One man’s mission to conquer space
Last month, from its base in New Zealand, Peter Beck's space company, Rocket Lab, conducted its first successful attempt to put satellites in orbit. The launch vehicle, the Electron, carried a payload including the Humanity Star, a very shiny, 65-sided, carbon-fibre satellite whose only function is to reflect the sunlight as it spins. Scientists didn't approve: astronomers claimed it would interfere with their observations, others called it "space graffiti", while the Scientific American described it as "satellite vermin".
Were you taken aback about the reaction your Humanity Star geodesic sphere satellite project got from some scientists?
The Humanity Star project is something I'd been wanting to do for many, many years. The whole point of Humanity Star was to try and get people outside and to look up and to realise we are one little planet in a giant universe. Once you understand that, you have a different perspective on the planet and a different perspective on the things that are important to us.