Universe Today Podcast

Today I wanted to look back at the history of the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. To take you through their creation, launch to Mars, the amazing discoveries they made, and of course, how they finally died.Support Universe Today Podcast

Dr. Kimberly Cartier is an exoplanet researcher, reporter for Eos Magazine and one of my co-hosts with the Weekly Space Hangout. Join us for a conversation about space, astronomy and the search for extrasolar planets.Support Universe Today Podcast

In this week's questions show, I explain why SLS is still happening, if we can rule out contamination when we finally find life, and wonder why China is sending spacecraft to the Moon. Support Universe Today Podcast

Today Fraser is joined by exoplanet researcher Dr. Jason Wright from Penn State University. In addition to the more traditional hunt for exoplanets, Jason is helping define the search for extraterrestrials using all the new techniques available to astronomers.Support Universe Today Podcast

In this week's QA, I wonder if there were other bombardments, how the Earth could have been oxygen rich, and why the asteroid belt isn't a planet. With a special guest answer from Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut.Support Universe Today Podcast

Today I hang out with astronomer Dean Regas, author with the Cincinnati Observatory and author of 100 Things to See in the Night Sky.Support Universe Today Podcast

Astronomers working with the NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton have developed a technique to watch quasars and track the expansion of the Universe over the last 9 billion years. What they found is that the mysterious dark energy that’s currently accelerating the expansion of the Universe doesn’t appear to be a fixed amount. It’s changing, and appears to be increasing over time. If true, it’s a groundbreaking discovery in cosmology, and it could just fortel the end of the Universe.Support Universe Today Podcast

Geologists think they’ve found the oldest Earth rock ever seen. And they found it in one of the last places you’d ever suspect, on the Moon. When the Apollo 14 astronauts returned their lunar samples back to Earth, they were carrying one rock that had formed on Earth 4 to 4.1 billion years ago, which was carved out of our planet during the time of intense bombardment and delivered to the Moon.Support Universe Today Podcast

In this week's Questions Show, I wonder if there's a way ion engines can give us artificial gravity, if electromagnetic rail guns can launch space craft, and should we be worried about returning alien pathogens back to Earth?Support Universe Today Podcast

Today I hang out with astrophysicist Dr. Paul Sutter to talk about space and his new book, Your Place in the Universe.Support Universe Today Podcast