Astronomy from 40,000 Feet and 43.5 Degrees South: Podcast

For episode 76, we’re re-posting episode 24, a conversation with Terry Fong, senior scientist for autonomous systems and lead for the Intelligent Robotics Group at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. Transcript Abby Tabor:Hey everyone! You’re listening to NASA in Silicon Valley, episode 76! I’m excited to report that the second episode of NASA in Silicon Valley Live – our brand new, live video show on Twitch – will be back next Friday, January 26 at 2 p.m. Pacific. We’ll be talking all about designing robots, how they can help humans – especially NASA with exploration – and…

Meet the scientists who are making big discoveries by studying some very tiny rocks. The women of NASA’s Mid-Atlantic Noble Gas Research Laboratory (MNGRL) are getting ready to analyze never-before-seen Moon samples. These samples, collected by Apollo astronauts and brought back to Earth, have been carefully preserved for half a century so they could be studied by future generations of scientists. Sophie, a 13-year-old from Athens, Greece, shares how lunar exploration inspires her to become an astrophysicist. [MUSIC: ROSEVERE / “INTERVENTION”] NATALIE: There are still so many questions locked up inside these rocks that it’s exciting times just to…

By Savannah Bullard One year after winning second place in NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge, members of the small business Starpath visited NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, as part of their prize opportunity to test their upgraded lunar regolith excavation and transportation rover in the center’s 20-foot thermal vacuum chamber. The technology startup headquartered in Hawthorne, California, won second place overall at the Break the Ice Lunar Challenge’s live demonstration and finale in June 2024. This competition, one of NASA’s Centennial Challenges, tasked competitors to design, build, and demonstrate robotic technologies that could excavate and…