Dr. Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is my guest on the Cold Star Project, and our space topics are many. Main-belt asteroid 4589 McDowell was named after him in 1993, and he was a contributor to Sky and Telescope magazine from 1993 - 2010. Since 1989 he has authored and edited Jonathan's Space Report, which tracks all known space launches.  

We discuss:  

• the Chandra spacecraft x-ray telescope, which recently hit the 20-year-old mark
• what Dr. McDowell has discovered about dark matter and quasars
• whether or not he believes the ISS can be considered practical for commercial ventures
• how much time and attention Jonathan's Space Report (JSR) takes, and what opportunities have arisen for him because of the consistent effort maintaining it
• how good or poor registering and tracking of space objects really is, and whether we are truly ready for megaconstellations.

Planet4589 site: https://planet4589.org/jcm/index.html  

Jonathan's Space Report signup page: https://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/jsr.html   

Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall