Cosmic Coffee Time with Andrew Prestage
It's cosmology in a cup! - Cosmic Coffee Time is bite sized podcasts making sense of space, astronomy, life, and the universe, best enjoyed with a coffee. A down to earth look at what's up there, and it's just for you spacefans. Grab a coffee and see where in the universe we go this time. Follow on Twitter @CosmicCoffTime
#78 The Andromeda Galaxy is a cosmic neighbour thatâs going to collide with our Milky Way Galaxy. Should we panic?
No need to panic. Yet! Weâll be fine for the next 4 or 5 billion years, but Andromeda is heading our way. The Andromeda Galaxy was the first object to be identified as being outside our own galaxy, and it introduced us to extragalactic astronomy. And thatâs not all. It can teach us more about dark matter and it could be home to billions of planets.
Itâs a very cool neighbour, but one day - itâs kinda going to move in!
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#77 The stranded astronauts are finally home after 9 months in space. Letâs see how Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore got home
Their planned 8 day visit to the International Space Station was turned on its head when NASA announced their Boeing Starliner capsule was unsafe to use. What did Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore do for those 9 months? And we check out the plan that was put together to get them home safely.
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#76 The Apollo program was the high point of the space age. From test flights, to lunar landings and the moon buggies
After everything learned through Mercury and Gemini culminated in the seventeen Apollo missions. The first ten were all testing and rehearsals, but the whole program, and a whole era was characterised by Apollo 11, the first time humans set foot on the moon. Along with the triumph, there was tragedy and a very near miss, and one of the most underrated aspects of NASA's space program - the lunar roving vehicles that let the astronauts explore more than seven kilometres from the Lunar Module.
This really was one of the most remarkable endeavours of science, engineering and teamwork...
#75 NASA's Project Gemini was a spectacular program that bridged the gap from Project Mercury to Apollo. Gemini developed the incredible technology and techniques needed for the lunar program
Nasa had accomplished spaceflight with Project Mercury but the gap to Apollo was still huge. How do you dock two spacecraft in flight and how do crews live in a tiny spacecraft for lunar length flights. These are just a couple of the questions that NASA needed to answer. Gemini was just the project to resolve all of these issues. It was a proving ground, for learning, testing and practicing the skills needed for lunar missions. Gemini wasn't the first program to accomplish spaceflight, and it didn't include the most well known achievements, but it was a formidable project...
#74 At the beginning of the space race, Project Mercury was NASAâs first human crewed spaceflight program, and it was a significant step on the road to the moon. Letâs dive into the vault and check it out.
Back in the late 1950s, NASA was formed. Its first job was to put together a human crewed spaceflight program and put an astronaut into orbit - safely. This was Project Mercury. There were some uncrewed developmental flights and then six crewed flights between 1961 and 1963, this was an enormously significant step toward the Apollo moon landings just six years later.
So who were the Mercury astronauts and what was the mission profile of these first six crewed spaceflights?
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<...#73 NASAâs Project Mercury Monument has turned 60! Itâs a tribute to America's first attempt at human space flight. The monument has a time capsule that is scheduled to stay sealed for 500 years! Letâs check out what's inside.
Project Mercury was NASAâs first attempt at human crewed space flight. It sent Alan Shepard into space, and John Glenn into orbit, among four other landmark flights over 5 years. By 1963 it was done, and NASA was ready to launch Gemini, its next project. But being such a groundbreaking project, in 1964 NASA paid tribute to Mercury with a four metre high stainless steel monument with a time capsule that would remain sealed beneath it until the year 2464, five centuries later.Â
What was so significant about Mercury? And whatâs inside this time capsule? We could wait another 440 years...
#72 The space pioneers from Earth werenât humans, what? Thatâs right, long before humans launched into space, there were a whole team of dogs, monkeys, chimps, insects and more, who rode rockets to space. All in the name of research.
When Yuri Gagarin blasted into orbit in 1961 to become the first human in space, he was already 14 years behind the first animals from Earth. The fruit flies that were flew to space in 1947 were just the first of many different animals in the decade and a half before Gagarinâs orbital flight that were used to test equipment and living thingsâ capacity to survive and work in weightlessness. There were primates, dogs, mice and rabbits that crewed orbital and suborbital test flights. And the animal parade didnât end when humans launched themselves to space, frogs, fish, spiders, chimpanzees, a cat...
#71 Earth has a new moon! For about the next 8 weeks... Asteroid 2024 PT5 will be captured by Earth's gravity before returning to its normal solar orbit.
Earth has a new moon! well, for about 8 weeks anyway. Asteroid 2024 PT5 has been captured by Earthâs gravity and will be in orbit until late November 2024. This is really unusual and there have only been a few confirmed mini moons in the past. Our new temporary neighbour is only about 11 metres across and wonât be visible to anyone who doesnât have a professional large-scale telescope, but weâll know itâs there! and although it will only stay for about 2 months, 2024 PT5 will be back again in 2055.
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#70 The Boeing Starliner capsule's first crewed test flight has left two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station. What went wrong, and how are they going to get home?
Boeingâs Starliner space capsule blasted off for its first crewed test flight in early June. Great news right? Turns out, no. After arriving at the International Space Station, some technical problems meant that it couldnât be used to take its crew of Barry âButchâ Wilmore and Suni Williams back to Earth. The two astronauts were left with no way to get home.Â
The two capsules already docked at the space station couldnât be used, so the astronauts were stranded.Â
Letâs find out what happened to Starliner, why couldnât the other capsules be used...
#69 NASA's Curiosity rover has just made the most incredible discovery of its 12 years on Mars. By running over a rock!
NASA's Curiosity rover touched down on Mars in August 2012, and it's been exploring the Red Planet all that time. There have been some amazing discoveries and it's travelled over 30km but it has just made the most scientifically significant discovery of its 12 year career, and did it simply by running over a rock! One of Curiosity's wheels crushed a rock. It had looked just like any other orange martian rock, but when it shattered under Curiosity's wheels, it revealed breathtaking yellowish green crystals inside, that turned out to pure sulphur. Unheard of on the Red Planet. Let's check it...
#68 A piece of space history was written this month, a sample from the far side of the moon! Let's check out the Chang'e 6 lunar lander and it's history-making mission.
As I write this, just a couple of days have passed since the Chang'e 6 sample return capsule touched down with its historic payload. The first sample of rock and soil from the far side of the moon touched down on Earth. This has the potential to unlock some of the secrets from the side of the moon that we never see from Earth, why is the lunar crust thicker? Why are there fewer 'seas' on the far side? And what lies beneath the lunar crust?
All of this against the background of a surface operation out of direct...
#67 OSIRIS-REx NASA mission scientist Greg Brennecka brings us up to date on the incredible early findings from the Bennu asteroid sample.
In September 2023, Greg Brennecka stopped by to preview the return to Earth of the OSIRI-REx asteroid Bennu sample return capsule. The sample landed safely and the mission scientists like Greg Brennecka have started their analysis. Some of our toughest questions are being answered by the data already. How old is Bennu? Is there organic material? Where was the asteroid formed? Is Bennu different from what we expected?
But hasn't been all smooth sailing. The mission team had to go into full innovation mode to overcome some early difficulties.
And we've only just begun!
Listen in to...
#66 Saturnâs largest moon Titan is an incredible place, but could anything live there? Canadian Astrobiologist Dr Catherine Neish led a study on Titanâs habitability. She joins us for a fascinating chat about what she found.
Titan. The largest moon in the Saturnian system has been a candidate as a habitable world ever since NASAâs Cassini mission sent back the first radar images of its surface in 2004. Astrobiologist Dr. Catherine Neish of Western University in Canada has spent years studying Titan, and has just published a study on the habitability of Titan. Catherine joins us to step through the findings, what is needed for life? Is there enough of it on Titan? And does it all come together?
Read Ralph Lorez's paper Titan Under a Red Giant Sun: Anew Kind of...
#65 Spaghettification? This really is a thing. It happens if you get too close to a black hole, but what is it? And how did it get that name?
Space and cosmology throws up some strange effects sometimes, none stranger than spaghettification. Stephen Hawking coined the term for the stretching out that happens when you get close to a black hole. Let's take a look at what it really is, how it works, and if we should have anything to fear from spaghettification...
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#64 The Odysseus Moon Lander. The first private moon lander has touched down, but is it still ok?
Houston-based aerospace company Intuitive Machines produced the first private mission to land on the moon. The Odysseus lander is just 300 km from the lunar south pole, investigating water ice and demonstrating the capabilities of NASAâs Commercial Lunar Payload Services program (CLPS).
But space is difficult and not many projects go perfectly first time. Is Odysseus ok? Letâs find out!
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#63 Space Ethics. How do we navigate the ethical challenges of our journey beyond Earth?
So we pollute the upper atmosphere with rocket exhaust, is it worth the benefits of communications satellites and GPS? What about space junk? the garbage of earth orbit. Or mining asteroids? who owns the asteroids, can should they be able to sell the minerals asteroids provide?
These are questions that would never have been asked before space travel became as regular as it has today. Let's take a look at this new way of thinking about our responsibilities in space.
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#62 The iconic Earthrise photograph. Is this the most influential picture from the Apollo era?
Apollo 8 orbited the Moon in December 1968, seven months before the first moon landing. Even though Apollo 8 never landed on the Moon, it did produce one of the most iconic photographs of the Apollo program, the Earthrise photograph. Astronaut Bill Anders snapped a colour picture of the Earth rising over the lunar horizon as the capsule orbited the Moon.
But what makes this picture so iconic? And why did we nearly miss out on it. Let's dive in!
Check out the Earthrise photograph
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#61 Will Saturnâs rings really disappear from view in 2025? Whatâs going on with that?
In the news lately, you might have seen reports that the rings of Saturn are going to disappear from view. What could make that happen? And will they come back? Letâs check out whatâs going on with the most spectacular feature in our solar system.Â
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#60 Astrophotography. It's photography with a completely different technique. How do the pros do it, and what can I do with my smartphone?
Photographing the night sky is a completely different technique to photographing almost anything else. There's hardly any light, the objects are tiny and they move! It's really difficult. We've all given it a go and been disappointed, but how do they get the incredible pictures we see on the internet and on TV, and how can normal spacefans like us take a night sky picture?
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#59 India's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft became the first spacecraft to land in the south polar region of the moon. Let's see why the this incredible spacecraft and rover could be instrumental for the future of human spaceflight.
Indiaâs Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, with the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover have landed in the south polar region of the moon. Some craters in this region are permanently shaded from the blazing sun and can have water ice at the base of these lunar craters.Â
India became only the fourth nation to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on the moon, and the first to successfully land a spacecraft in the moonâs south pole region. Itâs an incredible story!
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#58 Resident space rock expert Greg Brennecka is back to preview the return to Earth of NASAâs OSIRIS-REx spacecraft with a sample of asteroid Bennu.
Cosmic Coffee Timeâs resident space rock expert and NASA mission scientist Greg Brennecka is back again to preview the return to Earth of NASAâs incredible OSIRIS-REx mission. OSIRIS-REx is coming to the end of an epic seven year journey to collect a rock and soil sample from asteroid Bennu. Greg is a mission scientist on OSIRIS-REx and will be doing analysis on the Bennu sample in his own lab. Itâs breathtakingly rare to get a pristine sample from an asteroid in another part of the solar system, and Greg shares with us the plans for this sample...
#57 Space junk! Most of the human made objects orbiting Earth arenât functional. Some of them are incredible objects that have outlasted their mission durations by years. How will these fascinating relics affect future spaceflight?
Around 80% of the human made objects in orbit are mission left overs. Some of it is real junk, but some of it has an incredible story to tell. What relics from the early space age are held in safe storage in orbit? How does the accumulation of space junk affect mission planning, and how are we going to keep space safer from impacts in the future? Youâll never guess how we rediscovered some space hardware from an early moon mission!
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#56 The June solstice, it defines the Arctic circle, the Tropic of Cancer and the Antarctic circle. It has the longest daylight hours in the northern hemisphere, shortest in the southern. But why do those things happen on one day every year?
Around the 21st of June every year is the June solstice. We might know that itâs the longest or shortest day of the year â depending on which hemisphere youâre in, but why does that happen? And we know of the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, but how does the solstice define them? Same with the Arctic and Antarctic circles. Does it fall on the same date each year? Well almost, but it does take some clever human manipulation of the calendar to keep it that way.
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#55 The spectacular Aurora Borealis and its southern partner Aurora Australis. The astronomical light show is such a cool thing to see, but its science was a mystery until the 20th century.
Ask an eastern Australian about the Southern Aurora, and they might think youâre talking about the old overnight express train between Sydney and Melbourne. But! The train was named after the spectacular light show in the southern sky. The Aurora Australis to use the phenomenonâs correct name, and its northern equivalent the Aurora Borealis or Northern lights have a fascinating astronomical cause. And the nature of the Aurora remained a mystery until the 20th century, despite being documented for thousands of years. Letâs take a look!
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#54 NASAâs VERITAS mission to Venus. Thereâs some good news, thereâs some bad news and thereâs one incredible discovery hidden for thirty years.
In 2021, NASA announced the VERITAS mission to Venus, NASAâs first voyage to Earthâs twin planet since the early 90âs. Things havenât gone completely to plan for this project, but one thing VERITAS has already accomplished, it got scientists reviewing data from previous missions, and what they found was truly incredible. And all without leaving the ground.
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#53 The Hayabusa2 Asteroid Ryugu sample return mission. Space rock expert Greg Brennecka joins us for an incredible up-close look at real life asteroid material.
Our favourite space rock expert Greg Brennecka joins us to talk about the amazing Hayabusa2 mission, the sample return mission to asteroid Ryugu by Japanese space agency JAXA. Greg and his colleagues have been analysing the sample and some of the findings are incredible.
What does Ryugu tell us about the early solar system? What do we learn about water on bodies like asteroids? and could Ryugu be carrying enough of the building blocks of life to potentially populate another habitable planet?
It's a fascinating chat.
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#52 Hundreds of years before GPS there was celestial navigation. Let's see how astronomy and some basic equipment kept old time mariners on course.
Recently, we took a look at GPS and the space science that makes it work. This time, we're going back to an era when navigators had nothing but their equipment and the stars to tell them where they were, even on the open ocean.
Celestial navigation combined the sextant, almanac and chronometer to make a reliable navigation system that just needed one other thing, the sun and the stars... And some handy astronomical knowledge!
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#51 NASA's astronaut class of 1978. We have a compelling chat with Meredith Bagby about this ground breaking group of space shuttle astronauts, and her fascinating book The New Guys
In 1978, NASA changed the rules around who could be selected as an astronaut. Civilian engineers, doctors and scientists could be selected to fly on the then brand new space shuttle. Meredith Bagby joins us to talk about this group, whose social backgrounds were as diverse as their professions. For the first time, the group included women and people of colour.
There were triumphs with astronauts like Sally Ride and Greg Bluford, and tragedy when four of this talented group were lost in the Challenger disaster.
This is a compelling insight from Meredith, who had access to...
#50 We all love GPS, but what space science makes it work?
We all love GPS. The Global Positioning System helps us navigate across country and across town, and it also shows us where our rideshare car is, or how far away our food delivery driver is. Take a look at what space science makes it work, and why it can still provide your coordinates even if you're miles away from any phone or data signal or Wi-Fi.
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#49 The new Mars meteorite impact. NASA Insight has detected a new meteorite impact on Mars! Meteorite expert Greg Brennecka returns to talk about this breathtaking new discovery.
Friend of Cosmic Coffee Time and expert meteoriticist Greg Brennecka returns to talk about the breathtaking detection of a new meteorite impact on Mars. Greg tells us how the impact was detected, and then confirmed with detailed imagery from Mars orbit. What does this tell us about the subsurface geology of Mars, and what does it mean for astrobiology and the future exploration of Mars and beyond?
It's a fascinating chat.
Find Greg's book 'Impact' at Harper Collins here
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#48 Caroline Herschel - So much more than just the sister of the guy who discovered Uranus
Caroline Herschel is probably best known as the sister of William Herschel, the person credited with the discovery of planet Uranus, but there's a lot more to her than this. Caroline was a great astronomer in her own right, having made numerous discoveries using telescopes she helped make herself. She was also an outstanding musician and was the first female professional astronomer in the world, and was recognised with the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Caroline Herschel achieved all this despite the life long effects of a significant childhood illness.
Quite an incredible person.
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#47 Have you ever heard of moonquakes? Let's take a look at how different they are from earthquakes.
For a long time we speculated that there might have been earthquakes on the moon, we call them moonquakes. How did we eventually detect them, and what makes them so different from earthquakes?
Let's take a look and figure out what's going on there.
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#46 Meteorite expert Greg Brennecka returns to the podcast to talk about the Nadir crater. An exciting new discovery that could be a 66 million year old meteorite impact.
Expert meteoriticist and friend of Cosmic Coffee Time Greg Brennecka returns to talk about an exciting development in the meteorite impact scene, the Nadir crater. This newly discovered undersea structure off the coast of Guinea in western Africa is a proposed meteorite impact site. How was this discovered? when did the impact happen and how do we know if the impactor hit land or sea.
It's a fascinating chat.
Find Greg's book 'Impact' at Harper Collins here
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#45 NASA's Dragonfly mission to Saturn's moon, Titan. A drone is going to fly in the atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon. Incredible!
NASA is planning to fly a drone in the atmosphere of the second largest natural satellite in the solar system, Saturn's Titan. What is that drone going to look like, how is it going to get there and what sort of science is it going to do when it gets there?
It's an audacious project, and we take a look here.
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#44 About that black hole at the centre of our galaxy... Now we've got a picture! Sagittarius A*
Scientists have long held a theory that there was a black hole in the centre of our milky way galaxy. This was proved some years ago but we've finally got an image of it from real observational data. It's a fascinating story.
Let's take a closer look.
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#43 Let's take a look at Sunspots. What are those darker spots on the surface of the sun?
Sunspots are darker and cooler areas on the surface of the sun. What causes them? How long do they last? And how do they fit into the 11 year cycle of solar activity?
Let's take a look.
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#42 Pulsars. What are these incredible objects and what makes them pulse?
You might have heard of pulsars. They're objects that emit regular pulses of radiation. But what are they, how do they form, and what makes them pulse?
Let's take a look.
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#41 Galileo. His observations in 1610 changed a lot of what we knew about astronomy. Let's see what he found.
Galileo Galilei Made some incredible observations of the moon and was a real pioneer in calculating the height of some of the moon's geological features. In 1610 he turned the world of planetary astronomy on its head. He described the phases of Venus, came agonisingly close to discovering the true nature of Saturn's rings, and studied what became to be his namesake system, the four Galilean moons of Jupiter.
Let's take a look.
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#40 Binary stars. Would you believe that most of the stars we see aren't just single stars? Incredible I know!
As many as 80% of the stars we see in the night sky could be part of a binary system, two or more stars orbiting each other.
So what it a binary system and how can we observe them? We know single stars like our own sun can have a system of planets, but what does that look like for stars in a binary system.
Let's take a look.
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#39 Meteorites! We meet with noted meteoriticist Greg Brennecka to talk meteorites, the origins of life on Earth, and his new book 'Impact'
Until the Apollo moon landings, our only samples of material from space were in the form of meteorites. These meteorites gave us an insight into the origins of our solar system, and might even have provided the complex organic molecules that allowed life to develop on our planet.Â
In this episode we have an awesome chat with noted meteoriticist Greg Brennecka. We explore some of the history of meteorite research, the origins of life on Earth and the free samples of Mars rock that arrived on Earth in the form of meteorites. Greg also gives us a h...
