SpaceX: Launching the Dragon Towards the Future of Humanity

Summary: Chris and Rob record whilst watching the live feed of SpaceX’s Dragon module as it docks with the International Space Station. We await the decision on the location of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) - will it be South Africa or Australia? Dark matter, human spaceflight and the transit of Venus also feature. We also talk about the current Queen, a former queen and a member of Queen. [MP3 Link] Episode #34. If you have anything you’d like us to look at, or any questions you’d like us to answer - use the links at the top of the web page at http://recycledelec.com. Follow us on Twitter @recycledelec @orbitingfrog and @chrislintott. Links: The dark matter debate: http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/michael-brooks/2012/05/does-dark-matter-exist See also : http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.4033 Dragon approaches the ISS: http://www.spacex.com/ SKA Decision deu: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-18194984 Transit of Venus: http://orbitingfrog.com/post/23547707244/transit-of-venus-2012 The RAS’s address to Queen Victoria : http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalarchives/7250108692/sizes/l/in/photostream/ Measuring the Yarkovski effect : http://uanews.org/node/47370 Lunar protection guidelines : http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/may/HQ_12-168_Lunar_Protection_Guidelines.html Why do bubbles in Guiness sink? http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.5233 DAWN’s GRaND instrument - Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov/technology/GRaND_inter.asp  AMIGA (Analysis of the interstellar Medium of Isolated GAlaxies) http://arxiv.org/abs/1108.2130 Heaven’s Above: http://heavens-above.com and @twisst http://twitter.com/twisst Our updated website! http://recycledelec.com The Cumberland pencil museum is actually fabulous http://www.pencilmuseum.co.uk Credits: Audio content Copyright 2012 Chris Lintott and Robert Simpson. Special thanks to the Oxford University Press Office for recording space. Podcast Image courtesy of Flickr user bazik (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bazik/395792175/).