Spacepod

Dr. Issac Smith visits the show to talk about one of Mars’ past ice ages; a time when most of the planet was covered in ice. He talks about how he made this discovery by looking at the layers of ice …

Returning guest Dr. Kelsi Singer talks about two of the icy moons of our solar system, Ganymede and Iapetus. She talks about the types of craters we see on their surfaces, and what they can teach us …

Jon talks about JPL’s Horizons, an amazing, publicly available system that keeps track of every known object in the solar system. Planets, moons, asteroids, spacecraft, you name it: over 715,000 in t…

This week’s guest is Dr Paul Chodas, who directs JPL’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies. He explains how predicting where an asteroid is going can get complicated when the asteroid gets close to …

Dr. Kevin Walsh visits the show to talk about a new NASA mission that will launch later this year: OSIRIS REx! This spacecraft will visit an asteroid, grab a bit of surface material, and return the m…

Professor Erik Asphaug stops by the show to discuss AOSAT-1, a tiny spacecraft that will contain experiments to study the surface of asteroids. AOSAT-1 will rotate once every minute, creating a force…

Dr. Kimberly Ennico Smith, New Horizons deputy project scientist, stops by the show to talk about the new data currently being transmitted to Earth, what it’s like to work on this mission, and the vi…

Dr. Alejandro Soto visits the show to talk about the different atmospheres found on planets and moons in our solar system. We talk about wind on Mars, the opening scene of The Martian, Pluto’s thin a…

Dr. Krista Soderlund talks about the ice giants, Uranus and Neptune. She tells us about their unusual rings and moons, and how studying them can teach us about exoplanets.

Dr. Christiansen stops by the show to talk about exoplanets and the Kepler Space Telescope. We share an Australian beverage and she explains how astronomers look for exoplanets, and how the discovery…

Dr. Lisa Storrie-Lombardi talks about the Spitzer Space Telescope. She tells us how Spitzer made the first observation of light from a planet outside our solar system. She also describes how engineer…

Dr. Don Yeomans, head of JPL’s Near-Earth Object office until his recent retirement, describes how the field of asteroid discovery has changed over the decades. He recalls  when early data indicated …

Dr. Kimberly Litchtenburg explains what it is like to explore Mars with the Curiosity rover. It involves daily discussions with scientists, careful programming, and sometimes, fantastic discoveries, …

Professor Yan Fernández tells us about several baffling comets, including one comet that has a nearly circular path around the sun. He also talks about comet Hale Bopp, which we’ve got to study now, …

Dr. Kelsi Singer and I drink an unusual beverage while she shares some of the incredible discoveries that she and the New Horizons team are making. We also discuss a contentious issue— should Pluto b…

Dr. Robert Hurt stops by the podcast to talk about his job making visuals to explain complicated astronomical concepts. We chat about multiverses, gravitational waves, and Cameron Diaz’s love for NAS…

Dr Andy Rivkin and I drink gin and tonics, and Andy explains what spectroscopy is and what it can teach us about minerals on asteroids. He also describes what it’s like to use some of the world’s mos…

Dr. Tim Sphar, CEO of NEO Sciences and former director of the Minor Planet Center, stops by the show to talk about how asteroids are cataloged and monitored. He also talks about his experience the da…

Dr Cable returns to the show to talk about why scientists often assume that water is needed to sustain life. She explains why most life, like us, likely is carbon-based, and talks about where she’d l…

Dr. Katherine Kretke investigates how planets are formed with computer models. Her new research had a surprising result— that pebbles play a key role in forming terrestrial planets like Earth and Mar…