Send us a text

Until the Apollo moon landings, our only samples of material from space were in the form of meteorites. These meteorites gave us an insight into the origins of our solar system, and might even have provided the complex organic molecules that allowed life to develop on our planet. 

In this episode we have an awesome chat with noted meteoriticist Greg Brennecka. We explore some of the history of meteorite research, the origins of life on Earth and the free samples of Mars rock that arrived on Earth in the form of meteorites. Greg also gives us a highlights package from his new book 'Impact, How Rocks From Space Led to Life, Culture, and Donkey Kong'.

Meteorites might have brought the ingredients of life to Earth, but they've caused some mass extinctions as well. "...the meteorites giveth, and the meteorites taketh away." This is a fascinating insight.

Find Greg's book 'Impact' here

Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on Twitter for some special content
twitter.com/CosmicCoffTime

You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi!
We'd love to hear from you.

Email us!
[email protected]

Send us a text

From Mars rovers that were the size of a microwave oven back in the 90s, we now have the Perseverance rover that's the size of a car. And a helicopter.
We take a look at the amazing Mars 2020 project that is taking Mars exploration to the next level.  It's collecting samples for future return to Earth and the Ingenuity helicopter is flying through the Martian atmosphere - carrying a small piece of cloth from the Wright brothers' plane.

Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on Twitter for some special content
twitter.com/CosmicCoffTime

You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi!
We'd love to hear from you.

Email us!
[email protected]

Send us a text

There's a strange gap between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, a gap where Bode's law says we would expect the fifth planet to be. There's no planet there, but there's something else that's just as amazing, it's the asteroid belt. Let's take a look at the four main asteroids and see what makes up the other million identified objects.

Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on Twitter for some special content
twitter.com/CosmicCoffTime

You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi!
We'd love to hear from you.

Email us!
[email protected]

Send us a text

Voyager 1 took the famous photograph the Pale Blue Dot. It's the furthest travelled machine ever made by people. At 23 billion km, it takes nearly a full day for its radio signals to reach us.
Voyager 2 toured all of the gas planets in our solar system and remains the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus and Neptune.
But it gets even better. Both of these 1970s tech spacecraft are still operating in interstellar space and sending data back to earth.

Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on Twitter for some special content
twitter.com/CosmicCoffTime

You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi!
We'd love to hear from you.

Email us!
[email protected]

Send us a text

Neptune. Something was perturbing Uranus' orbit, turns out it was the eighth planet, Neptune. Neptune was the first planet to have its existence and position calculated before it was discovered. Let's take a look at Neptune and its major moon Triton.

Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on Twitter for some special content 
twitter.com/CosmicCoffTime

You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi!
We'd love to hear from you.

Email it to 
[email protected]

Send us a text

Uranus. Stop giggling, is the first planet to be discovered by telescope. The inner planets have always been known about, but Uranus need to wait until the telescope was invented.
Let's take a closer look.

Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on Twitter for some special content 
twitter.com/CosmicCoffTime

You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi!
We'd love to hear from you.

Email it to 
[email protected]

Send us a text

Jupiter is the first of the gas giant planets. Let's take a look at what makes these planets different from the inner planets. It has a fascinating set of moons that help make up the Jovian system, and we find out how it subtle set of planetary rings were discovered.

Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on Twitter for some special content 
twitter.com/CosmicCoffTime

You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi!
We'd love to hear from you.

Email it to 
[email protected]

Send us a text

How do you keep a chemistry class's attention in the age of smart phones? Explosions, loud noises and passion! That's how Kate the Chemist does it. Dr. Kate Biberdorf is a professor of chemistry at the University of Texas and she's a science entertainer. She amazed Stephen Colbert with the elephant's toothpaste experiment on Late Night, and blasted a thousand ping pong balls into the air on the Kelly Clarkson Show.

She took a break from exploding hydrogen balloons and breathing fire to have an awesome chat with us about her STEM army, firing up kids' imaginations with science and exploding a few myths about women in STEM. Her new book It's Elemental reveals the hidden science in everyday life.

Check out It's Elemental here - harpercollins.com/products/its-elemental-kate-biberdorf?variant=39307415388194

Kate's website - katethechemist.com

Send us a text

We have a great chat with Earl Swift about NASA's lunar rovers and his new book Across the Airless Wilds. It's a fascinating dive into the last three moon landings and what could be regarded as the pinnacle of human exploration.
Earl recounts his time with astronauts Charlie Duke and Dave Scott, and Laszlo Kestay from the United States Geological Survey, and gives us some incredible insights into the the design process of the lunar rovers and their place in the history of exploration.

Earl's website is: earlswift.com

Watch the lunar rover in action on the moon - the Lunar Grand Prix film: youtube.com/watch?v=az9nFrnCK60

Find Across the Airless Wilds: harpercollins.com/products/across-the-airless-wilds-earl-swift?variant=32915592249378 

Send us a text

There's a lot about Mars that is very Earth-like, from the length of a day to the kinds of seasons it has. Being a neighbouring planet, it's no surprise that we talk about sending astronauts to Mars. 
While we're waiting, let's take a look at some of the super cool spacecraft that have already been to Mars.

Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on Twitter for some special content 
twitter.com/CosmicCoffTime

You can request a topic for the show!
Email it to 
[email protected]