Today In Space

Alex has John back on the podcast so they can talk about their favorite Space-Related Movies and other things that happen to pop-up during the episode. Alex also opens with what happened Today in Space:

• The ISS alarm about a possible leak that occurred @ 4AM EST this morning and what we know
• What the ESA's Huygens Probe has accomplished and what we know about Titan because of it

Enjoy!

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• Total Recall
• Armageddon
• Chronicles of Riddick
• Interstellar
• Star Trek
• Aliens
• Apollo 13
• SPACEBALLS
• NO Star Wars

• Serenity
• Gravity
• Wrath of Kahn
• Europa Report
• Alien
• The Fifth Element
• Galaxy Quest
• E.T.
• Elysium

• http://www.universetoday.com/118175/ammonia-leak-on-the-iss-forces-evacuation-of-us-side-crew-safe/
• Links to tweets I refer to in this podcast:
  • @NASA https://twitter.com/NASA/status/555353675418599424
  • @fcain https://twitter.com/fcain/status/555379135103520768
  • @AstroSamantha https://twitter.com/AstroSamantha/status/555381253961433088
  • @csa_asc https://twitter.com/csa_asc/status/555393101465133057
• The ESA's Huygens Probe & Titan Accomplishments http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Highlights/Ten_years_at_Titan

Titan by the numbers

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

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Today In Space, Alex brings updates from SpaceX's CRS-5 mission and the science that they'll be doing up in Space. He also talks about four different events in Space, from the years 1820, 1986, 1997 & 2005 that happened on January 12. Thanks to the friends who tried to keep me out tonight - love you all! But this shit is real. Enjoy!

• http://www.theverge.com/2015/1/12/7531133/spacex-falcon-9-barge-returns-to-port-damaged
• http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/files/SpaceX_CRS-5_factsheet.pdf

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Alex dubs the CRS-5 Launch video (since he missed the live launch). He also talks about the cold weather, the student scientists who got a second chance, and things to come with the show! Enjoy!

link to the Launch Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7x-SumbynI&index=27&list=WL

• http://www.spacex.com/falcon9
• http://www.universetoday.com/117914/student-scientists-get-second-chance-to-fly-experiments-to-iss-aboard-falcon-9-after-antares-loss/
• https://twitter.com/MarsWxReport/status/553189526487965698/photo/1

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Alex and the Assistant talk about the aborted CRS-5 mission today and what caused the engineers to stop the launch. They also talk about fear and anxiety and how to deal with it. Enjoy!

The next launch attempt of the Falcon9 rocket and CRS-5 mission is slated for 4:47AM ET this Saturday (January 10th). You can watch coverage of it here

Image Credit: SpaceX

http://www.spacex.com/webcast/

• http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/liftoff-aborted-spacex-attempt-historic-landing-delayed-n280391
• http://www.space.com/28174-spacex-aborts-falcon9-rocket-launch.html?cmpid=514648
• Russian Moon Base Plans http://www.business2community.com/space-science/russian-firm-plans-build-lunar-base-project-costs-estimated-9-4-billion-01113995
• SpaceX | Grasshopper 325m Test | Single Camera (Hexacopter) - youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGimzB5QM1M

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Today In Space, Alex introduces the new assistant to the show. The two go over the Big Bang, what it is and how we know about it. Alex then goes into the controversy with the Bicep teams study on Inflation and what the Standard Cosmological Model is - as it relates to the Big Bang. Enjoy! And don't forget to check out the SpaceX Launch tomorrow (01/06/15) at 6AM EST here http://www.spacex.com/webcast/ I'll be covering the launch with the Assistant tomorrow and it should be out by 7PM

• New Spyder telescope launched from balloon in Antarctica http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/01/03/science/big-bang-to-be-investigated-from-balloon-in-antarctica.html?referrer=
• Arguments against bicep - dust in calculations http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/science/space/study-confirms-criticism-of-big-bang-finding.html

• Planck mission http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Planck/Planck_reveals_an_almost_perfect_Universe

• The standard cosmological model - Lambda CDM explaination http://www.cosmotography.com/images/cosmological_modeling_overview.html

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Welcome to the 16th episode of Today In Space. Thank you to everyone for listening and subscribing, and I'm looking forward to bringing you more of what is new, today in Space! Here is Part 2 of the the "Opinion Panel" featuring Brian Folan. Alex and Brian talk about the Scientific Method, String Theory, Theoretical Physicists, "Armageddon", "Gravity", and real-life Zombie Brains.

Enjoy!

• http://www.spacex.com/news/2014/12/16/x-marks-spot-falcon-9-attempts-ocean-platform-landing
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_in_spaceflight
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/poisoners/

Brian had brought this article up to discuss, but considering I didn't read it before-hand, I really didn't have any right to give my take on it. So I cut that part of our conversation out. But, both me and Brian did have problems with this article for different reasons but the general consensus was that we don't agree with the way this article leads people on - especially right from the beginning with a title like this. (The timing of the article is a little suspicious as well) So if you want, take a look at the article and make up your own opinion about it.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/eric-metaxas-science-increasingly-makes-the-case-for-god-1419544568

You can follow Brian Folan online at brian4ever.bandcamp.com

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In Part 1 of this Two Part episode, Alex has Brian Folan (artist/musician out of Providence, RI) on the show to discuss Dark Energy.

This episode is part of the "Opinion Panel" where Alex brings people who are interested in space and science to come on and give their opinion. The idea is to get people who aren't involved in science to "ask questions" and talk about Space. This is the first try. Enjoy!

From "What is Dark Energy?", to "How do we know there is Dark Energy?", Alex and Brian sit down and talk about this crazy mystery that is supposed to make up 68% of the Universe. Relax, listen and enjoy!

If you want to check out Brian Folan's music, go to Brian4ever.bandcamp.com

Dark Energy, Dark Matter, the Composition of the Universe, Planck Telescope,

• http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/planck/news/planck20130321.html#.VKGyBkACHQ
• http://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy/

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The Sierra Nevada Corporation Dream Chaser flight vehicle is readied for 60 mph tow tests at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center on Aug. 2, 2013

Credit: NASA/Ken Ulbrich

Alex talks about the postponing of SpaceX's CRS-5 mission to resupply the ISS and also talks about some other private companies and what they are doing to help bring the cost down for space travel and help make it safer. The companies discussed are Sierra Nevada Corporations (SNC) Space Systems and Blue Origins, LLC.

Blue Origin's pusher escape system rockets the Crew Capsule away from the launch pad, demonstrating a key safety system for both suborbital and orbital flights.

Credit: Jeff Bezos, Blue Origins, LLC.

Dream Chaser launches on an Atlas V rocket in this artist's conception.

Credit: Mark Maxwell

Over=head view comparison of the Space Shuttle (Right) and the Dream Chaser aircraft (Left)

In the spirit of Christmas, Alex also demonstrates how the "horse-whinny" is done in that Christmas song - "Sleigh Ride", and what instrument actually makes that sound.

The Holidays (the good, the bad & the ugly), SpaceX CRS-5, static fire test, beta angles, Sierra Nevada Corporations Space Systems (SNC), Dream Chaser, SpaceShipOne & SpaceShipTwo hybrid rocket engine, Launch America, Commercial Crew Program, NASA, Blue Origins, Beta Cutoff, "rotisserie mode", What instrument plays the horse call in "Sleigh Ride" & how is it done.

• New F9R Rocket Get Static Fire Test | SpaceX Space HD – YOUTUBE.COM

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsMNrhz5Nh

• "Back Then...In Space" - NASA's HL-20

  http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/factsheets/HL-20.html#.VJhsu0AACU

• SNC Space System Links (DreamChaser)

  http://www.sncspace.com/ss_about_dreamchaser.php

  https://www.youtube.com/user/SNCspacesystems

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgdFotAkUEU

• Blue Origins, LLC.

  http://www.blueorigin.com/

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l8aQ3hQyVs

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Alex brings you the information you should know as New Horizons makes its approach to Pluto and it's moons. Alex explains the history of why Pluto became classified as a "dwarf planet" in 2006.

Learn a little bit about the mission & what to expect during the time until New Horizons reaches its closest approach to Pluto on July 14, 2015. Also, Alex goes over the different data the science team is planned to gather during their time at Pluto.

An artist's drawing shows the New Horizons spacecraft as it nears Pluto. The moon Charon is in the distance

Image Credit: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwes

In 2005, this image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope was used to identify two new moons orbiting Pluto. Pluto is in the center. The moon Charon is just below it. The newly discovered moons, Nix and Hydra, are to the right of Pluto and Charon.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Weaver (JHU/APL), A. Stern (SwRI), and the HST

A drawing of the solar system shows Pluto's tilted orbit. Pluto's orbital path angles 17 degrees above the line, or plane, where the eight planets orbit.

Image Credit:

NASA

• Pluto, Why is Pluto a dwarf planet
• Is Pluto being reconsidered a planet?
• New Horizons mission (start and voyage details)
• Geminid Meteor Showers 2014
• What classifies a planet?
• AU (the International Astronomical Union)
• "Disgruntled scientists"

• Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• The temperature changes on the surface of Pluto
• The rocket launch system for the mission
• Jupiter Gravity Assist
• What happens during a 9 year mission
• History of the Pluto Keiper Express
• Cassini, Saturn, Pluto-Charon encounter
• Infrared & ultraviolet spectra

• Atmosphere
• Charon
• Styx
• Nix
• Kerberos
• Hydra
• Kuiper Belt
• Kuiper Belt Object (KBO)
• (Possible) extended mission details

• http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/index.php
• http://www.nasa.gov/newhorizons/on-plutos-doorstep-new-horizons-spacecraft-awakens-for-encounter/#.VI-mj4eMpJA
• http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060824-pluto-planet.html
• http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/index.html#.VI-O8IeMpJA
• Kuiper Belt (NASA) Explanation - via youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXoZwERokmI
• Kuiper Belt Encounters by New Horizons http://vimeo.com/45883622

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Alex talks about the technology that will be tested on the next SpaceX launch (CRS-5) on December 16th, 2014:

Hypersonic Grid Fins

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/536258543675252739/photo/1

Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/536262624653365248/photo/1

Alex then talks about the craziness that is the space race we are in the middle of, and he talks about how he got into the space industry.

SpaceX unveiled its Dragon V2 spacecraft designed to carry humans into orbit. The company's founder and CEO, Elon Musk, detailed aspects of the design that was developed in partnership with NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

Image Credit: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis

SpaceX, CRS-5, Hypersonic Grid Fins, Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship, Falcon 9, Dragon, High School, Conversation

• Article talking about why Orion may not be taking us in the right direction: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/space_20/2014/12/orion_test_launch_success_will_the_space_launch_system_succeed_for_crewed.html
• F9R 1000m Fin Flight | Onboard Cam and Wide Shot - (Fins deploy @ 1:10) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgLBIdVg3EM&app=desktop
• http://spacexstats.com/index.php

Good link for How to download/listen/subscribe to podcasts http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-to-download-listen-to-podcasts-android-ios-iphone/