Are We There Yet?

India’s attempt to land a rover on the moon appears to have ended in failure. The Indian space agency lost contact with the lander during a touchdown attempt earlier this month. It follows the landing failure of another mission — SpaceIL’s attempt to land the Beresheet spacecraft on the moon earlier this year.

So what makes these lunar missions so hard?

The two recent failures highlight just how difficult lunar missions can be. Joining us to talk about the engineering challenges of such a mission is Dan Batcheldor — head of aerospace, physics and space sciences at Florida Tech.

And, we’re asking our expert panel of scientists about gravity waves — what are they and how are they helping scientists better understand the universe. UCF planetary scientists and hosts of the podcast Walkabout the Galaxy Addie Dove, Jim Cooney and Josh Colwell unpack the mysteries of gravity waves.

India’s attempt to land a rover on the moon appears to have ended in failure. The Indian space agency lost contact with the lander during a touchdown attempt earlier this month. It follows the landing failure of another mission -- SpaceIL’s attempt to land the Beresheet spacecraft on the moon earlier this year. So what makes these lunar missions so hard?

Last week, the Space Command came online. It’s what’s known as a combatant command group within the U.S. military and serves as a way to streamline the nation’s space military assets. It’s also seen as the precursor to the Space Force — a brand new military branch dedicated to all things space. We’ll talk with Republican Congressman Mike Waltz who sits on the House Armed Services Committee and the Committee on Science, Space and Technology. We talk about the space command and the politics of exploration as NASA again looks to return to the moon.

And speaking of the moon — a recent report in Wired uncovered tiny little stow-aways on Israeli’s lunar lander. Should we be worried about microscopic bugs taking over the moon? We’ll ask a panel of planetary scientists in a brand new segment on this show called “I’ve Always Wondered.”

But first — the politics of space. We began the conversation talking about space command and I asked the Congressman, why now?

Last week, the Space Command came online. It’s what’s known as a combatant command group within the U.S. military and serves as a way to streamline the nation’s space military assets. We speak with Republican Congressman Mike Waltz about the Command and the future of warfare in space.

A spacecraft the size of a passenger van is orbiting an asteroid nearly 100 million miles away and will soon snag a sample of dirt from the surface and send it back to Earth.

OSIRIS-REx launched from Cape Canaveral three years ago. The mission is NASA’s first asteroid sample return. Scientists hope the ancient asteroid Bennu will hold signs of early life in the solar system — but since arriving, scientists are learning Bennu is full of surprises.

We welcome back the mission’s principal investigator Dante Lauretta to give us an update on the mission and the surprises uncovered at the asteroid Bennu.

A spacecraft the size of a passenger van is orbiting an asteroid nearly 100 million miles away. As the OSIRIS-REx mission sends back images and data, scientists are learning the asteroid is not what they expected.

It’s been a busy few days for space news. We’re unrolling a new segment on the podcast this week — a round table of space journalists based here in Florida to break down the latest headlines and offer insight and analysis of all the top space news stories.

The Orlando Sentinel’s Chabeli Herrera, WKMG’s Emilee Speck and Florida Today’s Emre Kelly join the podcast to talk about SpaceX’s Starship development, the search for exoplanets and NASA’s missions to launch humans to the International Space Station and the moon.

This conversation was recorded Monday, August 5th at 9:00 a.m. By the time you get to listen to this episode, some details might have changed.

It’s been a busy few days for space news. We’re unrolling a new segment on the podcast this week -- a round table of space journalists based here in Florida to break down the latest headlines and offer insight and analysis of all the top space news stories.

NASA’s planet hunting satellite has completed its first year of science in space. The spacecraft searched the southern sky for signs of so-called exoplanets. The mission seeks to answer one of science’s age-old questions: are we alone in the universe?

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, identifies planets outside our solar system by staring at the stars. When a planet passes between the star and the spacecraft, the light of that star dims. TESS measures the dip in light — and scientists can use that data to determine what kind of planet is causing the dimming.

This week, NASA announced TESS has found a new planet about 31 light years away that exists in the so-called habitable zone — meaning it’s the right distance away from its host star to have liquid water.

The observations will help future telescopes, both on the ground and in space, make even more detailed observations of these planets and search for signs of life.

To talk about the spacecraft’s first year of science, we’re joined by Mark Clampin. He’s the Director of the Sciences and Exploration Directorate and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

NASA’s planet hunting satellite has completed its first year of science in space. The spacecraft searched the southern sky for signs of so-called exoplanets. The mission seeks to answer one of science’s age-old questions: are we alone in the universe? To talk about the spacecraft’s first year of science, we’re joined by Mark Clampin. He’s the Director of the Sciences and Exploration Directorate and NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.