Naked Astronomy - From the Naked Scientists

The SKA will soon be the world's most sensitive radio telescope, able to view some of the most distant objects ever seen. In a special edition of Naked Astronomy this month, we follow Perth-based astronomer Kirsten Gottschalk on a visit to one of the two sites where it will be built, hundreds of kilometres from civilisation in the Western Australian outback. Kirsten also catches up with progress on the two precursor instruments - the Murchison Widefield Array and the Australian SKA Pathfinder - which are already being constructed on the site.

2013 looks like a good year for comets! We find out where these balls of dust and ice come from and what to expect from Pan-STARRS and ISON. Plus, the close fly-by of Asteroid 2012 DA14, the fireball that exploded over Russia and your space science questions.

Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham meet British astronaut Tim Peake at the British Interplanetary Society. They are joined by space scientist Jane MacArthur, whose methane experiment is currently being tested on a Mars simulation in Morocco, and Ralph Timberlake on the future of the British Interplanetary Society as it celebrates its 80th year. Add on a report on Kicksat and sprites from NASA Ames in California, and Professor Michele Dougherty - whose team discovered Enceladus' icy plumes - and you have another spacetacular podcast.

This month in Space Boffins: why space can seriously damage your health, the cameras being installed on the Space Station to give live views of Earth and crisis management tips from an Apollo 13 Flight Director. Richard and Sue are joined by long duration spaceflight expert Kevin Fong and blogger Kate Arkless Gray (SpaceKate), who looks ahead to an exciting year in space exploration.

How can we solve the space debris problem? What will we learn from LOFAR? This edition of Naked Astronomy comes from the RAL Space Conference at the STFC's Rutherford Appleton Laboratories. We'll explore the crossover between space science and medicine, catch up with Curiosity and find out how a new satellite helps to test the latest tech.

This month in the Space Boffins podcast: a tour of the International Space Station, an Apollo astronaut and the mission to the edge of the Solar System. Space Boffins Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson are joined by comedian Helen Keen and writer David Baker to discuss living in space, one way trips to Mars and a return to the Moon. Also featuring a mystery sound, the noises of Earth and the politics of space toilets.

This time the award winning Space Boffins podcast comes from Houston to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the last man on the Moon. Richard visits the Apollo 17 capsule and talks to an Apollo veteran, while Sue hears why we should go back to the Moon. Also, flying a phone in space - the competition hots up - and how Gemini astronauts became good at housekeeping.

How can we measure some of the most energetic events in the universe? This month, we're exploring the new science being carried out by NuSTAR, a space-based high-energy x-ray telescope. Plus, we'll find out why being outside the goldilocks zone might not mean there's no chance of life, as it seems other sources of heat may make even more planets and moons good places to look for biochemistry...

The Space Boffins Podcast comes to you this month from the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) in Silicon Valley California and features the search for life and Earth 2.0. Richard talks to SETI's Senior Astronomer, Sue reports from the recent ESA Tweetup in Berlin and hears about a new mission to the Moon. Also this time, Richard lands the Space Shuttle and listen out for the remixed Space Boffins jingle...

How can we see stars as they first come into being? This month, we're looking at ALMA - the Atacama Large Millimetre Array - possibly the most complicated telescope to date, that promises to peer into star forming regions.Plus, we chat to some of the winners of the 2012 Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition, and find out what it takes to start taking pictures of the heavens.

Curiosity had barely scratched the surface of Mars when NASA announced another new mission to the red planet. It's called InSight and Dr Tom Pike, from Imperial College London, will be part of the team. He joins Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Kate Arkless-Gray, along with Mapping Mars author Oliver Morton, to discuss the future of planetary exploration on one of our nearest neighbours. Also this month, how to use a Kinect games console to help dock satellites with news of Strand-2. Plus, as all things Mars threatens to overshadow other planets in our Solar System, Luke Dones from the South West Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, discusses receiving data from Saturn's rings and why the best is yet to come...

Why are we still curious about Mars? This month on Naked Astronomy, we're looking into Martian matters to find out how we got to where we are today, ushering in a new era of Martian discoveries from the Mars Science Laboratory. Also, we'll examine the evidence for liquid lakes below the surface of Saturn's moon Titan, find out how supermassive stars can form and why the Google Lunar X-Prize is encouraging commercial missions to the Moon. Plus, our guests take on your space science questions...

This month on the Space Boffins Podcast, we will be exploring strange new worlds, discovering a Swedish spaceport, and celebrating the first American space walk. Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson meet the team sending a mobile phone-based satellite into orbit, explore Kepler the man and Kepler the mission, and delve into the archives of Gemini 4 mission control...

When does the impossible become possible? Researchers have found Red Dwarf stars that simply shouldn't exist, so in this month's Naked Astronomy we find out how theory needs to catch up with observations. Also, how do citizen scientists advance astronomical research, and why isn't the Earth a watery world? Plus, we take on your space science questions, and find out what to look out for in the night skies this month...

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission lands on Mars next month after a nine-month journey across our Solar System. On arrival the most advanced suite of instruments ever sent to the red planet will get to work. In this edition of the podcast, geologist and MSL scientist Professor Sanjeev Gupta, from Imperial College London, discusses the excitement and science behind the mission with Spaceflight UK's Jerry Stone and Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham. Plus, a report from the recent European space tourism conference where the major players pitched their space trips and a fascinating look back at the first manned Gemini spacecraft, Gemini 3, with original mission recordings from the launch. Do you know why it was called Molly Brown? Answers on a small asteroid please.