ScienceAstronomyEarth Sciences

Spacepod

Carrie Nugent

Hear stories about the alien moons orbiting our Sun, of cold stars, and the future of space exploration. Every week, scientist Dr. Carrie Nugent chats about an amazing part of our universe with an expert guest. Spacepod is the podcast that gives you an inside look into space exploration. Learn more: http://listentospacepod.com

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241 episodes
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Avg 20 min
English

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#160
Sep 22, 2019 · 20 min
160: Going back in time with Dr. Bottke
Dr. Bill Bottke stops by the show to talk about ancient craters on the Moon and Earth. He tells us about how you can figure out crater ages by looking at the nearby rocks, and how that led him and his colleagues to figure out that the impact rate on Earth changes with time.
#159
Sep 8, 2019 · 12 min
159: Constellations and coordinates with Dr. Rich
Dr. Jeff Rich returns to the show to talk about the night sky. He explains how astronomers used constellations to communicate. He also tells us that anyone can invent their own constellation. In a time when people can create "universes inside a computer," we talk about ways to go outside and experience the cosmos.
#158
Aug 25, 2019 · 17 min
158: Planetary Defense Mission with Dr. Ernst
Dr. Carolyn Ernst tells us about DRACO, a camera on the DART mission. DRACO will take critical images in the final seconds of the mission. Dr. Ernst talks about how heritage is important in spaceflight and explains how DRACO is designed to endure harsh conditions.
#157
Aug 11, 2019 · 13 min
157: Modeling impacts with Dr. Boslough
Dr. Mark Boslough describes what happens when an asteroid enters Earth's atmosphere. He tell the story of how he learned of the historic 2013 Chelyabinsk impact. He also shares what it was like to see the effects of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 Jupiter impact.
#156
Jul 28, 2019 · 15 min
156: Measuring a collision with Dr. Thomas
Professor Cristina Thomas talks about NASA's first planetary defense mission: DART. DART is a spacecraft that will impact a tiny asteroid moon. She explains why ground-based telescope observations are key to the mission's success.
#155
Jul 14, 2019 · 14 min
155: Interstellar visitor with Dr. Knight
Dr. Matthew Knight tells us about a discovery that excited astronomers all around the world. 'Oumuamua is the first minor planet from outside our solar system that we have found. Dr. Knight describes what it was like to observe this speedy object, and explains how it compares to local asteroids and comets.
#154
Jun 30, 2019 · 14 min
154: High speed impacts with Dr. Daly
Dr. Terik Daly talks about his experiments, where things hit other things at tens of thousands of miles per hour. These experiments create pressures greater than that at the center of the Earth, and temperatures hotter than the surface of the sun. Dr Daly tells us what it is like to design and witness these experiments, and how he uses them to learn about the solar system.
#153
Jun 16, 2019 · 17 min
153: Stories behind the science with Sarah Kaplan
Sarah Kaplan of the Washington Post talks about science reporting. Reporters often tackle topics that are outside their expertise. Sarah explains the methods she uses to get at the truth. She also shares where she would send a billion dollar spacecraft, and tells the story of how a small bird caused a big newsroom debate.
#152
Jun 2, 2019 · 16 min
152: Mysterious iron meteorites with Dr. Chabot
Dr. Nancy Chabot returns to the show to talk about iron meteorites. Iron meteorites, she explains, are cores of small planets that you can hold in your hand. She describes her laboratory experiments which use furnaces, glass tubes, and tiny hammers.
#151
May 19, 2019 · 17 min
151: Game-changing asteroid images with Dr. Marsset
Dr. Michael Marsset and his collaborators use the world's biggest telescopes to image asteroids. They combine those images with other data to get shapes of asteroids. These results are comparable with spacecraft images, but are much less expensive. Dr. Marsset talks about new discoveries they have made using this technique.
#150
May 5, 2019 · 22 min
150: Undersea grippers and in-space assembly with Dr. Backus
Dr Spencer Backus talks about his work at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He explains the complexities of trying to design hands for robots. An example of a robot hand is the undersea gripper he worked on, which looks like "an angry starfish." He also talks about the benefits and challenges of in-space assembly of spacecraft.
#149
Apr 21, 2019 · 14 min
149: Ballooning on Venus with Dr. Izraelevitz
Dr. Jacob Izraelevitz describes how engineers might design a balloon to explore Venus. This work is in the early stages, what NASA refers to as a "Mission Concept." He also explains the challenges of Venusian exploration.
#148
Apr 7, 2019 · 15 min
148: Solving an Apollo mystery with Dr. Curren
When taking a sample of the Moon's surface, the Apollo astronauts discovered a sharp transition from powdery soil to harder rock. This transition was entirely unexpected, and remained unexplained for decades. Dr. Ivy Curren talks about an experiment she designed to explain this phenomena. She also tells us about a type of lunar dust formation that scientists call "fairy castle structures."
#147
Mar 24, 2019 · 19 min
147: Searching for extraterrestrial life with Dr. Seager
Dr. Seager explains how she and other astronomers are looking for extraterrestrial life. We discuss the Drake and Seager equations. We also talk about how astronomers might be able to detect life by measuring chemicals in distant planet atmospheres. This episode is related to the March 2019 National Geographic cover story, "We are not alone."
#146
Mar 10, 2019 · 31 min
146: Our place the universe with Dr. Lanz
Dr. Alicia Lanz talks about the history of astronomical instrumentation, starting with the first telescope. She describes some bizarre historical telescopes and shares a surprisingly inspirational story about bubbles in glass.
#145
Feb 24, 2019 · 23 min
145: Backyard Worlds with Prof. Allers
Professor Katelyn Allers talks about how you can discover small cold stars! She is a member of the Backyard Worlds project, which is a collaboration between astronomers and citizen scientists. This project searches for brown dwarfs, which are some of the closest objects to our solar system.
#144
Feb 10, 2019 · 20 min
144: Deflecting asteroids with Brent Barbee
Brent Barbee returns to the show to talk about deflecting asteroids. He explains how an asteroid might react to an impact, and also talks about the proposed DART mission, which would change the orbit of a small asteroid moon.
#143
Jan 27, 2019 · 27 min
143: Telescope robots with Dr. Ramirez
Dr. Solange Ramirez returns to the show to talk about her new position as Project Manager of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey V. Amount other things, the project will study over six million stars and how black holes change over time. These millions of measurements will be made using a robotic telescope system that is currently being built.
#142
Jan 13, 2019 · 17 min
142: The biggest clock with Rob Seaman
Rob Seaman of the Catalina Sky Survey talks about time, and why you need to know the time to discover asteroids and comets. He explains how he installed a highly accurate clock, and makes the case that "natural time" is better than "cold, heartless atomic time."
#141
Dec 30, 2018 · 36 min
141: Eyes on the back of your head with Dr. Tholen
Dr. Dave Tholen talks about near-Earth asteroids. He explains why they can be difficult to observe, and how he manages to spot them anyway. He also tells the story of a particularly famous asteroid that he discovered, and sets the record straight about its name.

Showing 81–100 of 241 episodes