Gravity Assist

Latest Episodes:

Season 4, Episode 18: Why Icy Moons are So Juicy Sep 25, 2020

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A great era of exploration of the icy moons is about to begin. Athena Coustenis of the Paris Observatory talks about missions to the icy moons of the outer solar system and international collaborations with NASA and ESA.

Season 4, Episode 17: Is Artificial Intelligence the Future of Life? Sep 11, 2020

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If astrobiologists find life beyond Earth in the solar system, it will most likely be in the form of tiny organisms called microbes – nothing that would talk to us.

Season 4, Episode 16: Our Sun, Our Life, with Vladimir Airapetian Aug 21, 2020

Show notes

Vladimir Airapetian, scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, explains what researchers hope to find as they gaze beyond our solar system.

Season 4, Episode 15 Looking For Life in Ancient Lakes Aug 14, 2020

Show notes

As the Perseverance Rover flies toward Jezero Crater on Mars, which once hosted water, astrobiologists are interested in places on Earth that are similar to the rover landing site.

Season 4, Episode 14: Gardens at the Bottom of the Sea Aug 07, 2020

Show notes

Laurie Barge, an astrobiologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, studies how plant-looking mineral structures called chimneys grow from chemicals found at the deepest depths of the ocean. In her lab she has glass vials and bulbs full of different chemical mixtures that simulate undersea conditions.

Season 4, Episode 13: She Protects Other Planets from Our Germs Jul 17, 2020

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As we explore Mars and other places in the solar system that might have life, scientists who work in Planetary Protection are busy making sure that we don’t contaminate them.

Season 4, Episode 12: The Search for Technosignatures Jun 26, 2020

Show notes

Jason Wright, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State, has been thinking about the different technosignatures we could pick up using the telescopes we already have, and the telescopes that we could develop in the future.

Season 4, Episode 11: Where are the Goldilocks Stars? With Giada Arney Jun 18, 2020

Show notes

Giada Arney, astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, is looking at the potential for K stars to host habitable worlds. Learn about how stars affect planetary environments and why complex life on early Earth was impossible.

Season 4, Episode 10: Puffy Planets, Powerful Telescopes Jun 12, 2020

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NASA astrophysicist Knicole Colon describes her work on the Kepler, Hubble, TESS and Webb missions, and takes us on a tour of some of her favorite planets.

Season 4, Episode 9: Is Our Solar System Weird? Jun 05, 2020

Show notes

We now know there are more planets than stars in the galaxy. Many of them are very different from ours. How would we know if any of them had life? Shawn Domagal-Goldman, astrobiologist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, discusses these strange and wondrous worlds beyond our Sun.

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