Field notes from the Moon
We're making a game set on the real Moon. These are the physics, geology and history we dig up along the way, and the places we cheat on purpose.
How far could you throw a ball on the Moon?
A good arm sends a ball about a kilometre on the Moon, and it stays up for half a minute. The physics, the Apollo golf shots, and a calculator to try your own throw.
Does Earth rise and set on the Moon?
Mostly no. From most of the near side, Earth hangs in one spot for billions of years. But at the edges and the poles it bobs up and down, and an Earthrise there takes more than a day.
How to move the Sun (and take Earth with it)
Moving the Sun sounds absurd until you do the sums. Two real designs for a stellar engine, how fast they'd go, what they'd cost, and why a civilisation might one day need one.
Everything our Moon game gets wrong about physics, on purpose
Billowing dust, glowing craters, shooting stars, a giant Earth. A list of every rule The Sunship breaks, what the real Moon does instead, and why we broke it anyway.
What can you actually mine on the Moon? A field guide
Water you can drink and burn, rock you can breathe, a metal that fell from the sky, and a gas bought before anyone has mined it. Five real lunar materials, what they're good for, and who's allowed to take them.