Weekly Space Hangout Archives

May 16, 2018May 21, 2018 by Fraser Cain

Weekly Space Hangout: May 16, 2018: Ethan Siegel’s Treknology: The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive

Hosts:
Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain)
Dr. Paul M. Sutter (pmsutter.com / @PaulMattSutter)
Dr. Kimberly Cartier (KimberlyCartier.org / @AstroKimCartier )
Dr. Morgan Rehnberg (MorganRehnberg.com / @MorganRehnberg & ChartYourWorld.org)

Special Guests:
Ethan Siegel is the author of the new book, Treknology: The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive. In his book, Ethan examines over 25 items from the Star Trek universe, describes their underlying science, and lets his readers know how close we are to having many of these iconic items today.

Ethan is a PhD astrophysicist and science communicator known for his award winning blog, Starts with a Bang, and his regular online contributions to Forbes (you can find his writings here. )

Both Treknology and Ethan’s first book, Beyond the Galaxy: How humanity looked beyond our Milky Way and discovered the entire Universe, are available on Amazon.

Announcements:
If you would like to join the Weekly Space Hangout Crew, visit their site here and sign up. They’re a great team who can help you join our online discussions!

We record the Weekly Space Hangout every Wednesday at 5:00 pm Pacific / 8:00 pm Eastern. You can watch us live on Universe Today, or the Weekly Space Hangout YouTube page – Please subscribe!

May 9, 2018May 11, 2018 by Fraser Cain

Weekly Space Hangout: May 9, 2018: Tom Bridgman of NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio

Special Guests:
Tom Bridgman works at NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio (SVS) creating amazing data-driven visual content using space science data from NASA initiatives for education and public outreach.

After earning his PhD in physics and astronomy, Tom worked as an instrument specialist at the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory before joining the SVS at Goddard.

You can learn all about the SVS at their webpage.

You can find Tom’s visualizations online here.

Finally, you can access the growing catalog of publicly available resources, including datasets, APIs, and more, here.

Announcements:
If you would like to join the Weekly Space Hangout Crew, visit their site here and sign up. They’re a great team who can help you join our online discussions!

We record the Weekly Space Hangout every Wednesday at 5:00 pm Pacific / 8:00 pm Eastern. You can watch us live on Universe Today, or the Weekly Space Hangout YouTube page – Please subscribe!

May 2, 2018May 4, 2018 by Fraser Cain

Weekly Space Hangout: May 2, 2018: Life on Mars: What to Know Before We Go

Special Guests:
Dr. David Weintraub is the author of the new book, Life on Mars: What to Know Before We Go, in which he provides a history of our fascination with the Red Planet, as well as describes the the various moral issues that surround our desire to go there.

Dr. Weintraub is a Professor of Astronomy at Vanderbilt University where he serves as the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Director of Communication of Science & Technology Program, and Co-Director of Scientific Computing Program.

In addition to his new book, Dr. Weintruab is the Co-series Editor, Springer, Springer Briefs in Astronomy and Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics, as well as the author of numerous other books, including Religions and Extraterrestrial Life: How Will We Deal With It?, How Old is the Universe?, and Is Pluto a Planet?

You can find out more about Dr. Weintraub on his webpage here.

Announcements:
If you would like to join the Weekly Space Hangout Crew, visit their site here and sign up. They’re a great team who can help you join our online discussions!

We record the Weekly Space Hangout every Wednesday at 5:00 pm Pacific / 8:00 pm Eastern. You can watch us live on Universe Today, or the Weekly Space Hangout YouTube page – Please subscribe!

April 25, 2018May 4, 2018 by Fraser Cain

Weekly Space Hangout: April 25, 2018: Carolyn Collins Petersen discusses “Space Exploration: Past, Present, Future”

Special Guests:
Carolyn Collins Petersen is no stranger to the Weekly Space Hangout, having been a regular journalist during previous seasons. We are excited to welcome Carolyn back to the show this week, this time as our Special Guest, to discuss her newest book, Space Exploration: Past, Present, Future, which was released in the US on April 1. In it, Carolyn discusses the earliest space pioneers and their work, the WW1 technological advances which formed the basis of today’s Space Age, the increasing corporate interest in space, and theorizes about what the future may hold.

You can learn more about/order Carolyn’s latest book here:
https://www.amazon.com/Space-Exploration-Past-Present-Future/dp/1445656035

Announcements:
If you would like to join the Weekly Space Hangout Crew, visit their site here and sign up. They’re a great team who can help you join our online discussions!

We record the Weekly Space Hangout every Wednesday at 5:00 pm Pacific / 8:00 pm Eastern. You can watch us live on Universe Today, or the Weekly Space Hangout YouTube page – Please subscribe!

April 18, 2018May 4, 2018 by Fraser Cain

Weekly Space Hangout: April 18, 2018: Kevin Gill: Art and Science from Juno and MRO

Special Guests:
Kevin Gill is a software engineer, planetary and climate data wrangler, and a science data visualization artist. Kevin will be discussing his work with Juno and MRO images. Check out his work at his Flickr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinmgill/ and his tech blog Apoapsys: http://www.wthr.us/ Follow Kevin on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/kevinmgill and Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/apoapsys/

Announcements:
If you would like to join the Weekly Space Hangout Crew, visit their site here and sign up. They’re a great team who can help you join our online discussions!

We record the Weekly Space Hangout every Wednesday at 5:00 pm Pacific / 8:00 pm Eastern. You can watch us live on Universe Today, or the Weekly Space Hangout YouTube page – Please subscribe!

April 11, 2018May 4, 2018 by Fraser Cain

Weekly Space Hangout: April 11, 2018: Emily Lakdawalla’s “The Design and Engineering of Curiosity: How the Mars Rover Performs Its Job”

Special Guests:
This week we are excited to welcome Emily Lakdawalla, Senior Editor and Planetary Evangelist at The Planetary Society, back to the Weekly Space Hangout. On On May 14th, Emily’s new book, The Design and Engineering of Curiosity: How the Mars Rover Performs Its Job, will be released. It in, Emily describes the engineering that went into each instrument and piece of machinery incorporated into Curiosity’s systems. You can learn more about the book and Emily’s planned followup book on her blog here:
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2017/0831-book-update.html

Announcements:
If you would like to join the Weekly Space Hangout Crew, visit their site here and sign up. They’re a great team who can help you join our online discussions!

We record the Weekly Space Hangout every Wednesday at 5:00 pm Pacific / 8:00 pm Eastern. You can watch us live on Universe Today, or the Weekly Space Hangout YouTube page – Please subscribe!

April 4, 2018April 9, 2018 by Fraser Cain

Weekly Space Hangout: April 4, 2018: Mathew Anderson’s “Habitable Exoplanets”

Special Guests:
Mathew Anderson, author and good friend of the Weekly Space Hangout, joins us again this week to discuss his newest book, Habitable Exoplanets: Red Dwarf Systems Like TRAPPIST-1, in which he focuses on exoplanet properties and the chances for habitable planets around Red Dwarf stars.

As he did with his two prior books, Our Cosmic Story and its followup Is Anyone Out There, Mathew will be offering a free e-copy of Habitable Exoplanets: Red Dwarf Systems Like TRAPPIST-1 to viewers of the Weekly Space Hangout, so be sure to tune in this week to find out how to get your free copy of this fascinating book.

Announcements:
If you would like to join the Weekly Space Hangout Crew, visit their site here and sign up. They’re a great team who can help you join our online discussions!

We record the Weekly Space Hangout every Wednesday at 5:00 pm Pacific / 8:00 pm Eastern. You can watch us live on Universe Today, or the Weekly Space Hangout YouTube page – Please subscribe!

March 28, 2018May 4, 2018 by Fraser Cain

Weekly Space Hangout: March 28, 2018: Austin Wintory & Anthony Lund – “A Light In The Void”

Special Guests:
This week, we are excited to welcome Austin Wintory and Anthony Lund to discuss their new collaborative Kickstarter campaign, “A Light in the Void,” a live concert experience that will tell the story of science through live music, scientists’ live presentations, video, animations, and more.

Austin Wintory is a Grammy-nominated and two-time BAFTA-winning composer who has scored almost 50 feature films in addition to composing and appearing in concerts worldwide, as well as creating the scores for a long list of videogames, including Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Syndicate for which he wrote and produced the score.

Anthony Lund is a three-time Emmy nominated writer, producer, and director who focuses his work on both science fiction and science fact. He is known for his work on Through the Wormhole as well as NatGeo’s Breakthrough.

You can find out more about Austin by visiting his website: https://www.austinwintory.com

You can find out more about Anthony by visiting his LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-lund-8247057/

Want to support the “A Light in the Void” Kickstarter? You can do so by visiting the webpage for the campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/litvconcert/a-light-in-the-void-live-concert-and-broadcast-eve?wsh

Announcements:
If you would like to join the Weekly Space Hangout Crew, visit their site here and sign up. They’re a great team who can help you join our online discussions!

We record the Weekly Space Hangout every Wednesday at 5:00 pm Pacific / 8:00 pm Eastern. You can watch us live on Universe Today, or the Weekly Space Hangout YouTube page – Please subscribe!

March 21, 2018March 23, 2018 by Fraser Cain

Weekly Space Hangout: March 21, 2018: Marian Call, Singer/Songwriter

Special Guests:
Marian Call is a singer/songwriter from Juneau, Alaska. She was our Special Guest performer (accompanied by Seth Boyer,) at AstronomyCast’s Eclipse Escape Weekend in St. Louis last August, where she completely engaged the crowd and debuted Good Night Moon, a song she wrote specifically for, and debuted at, the event. You can view their debut performance here: https://youtu.be/O0yOCWIbnjY

Announcements:
If you would like to join the Weekly Space Hangout Crew, visit their site here and sign up. They’re a great team who can help you join our online discussions!

We record the Weekly Space Hangout every Wednesday at 5:00 pm Pacific / 8:00 pm Eastern. You can watch us live on Universe Today, or the Weekly Space Hangout YouTube page – Please subscribe!

March 14, 2018March 19, 2018 by Fraser Cain

Weekly Space Hangout: March 14, 2018: Ethan Good, Visiting Vehicles Officer at JSC

Special Guests:
In his current position as Visiting Vehicles Officer in Mission Control at JSC, Ethan Good supports cargo and (eventually) commercial crew flights to/from the International Space Station. Previously, Ethan completed three summer-winter contracts as a Research Scientist at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, as well as served as commander of a four-person crew during a two-week HERA study in 2015.

Announcements:
If you would like to join the Weekly Space Hangout Crew, visit their site here and sign up. They’re a great team who can help you join our online discussions!

We record the Weekly Space Hangout every Wednesday at 5:00 pm Pacific / 8:00 pm Eastern. You can watch us live on Universe Today, or the Weekly Space Hangout YouTube page – Please subscribe!