Podcasts: Recommended Recent Episodes – Exomoons, Star Trek, and Mars

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: The MIT Press.

Here are a few recent podcast episodes you may want to check out.

First, I recommend the Star Talk episode “Rogue Planets & Exomoons with David Kipping.” This episode brings together two great promoters of astronomy who discuss a variety of topics, including not only planets without solar systems and the moons of exoplanets, but also the habitable zone of galaxies, civilizational monuments, and the idea that the inhabitants of a super-Earth may be trapped on the surface of their planet. It is a worthwhile tour of the galaxy.

Next, Planetary Radio had a fun episode celebrating the 60th anniversary of Star Trek. It is titled “Star Trek at 60: What do we value the most?” and it includes an interview with Robert Picardo, who you know from two Star Trek series as the Emergency Medical Hologram, yet he is also on the Board of Directors at The Planetary Society and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He discusses his more than 30 years with the Star Trek family, and discusses how Star Trek fans have a unique connection to the founding of The Planetary Society.

One more Planetary Radio podcast episode may be of interest as well. Last month in a Book Club Edition episode titled “Becoming Martian by Scott Solomon,” we heard from the author of Becoming Martian: How Living in Space Will Change Our Bodies and Minds. Here is the quick summary from the book jacket:

We are on the cusp of a golden age of space travel in which, for the first time, it will be possible for large numbers of people to venture into space. Some intend to stay. But what happens—and will happen—to us in the extreme conditions of space? What should space tourists expect to happen to them during a journey to an orbiting space station, the Moon, or Mars? What would happen to children born on another planet? Would they evolve into a new species? In Becoming Martian, Scott Solomon explores the many ways in which humanity’s migration into space will change our bodies and our minds.

If you have a few minutes to listen in, you will not be disappointed.

Space Quote: Yanks Yank Venus Support from Europeans

Posted on by onespaceman2000

“At the moment, we are finalizing our agreement with NASA, but it is looking like they are not able to provide the radar…So that is why we are going full steam ahead with the European solution.”

–Statement by Anne Grete Straume-Lindner, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) project scientist for the Venus mission called Envision, regarding expected cuts in NASA support for the planned Venus mapping mission. Proposed NASA cuts may also impact other ESA missions, including the New Athena observatory, which would take over for NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (also continually on the chopping block) and the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) observatory designed to study gravitational waves.

Pic of the Week: The Jodrell Bank Lovell Radio Telescope

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Jodrell Bank Lovell Radio Telescope, near Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. (https://www.e-merlin.ac.uk/)

The image above shows the Jodrell Bank Lovell Radio Telescope located in England. The Brits plan to shut this telescope down in 2028 as part of budget cuts.

First commissioned in 1957, parts of the telescope came from the World War 1 decommissioned battleships HMS Revenge and HMS Royal Sovereign. In 2019, the telescope was awarded UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

The BBC noted that the Jodrell Bank Lovell Radio Telescope was the only facility in the Western World able to track Sputnik in 1957. Among many other accomplishments, it was also instrumental in confirming the existence of pulsars as well as proving Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Artemis II: And Then There Was One

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Artemis II crew with (from left) NASA Astronauts Christina Koch, Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, Canadian Space Agency Astronaut Jeremy Hansen. (NASA)

Four astronauts circled the Moon earlier this year, more than 50 years after the final lunar landing, but only one of them will remain an astronaut going forward. Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen (age 50), who served as mission specialist on the Moon mission, retired from his position with the Canadian Space Agency in July. And now we learn that NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman (age 50), who served as commander on the mission, and Victor Glover (age 50), who served as pilot, have also announced their plans to depart as well.

Either there is something in the water, or age 50 is a good time to step away from an astronaut gig.

Hansen said he was pursuing new professional opportunities, Glover said he has a new job at California Polytechnic State University, and Wiseman provided no additional information. However, both Glover and Wiseman will transition to emeritus status. It is not clear if that is just a thank you role that gives them a discount at the agency cafe, or will entail some real duties.

NASA defines the emeritus role this way:

In an emeritus role, individuals with a high degree of technical and professional knowledge can continue to support the agency by donating their time to train and mentor the current workforce. This allows the agency to maintain access to top talent in a specialized consultant role, while simultaneously providing the individual with the flexibility to pursue other opportunities.

That leaves one Artemis II astronaut still standing – Christina Koch (age 47).

Back in August, all four were awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor at Houston’s Johnson Space Center. It is just unfortunate the they are leaving at a time that a lunar program is starting to grow.

All we can do is wish them well in their post-astronaut careers. They have plenty of stories that will hopefully encourage a new generation of astronauts.

Note: I want to make it clear that NASA astronauts do not need to retire at a certain age. For example, NASA astronaut Don Pettit was heading back to Earth from his latest space mission on his 70th birthday.

60 Years of Star Trek and Counting

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Image by Adam Evertsson from Pixabay.

This week we celebrate the 60th anniversary of Star Trek, a simple science fiction story from 1966 that was first broadcast in Canada and barely lasted for three seasons. But from that tepid beginning arose an idea that led to multiple spin-off television series, movies, books, and more.

And it has been a hopeful show that took the dark edge off of science fiction. As creator Gene Roddenberry said back in 1985:

I believe in humanity. We are an incredible species. We’re still just a child creature, we’re still being nasty to each other. And all children go through those phases. We’re growing up, we’re moving into adolescence now. When we grow up – man, we’re going to be something!

Today we still have plenty of people attacking Star Trek for being too liberal or “woke” as they say using the word of the week, but the show was always that way.

Discussing battles with TV executives about women on the USS Enterprise, Mr. Roddenberry noted:

I had insisted on half women on board [the Enterprise]. The network came to me and said, ‘You can’t have half women. Our people say it will make it look like a ship with all sorts of mad sexual things going on — half men and half women.’ So we argued about it like a poker game and they finally said, ‘Okay. We’ll settle for one-third women.’ I figured one-third women could take care of the males anyway.

Star Trek moved forward before the rest of the country, but it saw a future that was slowly realized over time. And even if it seems we are going backwards at times, he understood that as well when he said:

I have nothing but admiration for this silly race of ours. Even with the Hitlers in it and so on. Sometimes it goes into ugliness, but, in all though, it is a beauty. It’s like a rose, which also has thorns. We’re something.

So let’s not get too depressed just because we seem to have a Ferengi in the White House. Think long term like Mr. Roddenberry, and move past the thorns.