The Space Show

By Andrew Rennie for the Space Association of Australia

The Space Show is a one-hour radio program presented every Wednesday evening between 7.00 and 8.00 pm Australian Eastern Time by Andrew Rennie for 88.3 Southern FM and the Space Association of Austral... more

· Science

Download on the App Store

Download on the App Store

Get it on Google Play

FAQs about The Space Show:

How many episodes does The Space Show have?

The podcast currently has 227 episodes available.

The Space Show episodes:

April 13, 2023 2023.04.12 | Eclipse Chasers: A conversation with Dr Nick Lomb
On The Space Show for Wednesday, 12 April 2023:
In conversation with astronomer and author Dr Nick Lomb about solar eclipses and his new book: Includes a discussion about solar eclipses, the 2023 April 20 Exmouth eclipse, the excitement of seeing a total eclipse, the 2028 July 22 eclipse in New South Wales, and the Nick Lomb and Tomer Stevenson's book “Eclipse Chasers”, published by CSIRO Publishing.

Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) launch scheduled for Thursday, 13 April at 22:15 AEST on the penultimate Ariane 5 ECA.

Ingenuity and its descendants: As we await news of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter's 50th flight, (perhaps it has and the flight log has not been updated because of Easter), a report on what has been achieved, and plans for the Mars Sample Return mission's use of helicopters. (Insert Courtesy JPL)

Findings by the Zhurong rover about the subsurface of Mars

Planet Earth: Season 4 - Episode 48: Intelsat 40e and Tempo - The launch on Good Friday (7 April) of the Tropospheric Emissions Monitoring of Pollution, or TEMPO instrument as a piggyback payload aboard the Intelsat 40e communications satellite. (Incorrectly introduced as Episode 47 - Insert courtesy SpaceX)
...more
46min
April 05, 20232023.04.05 | Artemis II astronauts named to first Moon mission in 50 years
On The Space Show for Wednesday, 5 April 2023:
NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) announced the four astronauts who will venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA’s path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration. The agencies revealed the crew members on Monday, 3 April during an event at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The approximately 10-day Artemis II flight test will launch on the agency’s powerful Space Launch System rocket, prove the Orion spacecraft’s life-support systems, and validate the capabilities and techniques needed for humans to live and work in deep space.
The crew assignments are as follows:
Commander Reid Wiseman

Pilot Victor Glover

Mission Specialist 1 Christina Hammock Koch

Mission Specialist 2 Jeremy Hansen.
...more
47min
March 30, 20232023.03.29 | Brightest Gamma Ray Burst (GRB 221009A) Observed
On The Space Show for Wednesday, 29 March 2023:
Space Show News:
The strongest gamma ray burst ever detected has been reported in the scientific literature. Commentary by Eric Burns (Louisiana State University) and Francis Reddy (Goddard Space Flight Center).

Ed Husic, Federal Minister for Industry and Science and minister responsible for the Australian Space Agency: Comment about space industry funding. (excerpt courtesy National Press Club)

Bill Nelson, NASA Administrator: Artemis II crew selection announcement and desire for an Australian astronaut. (excerpt courtesy National Press Club).

Lunar and Planetary Science Conference | LPSC 2023: Joel Kearns, Deputy Associate Administrator, Exploration Division, NASA HQ, Washington, D.C. on the status of the Artemis and supporting missions lunar science projects.
Remembering Yuri Gagarin: Marking the 55th anniversary of the death of the first cosmonaut using archival audio.
Ingenuity: The race between the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter and the Mars 2020 Rover Perseverance to the top of an ancient river delta on Mars, and confirmation that two helicopters will be used to retrieve the rock samples collected by Perseverance.
...more
44min
March 23, 20232023.03.22 | Trailblazer Awarded: Two Australian consortia to develop rovers for the nation’s first Moon mission
On The Space Show for Wednesday, 22 March 2023:
Space Show News
Trailblazer Program Awarded:
Australia is closer to embarking on its first mission to the Moon in partnership with NASA. The Australian Remote Operations for Space and Earth (AROSE) consortium and the EPE and Lunar Outpost Oceania consortium, will each receive $4 million to design early-stage prototypes of a semi-autonomous rover, as part of stage one of the Trailblazer program mission to the Moon.
Launch of the National Indigenous Space Academy:
Indigenous Australian university students will be given an opportunity to allow their careers to take off with a new internship program supported by the Australian Space Agency (ASA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The National Indigenous Space Academy (NISA) will see up to five students studying in STEM fields travel to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA JPL) in California for a 10-week full-time summer internship program.
A panel discussion on Moon mining and robotics at the Moon Village Association meeting, Deakin Edge at Federation Square in March 2019, featuring:
Anita Parbhakar-Fox, Senior Research Fellow, Geo-environmental Studies, University of Queensland

Carlos Espejel, iSpace, Luxembourg

Bohan Deng, CEO Spherospace, Sydney

Daniel Ricardo & Henry Lourey, Nova Rover Team, Monash University
Key highlights of the 54th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference - LPSC 2023 reporting on NASA's budget decisions, the status of planetary missions, and a vigorous discussion on matters arising, with:
Sandra Connelly, Deputy Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA HQ

Lori Glaze, Director, Planetary Science Division, NASA HQ

Sue Smrekar, Principal Investigator, VERITAS, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

and others...
Planet Earth: Season 4 - Episode 47
The Surface Water Ocean Topography or SWOT satellite.
...more
57min
March 16, 20232023.03.15 | Rocket Lab Establishes Australian Subsidiary to Support Rapidly Growing National Space Sector
On The Space Show for Wednesday, 15 March 2023:
Space Show News:
Rocket Lab, a global leader in launch services and space systems, announced it has established a new wholly-owned subsidiary, Rocket Lab Australia, to explore opportunities to support the expansion of Australia’s national space capabilities.

Rocket Lab to launch multiple Acadia Earth-imaging satellites for Capella Space, an American space tech company and a leading provider of commercial Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery.

Spaceflight Inc. Readies BlackSky Satellites for Upcoming Rocket Lab Launch.

NASA to reveal the Artemis Moon mission spacesuit designed by Axiom Space

NASA announces the selection of Axiom Space to provide the third private mission to the International Space Station

Detection of barium in the atmospheres of WASP-76b and WASP-121b exoplanets.

What’s with Dark Matter?: DAMPE and VLAST hope to find out.
Skykraft satellites are operational in orbit but how many of them are there?

Planet Earth: Season 4 - Episode 46
Pamela Melroy and the Earth System Observatory satellites and the Earth Information Centre

China launches a pair of geographic mapping, land resource surveys and science experiments

NASA’s Compact Total Irradiance Monitor (CTIM) cubesat

Tianhe 6A and 6b; CTIM 1; ICEYE; GeoCarb; GRACE-FO; Landslide Hazards; SWOT. (Inserts courtesy NASA HQ, ICEYE, USRA & JPL).
...more
49min
March 08, 20232023.03.08 | Katherine Bennell-Pegg: First to train as an Australian astronaut with the European Space Agency
On The Space Show for International Women's Day on Wednesday, 8 March 2023:
A history making announcement to coincide with International Women's Day, with the news that Katherine Bennell-Pegg will head to Germany next month to train as an astronaut with the European Space Agency (ESA). Katherine will be the first Australian woman to be trained as an astronaut by an international space agency, after recently being one of only 25 people to successfully complete ESA’s astronaut selection process from a pool of 22,500 eligible applicants. While on secondment to ESA, Katherine will remain an employee of the Australian Space Agency.

Celebrating International Women's Day 2023: "Women In Space" by Kerrie Dougherty recorded at a public meeting of the Space Association of Australia, South Melbourne for World Space Week. Kerrie is a space historian and management team member of the Space Discovery Centre at the Australian Space Agency in Adelaide, South Australia.

Australia in Space: A History of a Nation's Involvement by Kerrie Dougherty. Kerrie is an acknowledged expert on Australia’s space history, having co-authored the original edition of this book, Space Australia, and published more than a dozen other papers on the topic. This revised and updated edition now entitled, Australia in Space, tells the story of Australia’s involvement with space activities, from the earliest rocketeers to the latest satellite projects. It's the definitive book on Australian space history.

We remember the Antonov AN-225 aircraft on the first anniversary of its destruction. The AN-225 was originally designed to airlift the Energia rocket boosters and the Buran-class shuttle orbiter for the Soviet space program.
...more
35min
March 02, 20232023.03.01 | Next Gen Communications Satellites feat. BlueWalker 3 from AST SpaceMoblie
On The Space Show for Wednesday, 1 March 2023:
Starlink is a satellite internet constellation operated by SpaceX, providing satellite Internet access coverage to 50 countries. It also aims for global mobile phone service after 2023.

OneWeb is a communications company that aims to build broadband satellite Internet services. The company is headquartered in London, and has offices in Virginia, US and a satellite manufacturing facility in Florida.

BlueWalker 3 is AST SpaceMobile’s prototype satellite for its space-based cellular broadband network designed to operate directly with standard, unmodified mobile devices.

A panel discussion from the Space Industry Association of Australia, on the future of the communication satellite industry. Some of the leading movers and shakers in the Australian satellite communications industry discuss where the market technology is headed.

The European Space Agency plans to place a network of communications satellites in orbit around the Moon.

How NASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX), which orbits the Earth, has been able to measure energetic neutral atoms to reveal the variable nature of the boundary between our heliosphere and the interstellar medium.
...more
44min
February 23, 2023 2023.02.22 | Telstar 1 - Redux: Celebrating the first active communications satellite
On The Space Show for Wednesday, 22 February 2023:
Marking the 60th anniversary of the demise of Telstar 1 with a fascinating and prescient 1962 pre-launch talk by Jean Felkar (Assistant Chief Engineer at AT&T).
Mr Felker discusses communication by satellite and other aspects of the future of communication in space, followed by questions from the floor. He discusses the technical innovations involving microwaves that led to broadcast television. Because microwaves travel in straight lines, the curvature of the Earth prevents broadcasting worldwide.
Mr Felker predicts that by 1965 there will be an commercial satellite system for industries that will use satellite technology - telephone, television, all kinds of electronic communications.
Starlink and Rocketlab to the rescue in New Zealand after tropical cyclone Gabrielle batters the north island.
...more
44min
February 16, 20232023.02.15 | China Space Dream with Dr Malcolm Davis
On The Space Show for Wednesday, 15 February 2023:
Dr Malcolm Davis, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) in Canberra, outlines the implications of China’s strategic ambitions in space. Dr Davis argues that the so-called China Space Dream has significant soft power implications, both domestically and internationally, and that it will be important for other countries to respond to these developments in a thoughtful and strategic manner.

A report on the progress of the Chinese Long March 9 (LM-9) heavy-lift rocket.
...more
21min
February 09, 2023 2023.02.08 | European Space Agency highlights for 2023
On The Space Show for Wednesday, 8 February 2023:
Preview of European Space Agency space activities for 2023
2023 is going to be a very exciting year for the European Space Agency (ESA) including:
* The Juice mission, also known as JUpiter ICy moons Explorer, will be an ambitious mission to explore the Jovian system, with a focus on the icy moons Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.
* Euclid, is a space observatory designed to map the distribution of dark matter and dark energy in the universe.
* Sentinel-1C, as part of the European Commission's Copernicus program, will continue to provide valuable information about the Earth's surface and atmosphere, including data on land, ocean and coastal areas, emergency response, and security.
* The new generation of ESA astronauts will start their training and prepare for future space missions.
* The inaugural launch of Ariane 6, Europe's new heavy-lift rocket, will mark a new chapter in Europe's space history and pave the way for even more ambitious missions in the future.
A panel discussion on gender balance in the space industry; prospects for an Australian astronaut; long term industry planning; STEM and Tasmania; Australian Space Agency and Space Industry Association. (Recorded at the Moon Village Association conference, Deakin Edge, Federation Square in 2019) with:
* Jasmina Lazendic-Galloway, Astrophysicist, Monash University
* Antoinette Daily, Australian Space Agency
* Amanda Caples, Lead Scientist, Victorian Government
* Kerrie Dougherty, Board Member, World Space Week
* Rose Tasker, Multitasker
Marking the 20th anniversary of the final tragic flight of the space shuttle Columbia - STS 107
...more
49min

FAQs about The Space Show:

How many episodes does The Space Show have?

The podcast currently has 227 episodes available.