The Space Hour

The Space Hour

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The Space Hour episodes

  • Canadian Space Agency joining in partnership to observe effects of climate change

    NASA has been one of the agencies at the forefront of observing the effects of climate change, and thanks to a collaboration of several space agencies around the world, predicting extreme weather events may be getting more and more accurate. One of the participants in the Atmosphere Observing System mission is the Canadian Space Agency. To discuss the role it will be playing in this project, I got a chance to talk to Thomas Piekutowski, who is head of the AOS mission delivery office at CSA.

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    24 min
  • What's the economic benefit of NASA programs?

    We begin today with looking at the economic impacts of NASA's programs. Not just in states where major facilities exist, the agency says the benefits can be felt in every state in the U.S. To show their work, it's released it's second ever economic impact report. To learn more about what it contained this time around I spoke with Margaret Vo Schaus, NASA's chief financial officer.

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    26 min
  • What do fruit flies and humans have in common? More than you realize.
    One of the drawbacks of traveling to deep space that remains relatively unknown is what the effects of no gravity could have on human biology. Especially the central nervous system. To find out more, , a team of scientists from NASA and Universities Space Research Association studied how the effects of space – like changes in gravity, radiation, and more – impact "model organisms," or other kinds of life that are biologically similar to humans. For this particular study, they used fruit flies. That right fruit flies. The Space Hour had the chance to speak to one of the scientists involved with the study, Dr. Janani Iyer. Who is a project scientist at USRA and the NASA Ames Research Center. My first question, why Fruit flies?

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    10 min
  • What does it take to be a NASA flight director these days?
    Over the summer, NASA announced its latest class of Flight Directors to oversee operations of the International Space Station, commercial crew, and Artemis missions to the Moon. I wanted to know more about these new recruits and also how the job has evolved over the years and I found the perfect person for that. Zeb Scoville has been a flight director at NASA for nearly a decade and the Space Hour had a chance to ask him about these very topics.

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    18 min
  • Finding the lesser-known but just as needed workers for the space industry
    With the rapid growth of the space industry comes the ever increasing need for workers in many trades to actually get things off the ground. Not even talking about the scientists behind these massive projects, but what about the welders and other technical occupations that are needed. Two industry organizations have recently announced a new initiative to help with that. The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) have agreed to work together to get more people to join the space industry. To find out the how and why, the Space Hour welcomed back Dan Dumbacher, who is the executive director of AIAA.

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    17 min
  • U.S. space defense is going to need military and academic efforts
    We begin today with the new age space race. Not so much with Russia anymore but another Asian near-peer competitor, China. As usual, the government is very interested in looking to academia to help keep pace and recently, the University of Arizona became the U.S. Space Command’s (USSPACECOM) first Academic Engagement Enterprise Center partner to help train the future workforce and increase research and innovation related to space and national security to ensure the future vitality of U.S. space operations. To learn more about what that means, the Space Hour talked to Vishnu Reddy, Associate Professor and Co-Leader of the university's Space Domain Awareness Lab.

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    16 min
  • U.S. space defense is going to need military and academic efforts
    We begin today with the new age space race. Not so much with Russia anymore but another Asian near-peer competitor, China. As usual, the government is very interested in looking to academia to help keep pace and recently, the University of Arizona became the U.S. Space Command’s (USSPACECOM) first Academic Engagement Enterprise Center partner to help train the future workforce and increase research and innovation related to space and national security to ensure the future vitality of U.S. space operations. To learn more about what that means, the Space Hour talked to Vishnu Reddy, Associate Professor and Co-Leader of the university's Space Domain Awareness Lab.

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    16 min
  • The soon to be new leader of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
    Starting May of this year, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory will have a new permanent director. President of Worcester Polytechnic Institute Laurie Leshin was selected earlier this year to lead JPL. Before she takes the reins however, I wanted to pick her brain about some of the projects she'll be most excited about once she's in the big seat.

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    10 min
  • Where NASA gets it's most out-of-this-world ideas
    NASA recently announced its latest selections to receive grants from its Innovative Advanced Concepts program. This is one avenue researchers are able to get money for ideas that are sometimes requested, and sometimes not. To learn more, I had a chance to speak with Michael LaPointe who is the acting NIAC program executive.

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    18 min
  • New task force wants to get the attention of Congress about space traffic management
    It is getting crowded up in space these days, and not just from operational equipment. Tens of thousands of objects are circling Earth, threatening launch vehicles, space assets, and even human lives. Now a coalition of experts is pressing lawmakers to do something about it before it's too late. I recently spoke to one of the members of the AIAA Space Traffic Management Coalition, Dan Dumbacher, who himself is executive director of the AIAA.

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    22 min

About The Space Hour

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A deep look at the commercial space industry from both the public and private sector. We discuss topics pertaining to the aerospace community with current and former members of the federal…