How Switzerland Helped Land on a Comet | Swiss Astrophysicist

Episode Summary

Kathrin Altwegg, astrophysicist and professor emerita at the University of Bern, joins me to discuss Switzerland’s surprising role in global space science. As the head of the ROSINA project—one of the key instruments aboard the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission—Kathrin played a central role in helping humanity land on a comet for the first time.

Expect to learn how Switzerland became a respected contributor to space exploration despite not having a national space agency, what the Rosetta mission revealed about the early solar system, and why the discovery of amino acids on comet 67P was such a scientific milestone. Kathrin also shares her reflections on leading a decades-long mission, the challenges of space engineering, and what she hopes future generations will discover among the stars.

CONTACT KATHRIN

https://space.unibe.ch/research/groups/rosina/index_eng.html

CONTACT MIKE

https://howitticks.ch/contact-page/

TRANSCRIPT

TBD

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 How Kathrin accidentally entered space science through job logistics

04:00 Switzerland’s early involvement in space missions and Apollo 11

07:00 Why precision engineering made Switzerland a valuable ESA partner

09:00 Women in STEM and leadership during the Rosetta mission

12:00 Building, testing, and launching an instrument to orbit a comet

18:00 What comets reveal about the early solar system and the origins of life

26:00 How Rosetta was steered, calibrated, and kept on track from Earth

38:00 Discovering organic molecules and why glycine was such a big deal