AstrotalkUK

Not for profit website/blog on astronomy, space and my writing

Episode 95 European Space Cooperation DeGaulle to ExoMars with Brian Harvey

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The latest book from author Brian Harvey @BrianHarveyAut1, this is probably the first English language analysis of the individuals, institutions and early space projects that would eventually lead,  not just France, but Europe to its status as a leader in designing, building and operating complex space infrastructure. 

This is probably the first English language analysis of the individuals, institutions and early space projects that would eventually lead,  not just France,  but Europe to its status as a leader in designing, building and operating complex space infrastructure.

In the first chapter, “Early Days”, the author refers to John F. Kennedy’s little-known but perhaps most powerful speech on 10 June 1963, Strategy for Peace. Here it would have been interesting to see the author’s assessment on how collaboration in space has cultivated peace on Earth.

In this episode Brian talks about his motivation for writing this book and accessing the complex sources he needed to tell this story.

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A video of this interview is available on Youtube.

Episode 94 Seti – Techniques and Technology with Jill Tarter

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The systematic search for extraterrestrial intelligence could only begin once the technology was sufficiently mature. That happened in early 1960s. Until then SETI was firmly in the realm of science fiction. 

How has the SETI evolved over the last six decades and especially what can modern technology allow today that was not possible then?

Jill Tarter from the @SETIInstitute has worked on a number of major scientific projects, most relating to the search for extraterrestrial life and attempt to answer the question ”Are we alone in the universe.  The 1997 Hollywood film ‘Contact’ starring Jodi Foster was largely based on her work. 

As the former director of the Seti institute, she explains when Seti research began, the technology used, how it is funded and the global collaborative international endeavour it has now become. 

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A video of the interview on which this episode is based is available on Youtube

Episode 93: Exploring the surface of Titan

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Prof. John Zarnecki

In the early hours of Christmas day 2004, a small probe called Huygens separated from larger spacecraft Cassini. Three weeks later on 14 January it descended through Titan’s atmosphere to make the most distant soft landing in the solar system to date. Huygens transmitted data during its 136 minute descent through the thick atmosphere and a further 130m minutes from the surface until Cassini disappeared below the horizon.

Prof. John Zarnecki was the principal investigator for the UK based team that built the instruments that first made contact on the surface of Titan, Saturn and the solar system’s largest Moon.

In this conversation, recorded in December 2020, prof. Zarnecki recalls the how the mission came about, the science Huygens revealed at the time and today, a decade and a half later. Cassini-Hugens was a joint mission between NASA and ESA. He also shares his views on the value of international collaboration in space.

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Episode 92: Revisiting Panspermia with Prof. Wickramasinghe

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Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe

The idea of Panspermia, that life exists throughout the universe and spreads via asteroids, comets and cosmic dust, has been around for a long time. Two of the strongest advocates were Professor Fred Hoyle and Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe. 

In this episode I spoke at length with Professor Wickramasinghe about his long and distinguished career championing the idea of panspermia the covering the topics:

  • Initial difficulties in establishing Panspermia as a legitimate and respectable topic for scientific study.
  • Professor Wickramasinghe’s journey in 1960 form Cylon (as it was known at the time) to Cambridge as Hoyle’s Phd student.
  • His personal recollections of Fred Hoyle (initially his Phd supervisor and later collaborator) and Arthur C Clarke, who had made Cylon his home in the late 1950s.
  • His views on how the research on Panspermia has developed and where it stands today

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  • Prof. Fred Hoyle 1962
  • Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe 1978
  • Fred Hoyle and Wickramasinghe 1980
  • Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe 2001
  • Home-made telescope late 1950s
Pictures curtesy of Prof. Wickramasinghe