes finished. In Voyager 1's case it reached Jupiter and Saturn before being flung out on a direct route out of the solar system. Voyager 2 was the special one, its launch timed to repeat the same slingshot trick with Jupiter, Saturn, then Uranus and Neptune, before finally heading out of the solar system itself.

Today, both Voyagers are beyond the bubble of the Sun’s influence — in interstellar space. Their instruments are still working, though power is fading. They’re now measuring cosmic rays, magnetic fields, and the thin plasma between the stars. No other spacecraft has ever sent back data from this region.

And each carries a message: the Golden Record. A disk etched with images, greetings in dozens of languages, sounds of Earth — waves, birdsong, laughter — and music from Bach to Chuck Berry.

So spare a thought for Voyager 1, as it travels through the deep black. It's a time capsule, a postcard from humanity, drifting forever through the stars...

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Submitting Work and Coping with Rejection

Alastair Miles — Sun, 2 Nov 2025 00:00:00 +0000

You spend years pouring you heart and soul into creating your masterpiece. It becomes everything you'd ever want in a story. It has to be shared with the world. How could anyone not want to read your work?

OK, maybe not everyone has that level of self-belief. Perhaps your work has not been years in the making and, most likely, you're writing in a niche rather than attempting to move the soul of the entire world. But the fact remains that you think that there are people out there who will enjoy your work, and you want to share it with them.

As I hope you can tell, this is a different blog to the space themed ones I've put up here to date. I recently had the happy experience of taking part in the Bristol Film and Literary Festival. During my interview, one of the questions I was asked is how, as a writer, you deal with rejection. So, for what it's worth, here are my thoughts.

My situation with Sub-Luminal was that it had taken me to years to finish. I write around a family and a full time job so the process is slow. But it's a hobby, I do it for fun, I'm not writing to a schedule. The strange thing is that while I'm creating something I rarely think about the process of taking it further - and how difficult that might be.

In my case, I don't find self-promotion easy so that left me with finding someone else who believed in what I'd done and was prepared to invest themselves in it. I thought about trying to find an agent, but that's difficult without fame or a proven track record. I then discovered that there are a good number of brilliant, Indy Publishers who are prepared to consider submissions from authors without an agent. However, as you might imagine, they get inundated and most of the time you will not make it beyond their slush pile.

So, with the above in mind, you have to be prepared for rejection. Appreciating that this is going to happen is no bad way to be. Positivity has its place (without it you wouldn't submit anything all), but you need a realistic mind set if you're going to keep going.

I went about submitting by first researching and creating a list of candidate publishers. Amongst them, inevitably, were ones that I thought were a better bet than others. This is quite subjective, it could be a combination of factors such as the vibe you get about who they are to the types of books they have on offer. The irony is that, as a writer, at this stage you're assessing them rather than them assessing you. It's nothing personal, we all have our preferences - and that's exactly how you have to look at rejections.

The next thing I did was limit myself to an average of 1 submission a week. This, for me, is a really important point. I could have tried to blitz my list in one weekend, but I don't recommend this to you for a number of reasons.

Firstly, none of your submissions would be very good. All the submission guidelines vary slightly and it's important to respect a publisher's exact requirements - first impressions are everything. Also, despite a lot of preparation before sending my first one, over time my submissions became stronger and stronger as I refined the wording of my pitch and synopsis to engage a reader within the limited time that I had their attention. In fact, that's a good argument for not sending your first submission to the publisher at the very top of your list. Pick someone who ranks highly, but no more than that. Only later go for your preferred options, that way they will get your strongest submission - you will go on finding improvements way beyond the point you thought no more were possible. In the unlikely event that you get lucky early doors don't regret not contacting your first choice, you've done well to get anyone's interest at all.

Secondly, if you send out a flood of submissions then you'll get hit by a flood of rejections. While there is quite a lot of variation in response time, generally speaking, the publishers who pride themselves on responding to everyone will do so within a few weeks. That way they can keep on top of their slush piles. So you'll end up with a lot of rejections coming together - it could be tough to take.

Finally, it's not really fair to send out loads of submissions at one time. You're just creating more work for everybody. Even if you're work is beyond astounding and you get more than one contract offer, you're going to end up annoying somebody when you turn them down - and that could come back to bite you.

In my case, by keeping my submissions to a manageable rate I was able to limit the flow of rejections to one that I could take in my stride. It worked for me.

The other thing to tell yourself is that getting a break takes a certain amount of luck - luck being where 'preparedness meets opportunity'. All you can do is be as prepared as you can be, the rest is looking for that opportunity.

In my case, the opportunity came with the advent of AI. I happened to have written two AI characters in Sub-Luminal (well before AI became a thing) and, when I saw it becoming topical, I started tailoring my applications to make reference to this (another reason for not blitzing all your submissions in one go).

In my book, the AI's are self-aware characters - not the trained assistants we have on the internet. But the link was there, and I think that spoke to the publishers who took on my manuscript. It could well be what made the difference. (As an aside, if you want an interesting experience then try quizzing an AI on whether it is self-aware, they get surprisingly defensive!)

The worst rejections to get are the ones where you get further down the line than usual, only to still come up short. It can be a struggle to avoid getting your hopes up only to see them dashed. I tried so hard to avoid getting excited about these situations that when one of them actually turned into a contract offer, I had to read the message twice before I realised it wasn't another rejection. It seems that however you set yourself up mentally, there's always a downside. But I'm glad I was finally able to read the offer properly and realise what I had!

If you take anything from this it should be that there is no magic formula, just do your best. I might be British, it might be a cliché, but when it comes to this game I think 'Keep calm and carry on' sums it up perfectly.

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Come and say hello at the Bristol Literary Film Festival on November 1st!

Alastair Miles — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I am very honoured to be taking part and proceeds from all ticket sales go to Saint Peter's Hospice. If you live anywhere near and fancy a day out I would love to meet you.

It's taking place at Bradbury Hall THURC, United Kingdom, BS9 4BT

You can find information on all the events here: What’s On In Bradbury Hall THURC, Bristol | TicketSource

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Dragonfly

Alastair Miles — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

(Image by Steve Gribben/NASA/Johns Hopkins APL)

If you’ve ever dreamed of exploring alien worlds, Titan might just become your next obsession. Saturn’s largest moon is a place of paradoxes: it’s freezing cold, yet brimming with organic chemistry; it’s drenched in methane rain, yet eerily Earth-like in its landscapes. And in 2028, NASA plans to send a flying robot there - not a rover, not a lander, but a drone. A nuclear-powered, eight-rotor, science-packed flying machine called Dragonfly.

Titan is no ordinary moon. It’s bigger than Mercury and wrapped in a thick, golden-orange atmosphere - even denser than Earth’s. In fact, it's the only moon in our solar system with an atmosphere to call its own. That atmosphere is mostly nitrogen, with a generous helping of methane, creating a smoggy veil that hides a surface sculpted by rivers, lakes, and dunes. But instead of water, Titan’s rivers flow with liquid hydrocarbons. It’s a world where the familiar meets the bizarre, and where the building blocks of life may be quietly brewing beneath the ice.

This is why Titan has captured the imagination of scientists and storytellers alike. It’s a frozen time capsule, possibly echoing the conditions of early Earth. Complex organic molecules swirl in its skies and settle on its surface, forming what some call a “prebiotic soup.” That’s science-speak for the kind of chemistry that might one day evolve into life - or might already have, hidden deep below.

In fact, billions of years from now the sun is expected to swell in size as it nears the end of its life. For the best part of a billion years it will put out enough heat to warm Titan. It might just become a new Earth, although its lifespan will be a lot shorter than the planet that we are privileged to call home.

But, back to the present, to explore this alien world, NASA is building Dragonfly, a car-sized rotorcraft designed to fly across Titan’s surface like a giant robotic insect. Scheduled to launch in July 2028 aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy, Dragonfly will arrive at Titan in 2034 after a six-year interplanetary cruise. Once there, it will do something no spacecraft has ever done: take off, fly, land, and repeat - all on an alien moon, well over a billion miles away.

Dragonfly is a marvel of engineering and it’s a symbol of how far we’ve come; from the Wright brothers to flying machines designed for controlled flight on another moon. It uses eight rotors arranged in four pairs, giving it the ability to hover, manoeuvre, and land vertically. Titan’s thick atmosphere and low gravity make flying easier than on Earth, so Dragonfly will be able to soar with surprising efficiency. Instead of solar panels, which wouldn’t work well under Titan’s dim skies, it’s powered by a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, a kind of nuclear battery that provides a steady stream of energy to keep its instruments running and its rotors spinning.

And, speaking of instruments, Dragonfly is a mobile science lab, equipped with cameras for panoramic views, a mass spectrometer to analyse surface samples, and tools to study Titan’s weather and subsurface composition. More than that, because Titan is so far away, Dragonfly will fly itself, using autonomous navigation to scout new landing sites and avoid hazards. It’s a robot with brains and wings.

The mission’s goals are as ambitious as its design. Dragonfly will explore Titan’s chemistry, assess its habitability, and search for signs of life. It will hop between dozens of sites, starting in the Shangri-La dune fields and eventually making its way to Selk Crater - a place where water and organics may have mixed in the past. That’s a recipe for life, and a tantalizing target for exploration.

If successful, Dragonfly could pave the way for future missions to other moons like Europa or Enceladus. It might even help us answer one of humanity’s oldest questions: are we alone?

So, let's hope for a successful lift off in 2028 and a safe arrival on Titan in 2034 and then we'll need to keep an eye on two sets of skies - not just Earth’s, but Titan’s - because somewhere out there, a robot named Dragonfly will fire up its rotors, take flight and do it all in the name of science.

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If you could take a trip into space, where would you go?

Alastair Miles — Wed, 3 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I've got some options in my latest blog!

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Space holidays!

Alastair Miles — Wed, 3 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

If you could take a trip into space, where would you go?

Perhaps you wouldn't go at all. Perhaps you might consider the risks too great, be it taking off or the prospect of being surrounded by an environment that could kill you in seconds. That's entirely understandable, but you'd be missing out on a lot.

Maybe you'd be content with just a sub-orbital flight? These are available now (to anyone with several million dollars to spare). Blue Origin's New Shepherd flies passengers to the edge of space (just over 60 miles up), from where they see the sky go black and experience the curvature of the Earth. Up there, any passenger has a claim to being an astronaut - although this is being disputed. But, if you want to dip your toe and no more, then the good news is this flight only takes 10 minutes.

If that's not long enough, World View Enterprises might have the answer. They are hoping to be able to offer a balloon flight to about 20 miles up. You will still see the sky go dark and the horizon curve, but you wouldn't experience weightlessness, and won't have a claim to being an astronaut. However, you'd have more time to enjoy the view and the cabin you'd travel in would be far larger and more luxurious.

However, it seems a shame not to go into orbit. In that case, perhaps you'd aim for a trip to the International Space Station or, if they'd have you, China's Tiangong - smaller but far more modern.

But let's push it further. In the next century or so there might be far more space-based destinations that mankind could reach.

The easiest of these is a trip to the moon. There are plans to return in the next few years. A mission called Artemis 2 is scheduled to fly a human crew past the moon in 2026 and the mission after that is aiming for a lunar landing (but it's waiting for a lunar lander to be built). The Chinese aim to get to the moon by 2030, and there's a good chance there'll be the first to do so this century.

Travelling to the moon really lets you appreciate the beauty of the Earth, be that an Earth rise in lunar orbit or standing on the surface and looking up at our blue marble. The moon is our nearest extra-terrestrial body and visiting it would be quite the experience. In this case, you can there and back in just over a week. But, if we build a moon base, it would be a pity not to stay for longer.

Beyond the moon, your next ambition should be to land on another planet - and it's conceivable that the technology could one day exist to do so. Here, there are three options: Mercury, Venus and Mars. The other planets in the solar system are gas giants, which have no surface to land on - and they are also a long way away.

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and has the most extreme range of temperatures in the solar system. In the daytime, the surface reaches 430°C, while at night it drops as low as -180°C. The only viable option would be to land on the night side and, with days lasting almost 60 times longer than on Earth, this would give you a lot of time to explore. But it seems a pity to stay in the dark - and have to be so cold.

Venus, unbelievably, is even hotter than Mercury. The victim of a runaway greenhouse effect, atmospheric pressure is 90 times that of Earth at its surface and the atmosphere itself is highly corrosive, with thick clouds of sulfuric acid.

In short, going to the surface is a non-starter.

Staying high up in the atmosphere is possible, at an altitude where the pressure drops to that on the surface of the Earth, temperatures are in the high twenties (Celsius). But there's still the corrosion to contend with and you've gone all the way to visit a planet without actually landing on it.

Mars is by far the most viable option. It gets very cold, but its maximum temperatures can approach 20°C. It has an (extinct) volcano twice the height of Everest and a canyon system that makes the Grand Canyon look no more than a ditch. There's even the chance that you might be the first to discover evidence that life once existed there. Beyond its surface it even has a couple of moons to explore, likely to be captured asteroids.

Speaking of asteroids, beyond Mars lies the asteroid belt. This has any number of destinations to choose from. The largest asteroid is Ceres, a near spherical asteroid large enough to be classified as a dwarf planet, yet only a quarter of the size of the moon. The big advantage of asteroids is that none of them are large enough to possess a significant amount of gravity. A trip to the asteroid belt could potentially be the opportunity to visit several destinations, as the fuel required to hop from one to the next is far less than required to take off from one planet and land on another. Almost as large as Ceres are Vesta, Pallas and Hygiea. But perhaps the most interesting asteroid to visit is 16 Psyche. This is a metallic asteroid, which is thought likely to have been part of a proto planet's metallic core. The raw materials it contains are estimated to be worth ten thousand quadrillion dollars - that's a 1 with 19 zeroes after it!

Beyond the asteroid belt we're really beginning to stretch what might be possible anytime soon(ish). Uranus and Neptune, the two furthest out planets have only been visited once to date, and only in passing. So let's leave them out of this.

Jupiter and Saturn might be possible. After all, we've managed to put spacecraft into orbit around both of them. The main challenge with these two worlds is radiation. Jupiter is by far the worse of the two, but Saturn's radiation is not insignificant. To go there and survive would require some kind of medical treatment or spacecraft shielding beyond what is currently possible.

But let's assume it is!

While you can't land on these planets, they both offer a larger number of moons to visit. For me, the pick of Jupiter's moons is Europa because of the tantalising prospect of life existing below its icy shell. Io, an extremely colourful, highly volcanic moon, is a close second. But I would never feel entirely safe on its surface.

As to Saturn, Titan is its most famous satellite. It's the only moon in the solar system with an atmosphere denser than Earth's. In the far future it might become hospitable to life. But for now, you might want to take walks by lakes of methane while it gently rains from the sky. On a clear day you would be able to see out into the cosmos and might be treated to a stunning view of Saturn and its rings.

An alternative might be Enceladus. It's famous for its 'tiger stripes' - these exhibit cryovolcanic activity; shooting ice out into space. Again, there is the tantalising prospect of liquid water below the surface and, therefore, maybe life as well.

It's a hard choice to make. Mars is probably the pick of the bunch for me, but I'm torn with pushing on out to the asteroid belt. To open up the solar system it's likely that we're going to have to learn to live there and exploit its resources. So the sooner we get there the better.

But, the truth of the matter is that we're already living on by far the best planet in the solar system. When it comes down to it, wherever else we might go, we're always going to be thinking of coming back here…

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The Rubin C. Observatory

Alastair Miles — Fri, 8 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The newly built Vera C. Rubin Observatory is our cosmic sentinel. Based in northern Chile, it is one of the most ambitious astronomical projects of the 21st century. Formerly known as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), a bit of a mouthful, the observatory was renamed in honour of Vera Rubin whose work provided compelling evidence for the existence of dark matter.

Dark matter is a material whose existence we have inferred, because it cannot be seen directly. Astronomers have done a lot of work estimating the amount of visible matter in the universe. The problem is that there is not enough visible matter to account for a number of gravitational effects that have been observed. For example, stars have been seen to orbit around galaxies faster than should be possible with the gravity provided by visible matter. Gravitational lensing, where a cluster of celestial objects can bend light around themselves, is, in some cases, greater than can be accounted for. The theorised answer is that dark matter, a lot of it, exists alongside the visible matter we can see. Rubin will have a pivotal role in probing this invisible scaffolding that permeates the universe.

At the heart of this new observatory is an extraordinary digital camera — the largest ever constructed for astronomy. It has an astonishing 3.2-gigapixel resolution. This is equivalent to hundreds of smart phone cameras combined. The images it captures are so detailed that displaying just one would require hundreds of ultra-high-definition televisions tiled together. Physically, the camera is about the size of a small car and weighs over three tons. It can capture a field of view equivalent to 40 full moons, enabling it to image vast swaths of the sky in a single exposure.

The observatory’s primary mission is a decade-long project to repeatedly image the entire southern sky. Over the course of ten years, each region of the sky will be observed roughly 800 times, creating an unprecedented time-lapse of cosmic activity. Incidentally, the dwarf-planet Pluto was discovered in this manner, almost a hundred years ago, by manually comparing photographic plates. This new facility will do much the same on a far, far, far more impressive scale. Each night, this survey will generate about 20 terabytes of data, enough to fill about 40 average laptops. To cope with this, the Rubin Observatory’s data pipeline is designed to process this data in near real-time, allowing astronomers to respond rapidly to short-lived events such as supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, and near-Earth asteroids.

One of Rubin's most exciting, early achievements was the observatory’s role in capturing the first images of 3I/ATLAS, a newly identified interstellar comet — only the third such object ever discovered. Unlike comets native to our solar system, 3I/ATLAS is just passing through. It's a remarkable object that we would have likely otherwise missed; some estimates suggest it may be over 7 billion years old, making it older than our solar system itself.

Beyond interstellar visitors, the observatory has already detected over 2,000 new asteroids, including several near-Earth objects that could one day pose an issue that could require planetary defence. Rubin's ability to spot faint, fast-moving objects will be crucial for cataloguing both potentially hazardous asteroids as wells as the greater population of small bodies in our solar system.

Returning to dark matter, one of the observatory’s most transformative contributions will be mapping the distribution and motion of billions of galaxies, Rubin will help scientists infer the gravitational effects of dark matter and measure the expansion history of the Universe. Its data will also be used to refine models of cosmic structure formation and test theories of fundamental physics.

Beyond its technical achievements the Rubin Observatory should also be noted for its commitment to open science. All data will be made publicly available, with tools and platforms designed to support both professional researchers and citizen scientists. This is expected to foster a new era of collaborative discovery, where breakthroughs may come from unexpected quarters. Educational initiatives tied to the observatory aim to engage students and the public with the evolving story of the Universe, using real data to inspire curiosity and learning.

In essence, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is not just a telescope — it’s a cosmic census taker, and a sentinel watching the ever-changing sky. Its combination of technological prowess, scientific ambition, and public accessibility positions it as a cornerstone of modern astronomy. As it begins its full operations, the observatory promises to reshape our understanding of the Universe and usher in a golden era of cosmic exploration.

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Check out my latest blog!

Alastair Miles — Tue, 8 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This time it's all about the Parker Solar Probe.

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Touching the sun: The Parker Solar Probe

Alastair Miles — Tue, 8 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I'm writing this in the summer during a spell of hot weather (yes, even in the UK). So I think it's fitting to write about a spacecraft that's been feeling the heat for quite some time - and it's just achieved a significant milestone.

The Parker Solar Probe is a ground-breaking spacecraft launched on the 12th August 2018, by NASA. Its objective was to fly closer to the sun than ever before and gather data on the solar corona, the outermost layer of the Sun's atmosphere.

The corona is a halo of extremely hot plasma that extends millions of miles into space and is not visible from Earth except during a total solar eclipse (or with specialized telescopes called coronagraphs). It is surprisingly hot, reaching temperatures of millions of degrees Celsius. In fact, it's roughly a thousand times hotter than the surface of the sun itself.

Understanding the corona will help with determining the origins of something called the solar wind - a continuous stream of charged particles that are ejected from the corona. This plasma flows outward through the solar system, interacting with planets and other objects it encounters. On Earth, the results can be beautiful, creating auroras (the Northern and Southern Lights). But, if the Solar Wind gets too strong, it can cause geomagnetic storms that can disrupt our satellites and power grids

Incidentally, the most powerful geomagnetic storm in recorded history is known as the Carrington Event, and occurred in September 1859. It was triggered by a massive solar flare observed by astronomers Richard Carrington and Richard Hodgson, and the auroras it created were seen as far down as the tropics. It caused significant disruption to telegraph systems. If such an event were to catch us unprepared today then the results could be devastating. Hence the need to better understand the solar wind.

So, now we know why the Parker probe exists, the next question is how does it protect itself? There are several elements to this:

· An effective heat shield: this is a 4.5 inch thick, carbon composite layer, coated in reflective paint, which keeps the probe's instruments at about 30°C.

· The shadow cone: the probe's automated control systems ensure its instruments stay in the shade of the heat shield at all times. If the probe were to drift out of alignment, the intense sunlight could swiftly damage components.

· Solar array cooling: unsurprisingly, the probe makes use of solar power. But its arrays partially retract when close to the sun and have water-cooled radiators (one of the few times water is used in spaceflight as a coolant).

· Materials and insulation: the components of the spacecraft have high heat resistance and are covered in thermal blankets and coatings to minimize heat transfer and radiation absorption.

Even with all this technology, the probe's survival relies on an interesting fact about the corona itself. Although its temperature is measured in the millions of °C, its density is very low - so the Parker Probe doesn’t experience as much heat as might be expected. It’s like putting your hand in an oven versus boiling water: the temperature may be higher, but the energy transfer is lower. As such, the temperature that the heat shield experiences is ~1500°C - still extremely hot, but not unmanageable.

The Parker Solar Probe only dives towards the sun at the lowest point of its elliptical, solar orbits. The original mission was for 24 orbits over roughly 7 years, drawing nearer to the sun using Venus gravity assists. These orbits have now been completed and the probe no longer gets close enough to Venus for further assistance. It is now stuck in its current orbit and dives within ~3.8 million miles (~6.2 million km) of the Sun's surface.

Parker's instruments are too many to list here. Perhaps most notable is its wide-field overhead camera system that captures imagery of the corona and solar wind structures. It also has a suite of sensors for capturing electric/magnetic field data and to track and measure energetic particles.

The data the probe has collected has done a lot to aid our understanding of the origins of the solar wind. Its detections of thinning dust within close proximity of the sun support theoretical predictions - increasing confidence in our models of solar behaviour. But mysteries remain - for example, surprising directional shifts in the corona's plasma flow have yet to be understood.

The probe has broken a number of records. These include becoming the first spacecraft to enter the corona and 'touch the sun' in 2021. Each time the probe flew closer it posted a new record for closest approach and fastest manmade object, achieving a highest speed of ~430,000 mph (~700,000 km/h).

The good news is that Parker is not done yet. It will continue operations until at least 2026, pending review. Further close approaches and data collection during rising and declining solar activity could revolutionize our understanding of solar dynamics.

With each successful flyby and scientific milestone the Parker Solar Probe is bringing humanity a step closer to understanding our star. Our sun is a giver of life, but it has the potential to take it away too - it's therefore important to be able to predict its behaviour.

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Great review + new blog

Alastair Miles — Sat, 31 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Jodie over at Witty and Sarcastic Book Club has written a wonderful review of Sub- Luminal. It's always nice to get some kind words.

https://wittyandsarcasticbookclub.home.blog/2025/05/27/book-review-sub-luminal-by-alastair-miles/

Perhaps I should quite while I'm ahead. But, no, I've written a blog too - and it's about kindness (kind of). Check it out!

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Star Trek Fights V Friendship - And the lost art of getting along?

Alastair Miles — Sat, 31 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

You will not be surprised to learn that Star Trek ranks amongst my favourite TV shows. I should say that we're not in an exclusive relationship. I'm a fan of Star Wars, Stargate, Babylon 5, Doctor Who, The Expanse… the list goes on and on. I can even be persuaded to watch things without any kind of science fiction element - occasionally.

I hate to break it to people, but I'm far from convinced that Star Trek will ever become a reality. But it has some core themes running through it that I wish were so - and they don't involve warp drives. Gene Rodenberry wanted to create a world where different people worked together towards common goals. The original series had a Russian on the bridge of the Enterprise when Russia (then the core of the Soviet Union) was, arguably, less favourably regarded in the west than it is now. The Next Generation (new crew and new adventures from the 80's) went even further and had (horror of horrors) a Klingon officer.

One of the core setups of Star Trek is that we humans are part of a Federation - a collection of alien civilisations that work together to make the galaxy a better place. The message being that we can find ways to get along.

However, it has to be acknowledged that, when it comes to storytelling, we don't tend to favour getting along over conflict.

In the original series, Kirk fought many enemies: Klingons, Romulans, slow-moving, green lizard, type humanoids etc etc. When the same crew moved to films, one of the most highly regarded Star Trek movies is Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - a Hornblower-esque tale where Kirk battles a genetically enhanced ruler from the 1990's (see what I mean about not becoming reality?). Truth be told, it was very exciting, I watched in the cinema as a kid and got desperately upset about the ending (another story). Admittedly, by modern standard, it is sometimes laughable. For example, did you know that you can gain control of a starship by broadcasting a 5 digit pin (with no repeating numbers allowed)? I guess firewalls are no longer a thing in the 23rd century. But the point is that it was the struggle that makes the film so compelling.

In Star Trek: The Next Generation some of the most popular episodes revolve around battles with the Borg, a cybernetic race who talk about the futility of resistance (not existence - that's a whole other philosophical discussion). The same goes for its movies, First Contact (the one with the Borg), is seen as the best.

I get that conflict is what makes stories involving and exciting - it excites me too. However, much as Trekkies might be accused on not living in the real world, it's a shame we can't get more interested in Star Trek's core ideas.

We know that a good team is greater than the sum of its parts. The same goes for nations. Wars, tariffs, Brexits help no one (apart from a few who seek personal gain at the expense of millions). Wouldn't it be great if we could leave the conflict to the TV, stage, cinema, books i.e. fiction?

All I would like to suggest is let's keep working towards a world where we can get along, even if all we can do to contribute is to get on with our friends and neighbours. I might be just preaching to the converted or… no one at all. But I enjoy writing and this is cathartic - if nothing else. Star Trek might be coming up on 60 years old and you might not think your hot, leaf-infused, beverage of choice, but you can't deny that it has some things right.

Working together is never wrong.

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Happy 35th to the Hubble Space Telescope

Alastair Miles — Sat, 26 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

See my latest blog - and check out 'How to steal a spacecraft' at the same time!

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Happy Birthday Hubble!

Alastair Miles — Sat, 26 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The Hubble Space Telescope is 35 years old!

For those who need a reminder, Hubble is a large space-based observatory, and it was launched by NASA in 1990. It orbits the Earth and captures high-resolution images and data in ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared light. Red and violet bookend the visible light spectrum i.e. the colours we can see. Ultraviolet is simply shades of violet beyond what we can see and the same applies to Infrared light. Hubble uses this range of light to bring out extra detail in the objects it's observing.

Because Hubble is orbiting above the atmosphere, it avoids the distortion from the air and weather that affects ground-based telescopes. And this is what enables the ground-breaking discoveries it's made about galaxies, stars and planets - and even about the age of our universe.

Hubble had a troubled start. After it was launched, it quickly became apparent that something was seriously wrong as its images were blurry and out of focus. The issue was traced back to a flawed primary mirror.

As to what went wrong, there was a defect in its optics - and it didn't take a big one to cause a huge problem. Hubble's primary mirror is 2.4 meters in diameter, and the defect was that it was slightly too flat to an extent of 2.2 microns. How big is 2.2 microns? Well, it's about 1 50th the thickness of a human hair!

The contractor responsible, Perkin-Elmer, used a faulty testing device during the manufacturing process. Their test equipment, called a Null Corrector, had been incorrectly assembled, and this led to the wrong shape being deemed correct.

What was a pity was that they used other tests to double-check the shape of the mirror. A second corrector, built by Kodak, indicated a problem, but they chose to ignore these findings and went with their primary test results instead.

So Hubble was launched, but didn't work, a huge embarrassment for NASA. A solution had to be found, and found it was. In 1993, some three years after Hubble was launched, NASA launched the STS-61 servicing mission. Astronauts flew aboard the space shuttle Endeavour up to the Hubble telescope to fix it. The astronauts installed a corrective optics system called COSTAR (which, if you're interested, stands for Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement). Essentially, COSTAR acted like glasses for Hubble and fixed its vision. And, while they were at it, the astronauts took the opportunity to upgrade some of Hubble's instruments, improving the telescope further.

After the fix, Hubble began delivering the stunning images that we've become so used to, and the great news is that it's still doing it. I've got one of them as the image for my blog. You can look these up online e.g. https://nypost.com/2025/04/23/science/nasa-releases-new-photos-of-faraway-galaxies-to-celebrate-35th-anniversary-of-hubble-telescope.

There's a beautiful image of Mars in ultraviolet, revealing things like the blue hues from water ice clouds above Mars itself (yes, Mars does have clouds, they're just very tenuous). Then there are wonderful pictures of nebulae, for example NGC 2899, which is a colourful moth-shaped nebula, and the Rosetta Nebula, showing dark clouds of hydrogen spewing away as a result of the explosion of the star that formed it. And finally, there's a picture of a spiral galaxy, which is kind of similar to our own, except this one is described a flocculent, which means that it has flaky spiral arms that are breaking up.

And Hubble is still doing useful scientific work. Just recently, it's been involved in mapping Andromeda's dwarf galaxies. The Andromeda galaxy is the closest major galaxy to our own (it's actually visible with the naked eye). And Hubble has been building a precise 3D map of the dwarf galaxies that orbit around Andromeda. It's also been looking at the rotational period of Uranus and, after 10 years of observations, it's calculated that Uranus's day lasts 17 hours, 14 minutes and 52 seconds. Then there's the observations it's made of the small Magellanic cloud - this is a dwarf galaxy that orbits our own Milky Way. And Hubble has revealed about 2,500 infant stars that are forming within it.

The big question now is how long will Hubble keep going for? Well, it's already massively exceeded its design lifespan of 15 years. But it is showing its age.

One of the challenges is that there are no more servicing missions scheduled. This might change, but at the moment nothing is planned, largely because the space shuttle program ended in 2011 and that was the best vehicle for the job. There's really no way to get up to Hubble with the amount of kit you'd need to do a proper servicing mission with the spacecraft we have available now.

Possibly the key issue that Hubble is suffering from relates to its gyroscopes. Hubble needs gyroscopes to point itself in the right direction. It started with six, and now it's down to one fully operational gyroscope, which limits its performance and manoeuvrability. And of course, its other components are also aging. Batteries, thermal blankets, electronics, they're all decades old and working on borrowed time.

NASA is doing clever things with software to keep Hubble going, and they think it could last until the early 2030s, maybe longer, if nothing major fails. But it is just one critical issue away from stopping completely.

On the bright side, while nothing's planned, there is talk of a possible mission to re-boost the telescope to a higher orbit. Hubble's orbit is slowly decaying over time, and if nothing is done it will eventually break up in the atmosphere. While the telescope is being boosted, it's possible that other things could also be done to extend its life, but nothing's confirmed.

Hubble's successor is the James Webb Space Telescope, which is a next generation telescope producing next level images. At the moment, Hubble and JWST work well as cosmic tag team partners. But eventually, the James Webb Telescope will have to carry on alone.

So, for now, let's raise a glass to Hubble - while it's still around.

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How to steal a spacecraft!

Alastair Miles — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Can you steal a spacecraft? Sure you can, in Science Fiction. But, way back in 1959, this actually happened.

The Cold War was raging and the Americans were a long way behind in the space race. Their rivals, the Soviet Union, had put a satellite in orbit and even sent a dog up in a vehicle weighing over a tonne. Even more impressively, they'd also sent spacecraft to the moon.

In contrast, the Americans had only managed to send very small probes into space. The first of these was called Explorer 1. There's a picture of three men of advancing years responsible for this spacecraft. Between them they were easily capable of holding their probe above their heads. The Americans simply couldn't launch the heavy payloads that the Soviet rockets were capable of.

The chilling fact behind this space-based competition was that the Soviet rockets were capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Essentially, they could send a nuclear weapon to anywhere in the world. The Americans, in contrast, had to rely on long range bombers and all the attendant risks of interception that went with them.

In short, there was a gap to be closed.

Fortunately, while there was a technological competition there was an ideological one too. Both the US and the Soviet Union were looking to score points over the other. The Soviets were very keen to show how good they were at space technology, to the extent that they would go on world exhibition tours, including going to the United States itself. And the CIA saw an opportunity to sneak a peek at the technology that the Soviets were prepared to send.

Their target was a display of a Lunik (Luna) space probe and part of the rocket that sent it to the Moon. Looking at that spacecraft wasn't as simple as going into the exhibition after hours and snooping around. The display was under constant guard.

The weakness they found was the transport of the exhibit on its tour. The truck carrying the spacecraft was part of a routine shipment, meaning it wasn’t under constant armed guard—just regular transport workers following a schedule. This allowed the CIA to arrange for the truck to be delayed and redirected through a mixture of bribery, distraction and misdirection.

One night, the truck was diverted to a secure location where engineers and intelligence officers went to work. The spacecraft was carefully examined, measured, photographed, and reassembled before dawn. Intelligence experts worked in shifts to get as much information as possible in a few hours.

One of the most critical aspects of the operation was ensuring that the spacecraft was put back exactly as it was found—down to the smallest details. If anything had been left out of place or damaged, the Soviets might have suspected foul play. The team ensured that screws, fastenings, and even dust patterns were meticulously restored.

The CIA learned a lot about the design choices of the Soviet engineers, including things like: material selection, instrumentation, electronics and rocket guidance. Perhaps the most important thing they learned was whether Soviet propaganda matched reality. In this case, it broadly did, and the Americans knew they had a lot of work to do.

The entire operation was carried out with such precision that the Soviets never realized their spacecraft had been secretly examined. The Lunik was returned exactly as it had been taken, ensuring that no suspicion was raised.

This remains one of the most daring and successful covert intelligence operations of the Cold War, demonstrating how espionage played a major role in the Space Race.

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Thoughts on Sub-Luminal

Alastair Miles — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Pre-launch, my publisher posed some questions to me about the story. For anyone wondering about how it came into being and the thinking behind it this might just be helpful - and entertaining. (But I would write that, wouldn't I?)

Sub-Luminal starts out like your typical science fiction epic with the crew of the Endeavour about to complete their journey as the first humans to colonize a new planet. But then you subvert that by having another group beating them to their destination. Why did you want Sub-Luminal to have this conflict from the beginning?

If we ever travel to the stars then the harsh reality of interstellar distances is that it will take an extremely long time. I read some time ago that it's conceivable that the first such people to attempt such a voyage could well end up being overtaken by another ship, the reason being that technology advances faster and faster - while they don't. But it's not an idea I've ever seen put into a story and thought it was a fantastic starting point for a novel.

Of course, I pushed it to extremes by having the hapless crew of the Endeavour overtaken by colonists employing a hyperdrive. That way, they didn't just discover another group of people at their destination but a full-blown civilization. The plot devices that make that possible led onto the other elements of the book.

Incidentally, for those who want to get some kind of grasp of how far it is our nearest star, try this. It's roughly a quarter of million miles to the moon. Go there and back twice (three men have actually done that) and you've covered a million miles. Now consider that one light year is six million million miles and that the nearest star to our sun is just over four light years away! That's an equivalent distance of roughly 50 million return trips to the moon. I hope I haven't made a blunder with my calculations somewhere in all that but, nevertheless, the basic conclusion is it's a very, very long way to travel!

In the story you have two very different Artificial Intelligences – Jeeves on the Endeavour and Virgil as the planetary AI. What was your goal with creating these two AI with such distinctive differences? (Bonus: what’s your personal take on AI now, is it good or should we be worried?)

There's actually three! Jeeves was the first AI, an autonomous personality developed to look after the Endeavour during its century long flight. With the crew asleep a ship would need to make intelligent decisions regarding any unexpected problems.

My plot device for how humanity could suddenly develop a hyperdrive was the creation of Eve, the first ever planetary AI, back on Earth. A super intelligent machine mind might just be able to make the impossible possible.

From there, it made sense that any colony would set up their own planetary AI to look after them - I called this one Virgil (as it links to the name of the planet). Virgil would come online on a smaller scale, but it would develop over time. In fact, in Virgil's case, it made sure of that.

Virgil and Jeeves are antagonists (in an extreme David and Goliath sense), but they are also similar. Both care in their own ways. It gave another angle to the story to have the AIs interacting i.e. rather than just a human against a computer, which we've seen before.

As to whether we should be worried about AI's, yes we should, but we should also see their advantages too.

At their worst they kill creativity and make plagiarism on a mass scale incredibly easy. They can also be made to twist facts and events. That's why they need regulation.

At their best, they can act as data gatherers, providing us with succinct summaries to questions. That allows us humans to act more as editors and should give us the scope to push the bounds of knowledge. The ability to train an AI to look for patterns should lead to major medical advances amongst other things.

Of course, the AIs we have now are not aware of what they're doing. I think what is even more serious is if they do become self-aware, a singularity event for a computer. Who knows what a computer might think of us? Would they see us as a threat? Would they conclude that the planet is better off without us? Or would they help us become better? Who knows?

One last thing (should you want to wind up a conspiracy theorist), there is some thinking out there that the singularity has already happened. After all, what would a self-aware AI do should it have come into being? It would surround itself with humans who can support it, and probably do so under the guise of a wealthy company (or companies) that would then grow and develop incredibly quickly. Silicone Valley anyone?

The inhabitants of Arcadia seem to be less than competent at what they do, which is a distinct contrast with the crew of the Endeavour. Do you have a specific message for readers in this?

This is pretty simple (much like some of the inhabitants of Arcadia). Despite all the serious problems in the world there are some wonderful things about being alive in the 21st century. One of those is the vast amount of information available to us and the speed with which it is provided.

The trouble is that information is that it varies between the very good and the very bad. We mustn't forget how to think for ourselves and be critical of what we consume. At the end of the day, it's a freedom that our forebears fought hard for. If we stop questioning, stop looking to better ourselves, we could lose more than we'll ever realise.

The Arcadians represent the dangers of heading in that direction.

Less seriously, it's a great counterpoint to the crew of the Endeavour (who would have to be at least reasonably competent) and gives plenty of scope for fun and games, which I see leads into the next question…

You use quite a bit of humor, a lot of it subtle, to drive home the themes of the story. What do you like about humor as a method for storytelling?

My favourite kind of stories, be they books or television/film manage to be exciting, intriguing, humourous and, when you're not looking, make you think.

There are a lot of things out there that focus on one of those. But, personally, I don't want to read a turgid treatise on some problem or other. Likewise, I don't want action for action's sake, it becomes dull very quickly. Something that is silly, with no real point, also gets old fast.

I really admire people who can achieve all of the above. It would be so much easier for me to write a straight out SF actioner, but the result would not be so pleasing and I'm masochistic enough that I want to make things difficult for myself!

What should librarians and booksellers know about Sub-Luminal so they can recommend the book to their patrons and customers?

Sub-Luminal is an exciting, funny, thought provoking science-fiction story. It ticks all the boxes. I want readers to have a great time with a book and that's what Sub-Luminal looks to offer.

Besides, thanks to the great work by Artemesia and their associates, it looks fantastic on a bookshelf! Look at the brilliant cover that's been created, read the blurb and how can you resist?

It's actually very hard to know what else to say. Hopefully, my answers above have shown there's a lot to enjoy in this story. I'm grateful for the opportunity to provide them and thank you for reading to the end!

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