Posts - Louis Finegan

It Is Rocket Science Part III: How to get to the Moon

Now that the Artemis II crew have safely returned from their ten-day voyage to the Moon, we explore the physics of actually getting there. Using orbital mechanics, we demonstrate how a spacecraft can perform orbital manoeuvres to change its trajectory between the Earth and the Moon. We then apply this to a simplified transfer orbit in a simulation similar to that of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Posted by Louis Finegan on April 13, 2026 · 8 mins read

It Is Rocket Science Part II: Artemis II Trajectory

Today the Artemis II crew makes history, travelling further away from Earth than any human space flight. In this post, we will explore the mission trajectory using NASA's publicly available data set, visualising the spacecraft's path to and from the Moon.

Posted by Louis Finegan on April 06, 2026 · 11 mins read

It Is Rocket Science Part I: Artemis II and the Rocket Equation

Today is launch day of the Artemis II mission, the first crewed mission to orbit the Moon and back. This marks a new chapter of human space exploration, building on decades of progress since the Apollo era. In this post, we will focus on the physics that makes these missions possible, by deriving the rocket equation.

Posted by Louis Finegan on April 01, 2026 · 7 mins read

An Explanation of Action at a Distance

How can objects influence one another across empty space? First raised in Newton's work on gravity, the problem of action at a distance has puzzled physicists for centuries. The concepts of fields and curved spacetime emerge to resolve this problem.

Posted by Louis Finegan on February 12, 2026 · 6 mins read

Expansion of the Universe: The Friedmann Equation

From early measurements of redshifted galaxies to Hubble’s discovery of cosmic expansion, early 20th-century astronomy transformed our view of the universe. The Friedmann equation takes the key parameters of the universe and describes its rate of expansion.

Posted by Louis Finegan on January 24, 2026 · 3 mins read

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