Spacepod

Cassini's spacecraft operations team manager, Julie Webster, stops by the show to reflect on Cassini. We chat about the time Cassini dove through Titan's atmosphere, how Julie monitored thousands of channels of telemetry at once, and how she's happy that she doesn't have to spend her time thinking through worst-case scenarios (or "awfulizing") now that the spacecraft is no more.

Dr Morgan Cable returns to the show to chat about the end of the Cassini Mission. We find solace in the fact that there's still a tiny bit of Cassini in orbit around Saturn. Dr. Cable also describes Cassini's discovery of hydrogen, "the easiest food for a microbe to digest," in Enceladus' plumes.

Sagan Prize winner Dr. Henry Throop tells us how scientists look for micron-sized dust that's millions of miles away to protect the New Horizons spacecraft. This search involves computer modeling, occultation observations, and plenty of teamwork.

Dr. Fengchuan Liu talks to us about an international project, the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). He describes the telescope, it's many mirrors, and how he helps manage such a complex project.

Dr. Cindy Hunt returns to the show to talk about the upcoming 100th anniversary of the 100 inch Hooker Telescope on Mount Wilson. She explains why this telescope looks like a battleship and tells us how it "completely upended our understanding of the universe". Also: poetry!

Dr. Lisa Storrie-Lombardi returns to the show to discuss NuSTAR, Spitzer, and what it feels like to end a mission you've been working on for decades. Cassini's Grand Finale has us reflecting on the upcoming demise of the Spitzer Space Telescope.

Professor Jay McMahon stops by the show to explain the YORP effect and how it changes asteroid spins and shapes. He also describes his NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) project that is investigating the use of soft robots to explore rubble-pile asteroids.

Dr. Mary Peterson tells us about basaltic glasses from the Galápagos Islands, and why they might have originated deep within the Earth's mantle. She also describes her lab work, which involves cool lab coats, security badges, and meticulous sorting of samples.

Dr. Andrea Donnellan stops by the show to talk about GeoGateway, a website that combines different datasets to help geologists. She explains how rocks move like silly putty, and recounts the time a lone cloud masqueraded as tectonic motion. Bonus music at the end is "Glorious Dawn" by Colorpulse. Hear more rad science tunes at www.symphonyofscience.com.

Dr. Emily Kramer stops by the show to try some tea and talk about her trip to South Africa to observe the next New Horizons target, 2014 MU69. She was one of several astronomers and planetary scientists who flew to other countries to watch this object pass in front of a star in the hopes of measuring its diameter.