Astronomy Cast

Astronomy Cast Ep. 760: What to Look For This Summer By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Jun 16, 2025. It’s almost time for our annual summer hiatus, but before we go, we wanted to direct you towards all the fun and space stuff we’ll be enjoying this summer. We’ve got meteor showers, planets, rocket launches, TV shows, movies! Here’s what’s good. In a couple of weeks, we'll go on hiatus, but we want to make sure you are ready for stuff we can anticipate happening.    SUPPORTED BY YOU This Episode is made possible thanks to our Patrons on Patreon. Join at the Galaxy Group level or higher to be listed in our YouTube videos. Thanks to: BogieNet, Stephen Vei, Jeanette Wink, Siggi Kemmler, Andrew Poelstra, Brian Cagle, David Truog, Ed, David, Gerhard Schwarzer, Sergio Sancevero, Sergey Manouilov, Burry Gowen, David Rossetter, Michael Purcell, Jason Kwong

Astronomy Cast Ep. 759: The Commercial Space Program By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on Jun 9, 2025. Humanity has turned its focus back to the Moon, sending a fleet of spacecraft to the lunar surface. Some are run by the government, but there’s a whole new group of commercial landers bearing instruments to the lunar surface. Is this the future of lunar exploration? Space used to be a place occupied by government-funded and military missions, but today, we're seeing the rise... and fall (somersault, crash, and explosion) of missions with commercial design and funding. Let's talk about how this is good, bad, and maybe just too soon.   SUPPORTED BY YOU This Episode is made possible thanks to our Patrons on Patreon. Join at the Galaxy Group level or higher to be listed in our YouTube videos.  Thanks to: BogieNet, Stephen Vei, Jeanette Wink, Siggi Kemmler, Andrew Poelstra, Brian Cagle, David Truog, Ed, David, Gerhard Schwarzer, Sergio Sancevero, Sergey Manouilov, Burry Gowen, David Rossetter, Michael Purcell, Jason Kwong

Astronomy Cast Ep. 758: Non-Roving Rovers By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on May 26, 2025. Some of our favorite robots are rovers currently roving around the surface of the Moon & Mars. But there’s some pretty tricky terrain out there and engineers are scheming up clever ways to explore other worlds inspired by life that crawls, slithers, hops and flies. As we explore more surfaces and more complex surfaces throughout the solar system, mission teams are designing robot explorers that don't sit still and also don't rove. In this episode, we're going to take a look at the new technologies that are allowing technology to get around.   SUPPORTED BY YOU This Episode is made possible thanks to our Patrons on Patreon.  Join at the Galaxy Group level or higher to be listed in our YouTube videos.  Thanks to: BogieNet, Stephen Vei, Jeanette Wink, Siggi Kemmler, Andrew Poelstra, Brian Cagle, David Truog, Ed, David, Gerhard Schwarzer, Sergio Sancevero, Sergey Manouilov, Burry Gowen, David Rossetter, Michael Purcell, Jason Kwong

Astronomy Cast Ep. 757: CubeSats By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on May 19, 2025. Computers are getting smaller, faster and more capable, which has enabled an entirely mew class of satellites: CubeSats. A mission small enough that you can hold it in your hands, and yet powerful enough to even travel to other planets and send messages home.    Every year, our electronics seem to get smaller and more powerful, with today's smart watches being more fully featured than the computers Pamela and Fraser had as little kids. These tiny processors, sensors, and transmitters are allowing tiny satellites with powerful functionality, and today we take a look at how this is changing space exploration.    SUPPORTED BY YOU This Episode is made possible thanks to our Patrons on Patreon. Join at the Galaxy Group level or higher to be listed in our YouTube videos. Thanks to: BogieNet, Stephen Vei, Jeanette Wink, Siggi Kemmler, Andrew Poelstra, Brian Cagle, David Truog, Ed, David, Gerhard Schwarzer, Sergio Sancevero, Sergey Manouilov, Burry Gowen, David Rossetter, Michael Purcell, Jason Kwong

Astronomy Cast Ep. 756: SphereX By Fraser Cain & Dr. Pamela Gay Streamed live on May 12, 2025. NASA’s newly launched SphereX mission is up & operational and has completed its initial checkout and “first light”. Everything looks good! And now it’s starting its science operations. And that’s good enough for Pamela! And THAT means we can talk about it. So let’s do that! There's a new space telescope in town (or at least in LEO). Let's check out what it's looking at and looking to do.   SUPPORTED BY YOU This Episode is made possible thanks to our Patrons on Patreon. Join at the Galaxy Group level or higher to be listed in our YouTube videos.  Thanks to: BogieNet, Stephen Vei, Jeanette Wink, Siggi Kemmler, Andrew Poelstra, Brian Cagle, David Truog, Ed, David, Gerhard Schwarzer, Sergio Sancevero, Sergey Manouilov, Burry Gowen, David Rossetter, Michael Purcell, Jason Kwong