This Week in Space (Audio)

TWiS 226: Who Owns the Moon? - Capitalism and Property Rights in Space

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 t

TWiS 225: Get a Grip! - New Technologies for Orbital Salvage

The mitigation of orbital debris is an increasingly serious problem that has not gotten enough attention, but this is changing. Commercial companies are addressing orbita

TWiS 224: The Science of Artemis - What We'll Do on the Moon

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,

TWiS 223: The Lunar Domain - Our Future on the Moon with Dr. Scott Pace

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

TWiS 222: How to Invade Earth in 22 Easy Steps - With Rich Edwards

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,

TWiS 221: Starship Can Float? - Roman Space Telescope Ready to Launch!

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

TWiS 220: First on Mars - The 50th Anniversary of Viking 1

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 rocke

TWiS 219: SpaceX Goes to War! - And Other Space Headlines

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

TWiS 218: Which Way to the Moonbase? - With Dr. Pascal Lee

We've been hearing a lot about NASA's new moonbase plans, and they are ambitious. Starting with Artemis V (so far), the US plans to begin preparations for a permanent bas

TWiS 217: America in Space - 250 Years of Bold Firsts & Our Favorite Missions!

Since 1958, the United States has been part of the spaceflight adventure, and since the mid-1960s has led in just about any category that counts. In this episode, we disc

TWiS 216: Dark Matter Intelligence - With Physicist Dr. Daniel Whiteson

We've had endless conversations about aliens and first contact--but what if a conversation with other intelligences is beyond our scope? Dr. Daniel Whiteson, particle phy