Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science - Congressman John Culberson on a Good Day for Space

Episode Date: December 22, 2015

The newly-approved federal budget includes great news for fans of space exploration and development. Texas Congressman John Culberson led the fight for a Europa mission, the SLS rocket, commercial crew and more. He tells us why on this week’s show.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A good day for space in Washington, D.C., 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. The United States finally has a budget for the remainder of this federal fiscal year, and that budget has lots of good news for NASA and space exploration. We'll talk with one of its architects, Congressman John Culberson. We'll also get a brief overview from Planetary Society Director of Advocacy Casey Dreyer, checking in from San Francisco, where he was attending the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

Later, I'll let you know who has won a signed copy of Randall Munroe's Thing Explainer. And Bruce Betts will help me provide another chance to win this great new book. We begin with Senior Editor Emily Lakdawalla. Emily, I have to say I was really torn this week because you have a slightly newer entry with a great geological detective story, actually a couple of stories about Curiosity on Mars. But these Rosetta images are so spectacular that I really think you ought to talk about these. We sort of hinted at this treasure trove last week.

It's really quite an amazing treasure trove. It's been a long wait to get these photos. Rosetta carries a couple of cameras, and many of the images we've seen up until now have come from NavCam, which is an engineering camera. It takes pretty cool looking pictures because the comet's really exciting, but it doesn't hold a candle to OSIRIS, which is the science imager. It's one of the highest resolution science imagers ever sent to as a distant target. Blow up images, and the detail is absolutely incredible. So it's been a long wait to get the data. The data that's been released is a little on the old side. We're talking up until about September of 2014. But it's just amazing, all of it. 5,000

images, and they're just beautiful, every one of them. You've had some challenges in processing these, but there were also little gifts, I guess. I mean, is it true that the same thing that made it difficult to add color to these also made for beautiful 3D? Yeah. So what's happening there is that when spacecraft take color pictures, most commonly they do that with a black and white camera with a filter wheel in front of it. And you rotate a red, a green, and a blue filter in order in front of the camera and take three separate pictures, and then you just combine them on Earth. The problem is that the spacecraft is moving, and the comet rotates very quickly and has a very lumpy shape, so that when time passes in between those different filter images, it means that the three different filter images don't overlay on each other very well. There's perspective shift between them, and it introduces color fringes.

It makes color images very difficult. It also doesn't help that the comet itself is not particularly colorful. But you can take advantage of that perspective shift to make 3D images. You take the first and the last image from a sequence, and there's enough perspective shift in between them to simulate two different eyes in a stereo picture. And you can do that with just about every color observation that Rosetta did. And the results, again, are just spectacular. Extremely dramatic. I mean, these are just not to be missed. Were you surprised by the drama of the terrain that we're looking at? You know, it's such a funky shaped world. It's like it's almost impossible to find a place where

there isn't crazy and dramatic topography with these isolated boulders on these smooth plains and these pinnacles of icy, dusty material and lumpy shapes and two lobes of this funky-shaped comet. It's just great. And I know you've already put a lot of time into these images, as have other amateur so-called image processors around the world. There's much more to come, right? Absolutely. Emily, thank you so much for all you do. And do take a look at this stuff if you have time at planetary.org. Also, that Curiosity entry that ends with a beautiful picture of the same kind of sand dune

that several of us talked about on last week's show when we were out visiting Planetary Deep Drill. Emily Lakdawalla is the senior editor, the planetary evangelist for the Planetary Society, and a contributing editor to Sky and Telescope magazine. Now we're going to spend a couple of minutes with Casey Dreyer to talk about the brand new NASA budget, part of the massive omnibus budget bill passed by Congress last week. And this will help us prepare for a conversation with Representative John Culberson. Casey, we understand that this is good news for space fans, but just how good is it? Matt, it's not good.

This is great news. Here in the space policy community, this even took us by surprise how good this budget is. Wow. We only have a couple of minutes here. We will give people a chance to hear a longer conversation that you and I will have posted at planetary.org or actually on the show page that you can easily find from planetary.org slash radio. Bet it'll be in the Planetary Society SoundCloud account and elsewhere.

We have time for maybe three or four of the highlights. What should we be most excited about? Well, Matt, for the last four years, at least, at the Planetary Society, we've been working for one thing, to restore NASA's Planetary Science Division back to its average historical average of $1.5 billion a year. We had those big cuts in 2012. We've been getting closer every year. In 2016, we had got $1.63 billion for planetary science. We blew through our goal this year. This is the best planetary science budget at NASA in 10 years. That is an

amazing step in this budget. That's my personal highlight because we at the Planetary Society and tens of thousands of people and our members have been writing for so many years to get this budget back up. We got a big boost to spending on Europa. Europa is declared that it must have a lander. So that'll be interesting to see what NASA does with that. Other big things, very important commercial crew at NASA got its full amount of the request, $1.24 billion. Very important for that program to keep it moving along. The SLS program got a massive boost to $2 billion this year and to start working on

its exploration upper stage, which you actually need to get you on a direct launch course out to Jupiter, say, if you want to launch a mission there directly, maybe one to Europa. So it's just a great budget all around. Everything won, basically. There are very few losers in this budget. And it's very happy to kind of go through and see all these great things. I will be talking with Representative Culberson from Texas, who played a big part in putting this portion of this omnibus budget together. If you had the chance, what one question would you want to ask him? What's next?

Representative Filberson is a great supporter of NASA and a greater supporter of planetary science, and it's one of those great examples of how we can build this bipartisan, or I would even argue nonpartisan coalition of Democrats and Republicans and everybody in Congress to lead the way in promoting what can we do with NASA. It's going to be very exciting. Casey, thanks so much for this short summary. He has many other details in his December 16th blog entry at planetary.org, of course. And there will be that much longer conversation that Casey and I will have, which will be available on this week's show page. Thanks, and keep up the good work. I bet people, you've run into some excited folks there at AGU as well. It's all sinking in. We're all kind of stunned. So we'll get home and have, it's our early

Christmas present for everybody. That is Casey Dreyer, the Planetary Society's Director of Advocacy. And in just a few moments, Representative John Culberson. John Culberson has represented the 7th District in Texas for more than 15 years. He is a member of the House Appropriations Committee. That's a group that is usually described with the word powerful. More importantly for our purposes, Congressman Culberson chairs the Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee that oversees the work of agencies including NASA. Now I know what some of you may be thinking, a Texas Republican in charge of science?

Let me suggest that you put that stereotype on the shelf as you hear from someone who is as passionate a fan of space exploration as anyone who has been on this show. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us on Planetary Radio, and congratulations on the vote that was just hours ago as we speak. Thank you, Matt. It's good to be with you, and I'm excited to have been able to help spearhead this effort to give NASA the strongest vote of confidence they've ever received in the history of the agency. Now, I'm almost embarrassed to talk to you about this slice of this bill that is barely 1% of the $1.1 trillion bill, but it's a pretty good day for space fans, isn't it?

trillion dollar bill, but it's a pretty good day for space fans, isn't it? This is truly a turning point, I think, for NASA. They today have received their largest appropriation in the history of the agency. This is the strongest vote of confidence that the Congress, the American people have ever given NASA. My goal when I became chairman of the Commerce Justice Science Committee was to restore NASA to the glory days of Apollo and then lay the foundation for them to go to the next level in order to achieve the dream of seeking out new life and new civilizations and going boldly where no one's gone before by discovering life on another world. I'm proud to report I kept my word, and with this bill today, I've got NASA, with the help of my colleagues, on track to achieve all those dreams of restoring in the short term, returning to the glory days of Apollo, and then longer term, discovering life on other worlds, which will enable us to take NASA to the next level.

Congressman, I hardly ever ignore a quote from Star Trek, but I'm going to do that this time because of our limited time. I'm going to do that this time because of our limited time. If we can get into some specifics. Now, we heard some of the details from our Director of Advocacy, Casey Dreyer, just a few moments ago. I'd like to get into some of your thoughts about these. And let's begin with a certain moon that I hear you have a picture of in your office, a moon of Jupiter. Yes, NASA has always funded and flown the top priority missions of the Decadal survey of planetary scientists until recently, last decade and this decade, Matt, they recommended that NASA go explore the ocean moon of Jupiter, Europa, because it is the most likely place where we will discover life outside the Earth. Yet the Bush administration and the Obama administration have continued to ignore

that important mission. And as an amateur astronomer, as a passionate fan of NASA and the space program going up in Houston, those astronauts have all been my heroes all my life, I understand that the only way we're going to be able to take NASA to the next level, to achieve all the dreams that we want them to be able to do, is to electrify the public and galvanize the support of the nation behind them. And that can only happen with a monumental discovery like the discovery of life on another world. So that's why I'm so focused on Europa. The planetary science community understands when we go to Europa, it's very likely we will discover life in those oceans.

And at that moment, that will be a transformational moment in human civilization, larger than Neil Armstrong setting foot on the moon. So I have had to drag NASA kicking and screaming, but we will go to Europa. We will land on the surface. JPL and Ames are absolutely confident they can do it, and the only way to determine if there's life in those oceans is to land on the surface. So this mission will happen. The scientific community has convinced me that they can do it, and we're very likely going to discover life in that ocean.

And at that moment, that will change our entire view of the universe. The public will step up and support NASA to the level they need to take us to the next step, and that is to develop interstellar rocket propulsion, identifying Earth-like planets around nearby stars, and maybe even, we hope, the spectrographic signature of technological civilization. I want to be the help discover life in another world and then lay the foundation for the far future to develop interstellar rocket propulsion so our children and grandchildren

can be there when we first go into orbit around an Earth-like planet around Alpha Centauri. Holy cow, Congressman, you're making my audience pretty happy with all of this, I think. So there is this language, as we heard from Casey, that supports not an orbiter but a lander, or at least in addition, a lander on Europa that you've just mentioned. What does this mean for the plans that are currently underway for Europa Clipper? Really, it's a Jupiter orbiter, but that would be getting close to Europa periodically. I'd recommend your listeners go to the Ars Technica website and look for my friend Eric Berger, who is the chief science writer for the Houston Chronicle for many years. He's now the science editor at Ars Technica. I've given Eric Berger the exclusive access to all the first reports of what's happening on the Europa mission. And every time I get a detailed briefing on the mission and what's happening,

I call Eric Berger first. So if folks want to know what's happening, go to the Ars Technica website. Of course, I'll keep Planetary Society updated. But the lander will not in any way diminish the capability of the orbiter. In fact, it will enhance it. And again, think about it. Why go all that way unless we're going to answer the most fundamental question of all, are we alone? The only way to determine if we're alone is to land on the surface and taste that ice and characterize the thickness of the ice and what's living underneath that ice, if anything. And almost certainly there's life in that ocean of Europa. It's been shielded from asteroid impact and

radiation for the entire life of the moon. Unlike the Earth, which has been sterilized repeatedly by asteroid strikes, that radiation of Jupiter has stripped away the hydrogen atoms and enriched that ice with oxygen. The surface is no more than 65 million years old, so that oxygen-enriched ice, Matt, has been plunging back down into that Europan Ocean and oxygenating that ocean. Bob Ballard, discoverer of the Titanic, has told me the entire volume, now think about this, the entire volume of Earth's oceans circulate through the mid-ocean vents every four to six million years. They've got to let that soak in for a minute because that means that all of the chemical ingredients that are so essential for life have been injected into Earth's oceans

by those mid-ocean ridges throughout the history of the Earth. Well, that's happening under the ice of Europa. That 100-kilometer-deep saltwater ocean on Europa is being not only protected from radiation and asteroid strikes, but it's been oxygenated and it's being injected with all the chemical ingredients necessary for life. It's like a cocoon. It's just embryo over there. It's just absolutely ideal for life to have emerged. Europa has had no advocate. That's the other reason I stepped up to do this is I recognized that how extraordinary it would be to have a hand in discovering life in another world,

and I wanted to be a part of that. And I recognize that without that discovery, NASA cannot go to the next level. That truly will be an electrifying moment in the history of civilization and light up the American public, and we'll be able to see the investments that are necessary to take us to that next level. By the way, I also created in this bill an Ocean Worlds Exploration Program so that we not only are exploring the oceans of Europa, but there will be follow-on missions to explore the oceans of Enceladus and the seas of Titan. And then I hope towards the time I've got

as chairman here and the time I've got in Congress to follow on, The next mission to Europa will carry a submersible that Dr. Ballard is helping JPL design and brainstorm that will melt its way through the ice and drop out into the Europan Ocean and sniff out those black smokers on the bottom of the Europan Ocean and film and explore whatever life there is beneath that ice shell. That'll be the next mission to Europa, and I'm going to help make sure that happens too. Exciting stuff. What do you think of the chances that that Europa lander might get there up on top of a Space Launch System booster? It's mandatory. In fact, the way I've written the bill, and I want to thank Senator Shelby for his help

and my colleagues in the Appropriations Committee, my colleagues in Congress. This language that I put in there had universal support from everybody once I walked them through it, that the Europa mission, the Europa orbiter and lander must be flown on a space launch system. That heavy lift rocket is the only one capable of carrying this big payload. It'll get us to Europa far more quickly. The lander will have the same scientific payload capacity as the Mars Spirit and Opportunity landers. So it will be a very robust lander with a lot of capacity. And I've also made certain that the lander will have two independent ways of verifying the presence of organic molecules, the signs of life. organic molecules, the signs of life. And when it lands, it'll use the same sky crane as they used on the Mars Science Lab and the airbag technology they used on the Spirit and Opportunity

Lander. JPL and Ames are absolutely confident they can do this. Remember, JPL has the motto in its front hallway, dare mighty things. Very true. I've seen it. We'll continue our visit with Texas Congressman John Culberson in a minute. This is Planetary Radio. 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, Merk. Is that right? Planetary TV. So I can watch them on my television?

No. So wait a minute. Planetary TV's 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, Merk? Well, you can watch it all at planetary.org slash tv. Welcome back to Planetary Radio. I'm Matt Kaplan. John Culberson has the seat once held by President George H.W. Bush. He chairs the House Subcommittee that keeps watch over the science activities of the federal government, and that includes the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA. The congressman just pushed through what he says is the best agency budget ever.

He told us before the break that increased funding for the Space Launch System, or SLS, will make sure the huge rocket is ready to carry not just an orbiter, but a lander to Jupiter's ocean moon, Europa, making the trip much faster than has ever been achieved before. Let's talk a little bit more about that big rocket. What other uses do you foresee for SLS? And in particular, I'm wondering if you think that it might play a part in getting humans, if not to the surface of Mars, maybe at least in orbit around Mars.

The SLS is essential to carry humans into deep space, not only to Mars eventually, but in the near term to CIS lunar space to be able to, for example, make certain that we can refuel and replenish and restock deep space missions with humans. We also have to demonstrate the ability to protect humans from deep space radiation and the exposure to, you know, coronal mass ejections or solar radiation, bad solar storms. That is an area that's got to be nailed down before we send humans onto deep space long exposure missions. And a lot of that work is being done in the Texas Medical Center. And by the way, I don't physically represent any NASA facilities. I know a lot of people think, well, why is he doing this?

I don't. No, I have maybe a handful of jobs. I represent the far west and northwest side of Houston. NASA's on the Johnson Space Center's on the far east side. I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do for the right reason. There's no better investment we can make in the future security of the United States of America than to invest in the sciences and space exploration. NASA is a strategic asset. It's vital for the nation, all the spinoffs for the economy.

But above all, what else does the federal government do that can touch the human heart and inspire people as much as the exploration of space and the work that NASA does? It's one of the most uplifting and exciting things that I've ever had the privilege of doing. And I just, you know, I'm so, I'm abundantly blessed as a father and a husband, but to be the representative for West Houston, it's an extraordinary district. It's so successful, and I'm very grateful to them for giving me the privilege of helping ensure that our laws are enforced, the Department of Justice, the law enforcement, FBI, but above all, that I get to help restore NASA to the glory days of Apollo.

Doesn't get much better than that. Congressman, we could keep going. There's so much in this bill, just the stuff that touches NASA. But just maybe one other specific here, and that's about Commercial Crew, which did pretty well in this. And I know that you, I've been told anyway, that you have a little bit of skepticism here, but it was fully funded. Oh, I'm actually

a big believer in the Yellow Pages test. If I can find a function of the government in the Yellow Pages, you ought to privatize it. I'm a free market fiscal conservative, a constitutional conservative. I want the government out of our lives, out of our pockets, out of our way. Just leave me alone. Let Texans run Texas. And so I'm a big believer in privatization. I strongly support commercial, making sure we get Americans back into space as quickly as possible using every available avenue that we can, and that includes the private sector. So I was happy to help make sure that the commercial crew program is fully funded, that SLS is funded. SLS is essential for deep space exploration, both robotic and human. And the commercial flight is commercial crew programs essential to get back into low Earth orbit. We have simply got to have Americans going back into space on American made rockets as fast as humanly possible.

And with the help of my colleagues, I was proud to spearhead this effort today to finally give NASA the resources they need to get back to the glory days of Apollo. We are on track, and I'm keeping my word, to keep America in the premier leadership role in the world, both in space exploration and scientific research. You talked already about the support that you got from this, both sides of the aisle, both the House and the Senate. Both sides of the aisle, both the House and the Senate. Have you found that the NASA budget is maybe a way to bridge some of the differences, find common ground between the parties? The work that NASA does is just pure good. There's just no difference between Republicans or Democrats, no matter who you are.

We all share the same need as human beings to know what's on the other side of that hill, what lies at the top of that mountain. It's an urge to explore and discover that is central to who we are as human beings. And NASA is the one part of the work of the federal government that can touch that part of the human heart, the human spirit, and uplifts us all. And there are no party labels. This is just pure good and something that gives me great joy. And I'm very grateful to the people in my district for entrusting me with this job.

As a fiscal conservative, I do all I can to save money, to cut spending, to make sure our tax dollars are wisely spent. And, of course, we'll be sure that this money, these hard-earned tax dollars that are going to NASA are wisely spent. But the people of Houston, the people of Texas understand, as the whole country does, that NASA is very special, that they do something that nobody else can do. And we're going to continue to support them as long as I'm chairman of the Commerce Justice Science Committee. do. And we're going to continue to support him as long as I'm chairman of the Commerce Justice Science Committee. I'll do all I can to ensure NASA has the resources to seek out new life and new civilizations and boldly go where no one has ever gone before. Love that line. One last question for you, Congressman. Obviously, we're headed toward a good year for NASA and for space fans.

How do we keep this up? And what role does the public play? Public support's essential to ensure that their local congressmen, their members, their senators understand how vital NASA's mission is. I hope that the members of the Planetary Society can not only just talk about the planetary program in general, but will stay focused on the support for the Europa mission in particular, that orbiter and lander, which by the way, the way I've written the bill, the only mission that is illegal for NASA not to fly is the mission to Europa. They've been so hard-headed about it, and it's mandatory that they land on the surface. And I'd encourage members of the Planetary Society to not only advocate to support NASA,

to give them the resources they need to do all that's on their plate, but to specifically support this Europa flagship mission, that this Europa orbiter lander needs to be the biggest, best flagship mission NASA has ever flown, because it holds the very real promise of discovering life in another world for the first time in human history. And that, again, is a transformational moment in the history of humankind and something that we can do in our lifetimes. And that's a rare opportunity. And I need the help of the Planetary Society to make sure that dream comes true so we can then take NASA to the next level.

Thank you, Congressman. And once again, congratulations on the passage of this budget. Things are looking up. And I think I'll add, live long and prosper. Thank you very much. It's a privilege to be with you to work with the Planetary Society. The advocacy work you do is essential, and I'm very grateful to all the members who sent letters, made phone calls, sent emails. Keep it up.

And again, as long as I'm chair of committee, as long as I represent West Houston, I'll only be working to protect America's economy and doing the things my district expects of me, but ensuring that NASA's return to the glory days of Apollo and beyond. Thanks again, Congressman. Thank you. Good to be with you, Matt. Bye-bye. The Honorable John Culberson has been our guest. He represents the 7th District in Houston, Texas. He is a member of the Powerful Appropriations Committee in the House of Representatives. And as you've heard, he chairs the Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee, which oversees the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, along with other agencies, including

the National Science Foundation and NOAA. We will be right back for a holiday conversation with Bruce Betts. That will be this week's edition of What's Up. We finish this holiday edition of Planetary Radio as we always do with What's Up. Bruce Betts is here, the Director of Science and Technology for the Planetary Society, ready to tell us about the night sky. And we have the results of a couple of contests. Welcome back. Holiday greetings, Matt.

Thank you very much. Please get us started. What's going to be up in those holiday skies? All five planets visible with just your eyes are going to be visible, although a couple of them will be more challenging. In the evening sky, over the next couple weeks, Mercury will be low above the southwest horizon as twilight fades out. So 30 to 45 minutes after sunset, only up for a couple weeks. Then in the pre-dawn, we've got a line of four. Saturn will be tricky, but it'll keep getting easier as the weeks go along.

Low in the east in the pre-dawn. Above that is Venus looking super bright. Then Mars looking dimmer and reddish. And Jupiter also looking very bright, highest up in the pre-dawn sky. It's a party. Presence for all of us up there. This week in space history. In 1968, Apollo 8 went into lunar orbit, putting humans into lunar orbit for the first time. And in 2003, 12 years ago, Mars Express entered orbit.

European Space Agency, Mars Express, still working, still doing great. One of those senior citizens up there above Mars. On to a random space fact. Comets are from the dark side. Most comet nuclei reflect just three to six percent of incoming light, making them as dark as charcoal. They don't look that way in pictures because they're adjusted to see that object, and so you brighten it up in contrast. But they're typically very, very, very dark. So beware, Matt.

I will, and this explains why, in spite of it being part of that dark club, those images that I was talking with Emily about look so darn good. Now, before we get into the contest results, the trivia contest results, let me finally, after many weeks, name the winner of this signed copy of Thing Explainer, the terrific new book from Randall Munroe. It is a large format book. I spent a good deal of time over the weekend reading this book because it is just so much fun. It's all in the subtitle, Complicated Stuff in Simple Words, and Randall's fantastic little stick figure drawings, although they're really much more complex than that, that we've all grown to love. Anyway, it's here, and the winner, out of all the

people who entered this separate contest, is Becky Aul. Becky Aul. I don't know where she's from. She didn't say. I'll have to find out. But she does say she's the mother of three science enthusiasts. So congratulations, Becky. Don't forget ThingExplainer. It's going to come up again during the new contest. But let's get through the last one. What did you ask us? Akatsuki, which just went into orbit on its second try, is the first Japanese planet orbiter.

But what was the first Japanese lunar orbiter? And I warned it's a little tricky. How did we do, Matt? Japanese planet orbiter, but what was the first Japanese lunar orbiter? And I warned it's a little tricky. How did we do, Matt? And people dealt with that tricky portion because almost everybody came up with this answer, not of HITEN, a spacecraft that eventually went into orbit, but something it released, I guess. Hagomoro. Hagomoro.

Hagoromo. Hagoromo. Hagoromo. I got it wrong. Okay. Two people who don't speak Japanese trying to correct each other. It's genius. Was that correct, though? Yes. I mean, I'm still not sure on the pronunciation. But yes, it is correct. Although I would have accepted Hagoromo or Hyten. Hagoromo was the first in lunar orbit, and so certainly wins on that account, but it was not transmitting at the time it went into lunar orbit.

So technically the first Japanese lunar orbiter, but not a transmitting spacecraft. Hyten later went into lunar orbit and was their first truly successful lunar orbiter. Congratulations are therefore in order for Tim Peterson, first-time winner of the contest. He's in Clarksville, Arkansas. He is the winner of a Planetary Radio t-shirt, a set of 2016 Year in Space desk and wall calendars, and a 200-point itelescope.net astronomy account.

So congratulations, Tim. We heard from Kevin Hecht as well. He said, how did they, you know, basically how'd they know it went into orbit if its radio wasn't working? Well, apparently it was spotted by big telescopes. Do you know anything about that? Can you confirm that? That's certainly the report. I don't know the details of it, though. Finally, this response from among the many that we received for this week's contest, it just is entertaining. It came from Boreana Petrova

in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She said, Love your show, especially during working hours as I dissect tiny fly ovaries and try to sit very still. Your show is often... I know, I know. Your show is often too exciting.

Thank you for your great work. It really enriches my days, but I guess we make our hands shake. I am rarely this way, but I am speechless. I know. So are the flies. Okay, we can go on to the next contest. I don't know if you noticed, but there was a kind of popular movie that came out recently. Oh, yeah, yeah, Sisters. It's not bad.

Yeah, yeah. And so this is my fabulous attempt at connecting to that movie. Here's the question. Last millennium, what Apollo spacecraft was named Falcon. Last millennium, what Apollo spacecraft? So the mission number and the type of spacecraft that it was is what I'm looking for. What Apollo spacecraft was named Falcon? Go to planetary.org slash radio contest. You have until the 29th, Tuesday, December 29th at 8 a.m. Pacific time to get us the answer.

And I have one more signed copy, signed by Randall Munroe, his new book, Thing Explainer, Complicated Stuff in Simple Words. That and a Planetary Radio t-shirt will go to the winner of this new contest. And we're done. All right, everybody, go out there,

look up at the night sky, and think about what I often think about. Has Matt gone over to the dark side? Thank you, and good night. You do not understand the power of the dark. Ah, never mind. He's the Director of Science and Technology for the Planetary Society,

definitely on the bright side of the force. He joins us every week here for What's Up. Planetary Radio is produced by the Planetary Society in Pasadena, California and is made possible by its happy members. Daniel Gun Radio is produced by the Planetary Society in Pasadena, California, and is made possible by its happy members. Daniel Gunn is our associate producer. Josh Doyle created the theme music. I'm Matt Kaplan. Clear skies.