The Orbital Mechanics Podcast
Every week we cover the latest spaceflight news, discuss past, current and future exploration efforts, and take a look at upcoming events. Tune in to hear about how humans get to space, how they stay in space and how unmanned craft reach farther and farther into the universe around us.
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 55 minutes
- Episodes
- 302
- Years Active
- 2019 - 2025
Episode 254: XL to The Moon
Gateway is getting a new cargo vehicle, the Dragon XL! Also, a Crew Dragon test article was destroyed as was Astra's One of Three.
00:42:43 |
Wed 01 Apr 2020
Episode 253: Lackluster
Artemis-1's Orion has finished testing at Glenn! Also, LISA contact awarded, a Long March failure, and a slightly less bright Starlink
00:42:40 |
Tue 24 Mar 2020
Episode 252: Non-Critical
SLS-bound RS-25s are getting some nice cost reductions and tests, and Lunar Gateway is no longer in the critical path of Artemis.
00:42:28 |
Wed 18 Mar 2020
Episode 251: 61 Corrective Actions
The Boe-OFT independent review team concluded with just a few recommended changes. Also, Astra, DSCOVR and SLS push through rough times.
00:30:06 |
Tue 10 Mar 2020
Episode 250: This Is Not the Plan
SpaceX is building a mobile service tower for Falcon Heavy, Starship exploded, imploded and exploded, and Artemis may or may not drastically change.
00:31:38 |
Wed 04 Mar 2020
Episode 249: DOWNLINK--Laura Forczyk on her new book Rise of the Space Age Millennials
Laura is a space careers counselor, and first time author. We discuss her research into a rising generation of space professionals.
01:11:02 |
Wed 26 Feb 2020
Episode 248: Four Discoverers
The four Discovery finalists are in! Where do you want to explore? Venus, Io, Triton or Venus but with a parachute?
00:48:00 |
Tue 18 Feb 2020
Episode 247: DOWNLINK--Jason Batt
Jason Batt is the Editorial and Creative Director of 100 Year Starship. We talk to him about imagining the future, both in fiction and reality.
01:31:26 |
Wed 12 Feb 2020
Episode 246: Cupola Virus
We almost had a major debris event in LEO this week, and ISS is getting a commercial segment!
00:42:36 |
Wed 05 Feb 2020
Episode 245: More 'Splosions
A satellite is being quickly decommissioned so it won't explode, Firefly set fire to their test stand, and we discuss the in-flight abort 2nd stage.
00:33:41 |
Wed 29 Jan 2020
Episode 244: DOWNLINK--Silvia Alba
We met Silvia at IAC 2019. She was busy and a bit hard to track down, but her art was hard to miss! She discusses her unique body of work.
01:09:29 |
Wed 22 Jan 2020
Episode 243: Ad Astra Per DARPA
Astra has obtained permits to launch the third version of their Rocket, and they're now the sole competitor in the DARPA launch challenge.
00:30:12 |
Wed 15 Jan 2020
Episode 242: DOWNLINK--Dr. Martin Elvis
Asteroid mining is often discussed in terms of engineering and economics. Today, we're talking about raw material availability.
01:08:36 |
Wed 08 Jan 2020
Episode 241: Clock Kerfuffle
Space software engineer and friend of the show Emory Stagmer joins us to discuss CST-100 Starliner's recent failure to rendezvous with ISS.
00:45:52 |
Tue 24 Dec 2019
Episode 240: Nightingale
OSIRIS-Rex has set its sights on a crater called Nightingale, and will be headed down to grab some rocks from the surface of Asteroid Bennu in a year.
00:27:51 |
Tue 17 Dec 2019
Episode 239: DOWNLINK--Kyla Edison
Kyla Edison is a geologist working for PISCES, and she's sintering basalt into structural tiles for applications on Earth and off-world ISRU.
01:14:49 |
Wed 11 Dec 2019
Episode 238: Moon Prep
SLS and Orion are making progress towards Artemis!
00:30:56 |
Wed 04 Dec 2019
Episode 237: DOWNLINK--Elena Zorzoli Rossi
We met Elena at IAC 2019. She's the lead experimental engineer at ThrustMe, and has been testing their new solid fuel electric propulsion engine!
01:23:50 |
Wed 27 Nov 2019
Episode 236: Panel jettison
This week we saw the beginning of a long series of EVAs to repair the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, which was not intended to be repaired on orbit.
00:43:18 |
Wed 20 Nov 2019
Episode 235: DOWNLINK--Andrew Rader
Andrew Rader is a mission manager at SpaceX, a game designer, a podcaster, and the author of many books, including his newest: Beyond the Known.
01:07:39 |
Tue 12 Nov 2019
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