The Space Show

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 16 October 2024: Astrophysics miscellany: * Gamma-ray bursts * Chandra X-ray Observatory sees big explosion * Black hole outflow * NuSTAR . What sedimentary rock layers can reveal about the evolution of the solar system with Prof. Walter Alvarez UC Berkley, California (Courtesy UA) Large space structures: Dr Alexey Kondyurin , an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 9 October 2024: Fram2 Polar Mission — Part 2: Greenland & Polar Orbit The strange and convoluted story of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Fram2 private polar orbiting space mission and of its crew members. Eric Philips , an Australian polar explorer, is on the crew of Fram2. Space Show News: Presidential candidate and ex-president Donald Trump wants the U.S. to send a c...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 2 October 2024: Space Show News: * Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS : Having emerged intact from behind the Sun, it is now being observed from Australia and may become a daytime comet. * A French-China cooperative satellite, the Space Variable Objects Monitor or SVOM , has been placed into orbit to monitor gamma-ray bursts. From The Space Show Archive: The Fermi satellite w...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 25 September 2024: Space Show News: * Asteroid 2024 PT5 — The tiny asteroid 2024 PT5 will be temporarily 'captured' by Earth's gravity and become a ‘mini-Moon’. * MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission orbits Mars for 10 years. * Perseverance continues to investigate Mars, collect and cache rock samples. Mars and Europa — Ocean Worlds?: Debunking re...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 18 September 2024: Starlink and the Ionosphere: An alarming scientific paper by Sierra Solter points to possible disastrous effects on the Earth's magnetosphere caused by Starlink and other satellite constellations. Polaris Dawn mission: * Comparing the full extra vehicular activities by Alexi Leonov and Ed White with the stand-up EVA on the Polaris Dawn mission. *...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 11 September 2024: Australian Binar satellites: * A detailed report on the fate of Curtin University's Binar-1 cubesat in 2021 * The deployment of the Binar-2, Binar-3 and Binar-4 cubesats on 29 August 2024 * Plans for Binar Prospector Europa Clipper mission: * After rigorous testing of suspect transistors, it has been decided to proceed with the launch next mo...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 4 September 2024: Space Show News: * Boeing, boing, boing — strange pulsing noise emanates from the speakers on the Boeing CST-100 Starliner. A collection of reports from The Space Show archive about astronomy and space science: European Southern Observatory HARPS telescope discovers a Solar twin in an open cluster hosting exoplanets. A look back at the discovery o...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 28 August 2024: Space Show News: * Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test update —Starliner to return uncrewed and the crew to return on Crew Dragon 9 in February 2025 Astronomical Miscellany: ALMA (Atacama Large Millimetre Array) — European Southern Observatory, Chile HARPS (High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher) — European Southern Observatory Europa Clipper b...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 21 August 2024: SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter 11 rideshare mission: The launch of Kanyini, CUAVA-2, and Waratah Seed 1 (Inserts courtesy SpaceX) An update on the University of Melbourne’s SpIRIT satellite tests of the Neuman Drive. Findings from the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) crash into the double asteroid have been published and reveal Didymos and Dimor...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 14 August 2024: Southern Positioning Augmentation Network (SouthPAN): SouthPAN is a joint initiative of the Australian and New Zealand Governments that provides Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) for position, navigation and timing services for Australia and New Zealand. Geoscience Australia as the Australian Government lead agency, is working in collaborat...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 7 August 2024: Boeing Starliner Crewed Flight Test: The details of the Starliner CFT and some of the headlines and stories about it. Also, scheduling of traffic at the International Space Station. (Inserts courtesy JSC) Satellite-based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) for Position, Navigation and Timing SBAS panel session recorded at the Space Industry Association of Au...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 31 July 2024: The cancellation of the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover or VIPER mission: Details of the rover's objectives and instrumentation by Anthony Colaprete (Project Scientist, VIPER, Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California), and the cancellation announcement and explanation by Niki Fox and Joel Kearns (NASA HQ, Washington). (Inser...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 17 July 2024: Remembering Joe Engle: To mark the death last week of Joe Engle, a recounting of his experiences flying the X-15 and the Space Shuttle. Searching for Skylab: Remembering the 45th anniversary of the crash of Skylab near Esperance in Western Australia, Skylab 2 astronaut Joe Kerwin and Australian filmmaker Dwight Steven-Boniecki discuss Skylab and the d...

On The Space Show f or Wednesday, 10 July 2024: Ariane 6 launched: The successful inaugural flight of Europe’s newest and largest launch vehicle, Ariane 6. International Space Station de-orbit vehicle contract awarded to SpaceX: The ISS is scheduled to be de-orbited in 2030. The Rise and Fall of Skylab: On the 45th anniversary of the fall of Skylab , physician-astronaut Joe Kerwin in conversation...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 3 July 2024: Australian Space Industry 2024 — KANYINI The South Australian Space Services Mission, Kanyini , is ready to launch aboard the SpaceX Transporter 11 rideshare this month. (Audio inserts courtesy Australian Space Industry Technology Infrastructure and Investment, and Channel 9)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 26 June 2024: Space Show News: Chang’e 6 returns samples from the lunar far side. Remembering Ed Stone and Voyager - Part Two: The former director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and for 50 years the Project Scientist for the Voyager spacecraft, passed away on 9 June 2024. (Insert courte...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 19 June 2024: Remembering Ed Stone: The former director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and for 50 years, the Project Scientist for the Voyager spacecraft, passed away on 9 June 2024 at the age of 88. Professor of Physics at Caltech (the California Institute of Technology) and a great friend of The Space Show , Ed has been on the program no fewer than 30 times...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 12 June 2024: Remembering Apollo 8 astronaut William (Bill) Anders Starship Integrated Flight Test 4 Starliner CST-100 Crew Flight Test An update on China’s Chang'e 6 mission The Hubble Space Telescope has a problem with its gyroscopes

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 5 June 2024: Space Show News Planet Earth — Episode 64: * Launch of PREFIRE 2 * Earth science missions launched by Rocket Lab (Inserts courtesy RL, RNZ) An update on China’s Chang'e 6 and Chang'e 7 missions: Chang'e 6 retrieves a sample from the lunar far-side Australian Space Industry News: * Esper's plans to recover from the loss of its first &quo...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 29 May 2024: Australian Space Industry News: * Melbourne University's SpIRIT satellite survives global solar storm, returns picture from space * Astronaut graduation ceremony for Katherine Bennell-Pegg (Inserts courtesy ESA) * Gilmour Space still awaiting launch permit for its Eris orbital launch vehicle. Planet 9: New evidence suggests that a planet orbits in...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 22 May 2024: Planet Earth: How space technology helps us understand our home planet — S4E62 The PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) satellites: Measuring the full spectrum of polar radiant energy The GRACE-Continuity and their predecessors' findings, GRACE and GRACE-Follow-on The end of the AIM (Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere) missi...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 15 May 2024: Australian Space News: * The 2024 Federal Budget * Landsat Next Chang'e 6: A progress report on China’s lunar far-side sample-return mission, and of the Pakistani iCube-Qamar lunar orbiter. Planetary Report: * The findings of the Lucy spacecraft at asteroid binary Dinkinesh/Selam * MAVEN's findings when the solar wind disappeared at Mars. (Inse...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 8 May 2024: Australian Space News: * The successful launch of HyImpulse's SR75 paraffin-fuelled suborbital rocket from Southern Launch’s Koonibba Test Range in South Australia * Alan Shepard and "Light This Candle" * Funding for Australian-Indian space projects. (Inserts courtesy SDU) Boeing CST-100 Starliner first crewed orbital flight test: * The st...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 1 May 2024: CST 100 Starliner and Other Matters: * The crew exchange on the China Space Station * Chang'e 6 due for launch * Meet the crew of the CST-100 Starliner Crew Flight Test (Inserts courtesy JSC). Australian Space News: * SR75 paraffin rocket due for launch at the Koonibba Test Range * Gilmour Space Technologies’ Eris orbital space vehicle continues to...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 24 April 2024: Marking the 10th anniversary of the Rosetta mission , we continue the story of the arrival and completion of the Rosetta and Philae missions at comet 67P, Churyumov-Gerasimenko, in vox-pops, a poem and music. Also a report on how the comet was formed. (Inserts courtesy ESA) Australian Space News: Katherine Bennell-Pegg graduates astronaut training at...