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NLSI Podcasts Get the latest unique lunar content here, from the NASA Lunar Science Institute. Featuring exclusive interviews with the top lunar experts, the NLSI Podcasts are a great way to learn more about the Moon and what’s going on in lunar science and exploration frontiers. Subscribe here |
The Late Heavy Bombardment — an Extended Version?
Even though the Late Heavy Bombardment is somewhat of a controversial idea, some new research has revealed this period of impacts to the Earth-Moon system may have lasted much longer than originally estimated.
Download File (14:48 min, 11.5 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Mysterious Lunar Swirls
What are lunar swirls? On the surface of the Moon are several bizarre bright swirl patterns on lunar regolith, and some people have even compared these mysterious patterns to crop circles on Earth. To tell us about the real science research of lunar swirls is geoscientist Timothy Glotch from Stony Brook University in New York.
Download File (13:54 min, 10.9 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
A Human Mission to the Lunar South Pole
A fun part of the annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference is seeing the poster displays, usually presented by graduate students about interesting research or topics. One of the more fascinating lunar posters this year was an exciting case study for a human mission to Amundsen Crater on the Moon, to study the volatiles at the lunar south pole. Nancy Atkinson talks with Kirby Runyon, a graduate student in Planetary Geology at Johns Hopkins University, who was the lead author on this research.
Download File (11:13 min, 9.8 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
The Lunar Cataclysm
What could have caused something called a lunar cataclysm? A close look at the lunar surface reveals it is covered with craters, so we know our Moon has been hit by asteroids and meteorites in the past. But the latest research reveals that about 4 billion year ago, the Moon was pummeled by a wave of impacts, with the projectiles hitting at much higher speeds than before. With us today to tell us more is Dr. Simone Marchi, from the Southwest Research Institute.
Download File (9:27 min, 7.5 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Apollo 14s Moon Trees
Did you know that when the Apollo 14 mission launched to the Moon in 1971, that the three astronauts weren’t the only living things on board, and in fact, humans were in the minority. Nearly 500 tree seeds were brought along on the mission, and now some of those seeds have grown into what are known as “Moon Trees.” It’s a fascinating story and to tell us more is David Williams from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
Download File (14:07 min, 10.6 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
A Frosty Moon
There’s even more water on the Moon, now with a frosty flavor! Over the past couple of years, spacecraft observations have been helping scientists re-write the book on our understanding of the Moon, especially in recognizing water, found in various forms on the lunar surface and subsurface. The latest frosty news comes from the Lyman Alpha Mapping Project or the LAMP instrument aboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Joining us today to tell us more is Dr. Randy Gladstone from the Southwest Research Institute who is on the science team for LAMP.
Download File (13:14 min, 10.5 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
GRAIL Spacecraft Get New Names
A new mission to the Moon and new names for the two GRAIL spacecraft! NASA announced that students from Emily Dickinson Elementary School in Bozeman, Montana were the winners of a nation-wide contest to name the twin spacecraft, which arrived at the Moon on New Year’s Eve and New Years Day 2012 to begin a unique mapping mission of the Moon’s interior.
Download File (9:03 min, 6.6 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Twin GRAIL Spacecraft Arrive at the Moon
A new year and a brand new mission at the Moon for the Twin GRAIL spacecraft. The two new spacecraft arrived at the Moon on New Year’s Eve and New Years Day 2012 to begin a unique, double barreled mapping mission of the Moon’s interior. Dr. Sami Asmar, who is the deputy project scientist for GRAIL joins Nancy Atkinson for today’s podcast.
Download File (9:35 min, 7.2 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Mysteries of the Lunar Ionosphere
We normally think of the Moon as not having an atmosphere but we have known for some time that the Moon does have an ionosphere. How can this be? Scientists have been trying to understand this phenomenon for decades but recently have had some breakthroughs in their research. Dr. William Farrell provides insight on
recent research and the upcoming LADEE mission.
Download File (12:23 min, 9.4 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
An Inside Look at the NASA Lunar Science Institute
The Director of the NASA Lunar Science Institute, Dr. Yvonne Pendleton provides an inside look at the many facets and areas of research within NLSI.
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This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Plan for a Sustainable Lunar Base
Many have dreamed of a human settlement on the Moon but will it ever become a reality? Dr. Paul Spudis has been studying the Moon for over 30 years and has long been an advocate of having people return to the Moon to live and work there. He and a colleague, Tony Lavoie, have come up with a plan for setting up a lunar settlement, and this is a unique system that not only creates a Moon base, but also a type of transcontinental railroad in space which opens up cislunar space – the area between Earth and the Moon – for development.
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This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
International Observe the Moon Night 2011
While many of us don’t need an excuse to gaze upon the brightest object in the night sky, there’s a special event coming up that encourages more people to take the time to take a look at our closest and constant companion in space, the Moon. With us today is Brian Day from NASA’s Ames Research Center to tell us about International Observe the Moon Night.
Download File (14:23 min, 10.8 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Exploring the Moon
“What does the Moon mean to you?” is the theme for this year’s International Observe the Moon Night on October 8, 2011. Our neighbor in space has always fascinated us, both culturally and scientifically. Starting with the first human steps in 1969, six of 11 Apollo missions landed astronauts on the Moon to do a variety of science experiments, which continue today. For example, the Apollo lunar laser ranging experiment still exists, with scientists aiming lasers at reflectors on the Moon to measure its distance from Earth. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, LRO, has sent back highly detailed images showing the locations of those first missions and the science lab equipment that was so much a part of humanity’s first steps off our home planet.
Download File (12:45 min, 17.5 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
New Looks at the Apollo Landing Sites
Some of the latest images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter are giving us a closer look at the Apollo 12, 14 and 17 landing sites, as they are some of the highest resolution pictures ever of our human forays onto another world, as seen from orbit above. LRO dipped to a lower altitude, just 21 kilometers (13 miles) over the lunar surface to take these new images. With us today to tell us more about this is Noah Petro, Associate Project Scientist
with LRO, and is at the Goddard Space Flight center.
Download File (14:41 min, 11.0 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
The LCROSS Revolution
Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS). The LCROSS mission was designed to search for water on the moon by sending a rocket crashing into the moon, causing a big impact, and creating a crater throwing tons of debris and potentially water ice and vapor above the lunar surface. This impact released materials from the lunar surface that were analyzed for the presence of hydrated minerals to tell researchers if water is there or not.
Download File (8:11 min, 6.6 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
David Kring: Making an Impact on Earth and the Moon
David Kring is a noted lunar scientist but is also well known for another discovery: he was part of the team that discovered the Chicxulub impact crater, and Kring and his team worked to link the crater and its ejecta to the K-T boundary mass extinction of dinosaurs and over half of the plants and animals that existed on Earth 65 million years ago.
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This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
The Moon’s Mysterious Exosphere
It is commonly thought that the moon has no atmosphere – we hear
how the Apollo astronaut’s footprints are undisturbed because there is no atmosphere or weather on the Moon to precipitate any changes, but we now know that the Moon actually does have an extremely thin exosphere. With us today is Brian Day, the Education and Public Outreach Lead for NASA’s upcoming LADEE mission, and with the NASA Lunar Science Institute.
Download File (12:16 min, 6.3 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Counting Lunar Craters
For decades, planetary scientists have used craters to determine the ages of the surfaces of rocky planetary bodies and to learn more about the history of our solar system. But the latest images from NASA’s newest lunar spacecraft, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, are giving brand new looks at the Moon’s surface, and scientists are having to re-evaluate some their previous observations. With us today is Michelle Kirchoff who is a research scientist at the Southwest Research Institute.
Download File (9:59 min, 5.3 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Lunar Origins and Evolution with CLOE
How did the Earth-Moon system form and then evolve? Those are questions scientists and astronomers are still working on. Today we’re joined by Luke Dones from the Southwest Research Institute to talk about CLOE, the Center for Lunar Origin and Evolution.
Download File (11:36 min, 6.2 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
The Lunar Laser Ranging Retro-Reflector: Over 40 Years and Going Strong!
Instruments left on the Moon by the Apollo astronauts are still being used today. The Lunar Laser Ranging Retroreflector experiment was deployed on Apollo 11, 14, and 15, and has provided detailed information about not only the Moon, but data involving the Earth’s rotation, as well testing Einstein’s theory of relativity. Host Nancy Atkinson is joined by Dr. Douglas Currie from the University of Maryland,
who has been a part of this experiment from the very beginning.
Download File (13:15 min, 6.9 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Going to the Moon with the Google Lunar X PRIZE
There’s a brand new race to the Moon and this time it’s not between two governmental superpowers, but now over two dozen independent commercial space companies from 17 different countries are vying for the Google Lunar X PRIZE by being the first to land a rover on the Moon. Nancy Atkinson talks with Will Pomerantz who is the Senior Director of Space Prizes from the X PRIZE Foundation.
Download File (16:17 min, 9.1 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Drive a Rover with Exploration Uplink!
Imagine if you were able to drive a rover across a lunar terrain or remote location, all from the comfort of your home or classroom. Matt Everingham from NLSI is part of a very special project for students called Education Uplink, that is working to make this type of experience possible for students around the world.
Download File (11:39 min, 6.6 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
The Legacy of Apollo, with Andrew Chaikin
The Apollo program to send humans to the Moon has been called the greatest technological achievement in human history, and for many it was an inspiration for their future. Today, we’ll talk about the legacy of Apollo, and who better to discuss this than science journalist and space historian Andrew Chaikin, author of the book “A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts,” which is widely regarded as the definitive account of the Apollo moon missions.
Download File (13:56 min, 8.0 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Planetesimal-Driven Migration
The early solar system looked nothing like our planetary neighborhood today that we know and love. It was a violent place with mountain-sized and even planet-sized piles of rock and ice coming together in collisions, or sometimes, these planet in the making, called “planetesimals” could even have a gravitational effect on other bodies, causing them to move around like dancers on a dance floor, shifting the orbits of objects around the Sun. David Minton from the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado has been working on creating models of what he calls planetesimal-driven migration and he explains how visiting the Moon could tell us even more about our solar system’s storied past.
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This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Lunar Crater Clues
You might not think craters on the Moon could tell us much, but lunar scientist David Kring would highly disagree. He says that impact cratering is one of the most important processes for planets and other terrestrial bodies and what we learn from the pristine craters on the Moon can tell us about the early days of Earth and our solar system.
Download File (9:09 min, 4.9 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Mysterious Moving Moon Dust
Sometimes, when conditions are right, astronauts and spacecraft have seen mysterious, hazy dust clouds hovering well above the Moon’s surface. These Apollo-era observations of a dusty atmosphere about the Moon were complete unexpected, and scientists today are still
trying to understand this phenomenon. To learn more about these mysterious moving dust particles, we talked with Dr. Mihaly Horanyi, from the University of Colorado Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space
Physics, and he tells us about a new robotic mission that could help solve this mystery.
Download File (11:08 min, 6.0 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
LCROSS and the Land of the Lunar Shadows
The permanently shadowed craters on the poles of the Moon have long been a mystery, because we could never see what was inside. But now the LCROSS mission has allowed us to take a peek inside one of those craters at the Moon’s south pole. If you remember back in October of 2009, NASA successfully slammed part of a Centaur rocket in to Cabeus crater on the Moon, sending a plume of ejecta up into the sunlight. The “shepherding” LCROSS spacecraft –which stands for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite followed close on the impactor’s heels, to see what materials could be found inside this dark, shadowed, and unstudied region of the Moon. Recently, the LCROSS team released their most recent findings from their year-long analysis. Nancy Atkinson talks with the principal investigator of the mission, Tony Colaprete.
Download File (12:58 min, 7.2 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
How to be a Lunar Scientist
Have you ever wanted to be a lunar scientist? Nancy Atkinson visits the Lunar Science Forum at NASA’s Ames Research Center and talks with several scientists and students, asking about their experiences, what fueled their interest in science and what advice they might have for any budding future lunar scientists. The scientists in this podcast are Dr. Jennifer Heldmann, Dr. Don Wilhelms, Dr. David Kring, Dr. Tony Colaprete, The students are Heidi Beemer, Donna Viola, and Max Fagin.
Download File (15:08 min, 8.3 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Desert RATS – Humans and Robots Working Together
NASA‘s Desert Research and Technology Studies team (or Desert RATS) has been testing out new kinds of lunar rovers as well space suits, habitats and robotic systems in extreme environments. Nancy Atkinson talks with Dr. Terry Fong, the Director of the Intelligent Robotics Group at NASA’s Ames Research Center, and Dr. David Kring, who leads the Center for Lunar Science and Exploration.
Download File (12:13 min, 6.5 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
International Observe the Moon Night
There’s nothing like gazing at the moon on a clear night, especially when you can share it with someone. Why not share it with the world? September 18, 2010 is International Observe the Moon Night. This is an annual event to engage the public and bring people together with amateur astronomers to raise awareness of the night sky and particularly the Moon, as well as spreading the word about NASA’s work in lunar research and exploration. Nancy Atkinson talks with some of the event’s organizers from the NASA Lunar Science Institute: Lora Bleacher, Doris Daou and Brian Day.
Download File (12:14 min, 6.7 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Astrophysics from the Moon
Will we ever live and work on the Moon? It’s been a dream of scientists, space advocates and science fiction fans for decades. While the debate of whether to return to the Moon, or if we should go to asteroids or Mars is now ongoing, one thing to consider is the scientific research that could be done from the Moon. Many scientists feel that the moon would be an excellent location for telescopes, — both on the surface an in lunar orbit – and they could help answer some of the most important questions in astrophysics today. Nancy Atkinson talks with Dr. Jack Burns from the University of Colorado in Boulder about performing astrophysics studies from the Moon, including a proposed lunar orbiting low frequency antenna that could measure the signatures of the first collapsing structures in the early universe.
Download File (10:31 min, 5.9 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Lunar Dust and Dreams
Dust on Earth can be a nuisance, but on the Moon tiny particles of dust can have a big impact, on both humans and equipment. Nancy Atkinson talks with with Dr. William Farrell, a space plasma physicist who studies the dynamic interaction of solar charged particles with the lunar surface. He also leads NASA’s lunar DREAM team (Dynamic Response of the Environment At the Moon)
Download File (11:46 min, 6.7 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
The Origins of the Moon
How did the moon form and what can it tell us about the history of our solar system? NLSI Investigator Bill Bottke from the Southwest Research Institute, who has been studying the formation history of planetary bodies, discusses the different theories there have been over the years for the moon’s formation, and how our current studies are revealing some secrets about the Moon – kind of like snooping through your Grandmother’s attic.
Download File (10:51 min, 6.0 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Lunar Forum 2010 Preview
The NASA Lunar Science Institute will be hosting the 3rd annual NASA Lunar Science Forum, to be held July 20-22, 2010, at the NASA Ames Conference Center at Moffett Field, California, near San Jose. This year’s forum will feature sessions on recent scientific results as well as talks on future opportunities for lunar science, education and outreach.
Download File (13:43 min, 7.1 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Nobel Laureate Baruch Blumberg on Citizen Science and International Cooperation
A conversation with NLSI’s Distinguished Scientist, Nobel Laureate Dr. Baruch Blumberg, about the history and future of Citizen Science, and how International Cooperation is an integral part of space exploration.
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Nobel Laureate Baruch Blumberg on NASA’s Virtual Institutes
A conversation with NLSI’s Distinguished Scientist, Nobel Laureate Dr. Baruch Blumberg, about NASA’s Virtual Institutes, the NASA Astrobiology Institute and the NASA Lunar Science Institute.
Download File (8:30 min, 9.8 MB mp3)
Mysterious Moon Rocks
Using data from NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) on India’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, teams of researchers recently found two new kinds of Moon rocks: one was “hidden” on the far side of the Moon, the other has been hiding in plain sight.
Download File (12:53 min, 6.5 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Music: “Aquaspheres” from Dr. Sounds, from Magnatune
It’s a Zoo Out There On the Moon!
Have you ever wanted to go to the Moon? Well, now you can, as a virtual astronaut, and you can help lunar scientists answer important questions, too.
Download File (12:56 min, 6.6 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Water on the Moon!
In this podcast from the NASA Lunar Science Institute, Dr. Carle Pieters and Dr. Jessica Sunshine talk about their roles in finding water on the Moon.
Download File (12:03 min,16.7 MB mp3)
This podcast was produced as part of 365 Days of Astronomy.
Teague Soderman, NASA Lunar Science Institute Staff Writer
Hear Teague talk with Jonathan Trent about the Algae OMEGA project in the context of NASA space exploration!
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Brad Bailey, NASA Lunar Science Institute Staff Scientist
Hear what NLSI’s own Dr. Brad Bailey has to share on the hidden dangers of the Moon, lunar science and biology, and more!
