|
|
| |
|
| Sunshine on Comets: Part I |
| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
10/03/05 |
| Summary: Jessica Sunshine is the Deep Impact mission scientist responsible for the onboard infrared spectrometer. In the first half of this two-part interview, she discusses what the comet's nucleus looked like before and after impact, and explains why it's so difficult to piece together the spectroscopic data. |
|
|
|
| The Living Worlds Hypothesis |
| Topic: Titan |
09/22/05 |
| Summary: When the Cassini-Huygens mission parted Titan's smoggy veil, it revealed a familiar and yet utterly alien landscape, one where now-dry methane rivers carved out channels in mountains of ice. There's no evidence for biology on Titan's frozen terrain, but in this interview with Astrobiology Magazine, David Grinspoon ponders whether life could exist there today. |
|
|
|
| By Design |
| Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life |
09/19/05 |
| Summary: Brother Guy Consolmagno, astronomer to the Vatican, discusses his views of the controversy over intelligent design, as well as the historical clashes between science and religion. |
|
|
|
| M Dwarfs: The Search for Life is On |
| Topic: Alien Life |
08/29/05 |
| Summary: M-dwarf stars, much smaller, dimmer and cooler than stars like our sun, are by far the most common type of star in our galaxy. Yet scientists searching for life on other worlds have not shown much interest in M dwarfs. That's about to change. |
|
|
|
|
| A Comet's Only Cameraman |
| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
08/11/05 |
| Summary: No one knew what to expect from the Deep Impact collision between a ballistic spaceprobe and a comet. But scientists sat down with digital effects specialist, Dan Maas, to take a guess. As it turns out, both Maas and the scientists got it right in a spectacular visualization of what it might be like to broadside a comet. |
|
|
|
| Elusive Earths |
| Topic: New Planets |
06/22/05 |
| Summary: What have scientists learned in a decade of searching for extrasolar planets? Are there other solar systems just like our own waiting to be discovered, or are our Sun and its contingent of planets in some way unique? |
|
|
|
| Hints of Habitability |
| Topic: Mars |
05/04/05 |
| Summary: Bernard Foing, Chief Scientist for the European Space Agency, provides an overview of the most notable discoveries made during the Mars Express mission, Europe's first trip to the Red Planet. In part two of this overview, Foing looks at how these discoveries could help pinpoint the prospects for life on Mars. |
|
|
|
|
| Wading in Martian Water |
| Topic: Mars |
05/02/05 |
| Summary: The European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft has been orbiting Mars for over a year. While the high resolution images of the planet's many craters, volcanoes, and other features get the most notice, the spacecraft's seven instruments have also gathered large amounts of data about the planet's atmosphere, geology, and chemistry. |
|
|
|
| Blue Ribbon Buoyancy |
| Topic: Moon to Mars |
03/23/05 |
| Summary: In Part Four in the series on stellar and terrestrial evolution, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of the Hayden Planetarium and host of the PBS/NOVA Series "Origins", discusses his role in the President's Commission on the Moon, Mars and Beyond, and the surprising things he learned from testimony presented to the commission. |
|
|
|
|
| Pushing the Planetary Envelope |
| Topic: Moon to Mars |
03/23/05 |
| Summary: In Part Five in the series on stellar and terrestrial evolution, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Director of the Hayden Planetarium and host of the PBS/NOVA Series "Origins", discusses his role in the President's Commission on the Moon, Mars and Beyond, and explains what drives us to seek a future in space. |
|
|
|
|
|
