The Space Show

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 25 June 2025: Space Show News:The explosion of Starship 36 on the test stand at Starbase, Texas.(Insert courtesy NSF) Turn Back Time: NASA's Scout small satellite launcher program(Feature courtesy The Space Story, NASA 1989)Is Elon Musk's plan to settle Mars a visionary dream, or a nightmare folly? * Elon Musk outlines his plan for using Starships to put a human settlement on Mars * Reactions to that plan by the Planetary Society's Bill Nye and the Mars Society's founder and president, Robert Zubrin.(Inserts courtesy SpaceX and Humans to the Moon & Mars Summit)Listen to the late David Willson, Research and Development Engineer, Space Science and Astrobiology Division, NASA Ames Research Center and Vice President of the Mars Society Australia talk about SpaceX Red Dragon — a collaboration between SpaceX and NASA. (Recorded by The Space Show in Melbourne, Australia at a joint meeting of the Mars Society Australia and the Space Association of Australia in 2016. Note: Red Dragon was cancelled in July 2017).See Dr Robert Zubrin's full presentation, “How to Make the Mars Initiative Successful”, at the 2025 Humans to the Moon and Mars Summit.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 18 June 2025: Australian Space Industry 2025 Part 8: * A panel discussion about the emerging Australian space industry as it stood just before the formation of the Australian Space Agency on 1 July 2018. (Recorded by The Space Show for the Space Association of Australia) * Also, the recently launched Defence Science and Technology Group's Buccaneer Main Mission satellite gives an insight into how far the Australian space industry has come since 2018. Turn back time: The future of the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) after the Europa 1 F-9 failed 55 years ago this week.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 11 June 2025: Dr Naomi Mathers, Aerospace Engineer with Geospatial Intelligence and the Space Industry Association of Australia; Andrea Boyd, European Space Agency; and Mike Thompson, amateur astronomer with Backyard AstroScience, discussing Australian space technology applications: * puncture repair kit * using satellites * space situational awareness * 3D printing * skinsuits; and * other spinoffs. (Recorded by The Space Show at Scienceworks, Spotswood in 2018)Space Show News: * Jared Isaacman comments on the proposed NASA budget and his withdrawal of his nomination as NASA Administrator. (Inserts courtesy All-In. See the whole interview here — Jared Isaacman: What went wrong at NASA | The All-In Interview) * Another one bites the (lunar) dust: The failed lunar landing attempt by iSpace's Hakuto R-M2 “Resilience” on Mare Frigoris. (Inserts courtesy iSpace)Turn back Time: The 50th anniversary of the launch of Venera 9 and Venera 10 towards Venus and a report on their findings.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 4 June 2025: Breaking News: Jared Isaacman vs the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill'.The 60th anniversary of the first two extravehicular activities (EVAs), or 'space walks': Alexei Leonov exited Voskhod 2 and Ed White floated out of Gemini 4. Neither mission went as planned.The 60th anniversary of the ill-fated Luna 6 in the context of the other Soviet Luna missions.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 7 May 2025: Tell him he's dreaming: Jared Isaacman's confirmation hearing — Part 2 vs the Trump Administration's NASA Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request — Part 1We examine President Trump's nominee for NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman's promises to Congress, compared with the reality of the Trump Administration's recently announced NASA budget request.Space and Australia: Opportunities in the second Trump administrationAn exclusive interview with Dr Malcolm Davis, Senior Analyst, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, discussing his January 2025 article in The Strategist.Dr Davis discusses both civilian and military space activity in low-Earth orbit and cislunar space, and the need for Australia to develop sovereign capabilities, even advocating for an Australian astronaut on the Moon.You can read the article here: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/space-and-australia-opportunities-in-the-second-trump-administration/

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 26 March 2025: Australian Federal Budget 2025—2026: Some space and astronomy aspects of yesterday's Australian Federal Budget. The item includes Professor Peter Quinn (Director, International Centre for Radio Astronomy research, Perth) answering questions about the Square Kilometre Array, and a feature on Landsat and Landsat Next. (Prof. Quinn recorded at a Space Association of Australia meeting)Fram 2:The pending launch of the Fram 2 polar orbiting mission with Australian Eric Philips as pilot.Maria Xygkaki, Senior Business Developer, Saber Astronautics, Adelaide:Discussion of a potential Australian astronaut programme with Axiom Space. (Recorded at a Space Association of Australia meeting)Australian Space Industry 2025 — Part 6: Waratah Seed 1 successfully completes six months in orbit; and a progress report on the ELO2 lunar rover, Roo-ver.Planet Earth: Season 6 — Episode 65:Season 6 of our Planet Earth series begins with a report from New Zealand on control of the MethaneSAT.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 19 March 2025: Blue Ghost 1 Completes Mission The successful conclusion of the Blue Ghost 1 lunar landing mission, with a description of the experiments carried. (Inserts courtesy NASA and Firefly) Athena VolatilesThe objectives of the Volatile Contamination experiment on the failed Athena lunar lander. (Insert courtesy IM) Sun and Butch Return to EarthMarking this morning's return of the Crew 9 Dragon with the Starliner Crew Flight Test crew, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, after nine months in orbit. Australian Space Industry 2025 Part 5 The launch of Buccaneer Main Mission for the Australian Defence Force; Droid 02 and LizzieSat 3 carrying HEO Robotics's cameras; and Varda's Winnebago 3.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 12 March 2025: SPHEREx and PUNCH: The launch of the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere satellites and the SPHEREx observatory.Athena Crash: The crash landing of the Athena spacecraft on Mons Moutan in the South Polar region of the Moon, and the purpose of the Hopper Gracie and Trident drill.The Nova-C lunar lander, named Athena, reached the surface of the Moon on 6 March 2025, at 17:28:50 UTC. Contact was temporarily lost during the landing process; when it was re-established, it indicated that the spacecraft was not in the correct orientation and one of the two radio antennas was not operating.Lunar Trailblazer Lost: Bethany Ehlman (Principal Investigator, Caltech) describes the Lunar Trailblazer and a series of status reports following its loss of attitude control.Australian Space Industry 2025 Part 4: Launch due for Buccaneer Main Mission for the Australian Defence Force; Droid 02 and LizzieSat 3 to carry HEO Robotics's cameras; Varda's Winnebago 3 to follow Winnebago 2 to land in the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 5 March 2025: Elaine Hyde & New Shepard 30 missionThe suborbital spaceflight of Melbourne raised but now Florida resident Elaine Chia Hyde aboard the New Shepard 30 mission; biography, interviews and an analysis of comments posted on Channel 9's Instagram page.Australian Space Industry 2025 Part 3: * Neumann thruster successfully tested aboard the Edison satellite * Varda's Winnebago 2 parachutes into Koonibba* Transporter 13 mission with the Inovor built Buccaneer Main Mission satellite and the U.S. Turion Space Droid 02 satellite bearing two cameras from HEO Robotics has been postponed for several days.Changing the guard and language at NASA: NASA to "dominate" rather than "lead" in lunar space; Administrator change.More on PUNCH and SPHEREx: An overview of the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere satellites and the SPHEREx observatory. (Inserts courtesy GSFC and JPL)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 26 February 2025: Athena:The Intuitive Machine's second lunar mission, Athena with a NASA PRIME-1 (a payload consisting of a drill and mass spectrometer), the Micro Nova Hopper "Gracie", Lunar Outpost's Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP) and Dymon's Yaoki rover. (Insert courtesy NASA HQ) PUNCH:A briefing on the four Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere satellites. (Insert courtesy NASA HQ) Lunar Trailblazer:Bethany Ehlmann of Caltech describes the goals and objectives of the Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft which aims to distinguish water types on the Moon. Blue Ghost Mission 1:As Firefly's Blue Ghost nears it lunar landing, a progress report on the mission. (Inserts courtesy Firefly and NASA)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 5 February 2025:Stellar Fireworks: Novae and SupernovaeCoronal mass ejections and the SunRISE satellitesStellar flares seen by SwiftNovae — T Coronae BorealisSupernovae — SN1987a and Eta CarinaSPHEREx.(Audio inserts courtesy GSFC, CXC)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 29 January 2025:Update: Perseverance and IngenuityThe Mars Perseverance rover has left Jezero Crater but what is the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter doing now that it is unable to fly? — you might be surprised.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 22 January 2025: Australia and Transporter 12 The Australian involvement in the Transporter 12 mission, including statements from Fleet Space, HEO Robotics, Impulse Space, Varda Space Industries and Dawn Aerospace.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 15 January 2025: Australia and Transporter 12 The launch this morning of the Transporter 12 mission, carrying Australian satellites Centauri 7 and Centauri 8 from Fleet Space, and satellites carrying Australian parts, including: * Impulse 2 with a Holmes-007 camera from HEO Robotics * Edison with Neuman Space's ND-50 second generation electric-ion thruster. Also launched was the U.S. Varda's Winnebago 2 pharmaceutical manufacturing satellite, built by Rocket Lab, and which will land at Southern Launch's Koonibba Test Range in South Australia.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 15 January 2025: Blue Ghost 1 by Firefly & Hakuto R M2 by ispace The launch this afternoon of Blue Ghost 1 and Hakuto R M2 towards the Moon, and a description of Blue Ghost 1's ten NASA experiments.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 8 January 2025: Mars Sample Return Mission: From NASA HQ, Bill Nelson (Administrator) and Nicky Fox (Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate), outline a new plan to retrieve the Mars surface samples collected by the Perseverance rover. Mars Sample Return, is a joint campaign being planned by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), which would see multiple missions and components with the goal of bringing Mars rock, loose surface material, and gas samples to Earth for detailed laboratory analysis.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 18 December 2024: Australian Space Industry 2024 — Part 21 (final) * DSTG Buccaneer liquid lens * Australia - New Zealand Collaborative Space Program * Varda to land in Koonibba test range in South Australia * Duckweed in space * Starlink satellites interfere with the Square Kilometre Array * Australia - Greece space agreement * Lunasa to fly its StarLogic Rendezvous Proximity Operations payload aboard the Space Machines' Optimus 2 satellite. Perseverance out of Jezero: The Mars 2020 rover Perseverance, has climbed out of the Jezero crater reports Ken Farley (Project Scientist, Caltech, California). (Insert courtesy AGU) Ingenuity Crash Investigation Report: Travis Brown (Chief Engineer, Ingenuity, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena) delivers the first aviation crash report from Mars, about the fate of the Mars helicopter Ingenuity. (Insert courtesy AGU)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 11 December 2024: Space Show News: * Artemis II and Artemis III delayed to no earlier than 2026 and 2027 respectively Australian Space Industry 2024 — Part 20: * Fleet Space Technologies and its involvement in the SEVEN SISTERS project – Australia's First Lunar Exploration Mission * HEO Robotics * Impulse Space * Rio Tinto * Kanyini * Paladin Space * Australian Space Agency sustainability policy * ZBLAN * ADF Red Star * SmartSat CRC Maya Nula. (Audio inserts courtesy SD, APAC)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 4 December 2024: Australian Space Industry 2024 - Part 19 Tim Parsons, Co-Founder X-Lab: We take a look back at the state of the Australian space industry before the establishment of the Australian Space Agency — has much changed? * Changing global space trends; start-up companies questioning space regulatory requirements; and educational needs. * Defence space in Australia. (Recorded at a meeting of the Space Association of Australia, Elsternwick) Twinkle: The University of Southern Queensland is involved in the commercial Twinkle astronomy satellite planned for launch in 2025. (Inserts courtesy BSSL, USQ) Hypersonic test vehicles: * The Hypersonix Launch Systems DART hypersonic test vehicle is to be launched on a Rocket Lab Electron rocket. * Meanwhile, Gilmour Space is entering the hypersonics market with its own hypersonic flight test service scheduled to launch in 2025.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 27 November 2024: Australian Space Industry 2024 - Part 18: iLAuNCH UK-Australia Space Bridge Myriota. (Inserts courtesy ABC, BNSC, SMC, iLAuNCH, Grundfos)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 20 November 2024: Solar System Missions — Part 3: A survey of the currently active spacecraft studying our Solar System. Today, Jupiter, Kuiper Belt and Uranus.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 13 November 2024: Try SCE to Aux: Marking the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 12 mission, with a detailed account of the lightning strikes during ascent, and profiles of astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean. When Shirley Bassey met Apollo 12 astronaut Pete Conrad. The history of space tracking in Australia by space historian, Colin MacKellar.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 6 November 2024: Australian Space Industry 2024 — Part 17: Southern Launch's Whalers Way launch site approved Gilmour Space receives Eris orbital launch permit JP9102 project for a military geostationary communications satellite cancelled STaR Shot overview (Rod Smith, Leader, STaR Shot, DSTG, Adelaide) Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG's) small satellite programme Skykraft forges ahead with its aeronautical satellite constellation. (Audio inserts courtesy ABC, Sky, DSTG, SIAA)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 30 October 2024: Solar System Missions - Part 2: A survey of the currently active spacecraft studying our Solar System. Today Mars, Asteroids and Jupiter. Australian Space Industry 2024 - Part 16: Buccaneer Main Mission due as Buccaneer Risk Mitigation Mission reenters on 2024 October 4 SmartSat Cooperative Research Centre and New Zealand joint projects SatPing Takahe Mission Centauri satellites.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 23 October 2024: Australian Space Industry 2024 - Part 15: * Scott Morrison joins Space Centre Australia * Equatorial Launch Australia signs up Sirius Space Services * Neuman Space teams with Inovor * Space Machines' Optimus 2 to be launched by New Space in 2026 * Australian Defence Force Space Command takes up residency at Adelaide's Lot 14. Solar System Missions - Part 1: A survey of the currently active spacecraft studying our Solar System. Today, the Sun, Mercury and Venus.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 16 October 2024: Astrophysics miscellany: * Gamma-ray bursts * Chandra X-ray Observatory sees big explosion * Black hole outflow * NuSTAR. What sedimentary rock layers can reveal about the evolution of the solar system with Prof. Walter Alvarez UC Berkley, California (Courtesy UA) Large space structures: Dr Alexey Kondyurin, an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the School of Physics, University of Sydney, discusses large space structures of volume 7000 cubic metres made of composite materials cured in space. TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) is designed to discover thousands of exoplanets in orbit around the brightest dwarf stars in the sky (Inserts courtesy CXC, GSFC, NASA)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 9 October 2024: Fram2 Polar Mission — Part 2: Greenland & Polar Orbit The strange and convoluted story of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Fram2 private polar orbiting space mission and of its crew members. Eric Philips, an Australian polar explorer, is on the crew of Fram2. Space Show News: Presidential candidate and ex-president Donald Trump wants the U.S. to send a crewed mission to Mars by 2028!

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 2 October 2024: Space Show News:* Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS: Having emerged intact from behind the Sun, it is now being observed from Australia and may become a daytime comet.* A French-China cooperative satellite, the Space Variable Objects Monitor or SVOM, has been placed into orbit to monitor gamma-ray bursts.From The Space Show Archive: The Fermi satellite with MAGIC (Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cerenkov) experiment and VERITAS (the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System).Early findings of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have been revised:According to a new study in the Astronomical Journal led by University of Texas at Austin graduate student Katherine Chworowsky, early galaxies are in fact much less massive than they first appeared in the JWST data. Black holes in some of these galaxies make them appear much brighter and bigger than they really are.Fram2 Polar Mission — Part 1: One More OrbitThe strange and convoluted story of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Fram2 private space polar orbiting mission, and of its crew members.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 25 September 2024: Space Show News: * Asteroid 2024 PT5 — The tiny asteroid 2024 PT5 will be temporarily 'captured' by Earth's gravity and become a ‘mini-Moon'. * MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) mission orbits Mars for 10 years. * Perseverance continues to investigate Mars, collect and cache rock samples. Mars and Europa — Ocean Worlds?: Debunking reports that the InSight lander has discovered Mars has a subterranean global ocean, and how the Europa Clipper mission will characterise the suspected global ocean beneath the frozen crust on Jupiter's moon, Europa. From the archives: What do we know about galaxy formation from the Chandra X-ray Observatory? Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS: Having emerged intact from behind the Sun, it is now being observed from Australia and may become a daytime comet. Fourteen Day Limit Busted! — Cosmonauts return to Earth after 373 days, further disproving a Soviet scientist's 1965 claim that the limit for human spaceflight would be fourteen days. In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa by Ada Limón, dedicated to NASA's Europa Clipper mission.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 18 September 2024: Starlink and the Ionosphere: An alarming scientific paper by Sierra Solter points to possible disastrous effects on the Earth's magnetosphere caused by Starlink and other satellite constellations. Polaris Dawn mission: * Comparing the full extra vehicular activities by Alexi Leonov and Ed White with the stand-up EVA on the Polaris Dawn mission. * Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke, visits SpaceX to meet with the Polaris Dawn crew. (Inserts courtesy NZBC, VOA, SpaceX) * Music from space: The Harmony of Resilience. Australian Space Industry 2024 - Part 14: The Bogong thruster flown on an Australian Skykraft 3 satellite.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 11 September 2024: Australian Binar satellites: * A detailed report on the fate of Curtin University's Binar-1 cubesat in 2021 * The deployment of the Binar-2, Binar-3 and Binar-4 cubesats on 29 August 2024 * Plans for Binar Prospector Europa Clipper mission: * After rigorous testing of suspect transistors, it has been decided to proceed with the launch next month of the Europa Clipper spacecraft to fly the originally planned trajectory to the icy moon of Jupiter. (Insert courtesy NASA HQ) Polaris Dawn crew: * Profiles of the crew of the privately funded Polaris Dawn mission in a rented SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. (Insert courtesy SpaceX)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 4 September 2024: Space Show News: * Boeing, boing, boing — strange pulsing noise emanates from the speakers on the Boeing CST-100 Starliner. A collection of reports from The Space Show archive about astronomy and space science: European Southern Observatory HARPS telescope discovers a Solar twin in an open cluster hosting exoplanets. A look back at the discovery of the first Earth-like exoplanet. Hubble Space Telescope used to observe the formation of young stars with dynamic gas jets. Research into stellar magnetism reveals the origins of geo-magnetic storms on Earth. Secrets of the super-massive black hole Sagittarius A* orbiting the centre of our Milky Way galaxy revealed.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 28 August 2024: Space Show News: * Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test update —Starliner to return uncrewed and the crew to return on Crew Dragon 9 in February 2025 Astronomical Miscellany: ALMA (Atacama Large Millimetre Array) — European Southern Observatory, Chile HARPS (High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher) — European Southern Observatory Europa Clipper being prepared for launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida Luna H-Map results JWST discovers most distant galaxy Solar spicules ESA's Solar Orbiter sheds light on solar wind Plasma oscillations around Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko The van Allen Radiation belts Exoplanets (Audio inserts courtesy JSC, ESO, JPL, ASU, GSFC)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 21 August 2024: SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter 11 ridshare mission: The launch of Kanyini, CUAVA-2, and Waratah Seed 1 (Inserts courtesy SpaceX) An update on the University of Melbourne's SpIRIT satellite tests of the Neuman Drive. Findings from the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) crash into the double asteroid have been published and reveals Didymos and Dimorphos origin. Space Show News: * Binary star system fuels pulsar transformation * VIPER cancellation impact on Artemis 3 landing site selection * AROSE Moon rover design revealed. Astrobotic mobility service for planetary surfaces and Cube Rover explained. Jupiter-sized exoplanet experiences atmospheric erosion due to X-ray bursts from its nearby parent star. Vice President Kamala Harrris discusses three space priorities of the United States National Space Council. A development update on the Neutron rocket and its Archimedes engine with Peter Beck, CEO, Rocket Lab. (Courtesy Rocket Lab)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 14 August 2024: Southern Positioning Augmentation Network (SouthPAN): SouthPAN is a joint initiative of the Australian and New Zealand Governments that provides Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS) for position, navigation and timing services for Australia and New Zealand. Geoscience Australia as the Australian Government lead agency, is working in collaboration with Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand on the development, deployment, and operation of SouthPAN, the first SBAS in the Southern Hemisphere.SouthPAN is comprised of reference stations, telecommunications infrastructure, computing centres, signal generators, and satellites that provide improved positioning and navigation services in Australia, New Zealand, and its maritime region.A trio of Aussie cubesatsKANYINI — South Australian Space Services Mission: ​SmartSat CRC (Cooperative Research Centre)​Myriota ​Inovor Technologies ​Government of South Australia: South Australian Space Industry Centre CUAVA 2: ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre for CubeSats, UAVs, and their Applications (CUAVA)Waratah Seed 1 SpaceMAITRI.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 7 August 2024: Boeing Starliner Crewed Flight Test: The details of the Starliner CFT and some of the headlines and stories about it. Also, scheduling of traffic at the International Space Station. (Inserts courtesy JSC) Satellite-based Augmentation Systems (SBAS) for Position, Navigation and Timing SBAS panel session recorded at the Space Industry Association of Australia Conference, Melbourne Exhibition Centre, chaired by Roger Franzen: Roger Franzen, Principal, Earthspace John Dawson, Section Leader, National Positioning Infrastructure Branch, Geoscience Australia Andrew Anderson, Co-chair SBAS Sub-group, Australian Strategic Air Traffic Management Group Julia Mitchell, SBAS Test-Bed Project Manager, Frontier SI Alan Smart, Senior Consultant, ACIL Allen Consulting ⁠Southern Positioning Augmentation Network (SouthPAN)⁠

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 31 July 2024: The cancellation of the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover or VIPER mission: Details of the rover's objectives and instrumentation by Anthony Colaprete (Project Scientist, VIPER, Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California), and the cancellation announcement and explanation by Niki Fox and Joel Kearns (NASA HQ, Washington). (Inserts courtesy NASA)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 17 July 2024: Remembering Joe Engle: To mark the death last week of Joe Engle, a recounting of his experiences flying the X-15 and the Space Shuttle. Searching for Skylab: Remembering the 45th anniversary of the crash of Skylab near Esperance in Western Australia, Skylab 2 astronaut Joe Kerwin and Australian film maker Dwight Steven-Boniecki discuss Skylab and the documentary film Searching For Skylab. Kerwin discusses his time in Australia as NASA representative. (Interviewer: Peter Aylward).

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 10 July 2024: Ariane 6 launched: The successful inaugural flight of Europe's newest and largest launch vehicle, Ariane 6. International Space Station de-orbit vehicle contract awarded to SpaceX: The ISS is scheduled to be de-orbited in 2030. The Rise and Fall of Skylab: On the 45th anniversary of the fall of Skylab, physician-astronaut Joe Kerwin in conversation with the late Peter Aylward, describes how he and his Skylab 2 crewmates saved the damaged space station. The feature includes contemporary commentary by legendary NASA flight director Gene Kranz and the BBC's Alistair Cooke (Letter from America).

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 3 July 2024: Australian Space Industry 2024 — KANYINI The South Australian Space Services Mission, Kanyini, is ready for launch this month. (Inserts courtesy Australian Space Industry Technology Infrastructure and Investment, and Channel 9)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 26 June 2024: Space Show News: Chang'e 6 returns samples from the lunar far side. Remembering Ed Stone and Voyager - Part Two: The former director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, professor of physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and for 50 years the Project Scientist for the Voyager spacecraft, passed away on 9 June 2024. (Insert courtesy Caltech) A great friend of The Space Show, Ed has been on the program no fewer than 30 times in the past 27 years. To listen to these past interviews and items featuring Ed Stone visit The Space Show website: http://space.southernfm.com.au/NamesList.html#s Sir Peter Beck and Rocket Lab: The announcement that Rocket Lab's founder and CEO, Peter Beck, has been awarded a knighthood in the King's Birthday Honours; and the Archimedes engine for the Neutron rocket has begun testing. (Inserts courtesy TV3, RocketLab) ACRUX 2: Marking the fifth anniversary of the launch of Melbourne University's ACRUX 1, James Condos and Marshall Poon (Co-leads, Attitude Determination and Control, Melbourne Space Program), describe attitude pointing using magnetic torquing and reaction wheels on the ACRUX 2 satellite being built at the University. (Recorded at Melbourne University) Starliner CST-100 Crew Flight Test: The crew of the ISS had spacesuit problems as the test pilot crew of the CST-100 Starliner trouble-shoot thruster and helium leak issues that plagued the spacecraft and delayed their return from space. (Inserts courtesy JSC)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 19 June 2024: Remembering Ed Stone: The former director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and for 50 years, the Project Scientist for the Voyager spacecraft, passed away on 9 June 2024 at the age of 88. Professor of Physics at Caltech (the California Institute of Technology) and a great friend of The Space Show, Ed has been on the program no fewer than 30 times in the past 27 years. To listen to some of these interviews and special programs featuring Ed Stone, visit The Space Show website and search for "Stone" on the list of guest names page. UPDATE: Australian company Gilmour Space Technologies, is still waiting patiently to receive a launch permit from the Australian Space Agency for it's Eris orbital rocket.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 12 June 2024: Remembering Apollo 8 astronaut William (Bill) Anders Starship Integrated Flight Test 4 Starliner CST-100 Crew Flight Test An update on China's Chang'e 6 mission The Hubble Space Telescope has a problem with its gyroscopes

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 5 June 2024: Space Show News Planet Earth — Episode 64: * Launch of PREFIRE 2 * Earth science missions launched by Rocket Lab (Inserts courtesy RL, RNZ) An update on China's Chang'e 6 and Chang'e 7 missions: Chang'e 6 retrieves a sample from the lunar far-side Australian Space Industry News: * Esper's plans to recover from the loss of its first "Over The Rainbow" mission aboard the failed Optimus satellite * 60th anniversary of the launch of the first Blue Streak from Woomera on the Europa 1 F-1 test flight. (Inserts courtesy SL, ESAL)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 29 May 2024: Australian Space Industry News: * Melbourne University's SpIRIT satellite survives global solar storm, returns picture from space * Astronaut graduation ceremony for Katherine Bennell-Pegg (Inserts courtesy ESA) * Gilmour Space still awaiting launch permit for its Eris orbital launch vehicle. Planet 9: New evidence suggests that a planet orbits in trans-Neptunian space. X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) and Resolve: Resolve is an X-ray microcalorimeter developed by NASA and the Goddard Space Flight Center. eROSITA: * Findings by the eROSITA instrument on the Russian Spectrum Roentgen Gamma satellite of a very hot, ionized gas surrounding the Milky Way galaxy * Also resolves one of the cosmological tensions regarding the clumpiness of the universe. Update on China's Chang'e 6 mission Planet Earth — Episode 63: * Launch of PREFIRE 1 and EarthCARE. (Inserts courtesy Rocket Lab and ESA)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 22 May 2024: Planet Earth: How space technology helps us understand our home planet — S4E62 The PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) satellites: Measuring the full spectrum of polar radiant energy The GRACE-Continuity and their predecessors' findings, GRACE and GRACE-Follow-on The end of the AIM (Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere) mission Satellite observations of the Hunga Tonga - Hunga Ha'apai eruption and a sonification of Aeolus data Plans for the Libera satellite to succeed the CERES instrument on the Terra satellite, which is nearing the end of its life.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 15 May 2024: Australian Space News: * The 2024 Federal Budget * Landsat Next Chang'e 6: A progress report on China's lunar far-side sample-return mission, and of the Pakistani iCube-Qamar lunar orbiter. Planetary Report: * The findings of the Lucy spacecraft at asteroid binary Dinkinesh/Selam * MAVEN's findings when the solar wind disappeared at Mars. (Inserts courtesy GSFC) Planet Earth — Episode 61: Preparations by Rocket Lab to launch two Prefire (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far InfraRed Experiment) from New Zealand. (Note: LandsatNext was covered in the Australian Space News segment of this episode).

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 8 May 2024: Australian Space News: * The successful launch of HyImpulse's SR75 paraffin-fuelled suborbital rocket from Southern Launch's Koonibba Test Range in South Australia * Alan Shepard and "Light This Candle" * Funding for Australian-Indian space projects. (Inserts courtesy SDU) Boeing CST-100 Starliner first crewed orbital flight test: * The stand-down of the launch attempt due to a Centaur valve problem * A profile of astronaut Sunita Williams * How the CST-100 will land. China's Chang'e 6 lunar sample return mission: * Descriptions of the Chang'e 6 spacecraft, including the foreign instruments and sub-satellite * Mission launch coverage. (Inserts courtesy CGTN)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 1 May 2024: CST 100 Starliner and Other Matters: * The crew exchange on the China Space Station * Chang'e 6 due for launch * Meet the crew of the CST-100 Starliner Crew Flight Test (Inserts courtesy JSC). Australian Space News: * SR75 paraffin rocket due for launch at the Koonibba Test Range * Gilmour Space Technologies' Eris orbital space vehicle continues to await a launch license * Valiant Space's VS-1 thruster on Optimus satellite (Inserts courtesy Ch7, ABC). * Andrew Uscinski (CEO, Founder, Valiant Space, Brisbane) on his company's lunar ambitions. (Recorded at a meeting of the Space Association of Australia, South Melbourne)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 24 April 2024: Marking the 10th anniversary of the Rosetta mission, we continue the story of the arrival and completion of the Rosetta and Philae missions at comet 67P, Churyumov-Gerasimenko, in vox-pops, a poem and music. Also a report on how the comet was formed. (Inserts courtesy ESA) Australian Space Industry 2024 — Part 5: Katherine Bennell-Pegg graduates astronaut training at the European Astronaut Centre to become the first Australian-flagged astronaut Fate of Space Machines Company Optimus satellite still unclear Gilmour Space's Eris Flight Test 1 launch delayed for lack of a launch permit from the Australian Space Agency. (Insert courtesy CH10)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 17 April 2024: Fleet Space Technologies of Adelaide: * Centauri 6 satellite orbited on April 8 at 9:16 a.m. AEST * Centauri 4 modified to allow "push-to-talk" messages by the Australian Defence Force * Fleet's ExoSphere geodes used in mineral exploration * ExoSphere technology to be incorporated into a sensor called "SPIDER” to be placed onto the lunar surface by the Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost 2 lander to search for buried water ice. A description of the LuSEE experiment to be placed on the lunar far side to do radio cosmology, with Prof. Stuart Bale, the NASA Principal Investigator for LuSEE-Night from the University of California, Berkeley. Is Space Machines Optimus satellite an example of the common fate of small satellite missions — 'dead on arrival'?: * Dandelions had hoped to test composite material, including hemp, on Optimus * The role of the Sydney-based Advanced Navigation company on the Optimus satellite. Gilmour Space is preparing to launch the first Australian built satellite launch vehicle called Eris, from its Bowen Orbital Spaceport in Queensland: * Eris, a dwarf planet, not a moon.