Naked Astronomy, from the Naked Scientists

Could life on Earth be wiped out by a killer asteroid? The short answer is yes. This month the Space Boffins hear about a new European telescope to spot the threat before it's too late. Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson are joined at the Royal Astronomical Society in London by Robert Massey and Helen Klus to discuss how astronomy could save the world. Richard also chats to NASA astronaut Steve Bowen who reveals what it will be like to live in the 'cramped' new Orion spacecraft and the perils of returning to Earth after a mission to the Moon or Mars. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Queen guitarist, rock star and astronomer Brian May adds some celebrity stardust and big hair on this month's podcast for the launch of the 2019 Starmus Festival. May talks about the essential humanity of a science, arts and music overlap and reveals that he's been quietly contributing to not one, but two space missions. Also on the podcast, Britain's first astronaut Helen Sharman discusses the future of orbiting space stations and Chris Welch bigs up the International Space University and explains why he has a Project Juno poster. Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham are presenting... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Sue bags a flight on Europe's 'Zero G' aircraft to experience microgravity. Back in the studio, Richard and Sue are joined by Libby Jackson from the UK Space Agency to discuss her new book on women in space. And the Boffins celebrate the era when Britain led the space race with the Skylark rocket. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson are joined by space journalist Sarah Cruddas and rocket insurer, David Wade, to discuss 2017 and look ahead to 2018 in space. Featuring genetically engineered astronauts, Cassini and giant private rockets, it also includes the second part of our interview with Apollo 15 astronaut, Al Worden. He talks about his pioneering spacewalk, difficult homecoming, life after the Moon and reveals how he feels about his commander. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month, TV science presenter Dallas Campbell joins Sue and Richard to discuss how to leave the planet. The Space Boffins also hear from Apollo 15 legend Al Worden, who spent 3 days isolated in his space capsule around the Moon. And what better way to celebrate the film Contact than by following in the footsteps of Jodie Foster at the Very Large Array radio telescope in New Mexico? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Two astronauts and an Imperial Storm Trooper join the Space Boffins podcast from The Netherlands at the European Space Agency's ESTEC Open Day - where thousands of people can see the Agency's spacecraft testing facilities and meet the scientists and engineers involved in ESA space missions. Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham catch up with ESTEC head Franco Ongaro; Europe's first woman on the International Space Station, Claudie Haigner; a Star Wars Storm Trooper otherwise known as Rosetta project scientist Matt Taylor; as well as the British-born NASA born astronaut Michael Foale and his plans... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins Sue Nelson, Richard Hollingham and studio guest Sarah Cruddas talk rockets, total eclipses and Cassini's final days at Saturn. Apollo, Mercury and Shuttle propulsions engineer John Tribe reminisces about his incredible career - beginning in Britain and ending up in Cape Canaveral - including his final moments with astronaut Gus Grissom and the crew of Apollo 1 before its fatal fire. Cassini project scientist Linda Spilker, from NASA JPL, bids a sad farewell to a remarkably successful mission around Saturn, its rings and moons before the final plunge on September 15. Plus there's... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month, European astronaut Luca Parmitano suggests a future for genetically engineered space travellers, the Space Boffins celebrate 40 years of the Voyager mission and look forward to the demise of Cassini, shortly to plunge into Saturn. Space scientist Carl Murray joins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham with some perfume, a mug and an unusual memento from the Voyager spacecraft. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins Sue Nelson and the Guardian's Stuart Clark are at the European Space Agency's ESTEC facility in The Netherlands to see the BepiColombo spacecraft - Europe's mission to Mercury. As the LISA Pathfinder mission comes to a successful end, we meet Paul McNamara who's developing the LISA mission for detecting gravitational waves in space. And is Earth really a planet? A new exhibition captures the view from Pluto. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The Space Boffins return to Mars to hear about progress on the plus-sized US and petite European rovers. Recorded in the Mars Yard in Stevenage, Richard and Sue are joined by guests Abbie Hutty from Airbus and science journalist Stuart Clark. Richard also talks to the Project Scientist for NASA's 2020 Mars rover, Ken Farley, and British astronaut, Tim Peake, discusses his 'dynamic' return to Earth in a Soyuz spacecraft. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Richard is at SETI in California to hunt space aliens with the institute's chief astronomer, Seth Shostak. He also reports from the iconic Parkes space telescope in Australia on the Breakthrough Listen hunt for ET. And, in the search for aliens closer to home, he talks to the head of Cassini's imaging team and one of NASA's top astrobiologists about life on Saturn's moon Enceladus. Is the truth out there? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month, Space Boffins highlights the unsung heroes of the space programme - mission controllers. Featuring the director of a new documentary film on mission control, David Fairhead, we hear from a man at the heart of the Apollo 13 drama, Sue meets the voice of the Space Shuttle and we catch up with Dan Dare... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

SpaceX and NASA compete to get people back to the Moon, Richard meets a man who grows space tomatoes in human urine, and heads to a lab where volunteers are being paid to stay awake. This month, Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson are joined by rocket scientist David Wade, and space scientist Helen Fraser to discuss how ice in space could form planets and celebrate the 80th birthday of Valentina Tereshkova. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The Space Boffins are at Astrofest in London in front of a live audience. Guests include an Antarctic meteorite hunter, the scientist tracking down the Solar System's missing planet and the flight director who's landed a spacecraft on a comet. It's also a chance to hear again from last man on the Moon, Gene Cernan... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This time, we're journeying to the Ruby Red Planet, Mars. Elon Musk thinks he'll have people there by 2024; NASA will be following closely behind with a touchdown expected in the 2030s. That means that in our lifetime, we will become an interplanetary species. But what will it be like for those brave individuals? Graihagh Jackson investigates... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Broadcaster Dallas Campbell joins the Space Boffins at the British Interplanetary Society to discuss the giant new replacement for Hubble, hypersonic spaceplanes and balloon flights to the edge of space. They hear from astronaut Ron Garan about President-elect Trump and talk to one of the witnesses of the Apollo 1 fire, which killed three astronauts in 1967. Plus, discussions on urinating on the astronaut bus and books on sex in space. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

As we enter the darkest depths of winter, the days get shorter and the nights get longer. Or at least that's how it's supposed to be. But since the invention of the light bulb, we've long been working towards the end of night. But does this matter? Graihagh Jackson investigates... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In a bumper end of year special, Space Boffins features Buzz Aldrin, last man on the Moon Gene Cernan, the nurse to the astronauts, a cosmic piano and a space sofa. Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham are joined by space journalist Sarah Cruddas to celebrate 2016 in space exploration, commemorate John Glenn and look forward to the year ahead. Where will President Trump take NASA? Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Most astrophysicists would agree that it's highly likely that there's life beyond Earth. But then why haven't we found any? This month on Naked Astronomy, Graihagh Jackson tackles one of the fundamental questions of mankind with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jim Al-Khalili and Dallas Campbell. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins' Sue Nelson was at ESA mission control recently when the ExoMars spacecraft arrived at Mars after a seven month journey. She hears from ExoMars and Open University scientist Dr Manish Patel on the highs and lows of the orbiter and lander and Richard Hollingham reports from Arizona on the X15 space plane. Author Michelle Evans reveals the space plane's extraordinary history and, over at the Pima Air and Space Museum outside Tuscon, James Stemm is with the B52 bomber - undergoing restoration - that carried the X15 during the 1950s, 60s and 70s. The podcast comes from the Royal... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Gaia launched back in 2013 and has been mapping the Milky Way ever since. In fact, it aims to give us the most detailed survey of our galaxy, ever. But is that all its set to do? Graihagh Jackson explores why scientists are going gaga over Gaia... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham are on Mars - which turns out to be behind a blue door in the Hertfordshire town of Stevenage. With guest Airbus head of science, Ralph Cordey, they discuss the final moments of Rosetta, Europe's latest mission to Mars - due to land in October - and Elon Musk's plans for martian colonisation. Sue reports from ESA's mission control in Germany and Richard hears about the fastest man on Earth. They also catch-up with J Willgoose Esq from the band Public Service Broadcasting. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The Space Boffins meet the Mercury 7 nurse, Dee O'Hara, recalling what it was like to work with America's first astronauts. SETI's Seth Shostak explains why we should target AI to discover ET, and - in this US themed podcast - Spaceflight's David Baker reveals what role space plays in the forthcoming presidential elections. Studio guest is astronomy writer, novelist and broadcaster Dr Stuart Clark. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Fellow Naked Scientist Connie Orbach won a meteorite and so Graihagh Jackson made it her mission to find out as much as possible about this hunk of space rock, including how she might go about finding one of her own... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The Space Boffins are at the Blue Dot music festival at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire where they hear live music from Cern's cosmic piano and chat to Rosetta project scientist (and space celebrity) Matt Taylor about the end of the mission. Richard also meets the band that bounced a guitar riff off the Moon and Sue reports from the Farnborough Airshow, where she asks Tim Peake about his body and learns about plans for a new lunar mission. In another first, they even have a producer: Izzie Clarke. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

NASA's Juno probe has reached Jupiter after a five year battle through our solar system and is orbiting the gas giant. But now it's completed this death-defying stunt, what now? This month on Naked Astronomy, Graihagh Jackson is colluding with the king of the planets to find out what it's really all about... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Jupiter's Juno mission, the magical world of Pluto and spacewalking feature in this special fifth anniversary edition of the podcast. ESA's head of the neutral buoyancy facility, Herve Stevenin, explains how a giant pool helped astronaut Tim Peake obtain his space station spacewalk, and New Horizons scientists Lesley Young and Joel Parker from America's Southwest Research Institute share their extraordinary findings from Pluto. Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham are joined in the studio by Robert Massey, from the Royal Astronomical Society, and space journalist Sarah Cruddas. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

It's nearly been 5 decades since Neil Armstrong took one small step for mankind... But will we return again? As things heat up, Graihagh Jackson brings together the cosmically curious to unpick our the drivers behind the marathon to the moon Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Last man on the Moon, Captain Gene Cernan, and Apollo 9 lunar module pilot Rusty Schweickart join Space Boffin Richard at Spacefest in Tucson, Arizona. Apollo 17 commander Cernan expresses his frustration about the state of the space programme and Rusty Schweickart warns of the asteroid threat to Earth. We also hear from astronomer Nick Howes, spaceblogger Emily Carney, Thomas Zurbuchen on how small satellites could be the future for big science missions and the going rates for astronaut autographs. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month, Graihagh Jackson is getting all starry eyed over our Sun. Where did it come from? Where is it going? And what it's taught us about the universe? Plus, the mission that's taking us the closer to the Sun than we've ever been before... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month the Space Boffins get to grips with relativity, watch as British astronaut Tim Peake manoeuvres a Mars rover in a cave, and go inside a section of NASA's new giant rocket. With their guest, writer and poet Simon Barraclough, they also discuss space station alarms (with appropriate sound effects) and celebrate the flight of America's first manned mission, Mercury 3. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

On 9 May, Mercury will be seen as a black dot silhouetted against the Sun and this rare event enabled astronomers of the 17th century to work out how vast the universe was. But this transit isn't just phenomenally important historically: it has huge implications in our search for extraterrestrial life, as Graihagh Jackson finds out... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham bring news of space sofas, super flat floors and Martian sunsets. They are joined at The Open University by ExoMars mission principal investigator Dr Manish Patel to discuss his work on the NOMAD instrument, which is currently on its way to Mars on board the recently launched spacecraft, and how you prepare for success and failure. Richard also reports from Alabama, gliding across NASA's Flat Floor Facility on a bed of air beneath a giant solar sail. While having fun at NASA's Marshall Spaceflight Centre in Huntsville, he hears about NASA's Near... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

What happens when we turn our astronomical instruments back to planet Earth? With the launch of over 12 satellites, Europe's version of GPS, Galileo, will be operational very soon but why are space scientists getting all excited about it? This month on Naked Astronomy, Graihagh Jackson is all about the satellites Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Buzz Aldrin is the legendary Apollo 11 and Gemini 12 astronaut who made history in 1969 when he became one of the first men to walk on the lunar surface. Today, he has his sights firmly on the future - specifically Mars. The visionary tells Space Boffin Sue Nelson about his cycling orbits to the red planet, why he wouldn't go to Mars himself, what he thinks of the ESA director general's plans for a Moon village and which item of jewellery he's wearing was a gift from Mohammed Ali. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

February 2016 marks one of the biggest discoveries in cosmology and astronomy: the LIGO team annouced that they'd detected gravitational waves, 100 years after Albert Einstein predicted them. Scientists believe this could revolutionise how we study the universe. But what are these gravitational waves? How were they detected? And how is the discovery changing our understanding of cosmos? Graihagh Jackson finds out... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham talk Mars rovers, Russian lunar rovers and floating number twos during this month's podcast. Europe's ExoMars mission scientist Nicholas Thomas reveals the role an alcoholic drink played in the naming of one of the Trace Gas Orbiter's key science instruments (as well as what it does of course) while NASA scientist John Grant reveals how some Mars rovers just keep on going and that maybe ideas of canals on the Martian surface weren't so far fetched after all. London science museum space curator Doug Millard also features discussing Luna 9 and,... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

One of the big questions in cosmology is what happened at the beginning of the universe? Astrophycisists are edging closer to answering this question - we can now look back to a fraction of a second after the Big Bang. But what happened before that still remains elusive and there are still many loose ends to tie up. In this episode of Naked Astronomy, Graihagh Jackson takes a look at the origins of time... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The Space Boffins talk surgery in space with a real life Dr McCoy, NASA astronaut and physician Michael Barratt, and report from a school in St Albans during Tim Peake's first ham radio contact with UK students. A member of the European Space Agency's 60 day bedrest study explains how he's helping astronauts by lying down and the studio guest is Mark Craig, British director of the documentary about Apollo astronaut Gene Cernan - Last Man on the Moon - which is about to have its first cinema release in the United States. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham prepare for Tim Peake's launch to the International Space Station by speaking to Britain's first astronaut - Helen Sharman. ESA's Dr Volker Damann, Head of the Space Medicine Office, explains why space is bad for you and studio guests - rocket expert David Wade and space journalist Sarah Cruddas - share insights on the size of entrepreneurs' rockets and the future of Space 2.0. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Richard sits down with British European Space Agency astronaut, Tim Peake, to discuss gravity, guitars, 1980s computers and future missions to the Moon and Mars. Recorded on location at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, Richard also chats to curator Valerie Neal about humanity's 15 years of living off the Earth on the International Space Station (ISS) and whether the ISS could be converted to a starship. And, after a year on a comet, could the Philae lander wake up again? The mission manager is optimistic. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson's star (and space) studded podcast includes the first woman in space, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, and astronaut Tim Peake. Britain's first European Space Agency astronaut discusses the final training before his December launch and why it's important to learn how to fix a toilet. Former space shuttle engineer and Spaceflight editor David Baker is in the studio to discuss the Soyuz rocket that will take Tim to the Space Station, as is Yen Yau from Into Space - a new UK Space Agency backed film project for young space fans. Naturally, they all... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson are joined by the Rosetta's project scientist, Dr Matt Taylor, to hear the latest on ESA's comet chasing mission now that perihelion is done and dusted. There's also NASA astronaut Cady Coleman on the importance of playing the flute on the space station and how being in space affected her life. Former astronaut Thomas Reiter - now ESA's Head of Human Spaceflight and Operations - discusses the future for Europe's astronaut corps plus Sue and Richard are joined in the studio for expert conversation by astronomer Dr Robert Massey from the Royal... Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In a first for the Space Boffins podcast - an interview with astronauts in space! NASA's Scott Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko are on a year long mission on board the International Space Station. They took time out from their duties to discuss how they're getting on so far. Studio guests space scientists Lucie Green and Graziella Branduardi-Raymont add some sun (shine) and a SMILE (mission) to the proceedings. Plus we talk to the first man to walk in space, Alexei Leonov, ahead of a new cosmonaut exhibition at London's Science Museum. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

The Space Boffins celebrate their 4th year producing monthly podcasts in - aptly - a British rocket lab. Richard Hollingham joins engineer Adam Baker at the University of Kingston to discuss recent rocket failures and talks to the new head of the European Space Agency, Jan Woerner, about his plans for a village on the Moon. In Hatfield, Sue Nelson meets philosopher and author of Nobody Owns the Moon, Tony Milligan, to debate the ethics of space exploration and there's yet another reason to celebrate: the 40th anniversary of Apollo-Soyuz. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

In a Space Boffins special - Sue Nelson meets the first female Space Shuttle Commander, Eileen Collins. The retired astronaut - one of NASA's most experienced - reveals the challenges of flying the Shuttle, the flaws in its design and what happened in the aftermath of the Columbia disaster. They also talk about the way female astronauts are treated by the media and the next generation of spacecraft. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson are joined by astronomer, Guardian writer and guitarist Stuart Clark for a Rosetta mission special - six months after it made history by landing on a comet. Pick up your backstage pass for behind the scenes interviews with key players in the European Space Agency mission: Rosetta project scientist Matt Taylor, former mission manager Fred Jansen, spacecraft operations manager Andrea Accomazzo and Koen Geurts from the German Space Agency's Philae Lander team. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson are inside London's Science Museum with the museum's curator of space, Doug Millard, and the original Apollo 10 capsule. Apart from a tribute to Apollo 11's crucial predecessor, they discuss Britain's history in space and hear from Skylon pioneer Alan Bond on the progress of his revolutionary spaceplane. There's also an update on Europe's ExoMars mission rover from the new Mars Yard at Airbus Defence and Space to celebrate its one year anniversary. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

This month Richard sees NASA's new giant rocket, the Space Launch System, taking shape in New Orleans. In the studio the Space Boffins are joined by poet Simon Barraclough to discuss the poetic power of the Sun. Sue reports on Europe's new mission to Mercury, they celebrate the 50th anniversary of the missions that made the Moon landings possible and unveil the original recording that inspires the Space Boffins jingle. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists

Space Boffins Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson discover why we should recover Beagle 2 from the surface of Mars; why we need the Uranus Pathfinder mission; and how exoplanets are putting a twinkle in the eyes of British space scientists. There's also music from Public Sector Broadcasting, with band member J Willgoose explaining how they use space archive footage as an integral part of their unique sound. They're also are joined by Dr Leigh Fletcher from Oxford University and Dr Sheila Kanani from the Royal Astronomical Society with interviews from Professor Ian Wright and Professor Mark Sims. Like this podcast? Please help us by supporting the Naked Scientists