Please welcome our guest tonight, John Powell, President of JP Aerospace, a nonprofit that launches student designed Pongsats (i.e., experiments that fit inside of a ping pong ball,) and other experiments to the edge of space using balloons. To date, over 80,000 students have participated in this program with plans to expand it even further. … Continue reading "Weekly Space Hangout: December 16, 2020 – John Powell Tells Us About PongSats and Airship to Orbit"

We are pleased to once again welcome Casey Dreier from the Planetary Society to the WSH. Casey will update us (as much as possible) about Space Policy changes that may occur once the new American Presidential administration takes office on January 20, 2021. As Chief Advocate, Casey is the public face of The Planetary Society’s … Continue reading "Weekly Space Hangout: December 9, 2020 – Casey Dreier: Are Changes Coming to NASA/US Space Policy?"

This week we are joined by Dr. Ingrid Daubar, Planetary Scientist from Brown University studying impact cratering within our solar system. Dr. Daubar is part of a team that has been using a new AI classification tool to identify geologic features on planetary surfaces, such as Mars. Ingrid has been involved in planetary science for … Continue reading "Weekly Space Hangout: December 2, 2020 – Dr. Ingrid Daubar, Planetary Scientist, Brown University"

This week we are aired Fraser’s pre-recorded interview with Dr. Olivier Witasse, Project Scientist on the JUICE mission. Olivier studied fundamental physics and astrophysics at the universities of Paris XI (Orsay) and Lyon between 1990 and 1996. He obtained a PhD at the University of Grenoble in 2000. In 1995, he successfully completed the exams … Continue reading "Weekly Space Hangout: November 25, 2020, Dr. Olivier Witasse, Project Scientist, the JUICE Mission"

This week we are airing Fraser’s pre-recorded interview with Dr. Ralph Lorenz, planetary scientist and aerospace engineer from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Ralph is the Mission Architect of the upcoming Dragonfly Mission to Titan, and the author of the new book, Saturn’s Moon Titan Owners’ Workshop Manual. Ralph was a member of the … Continue reading "Weekly Space Hangout: November 18, 2020 – Dr. Ralph Lorenz, Planetary Scientist and Dragonfly Mission Architect"

This week we are excited to welcome Amy Ross, NASA Space Suit Engineer, to the WSH. Amy is the team lead for the Exploration Extra-vehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) Pressure Garment Subsystem (PGS) as well as Space Suit Pressure Garment Technology Development. The team’s primary focus is the design, fabrication, qualification testing, and flight hardware delivery … Continue reading "Weekly Space Hangout: November 11, 2020 – Amy Ross, NASA Engineer and Space Suit Designer"

This week we are excited to welcome Pranvera Hyseni (Pran) to the Weekly Space Hangout. Pran is a celebrated science popularizer and the founder of “Astronomy Outreach of Kosovo” (AOK). She completed her B.A. in geography in 2019 at the University of Pristina, and now she’s pursuing her Master’s in Planetary Science at the University … Continue reading "Weekly Space Hangout: November 4, 2020 – Pranvera Hyseni, Astronomy Outreach of Kosovo"

This week we are pleased to welcome Dr. Natalie Cabrol, Director of the Carl Sagan Center for Research at the SETI Institute (SI), to the show. In addition to heading the strategic vision for science and exploration at the SI, Nathalie leads research projects in planetary science and astrobiology, develops science exploration strategies for Mars, … Continue reading "Weekly Space Hangout: October 28, 2020, Dr. Nathalie Cabrol, SETI Institute"

This week we are excited (and honored) to welcome Dr. Jill Tarter to the Weekly Space Hangout. Best known for her work in the field of SETI, tonight Jill will be discussing the search for technosignatures. Dr. Jill Tarter is the Emeritus Chair for SETI Research at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California and … Continue reading "Weekly Space Hangout: October 21, 2020, Dr. Jill Tarter and the Search for Technosignatures"

This week we are joined by Dr. Jane Huang and Dr. Jonathan Willams from the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA). Dr. Huang, Dr. Williams, and their team recently discovered some surprising information about the size and shape of some protoplanetary disks.