A View From Earth

One of the most important questions we ask about a body in the solar system is, “What is it made out of?” Understanding the chemical composition of planets, moons, and asteroids tells us about their formation and evolution, as well as how it might relate to Earth and the rest of the Solar System. Rovers and spacecraft can analyze objects and provide the information we need, but there’s nothing like holding a rock in your hand or analyzing a real sample in the lab to understand the makeup of a planet’s crust. In this episode, we talk with a scientist who works with moon rocks and Martian meteorites to characterize the surfaces of these bodies, and we’ll discuss some of the future plans for space missions designed to sample and return bits of space back to Earth.

Dr. Carolyn Crow is an assistant professor of geosciences at CU Boulder. Her work focuses on understanding the evolution of planetary crusts through chemical analyses of firsthand samples like meteorites and moon rocks. Part of her research also supports Nuclear Forensics projects that aim to understand the signatures of underground nuclear explosions and characterizing materials for the international monitoring system.

Everything in the universe is moving...but it’s not all moving in ways we would expect. For our current theory of gravity to be correct, there must be a huge amount of “dark matter” in the universe to explain the movement and distribution of galaxies and other objects in space. But, is dark matter really a mysterious invisible particle, or is there a more mundane explanation? This week, we talk with one researcher who is on the hunt for the universe’s missing matter using some of the world’s most powerful telescopes.

Dr. Mike Shull is a professor in the CU Astrophysics & Planetary Science department, specializing in UV and X-ray observations of galaxies, their constituents, and the spaces between them. He works to understand the early days of star and galaxy formation and how they affect the distribution of matter in the universe both then and now. Mike also uses the Hubble Space Telescope to look at the local environment of our own Milky Way galaxy.

What’s summer without a double-dose of sun? With so many amazing discoveries happening in solar physics this summer, we had to bring you more! This episode features two experts in stellar flares on our sun and other stars. They’ll tell us what these flares mean for not only the stars but also the planets orbiting around them. Planets like Earth!

Dr. Adam Kowalski has been at CU since 2016, when he joined the National Solar Observatory and the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences as an Assistant Professor. His research interests lie in solar and stellar astrophysics with a specialization in spectroscopy of optical and ultraviolet emission in stellar flares. He uses state-of-the-art modeling codes combined with analysis of data from ground and space-based observatories (such as Hubble, IRIS, and the APO ARC 3.5m) to understand how the lower, dense stellar atmosphere (chromosphere and photosphere) is heated in response to the sudden release of magnetic energy during flares. He is also interested in developing new media for the dissemination of scientific results to the public and in establishing collaborations across disciplines.

Dr. Maria Kazachenko is an assistant professor at CU Boulder and works in solar astrophysics. Her research interests range from the storage of magnetic energy in solar active regions, to the release of that energy in solar flares with an emphasis of comparison and integration of observations with simulations. Understanding how this energy is stored and released is necessary to predict solar eruptions and hence the space weather. She is also involved in the development of the Critical Science Plan for The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, the largest 4-meter solar telescope in the world, which had its first light in December 2019 revealing stunning mega-close up images of the Sun's surface. She has received the NASA Early Career Fellowship, the NSF CAREER award, and the Robert Bartnik Fellowship.

We can’t all be astronauts, but you don’t need a pilot’s license or a PhD to be a space scientist! Citizen science allows everyday people to be involved in real science projects on their own time, contributing to vital research and data analysis. This week we’ll be talking to scientists who use citizen science projects to assist in research on everything from analyzing features on the surface of Mars to observing far-off asteroids across the US. Join us and see how you can get involved!

Dr. Michael Aye & Dr. Ganna (Anya) Portyankina run a citizen science project looking at the surface of Mars; participants can help to find and analyze jets of material that spray up from the ground to help understand wind patterns in different locations around the planet. Dr. Portyankina brings an expertise of ices in the solar system, studying them both with data from spacecraft and from experimental low-temperature labs around the world. Dr. Aye creates new and innovative ways of analyzing data using a variety of programming languages, and works with instruments studying Mars, the moon, and Saturn’s rings.

The possibilities for life outside of Earth is a topic with innumerable perspectives and ideas, books, movies, and even albums, but how does our current technology measure up? In this episode, we’ll talk with two scientists about far-out ideas like using bacteria to mine asteroids, or whether or not we can terraform Mars. We’ll see where our current tech stands, what we might need to consider, and what we can and can’t accomplish in the near future.

Dr. Bruce Jakosky is a professor at CU Boulder, Associate Director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Principal Investigator of the MAVEN spacecraft mission, and newly-appointed member of the National Space Council User’s Advisory Group. His expertise in geology and cosmochemistry make him a leading expert in Mars’s atmosphere and what it would take to make the Red Planet habitable. In fact, he’s authored two books on the search for life in the universe and leads the CU team for NASA’s Astrobiology Institute. If anyone knows how to create a liveable Mars, it’s Dr. Jakosky! But does he think we can do it?

NASA says we’re going back to the moon, but could it be for good? In this episode, we ask two lunar scientists who specialize in water, ices, and atmospheres about what it might take for humans to set up camp on (or under!) the surface of the moon. We’ll also find out what sort of cool new things are in store for the upcoming Artemis missions that aim to put humans on the lunar surface in the next four years.

Dr. Paul Hayne is an assistant professor at CU Boulder studying surface and atmospheric processes on terrestrial bodies like the moon and Mars. He is especially interested in ices and how they affect the atmospheres of these bodies. Dr. Hayne is involved with several NASA missions, including the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Climate Sounder, and the upcoming Europa Clipper. He is currently the lead on an instrument slated to be launched to the moon as part of the Artemis series of missions; this radiometer will help map the distribution of different chemicals and materials on the moon and their thermal properties.

Margaret Landis is a post-doc at CU Boulder specializing in geology and icy bodies all over the Solar System. She has worked with spacecraft such as the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Dawn spacecraft that visited the dwarf planet Ceres, and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter at the moon. Her current work looking at the chemistry of ices on the moon could be essential in determining what sort of water reservoirs our future human explorers could access for drinking, farming, and fuel.

People have been studying the sun in one form or another for millennia, but how much do we actually know about our nearest star? This week we’ll be talking to two solar physicists about our sun, inside and out, and some of the amazing new spacecraft, telescopes, and modeling techniques we use to unravel its mysteries.

Dr. Ben Brown is an assistant professor and researcher at CU Boulder studying fluid dynamics in stars and exoplanets. He uses supercomputer modeling techniques to understand convection inside of stars and how it builds and affects the sun’s active magnetic field. This can help us learn more about the origins of magnetic field events, like solar flares, that could impact life on or near Earth.

Chris Gilly is a graduate student at CU Boulder studying waves that help heat the outer layers of the sun to MILLIONS of degrees. He is also interested in the Sun-Earth connection and how what happens on the sun can affect us here on Earth, for good or ill. Gilly looks to use new technologies like the Parker Solar Probe and the DKIST telescope to further his work. More information can be found about Gilly's work can be found at http://Gilly.space.

This episode is all about...aliens. Or rather, alien planets and what sort of characteristics they possess, and whether they might be good places to look for life. We sit down with experts in exoplanets and exoplanet atmospheres to talk about what these distant planets are like, how we find them and study them, and how they are like and very unlike the planets in our Solar System.

Dr. Zach Berta-Thompson is a professor of astronomy and planetary science at CU Boulder with a specialty in studying exoplanets. His research ranges from mid-sized bodies and their atmospheres to small planets around small stars to what he calls “wonderfully complicated stars.” Within the student body, he is especially known for his stellar shoe collection, his love of arts and crafts, and his enthusiasm for teaching and advising students.

Jessica Libby-Roberts is a graduate student at CU Boulder working with Dr. Berta-Thompson on research regarding exoplanet atmospheres. She currently works on “super-puffs” planets with densities similar to cotton candy! Her research tries to understand how the low gravity of these puffy planets holds on to a substantial atmosphere and what that can tell us about planetary formation and dynamics.

In this episode, we’re chatting about those pesky planetary neighbors and dinosaur killers, asteroids. Since Bruce Willis wasn’t available, we’ll hear from two local scientists specializing in asteroid orbits and dynamics, as well as what it might take to deflect an asteroid and how NASA plans to test it.

Dr. Daniel Scheeres is a Distinguished Professor of Aerospace Engineering at CU, specializing in astrodynamics and satellite navigation. Dr. Scheeres has also done work for JPL and received awards from NASA for his group’s work on an asteroid redirection mission concept. He is the recipient of numerous awards for publications on astrodynamics. In fact, he is so recognized in the field that he has an asteroid named after him!

Kya Sorli is a current Ph.D. student in astrophysics & planetary science at CU Boulder. Her research spans planetary defense, small-bodies and astrobiology, including work on how to stop asteroids and comets from hitting the Earth with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Planetary Defense team. Kya is now working for NASA’s Janus mission, focusing on thermal modeling of binary asteroid systems in an attempt to learn about their past and present.

This week’s episode takes us to the outer edge of the Solar System as we chat with two scientists studying Kuiper Belt Objects like Pluto and other small bodies. We’ll talk about the New Horizons mission to Pluto and Arrakoth, what’s next for the ongoing mission, and what kinds of things we can learn about tiny objects billions of miles away just by using small ground-based telescopes.

Ryder Strauss is a recent graduate of CU Boulder and is a project lead for RECON (the Research and Education Collaborative Occultation Network). He uses small backyard telescopes to observe tiny objects like asteroids at the far ends of the solar system using a technique called occultation. With each occultation only lasting a fraction of a second, how much can we learn about these far away objects that we can’t even see? Turns out...quite a lot!

Dr. Fran Bagenal is a Professor Emeritus at CU Boulder and has been involved in a number of planetary science missions, including Voyager, Galileo, Cassini, New Horizons, and Juno. She has sat on or chaired a growing number of NASA assessment groups, advisory councils, and review boards, and has received numerous awards for excellence in research and teaching. Dr. Bagenal is also a long-time proponent of a mission to Pluto, and her work as a co-investigator for the New Horizons mission makes her a prime resource for understanding the environment of the Kuiper Belt and beyond. Her enthusiasm for teaching and lecturing is legendary, and she may be the only CU APS faculty with an IMDB page!