International Space Development Conference (ISDC)

We decided to call episode 130 of This Week in Space "Dogs on Mars; Snakes on the Moon." Besides being a juicy bit of clickbait, it refers to rovers on the Red Planet and the now-cancelled VIPER program to search for lunar volatiles. Re Mars, we wanted to look again at the status of Mars Sample Return--yet another potential NASA tumble, it appears. Dr. Jim Bell of Arizona State University, and who has worked on every Mars rover since Pathfinder, joins us for a deep dive on these topics and more--and we learned, first hand, why he won the Carl Sagan Award for his ability to communicate about science! Susan Holden Martin Martin Lollar National Space Society Burt Dicht Fred Becker TWiT Lisa Laporte Tariq Malik

Dogs on Mars, Snakes on the Moon | TWiT.TV NASA's planetary exploration program is in trouble. The Mars Sample Return program is verging on cancellation, and the VIPER mission to the moon already has been. Both are

The National Space Society has a great opportunity for high school and for university students to become involved in a virtual international debate experience that focuses on issues of space utilization! Pass the word along!

If you saw the movie "Gravity," you have a sense of the dangers of orbital debris—and the risk is very real. More than 25,000 objects over four inches in diameter are tracked by the US Space Force, and millions of others are smaller or untracked—everything from derelict satellites to dead rocket stages to bits of shrapnel and even just chunks of frozen rocket fuel is there. And even something the size and mass of a paint chip, traveling at orbital speeds, can take out a window of a spacecraft. We're joined by Dr. John Crassidis from the University of Buffalo, an expert in orbital debris and its dangers. Look out below; this is going to be a hot one!
Tariq MalikBurt DichtFred BeckerMartin LollarSusan Holden Martin National Space SocietySpace.comLisa Laporte at BuffaloIsaac Arthur

Junkyard in Space | TWiT.TV If you saw the movie 'Gravity,' you have a sense of the dangers of orbital debris—and the risk is very real. More than 25,000 objects over four inches in diameter are tracked by th…

We see the sun every day as it rises and sets... it's one of the few constants in life. But it's a very dynamic body, throwing minor temper tantrums regularly. As it happens, we're at the peak of its 11-year cycle of activity and there's a lot going on! On episode 115 of This Week In Space, Malik and I talk about the sun and solar activity cycles.

Dr. Alex Young, the Associate Director for Science in the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, joins us to talk about the recent solar storms that have given us auroras and some communications blackouts, the science from the Parker solar probe, and much more.

Don't take the friendly Mr. Sun for granted--join us for this fascinating episode! Martin Lollar Susan Holden Martin National Space Society Burt Dicht Fred Becker Anthony Nielsen Lisa Laporte NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Our Friendly Mr. Sun | TWiT.TV We see the sun every day as it rises and sets... it's one of the few constants in life. But it's a very dynamic body, throwing minor temper tantrums regularly. As it happens, we're…