Space Policy Edition #4: Near Earth Asteroids—Why we go, how we find them, and maybe mine them
In honor of OSIRIS-REx—NASA’s newest asteroid mission—we explore the policy and history of near-Earth Objects: why NASA explores them, how the government plans to find and defending the planet, and th...
2 Sep 20161h 4min
The Pale Red Dot: A Planet Called Proxima b
The announcement was made just days ago. Co-discoverer Michael Endl tells us about the discovery of a roughly Earth-mass planet orbiting in the habitable zone of the closest star to our own.Learn more...
30 Aug 201635min
Could the Soviet Union Have Won the Space Race?
Space historian and policy expert John Logsdon joins Mat Kaplan for a fascinating conversation about how the US could have lost the race to the moon.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.f...
23 Aug 201646min
Sailing the Canyons of Titan
Steep canyons on Saturn's moon Titan are filled with liquid methane. That's the discovery just announced by an international team of Cassini scientists, including Alex Hayes.Learn more about your ad c...
16 Aug 201638min
Subcontractors: Making Space Happen
You may never hear their names, but there are thousands of small to medium-sized companies without which space exploration and development wouldn’t happen.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap...
9 Aug 201628min
Space Policy Edition #3: Plutonium-238, Europa via SLS, Cost of the Next Mars Rover Rises
In our third episode, we debate the risks and rewards of tying the future of a Europa mission to the fate of NASA's massive Space Launch System rocket. Also, NASA just announced that the next Mars rov...
5 Aug 20161h 3min
Interstellar Dreams Turn Real
Philip Lubin and his former student Travis Brashears have had quite a year. Their bold plan to send tiny probes to nearby stars is now supported by NASA and the Breakthrough Starshot $100 million doll...
2 Aug 20161h 26min
Anatomy of a Rover—Getting Down to Mars
It takes a lot of terrific components to create a successful spacecraft like Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory. We’ll visit JPL to learn about the Terminal Descent Sensor radar that will once aga...
26 Jul 201636min
