omega tau - science & engineering [English only]

This episode covers my visit at the European Space Agency's (ESA) European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt,Germany. After a short tour of the facilities with Andreas Schepers I had the chance to interview Uwe Feucht (Head of Flight Dynamics Division) on space flight dynamics and Paolo Ferri (Headof the Solar and Planetary Missions Division) on Mars Express, Venus Express and Rosetta.

This episode is a conversation with Bimal Aponso (branch chief for the Aerospace Simulation Research and Development Branch) about the NASA Vertical Motion Simulator at Ames. The VMS is the world's largest flight simulator, and provides unrivaled realism regarding the accelerations and "feeling of real flight" it can create. In the episode we first talk about how the VMS works, and how it is different from other flight simulators. We then cover some of the use cases for VMS (research, astronaut training) and discuss a couple of past research projects where VMS has been used. Finally, we take a tour of the actual simulator, and I get to see the cabin for the cockpits of the Space Shuttle and the Altair Lunar Surface Access Module

This episode is a conversation with Dr. Carl Pilcher, the director of the NASA Astrobiology Insititute at NASA Ames Research Center. The conversation comes in two parts. Part one covers the conceptual basics of astrobiology and life: what is life, what are the preconditions for life to exist, how to recognize it, etc. Part two looks at the process of trying to find places in the universe that could host life, primarily astronomical observations and missions to other planets.

This episode is a discussion about radio astronomy and the ALMA observatory with ESO's Robert Laing, the European instrument scientist for ALMA. The episode has three parts. The first part talks about the science of radio astronomy: current challenges and physical basics. The second part adresses how observing with radio astronomy actually works: the principles behind telescopes and how they are built and operated. Part three then looks at the ALMA observatory specifically, a new, large sub-millimeter radio interferometer currently built in the Atacama Desert in Chile.

This episode is an interesting discussion about the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France. I had a chance to talk to Claus Habfast, physicist and head of communications for ESRF. ESRF is an accelerator facility the creates high-energy x-rays that are used for experiments in various areas of science, from biology to physics to materials science and chemistry. In the episode, Claus talks about how ESRF works, highlights a couple of interesting recent experiments and puts ESRF into the context of other accelerator laboratories.

This episode is a discussion with Mike Hunter, the producer of Marillion. We discuss various aspects of modern music production, from recording to sudio quality, to effects to mastering and live performances.

This episode is the English version of Episode 1, the flight in the motorglider. Deutsch-Sprechende: Diese Episode nicht runterladen, es ist dasselbe wie in Episode 1, nur auf English!

This episode is a discussion with Jeannette Wing on Computational Thinking. Citing the website of Carnegie Mellon's Center for Computational Thinking website, "computational thinking is a way of solving problems, designing systems, and understanding human behavior that draws on concepts fundamental to computer science.".

This episode is a conversation with Pete Bethune, the skipper of Earthrace. Earthrace has broken the world record for circumnavigation of the world with a powerboat.

In this episode Markus discusses commercial suborbital space flight and SpaceShipOne with Dan Linehan, author of SpaceShipOne - An Illustrated History, a beautiful book explaing all aspects of this magnificient flying machine.