On The Space Show for Wednesday, 7 May 2025:

Tell him he’s dreaming: Jared Isaacman’s confirmation hearing — Part 2 vs the Trump Administration's NASA Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request — Part 1

We examine President Trump's nominee for NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman's promises to Congress, compared with the reality of the Trump Administration’s recently announced NASA budget request.

Space and Australia: Opportunities in the second Trump administration

An exclusive interview with Dr Malcolm Davis, Senior Analyst, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, discussing his January 2025 article in The Strategist.

Dr Davis discusses both civilian and military space activity in low-Earth orbit and cislunar space, and the need for Australia to develop sovereign space capabilities, even advocating for an Australian astronaut on the Moon.

You can read the article here: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/space-and-australia-opportunities-in-the-second-trump-administration/

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 26 March 2025:

Australian Federal Budget 2025—2026:

Some space and astronomy aspects of yesterday's Australian Federal Budget. The item includes Professor Peter Quinn (Director, International Centre for Radio Astronomy research, Perth) answering questions about the Square Kilometre Array, and a feature on Landsat and Landsat Next. (Prof. Quinn recorded at a Space Association of Australia meeting)

Fram 2:

The pending launch of the Fram 2 polar orbiting mission with Australian Eric Philips as pilot.

Maria Xygkaki, Senior Business Developer, Saber Astronautics, Adelaide:

Discussion of a potential Australian astronaut programme with Axiom Space. (Recorded at a Space Association of Australia meeting)

Australian Space Industry 2025 — Part 6:

Waratah Seed 1 successfully completes six months in orbit; and a progress report on the ELO2 lunar rover, Roo-ver.

Planet Earth: Season 6 — Episode 65:

Season 6 of our Planet Earth series begins with a report from New Zealand on control of the MethaneSAT.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 19 March 2025:

Blue Ghost 1 Completes Mission

The successful conclusion of the Blue Ghost 1 lunar landing mission, with a description of the experiments carried. (Inserts courtesy NASA and Firefly)

Athena Volatiles

The objectives of the Volatile Contamination experiment on the failed Athena lunar lander. (Insert courtesy IM)

Sun and Butch Return to Earth

Marking this morning's return of the Crew 9 Dragon with the Starliner Crew Flight Test crew, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, after nine months in orbit.

Australian Space Industry 2025 Part 5

The launch of Buccaneer Main Mission for the Australian Defence Force; Droid 02 and LizzieSat 3 carrying HEO Robotics's cameras; and Varda's Winnebago 3.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 12 March 2025:

SPHEREx and PUNCH:

The launch of the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere satellites and the SPHEREx observatory.

Athena Crash:

The crash landing of the Athena spacecraft on Mons Moutan in the South Polar region of the Moon, and the purpose of the Hopper Gracie and Trident drill.

The Nova-C lunar lander, named Athena, reached the surface of the Moon on 6 March 2025, at 17:28:50 UTC. Contact was temporarily lost during the landing process; when it was re-established, it indicated that the spacecraft was not in the correct orientation and one of the two radio antennas was not operating.

Lunar Trailblazer Lost:

Bethany Ehlman (Principal Investigator, Caltech) describes the Lunar Trailblazer and a series of status reports following its loss of attitude control.

Australian Space Industry 2025 Part 4:

Launch due for Buccaneer Main Mission for the Australian Defence Force; Droid 02 and LizzieSat 3 to carry HEO Robotics's cameras; Varda's Winnebago 3 to follow Winnebago 2 to land in the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 5 March 2025:

Elaine Hyde & New Shepard 30 mission

The suborbital spaceflight of Melbourne raised but now Florida resident Elaine Chia Hyde aboard the New Shepard 30 mission; biography, interviews and an analysis of comments posted on Channel 9's Instagram page.

Australian Space Industry 2025 Part 3:

* Neumann thruster successfully tested aboard the Edison satellite

* Varda's Winnebago 2 parachutes into Koonibba

* Transporter 13 mission with the Inovor built Buccaneer Main Mission satellite and the U.S. Turion Space Droid 02 satellite bearing two cameras from HEO Robotics has been postponed for several days.

Changing the guard and language at NASA:

NASA to "dominate" rather than "lead" in lunar space; Administrator change.

More on PUNCH and SPHEREx:

An overview of the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere satellites and the SPHEREx observatory. (Inserts courtesy GSFC and JPL)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 26 February 2025:

Athena:

The Intuitive Machine's second lunar mission, Athena with a NASA PRIME-1 (a payload consisting of a drill and mass spectrometer), the Micro Nova Hopper "Gracie", Lunar Outpost's Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) and Dymon's Yaoki rover. (Insert courtesy NASA HQ)

PUNCH:

A briefing on the four Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere satellites. (Insert courtesy NASA HQ)

Lunar Trailblazer:

Bethany Ehlmann of Caltech describes the goals and objectives of the Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft which aims to distinguish water types on the Moon.

Blue Ghost Mission 1:

As Firefly's Blue Ghost nears it lunar landing, a progress report on the mission. (Inserts courtesy Firefly and NASA)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 5 February 2025:

Stellar Fireworks: Novae and Supernovae

Coronal mass ejections and the SunRISE satellites

Stellar flares seen by Swift

Novae — T Coronae Borealis

Supernovae — SN1987a and Eta Carina

SPHEREx.

(Audio inserts courtesy GSFC, CXC)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 29 January 2025:

Update: Perseverance and Ingenuity

The Mars Perseverance rover has left Jezero Crater but what is the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter doing now that it is unable to fly? — you might be surprised.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 22 January 2025:

Australia and Transporter 12

The Australian involvement in the Transporter 12 mission, including statements from Fleet Space, HEO Robotics, Impulse Space, Varda Space Industries and Dawn Aerospace.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 15 January 2025:

Australia and Transporter 12

The launch this morning of the Transporter 12 mission, carrying Australian satellites Centauri 7 and Centauri 8 from Fleet Space, and satellites carrying Australian parts, including:

* Impulse 2 with a Holmes-007 camera from HEO Robotics

* Edison with Neuman Space's ND-50 second generation electric-ion thruster.

Also launched was the U.S. Varda's Winnebago 2 pharmaceutical manufacturing satellite, built by Rocket Lab, and which will land at Southern Launch’s Koonibba Test Range in South Australia.