Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science - A Journey to Space

Episode Date: December 8, 2015

Journey to Space is both a new and spectacular IMAX movie and an exciting, hands-on exhibition at the California Science Center. We learn about both this week.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Journey to Space, this week on Planetary Radio. Welcome to the travel show that takes you to the final frontier. I'm Matt Kaplan of the Planetary Society. Your journey to space may be as close as the nearest IMAX theater, where a new film by that name might be on the big screen. We'll talk to its director, as well as two of the people behind the terrific hands-on Journey to Space exhibit, now hosted by the California Science Center. You're also going to hear lots of well-earned congratulations for the Japanese team that has just achieved something marvelous.

More about that in a moment from Emily Lakawala and then Bill Nye. something marvelous. More about that in a moment from Emily Lakawala and then Bill Nye. First, though, a note about our little contest for that signed copy of Randall Munroe's great new book, Thing Explainer. We'll keep taking entries till 8 a.m. Pacific time on the morning of Tuesday, December 15th. Just write to me at planetaryradio at planetary.org. And just one entry per person, at planetary.org. And just one entry per person, please. Here's the Planetary Society's senior editor. Emily, space exploration fans in Japan and really around the world have reason to celebrate.

Tell us why. The lights are back on in the inner solar system. We have another spacecraft in orbit at Venus, and that's Japan's Akatsuki, which tried to do this once five years ago. It failed. Its main engine cone actually blew off the spacecraft. And most people would consider that a loss of the spacecraft, but not JAXA.

They resurrected this thing. They nursed its health through many more orbits of the sun. And they managed to get it into orbit using only the attitude control thrusters. It's just an amazing story. This has not been done before, right? It's absolutely never been done before. And they had to do quite a lot to make this work. They actually vented all of the fuel that was supposed to be used in the main engine in order to lighten their load. They were dropping ballast. And so the spacecraft's much smaller and lighter,

or at least lighter than it was when it launched. And now there remains to be seen what kind of mission they can make from this spacecraft, but it's there at Venus, which is most of the battle. You were live tweeting this. You've also written about it at planetary.org. But we also have this firsthand account from someone on the inside. Tell us about it. That's right. So Venus researcher Sanjay Lamaye is there in Japan. He was actually in mission control watching all of the excitement happen. There's an international community of Venus scientists who have very few missions to work with, so they all work very hard to have collaborative relationships with each other. Sanjay is just one of many American and European scientists who are all

on board with this spacecraft and wishing its every success. One of your tweets talked about Goldstone, part of the Deep Space Network, being in communication with Akatsuki, but very, very slowly. Is that going to improve? It will improve. Right now, Akatsuki is only communicating with Earth through medium or low-gain antennae because they actually don't really know the orbit specifically enough. They don't know the orientation of the spacecraft specifically enough to get the high gain antenna properly pointed at Earth. They're doing a lot of orientation updates manually right now as they talk to the spacecraft and learn about its condition. Over the next three months, as they do their shakedown, they'll get that automated and they'll be able to do much higher

data rate communications with the spacecraft. And bring us lots of new science from Venus, up close and personal. Thanks again, Emily. Thank you, Matt. She is our senior editor, the planetary evangelist for the Planetary Society, and a contributing editor to Sky and Telescope magazine. Here is the CEO of the Planetary Society, Bill Nye. Bill, I think you want to get in on this Akatsuki celebration. Yes, yes, yes. Konnichiwa. So the spacecraft launched five years ago. This is the one that had the solar sail, which they gave the whimsical acronym Icarus for kite craft. The kite

craft went off into deep space, but this thing was still in orbit, or I guess they're both still in orbit around the sun. And so just with using the maneuvering thrusters, having given deep thought for five years, a mission planner, a woman in Japan, figured out how to nudge it into orbit around Venus. It was a real big orbit, much bigger than was originally intended, but they got it around Venus. Come on, that's just cool. It's that optimism that comes with space exploration that I find so wonderful. And sets an example for the rest of life. That's right. Don't give up. Stick with it. Make it happen. Let's go, people. Do something cool. Throughout the Planetary Society, I know we're going to be congratulating JAXA for making this

happen. It is quite inspiring. And I'm glad I caught you. And by the way, you're in Arizona because you're going to be talking to Jim Bell. Well, I'm not just talking to Jim Bell. There's a big event, huge, a huge event at the Gammage Center here at Arizona State University. I'm going to do a keynote. And then we're going to have several people on a panel to talk about the future of space exploration and what it's going to take for the next generation to get farther and deeper into space, which is really the idea. It's going to be very cool. And I'm going to give my perspective on how we got here and how we can, dare I say it, change the world. Well, give them hell, boss. Wish I was there to

hear it. No, it'll be good. It's probably going to be on the electric internet that the kids use. That's a thought. It should be on the radio, in my opinion, but that's just me. The iPods, you know, the iPods. What do they call the podcast? Podcast. The kids. The kids use them. Thank you, Bill. Break a leg. Thank you. Let's change the world. He's the CEO of the Planetary Society, Bill Nye, and we're going to take a journey to space now,

beginning at the California Science Center. Moments away. We are the species that explore us. We built machines to explore farther, higher. Heroes flew them beyond what seemed possible, and it wasn't enough. We're completing a chapter of a journey that will never end. Let's light this all one more time.

Make it so, number one. That was just a sample of Journey to Space 3D, the grand new IMAX film narrated by Patrick Stewart. We'll talk to its director after the break. We'll start our journey now at one of my favorite places. The California Science Center is in Los Angeles' Exposition Park, right across from the Rose Garden and down the block from the Natural History Museum. It is so much more than the home of Space Shuttle Endeavor.

Its many permanent exhibits are joined for the next few months by a traveling program that first visited the Science Museum of Minnesota. It's no coincidence that this sprawling collection of terrific hands-on experiences has the same name as the movie. When I visited the CSC a few days ago, I was greeted by Shell Omega, the Center's Vice President for Communications, and Devin Waller, the Exhibit Project Manager for the Samuel Ocean Air and

Space Center at the CSC. Before going into this line of work, Devon used her degrees in astrophysics and geological sciences to contribute to the Mars Exploration Rover and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter missions. Journey to Space is divided into multiple galleries, and each one highlights the experiences that astronauts would feel when they're in space. And so right now we're standing in a shuttle gallery called Space Will Kill You and it highlights the four major dangers that astronauts face when they're outside of the Earth's atmosphere and go out beyond the comforts of home. Everything from the very extreme high and low temperatures,

micrometeorites, which are small, rocky debris, flying at extremely high speeds that could puncture not only the spacesuit, but the human body inside, and also the metals and other materials that make up spacecraft and satellites. And also high-energy cosmic and solar radiation that could irreversibly damage the human body. You're almost being drowned out by a rocket engine there, but we're also hearing lots of happy kids, lots of hands-on stuff. Lots of hands-on stuff. Everyone loves it.

Which is what I always loved, coming here as a kid. Absolutely. You're going to love it. It's an experience of weightlessness. All right, so we're walking up a ramp. Move her away. Pardon us, guys. Hi. Hello, everybody.

You have two of these. We have two of these, and what this is is a mock-up of the Destiny module, one of the modules of the International Space Station. As you can see, we have a school group here that's experiencing it. Hi guys, do you feel like you're in space? Yes! This is pretty cool. Yes!

How accurate is this? I mean this looks extremely genuine. Yes, so the interior of the model is fairly accurate. You have all of your working systems, a lot of the computers that are mounted to the side walls. You even have a mock-up of the Robonaut, the Robonaut robot. I met him, I shook hands with him once. You're lucky. That's awesome. We're not trying to say that the Destiny module rotates, but we're using a rotating room to sort of emphasize the disorientation that an astronaut would feel once they go into space. No up, no down.

No up, no down. Complete confusion. Very, very cool. Complete confusion. Very, very cool. Devin, I know this has got to be a favorite of every kid who comes through, the space toilet. Absolutely. I think it's one of the most common questions that we get. How do you go to the bathroom in space?

Everyone always wants to know how you do sort of the common, everyday things. Eating, going to the bathroom, and sleeping. And so now we have a space potty on display, and so you can not only sit on the potty yourself, but you can also push the button to hear the sound of the suction that they would normally hear on the ISS. Should I push the button for you? Want me to push the button? Oh, of course. Flush it for me.

Very efficient. Look at Scott Kelly's favorite quote. Let's see. Scott Kelly says, believe it or not, the water that is produced from our urine actually tastes better than any tap water we've ever tasted, which I'm sure gets a lot of ewes from kids. But everything gets recycled. Yes, it does. Everything. So on the surface, this may be all about space stuff. But really, there's so much more going on here.

Physics, energy conservation, and so on. We said in one of our meetings that the best way to do it is you have a fun, exciting, very thought-provoking exhibit and you kind of sneak the math and the science and the physics in through the back door, but it's a great way to do it. And a lot of our graphic panels, we show the equations for a lot of the science and engineering that we display. Head downstairs from the Journey to Space exhibit and walk toward the western

end of the California Science Center inside a temporary building you'll find one of the most famous spaceships in history if all goes well space shuttle Endeavour will move in 2018 to its permanent home the veteran of 25 flights above Earth and nearly 300 days in space will look like it is once again ready to leap off the launch pad. As exciting as that's going to be, because you'll have the shuttle as if it's ready to launch, right, with the external tank and the solid rocket boosters, I'm still telling people you've got to come and see Endeavour now, because you may never be so close to it.

You may never be where you could just about reach up and touch a tile. Absolutely. Right now, the shuttle is at its closest that you'll ever be able to walk next to it. You can walk under it currently. You can get within 11 feet of the bottom of the thermal tiles. And so you have to come see it right now. It looks amazing. There'll be another exciting time for the city of Los Angeles when we bring the external tank through the city. Oh, that's coming up? To be joined with Endeavor, yes. So that's going to be making its way across the streets of L.A. as well?

Yes, absolutely. At the beginning of 2016, expect that we're going to bring the last remaining lightweight external tank through the city. weight external tank through the city. So ET-94 will be making its journey from Louisiana, where it currently is, sitting at Michoud, at the NASA facility there, all the way here to California. And as you know, more than 1.5 million people saw Endeavor go through the streets, and we're hoping that the city will turn out and support us again in this exciting journey. And the other thing, as you know, there was no crime in LA for three days during that journey. I remember that. Let's do this on a regular basis. Yeah, let's do this all the time. Devin, thanks so much for taking us on this little journey to space. Well,

thank you so much for visiting us. It was great having you. And Shell, it's a great pleasure every time I come here to Exposition Park to the California Science Center. Thank you, and we want to encourage everyone, no matter what age, to come down because we've got something for everybody. This journey to space on Planetary Radio is not over because in just a few moments, we'll be talking with the director of the film Journey to Space. Stay with us. Hi, I'm Andy Weir, author of The Martian. Do you know how my character, Mark Watney, will make it to Mars someday?

He'll get there because people like you and me, and organizations like the Planetary Society, never stop fighting to advance space exploration and science. The challenges have rarely been greater than they are right now. You can learn what the Society is doing and how you can help at planetary.org. Mark and I will thank you for taking steps to ensure humanity's bright future across the solar system and beyond. Hey, hey, Bill Nye here. I'd like to introduce you to Merck Boyan. Hello. He's been making all those fabulous videos which hundreds of thousands of you have been watching.

That's right. We're going to put all the videos in one place, Merck. Is that right? Planetary TV. So I can watch them on my television? No. So wait a minute. Planetary TV is not on TV? That's the best thing about it. They're all going to be online. You can watch them anytime you want. Where do I watch Planetary TV then, Mark?

Well, you can watch it all at planetary.org slash TV. Welcome back to Planetary Radio. I'm Matt Kaplan. Mark Cranzean wrote and directed Journey to Space 3D, the magnificent new IMAX feature that complements the Journey to Space exhibit at the California Science Center and that is also playing now or is coming soon to theaters in 11 nations. It's only the latest in a distinguished series of big screen productions for this former editor and cinematographer. Some of you may recognize his name from his music video work, including Michael Jackson's Thriller. Mark joined me via Skype not long after my visit to the CSC.

Mark, welcome to Planetary Radio, and congratulations on this film that was pretty thrilling for this space geek to see, and apparently, from the reviews I've seen, a lot of other people are loving the experience of seeing Journey to Space. Well, thank you, Matt. It's great to be here. Yes, I'd like to take all the credit, but of course, filmmaking is collaborative. And the other thing is, I think this is very much the right film at the right time. You can say that again.

I would say it fits right in with all the excitement generated by movies like The Martian and just a general renewed enthusiasm for space. I mean, do you get a sense of that? Absolutely. You know, so many people thought that NASA and our American space program had gone on holiday when the space shuttles were retired. And our main goal for this project was to let the public know that space exploration and, in fact, a human mission to Mars is very much on the agenda. Let me tell you about the kid who was in front of me. I think you'll like this. This guy, he must have been eight or nine years old. He had a little model space shuttle. Maybe he had just bought it in the store at the California Science Center. So during the film, he's wearing his 3D glasses like the rest of us.

I look down, and here he is holding the shuttle up against this beautiful, deep space scenery that you were showing. And he's got the shuttle swishing back and forth, flying through space. It was one of the best moments for me watching the film, and it wasn't even part of the film. Wonderful. He was making a 3D movie into a 4D movie. That's a great way to put it. You struck such a nice balance, I think, between the archival footage,

looking back over the history of the space program, particularly the shuttle and the International Space Station, and new material that you shot. Was there a lot of this archival footage that you wished you could have used but had to leave out? Well, yes, there is, of course. We've been pretty diligent in the American Space Program and others in shooting film, and some of it very good high-resolution IMAX footage over the years. IMAX films about space have been a motherlode that have been mined very well by the IMAX footage over the years. IMAX films about space have been a mother load that have been mined very well by the IMAX corporation itself. And a lot of this footage remains essentially in

the public domain because it was shot with taxpayer money, but not all of it. We were able to, I think, catch the glimpses, somewhat the best of, if you will, of these past films. And we have so much to be proud of, not only as a country, but as a culture, and that this cooperative effort that's gotten us this far. And that was very nice to portray that as the jumping off point for this film, to show all the great things we have done to remind people that we have a lot to be proud of in our work in space. I don't know whether I was more inspired watching some of the archival stuff or the new things that you shot, but it's certainly true that as I watched the stuff from the past,

even the more tragic stuff, which you didn't shy away from, it was a tremendously emotional experience for me. Were you going for an emotional reaction as much as trying to inform people? Well, absolutely. And this is an immersive medium, the giant screens. The next best thing to going to space would be to experience it on the giant screen. And the thing that became so clear as we were researching and beginning the process that so many people could remember where they were when the space shuttle was retired or where

they were when they saw a man walk on the moon. And so many of today's modern astronauts were inspired by as young people, young children watching those images on TV. So that was a great springboard. And we knew that we had an emotional start to this film. It was this homecoming, seeing these space shuttles flying over the country and landing at their designated places of rest that, as Chris Ferguson says, it was almost as though this shuttle took all of us into space. So finding that emotional core to spring from was not too hard. It was then wanting to tie that directly to see the work being done today on, say, the Orion capsule and the giant space launch system rocket to let people know that we are engaged both nationally and globally in the next steps to get us deeper into space. engaged both nationally and globally in the next steps to get us deeper into space. And that was fun to see how quickly, how smoothly those things connected to see Chris Ferguson, this astronaut who had flown the last space shuttle, then go and visit and see the next deep space, you know,

really passing the baton from one generation to the next. That was fun to make that come together. I am so glad that you mentioned Chris Ferguson. He is an integral part of the film. Looked like he was a fun guy to work with. I'll let you comment on that as well. But one of my favorite shots in the film is when Endeavor was slowly crawling its way through the streets of Los Angeles. And here is Chris Ferguson, a guy who wrote on it, standing in front of a shop with a giant donut on top, looking awestruck. Well, indeed, the shuttle was towed right across a bridge from its landing place at LAX. Caltrans had its regulations that the device that was towing the shuttle couldn't be allowed to tow it over that particular bridge for whatever reasons.

And so Toyota stepped in and said, we'll pull it over the bridge for you. And they pulled it right past that donut shop. I was foolish. I was out and about, in fact, reporting for this show when the shuttle was flown in on the back of the 747 that day. But I was an idiot and missed the drive through the streets. And so I missed the incredible enthusiasm of the public in some parts of LA, which, you know, are not exactly Beverly Hills. And you really communicated, I think, the thrill that people had seeing this spaceship pass through their neighborhood. Well, again, we were very fortunate because

this project hadn't been conceived then. But luckily, there were enthusiasts of a whole coterie of Hollywood professional directors of photography were gathered. And for three days, they huddled around, many of them volunteering their time to make some terrific high definition images of the shuttle going from LAX to the California Science Center. So there were a lot of really powerful emotional scenes, trees being trimmed to let the wings just slip by. And the public came out every day for three days and watching it happen. Let's look to the future, which, as I said, was just as thrilling in this film. A lot of terrific animation. Was this done specifically for the film, like the Mars

mission, which may be the best view of what NASA actually has in mind? Absolutely. This all sprang from NASA's and others' best guess of what these components will look like. As the film explains, there's about five components that need to get us to Mars. That is a capsule to hold the astronauts, a rocket to lift things into deep space, a tug electronic propulsion device to get us to Mars. So of these components, two are actively being built, and the others are well understood in their design. In other words, the technology to get us to Mars essentially exists today. It's just like a long version of going to the moon. It's more a matter of priority

and political will, and of course, budgetary issues. To speculate about what these modules and spaceships might look like is based very much on designs that are currently being put together. And I was pleased to see that the things that came out of my imagination and the special effects people that did it, this company called FREEMA, were very similar to what the Martian used, similar spacecraft that, in their case, the Martian shows a craft that's using artificial gravity for the long trip to Mars. I was imagining not what Mars would look like on its 10th or 20th trip, but on the very first trip. So my spacecraft doesn't use artificial gravity. You know, I know people who are working on those big inflatable heat shields. You showed

one of those helping humans get down to the surface of Mars. Work that is, as you said, currently underway. What's the reaction that you've gotten from not just astronauts, but the engineers and scientists who are working to make this reality? Well, everybody was very pleased to get that they had a chance to let the public know that this work is actively being done. This Bigelow Aerospace, for example, in Nevada, are well along the way to perfecting these giant inflatable habitats that astronauts can live in, either in near-space orbit or during long interplanetary transitions. And it's, I think, everybody had a great sense of satisfaction that we could show that this isn't just a pie in the sky dreams, that there's actual work being done on these devices in the here and now. And we'll put up a link to the planetary radio episode we did early this year when we visited Bigelow Aerospace and looked at some of these

space habitat, inflatable habitat, that will be making its way to the space station next year, and that huge one that you actually show off in the film. You're in very wide distribution. People can find out where it's showing around the world, especially across the U.S., but I saw it's coming to other theaters, including Taiwan, Kuwait, Finland. It's all at journeytospacefilm.com, all one word there, of course. Is it getting the reaction and the exposure that you were hoping for? Absolutely. I think right now we refer to these as IMAX institutional documentary films that play primarily at these prestige theaters, the Smithsonian's, the museums of science and industry and tech museums around the world. And it is currently the most successful of those documentaries playing. It really has captured an audience, partly because space is inherently interesting and the timing is good.

And it's a very good chance to overview where we've been in space and where we're going. So, yeah, it's catching a wave. And the neat thing about these large format documentaries is they have a long life. And ultimately, it will be seen by hundreds of millions more, even on television at some point in the future. But, of course, the best way is to experience it on a giant screen theater. You bet. And you should know, you've made 12 of these now, if I read the website correctly. Does this one stand out in that amazing body of work that you've created? Well, the interesting thing is that one of the things, as I'm well into my career as a filmmaker,

that making these each time is like going to school. The previous film I produced, Humpback Whales, is also in current play. So I really have to immerse myself in all these new subject matters. I would say this film was unique in that it was, I have never done a film that so much relied on both the past and speculating into the future. The challenge of integrating an astronaut's schedule in with our filming schedule is certainly very challenging. So in that sense, this stood out as both uniquely challenging and uniquely satisfying. As an IMAX filmmaker, it was one of the few times I got to spend the whole film production within the

continental United States. I'm usually traveling someplace more exotic. I hope someday maybe you'll make the sequel and get to do it from space. That would be fun, wouldn't it? Wouldn't that be wonderful? As our cameras get smaller, getting this ultra-high definition footage in and from space is

ever more possible. So that's a great future. As you said, Mark, for the time being, an IMAX film like this, and specifically this one, Journey to Space 3D, is about the closest a lot of us will ever get. So thank you for bringing us that experience. And best of luck as you continue to make these grand experiences. Thanks, Matt. It's been great talking with you. And we've been talking with Mark Crenzine. He is the writer and director of Journey to Space 3D, very possibly currently playing or about to play at a large format, an IMAX theater somewhere near you in the United States and a few other spots around the world. This world that you can see below you if you get to see this film.

We'll look out to space when we go to have a conversation with Bruce Betts for this week's edition of What's Up. Let's take a look at what's up in the night sky. Bruce Betts, the Director of Science and Technology for the Planetary Society, has arrived virtually and is here to take us on the tour. Welcome back. Thank you, Matt. It's exciting. We got the best meteor shower of the year, at least on average.

The Geminid meteor shower peaks the night of December 13th, 14th. The really cool thing is the moon will not conflict with the viewing after it sets in the early evening. So go out if you can on the night of the 13th, or if not, if it's cloudy or something, try a night before or after, and stare up at the sky. And from a really dark site, you may see up to 100 meteors per hour, which means a few meteors in a bright metropolitan area. Okay, I hope we have a very clear night and a blackout. I hope for your sake we don't. On to this week in space history. In 1972,

Apollo 17 landed on the moon, the last spacecraft carrying humans to the moon. And in 1995, 20 years ago, the Galileo probe was sent into the atmosphere of Jupiter and returned data as it descended. It also began the successful multi-year Galileo at Jupiter orbiter mission. Yeah, to be followed this year by the next visitor to Jupiter, right? Juno is getting there soon. Indeed. We move on to, oh, random space fact. I think the dog next door is concerned about you. Oh, well, tell him I'm okay.

I'll do that right after we're done. In part because of the Japanese Akatsuki probe, which as discussed earlier, went into orbit around Venus on its second try, an amazing accomplishment. So here is an Akatsuki fact. Its name means dawn in English, meaning there are two missions named dawn orbiting in our solar system in 2015. One now at Venus and for a while now, the other, Don, at Ceres. Okay, we're ready to move on to this interesting trivia question. What was the only case in which a launch escape system was fired with a crew aboard while the rocket was still on the pad? How'd we do, Matt?

Really interesting response to this. Everybody got it right, but a lot of people were quite surprised. There were a couple of people who wrote about experiences in the American, the U.S. space program, but these were on uncrewed rockets where the launch system did its job, or in one case apparently didn't do it very well, took off without the capsule. Not what you want. Oopsie. That's a bad day. Go ahead and tell us a little bit about this, and then I'll mention our winner for this week and some other interesting stories. This was the 1983, and the crew survived. The launch escape system, as it was designed to do, but the only time it's ever been used, had to be used with humans.

The launch escape system took the crew away seconds before the rocket exploded. So the way these things work is they have little rockets on top of the spacecraft that disconnect and take the capsule, take them a couple of kilometers away. And indeed, it did that successfully right before this rocket exploded. Very, very scary. And there is video of this, according to regular listener Anders Brolin in Sweden. Not just according to him, I've now seen it because Anders provided the link. It's on YouTube.

I'm not sure that we can legally link to it from the Planetary Society site, but I bet if you Google this or search for it in YouTube, it will pop right up. So thank you, Anders. It is spectacular footage. But our winner, as chosen by Random.org, is Fred Daugert. Fred Daugert in Bellingham, Washington, who indeed said it was this 1983 launch. He has won a big prize package. He's getting the Planetary Radio T-shirt.

He's also getting a set of 2016 Year in Space desk and wall calendars, which you can check out at yearinspace.com, and that 200-point itelescope.net astronomy account for their worldwide non-profit network of telescopes which is also pretty cool. Now the most interesting answer that we got was from Craig O'Donnelly in Agoura Hills, California. He says, I knew the answer to this question immediately since I was told the story in person by Colonel Vladimir Titov as he trained for Atlantis's STS-86 mission in Houston. Colonel Titov told me that he only had seconds to

abort. A lot of people said it was two seconds before the rocket exploded. Craig says all he could say was, wow. What a harrowing experience. Both of the cosmonauts on that later flew on space shuttle missions. We also heard from an amazing number of people how the cosmonauts were greeted when they were recovered about four kilometers, apparently,

away from the launch site. Cigarettes and vodka. Daryl Gardner, not surprisingly, said, right stuff or not, I think I would need a double. 17 Gs. Oh, my God. Wow. That probably led to some temporary unconsciousness. I bet it did.

Yeah. See the Martian, everybody, and you'll see how it works. How about next time? Back to Akatsuki. It is the first successful Japanese planet orbiter. First time they went into orbit around a planet. But what was the first Japanese lunar orbiter? This is tricky.

Part of the interest, I think, in the story is that it is tricky and not well-known. Dig into that. Go to planetary.org slash radio contest. You have until the 15th of December 2015, and not well known. Dig into that. Go to planetary.org slash radio contest. You have until the 15th of December, 2015, Tuesday the 15th at 8 a.m. Pacific time to get us the answer this time around. And you know what?

We'll do the big holiday prize package once again. You are so generous. I'm just giving it away. It's the Planetary Radio t-shirt, but also a set of 2016 Uran Space Desk and wall calendars, and a 200-point itelescope.net astronomy account. All right, we're done. All right, everybody, go out there, look up at the night sky, and think about paper, because it's cool.

Thank you, and good night. That's Bruce Betts, the Director of Science and Technology for the Planetary Society, headed out to the desert with me. the Director of Science and Technology for the Planetary Society. Headed out to the desert with me. You'll probably hear some about that next week as we cover the Planetary Deep Drill Project. But we'll leave that for a week from now. He joins us every week here on What's Up.

Planetary Radio is produced by the Planetary Society in Pasadena, California and is made possible by its meteoric members. Danielle Gunn is our associate producer. Josh Doyle, creative theme music. I'm Matt Kaplan. Clear skies.