Podcast profile
By TWiT
The new space age is upon us, and This Week in Space leaves no topic untouched. Every Friday, join Editor-in-Chief of Ad Astra magazine, Rod Pyle and Managing Editor of Space, Tariq Malik as they explore everything related to the cosmos. New episodes posted every Friday.
Latest episode
58 min
Topics
Launch vehicles, missions, launch markets, propulsion, and access to space.
Satellite systems, communications, Earth observation, navigation, and orbital infrastructure.
Planetary science, astronomy, exploration missions, and scientific discovery in space.
Formats
Concise summaries of current developments and essential context.
Host-led conversation where a guest supplies most of the subject matter.
Audience level
Assumes basic technology literacy and familiarity with common products, roles, and terminology.
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Episodes shown — 10 of 16
In the 1980s, as the US space shuttle was just starting operations, the UK embarked on an ambitious project called HOTOL—short for Horizontal Take Off and Landing, a radical, air-breathing spaceplane design.
Hold onto your phasers, but it's been 60 years since Star Trek 's debut, and the franchise is still going strong. For 40 of those years, Mike Okuda, working with a gifted team that included his wife Denise, has been central to the look, feel, and substance of the Star Trek universe.
Capitalism—and a strong profit motivation—has driven enterprise for centuries. Two notable examples are the East India Company and the US transcontinental railroad, and the various tycoons who built it. In neither case, by today's standards, were the operations fair or ethical on a number of fronts.
The mitigation of orbital debris is an increasingly serious problem that has not gotten enough attention, but this is changing.
It has been said that the Moon is a harsh mistress, and nowhere is this more apparent than at the lunar south pole. That is, however, where the Artemis program is headed, and we need to figure out how to best explore the region. Dr.
We're headed for a space renaissance, and it will be focused on the Moon. The US, China, and international partners of both are vying to land people there and construct a permanent lunar base.
We've all seen the movies... the aliens come to Earth, the aliens overcome the inferior humans, and the aliens fall prey to something dumb they overlooked, like microbes, Windows 95, or most absurdly, water. From the 1950s through yesterday, some of the best movies we've seen were about the invasion of our planet.
Rod Pyle is out this week, so Rick Jenet of the National Space Society joins Tariq Malik this week to talk about SpaceX's Starship Flight 13, which deployed new Starlink V3 satellites and stunned viewers when the ship survived reentry intact enough to float in the ocean for days afterward.
This week, we cover how Starship Flight 13 finally prepares to launch amid a legal battle over SpaceX's proposed land swap at Starbase, plus a Chinese Long March 3B rocket gets struck by lightning during liftoff, yet still delivers its satellite safely. Then, guests Dr. Pascal Lee and astrobiologist Dr.
This week we're jumping into the space headlines for the past few weeks. It's been busy, and some exciting things are happening! A couple of companies are moving into the space solar power arena--something we've long advocated--and that's welcome progress.