NASA works on many missions using tried and true technology, but they also invest in creative ideas that could drive the future of space exploration. It’s called NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts or NIAC.
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Fraser Cain
Universe Today
Dr. Pamela Gay
CosmoQuest
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17 seasons and more than 600 episodes await.
Ep. 710: NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Program
In the olden days, NASA developed its missions using a variety of in-house engineers and external suppliers. As more commercial companies are targeting the Moon, NASA is working with partners to deliver its payloads to the lunar surface.
Ep. 709: Space Weapons
Last week we learned that Russia might be planning nuclear weapons to take out satellites in space. What is the current and future possibility of weapons in space and what are the treaties designed to prevent them?
Ep. 708: What Goes Into Sample Return Missions from Asteroids and Comets?
Last week we talked about sample return missions from the Moon and Mars, but scientists have retrieved samples from other objects in the Solar System, including comets and asteroids. What does it take to return a piece of rock from space, and what have we learned so far?
Recent Episodes
Ep. 696 – Mission Roll Call Part 5: Science at Mars
https://youtube.com/live/cGPS4kv3QoI?feature=share Another week, another review of space missions in the Solar System. Today we set our sights on the red planet. What are all the active missions at Mars today? Download MP3 | Show Notes | Transcript Show Notes Coming...
Ep. 695 – Mission Roll Call Part 4: Lunar Exploration
https://youtube.com/live/iTA_aUI79do?feature=share Our journey through missions continues, this time we focus on the Moon. There are many nations on the Moon, near the Moon, around the Moon, travelling to the Moon. It’s a lot. We’ll talk about it today. Download MP3 |...
Ep. 694 – Mission Roll Call Part 3: Sun, Mercury, and Venus
https://youtube.com/live/3sTwlc1ELTA?feature=share Our journey through space missions continues. Now we move away from the Earth to the rest of the solar system. What’s out there orbiting, roving and flying on other worlds and in interplanetary space. Today we look...
Ep. 693 – Mission Roll Call Part 2: Looking Outward from Earth
https://youtube.com/live/rTY4ZpODKO4?feature=share Last week, we brought you up to speed on the spacecraft which are helping to study Earth from above. Many of our missions are in Earth orbit but looking outward to study the Universe. Today, we’ll talk about the...
Ep. 692 – Mission Roll Call Part 1: Orbiting Earth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBqnV5KDE9w It’s time for another series. This time we’re going to look at the missions that are currently in place across the Solar System. Today we’ll start with the key missions here on Earth, studying the planet from above and...
Ep. 691: Jupiter’s Changing Red Spot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBqnV5KDE9w Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is one of its most iconic features, first seen hundreds of years ago. Although it’s certainly long-lasting, it’s been changing in size over the last few decades, shrinking and changing in color. Is...
Ep. 690: Climate on Mars – From Ice Caps to Dust Storms
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR0fmR710rc We’ve looked at Earth’s changing climate, now let’s see what it’s like for another world: Mars. Much looks familiar, but some of it is totally alien, from ice caps of frozen carbon dioxide to planetary dust storms that can...
Ep. 689: Our Warming World – 20 Years of Climate Science
https://youtube.com/live/Ls6-EK0f54Q It’s official! June and July were the warmest we’ve seen since records began over a century ago. Fires are rampant across Canada, and we’re seeing record droughts around the world. Today, we’re going to look at 20 years of climate...
Ep. 688: What’s Next? Looking Ahead to Season 17
https://www.youtube.com/live/mfRL3t_4R_4 Once again, we’ve reached the end of a season here on Astronomy Cast, and it’s time for the summer hiatus. But the Universe never takes a break. What can we expect to happen over the summer while we’re catching up on our...
Ep. 687: Prepping for the Moon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdMalbhkDfU We’re going back to the Moon. In the next few years humans will set foot on the Moon again, ideally this time to stay. But this will be different than the Apollo era, going to the scientifically fascinating, and difficult...
Ep. 686: Ice in the Shadows
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EDEcCRGaoo The permanently shadowed craters on the Moon are the focus of so much research. That’s because they seem to contain vast reserves of water ice. Water we could use for oxygen, propellant and so much more, but also, to help us...
Ep. 685: Manufacturing in Space
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFea0f_ELho Launching satellites from Earth is counter-productive. You’ve got to make a satellite that can handle Earth gravity, then the brutal flight to space, then deployment in orbit. What if you could build your spacecraft in...
Ep. 684 – Too Big, Too Soon: Massive Early Galaxies Defy Expectations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ics9AGJigc One of JWST’s top jobs is to peer deeper into the Universe than ever before, watching as the first galaxies came together. Surprisingly, astronomers found galaxies that seemed much more mature than expected, much earlier...
Ep. 683: Cosmic Dawn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liamHeGTrOg After the cosmic microwave background radiation was released, the Universe returned to darkness, cloaked in this clouds of primordial hydrogen and helium. Gravity pulled these vast clouds into the first stars, and then the...
Ep. 682: Ultra-Diffuse Galaxies and Dark Matter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta9lH755xw0 Astronomers first noticed the strange behaviors of rotating galaxies almost 100 years ago, suggesting there’s an invisible dark matter hold them together with gravity. Or maybe we just don’t understand how gravity works at...
Ep. 681: Kilonovae
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOOfgvvPbZc In 2017, astronomers detected the gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation from colliding neutron stars. This had been long theorized as one of the causes of a certain type of gamma-ray burst. By studying the event...
Ep. 680: Rogue Black Holes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZprHwGHUARU Last week we talked about rogue stars. This week we’re going to take things up a notch and talk about an even more extreme event. Rogue black holes. Astronomers recently discovered a supermassive black hole on an escape...
Ep. 679: High(per) Velocity Stars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f00HT9dMJ7Y Most stars in the Milky Way are trapped in here with us, doomed to orbit around and around and around. But a few have found a way out, an escape into the freedom of intergalactic space. How do stars reach escape velocity,...
Ep. 678: World Building: Planet Formation, Growth, & Ejection
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJQ3BnCYiR4 Okay sci-fi writers, today we’re going to give you a guided tour of building planets. How they form, how they grow, and how things can go horribly horribly wrong. Download MP3 | Show Notes | Transcript Show Notes Coming soon...
Ep. 677: The Answer is Always Dust
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5-RoU59l38 Whenever astronomers discover something surprising, the answer often turns out to be dust. Dust obscuring our view, dust changing the polarity, dust warming things up, dust cooling things down. It’s always dust. Until it...