Today In Space

The balance has been achieved between NASA & SpaceX! Starship was chosen as the single investment and winner of the HLS contract to bring the first woman and next man to step foot on the Moon. We started this segment of the balance with a question about whether or not NASA & SpaceX could combine forces and bring their best aspects together for a single effort to advance humanity in space....and this selection is a MASSIVE win for everyone involved.  As is custom with 'The Balance' I also discuss balance in my own life and explain why this episode is audio only and what I'm doing to take care of myself physically and mentally in the middle of ALOT of change in life.  I also share my thoughts on the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter test flight and some ideas on how to prevent martian dust from killing any future rovers.

In this episode we’re playing catch-up to review all the human Spaceflight underway in the next few weeks and months. Crew 1 makes a port relocation in preparation for Crew 2, and we review the Inspiration 4 mission and crew, as well as the impact of the first all civilian space mission. What does this mean for the future? I also discuss the impact of what First Contact IRL would have on humanity in honor of this years April 5th anniversary of the scifi timeline in Star Trek when humans met Vulcans for the first time. And a quick overview of what happened to Starship SN11 and why SpaceX is jumping to SN15. (UPDATE: Still unknown whether SpaceX used FTS or SN11 had an RUD - removed section speculating FTS was used. Still no data to support that. Thank you @sontavas on Twitter for pointing that out!) Elon Musks explanation for Starship SN11 RUD https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1379022709737275393?s=21 Meet the First All-Civilian Space Crew: https://youtu.be/4bkx2ENyAAs Who’s on board Inspiration 4?? https:/

On this week's episode there's alot to catch up on in Space! NASA successfully test fired their RS-25 engines for the Space Launch System, the heavy lift vehicle created from the Space Shuttle, and is planned to be used for the Artemis Missions. Starship SN11 test fired successfully in Boca Chica, Texas. SpaceX scrubbed the 10km test flight until Monday. March 25th was the 200th anniversary of Greek Independence and I share my thoughts as a second generation Greek American and reflect on just how recent that it.  & March 26th was Leonard Nimoy Day here in Boston, MA and I share how one of his tweets basically saved my life - to Live long and prosper! Have a great week! Stay sharp, and keep questioning & learning! Spread love & Spread Science! Follow us on social: - @todayinspacepod on instragram & twitter - @todayinspace on TikTok - /TodayInSpacePodcast on Facebook Support the podcast: Buy a 3D printed gift from our shop ag3dprinting.etsy.com Donate at todayinspace.net Follow us on soci

In this episode I explore my thoughts on redefining the 'Scientific Ladder of Ideas' - specifically for a Hypothesis. Our talk with Avi Loeb last week opened my mind to two distinct groups for the 1st stage of scientific ideas. Testable and Untestable Hypothesis. Oumuamua vs. String Theory. If you haven't already listen to our last podcast about Avi's groundbreaking hypothesis about the origins of our first observed interstellar object, Oumuamua.  Which idea has the potential for the most benefit to humanity? Is one idea more likely to be solved in 100 years, or even sooner? Do we have our priorities all wrong because certain scientific theories have become an 'industry' that would rather perpetuate the machine of science than to fund a hypothesis that may change the 'industry'? All this and more in this episode! Follow us on social: - @todayinspacepod on instragram & twitter - @todayinspace on TikTok - /TodayInSpacePodcast on Facebook Support the podcast: Buy a 3D printed gift from our shop ag3dprinti

On this episode of People of Science we are pleased to have Avi Loeb on to discuss the scientific mystery of Oumuamua. Avi is an Astrophysicist who's hypothesis on the first detected interstellar object to pass through our solar system looks at all the facts and leads us to challenge humanities greatest question - "Are we alone in the universe?" A true Sherlock Holmes style mystery challenging our logic when the evidence in front of us points to Oumuamua not having a natural origin. First thought to be a comet, but without any evidence of a tail or gas emitting from it as it passed the sun the change in orbit can't be accounted for. Add up the other details; a large change in reflectivity pointing to a pancake shape (not cigar shaped) and knowledge that we've discovered our own space trash exhibiting the same behavior from the sun's reflectivity - it points to Oumuamua exhibiting a very long and wide shape measuring 1mm or thinner in thickness that was 'pushed' by the Sun as it went by. Where did this object

In our final episode of February we wanted to share what to expect in space to start March 2021 (on earth and mars). I share my thoughts on Mars Perseverance Landing and the data we've gathered. The inevitable fake science reporting or poor attention grabbing content sharing fake Mars has returned. Can we get better at this as science communicators? Latest data from Mars rover (images, videos, & more) can be found here:  https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/multimedia/images/ Then we close talking about NASA's history, which is infinitely tied with Black History month. This year we learned about Nichelle Nichols' influence on NASA from the 1970's-2015. A major influencer on the diversity of talent from all spectrums of humanity.  The new movie about Nichelle Nichols, 'Woman in Motion', on this exact topic can be found here: https://amzn.to/3e2MpWa More about Ed Dwight: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Dwight More about Charles Bolden: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bolden  

We went LIVE on Facebook to have a Mars Mission hangout to celebrate the final of three missions to the Red Planet. Catch the replay of the exciting finale of Mars Exploration for this season with the Perseverance Rover Entry, Descent, and Landing for NASA & JPL.  A MASSIVE congratulations to the Mars2020 team, quite literally persevering through a pandemic and still accomplishing what so many have failed at before - landing successfully on Mars. Never mind using a rocket powered skycrane to drop an SUV sized robot on another planet.  Looking forward to learning and sharing what our newest robotic emissary will teach us about one of our planetary neighbors in our solar system. Possibly the next one we adventure too as humanity... NASA's Eyes Animated Simulation - https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/mars2020/#/home?id=surface_operations&time=2021-02-18T15:44:04.816-05:00&rate=0 About the landing location - Jezero Crater https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/science/landing-site/ Broadcast LIVE by NASA ht

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.spac

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-

  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-7gRxYm

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! Follow us online! 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

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 Astr

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 wi

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

This week we have the best-of moments from the SpaceX & NASA Crew1 launch hangout. We had a lot of fun hanging out with everyone who joined us live! Thanks for all the great questions! Congratulations to Shannon, Mike, Victor & Soichi for their successful launch and docking to the ISS. It was very inspirational and provided hope for a good future in the time of the unknown.  You can watch the NASA TV broadcast in full for all the exclusive interviews and in depth science communication to learn all about the mission. https://youtu.be/E_FIaPBOJgc For more infomation on the scientific work our Crew1 Astronauts will do on their 6 month journey, check out this link here!  https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/spacex-crew-1-science-iss We'll be answering some of the questions we didn't have answers for from this live stream on the next episode. As always - Feel free to send in any questions you might have to us over at todayinspacepodcast@gmail.com! We'd love to hear from you!

We're slowly getting back to a regular schedule after I was out with COVID. Thanks for your patience!  I share what's been on my mind lately, and what kept me preoccupied when I was recovering from COVID. There's been alot of dystopia floating around in my head - and no wonder, its pretty dystopian right now in the real world. Our lives are intertwined with the digital world, there's a pandemic ongoing, and of course - a US election. What else could 2020 bring us? My basic premise this week - is space travel the ultimate hail mary for humanity to progress to a fantastic future? Can continued lunar presence bring about a stable space economy? Can the long shot of SpaceX creating an independent Mars city with its own laws bring about a good future for humanity? Is resistance futile? Lots of question - too few answers. But I would love to hear what you think!  Instagram - @todayinspacepod Facebook - /TodayInSpacepodcast Email - todayinspacepodcast@gmail.com https://blogs.nasa.gov/commercialcrew/2020/11/06/crew

We're back! After two weeks with COVID-19, and taking alot of rest and basically putting life on hold - the podcast has returned. A huge thank you to the Today In Space fam for reaching out, sending good vibes, and offering to help. It was a crazy time, and you definitely helped us get through this. THANK YOU! I wanted to take this episode to share my experience with COVID. I did test positive and I had intense symptoms for 14 days. This is meant to be an episode for anyone who is interested in what the symptoms are like, a breakdown of my anecdotal experience, and a reminder as we enter fall and winter, which is historically an easier time to catch flus & diseases.  We're not quite out of the woods yet with this pandemic, and I had a lot of questions after posting online that I tested positive. So here we are - an engineers observations of having COVID-19, after 8 months and 32 episodes of lockdown. Be well folks - have good habits!