Ep. 210: Mars Exploration Rovers

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) The twin Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have been crawling around the surface of Mars since early 2004 – years longer than they were expected to live. And what they have discovered there on Mars has given scientists their best...

Ep. 208: Spitzer Space Telescope

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) Last week we talked about Lyman Spitzer, and this week we’ll take a look at the orbiting observatory that bears his name: the Spitzer Space Telescope. Designed to see into the infrared spectrum, Spitzer has returned images of objects that were...

Ep. 200: The Mariner Program

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) The first interplanetary series of missions was the American Mariner program. These successful spacecraft visited Mercury, Venus, and Mars, and laid the groundwork for the US missions to the outer planets. Let’s take a look at the program and their...

Ep. 199: The Voyager Program

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) Launched in 1977, the twin Voyager spacecraft were sent to explore the outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Because of a unique alignment of the planets, Voyager 2 was the first spacecraft to ever make a close approach to Uranus and Neptune....

Ep 198: How is a Space Mission Chosen?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) Space missions are expensive to build and launch, so there’s a lot of planning that goes into choosing exactly what’s going to be shot into space. Space scientists and engineers recently went through the process of deciding on their science...

Ep. 192: Chandra X-Ray Observatory

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (0.0KB) The Chandra X-Ray Observatory is the third of NASA’s Great Observatories, sent into space aboard the space shuttle to view the Universe in high energy X-ray radiation. This is the territory of supernovae, supermassive black holes and neutron stars;...