“The End of Astronauts”, Robotic Space Exploration and Our Future on Earth and Beyond with Professor Martin Rees

Human space exploration is challenging as well as fascinating. However, the excitement of space flight for astronauts comes at a high cost and is riddled with danger. As our robot explorers become more capable, governments and corporations must consider whether the ambition to send astronauts to the Moon and Mars is worth the cost and risk. In this episode of Bridging the Gaps, I speak with professor Martin Rees who is one of the authors of “The End of Astronauts: Why Robots Are the Future of Exploration”. The book makes the provocative argument for space exploration without astronauts and suggests that beyond low-Earth orbit, space exploration should proceed without humans. In this discussion, we also touch upon some intriguing points the professor Martin Rees discusses in one of his previous books “On the Future: Prospects for Humanity”.

Martin Rees is an emeritus professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge. He is the UK’s Astronomer Royal, a fellow of Trinity College and a co-founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risks at Cambridge University (CSER).

We start by discussing our fascination with human space journeys and exploration. We discuss the title of the book “The End of Astronauts” which seems a bit strong. We then discuss the progress in developing better and smarter robots for robotic space exploration. We discuss the progress made by private space companies in reducing the cost for space missions. Professor Rees emphasise the point that space is hostile and difficult environment and we should avoid using terms as space tourism, instead you should call it space adventures.

We then discuss the book “On the Future: Prospects for Humanity” and touch upon topics such as colonisations of Mars, post human era; genetic engineering and our future on earth and beyond.

Complement this discussion by listening to Everything a Curious Mind Should Know About Planetary Ring Systems with Dr Mark Showalter and then listen to More Things in the Heavens”” with NASA’s Spitzer Project Scientist Michael Werner

By |March 31st, 2022|Cosmology, Future, Physics, Podcasts|
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Spitzer Space Telescope: Discovering “More Things in the Heavens” with NASA’s Spitzer Project Scientist Michael Werner

Since 2003, in a unique Earth-trailing orbit around the Sun, the Spitzer Space Telescope has been observing in infrared an optically invisible universe dominated by dust and stars. Astronomers have been studying visible universe for thousands of years; however due to interstellar dust clouds and other obstructions to visible light, it was not possible to observe various regions of the universe. The Spitzer Space Telescope, the most sensitive infrared space observatory ever launched, has enabled us to study such optically obscure regions and processes in infrared. “The Spitzer Space Telescope has opened up a new window on the cosmos, yielding new perspectives and crucial insights into the genesis of planets, stars and galaxies”.

Michael Werner and Peter Eisenhardt are among the scientists who worked for decades to bring this historic mission to life. Their book “More Things in the Heavens: How infrared astronomy is expanding our view of the universe” outlines an inside story of how Spitzer continues to carry out cutting-edge infrared astronomy to help answer fundamental questions that have intrigued humankind since ancient time: Where did we come from? How did the universe evolve? Are we alone? In this episode of Bridging the Gaps podcast, I speak with Michael Werner, one of the authors of this insightful book. Discussing various features of Spitzer’s mission and numerous topics covered in the book, this podcast presents a fascinating view of how infrared astronomy is aiding the search for exoplanets, enabling us to study exoplanet atmospheres, and is transforming our understanding of formation of stars and galaxies, and of the history and evolution of our universe.

Michael Werner is a senior research scientists at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. He has been the lead scientist for the Spitzer Space Telescope since 1984.

By |July 2nd, 2019|Uncategorized|
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Everything a Curious Mind Should Know About Planetary Ring Systems with Dr Mark Showalter

When Galileo pointed his telescope towards Saturn (circa 1610), he was not able to fully understand what was around the planet; in 1659 Christian Hygen published a drawing of the ring of Saturn and suggested there was thin, flat ring around the planet. He observed that the ring was inclined to the ecliptic and didn’t touch the planet.

In 1675, Giovanni Domenic Cassini described that Saturn’s ring was composed of multiple smaller rings with gaps between them. In 1787, Pierre-Simon Laplace suggested that the rings were composed of a large number of solid ringlets. Research on the rings around Saturn continued and in 1859 James Clerk Maxwell demonstrated that the rings could not be solid or they would become unstable and break apart.

When looked at from a distance, rings around Saturn appear thin with smooth surfaces; however close up images captured by various robotic space missions and additional data collected by sensors onboard several spacecraft visiting and flying-by Saturn show that there are number of dynamic processes happening in these ring systems, and there are horizontal as well as vertical surface features. When sunlight hits the surface of these rings at an angle, dark shadows of mountains and dark valleys become visible and various patterns become noticeable; this informs us that these surfaces are not smooth as previously thought. Also, it has been observed that the tilt of the ring system is not fixed. Research shows that if something has changed the tilt of a ring system, an analysis of the ripple patterns exhibited by the particles forming these rings can inform us the cause of this change. Thus by observing and studying the structure of rings and the dynamic processes going on in these rings, one can learn a lot about the history of the host planet and the system within which the planet exists. An interesting aspect of studying planetary ring systems is the question that can an understanding of dynamic processes that occur in planetary ring systems inform us about the similar processes that occur during the formation of solar systems and spiral galaxies.

Dr Mark Showalter works on some of NASA’s highest profile missions to outer planets. He has been a member of Cassini Mission Science Team for nearly a decade, and has been involved in the observations of Jupiter’s rings using New Horizons spacecraft. A frequent user of Hubble Space Telescope, Dr Showalter has to his credit the discovery of Jupiter’s outer most ring, Saturn’s moon PAN, and two moons and two faint rings around the planet Uranus. In a presentation Dr Mark Showalter describes himself as a ring geek. In this podcast Dr Showlater discusses planetry ring systems in detail; this podcast is about everything that a curious mind should know about planetary ring systems.

By |April 2nd, 2017|Podcasts|
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