Weekly Space Hangout: November 11, 2020 – Amy Ross, NASA Engineer and Space Suit Designer

This week we are excited to welcome Amy Ross, NASA Space Suit Engineer, to the WSH. Amy is the team lead for the Exploration Extra-vehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) Pressure Garment Subsystem (PGS) as well as Space Suit Pressure Garment Technology Development. The team’s primary focus is the design, fabrication, qualification testing, and flight hardware delivery of the xEMU PGS in 2023.

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Weekly Space Hangout: October 14, 2020, Drs. Jane Huang & Jonathan Williams, Protoplanetary Disks

This week we are joined by Dr. Jane Huang and Dr. Jonathan Willams from the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA). Dr. Huang, Dr. Williams, and their team recently discovered some surprising information about the size and shape of some protoplanetary disks.

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Weekly Space Hangout: September 16, 2020 – Dr. Merav Opher Discusses the Shape of the Sun’s Heliosphere

This week we are pleased to welcome Dr. Merav Opher, Professor from the Astronomy Department of Boston University and the Director of the SHIELD (Solar wind with Hydrogen Ion charge Exchange and Large-Scale Dynamics) DRIVE Science Center. Using data from NASA’s planetary science missions, SHIELD scientists use data/computer modeling to predict the characteristics of our Sun’s heliosphere. Historically, the heliosphere has been thought to be comet-shaped. However, in a paper published in March, 2020, in Nature Astronomy, Dr. Opher (as lead author) and the team from SHIELD predict an alternative shape for the heliosphere: one that does not include this tail, but rather resembles a “deflated croissant.”

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Weekly Space Hangout: June 17, 2020 — Dana Backman, Director of NASA Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors

This week we are joined by Dana Backman, an astrophysicist with a Ph.D. from the University of Hawai’i. He was an infrared astronomy researcher at Kitt Peak Observatory and NASA Ames, then a professor of physics & astronomy at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Dana has also taught introductory astronomy at Santa Clara U., in Stanford’s Continuing Studies Program, and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

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Weekly Space Hangout: April 15, 2020 – Rise of the Space Age Millennials with Laura Forczyk

Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain)

Dr. Brian Koberlein (BrianKoberlein.com / @BrianKoberlein)

Beth Johnson (@planetarypan))

Michael Rodruck (@michaelrodruck)

This week we are please to welcome Laura Forczyk to the Weekly Space Hangout. Laura is the owner of space consulting firm Astralytical specializing in space science, industry, and policy, and offering space career coaching services. In January 2020, her new book Rise of the Space Age Millennials was published in which she explores how millennials working or studying to work in the space sector feel about space: priorities, opinions, goals, and motivations. It also looks at how the generations may differ and how that may effect future space priorities and missions.

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Weekly Space Hangout: March 18, 2020 – Dr. Meng Jin and Modeling Coronal Mass Ejections

Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain)

Beth Johnson (@planetarypan)

Moiya McTier (https://www.moiyamctier.com/ / @GoAstroMo)

Dr. Brian Koberlein (BrianKoberlein.com / @BrianKoberlein)

This week we are pleased to welcome Dr. Meng Jin, Research Scientist at the SETI Institute, to the Weekly Space Hangout. Meng uses numerical modeling techniques to analyze Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) and related events [e.g., CME-Driven Shocks and Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs).]

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Weekly Space Hangout: February 19, 2020 – John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic

Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain)

Dr. Brian Koberlein (BrianKoberlein.com / @BrianKoberlein)

Carolyn Collins Petersen (TheSpaceWriter.com / @spacewriter)

Michael Rodruck (@michaelrodruck)

Tonight we are airing Fraser’s interview with John Thornton, CEO of Astrobotic Technology. John earned his Master of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. While at Carnegie Mellon, John led the build of Scarab, a NASA concept robot for lunar drilling, and the first robot to carry a prototype of NASA’s RESOLVE payload. He also founded Carnegie Mellon’s Advanced Composites Lab, a research, training, design, and manufacturing lab specializing in high performance, lightweight composites for robotics.

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Weekly Space Hangout: February 5, 2020 – “More Things in the Heavens” with Dr. Michael Werner and Dr. Peter Eisenhardt

Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain)

Dr. Brian Koberlein (BrianKoberlein.com / @BrianKoberlein)

Chris Carr (@therealCCarr
Annie Wilson

Tonight we welcome Dr. Michael Werner and Dr. Peter Eisenhardt, authors of the new book More Things in the Heavens which looks at how infrared astronomy is aiding the search for exoplanets and extraterrestrial life, and is transforming our understanding of the history and evolution of our universe. Included in their book are many spectacular images that have been captured by the Spitzer space telescope over its lifetime.

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Weekly Space Hangout: October 30, 2019 – Evelyn MacDonald on Finding Earth-Like Planets

Hosts:
Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain)
Dr. Brian Koberlein (BrianKoberlein.com / @BrianKoberlein)
Beth Johnson (@planetarypan)
Michael Rodruck (@michaelrodruck)

Tonight we welcome Evelyn MacDonald to the show in a PRERECORDED INTERVIEW with Fraser during which she discusses her thesis-turned-published-journal-article, something which rarely occurs.
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