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Episode 105 – Return to Titan – Dragonfly

By Gurbir Dated: November 4, 2022 Leave a Comment

NASA’s Cassini-Huygens lander arrived at Titan on 14th January 2005. The first instrument to make contact with the surface of Titan was a penetrometer made by Ralph Lorenz. Since then he has gone on to write many books and work on several other projects.

Dr Ralph Lorenz

In this episode, he speaks about some of those projects, especially Dragonfly, a return mission to land on Titan. This mission, for which he is the mission architect, is like no other. It is not really a lander or rover but a quadcopter that will sample different regions near the landing site during its 3.3-year lifetime. Ralph talks about what we can expect from Dragonfly which launches in 2027 and arrives at Titan in 1934.

The documentary Destination Titan we refer to in this discussion is available here is available on Youtube here.



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Episode 103 -Observing the Solar System with the JWST

By Gurbir Dated: October 21, 2022 Leave a Comment

The James Webb Space Telescope has already wowed astronomers and the general public with some incredibly spectacular deep space images. But did you know, NASA has set aside a substantial number of hours for JWST to observe the objects in the solar system? What’s more that programme kicks in this autumn so some images of planets and their moons along with asteroids and comets will be published before the end of this year.

Dr Connr Nixon

A team of astronomers including planetary scientist Dr Connor Nixon will make use of the Guaranteed Time Observations (GTO) to observe the objects in the solar system from Mars and beyond. JWST cannot look towards the Sun so excludes the Earth, Venus or Mercury. The program is led by Dr. Heidi B. Hammel.

In this interview recorded in July during COSPAR2022 in Athens, Connor Nixon talks about the GTO and his role in it looking at Titan.

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New Book – Atlas of Space Rocket Launch Sites

By Gurbir Dated: September 13, 2022 Leave a Comment

ISBN 978-3-86922-758-0
Size 240 x 300 mm
272 pages
500 images
Index
Glossary
Hardcover

** Description and look-inside below **

Available from: dom-publishers.com, www.amazon.com, www.freytagberndt.com, www.mondadoristore.it, www.lehmanns.de and www.abebooks.co.uk – a variety of suppliers at many lower prices.

Learn more from podcasts: New Space India, The Spaceshow and Aviation-Xtended

Book Reviews: www.wallpaper.com, www.raumfahrer.net, flugundzeit.blog, www.ivorypress.com and collectspace.com

To purchase signed copies directly from the authors contact Brian Harvey or Gurbir Singh


The book describes primary launch sites around the world including some that are historically significant but no longer operating (e.g Peenamunde) as well as the new kids on the block (e.g Kodiak).

The book is edited by Paul Meuser who has written the foreword and sourced most of the 500 or so majestic photos of launch sites and their environments. The majority of the text is authored by Dublin-based author Brian Harvey. A prodigious writer who has been writing on space programs of numerous countries since the 1970s. Katrin Soschinski designed stunning maps, the foundation of any atlas.

Copy of the back text page and a few sample pages from the book in the slide show below. These sample pages can be downloaded here albeit the quality is way inferior to the original.


Back page text

The machines that orbit our planet live in a void environment–
however, space travel itself does not exist in a vacuum. Traveling
to space is an immense effort of humans and machines, taking
not just ‘a small step for a man’ but leaving a huge carbon
footprint in the process. We are in the midst of a paradigm shift
in which private companies and leadership figures in the form of
Billionaires are re-popularizing space travel to an extent not seen
since the space race of the USSR and USA. Space exists isolated
from the place that births its mechanical and a few select human
inhabitants. Thus we tend to forget that every single thing that
exits our atmosphere takes with it more than just its own weight
of materials when it departs our fragile blue marble.

This book offers a unique look at the physical footprints of earth’s
launch sites. With most places hidden away in jungles, deserts, or
amidst the Central Asian steppes, these places exist for the most
part out of the eye of the general public. With satellites facilitating
our modern society and a modern space age ever-present in today’s
news cycle, it is now more important than ever to think about the
imprint these undertakings leave on earth. To begin to answer
the new socio-economic questions raised by our rapid expansion
into the void, we need to look no further than follow the cracks in
the concrete of our planetary launch sites. The rusty train tracks
leading to the pad break the pristine and sterile looks of space, and
reopen our eyes to the realities of space exploration.

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Episode 99 Professor Stamatios Krimigis – Exploring the Solar System with Voyager

By Gurbir Dated: September 9, 2022 Leave a Comment

This episode was recorded in Athens in July 2022 during Cospar 2022 and he speaks about his remarkable career guided in large part by his mentor, physicist James Van Allen.

Professor Stamtios Krimigis

He started studying physics at the University of Minnesota in the same month that Sputnik was launched. A chance meeting with James van Allen led Stamatios Krimigis to build instruments for Mariner 3 and 4. Eventually assigned as the Principle Investigator for the charged particle instrument on the voyager program which was initially known as Mariner Jupiter Saturn 77 program.

It is released today to mark his 84th birthday tomorrow on September 10th. Audio and youtube video below.

https://media.blubrry.com/astrotalkuk_podcast_feed/astrotalkuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Episode_99_StamtiosKrimigis.mp3

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