The Space Show

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 2 August 2023: Space Show News: Russia is returning to the Moon with Lunar-25. After years of delays, Russia’s Luna-25 lander is scheduled to launch to the Moon aboard a Soyuz-2 Fregat rocket on 11 August 2023. The uncrewed mission will be the first Russian spacecraft to land on the Moon in more than 45 years. Planet Earth — Episode 55: Acadia Plant efficiency decl...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 26 July 2023: Australia’s Moon to Mars Initiative 2020—2026 The following 10 projects will share in close to $40 million under the Demonstrator Mission Grants program of the Moon to Mars initiative: $6.2M to the Australian National University to develop Laser Technology for the next GRACE mission $5.2M to Advanced Navigation Pty. Ltd. for Project LUNA – Navigation...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 19 July 2023: Chandrayaan 3 launched to the Moon: The mission plan for India's Chandrayaan 3 lunar orbiter, lander and rover , followed by launch commentary from the launch site. Also, a report from Australia that the venting of the spent upper stage of the launch vehicle was seen. (Audio inserts courtesy ISRO, Ch9) James Webb Space Telescope: A discussion on t...

This episode of The Space Show podcast, is dedicated to the memory of former Space Association of Australia president and long-time contributor to the programme, Peter Aylward, who passed away in Melbourne last week after a valiant battle with cancer. He was 65. On The Space Show for Wednesday, 5 July 2023: Euclid: Exploring the dark universe The purpose of the European Space Agency's Euclid m...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 28 June 2023: Planet Earth: Season 4 — Episode 54 Gamba grass and WorldView 3 United Kingdom Space Agency - UK/Australia Space Bridge New Zealand and Australian fire mapping COVID and South-East Asian smoke Thomas Pesque (ESA Astronaut) and climate research from the International Space Station Canada's WildFireSat Crop monitoring during COVID 19 ERS 1 - Europea...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 21 June 2023: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) extended mission phase Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) and the Hera mission follow-up Sixty Years of Women in Space: Marking the 60th anniversary of Valentina Tereshkova's Vostok 6 flight and the 40th anniversary of Sally Ride's STS-6 mission, a celebration of several female astronauts. Also, "Wo...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 14 June 2023: Australian Defence Science and Technology Roadmap A presentation by Andrew Seedhouse, Chief, National Security and Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Division, at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation about the Defence Science and Technology Roadmap. Themes include: accessing space; satellite technologies; assurance of access to sp...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 7 June 2023: In Praise of Mystery: A poem for Europa Ada Limón, 24th Poet Laureate of The United States , in conversation with Dr Carla Haden, Librarian of Congress, Washington D.C. A conversation about, and the reading of a poem to be inscribed aboard NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft that will be sent to Jupiter. Also details of Message in a Bottle⁠ and how yo...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 31 May 2023: Space Show News As this episode of The Space Show was broadcast live to air, there were a record 17 people orbiting the Earth, from five countries . The previous record, set during the privately funded  Inspiration4  mission in September 2021, was 14 people. The record count was comprised of the following four seperate crews: Shenzhou 16  (three people...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 24 May 2023: Marking the 50th anniversary of Skylab: America’s first space station The Skylab 2 mission was one of the great 'saves' of the space age. The story is told in mission audio and the words of astronaut Joe Kerwin recorded in conversation with the Space Association of Australia. (Mission audio inserts courtesy JSC)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 17 May 2023: Katherine Bennell-Pegg , Director, Space Technology at the Australian Space Agency and now also Australia’s first astronaut candidate in training with the European Space Agency , presents the 2022 Warren Centre Innovation Lecture at the Faculty of Engineering , University of Sydney . Katherine is introduced by Professor Ben Thornber, School of Aerospac...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 10 May 2023: Space Show News: The Federal Budget has made some cuts to the funding allocations for the Australian Space Agency and the national space industry. Planet Earth: Season 4 - Episode 52 The TROPICS (Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats) satellites launched from New Zealand after a dela...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 3 May 2023: Follow along as Japan's commercial space company, ispace, confirms that its HAKUTO-R Mission 1 failed its lunar landing attempt. ispace is a lunar exploration company with a vision to extend human presence into outer space and create a sustainable world. Our story features "Sorato", the music of Sakanaction from Japan, a recording of which...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 26 April 2023: Lunar Mining and Robotics — Part 2 of a panel discussion with the Moon Village Association recorded at Deakin Edge, Federation Square, Melbourne in March 2019, featuring: * Anita Parbhakar-Fox, Senior Research Fellow, Geo-environmental Studies, University of Queensland * Carlos Espejel, iSpace, Luxembourg * Bohan Deng, CEO Spherospace, Sydney * Danie...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 19 April 2023: Update on the imminent SpaceX fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy orbital flight test from Starbase, Texas. The launch of JUICE - the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer . No Phosphine on Venus, according to SOFIA (the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy). Study using three decades old Magellan data finds Venus’ ‘squishy’ outer shell may be...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 12 April 2023: In conversation with a stronomer and author Dr Nick Lomb about solar eclipses and his new book: Includes a discussion about solar eclipses, the 2023 April 20 Exmouth eclipse, the excitement of seeing a total eclipse, the 2028 July 22 eclipse in New South Wales, and the Nick Lomb and Tomer Stevenson's book “Eclipse Chasers” , published by CSIRO Pu...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 5 April 2023: NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced the four astronauts who will venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration. The agencies revealed the crew members on Monday, 3 April during an event at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Spa...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 29 March 2023: Space Show News: The strongest gamma ray burst ever detected has been reported in the scientific literature . Commentary by Eric Burns (Louisiana State University) and Francis Reddy (Goddard Space Flight Center). Ed Husic , Federal Minister for Industry and Science and minister responsible for the Australian Space Agency: Comment about space industry...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 22 March 2023: Space Show News Trailblazer Program Awarded: Australia is closer to embarking on its first mission to the Moon in partnership with NASA. The Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth (AROSE) consortium and the EPE and Lunar Outpost Oceania consortium, will each receive $4 million to design early-stage prototypes of a semi-autonomous rover, as...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 15 March 2023: Space Show News: Rocket Lab , a global leader in launch services and space systems, announced it has established a new wholly-owned subsidiary, Rocket Lab Australia, to explore opportunities to support the expansion of Australia’s national space capabilities. Rocket Lab to launch multiple Acadia Earth-imaging satellites for Capella Space, an American...

On The Space Show for International Women's Day on Wednesday, 8 March 2023: A history making announcement to coincide with International Women's Day, with the news that Katherine Bennell-Pegg will head to Germany next month to train as an astronaut with the European Space Agency (ESA) . Katherine will be the first Australian woman to be trained as an astronaut by an international space agency, aft...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 1 March 2023: Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX, providing satellite Internet access coverage to 50 countries. It also aims for global mobile phone service after 2023. OneWeb is a communications company that aims to build broadband satellite Internet services. The company is headquartered in London, and has offices in Virginia, US an...

On The Space Show f or Wednesday, 22 February 2023: Marking the 60th anniversary of the demise of Telstar 1 with a fascinating and prescient 1962 pre-launch talk by Jean Felkar (Assistant Chief Engineer at AT&T). Mr Felker discusses communication by satellite and other aspects of the future of communication in space, followed by questions from the floor. He discusses the technical innovations...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 15 February 2023: Dr Malcolm Davis, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) in Canberra, outlines the implications of China’s strategic ambitions in space. Dr Davis argues that the so-called China Space Dream has significant soft power implications, both domestically and internationally, and that it will be important for other co...

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 8 February 2023: Preview of European Space Agency space activities for 2023 2023 is going to be a very exciting year for the European Space Agency (ESA) including:  * The Juice mission , also known as JUpiter ICy moons Explorer, will be an ambitious mission to explore the Jovian system, with a focus on the icy moons Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.  * Eucl...