Every year, the Museum is proud to host the Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate, which brings together prominent scientists and public figures to discuss pressing questions on the frontier of scientific discovery.

Moderated by Neil deGrasse Tyson, the 2014 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate is titled “Selling Space” and will feature panelists including Elliot Pulham of Space Foundation and Tom Shelley of Space Adventures Ltd. discussing the commercialization of space. Tickets for this event have already sold out, but the debate will be live streamed on Wednesday March 19 at 7:30 PM Eastern Standard Time at amnh.org/LIVE. By March 21, the debate will also be available as a video on AMNH.tv or on the Museum’s YouTube channel.

In anticipation of the 2014 debate, this week’s podcast brings you a recording of the 2008 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate, titled “Mining the Sky.” Listen as panelists such as Cassie Conley, Acting Planetary Protection officer of NASA and Charles F. Fogarty, Professor of Economic Geology at the Colorado School of Mines discuss the natural resources found on cosmic bodies that may prove valuable to life on Earth. The 2008 debate was moderated by Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium Neil deGrasse Tyson and took place at the Museum on March 13, 2008.