Richard Easther
@rjme.bsky.social
Father, husband, scientist, Kiwi diaspora returnee, prof @aucklanduni.bsky.social - opinions mine. He/Him
Science: https://cosmology.auckland.ac.nz
Blog: https://excursionset.com
Newsletter: https://buttondown.com/excursionset
Science: https://cosmology.auckland.ac.nz
Blog: https://excursionset.com
Newsletter: https://buttondown.com/excursionset
Putting that one on the list of books to buy. (Also and apropos of this, someone I know once asked a courier to deliver a package to "Random House" and was told "you have to tell us the specific address")
November 10, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Putting that one on the list of books to buy. (Also and apropos of this, someone I know once asked a courier to deliver a package to "Random House" and was told "you have to tell us the specific address")
Reposted by Richard Easther
Anyway, lots to think about and I'll get back to it over the next little while (in between a few other things on my list) But anyway, since this is social media here's the "like, share and subscribe" -- I have a mailing list if you want my reckons in your Inbox excursionset.com/newsletter/
Newsletter
This newsletter – eclectic and irregular like the blog itself – delivers fresh posts direct to your inbox. It runs off ButtonDown and you can subscribe by clicking the big blue button below...
but...
excursionset.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Anyway, lots to think about and I'll get back to it over the next little while (in between a few other things on my list) But anyway, since this is social media here's the "like, share and subscribe" -- I have a mailing list if you want my reckons in your Inbox excursionset.com/newsletter/
Reposted by Richard Easther
Or why did MethaeSAT spokespeople repeatedly make misleading statements about the health of the mission -- and more importantly (to the New Zealand taxpayer), why did MBIE let them?
November 7, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Or why did MethaeSAT spokespeople repeatedly make misleading statements about the health of the mission -- and more importantly (to the New Zealand taxpayer), why did MBIE let them?
Reposted by Richard Easther
A lot of questions go unanswered e.g. why did the @methanesat.bsky.social team fly a spacecraft that, by their own admission, was not designed to deal with the entirely predictable radiation environment you find in space. That doesn't make sense.
November 7, 2025 at 7:49 PM
A lot of questions go unanswered e.g. why did the @methanesat.bsky.social team fly a spacecraft that, by their own admission, was not designed to deal with the entirely predictable radiation environment you find in space. That doesn't make sense.
Reposted by Richard Easther
(I mean, I'm sure it was a coincidence as it must have been ready for publication and there is a long tradition of dropping bad news on a Friday, but it wasn't JUST my blog -- it also appeared as an article in Newsroom) newsroom.co.nz/2025/11/07/h...
Speed over safety – how MethaneSAT was lost in space
Analysis: Future 'national missions' cannot be designed by administrators and politicians without meaningful input from the science community. If we learn that, it may have been worth the $30 million,...
newsroom.co.nz
November 7, 2025 at 7:49 PM
(I mean, I'm sure it was a coincidence as it must have been ready for publication and there is a long tradition of dropping bad news on a Friday, but it wasn't JUST my blog -- it also appeared as an article in Newsroom) newsroom.co.nz/2025/11/07/h...
Reposted by Richard Easther
By what I am sure is complete coincidence, MBIE's report dropped a few hours after my blog -- it seems to have been written by MBIE and not, say, the Auditor General, and largely pats MBIE on the back www.mbie.govt.nz/science-and-...
Mission Operations Control Centre | Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
New Zealand is supporting the MethaneSAT Mission by building and operating a Mission Operations Control Centre.
www.mbie.govt.nz
November 7, 2025 at 7:49 PM
By what I am sure is complete coincidence, MBIE's report dropped a few hours after my blog -- it seems to have been written by MBIE and not, say, the Auditor General, and largely pats MBIE on the back www.mbie.govt.nz/science-and-...
Strong this energy.
a cartoon of homer simpson says i sleep in a big bed with my wife
ALT: a cartoon of homer simpson says i sleep in a big bed with my wife
media.tenor.com
November 8, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Strong this energy.
We show no sign of learning from this. But it's a great lesson if we want to learn it.
November 8, 2025 at 2:50 AM
We show no sign of learning from this. But it's a great lesson if we want to learn it.
Maybe they can shoot the next series of The Bear in Hamilton.
November 7, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Maybe they can shoot the next series of The Bear in Hamilton.
<1%, I would say, for a professional build, done professionally. Failure wasn't guaranteed (without a full technical analysis) but it should have been realised that the odds were much higher, I think, and that was never acknowledged in any part of the paper trail around our engagement.
November 7, 2025 at 8:05 PM
<1%, I would say, for a professional build, done professionally. Failure wasn't guaranteed (without a full technical analysis) but it should have been realised that the odds were much higher, I think, and that was never acknowledged in any part of the paper trail around our engagement.
Anyway, lots to think about and I'll get back to it over the next little while (in between a few other things on my list) But anyway, since this is social media here's the "like, share and subscribe" -- I have a mailing list if you want my reckons in your Inbox excursionset.com/newsletter/
Newsletter
This newsletter – eclectic and irregular like the blog itself – delivers fresh posts direct to your inbox. It runs off ButtonDown and you can subscribe by clicking the big blue button below...
but...
excursionset.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Anyway, lots to think about and I'll get back to it over the next little while (in between a few other things on my list) But anyway, since this is social media here's the "like, share and subscribe" -- I have a mailing list if you want my reckons in your Inbox excursionset.com/newsletter/
Or why did MethaeSAT spokespeople repeatedly make misleading statements about the health of the mission -- and more importantly (to the New Zealand taxpayer), why did MBIE let them?
November 7, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Or why did MethaeSAT spokespeople repeatedly make misleading statements about the health of the mission -- and more importantly (to the New Zealand taxpayer), why did MBIE let them?
A lot of questions go unanswered e.g. why did the @methanesat.bsky.social team fly a spacecraft that, by their own admission, was not designed to deal with the entirely predictable radiation environment you find in space. That doesn't make sense.
November 7, 2025 at 7:49 PM
A lot of questions go unanswered e.g. why did the @methanesat.bsky.social team fly a spacecraft that, by their own admission, was not designed to deal with the entirely predictable radiation environment you find in space. That doesn't make sense.
(I mean, I'm sure it was a coincidence as it must have been ready for publication and there is a long tradition of dropping bad news on a Friday, but it wasn't JUST my blog -- it also appeared as an article in Newsroom) newsroom.co.nz/2025/11/07/h...
Speed over safety – how MethaneSAT was lost in space
Analysis: Future 'national missions' cannot be designed by administrators and politicians without meaningful input from the science community. If we learn that, it may have been worth the $30 million,...
newsroom.co.nz
November 7, 2025 at 7:49 PM
(I mean, I'm sure it was a coincidence as it must have been ready for publication and there is a long tradition of dropping bad news on a Friday, but it wasn't JUST my blog -- it also appeared as an article in Newsroom) newsroom.co.nz/2025/11/07/h...
By what I am sure is complete coincidence, MBIE's report dropped a few hours after my blog -- it seems to have been written by MBIE and not, say, the Auditor General, and largely pats MBIE on the back www.mbie.govt.nz/science-and-...
Mission Operations Control Centre | Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
New Zealand is supporting the MethaneSAT Mission by building and operating a Mission Operations Control Centre.
www.mbie.govt.nz
November 7, 2025 at 7:49 PM
By what I am sure is complete coincidence, MBIE's report dropped a few hours after my blog -- it seems to have been written by MBIE and not, say, the Auditor General, and largely pats MBIE on the back www.mbie.govt.nz/science-and-...
What do you mean, you've never seen a full professor in its office on a Friday night, playing early punk rock?
November 7, 2025 at 7:50 AM
What do you mean, you've never seen a full professor in its office on a Friday night, playing early punk rock?
That's the stairwell.
November 7, 2025 at 7:48 AM
That's the stairwell.
It can, but it doesn't look like our universe. So basically a draw. journals.aps.org/prd/abstract...
One-loop superstring cosmology and the nonsingular universe
We study the cosmological implications of the one-loop terms in string expansion. In particular, we find nonsingular solutions which interpolate between a contracting universe and an expanding univers...
journals.aps.org
November 7, 2025 at 7:22 AM
It can, but it doesn't look like our universe. So basically a draw. journals.aps.org/prd/abstract...