Spacepod

Latest Episodes:

31: If we could put Mars in a bottle… with Paulo Younse Feb 07, 2016

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Paulo Younse has spent over 5 years studying hermetic seals for tubes. But these aren't just any tubes— there the tubes that will travel to Mars and carry rocks back to Earth. He describes the challenges of designing the perfect tubes for this ambitious venture.

30: Space weathering with Dr. Kaluna Jan 31, 2016

Show notes

Dr. Heather Kaluna talks about space weathering, which changes the surfaces of the moon, asteroids, and Mercury. She studies space weathering in a laboratory, where she can reproduce hundreds of millions of years of weathering in just forty minutes.

29: Keeping the James Webb Space Telescope cool with Dr. Stone Jan 24, 2016

Show notes

The James Webb Space Telescope is the biggest astronomy project in the world right now. It's an amazingly complex robot, and some of its sensors need to be kept cool. Dr Kris Stone talks about the cooling system, and how it will be tested during the longest continuous test ever conducted at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

28: Building experiments for the International Space Station with Dr. White Jan 17, 2016

Show notes

Dr. Lauren White talks about designing and building instruments for the International Space Station (ISS). She shares a secret about designing instruments for the outside of the space station, and also talks about being the first American to command a laser on the ISS.

27: Searching Iceland's lava fields for life on Mars with Dr. Cable Jan 10, 2016

Show notes

Dr Morgan Cable comes back on the podcast to tell us about how she and a team of scientists searched a fresh lava field in Iceland to look for signs of life. They pretended to see the landscape like a rover would, so that the lessons they learned in Icela

26: Old, volatile, and gassy: Why comets would make unpleasant but interesting dinner guests with Dr. Bauer Jan 03, 2016

Show notes

Dr. James "Gerbs" Bauer talks about comets, the icy dirtballs (or dirty iceballs) that orbit the Sun. We talk about the ancient Egyptian term for comets, why you probably shouldn't eat a comet, and an exciting new discovery made by the NEOWISE team.

25: Why couldn't New Horizons orbit Pluto? Dec 27, 2015

Show notes

The New Horizons mission revealed Pluto's jaw-dropping vistas and geophysical mysteries. One listener wanted to know why the spacecraft didn't go into orbit around Pluto. Tom Spilker, interplanetary travel expert, tells us the answer.

24: Engineering the Galileo Probe, Pt 2. Dec 20, 2015

Show notes

In part 2, engineers who worked on the Galileo probe discuss what it was like when the probe entered Jupiter's atmosphere. This episode includes a bonus story about Pioneer Venus.

23: Engineering the Galileo Probe, Pt 1. Dec 13, 2015

Show notes

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the successful deployment of a probe into Jupiter's atmosphere, this episode is a series of interviews with the engineers who worked on this challenging, historic mission.

22: Merging galaxies with Dr. Privon Dec 06, 2015

Show notes

Dr. George Privon talks about what galaxies are and what happens when two galaxies merge.

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