AstrotalkUK: Recent Episodes
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Just between you and me, one of the best parts of this podcast is the opportunity it gives me to meet some very unique and special people, like today's guest, Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell. Last summer I met and recorded this interview in Oxford. We covered a range of topics, including Pulsars (of course), women in science, her many awards and her faith.As part of her PhD in Cambridge in the late 1960s, she helped build an instrument called the Interplanetary Scintillation Array. In the interview, we discussed many topics, includingDiscovery of pulsarsDealing journalistsWomen in physicsSpecial Breakthrough Prize in 2018Faith and status of science in society
The European Solar Telescope is a project to build ever laregr telescope on Earth but this time for a solar telescope. This interview was recorded in Tenerife but the EST will be built on the negighboring Island of Las Palmas.
The Toliman Space Telescope. A small, novel spacecraft looking for Earth-like planets in our nearest neighbour star system, Alpha Centauri.
Imagine a giant vertical railway stretching 100,000 km from the equator, somewhere in the Pacific, straight up into space. Instead of expensive, polluting rockets, the space elevator offers a smooth, slow electric ascent to Earth orbit. This "bridge to the stars" connects a floating Earth platform at 36,000 km to a massive counterweight located 64,000 km farther out. It is held taut by the Earth's rotation.
We are increasingly aware of the impact of space weather on spacecraft in space and, occasionally, on electrical power transmission on Earth, but what about its impact on the Earth's atmosphere? That is exactly the research interest of Professor Pallam Raju, Dean of the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad, India. Founded in 1947, the PRL is one of India's most prestigious scientific institutions, not least because it was founded by Dr Vikram Sarabhai.
Space Power Ltd, founded in 2019, is developing a novel solution for contactless power delivery using high-intensity lasers to extend the lifespans of ageing satellites in space. I spoke with its founder, Keval Dattani, in Nicosia during Cospar2025.org.
Professor Kai-Uwe Schrogl is a space law expert with experience in many roles, including working with the European Space Agency ESA, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and as the Director of the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) in Vienna. In this interview, recorded in Nicosia during cospar2025.org in November 2025, he discusses concerns about increasing commercialisation of space and the lunar surface—specifically, the absence of a universally accepted framework for lunar governance.
Cyprus is a small country with a small population and a small economy. But it has big ambitions in space. In this episode, recorded at Cospar 2025 in Nicosia, George Danos, who has been championing this case for Cyprus for years and can be considered Cyprus's Carl Sagan, explains the rise of Cyprus's space activities in communication services, small satellites, and collaboration with ESA and more.
From centruries of weaving in the state of Kerala in India to automated AI controlled machines weaving Graphene coated fibres in Manchester. A modern day Cottonopolis.
rofessor James Baker, CEO of Graphene@Manchester, describes Manchester’s journey to commercialise the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of Graphene.
You may have seen the BBC documentary Britain's Greatest Pilot. Yes, he was an outstanding pilot, but there was much more to him than just that. I published extracts from an interview with Captain Eric Brown in April 2011. Much of that interview was not published .. until now.
Just as the Moon was the first stepping stone for our interplanetary exploration, our nearest star, the Alpha Centauri System will inevitably become our stepping stone for our Interstellar Journey. That is in the distance. A new mission, The Toliman Space Telescope, is launching soon will target the Alpha-Centauri System from Earth orbit.
It is December 2034. A spacecraft launched from Earth in July 2028, enters Titan's atmosphere at 5km/s. Around 2 hours later, it softly lands on the surface at less than 1m /s. Over the next three years, NASA's Dragonfly mission, a rotorcraft the size of a small car, will chemically analyse the Titan's atmosphere, ground and a little of its subsurface. It's called Dragonfly
A two-day Breakthrough Discuss conference held on 23rd and 24th April 2025 in Oxford England, took stock of the latest developments through three main sessions: "Forms of Non-Terrestrial Life", "The Nature of Consciousness and Intelligence", and "Detecting Life As We Do Not Know It".Breakthough Discuss was overseen by the Chairman of the Breakthrough Foundation, in this interview Dr Pete Worden. A former Brigadier. General, astrophysicist, professor and director of NASA Ames Research Centre provides an update
The story of Teide-1 (the first brown dwarf to be observed) is the story at the other end of a star's life cycle. That early stage is when stars transition from a huge cloud of dust and gas (billions of km across). to the size of a large planet (150,000 km). This is way smaller than the size of the sun and only a little larger than Jupiter.
On Thursday, 3rd January 2019, some water was added to some seeds in a tiny greenhouse. The seeds, cotton, potato, Rape and Arabidopsis sprouted. This was an experiment fonducted on the lunar surface
A brief but fascinating life and work of Professor Ivan Almar. he and his wife's contributions to asttronautics in Hungary during and after the Soviet era.
Did you know our galaxy (the Milky Way) has a magnetic field? News to me! Dr Vasu Shaw explains how astronomers go about understanding such phenomena. We also speak her fascinating international journey to becoming an astrophysicist.
Its not just cotton, trains and computers that Manchester is known for its innovation but aviation too. Frank Pleszak shares his insights in to the role Manchester played in aviation more than 100 years ago.
In this episode, Professor Rene Breton, originally from Quebec, has been working at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics for over a decade. We discuss only a small part of his current research, including how Pulsars may one day be used as a GPS for interstellar travel.
In this episode, Professor Mike Garrett from @jodrellbank, discusses research activities at the #Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, including international collaborations, Dennis Walsh's work on #GravitationalLensing, and the increased #SETI activities through the #Breakthrough Listen Programme. Topics also include the Square Kilometer Array #SKA, Low-Frequency Array #LOFARtechnology, and the impact of #Brexit on Britain's international research participation.
Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks is an immersive audio-visual experience in a unique venue in the centre of London. Written by @alifeofriley and Tom Hanks. Available only in London and only until 13th October 2024
If you want to learn about the life and work of rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth, there is only one place to visit. The Hermann Oberth Space Travel Museum in the German Town of Feucht, near Nurnberg. @OberthMuseum #Oberth
Euclid, a @esa science mission, will shed light on both dark matter and dark energy. It was launched in July 2023 and arrived in its L2 orbit a month later. It has just two instruments which will produce a high-resolution 3-D map of a third of the sky, stretching back 10 billion years during its initial 6-year operational lifetime.
Following the successful landing of @isro #Chandrayaan-3, Associate Project Director Kalpana Kalahasti was the first female to speak at the ISRO live stream event. As a seasoned engineer, Kalahasti contributed to numerous projects including SARAL in 2013. Here she talks about her journey with ISRO which began in 1999 as a radar engineer.
The 100 year starship project @100YSS aims to get humanity to develop the capability to travel to the stars in one hundred years time. It started in 2012 headed by Dr Mae Jemison the first woman of colour to fly in to space in STS 47 in 1992.
I first came across the Antikythera Mechanism just over a decade ago. It is still the most incredible artefact from history. It is as out of place in our time as William Shakespeare using an Iphone or Vasco De Gama travelling in a speedboat. The Antikythera Mechanism is a complex mechanical (clockwork) device that can determine the position of the planets and phases of the Moon and predict when solar and lunar eclipses will occur. Constructed about two thousand years ago, it was discovered in 1901.
The Clarke Exobelt is the name that Dr Hector Socas-Navarro has given to perhaps the largest structure humans have built. A collection of satellites in earth orbit (geosynchronous) 36,000 km radius. All circling the earth at the same speed in the same direction. The density of this orbit has been increasing since the 1960s but is not yet sufficiently dense for detection from interstellar distances. But in 200 years it may be. In the meantime, this concept works the other way around too. SETI researchers can search for these megastructures or Tecno Signatures to look for extraterrestrial intelligence
The Clarke Exobelt is the name that Dr Hector Socas-Navarro has given to perhaps the largest structure humans have built. A collection of satellites in earth orbit (geosynchronous) 36,000 km radius. All circling the earth at the same speed in the same direction. The density of this orbit has been increasing since the 1960s but is not yet sufficiently dense for detection from interstellar distances. But in 200 years it may be. In the meantime, this concept works the other way around too. SETI researchers can search for these megastructures or Tecno Signatures to look for extraterrestrial intelligence
European Space Agency's Dr Paul McNamara was studying low-frequency gravitational waves just before they were discovered in 2015. Now he is the astronomy and astrophysics coordinator for the European Space Agency. In this interview, recorded in Athens during Cospar2022, he speaks about some of the exciting science missions that ESA will be launching later this decade.
Dr Ralph Lorenz speaks about 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.
When it comes to the pioneers of rocketry, tradition has it that it was Tsiolkovsky, Goddard and Oberth. in this episode, author Rob Godwin talks about William Leitch from Scotland. He was writing about rocketry from the 1850s
Astronomer Dr Connor Nixon @shamrocketeer speaks about the @nasawebb program to observe solar system objects using the #JWST led by @hbhammel
In 1972, Harrison Schmitt became the first (and so far only), scientist to walk on the surface of the Moon. Since then many scientists have brought their scientific insights to understanding to the solar system and their moons. geologist @sanjeevgupta45 from @imperialcollege talks about Mars
Niklas Hedman, the Acting Director of the @UN Office for the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNOOSA) talks about @UNOOSA ongoing role in facilitating and promoting the peaceful uses of space in Low Earth orbit and beyond.
Sandra Benitez-Herrera talks about the opportunities for teachers and students made available by the European Space Agency 's CESAR (Cooperation through Education in Science and Astronomy Research) program. @esa
A chance meeting with James van Allen led Stamatios Krimigis to build instruments for Mariner 3 and 4. Eventually became a Principle Investigator for the charged particle instrument on voyager which was initially known as Mariner Jupiter Saturn 77 program
Astrophotographer Nik Szymanek shares his unique perspective on how astrophotography has evolved since the 1980s when he first started. We speak about software and robotic telescopes @telescopelivehq @APinSpain & @astronomynow get a mention.
Following an unexpected meeting with USA's first Astronaut, Alan Shepard in around 1962. In this episode he recounts a Moon-Bounce experiments with @Nasa.
Since the beginning of human civilisation, people have looked up at the night sky and wondered – are we alone? Science and technology of the 20th century has made it possible to try to address that question. So how is are we doing? With Jill Tarter from @SETIInstitute
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.
How has the ¢SETI evolved over the last 6 decades and especially what can modern technology allow today that was not possible then? With Jill Tarter from @SETIInstitute
On 14th January 2005, the Huygens probe landed on Titan. Saturns and the solar systems largest Moon. This was a joint NAS/ESA mission called Cassini-Huygens. Whilst Huygens landed on Titan, Cassini continued to orbit Saturn.
Professor John Zarnecki, the prinicpal investigator for the Surface Science Package, recalls the experience of that mission and what we learnt about Titan then and since.
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 1994, Narayan Nambi an ISRO aerospace engineer was falsely arrested by the Investigation Beuro on charges of espionage. He was accused of passing on confidential launch vehicle flight test data to foreign nationals. In 1996 he was cleared by the Central Investigations Bureau and India's Supreme Court found him not guilty in 1998. In 2019 he was presented with India's third-highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan.
This interview with S Somanath (director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre) and R Umamaheshwaran (Scientific Secretary) was recorded on 24th October 2019 during the International Astronautical Congress in Washington DC. It was not focused on a specific theme but rather an update on all things @ISRO - current and future activities.
This audio recording captures most of the Q&A that took place on Monday 21st October #IAC2019. The audio quality is variable. The agencies represented included #isro #nasa #jaxa #china #Russia
In his 1979 novel, Fountains of Paradise, Arthur C Clarke imagines a cable stretching from the Earth's equator to Geosynchronous orbit. He called it a "space elevator" and imagined it would be constructed from continuous pseudo-one-dimensional diamond crystals. Bangalore based NoPo Technologies is now commercially producing Carbon Nanotubes. Could this material, one day be used to construct Clarke's space elevator?
As in other nations, the private space sector is now emerging in India. One name that pops up when discussing private and commercial space in India is Narayanan Prasad
Moon: Art, Science, Culture
The 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing was a momentous event and expected to be marked by numerous publications. Most books cover the technologies, events, personal recollections and politics of the first human voyage to another world. One book jointly authored by an art historian and an astronomer has a fresh perspective.
The guests in this episode are the authors of the book Moon: Art, Science, Culture - Dr Alexandra Loske Associate Tutor in Art History, University of Sussex and Dr Robert Massey Deputy Executive Director Royal Astronomical Society.
The book is attracting an interesting eclectic mix of readers with an interest in science and art. Some of the topics we spoke about include
Fritz Lang’s 1929 sci-fi movie (watch full-length movie on Youtube here) Frau im Mond.The book has a chapter about the Nebra Sky Disk and we also discussed the Antikythera Mechanism.One of the earliest books with a picture of the Moon, called The Moon: Considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite (link offers free download) written in 1874 by James Nasmyth and James Carpenter. Here is an interesting review of it from Dr Stephanie O’Rourke from the University of St Andrews.The Bluedot Festival at Jodrell bank starts on Friday 19th July
Embed video if there is one
Brian Harvey is a Dublin based writer who has authored more than 14 books the space programmes of USSR/Russia, USA, India, Korea Japan and China. He has a deep understanding of the motivations and politics as well as the space technology that has emerged.
GovernEye and is designed to facilitate democratic engagement by allowing voters elected politician and all stakeholders. @GovernEye founder Anant Ahuja talks about how Governeye works and what motivated it.
Why has NASA not been able to launch American astronauts to space on American rockets since 2011? What is the SLS and the Gateway? Will China and US cooperate in space?
Astrotalkuk.org - Episode 83 - India's Human Spaceflight Programme. R Umamaheswaren talks about @ISRO Human Space Flight Programme #gaganyaan and thinks the chances of a woman as a member of the first crew "highly likely". recorded at #IAC2018
A conversation with Prof. Fujimoto Masaki about @JAXA current and future plans to explore the inner solar system and #samplereturn missions. Recorded in Bremen just after #IAC2018
Astrotalkuk.org. Episode 81 - United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. Simonetta Di Pippo, Director of UNOOSA# talks about some of UNOOSA's current projects. recorded during #IAC2018
Astrotakuk.org Episode 80. S. Somnath joined the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala in 1985 and today he is its director. Recorded at #IAC2018
Astrotalkuk.org - Episode 79 satsearch.co A digital marketplace for the global space supply chain? With @satsearchco. Recorded at #iac2018.
Dr Kiran Kumar. Credit ISRO
Mr Kiran Kumar studied physics, physical engineering and electronics in educational institutions in India including the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore. He specialised in electro-optical imaging systems and in 1975 was recruited by Dr Yash Pal (one of a few key individuals who played a pivotal role in the early days of India’s space programme) to ISRO’s Space Application Centre in Ahmedabad.
During the 1970’s, state of the art imaging sensor consisted of photodiodes, vidicon tubes and photomultipliers. It was these analogue devices that he started working with before moving on to modern solid state devices such as Charged Couple Devices (CCDs). He contributed to imaging systems in India’s first remote sensing satellite (Bhaskara-1) and deep space missions to the Moon (Chandrayaan-1) and Mars (Mars Orbiter Mission).
During the 1970’s, state of the art imaging sensor consisted of photodiodes, vidicon tubes and photomultipliers. It was these analogue devices that he started working with before moving on to modern solid state devices such as Charged Couple Devices (CCDs). He contributed to imaging systems in India’s first remote sensing satellite (Bhaskara-1) and deep space missions to the Moon (Chandrayaan-1) and Mars (Mars Orbiter Mission).
A few highlights from the interview recorded on 22 September 2018
Had considered medicine as a career but a combination of not meeting the age criteria by 22 days and National College in Bangalore initiating a new Physics Honours course in 1968, he chose Physics.Strongly influenced by physicist and ardent rationalist Dr.H.Narasimhaiah who later became the vice-chancellor of Bangalore UniversityHas a clear memory of Gagarin’s spaceflight in 1961 and Apollo 11 landing on the Moon in 1969.Graduated in 1971, the same year that Vikram Sarabhai died. He never saw or met him.In 1975, he was working on his Mtec at the IISc when India’s first satellite, Aryabhata was launched. He worked on Bhaskara – initially known as Satellite for Earth ObservationIn the mid-1970s only four metropolitan areas in India had television reception. The SITE programme illustrated the benefits of satellite communication in delivering education to small rural communities across India.During 1995-1999 – ISRO had the highest spatial resolution imaging capability from space in the civilian domain.Using Commercial Off the Shelf products (or parts from COTS product) is not unusual for experimental space missions.Moving into the Chairman’s role was not onerous. Previous experience as director of an ISRO centre provided the required experience.
Although Kiran Kumar stood down from the chairman's role in January 2018, he remains active within ISRO.
Sven Grahn has been working in the space field in one way or another for over fifty years. Officially retired, he continues to work as a project leader of a student satellite at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
He is perhaps best known for his work in tracking satellites launched by the secretive Soviet Union during the 1960s and 1970s.In those pre-internet days, his work along with others helped to identify individual mission characteristics such as mission types, members of the crew, take off and landing times. He recorded over 1000 conversations from orbiting spacecraft as they flew over Sweden.
In this interview, he speaks about
The impact of the space race on his choice of career His work on sounding rockets and meteorology in Sweden and beyond Satellite tracking. What he tracked, heard and recorded using radio and tape recorders. How he came to research and write about the satellite tracking conducted at Jodrell Bank radio telescope in England
As an 11-year-old, Sven had seen Sputnik in the sky over Sweden with his own eyes. I started by asking him how the onset of the space race had impacted his choice of career?
Bayar Goswami
One of the earliest characteristics of human civilisation (large populations living together in organised cities) was the creation of rules or laws that everyone who lived there agreed to abide by.
The 50th anniversary of first humans to visit the Moon is celebrated later this year. In 1968 it was pretty much just two countries and a few space missions per year. Today, over 70 countries have something in the way of a space programme and along with a blossoming private space sector, space is likely to become very busy in the next decade or so. This surge of space activity will determine how the laws in space will apply and begin to set the scene for human civilisation beyond Earth. On earth, most nations follow international laws most of the time.
International rules for operating in space were defined by the UN in five treaties established between 1967 - 1984.
1967 – The Outer Space Treaty: Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies. 1968 - Rescue Agreement. Agreement on the Rescue of Astronauts, the Return of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space. 1972 - The Liability agreement. Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects. 1976 – The Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space. 1984 – The Moon Treaty. Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies.
How will these laws fair in space? For example, will all governments
“authorise and supervise” their “non-governmental entities” in space? comply with international liabilities for physical damages caused by their space objects? agree on who can build what and where on the Moon? establish mining and ownership rights to materials on the Moon and other celestial bodies? maintain the principles of human rights in space.
These are some of the questions I discuss with Bayar Goswami, a Doctoral student at the Institute of Air and Space Law, McGill University (IASL) in Canada. A TedX speaker, Bayar has an interest in space as well as law and I started by asking him what came first. The distinction between terms, such as signed, ratified and accessioned, is described here. A status of which nations have signed which treaty is maintained by the UN here. A summary of the five treaties is available here.
One mission two spacecraft, China is going back to the Moon with Chang'E 4 mission that I think is the most exciting lunar mission since the 1970s. By the end of 2018, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) will launch Chang'E 4 that will explore the far side of the Moon with a lander and a rover. Since it is on the other side of the Moon, it will be totally out of sight from the Earth. To facilitate communication, a relay satellite will be launched in advance of the lander/rover's arrival at the Moon.
In addition to engaging private sector companies in China, Chang’E 4 will include a significant level of international collaboration in this mission with payloads from Germany, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and Sweden.
Ye Quan-Zhi is a postdoc astronomer who specialises in small bodies in the solar system. Like me, he started off as an amateur astronomer but now uses telescopes with apertures measured in meters rather than inches! In addition to his research, he writes about space in the Planetary Society's blog. As a Chinese national, Quan-Zhi has an interest and an insight into the Chinese Space Programme and in this episode, we spoke about the upcoming Chang' E 4 mission and the prospects of collaboration between India and China in space.
Change' E 4 Mission - An overview Relay Satellite Named as "Queqiao" or magpie bridge will be launched in May 2018 and placed in the Earth/Moon L2 orbit (also known as a halo orbit) about 60,000km from the Moon (450,000 km from the Earth) in the opposite direction of the Earth. From there it will always have a line of sight of the far side of the Moon and Earth at the same time. Its primary purpose is to act as a relay providing all the communications from the Lander/Rover that will land on the Moon in late 2018 or early 2019.
The two microsatellites from the Netherlands are called “Longjiang-1" and "Longjiang-2”. The will enter an elliptical lunar orbit and conduct low-frequency radio astronomy experiments.
Lander & Rover Due for launch in December 2018 or early 2019
The lander and rover are the backup lander and rover to the highly successful 2013 Chang’E 3 mission. Whilst identical in most respects, lessons learnt from Chang’E 3 have been incorporated in modifications to Chang’E 4.
Lander • Landing Camera (LCAM) • Terrain Camera (TCAM) • Low-Frequency Spectrometer (LFS) to investigate radiation burst from the sun and cosmos. • Lunar Lander Neutrons and Dosimetry (LND), a neutron detector from the University of Kiel University in Germany • A mini "lunar biosphere" experiment designed by 28 Chinese universities consisting of a 0.8 litre capacity enclosure weighing 3 kilograms. The biosphere contains silkworm eggs, and seeds fro cress and potatoes. Once on the lunar surface, this mini biosphere will maintain a humidity and temperature (1 to 30 degrees centigrade) whilst the lunar surface temperature varies from +100 to -100 degrees centigrade. A HD camera will live stream from the lunar surface the hatching eggs and sprouting seeds during the first two weeks of the mission.
Rover • Panoramic Camera (PCAM) • Ground penetrating radar (LPR) to investigate the lunar crust and mantle • Visible and Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (VNIS), for imaging spectroscopy • Advanced Small Analyser for Neutrals (ASAN), to investigate how solar particles interacts with the lunar surface.
Dr Brian Weeden
Space, as the author Douglas Adams said "is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is". After 6 decades of launching spacecraft, some orbits are now congested with space debris from collisions and poor end-of-life mission management. This has now become a serious hazard and even a danger to operational spacecraft. With plans to launch thousands of additional satellites, the Mega Constellations, in the coming decade, the need for some sort form of "traffic management" in orbit has never been greater.
The Secure World Foundation was established in 2002 by philanthropists Marcell Arsenault and his wife Cynda Collins Arsenault. It's vision of "sustainable and peaceful uses of outer space contributing to global stability and benefits on Earth" is timely. In the last decade, the urgency to address the profound impact of climate change on Earth has finally been (almost) heeded, the next decade will focus on space. The SWF is informing and leading this debate.
Dr Brian Weeden is the Director of Program Planning for Secure World Foundation. In the past, his responsibilities included intercontinental ballistic missile(IBM) operations, worked at Cheyenne Mountain and Vandenberg Airforce Base and specialised in Space Situational Awareness in the US Air Force and Strategic Command's Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC). In this episode, he talks about the key issues of space debris, preventing, militarisation of space, raising awareness of cyber threats to spacecraft, developing resources for the many nations that are now developing a space programme, fostering standards and policies for commercial uses of space.
The SWF produces some very interesting and readable resources. A selection below
PDF - Weapons and Conflict in Space: History, Reality, and The Future. A really good primary from Brian Weeden and others
PDF - Handbook for new actors in space
PDF - Global Counterspace Capabilities: An Open Source Assessment
PDF - Tomorrow's Battlefield: Emerging Areas of Military Competition - Space,
PDF - Weapons and Conflict in Space: History, Reality, and The Future
MP3 - Big Data, Big Space, Big Risk: Addressing Cyber Security Threats
PDF - Preparing For a “Normalized” Space Domain - Secure World Foundation
If you follow this podcast, you will notice a very long pause since the previous episode. I have been busy writing my second book, the Indian Space Programme which is now finally complete. So I am now back to my familiar but irregular podcasting mode.
The growth in the space sector now widely estimated to be worth annually over 300 billion USD globally. It is primarily being driven by the commercial sector. The bulk of the expenditure is in satellite television, communication services, Earth observation and businesses enabled by global navigation. In the past, it was technological development driven by the national space programmes that triggered the development of low-cost consumer products. Today it’s the other way round. Sophisticated manufacturing methods and high public demand for digital products have produced low-cost consumer devices which without too much modification can be qualified for use in space. This is particularly true in the sudden growth of the small satellite market.
In this episode, I speak with Dr Rajan Bedi the founder and CEO of Spacechips, a UK based company offering CEO of Spacechips Ltd, which provides industrial R&D and space electronics design consultancy and training services to manufacturers of satellites and spacecraft around the world. I was intrigued by Rajan’s 2017 blog post entitled “Using and selecting COTS components for space application”. In this episode, I want to understand to what extent spacecraft manufacturers can buy components for spacecraft from the high street.
Its been a while since I posted episode 72. Now that the book The Indian Space Programme has been published, I am resuming the podcasting. You can see some Amazon Reviews and if you have one, add your own too. More about that book on this short BBC radio interview here. .
If you want you can subscribe to my monthly newsletter. The previous newsletter (March 2018) available here. April's newsletter coming out tomorrow!
Scheduled episodes currently looks like this
Episode 73. Dr. Rajan Bedi - Using Commercial Of the Shelf (COTs) Components to build spacecraft (1st May 2018) Episode 74. Dr Brian Weeden - Space Debris and Sustainable use of Space (18th May 2018) Episode 75. Dr Quan-Zhi Ye. China - Back to the Moon with Chang'e 4 (1 June 2018)
Located about 80km from Chennai on India's east coast, Satish Dhawan Space centre is used by ISRO to launch all of its satellites including those to the Moon and Mars. Also known as Sriharikota, it was established during the late 1960s but today it has a vehicle assembly building, two launch pads and a state of the art mission control centre
The Indian Space Program was initiated by a brilliant nuclear physicist Homi Bhabha who pretty much immediately handed over the space program to Vikram Sarabhai. Bhabha himself pursued the goal of bringing institutionalised fundamental research to India. At the time he saw that as essential for the new emerging independent India.
India's space program is now over half a century old. During this time its Infrastructure has evolved. This episode looks at the current communication capabilities used to support space vehicles during launch, in Earth orbit or on a interplanetary missions.
ISRO has an extensive network of ground stations on the Indian mainland, off-shore and neighbouring countries (Mauritius and Fiji) and collaborates with Norway, Russia, USA and European countries for mission specific needs. ISRO also has ship borne resources it deploys to meet individual mission profiles.
ISRO's flagship deep space antenna is the 32m fully steerable dish at Byalalu close to Bangalore. It was established for the 2008 Moon mission and has been the primary resource for communicating with its Mars Orbiter Mission. Byalalu is also the central site for India's Regional Navigation Satellite System IRNSS due to come in to full operation in 2016.
This conversation was recorded in March 2014 with the then director of the ISRO Satellite Centre SK Shivakumar who had been project leader that established the 32m antenna.
Audio
Video
https://youtu.be/i4Jtf1qKppo
Interview recorded at ISRO's satellite Centre in Bangalore with Mars Orbiter Mission program director Dr Mylswamy Annadurai. This interview was recorded on 26th March 2014 after MOM was launched but before it arrived at Mars.
Contribution of Stephen H Smith to development of rocketry and the Anglo Indian community in India of which he is a member.
This episode is a preview of some of the space related exhibits in Europe's largest aerospace museum - Speyer Technik Museum, in Germany. If you ever go and the following may entice you to do so, four space exhibits to look out for include the following:
Soyuz TM19 - The landing capsule Soyuz TM-19 was used by the German astronaut Ulf Merbold to return to Earth on 4th November 1994 following his launch in Soyuz TM-20 on 3rd October 1994.
Buran - The Soviet Space shuttle Buran was a the Soviet response to the American Space Shuttle. Two complete working vehicles were made. The Buran was unmanned and, although reusable, was never actually reused. One made a single flight to space and was later destroyed when the hangar housing it collapsed. The other made 25 test flights also unmanned but only in Earth atmosphere. Following an unexpected find in the Persian Gulf by German journalists, it was brought to Speyer in 2008.
Bor-5 - To assist the Soviets' design of the Buran they built and flew BOR-5 - a 1:8 scale model of the Buran. Bor-5 made five unmanned sub-orbital test flights between 1984 and 1988.
Moon rock - One of the largest pieces of Moonrock I have seen on public display. It is from Apollo 15 mission but was unveiled at the Museum in June 2013 by Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan.
If you do go, it is is a big place - one day is not enough!
Audio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bwsj23qL-WI
November 21st 2013 was the 50th anniversary of a rocket launched from India in to space. The launch itself was an all Indian affair but with lots of international support. The rocket was American, carried a French Sodium Vapour payload with assisted by a computer and a helicopter from the Soviet Union. From this meagre beginning, India has become a key player not only in building and launching rockets but also designing , building and deploying satellites.
This episode was recorded on the site of that first launch. Then known as the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launch Station and is today known as the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. Sundaram Ramakrishnan, the current director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) talks about his 4 decade long career with the Indian Space Research Organisation. He has has played a central role throughout the development of India's most reliable launcher - the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
http://youtu.be/o8C0TvUXvOo
Prof. UR Rao
The Indian Space Research Organisation formally came in to being in 1972. By then, India had been developing its space program for almost a decade. The first launch to space from Indian soil was a two stage Nike-Apache rocket supplied by USA with a sodium payload from France. The rocket delivered a vertical trail of sodium vapour in space above the twilight sky of the south eastern coast of Kerala on 21st November 1963.
In this episode, professor UR Rao talks about his rich and diverse career. Professor Rao completed his Phd under Dr Vikram Sarabhai, then went on to work for NASA at MIT and in Texas exploring the Solar System with instruments on NASA's Pioneer and Explorer spacecraft. He returned to India at Sarabhai's request and after heading up the Physical Research Laboratory, in 1984 became the chairman of the Indian Space Research organisation. He served in that role until 1994.
During his 81 years, he has participated in many significant areas in space and science exploration. Several key individuals associated with space and science research including CV Raman, Robert Millikan, Ed Stone, Arthur Clark, James Van Allen , Abdus Salam and Vikram Sarabhai were individual he knew personally and some were colleagues.
http://youtu.be/fiJ1yRrNRO8
BAS Coorg Start Party 27 Mar 2011 Photo credit- BAS
Another episode in the current series about space and India. Bangalore Astronomical Society (BAS) is probably the most industrious astronomical societies in India. Founded in 2006, it has nearly 200 paid up members based in and around Bangalore but a huge number of national and international followers online.
In this episode, BAS president Naveen Nanjundappa, describes BAS's origins, achievements and future goals.
I have added a few links below - if you have others worth sharing please submit via a comment.
Google Group is the primary online platform but BAS has a presence on Events Announcement Group, Orkut Community, Facebook Group and of course Twitter.
http://youtu.be/O5uWpZ5U5rE
With a population of 1.2 billion people, India has just one national with first hand experience of spaceflight. Rakesh Sharma, a now retired Indian Air Force wing commander in 1984 spent eight days in space aboard the Soviet space station Salyut 7. This account of his spaceflight was recorded at this home in the Nilgris region of India in August 2013.
MP3 audio below and Youtube video below that
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up_ANSNTB-U
Amrita Shah
Vikram Sarabhai is unanimously accepted across India as the "father" of its space program. Not really known well outside India, he died suddenly and prematurely at age of 52 in 1971. He had studied cosmic ray physics and gained his PHD from Cambridge in 1947 the same year India became an independent nation. He spent the rest of his life implementing a vision that the prosperity of India and all of its people lay in science. The scientific institutions he built still play key role in India today. Convincing the Indian population that they had the intellectual capacity to rebuild India with their own hands is perhaps his lasting legacy.
The most scholarly biography on his eventful life is Vikram Sarabhai - A life by Amrita Shah. A review of the book is available here. This episode is a recording with Amrita Shah conducted fittingly at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, where Vikram Sarabhai studied physics under C V Raman who in 1930 had won the Nobel Prize for physics.
http://youtu.be/5itIEpIQ_MM
Jim reavis
A short interview with Jim Revis recorded in London on 24th April during InfoSec 2013. In this interview Jim talks about the evolving definition of of Cloud Computing, the CSA's Star Registry, CSA's Cloud Computing Security Knowledge certification and his take on how cloud Computing has been and is evolving.
During the interview, Jim refers to a collaborative program between the CSA and (ISC)2 to create a new professional certification in Cloud Security. More details here.
For my earlier post on CCSK with a downloadable full text pdf - see here
Reg Turnill with Wernher von Braun 1977
Like so many in the “space community” I was saddened to hear of the passing of Reg Turnill. He was the BBC’s aerospace correspondent but is best known for covering the American Space program throughout the 60s and 70s that he documents so well in his book Moonlandings: An eye witness account.
He was the BBC’s representative in Moscow at Gagarin’s post flight press conference and told me in episode 41 of his experience when I went to meet him in January 2011.
Reg captures the ambiguity of the brilliant Wernher von Braun who he got to know so well that he called him a friend and yet believed that he was a war criminal and should have been hanged.
In this 30 minute podcast , the first a six minutes is telephone conversation recorded on 3rd November 2011 followed by extracts from his talk at the UK Space Conference 5th July 2011 “The von Braun that I knew”. Reg shares three of his audio interviews with von Braun, the audio quality of the 2nd and 3rd is better than the first.
Artists impression - from http://www.skatelescope.org/
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is a global science and engineering project to build a revolutionary new radio telescope with extraordinary scientific ambitions.
With funding from ten nations the building of the SKA will start in 2016 and be fully operational in 2024. It will tackle some of the profoundest questions of cosmology associated with organic molecules, gravitational waves, pulsars orbiting black holes and light from the earliest stars that illuminated the universe. To do this the SKA will require super computers, innovative new power stations and high speed communication links that currently do not exist.
This interview with Professor Michael Kramer was recorded in March 2012 at the National Astronomy Meeting in the University Manchester two months prior to the announcement that the Square Kilometre Array will be built in South Africa along with Australia & New Zealand.
Professor Kramer from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany that manages the 100m Effelsberg Radio Telescope is a former associate director at Jodrell Bank and still professor there, talks about the technical, political and economic concerns associated with the SKA project.
Nik Szymanek
If you have ever been to London and used the underground Tube service, it may well have been driven by the speaker in this episode. That is his day job but Nik Szymanek is one of Britain’s best known astrophotographers.
This interview was recorded during National Astronomy Meeting at the University of Manchester in 2012. Nik collaborates with Ian King and in this episode discusses how he got started, issues to consider for those moving in to astrophotograpy and how things have changed in this developing field. He also talks about another growing area of interest to amateur astronomers - a personal remote telescope.
David Ratledge another accomplished astrophotographer based in the north west of England has some very useful links for astrophotography on his website http://www.deep-sky.co.uk/links.htm.
The first interview in this episode is with astronaut Joe Engle was recorded during his visit to the UK in 2008. Joe Engle was at the front of the queue to go to the Moon when NASA cut its Apollo program. His place was taken by the geologist Harrison Schmitt on Apollo 17 – the last manned mission to the Moon. In this interview Joe talk about his work before and after Apollo - on the X-15 and Space Shuttle programs.
The second short interview with astronaut Ron Garan was recorded at TedXSalford in January 2012 (unfortunately the recording stopped prematurely). You can see more about the online community offering a “unique orbital perspective of men and women who live and work in Space” online at Fragile Oasis.
You can see the video of his talk on this link http://youtu.be/lJNbjSLvtpI
Launched 15 years ago today, the Cassini Huygens mission has been one of the outstanding successes of solar system exploration and a model of NASA ESA collaboration.
In episode 14 Professor John Zarnecki spoke about the science conducted from the surface of Titan by the Huygens lander in January 2005.
The European Space Agency’s Huygens probe had hitched a lift to Saturn aboard the Cassini orbiter. Six years after its arrival at Saturn, Cassini is still making spectacular discoveries about Saturn, its majestic rings and its many moons.
In this episode, Professor Carl Murray from Queen Mary University London talks about some of those discoveries and how the mission will eventually come to an end.
This interview was recorded during the National Astronomy Meeting in Manchester in March 2012.
As the dinosaurs on the Earth 64 million years ago discovered, comets and asteroids have the potential for unexpected arrival with devastating consequences.
The spectacular collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter in July 1994 dramatically raised awareness and no doubt a little concern amongst the heads of governments across the planet.
Since then, the British government has not really got engaged and so it is left to a handful of skilled and dedicated individuals through Spaceguarduk to provide the UK with its only organisation to address the hazards of Near Earth Objects.
The fireball over Europe in September 2012, demonstrated the risks are with us today.
The Spaceguard Centre was established by Jay Tate in 1997.
Ben Kepes
When I speak to anyone in a time zone with a 12 hours difference and in opposite hemispheres it implies we are about as far as two people on the planet can be. You can play or download the recording at the bottom of this page.
Ben is known for amongst other things, as the curator of CloudU. He has been speaking about Cloud Computing from a business perspectives long before it became trendy to do so.
We spoke about CloudU, CSA's CCSK and the future of Cloud Computing and its relationship with Open Source.
Links to some of the topics we discussed include.
CloudU
Ben's Blog
Future of Cloud Computing video from Oscon
Cloud Security Alliance - Cloud Computing Security Knowledge and my blog post discussing the pros and cons of CCSK.
Since the mid 1970s six spacecraft (Viking 1 & 2, Sojourner, Opportunity, Spirit and Phoenix) have successfully landed on the surface of Mars. In probably the most audacious, breathtaking and risky space missions, in less than two days, another Mars Curiosity Rover will arrive on Mars. Using a technique never used before, NASA has described the Entry Decent Landing as the seven minutes of terror.
Launched in November 2011, the arrival of Mars Curiosity will for the first time make a high precision landing which is so crucial to its primary scientific goal of finding evidence of earlier Martian environment that may have been suitable for life.
Also known as the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) it will be supported by a pair of NASA satellites (Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) already in Martian orbit. Mars has never been under so much human scrutiny. In addition to the still functioning Opportunity, a rover on the surface of Mars (launched in 2004) and the two NASA satellites, there is also the European Space Agency’s Mars Express is also in Martian orbit.
Dr Anita Sengupta is a member of the Entry Decent Landing and Advanced Technologies group at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In this interview recorded on August 2nd via telephone from her office in JPL she captures the sheer exhilaration of the dramatic entry decent and landing phase and describes her role in the Mars Curiosity rover mission.
Mars curiosity entry, decent and descent from http://www.extremetech.com/
Mars Curiosity landing in a nutshell (less than 3 minutes audio below) by Dr Anita Sengupta from the Entry Decent & Landing and Advanced Technologies group at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Full interview in Episode 55 - tomorrow.
Stanley Davis
The August 2012 edition of Spaceflight, the monthly magazine from the British Interplanetary Society carried an article where I discuss the Northwest of England’s contribution in Rocketry during the 1930s. An extended version of that article is available for free download on Astrotalkuk.org - here.
So on to today’ episode.
In 1937, two teenagers Harry and Stanley with an outrageous ambition to design and build rockets for space travel joined a newly formed group with a name to match – the Manchester Interplanetary Society. Soon each met a girl, fell in love, exchanged wedding rings and got married. They went off on their separate ways but pledged to stay stay in touch. In addition to his interest in rockets he had a strong interest in science. In the late 1930's he went by train to London to hear a talk from H.G. Wells. Had he not died prematurely, he like Harry would have immersed himself in the sci-fi fandom movement that blossoming in Britain from the early 1930s.
Wooden Statue of Abraham Lincoln. Carved by Stanley Davis
Members of the Manchester Interplanetary Society. Harry Turner is 1st on the left
Two years later began the ferocious and violent events of World War Two that would shatter their dreams and lives along with millions of others around the world. Harry Turner spent much of the War in India and following his return enjoyed a successful career as an artist. Stanley Davies died in August 1941 from injuries he endured at Dunkirk.
Recently this shared story brought together Harry’s son Philip and Stanley’s daughter Ann. In episode 50 Philip recalled the memories of his father and in this episode Ann Sutcliffe remembers her father Stanley Davies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UV37Bnbo0Q