Today In Space

In this episode Alex shares his favorite facts about the two missions of the Mars Triplet this month - Hope & Tianwen-1. We also discuss the ideas of an interplanetary mission to Mars as an amplifier for a country's value and recognition on the world stage.

Can a small, young team of engineers and scientists succeed where the most powerful countries in modern history have failed?

Can space progress and the ideal of adding to humanities collective knowledge of a planet like Mars be the grounds for continuing international partnership & teamwork in the future?

Let us know what you think! https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-020-01862-z/index.html?WT.ec_id=NATURE-20200709&utm_source=nature_etoc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20200709&sap-outbound-id=D2B97D206CFC64E6C035AC49CAC4D67FAFEBE1C0

https://www.planetary.org/space-missions/tianwen-1

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CKUlvzXs5Tc/?igshid=12cugcu5zkb1x

https://www.space.com/tianwen-1.html

https://www.space.com/china-mars-rover-tianwen-1-landing-site

On this week's episode we sat down and watched both SpaceX Starship high altitude test flights (SN9 & SN8) to compare the two. Both ended in a 'boom', but the 'landing' position was pretty good. How much good data did they get from this launch? Is it enough to continue progress on the Starship program? We'll learn soon enough once SpaceX goes through the debris and analyzes. Best of luck

Alex shares his first thoughts and reaction to watching both SN8 & SN9 launches side by side. There are a surprising amount of differences that we observed and a whole lot of questions yet to be answered. Would love to know what you think!

Be well! Spread love & spread science!

SN9 Test Flight (SpaceX) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zZ7fIkpBgs

SN8 Test Flight (SpaceX) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap-BkkrRg-o

In this week's episode we discuss the success of the record breaking launch of Transporter-1 by SpaceX that successfully deployed 143 satellites into orbit in the same launch. We also share some stats on this mission to give it some more context

Then we discuss the Balance of the space industry and ask whether or not Space is ready for all these emerging launches of cubesats & satellites, considering last year was a record year for satellite launches. Don't we already have too much orbital debris around Earth? Isn't there too much risk already?

I share some research on that topic, a brief history of space progress since the 1970's, and my thoughts on why we need to focus on the problem at hand and not get overwhelmed by our emotions. Which of course, is a good chance for me to compare this orbital problem to my first dentist appointment since I quit smoking cigarettes.

Be well! Good luck SpaceX Starship team on getting SN9 hopping down in Boca Chica, Texas!

https://web.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-031212-121649/unrestricted/Mechanical,_Power,_and_Thermal_Subsystem_Design_for_a_CubeSat.pdf https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/08/spacex-enters-competition-for-smallsat-launch-contracts-with-a-low-low-price/ https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.floridatoday.com/amp/6693097002 https://www.celestis.com/launch-schedule/horizon-flight/ https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/mars-cube-one/in-depth/ https://spaceflightnow.com/2021/01/24/spacex-launches-record-setting-rideshare-mission-with-143-small-satellites/

https://tcrn.ch/3sKRjwe - Virgin orbit goes to space!

https://www.space.com/nasa-sls-megarocket-artemis-1-engine-test-fire

https://www.facebook.com/groups/spaceXverse/permalink/2495749894063354/

https://physicsworld.com/a/dark-coated-starlink-satellites-are-better-but-not-perfect-say-astronomers/

We've got a space-packed episode for you this week! We're talking about some great things to LOOK UP for in the night sky this month, review the latest news since the start of the year, and break down the idea that we're in the era of Space Race 2.0. The private sector is keeping the space industry strong and while interest is still high, there's a ton of progress still to come!

With a ton of success to build momentum on, SpaceX is doing great things. We bring attention to the person who we think is integral to the maintained success - and we're not talking about Elon Musk, but their President and COO Gwynne Shotwell!

LOOK UP! - astronomical events in January https://youtu.be/q7jYvd6v25Y

Flight proven hardware is easier to sell. WHY Gwynne shotwell is awesome https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/01/gwynne-shotwell-talks-about-selling-flight-proven-rockets-starship/

Review of satellites launch in last year and more - TLDR; its a lot

https://planet4589.org/space/papers/space20.pdf?fbclid=IwAR08UxlTgrrE-7gRxYmqbocWG_mn2FU6dPLHp3x_tueTB1be9sFZ3AomriA

India's Decadal Plan for reusable rockets https://spacenews.com/india-aims-for-reusable-rockets-advanced-propulsion-in-decadal-spaceflight-plan/?fbclid=IwAR11MjQ1ZlAuevQOOOjmcyy5dq-Yy_zZ3IS4atRUVaUGMQq3cbCdVOx8osc

Spacex and missile detection https://spacenews.com/spacex-and-l3harris-win-again-space-development-agency-contracts-to-build-missile-warning-satellites/

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It's the end of 2020, and we can't be more excited for this year to end! We've learned a whole bunch along the way, and I wanted to take this last episode of this shitty year to breakdown some lessons and takeaways. Would love to know what you've taken away from this year as well.

We've learned alot by seeing SpaceX & NASA work together to achieve great things. I've learned alot about being honest with myself about who I am and what I'm not good at. I also take some time to dive into some of the best feedback I've gotten this year.

Looking forward to 2021 with lots of hope and excitement! To a fantastic future!

ISS Crew 1 team sharing holiday greetings from space! https://twitter.com/Space_Station/status/1342141735787491330

Welcome to our Holiday Special! We're gearing up for the end of 2020 (thank goodness) and this week we wanted to break down what makes this Great Conjunction so 'great'.

We go over what's happening with these two planets, when it's happened before, and what the Earth was like the last time this astronomical event was happening in 1623 and 1226! Were things as messed up as they are now? You'd be surprised...

As is tradition on the podcast, we spend some time on the holiday special discussion the mind f&ck that is space & time on the scale of the universe compared to our humanly existence.

Next week we will have lots of content for the end of the year! We're reviewing what 2020 had to offer with Space - and what we expect for 2021!

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Facebook.com/todayinspacepodcast Twitter.com/todayinspacepod instagram.com/todayinspacepod instagram.com/ag3dprinting

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/great-jupiter-saturn-conjunction-dec-21-2020 https://www.nasa.gov/feature/the-great-conjunction-of-jupiter-and-saturn

Wrath of the Kahns - Dan Carlin Hardcore History https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-extra-wrath-of-the-khans/

It's been a crazy month of Space so far! On this week's podcast we start by giving you a lightning fast review of all that's happened recently in space, and then we focus on breaking down the SpaceX Starship SN8. Alex explains why the test was a success (go R&D!) and how SpaceX's definition of failure is very different than all the haters and click baiters saying it was a 'failure'

Way to go Elon & SpaceX team - y'all are amazing!

Two SpaceX Dragon capsules docked on the ISS https://twitter.com/SpaceX/status/1336349048534528001?s=20

Astronaut Terry Virts on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast https://open.spotify.com/episode/4k7JHPCLoCmSlZY9tvme0s?si=_n11dqiwRTGvSy3zpE3fsg

JAXA's Hayabusa2 returns Asteroid Ryugu sample: https://twitter.com/ELGR3CO/status/1335599041053401088?s=20

NROL-44 Launches finally! Way to go ULA & DeltaIV Heavy https://twitter.com/ulalaunch/status/1337297554606862336

SpaceX SN8 Starship Test flight (original stream) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap-BkkrRg-o

NASA Artemis Astronauts chosen: https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis-team/?utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=WomenNASA&utm_campaign=NASASocial&linkId=106912901

How not to land a Falcon 9 rocket - SpaceX https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvim4rsNHkQ

This week we had the pleasure of having Cyril Dupuy on the podcast! He's the CEO of Vaonis, an ex-Aerospace engineer, and extremely passionate about astronomy. We discuss Vaonis' telescope Stellina and all the ways they are making it easy for ANYONE to view the night sky and guided by their platform's application. A really great talk with a science based thinker who's on a mission to innovate astronomy for beginners, children, and anyone who's not doing it because it's too complicated to get started.

We discuss where Cyril's passion for science started and how he's finding a balance between being an engineer and the best CEO he can be for his team at Vaonis. Business and science combine! We also discuss the next product that just finished up its Kickstarter - Vespera! The slim-downed version of Stellina with all the great features - in a smaller package for anyone's budget (available at the start of 2022)

Check out what Vaonis offers at their website Vaonis.com

On our segment, 'People of Science' we talk with those passionate about the scientific mindset and what got them into their field. The challenges or stories of how they got to where they are today, how they think, and the science they love.

This week Alex talks about the 3D printing fire that was prevented due to redundancies, geeks out about the space shuttle, and then discusses the latest success from SpaceX with their 7th time flown Falcon 9 B1049. This kind of progress in space brings about a new era we're watching unfold in real time.

To answer last weeks question about how much money rocket customers are saving by using a reused Falcon 9 - we did some research to figure out what the numbers really are and how SpaceX is making money with reusable first stage rockets.

Finally, we discuss the second 15KM hop of the Starship SN8 prototype and I did some math to try and illuminate just how tall 15kilometers really is.... (CORRECTION added for cruising altitude comparison. I had my math wrong - thanks for catching that Ku5i on Youtube!)

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/spacex-crew-1-science-iss

https://www.elonx.net/how-much-does-it-cost-to-launch-a-reused-falcon-9-elon-musk-explains-why-reusability-is-worth-it/

https://www.inverse.com/innovation/spacex-elon-musk-falcon-9-economics