WeMartians Podcast show

WeMartians Podcast

Summary: The WeMartians Podcast delves into all aspects of the exploration of Mars, including robotic/human spacecraft and rocket engineering, planetary science, astronomy and other upcoming technology. Our episodes are research-supported and feature topical audio clips and special guests.

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Podcasts:

 Episode 16 - Closed Ecological Systems (feat. Morgan Irons) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:44:00

Living and working in a remote place requires more than just food, water, shelter and air. If we're serious about maintaining the health of our future Martian astronauts, we'll need to pay close attention to the mental health, and we'll need to figure out a way to make food sustainable. The idea of farming on Mars isn't new, but the ideas of Morgan Irons, founder and Chief Science Officer of Deep Space Ecology, certainly push them forward. Her "three-zone model" promises to create a closed ecological system that won't collapse under pressure. Morgan joins us to tell us all about her startup and the way she sees future habitats working.

 Episode 15 - The Frosty Plains of Utopia Planitia (feat. Cassie Stuurman) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:32:12

Some call water the "oil of the solar system" because of its importance in our eventual exploration of other planets. Finding new sources and learning about how to access it plays a key role in our future. Using the SHARAD instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Cassie Stuurman and a team at University of Texas at Austin discovered a massive deposit of ice in the northern plains of Utopia Planitia. Cassie joins us to tell the tale of its discovery, characterization and importance. WeMartians Theme Song is "RetroFuture" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

 Episode 14 - Methane in Stereo (feat. Nicolas Thomas) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:39:23

The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter's primary mission is to hunt down sources of trace gasses in the orbiter and characterize them. Chief among these chemicals is Methane, and when it is isolated on the surface, we're going to want to know what that place looks like. Enter the Colour and Stereo Surface Imagine System, a state of the art instrument that can take stereo images of the surface, allowing us to see Mars in 3D. Nicolas Thomas, Principal Investigator of the instrument, joins us to tell us all about this fascinating device, including its operations, how it targets science and why finding methane is so important. WeMartians Theme Song is "RetroFuture" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

 Episode 13 - Making Humans Multiplanetary (feat. Anthony Colangelo) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:47:54

Elon Musk has now bore his heart (of gold) to the world. His plans for making humans multiplanetary have been shared with us, including his incredible 42-engine reusable booster, his 100-person interplanetary spaceship, and his vision for colonizing Mars. Together they form the SpaceX Interplanetary Transport System, and they are nothing if not bold. I'm joined by Anthony Colangelo from the Main Engine Cut Off Podcast to talk more about this vision, including some of the realities of making it possible, the challenges they'll face, and how to bring partners like NASA on board for the ride. WeMartians Theme Song is "RetroFuture" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

 Episode 12 - Mission to sMars (feat. the crew of HI-SEAS IV) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:48:51

Understanding human social behaviour under conditions of remote isolation, close quarters, and constrained resources will one day be critical to successfully executing a crewed mission to Mars. Analogues and simulations provide a useful tool to learn these tactics. HI-SEAS IV (Hawaii Space Exploration Analogue and Simulation) is one such experiment, and six crewmembers recently exited after an entire year in a dome on the slopes of a Hawaiian volcano. We spoke with all six members of the crew and learned a lot of valuable lessons, not least of which is the power of the human spirit and ability to make anything possible.

 Episode 11 - Mad About Manganese (feat. Nina Lanza) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:35:46

The Mars Curiosity Rover has an impressive suite of instruments, but none incite as much excitement as ChemCam, a laser/camera combo that vaporizes rocks and analyzes their components. ChemCam is firing more than it ever has before, and Nina Lanza, a staff scientist on its team, is helping make some pretty remarkable discoveries with it. On this episode, Nina tells us about a high concentration of manganese recently uncovered that tells us a lot about Mars' past, and suggests that it might have been complete with a lot more oxygen than we initially thought.

 Episode 10 - Science meets Engineering on the 2020 Rover (feat. Sarah Milkovich) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:42:57

NASA's next flagship Mars mission will put the generation of their rovers on the surface of Mars. With the working title of Mars2020, the rover will improve upon the Curiosity design that so far has been wildly successful. But putting together a rover, even one with a borrowed design, is not easy. Sarah Milkovich, a Science Systems Engineer with JPL, tells us about the challenges of bridging the gap between science and engineering on a $2 billion rover.

 Episode 9 - Riding Ions (feat. Joe Cassady) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:38:15

Electric vehicles aren't just taking over our roads - they're taking over our orbits, too! Solar electric propulsion is a cutting edge technology that allows spacecraft to change velocity up to an order of magnitude more efficiently than traditional chemical rockets. Joe Cassady from Aerojet Rocketdyne and Explore Mars talks with us about how this propulsion works, it's power requirements, the development status, and how we'll use it to eventually send cargo to Mars in support of human exploration.

 Episode 8 - Gullies on Mars (feat. Tanya Harrison) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:33:03

Increasingly, Mars is appearing to us as a living, breathing world with dynamic features. One such feature that has captivated planetary scientists around the world is the occurrence of Martian Gullies, channels carved into the surface as if by water, in a world where flowing water is not exactly common. We talk with Tanya Harrison, a planetary scientist and geologist from the University of Western Ontario. She tells us all about gullies on Mars, how they might be formed, and what scientists are doing about it to learn more in the search for life on Mars.

 Episode 7 - Sitting in a Tin Can (feat. Casey Stedman) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:40:51

NASA and other space organizations have used mission analogues to simulate various aspects of space travel since the dawn of the space age. As humanity steps closer to deep space and eventually Mars, new analogues are being developed to represent the new challenges we'll face. HERA (Human Exploration Research Analogue) is one such mission, and crew member Casey Stedman gives us an inside look at the exciting challenges he faced while stuck inside a habitat for 30 days. WeMartians Theme Song is "RetroFuture" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

 Episode 6 - Mars; God of War (feat. Kyle Dally) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:38:15

Mars reached opposition (when it, Earth and the Sun form a straight line) on May 22nd. It's closest approach (today, May 30th) is another important astronomical event. All of these work on a 26-month cycle. Astronomers around the world have their eyes trained on the blood-coloured planet, tracking its retrograde motion, supreme brightness, and near-approach with great interest. We went on site with Kyle Dally of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada to learn about what these events mean, why they are important, and how someone like you or me can get involved with amateur astronomy without spending thousands of dollars on equipment and training.

 Episode 5 - Space Habitats and the Story of Bigelow | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:39:56

Habitation in space will become a very important topic as we venture out into deep space and eventually to Mars. Turning space from a place to travel through to a place to live will be a prime objective of technology development in the near term. In this episode we'll explore the history of habitation, from the earliest Skylab and Salyut stations to the modular Mir and ISS designs. Then we'll talk about Bigelow Aerospace, its NASA roots, and the commercial impact on the industry as it sets its sights on Mars.

 Episode 4 - Citizen Science on Mars (feat. Michael Aye) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:52:18

In the fourth episode of the WeMartians podcast, we explore the growing problem in Planetary Science - there's too much data! With the dawn of the digital age, the volume of data coming back to Earth from planetary missions is increasing exponentially. We'll talk with Michael Aye, project scientist for Planet Four. Planet Four is a Citizen Science project which lets everyday people participate in planetary science by classifying features on the surface. It helps scientists like Michael get through the massive amounts of imagery from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and lets people like you do science on Mars!

 Episode 3 - Go! Go! Go! Exomars! (feat. Michael Coarezza) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:36:12

In the third episode of the WeMartians Podcast, we learn a little bit about the 1877 perihelic opposition of Mars, during which many famous astronomers, Giovanni Schiaparelli included, made crucial discoveries about the Red Planet. Then, we'll explore how this affects us today and for the launch of ExoMars. To help explain the massive process that goes in to building and launching a spacecraft, we're joined by Assembly Integration and Test Engineer Michael Coarezza of Thales Alenia. He shares some stories about meeting deadlines, working with the historical Proton rocket, and the importance that international collaboration plays in space exploration today.

 Episode 2 - Every Twenty-Six Months | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 00:31:56

In the second episode of the WeMartians Podcast, we explore the topic of Launch Windows, answering questions like "why do they happen?", "when do they happen?", and "are any windows more important than others?" From there, we'll talk about Mars' windows specifically. Then follow along as we explore the two mission profiles in the upcoming launch windows in March - the delayed InSight mission from NASA and the European Space Agency's ExoMars 2016 mission, including the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) and Schiaparelli Entry and Landing Demonstrator. NASA audio used under public domain. All others used under fair use policy. WeMartians Theme Song is "RetroFuture" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

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