On The Space Show for Wednesday, 15 October 2025:

How to become an astronaut with Rose Tasker at the Moon Village Association, Deakin Edge, Melbourne.

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen

Born in Copenhagen, Denmark and selected as an ESA astronaut in 2009, Andreas completed extensive training in spacecraft operations, spacewalks, and extreme environment missions, including ESA CAVES and NASA NEEMO underwater missions. He has served as European liaison officer to NASA’s Johnson Space Center and participated in ESA’s Pangaea field science training.

Andreas has logged two spaceflights: the 10-day ‘iriss’ mission to the ISS in 2015, and the 2023 ‘Huginn’ mission on SpaceX Crew-7, where he became the first non-US pilot of the Crew Dragon and later the longest-serving European commander of the International Space Station.

NASA The Space Story: ROSAT (ROentgen SATellite) was an X-ray observatory developed through a cooperative program between Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

The Chandra X-ray Observatory is the world's most powerful X-ray telescope. It has eight-times greater resolution and is able to detect sources more than 20-times fainter than any previous X-ray telescope.

NASA The Space Story: Fast Auroral SnapshoT (FAST or Explorer 70) was a NASA plasma physics satellite, and the second spacecraft in the Small Explorer program (SMEX). FAST was designed to observe and measure the plasma physics of the auroral phenomena which occur around both of Earth's poles.

Planet Earth - Episode 72:

* Carbon Emissions: Europe’s Regional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes project with Prof. Ana Bastos of the Max Planck Institute

* The Copernicus Earth Observation Program supports society by providing authoritative information about the past, present and future climate in Europe and the rest of the World.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 8 October 2025:

Kerrie Dougherty, Board Member, World Space Week Association

* International Space Week - its origin, local events & theme. (Recorded Deakin Edge, Federation Square, Melbourne, 2019)

* World Space Week theme for 2025 is "Living In Space”.

* Australia in Space by Kerrie Dougherty: This revised and updated edition of Space Australia tells the definitive story of Australia’s involvement with space activities, from the earliest rocketeers to the latest satellite projects.

Parker Solar Probe Perihelions - Part 2

* Parker Solar Probe Completes 25th Close Approach to Sun

* Mission scientists discuss the series of perihelion passes that brought the Parker Solar Probe as close as 6.1 million kilometres of the solar surface at a record setting speed of 687 000 km/h. (Inserts courtesy GSFC)

Bennu organics and the origins of life in the solar system

* The analysis of the samples of asteroid Bennu brought to Earth by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft reveals the presence of organic chemicals. (Courtesy GSFC)

FUSE

* The FUSE astrophysics satellite, and the design of other satellites. (Courtesy GSFC)

Planet Earth - Episode 71

* Some Queensland projects use space technology to address environmental issues; the AIRS (Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder) on the Aqua satellite; and Agriculture and Climate Change (Inserts courtesy JPL, GSFC).

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 1 October 2025:

Artemis II Orion spacecraft named Integrity:

* The crew of Artemis II explain the naming of their Orion capsule. (Courtesy NASA)

Parker Solar Probe Completes 25th Close Approach to Sun:

* Mission scientists discuss the series of perihelion passes that brought the Parker Solar Probe as close as 6.1 million kilometres of the solar surface at a record setting speed of 687,000 km/h.

(Courtesy GSFC)

Juno at Jupiter: Io’s tidal response precludes a shallow magma ocean:

* Scott Bolton (Southwest Research Institute), Shannon Brown (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Alessandro Mura (National Institute for Astrophysics, Italy) and Ryan Park (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), discuss the findings by the Juno spacecraft about the internal structure of Io and Jupiter.

(Courtesy American Geophysical Union and European Geophysical Union)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 24 September 2025:

Artemis II crewed lunar orbital mission confirmed by NASA is set for 2026

The announcement that while the target launch date for Artemis II remains April 2026, NASA will attempt to bring that forward to February 2026, without compromising crew safety or mission success.

Four astronauts (Reid Wiseman, Commander; Victor Glover, Pilot; and Mission Specialists, Christina Koch & Jeremy Hansen) will venture around the Moon on Artemis II, the first crewed mission on NASA's path to establishing a long-term presence at the Moon for science and exploration through the Artemis program. The 10-day flight will help confirm systems and hardware needed for early human lunar exploration missions.

The mission builds on the success of the uncrewed Artemis I mission in 2022, and will demonstrate a broad range of capabilities needed on deep space missions. The Artemis II test flight will be NASA’s first mission with crew atop the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and inside the Orion spacecraft.

(Audio inserts courtesy NASA)

Space Weather Trio

To be launched this evening at 21:30 AEST, details of the Curruthers, IMAP and the SWFO-L1 spacecraft, which will orbit Lagrange Point 1.

(Audio inserts courtesy of the Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland)

Life on Mars?

The Perseverance rover has found evidence for traces of past life at Jezero crater on Mars, drawing attention to whether, and how, the rock samples collected by Perseverance will be returned to Earth for further analysis.

(Audio inserts courtesy of NASA)

Planet Earth — Season 6 | Episode 70

Some Queensland projects to use space technology to address environmental issues.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 17 September 2025:

Merging Black Holes and Gravitational Waves - Part 2: The Hawking Black Hole Area Theorem Confirmation

This week, The Space Show is in conversation with Teagan Clarke, PhD candidate and a lead researcher in gravitational-wave astrophysics at the School of Physics and Astronomy, Monash University and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav).

MONASH UNIVERSITY — MEDIA RELEASE

11 September 2025

Australian astrophysicists help prove Stephen Hawking’s landmark black hole prediction

A global team of astrophysicists, including Australians, has witnessed a collision between two black holes that was so loud, they were able to use it to test and prove Stephen Hawking’s Theory of Black Hole Thermodynamics.

The event, observed by the LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA collaborations, involved two black holes merging to form a single, larger one, strikingly reminiscent of the historic first detection in 2015.

The research has been published in Physical Review Letters: doi.org/10.1103/kw5g-d732

(Image credit: OzGrav - ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery)

Turn Back Time:

Fifty-five years since the Soviet Luna 16 sample return mission to the Moon.

Embargoed until Thursday, 11 September 2025:

Prof. Eric Thrane, School of Physics and Astronomy at Monash University, explains the significance of the Hawking Black Hole Area Theorem confirmation in a Space Show exclusive.

MONASH UNIVERSITY — MEDIA RELEASE

11/09/2025 | 08:13 AM AEST

Australian astrophysicists help prove Stephen Hawking’s landmark black hole prediction

A global team of astrophysicists, including Australians, witnessed a collision between two black holes that was so loud that they were able to use it to test and prove Stephen Hawking’s Theory of Black Hole Thermodynamics.

The event, observed by the LIGO, Virgo, and KAGRA collaborations, involved two black holes merging to form a single, larger one, strikingly reminiscent of the historic first detection in 2015.

The research has been published in Physical Review Letters: doi.org/10.1103/kw5g-d732

(Image credit: OzGrav - ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 10 September 2025:

Merging Black Holes and Gravitational Waves:

The Space Show is in conversation with Prof. Eric Thrane, School of Physics and Astronomy at Monash University, Clayton.

When scientists at the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) recently announced they had seen a bizarre pair of rapidly spinning black holes, the astrophysics community agreed it defied expectations — and may rewrite our understanding of the universe.

The announcement — “GW231123: A Binary Black Hole Merger” — describes unusually large black holes essentially smashing into each other. Each weighs more than 100 times more than our sun, and are spinning, where they would be expected to rotate more slowly, taking them to near the limits of what scientists understand to be physically possible.

The questions now are: How did these black holes form? Why are they so massive? And why are they spinning so fast?

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 3 September 2025:

Eric Philips: Australian Polar Explorer to Polar Orbiting Astronaut

Eric Philips OAM (born 30 April 1962) is an Australian polar explorer, adventurer, polar guide and now private astronaut aboard the Fram2 mission.

To learn more about Eric Philips and the Fram2 mission, listen to our two-part special episodes of The Space Show from October 2024:

* 2024.10.02 | Fram2 Polar Mission — Part 1: One More Orbit

* 2024.10.09 | Fram2 Polar Mission — Part 2: Greenland & Polar Orbit

Planet Earth: Season 6 — Episode 69

* Dr Karen St. Germain, Earth Science Division Director, NASA, Washington D.C. speaking at COP26 in 2021.

The UK hosted the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) at the Scottish Event Campus (SEC) in Glasgow on 31 October – 13 November 2021.

* 50th Anniversary of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Program

Since 1975, NOAA's GOES Satellites have provided continuous imagery and data on atmospheric conditions and solar activity (space weather). They have even aided in search and rescue of people in distress. GOES data products have led to more accurate and timely weather forecasts and better understanding of long-term climate conditions.

* The Atmospheric Waves Experiment (AWE) on the International Space Station studies air glow caused by Atmospheric Gravity Waves.

* Global Precipitation Measurement or GPM Microwave Imager (GMI)

* Aerosols with Erika Podest, Carbon Cycle and Ecosystem Scientist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory

* Gavin Schmidt, Climate Scientist answers the question: How do we know what the climate of the Earth was like in the distant past?

Gavin Schmidt is a British climatologist, climate modeler and Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, and co-founder of the climate science blog RealClimate.