Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science - Countdown to Artemis, The Return to the Moon

Episode Date: September 7, 2022

Come with us to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for our special coverage of the first attempt to launch the giant Space Launch System rocket toward the Moon. You’ll hear astronaut Thomas Pesquet, “Everyday Astronaut” Tim Dodd, NASA Associate Administrator Thomas Zurbuchen, and much more. Then take your best shot at winning the Artemis 1 prize package in this week’s space trivia contest. There’s more to discover at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/2022-artemis-1-launch-special-coverageSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join us for the first attempt to launch Artemis I this week on Planetary Radio. We have NASA's Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft out on historic launch pad 39B. The launch window opens in less than 24 hours. That's very exciting to say it's going to be humanity's first step in going back to the moon. very exciting to say it's going to be humanity's first step in going back to the moon. Welcome. I'm Matt Kaplan of the Planetary Society with more of the human adventure across our solar system and beyond. Another very special show this week as we travel to Florida's Space Coast for the first attempt to launch the giant Space Launch System rocket. We have lots of special coverage, including conversations with NASA Associate Administrator Thomas Zurbuchen,

NASA Chief Scientist Kate Calvin, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, everyday astronaut Tim Dodd, and many others. In fact, we talked with too many people to include in one show. You'll hear our conversations with the leaders of the European Space Agency, ESA, the German Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency next week. They and at least 100,000 others, including 800 members of the media, had come to the Kennedy Space Center for what we hoped would be the first launch of the SLS.

As you know, it was not to be. Both the August 29th and September 3rd attempts were scrubbed. As we publish this week's show, NASA has not yet announced when it will try again. Engineers still need to fix the serious liquid hydrogen leak that ended the second launch attempt. So, no actual launch to bring you, but it was still a wonderful trip. Just a little bit of other space news before we get started, and it begins with a sad announcement. Astronomy, science, and all of humanity have lost one of the greats. Frank Drake has died. The pioneer in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence was 92. I was so honored to have Frank as my guest several times. We've got a link to the first of those shows on this week's episode

page at planetary.org slash radio. Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye also recorded this brief tribute. I was at Cornell when Frank Drake and Carl Sagan were at Cornell, and they talked a lot about what it would take to find life on another planet. And Frank Drake came up with the famous equation, the Drake equation, which has influenced astrobiologists all over this planet. So thank you, Frank. You changed the world. this planet. So thank you, Frank. You changed the world. There's more space news in the Downlink, our free weekly newsletter, including the announcement of four papers based on data returned by the Perseverance rover from Jezero crater on Mars. You'll find it at planetary.org slash downlink. It's 651 in the morning. I'm standing in a field on the edge of a body of water here at the

Kennedy Space Center watching a nearly impossibly beautiful sunrise. Out in front of me is the huge digital clock that right now says there is an hour, 11 minutes, and 43 seconds left in the countdown to the launch of Artemis I. But will it happen this morning? Engineers are still dealing with a lot of difficulties. As we wait to see if this is going to happen during this first launch window on Monday, August 29th, 2022, we will share with you some of the other great stuff that we've been catching, interviews we've done here at the Cape as NASA and its partners prepare for this first launch of the giant space launch system. Let's back up a day. It's Sunday, August 28th. NASA has brought a roomful of global all-stars to what is usually

a dining room at the Kennedy Space Center. The gigantic Vehicle Assembly Building is a short walk away. I first sat down with NASA's Thomas Zurbuchen, a highly respected associate administrator of the agency's Science Mission Directorate. I just told Thomas about my visit to JPL for the 45th anniversary of the Voyager mission. You may have heard my coverage of that celebration in our August 31st show. Nikki Fox, of course, she went there as the Heliophysics Director, rightly so,

and I sent her my regards. I was really sad I couldn't be there at Stone, both as a Voyager leader, a JPL leader, but also the principal investigator of ACE, for which I ran two instruments and I built one. He was just one of my mentors for many, many years, just an incredible man. Nick, you shared your regrets that you weren't able to be with us at JPL for that great party. It really was a wonderful celebration. They even had cake. That's amazing. That's good. They should.

You don't get to 45-year anniversaries all that often. It really was a wonderful celebration. They even had cake. That's amazing. That's good. They should. It's like you don't get to 45-year anniversaries all that often. We're here for something else altogether, of course. We just mentioned to you that we came from the Sunday press briefing. Less than 24 hours to go before launch. Everything is looking good. Yes, it's wonderful. You know, like Florida is always this

time of year, kind of a little bit more turbulent in terms of weather. So it's great that that's working. I also know that on the technical side, the team has been really clean. So I've been in all of the reviews from the beginning of the week. I've been and kind of followed the team along. So it's just really great to see how the team is really like clockwork moving towards it. Let's talk about the science in this mission, but also the overall science potential of the Artemis program, which I know you have been a big part of making sure that science is kept top of mind in all of this. Obviously, that's a concern for many others. I mean, you saw the Planetary Science Decadal Survey,

which also expressed some concerns and made recommendations. What is the current status? What is the place of science within Artemis? So I think what's really different about Artemis as compared to other initiatives that we're seeking to focus on the moon is a deep integration of science from the work goal and needless to say you do Artemis 1, 2, 3 you try to do these technological demonstrations which are really really hard the most

important objective when it comes to human exploration is that the astronaut comes back safely and that that is a core objective. It would not be rational to think any differently. However, as we go, even during these flights, but as we go beyond, it's really important to start changing the narrative and get to opportunistic science, which is at the beginning of what we're doing, to science-driven, which is what the decadal has outlined as some of the objectives of future Artemis missions. So I think we have the right dialogue. We've really moved from even the last 10 years from kind of in terms of integration,

I think we're all of one mind. And many people tell me sometimes the science community was quite critical. It's like, well, we can do all the science we want with robots. And I always ask them, it's like, look, I mean, there's very dangerous places on Earth, like volcanoes, the Antarctic. You're not setting robots there, right? Because you know that the human and the loop add so much to exploration. And that, of course, is another good point to bring up in terms of not just lunar exploration,

but Mars exploration, that partnership that most people see is going to be essential between the human side and the robotic side. We just had Richard Cook on the program talking about Mars sample return, that holy grail that you're all looking forward to, we are all looking forward to so much. Do you see that continuing into this era with humans back on the moon and humans going to Mars? Absolutely. I think what we're really trying to do with the Artemis program is, of course, go to the moon first, kind of really establish that presence that, you know, and the only reason to have sustainable presence on the moon is science.

Exploration, exploitation is kind of a kind of especially exploitation is a secondary objective that over time will also talk to sustainability but science is why we're doing it and it's that spirit that will bring us forward too. That's also why we've invested right away in the gateway which is that outpost that really helps us learn kind of to live in a spacecraft that's much more similar to how we will go to Mars. So it absolutely will and has to move forward in that integrated fashion. So Artemis I, not without science, I'm thinking in particular of those secondary payloads, which maybe we can talk a little bit more about in a moment, but also within the capsule.

And I don't know if SMD has had something to do with I mean we know that there are these human figures in the capsule to help us understand better the radiation environment the human factors side is that something you're also involved with here in SMD we're not putting our own money in it but I'm deeply aware of it of course what we have done and what we're doing is we're interested in exploring the radiation that humans will face as they leave the low Earth orbit, which is a radiation environment that's much more benign because of the magnetic field, the big Earth underneath you with space storms and so forth, both exploring that radiation, but also understanding how it affects humans. And the question also whether vests of the type that are being flown on these dummies can shield humans from some of the most damaging radiation is very much in our interest.

I mean, frankly, our heliophysics division, Dr. Fox, Nikki Fox, who's running that, is in a very primary way focused on space weather and technologies, not just off the Earth, but off explorers beyond the Earth orbit. And those secondary payloads, those little CubeSats, which, if all goes well, are going to be carried up there by the Space Launch System as well. Now, of course, we're the Planetary Society. We're partial to NEA Scout, the Near-Earth Aspirate Scout. But there are some other fascinating spacecraft. Oh, yeah. So there's a number of them. If you want, they fall in a bunch of categories.

We already talked about the solar sail mission there, which, you know, first job I ever had was with solar sails. So I'm a big fan. mission there, which, you know, first job I ever had was with solar cells, so I'm a big fan. And there's other technologies, you know, including the Japanese kind of crasher onto the moon and see whether it can survive. I think, what do they call it, a semi-soft landing? It doesn't feel that soft to me when I look at the plan. But, you know, I mean, I think it's really interesting to see whether we can do that. Of course, there's other technology

spaces where we're doing that, kind of violent kind of impacts, but keep staying alive. So doing that. I'm really interested in some of the lunar observations, kind of the lunar age map, the IR mission that's there. So one in epithermal neutrons, the other one in IR, looking at, you know, volatiles or kind of specific traces. And then the other piece, of course, is kind of the biological experiments that we're bringing. Four types of life, yeast, algae, seeds, and so forth. We're bringing those to really look, and some of them genetically modified, to really look at radiation impacts in these DNA setups, which of course will help us again basically understand how radiation affects all life and especially humans.

So pardon my ignorance, but I did not know that you had a background in solar sailing. First of all, what was that job? But also, what are your hopes for NEOScout, an asteroid mission on a solar sail? It's actually funny. If you do a search, one of the first papers I ever wrote, a very low-level journal, was an asteroid mission with a solar sail. I was part of a grad school student in Switzerland where I did it. I was consulted by a company that was called Contravas, which is now Ruach.

They do the fairings of the Ariane rocket, including Vue LA, also the Vulcan rocket. So it's a company that does mechanical engineering. They were really interested in the ability of inflatables that could harden under the radiation of ultraviolet. So I built systems and mechanical models for solar sails of inflatables that could harden under the radiation of ultraviolet. So I built systems and mechanical models for solar sails that were designed that way. That's what I did for two years or so, and eventually published some of this work. And yeah, so that was my first job outside of my grad school.

We're going to be talking with a number of your international colleagues in the other conversations that we have here today who are here to enjoy the launch, but many of them also deeply involved with this launch Artemis program. And I'm thinking of the Artemis Accords, which are bilateral agreements between the U.S. and other nations. But then there are the agencies like ESA. And in general, I guess I'm asking about the importance of these international partnerships. What we're really doing when it comes to big exploration, whether it's the James Webb Space

Telescope, Mars sample return, whether it's Artemis, we're doing it as a world coming together. Many of these kind of aspirations are bigger than one nation or bigger than one continent, and I really believe in that. It's an important ability of space exploration, kind of big space exploration, to unite and to bring together the best that's around. The Artemis Accords are really important, I believe, in this context because what they allow is really kind of a framework in which to go forward,

especially as more commercial partners are coming out there. And, you know, we're excited about the 22 that I've signed. We're excited about seeing more signed. And really bring forward kind of that next level of common understanding of norms of behaviors. I mean, what we don't want to do is take conflicts that may or may not be on Earth and bring those conflicts into space, especially into the exploration realm. And for us, whether it's, you know, the responsible exploration of other worlds, whether it's Mars and so forth, whether it's how we use the resources like the Artemis, of course,

it's important to have these discussions now, and that's what we're for. So, yes, international collaborations are absolutely essential as we go forward, especially with big exploration. Thank you, Dr. Zerbukhin. Go Artemis. Go Artemis, absolutely. Kate Calvin is the still relatively new NASA chief scientist. She follows friends of Planetary Radio, John Grunsfeld, Jim Garvin, Ellen Stofan, and Jim Green. As you'll hear, Kate brings a great background in Earth science to the job.

My colleague, Planetary Society editorial director Ray Paletta, got the conversation going. How are you feeling so far? I am very excited and very happy to be here. As somebody who studies climate science intensively, are you worried at all about what's going to happen to this particular strip of land that we're all on just because of global climate change? Well, climate is changing on Earth and there are impacts everywhere. And so there's coastal erosion, sea level rise, changes in hurricane intensity that come along with warming temperatures. And it is something we pay attention to at NASA.

So we look agency-wide at how climate affects not just providing science to the external public, but also thinking about how it affects our facilities and working and planning that in. One thing that we get a lot about the Planetary Society are questions about why do we go to space when there's so much for us to deal with here on Earth? We learn a lot from going to space, about science, about technologies that we can use on Earth. We inspire new scientists and engineers, and so there's a lot of reasons to go to space. And I'll just give a couple of examples of things we've learned.

So we've learned a lot about Earth from Venus. So some of the studies of Venus on the greenhouse effect and ozone on Venus have informed our understanding of the greenhouse effect and ozone depletion on Earth. So we learn when we go there. In terms of technologies, some of the sensors we develop for some of our spacecraft can actually help us observe Earth. So the James Webb Space Telescope sensors are looking at infrared and it can look at atmospheres of exoplanets.

That technology informed one of our satellites that looks at the atmosphere of Earth and measures the carbon dioxide in that atmosphere. Thinking about particularly long-duration spaceflight, you have to take everything with you, and that sort of forces a thought on sustainability, and what we develop for that, we can use here on Earth to address sustainability issues here. I'm very excited for the upcoming NASA missions to Venus, partially for that reason. What can we learn about it, and how do we not end up like Venus? Yeah, so the greenhouses, the CO2 concentration on Venus is very, very high and it's very hot on the surface and what we learn from that and studying those

planets can help us on Earth because physics are physics and chemistry are chemistry. What's different is what the surface looks like, what the atmosphere is composed of and how far it is from the sun. But we can use that and inform Earth. Well, it does feel like Venus a little bit here today in the middle of August in Florida, but hopefully it doesn't get much worse than that. And then obviously, just to switch gears here for a second, Artemis 1 is an uncrewed mission. But thinking about the future and thinking about subsequent Artemis missions that will be crewed, how can NASA plan to address the threats of radiation on future lunar astronauts' health?

So we have Artemis 1, it's a test of SLS and Orion in preparation for crewed missions. On board Artemis 1 are a lot of science experiments about radiation. So we have some dosimeters in the Orion spacecraft, we have mannequins that are measuring radiation, we have a bio-experiment that's going to look at how radiation affects seeds, yeast, fungi, and algae, and so we'll better understand that environment. Then we also have a CubeSat that's going to look at radiation. So it's got yeast on it and it's going to give us more information about that. So we're learning about radiation, which we know is higher as you get outside a low Earth orbit,

and then we have a whole team in the Human Research Program that looks at that and tries to understand the impacts on human health and what we can do to be better prepared. Of course we know Artemis, the target is not just the moon. It's getting those first humans to Mars as well. And the human factors challenges getting on a mission like that are so tremendous. And not just the radiation environment, but dirt on the moon and dirt on the Mars. They both want to kill you. Do you see us making progress?

So we have a research team that really looks at this. And some of the things that we look at, the factors that might impact human health when you get into space, are radiation, as we've been talking about, isolation, gravity. So gravity is different and our bodies are adapted to gravity on Earth. And when you get out off of Earth, it's different there. And then also the environment. So the conditions in the spacecraft, how much, you know, what the air is like. And we look into all of those and try to understand both the effects on humans, but also, you know, what we can do about that.

Are we making the progress that you think needs to be made for humans to play the role that we all, many of us, hope they will? We are continuing to learn every day and working very hard on it. Crew safety is our number one priority. And part of the way the Artemis is working is it's a series of increasingly complex missions. So we learn from each to better prepare ourselves for the next. So in Artemis I, we're going to learn a lot about the radiation environment, and that'll get us better prepared for subsequent missions. I want to go back to your extensive background in studying climate that you talked with Ray about and the significance of your choice as chief scientist,

not just because of your other qualifications following a long line of terrific chief scientists at NASA, but it must have been very much in people's minds that you brought this side of NASA's work to this as well. So NASA has been doing research on the Earth for decades. A lot of what we understand about how our planet has changed has come from NASA observations and models and research done at NASA, along with research done elsewhere. And part of what I'm trying to do is to really highlight that and help people understand how our planet has changed, how it might change in the future, and what we can help inform people with what we know at NASA.

Thank you, Kate. Where are you going to be tomorrow? I'm going to be at Banana Creek watching on site. We'll be watching along with you. Thanks so much. Thank you so much. Have a you going to be tomorrow? I'm going to be at Banana Creek, watching on site. We'll be watching along with you. Thanks so much. Thank you so much. Have a great day. Go Artemis. Go Artemis. I followed Ray Paletta to another table where we joined ESA astronaut and two-time resident of the International Space Station, Thomas Pesquet. Here's their delightful conversation. I think it's pretty awesome. I can't wait for the launch.

And I'm so happy that we, meaning Europe, get to play a role in it. Here's their delightful conversation. So everybody's focusing on their part of the work, right? Nobody, I mean, almost no one can grasp the entire and the complexity of the entire system, at least of all the astronauts. So we focus on what we have to do, and then someday you get to the rocket. But then sometimes you slow down and you take a moment and you look at everything it took, you know, all the individual work it took and the coordination to get here for such a massive rocket to take to space. So sometimes, you know, it really feels good. You think about all the people who did their best and so it puts some extra pressure on you as well. You don't want to mess it up because so many people have invested so much. But, you know, that's part of the

job. Right. It's like failure is not really much of an option at this point. Yeah, absolutely. We're trying to, so you know the attitude is always the same. Somebody told me that at the beginning of my astronaut career. It won't fail because of me. That's the attitude. You know, you have a scope. There's some things that are under your responsibility. So you make sure that this goes well.

But you cannot control everything. Some other things are going to be under someone else's control. And you cannot be worried about it because otherwise you completely stop sleeping at some point. So the only thing you can do is make sure that what's under your control works and it won't fail because of you. And that's the attitude we try to bring to the table. I think that's a good attitude to have towards most things professionally. Yeah, absolutely. There's so many things that can go wrong. Obviously those are no one's favorite can go wrong. Obviously, those are no one's favorite topics. But the complexity, it takes a series of miracles to go to space.

That's what it feels like. So you do what you can and you trust other people. There's a huge amount of trust. You look at all the smiles, everybody's trusting one another. NASA is trusting ESA, ESA, European Space Agency, is trusting NASA. The astronauts trust the engineers. And the engineers trust the astronauts to do the right thing. So that's all it is. It's a whole big team spirit. Artemis 1 is obviously uncrewed, but if all goes according to plan, humans could have a sustained presence on the moon. How does someone psychologically and emotionally prepare for something like that? I think what we've been doing on the ISS is actually proving grounds for those missions, including psychologically.

I mean, we've been isolated. The typical mission is on the average of six months, but some of our colleagues have been staying for up to a year. So that long-term isolation, the physical effects and the psychological effects have been studied by teams of scientists at NASA and in different labs across the country. So I think actually going to space once is a good preparation. It's the best preparation to go to space a second time is my answer. Everyone's experience is different and subjective, but based on your own, how does space change someone?

I think it's what happens, and it's slowly and it's gradual, but it's your own, how does space change someone? I think it's what happens, and it's slowly and it's gradual, but it's a change of perspective. And I think we're very, I mean, we have tools like mathematics and reasoning and logic, but we're very sentimental animals. I mean, we understand well what we can feel, what we can relate to and that's just how it is, that's just how our brain functions. So we gave ourselves some other tools to grasp the world but really what's speaking to us, what resonates is what we can feel, grasp, see, experience with our senses. So all those phenomenons that happen at the global scale like the size of the earth, you

know global warming, the continents, It's something that you kind of experience firsthand when you go to space and suddenly it becomes much more real than that theory that you've had in your head. So it's really just taking that step back, taking that perspective actually brings things, global things, to the scale of what you can perceive with your senses and then it changes everything. And then suddenly it's not just concepts it's not just theory it's what you've seen it's what what has been experienced by you firsthand so that's what people come back a little bit changed from a trip to space obviously you're a fan of memes uh you have a great twitter account probably the best astronaut twitter account don't tell anyone i said that are Are you planning on memeing the Artemis 1 mission?

And do you have any ideas brewing? I don't so far, but you know what? We have an entire afternoon left to figure it out. And that's also what I like. It's also very spontaneous. You don't need to spend

three weeks thinking about it. I mean, sometimes there's some planning that goes into it. But yeah, I'm a huge fan of relating to people. People use memes and emojis all the time. So we shouldn't be stuck in our communication being all corporate. There's a part of it that's fine, but then we also have to be able to relate to people. So yeah, that's a good idea. I don't

have a definite Artemis meme yet, but I will be working on it, guaranteed. Stay tuned. My cat's name is Artemis. So I mean, it was nice that NASA and ESA made a whole mission about my cat. Yeah, I know. You're welcome, by the way. You're welcome. The Internet loves cats. So if you want to make a space mission interesting, put a cat on it. How did we not think about this before? How did we not? With all the scientists and the brainpower, thank you. Thank you for that. I think the French actually sent a cat into space at the very beginning. So congratulations, French. We've had cats from us before. Something to be proud of. Did you bring your own camera to space,

or do they just have a stash of cameras on the ISS for astronauts to use? They do have a stash of cameras on the ISS. Yeah, and it's professional-grade cameras with all kinds of lenses and equipment. But you know, sometimes you wish you could take just your phone, because now the very modern smartphones, they're amazing to take pictures. They do HDR, like they take high contrast and they give you a good picture. They have wide angles. And I've seen, we had a Russian film crew come up at the time and those guys had their

phones for some reason. I didn't ask questions, but just a snapshot from a modern smartphone, from the Cupola looked amazing. It took so much work for us to get it with a professional camera. Those guys were just snapping with their phones. We were a bit jealous, I admit. Were you always a photographer or did you basically learn to prepare for your time in space? No, I never was a photographer. We were exposed to photography at a basic level during training because you need to be able sometimes to send a snapshot of what you're working on for the mission control to be able to help you out. And then you get some basic training, but it's not really part of the mission, taking pictures of the Earth. The mission is more

about the science that we do inside the pictures here are a bonus that you do in your free time so if you're interested that they'll be more than happy to answer all your questions but you you can't take 250 hours of camera training unfortunately I would have loved to so I started with a basic level I copied what other people have done before Don Pettit is unbelievable he basically invented space photography. So I asked him a ton of questions. I asked our trainers a ton of questions.

And I was really bad at the beginning of my first mission. But then, you know, practice, practice, practice, practice. I used a lot of my free time. And then I got to acceptable at the end of my first mission. I didn't regress too much at the start of my second. So I need a couple more missions to get to a real good level. Maybe I'll come. Who knows? Artemis 1 is uncrewed, but do you have any advice for future Artemis astronauts who might

wind up on the moon? Yeah, I think if you had told me back in the day, I would not have believed that I would be sitting here today, honestly. And I don't know if lots of people say that, but it's so true. Just because it was so distant, it was so huge, you know, coming from a small town, a countryside, I had nothing that related to space. But then it's really, what I want to say is it's not just one giant leap from being a countryside kid to flying to the moon. That's not how it happens. There are steps.

There's tons of steps in between. And that's how you get to that point when you're in a position to go to space. So take all those steps. Don't get daunted by the final goal because there'll be a million of small steps that are all achievable one by one. Study hard, get your degree, do some physical activity, go abroad, learn a foreign language. All those things are easy-ish to do. They're doable. But then when you put them all together, after 10 years, you look back, you're like,

wow, I might be in a position to apply to a national selection. And that's just what happened to me. So don't be shy. Take those steps one at a time, and it's going to work out. That's what happened to me. One of those steps is what's going to happen hopefully tomorrow, which is sending mannequins to the moon. Do you have any last words for them? Last words? Enjoy the ride, I think is my

best advice, but I'm sure they will. I think so too. Thank you so much. Most of our interviews on the 28th were pre-scheduled, but something caught my eye in that dining room. I asked the guy carrying it if we could talk. So my name is Jordan Hurrey. I'm the lead scientist for space exploration at STEMRAD, which is the company that created this vest. And it is beautiful, first of all, and it has been getting a tremendous amount of attention as part of the Artemis I mission because it's on board, right? Yeah, so this vest is part of the Matryoshka Asteroid Radiation Experiment, which is an international collaboration between our company, STEMRAD, Lockheed Martin, DLR, the German Aerospace Agency,

ISA, the Israel Space Agency, and NASA. During this experiment, there will be two mannequins on board the Orion capsule during Artemis 1. They're called phantoms. They're basically human body models. They're only torsos actually, but they're made of a tissue equivalent material. So the density of the materials are exactly the same as the human body. So for example, we have bone equivalent material,

lung equivalent, breast equivalent, etc. I saw a diagram of this where it actually showed how different portions of the phantom, the mannequin, have different densities, different materials. Yeah, yeah. So that will allow us to accurately measure how radiation interacts with the human body. Because when the radiation out in space passes through the phantoms, it'll interact with it in almost exactly the same way that it'll interact with an astronaut's body. And these phantoms, they have thousands of radiation detectors embedded throughout the body. So basically one every three centimeters.

There's a grid of three by three by three centimeters, and each point in that grid has one radiation detector. Okay, you saw my reaction. I knew that there were detectors, but thousands of them? Are these just passive detectors that have to be looked at later, or is there telemetry? So there's no telemetry. These are mostly passive detectors, 5,600 passive detectors. We'll get the cumulative radiation dose from the mission at the end. They're also active detectors,

so there's a few of those inside critical organs, like some inside the lungs, for example, and there's some outside the vest and some inside the vest as well. Those will be able to tell us how the radiation evolves over the course of the mission. I think it's something like once every five minutes we'll get a reading. Would that be kind of equivalent like to wearing a radiation badge, except there are 5,600 of them? Yeah, exactly, yeah. What is it made of? The material is made out of high-density polyethylene, which is basically a plastic, but it's very high in hydrogen,

very similar to water, and it's very good for shielding against charged particle radiation, which is what we see in space. The core, the inside of the vest, is actually made of these hexagons, which are able to slide past each other and provide flexibility to the vest, but at the same time, they're solid, so it maximizes the shielding from the radiation. If this works, won't you be helping to provide a solution to one of the greatest challenges that exist to humans traveling beyond Earth orbit? Yeah, we're very excited. This mission will help us test the vest because one of the phantoms, Helga, will not be wearing the vest, and the other one, Zohar, will be wearing the vest.

So we'll be able to compare the data between the radiation detectors between the two phantoms and see exactly how effective the vest is, and we'll be able to make any necessary improvements to the vest. And hopefully we'll be able to provide protection to future astronauts who are traveling to deep space. will be able to provide protection to future astronauts who are traveling to deep space. Zohar, it's an Israeli name. It means radiance. So it's a pun. Yeah, that's perfect, isn't it? Fascinating. Best of luck with this. And I hope we see it not only launch tomorrow, but come back so that you can all see how well it did. Yeah, thank you so much. Later in that pre-launch day, Ray and I were joined across town by Planetary Society Chief Advocate Casey Dreyer for a very special event. Arizona State University's Thunderbird School of Global Management includes

the Thunderbird Initiative for Space Leadership, Policy, and Business. It brought together a space policy dream team to consider what it called the road to Artemis. Joining former NASA administrators Charlie Bolden and Jim Bridenstine were, among others, NASA Associate Administrator Bhavia Lal, who has been our guest on Planetary Radio and the Space Policy Edition. Also, former Associate Administrator Mike Gold, who is Casey's guest on the August 2nd Space Policy Edition. Casey got in this great question during the closing Q&A. You'll hear responses from moderator Greg Autry, former NASA Chief of Staff Gabe Sherman,

Bobby Elal, Jim Bridenstine, and a closing comment from Scott Pace, the former Executive Secretary of the National Space Council. Casey Dreyer from the Planetary Society. Scott and some of the other discussion about the budget growth over the last few years really got me thinking. Inflation adjusted, NASA's budget bottomed out in 2013. But since then, there's been this kind of quiet growth every single year. And it's actually historically the longest period of steady growth of NASA's budget,

which has crossed three administrations now, multiple Congresses, multiple partisan control of Congress. Did something fundamental change about how we communicate or how you were communicating to policymakers to help drive that? What about the message started to resonate in the early 2010s that reversed 15, 20 years of steady declines? Part of it, just answering your question directly,

I think it was getting more intentional. I'll tell you that was for us. Man, there's so much to say here. Goodness. We created what we like to refer to as the juggernaut at NASA, right? We wanted an opportunity where we were creating so much positive activity and momentum and having so many conversations about the vision of Artemis and where we are headed at NASA that it was, that it created this momentum that was gonna cross administrations, right? That was our objective, was to make sure we created

a program that crossed the administration. Because like Dr. Pace said earlier, we haven't been successful in that in the past. And so whenever it comes to a budget and it comes to the people that control the budget, looking at Congress specifically, we knew that we had to get a bipartisan group of members of Congress that could see themselves inside of what it was that we were trying to do, inside of Artemis. How did it benefit them? How did it benefit their constituents? How was this going to be a win for not only the current workforce, maybe in their state or in their district, how was this going to be a win for not only the current workforce maybe in their state or in their district but also in the workforce

to come. And so what we did is we hit the road. We built an Artemis Roadshow. We went to I don't know how many different districts and states across the country in a matter of two years where we looked at every opportunity to engage academia, to engage the political interests both local and federal on those visits, to engage industry, and to bring people together to understand why this was so important. And then what you ended up having is you had members of Congress go back to Congress and say, I need to fund this. I need to fund STMD. I need to fund SMD. I need to fund this whole effort here that is science, technology,

and human exploration working together to put Artemis front and center. Like we built champions across the country. And that all started in a small conference room at the West End in Pentagon City when we sat down and Jim said, look, I think I want a juggernaut of activity. That's going to be the only way that we get Artemis to sustain from one administration to the next is if we build such a broad coalition of support that there's no choice but to keep going forward and so that translates into budgets and now I can't speak to the great work that administrator Bolden and some of the others did previous to us because you mentioned back to 2010 but how did we keep the momentum going that that was

one of the key things for us what I would like to add I mean I think chance favors a prepared mind and I think you had a prepared mind But I think there's a lot of serendipity. I mean, there were a lot of things that got started that were just coming to fruition, like clockwork, right? I mean, there is Perseverance Landing, Ingenuity Helicopter. And again, I know you're talking about 2010 and the earlier days, but just taking examples from the last couple years. That's one lesson I want to take away from all this, that we need to keep a rapid clip of exciting space activities to keep that momentum. So, you know, what is next, whether it's Mars sample return or one of the Venus missions or NEO Surveyor, DART. I mean, there's so many

exciting things that are coming up. We just need to make sure that as, you know, to what Gabe said, that we stay, you know, we keep that active momentum so we don't slow down. And Bahavia, to build on that, it's important that we don't let these tremendous opportunities go to waste, right? I think there are so many things that are being achieved and accomplished that when we actually get out there, and this goes all the way back to Mr. Bolden's point, when we get out there and we celebrate those achievements and accomplishments in a way that people get to experience in new ways across the country and globally, man, you really create an opportunity to build momentum and to capitalize on each one of those opportunities. I loved the Perseverance launch. You know, whenever Dr. Z found the right guy, a younger kid in Virginia who named Perseverance brought him in.

Like, I remember sitting with him around the Perseverance launch and talking with him. And then that story just grew. And that story led to the naming of Ingenuity. And we started taking all of these opportunities and finding ways to bring people into each of them and not miss an opportunity that's out there. NASA is doing so many incredible things. We have to tell the right stories. It creates the momentum that then turns around

and helps members of Congress, you know, pull the lever for NASA and sign the bills for NASA in ways that promote us to go on and do great things. The international piece is really important here as well. And I think Scott mentioned that when we are connected with other countries, it's just harder to track back. You know, we, you know, for all sorts of reasons, we have to keep moving forward.

So I'm just taking a lot of these lessons to make sure that that momentum continues. I would also add, Casey, it was the hard work of the Planetary Society over those. First of all, all credit to Jim and Gabe and his team for really putting themselves out there and beating the bushes and getting the votes and connecting with people. It's hard retail political work that was incredibly, incredibly important. It would not have happened without Jim's leadership on it. I want to point to those of us who didn't bother leaving the campus on White House that said, how did we get OMB to go along with that? And of course, people knew the Vice President Pence was supportive of space and going this direction. So of course, we were going to put some funding into it. But you know, sometimes that's done enthusiastically, sometimes it's done reluctantly in those kind of directions.

And I have to say a key difference to get to Casey's question is that we had a different point of view, we had a strategic direction with commercial and international partners, which you started to see, frankly, in, in the Obama administration. But we really put a focus on that with commercial and international direction. So the new strategic concept for why we were going out into space once again, and it was not Apollo. And the second thing was innovation. The basic deal was we could see increases in the NASA top line happen, but not unless there was going to be innovation going with it. So this is why you see the human landing system as being a public-private partnership. This is why you see so much

stress on new and innovative technologies, that it could not just be the old way of doing things. But innovation, new strategic direction, and in response to a changed world from the 1960s is what made the difference. I'm old enough to remember a lot of other past events, Viking landing on Mars, for example, and Voyagers and so forth, that generated tremendous enthusiasm. But they didn't translate into the NASA budget. So we've had these great events. But what's different this time is we now have a direction that's clearer in mind. We have a larger coalition that's clearer in mind, and we have an emphasis on innovation as a break from the past.

That also is helping people come to our side in support of the program. Did you catch that unsolicited endorsement by former Administrator Bridenstine? That wasn't the end of our long day before the launch attempt. As you'll hear when Bruce Betts arrives for What's Up, we finish the evening at a wonderful gathering of Planetary Society members in town like us for the launch. We'll pause here before going into launch day, August 29, 2022. Stay with us.

Greetings, Bill Nye here, CEO of the Planetary Society. We need your help as we launch a new and exciting project. It's a new subscription-style program for kids. We call it the Planetary Academy, and it's getting underway with a Kickstarter campaign. The Planetary Academy is a special learning and membership opportunity for kids ages 5 to 9. Young explorers will receive four adventure packs each year that have been developed by our experts. We're creating the first adventure packs right now. Academy members will learn all about our solar system through out-of-this-world activities and surprises, preparing them to blast off to exciting destinations.

After this first successful year, we'll expand the Academy to a full three-year program that explorers and their families can renew annually. Will you help us kick-start the Planetary Academy by backing our project? Visit planetary.org slash academy today to learn more and get behind this exciting new opportunity. That's planetary.org slash academy today to learn more and get behind this exciting new opportunity. That's planetary.org slash academy. Thanks!

After less than an hour of fitful sleep at our hotels, Ray and I returned to the Kennedy Space Center at 2.30 a.m. on Sunday the 29th. Casey had never left. He caught a few winks in his rental car before we rejoined him at the KSC press site. It was a gorgeous morning, but not one that would see the first launch of the SLS. The countdown clock is slated to hold at T minus 40 minutes and counting. Again, the clock is going to hold at T minus 40 minutes, so just 60 seconds from now, you'll see that clock stop. And at that time, the hydrogen team is going to discuss their plan with the launch director. They're still working on it.

They're asking for 10 minutes, They're still working on it. They're asking for 10 minutes. And then they will brief the launch director, launch director Charlie Blackwell Thompson. The hold would eventually become a scrub. But we didn't know that yet. I wandered across the press site past the two-story building where Walter Cronkite had once watched Saturn V liftoffs toward an

orange canvas canopy that provided a small amount of shade for Tim Dodd, the everyday astronaut. Don't know him? His YouTube channel has 1.3 million subscribers, and his private tour of the SpaceX Starbase was conducted by Elon Musk. It has been watched nearly 6 million times. Tim and my former colleague Mary Liz Bender were co-anchoring live stream coverage of the Artemis 1 launch attempt. When they took a break, I asked Tim if we could talk for a few minutes. Tim, space is hard. Liquid hydrogen is harder. That's the perfect way to put it, honestly. You know, we don't see a ton of liquid hydrogen vehicles these days, and it is a friendly reminder that

they can be finicky. Hydrogen is a very teeny tiny little molecule, so making it behave properly on launch day can be a bit of a frustration, I think, for all those watching and involved, for sure. Are you sticking around for the, well the well of course we don't even know if there will be another attempt on friday the second right we're pre any official updates on from knowing whether or not they're going to have the attempt on september 2nd or the if the next attempt is the fifth or if this whole window we don't we don't know we're in a big question mark so that our crew with our production here we're actually debating whether or not to totally pack up you know like are we putting everything uh in a place to be able to move the van and get it back on the road? We got to get

it out to California by September 8th, or what do we do? That's the decision right now. So we're waiting to hear a little bit more on how big of a scrub is this. You had mentioned to us before we, before I started recording, why you have to be in California. Can you talk about that? Oh, yeah. I'm really excited to say that we are the official livestream provider for Firefly, the aerospace company Firefly, and their second attempt of their Alpha rocket. It is a small launch vehicle, but it's actually quite a large small launch vehicle.

It's on the upper end of small launch-capable vehicles. Really, really cool rocket. We're going to be driving our— we just built a 4k production van out of an old 2011 microwave truck from, that used to be an NBC studios truck. And we decked it out with 4k streaming hardware. And this is our first real run at streaming in 4k, which is honestly a lot harder than I had ever imagined. Way harder, way harder. But it is a beautiful, I'm speaking as someone who used to do a lot of remote stuff like this, even though I'm a radio guy.

Radio and podcast guy. That is just a gorgeous job that you guys have done. On the inside. On the inside it's getting there, but the outside is still a little bit ugly, but I appreciate that because it's been four months, literally four months now we've been almost non-stop working working on it because we knew this is this is the start of you know a

really big new era in spaceflight this is the biggest rocket i've you know of my lifetime most powerful rocket in my lifetime i wasn't going to miss the opportunity to stream it and and provide the best coverage i possibly could so every penny that I have right now and all my blood, sweat, and tears since rollout is in that van. And we tuned in. Impressive work, as always, and quite an operation. I mean, I took a couple of stills. In fact, when you and Mary Liz, my former colleague, Mary Liz Bender, were doing your anchoring jobs there, you have quite a team. I'm really lucky. I mean, there's a lot of people trying to figure out like how everyone gets involved at what capacity and I'm taking everything I can get. We're lucky enough to have NASA allow us access to, you know, having being able to accredit six

people on our team. The Cosmic Perspective crew got six people or three people accredited. So together we had nine people on set, which really makes this possible. I can't imagine if we had to go down to like, you know, if we had half that, I don't think we could have done it. I mean, it's just, it's a lot of moving parts. I am not a bit surprised that NASA made it, made this opportunity available to you. They would have been pretty crazy not to. And I think it's remarkable what you've been able to achieve. Now, most of that I would say is probably because of what you bring, the to achieve. Now, most of that, I would say, is probably because of what you bring, the approach you bring to the kind of reporting that you do. Obviously, it's struck a chord. Is that the right phrase? But I'm also curious about your thoughts about what this

represents, the fact that an operation like yours could be so, I'll use the word again, remarkably popular online, the streaming that you do, all the videos. Does this say something about how people are able to appreciate what, you know, you and I love? Well, thank you first for saying that. That's extremely, extremely kind. You know, for me, when I got into this stuff, you know, it was 2014. It was my first time at the press site. Watching CRS-3 was my first mission.

And frankly, I expected more of a hurrah. I expected more of a social gathering. I expected more young enthusiasm. People excited about this new commercial program and the Falcon 9 and all the new things coming. And it wasn't here. And I'm not saying at all that I ushered it in. But that was what I was longing for. So I wanted to, that was at the top of mind is like I want to get people excited about

this in the same way that people are excited about sports and you know about music and concerts and stuff it seemed like space flight was an opportunity for a uniting opportunity that can be universally appreciated by anyone around the world it just seemed like a no-brainer of like let's make this as fun and accessible as possible and it just started there and for me that's what i was craving so i just tried to produce the best version of that as i could and i think you've been a very significant contributor to the progress that has been made and i think it's also it can be seen in other people's work even in nasa's coverage jeez that's again thank you just the. Just the facts. I appreciate it. It all comes down to me as a non-technical, you know, I don't have a degree.

You know, I'm not an engineer by trade or anything like that at all. For me, I'm just a curious individual that loves to just nerd out on stuff and try to answer people's questions, you know. And ultimately, at the end of the day, I think people are more enthusiastic and I think they enjoy something when they have an education on it or can get their questions answered so many times we just get these a similar set of questions so it's it's always in the back of my head of like what is the disconnect with people what is the thing that they're trying to figure out in their head to make this more appreciable to make it more fun by answering those questions it's just the enthusiasm it's just a direct correlation between the knowledge base and the enthusiasm just goes straight through the roof and just by giving people the opportunity to learn it gives them an opportunity to be excited

you have found the right formula to make the connection um have a good trip out to california and a great time at vandenberg thank you so much we'll see how uh how much packing we need to do here before this next attempt and what the situation is but no matter what it's going to be lots of lots of no sleep. So just a lack of sleep. There we go. That's the words I'm looking for. And a lot of coffee. Yeah, we're living on that right now. Thanks, Tim. My pleasure. Thank you so much.

And then it happened. Scrubbed. We were in no rush to leave KSC, what with 100,000 space fans crowding the roads. Veteran astronaut Stan Love arrived at the press site and conducted an impromptu stand-up press briefing with those of us who crowded around him. We have not yet got to the point where we can operate spacecraft with airline-like reliability. And even the airlines, which have flown millions and millions of times, sometimes you get there and they decide not to go. So we're still in the infancy of space technology compared with aviation, where there's thousands of aircraft in the air all the time. We launch tens of rockets per year.

So someday we can rely on it, but right now this is a test flight, this is a test vehicle. Everything we're doing today was a test, and we got to a point where we felt like we couldn't take the test any further without endangering the hardware. The next official mission briefing wouldn't happen for hours, so we all returned to our hotels. That's where I caught these opening remarks from NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who had flown on the space shuttle during his time as a Florida Senator. I am very proud of this launch team. They have solved several problems along the way, and they got to one that needed time to be solved. I am very grateful to you all for your patience.

I am very grateful to you all for your patience. This is a brand new rocket. It's not going to fly until it's ready. There are millions of components of this rocket and its systems. And needless to say, the complexity is daunting when you bring it all into the focus of a countdown. You all, no doubt, have been up for some period of time. Our remarks are going to be short, and we will open it up for your questions. I want to say that the Vice President was here. She was pumped the entire time.

She is very bullish on our space program and on this particular program of going back to the moon and going to Mars. and going to Mars. We had her meet with assembled guests. We had her meet with members of Congress that were here. She toured the ONC building and saw the Artemis hardware there for the future and overall she had a very productive visit and I would expect that you will see her at a future launch. I want to say that understand that scrubs are just a part of this program. Scrubs are just a part of this program. On the space flight that I participated in, Hoot Gibson, the commander, 36 and a half years ago, we scrubbed four times on the pad. It was the better part of a month. And looking back, had we, after the fifth try, got off to a perfect mission, it would have not been a good day had we launched on any one of those four scrubs.

So when you're dealing in a high-risk business and spaceflight is risky, that's what you do. Spaceflight is risky. That's what you do. You buy down that risk. You make it as safe as possible. And of course, that is the whole reason for this test flight, to stress it and to test it, to make sure it's as safe as possible. When Artemis 2, when we put humans in the spacecraft. We had planned to stay through what we thought would be the second launch attempt on Friday, September 2nd. I was disappointed to hear that it would be pushed the following day, Saturday the 3rd. My flight home was already reserved for that afternoon. I might have stuck around if it had been set to start a few hours earlier, but unable to add another day to my stay, I caught an early flight home. And that's where I was when we watched the Saturday window open with renewed hope, only to see another scrub, this time caused by a serious liquid hydrogen leak. As I produce this week's show, it seems

likely that the next attempt won't happen till at least late September and possibly well into October. No regrets. There is nothing like the community that comes together for a big rocket launch, and I had a great time. But I dearly hope to be back on that hot, humid coastline when another space launch system carries astronauts to the moon. Add Artemis. Time for What's Up on Planetary Radio, this special Artemis 1 edition of Planetary Radio. So we welcome the chief scientist of the Planetary Society, Bruce Betts. Bruce, Ben Owens in Australia has this question for you.

Hi, Matt. Have you interviewed Bruce's dogs about taking over the helm of planetary radio? Well, was that a question for me or for you? I guess you're right. Yeah, I guess it's a question for me. But I don't know. Which of them do you think would be better qualified or should they team up? I think they'd be a good team because Gracie's got the enthusiasm and goofiness, and Max can hold the line as long as you feed him beforehand.

Otherwise, he's just going to go, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Okay, so I don't want to identify which of those is me and which is you. Three planets visible all month spread across the sky. We've got in the evening east, yellowish Saturn up as soon as the sun sets. We've got Jupiter coming up just a wee bit later in the east, looking super quite bright, super quite bright. And then we've got in the middle of the night Mars coming up, and it keeps getting brighter, and it's always reddish.

And so check them out. You can also check out the Summer Triangle, the Northern Hemisphere Summer Triangle, high overhead. Three really bright stars, Vega, Altair, and Deneb. It's going to be low on the horizon for Southern Hemisphere viewers, but it's a bright thing that's up in the, they call it the Summer Triangle, but it's really kind of fall when it's overhead like now in the early evening. And then we have the moon getting ready to move through the planets in the sky, not literally through them, but near them.

It's near Saturn on the night of the 8th, near the something, near Jupiter. There we go. It's moving that way near Jupiter when it's full on the night of the 10th and then near Mars on the 16th. Let's move on. It's an interesting week in space history. First of all, every year, I like to point out for your sake, 1966, Star Trek premiered. Yes, hallowed be its

name. And speaking of hallowed, I think, it's the 25th anniversary this week of humanity having working orbiters continuously around Mars. A bunch of them now, but it was 1997 when Mars Global Surveyor went into orbit. That is so impressive. Good on us. Good on all of us who've achieved that. Yeah. Listen, time for random space fact, right?

But as you know, because you were the one who brought it to me as an idea from one of our members, we had a gathering of members the night before the first attempt to launch the Space Launch System, the Artemis One mission, at a bar in Cocoa, Florida. We can go there right now. Phew, save my voice. We are at Rec 225 in Cocoa, Florida, with a whole bunch of space geeks. Let's hear it. Who are here for the launch that we all hope will happen tomorrow.

You among them, right, Bruce? No. Yes, of course I hope it'll happen and be very successful. And I'm very excited about all these people who have joined us, members of Planetary Society, and they're super cool. And we have brought them together one more time so that they can help us with that wonderful segment of the show. You know the one I'm talking about.

The End? That's your favorite? No, I just thought it might be theirs. You know what to do. You want to lead them? All right, everybody. On three, say random space fact. One, two, three. Random space facts! Well done, thank you. And now you you've earned a random space fact. Well as some of these people may know but uh I was surprised to find out that on board Artemis 1

but I was surprised to find out that on board Artemis I is an Alexa. I know. You think I'm kidding. No, I know it's true. As part of the Callisto payload, there is an Alexa on board. Also, they'll be testing WebEx. Now, Alexa brings up a question for me, which is, if an Alexa is in a place with no humans, does she actually exist?

Anyway, that's all. Let's hear it for, I think, a pretty good and very appropriately timed random space fact. And how about on three, go Artemis. One, two, three. Go Artemis! Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Good night. It was a fun group that did an excellent random space fact introduction,

so thanks to all who attended our fun gathering. We move on to the trivia contest. And I said, as scheduled on the first four SLS missions, how many of the main engines have flown already as part of a rocket launch, albeit prior to adaptations made for SLS? How did we do, Matt? I didn't think this was that tricky, but we got a variety of answers. Across those four missions, 16 engines, right, Since each one has four RS-25s? Yes. But you wily quiz master you, not all of those, I mean, they were all made for the space shuttle, but not all of them flew on space shuttle missions.

Trixie Hobbits. I did terrible, terrible to call them. shuttle missions. Trixie Hobbits. That is a terrible, terrible poem. You know, we got a lot of submissions that said it was all 16. We may have had a plurality that got the answer right, as did Gene Lewin in Washington, who submitted it as part of this poem. Experience on your CV can help you land that job, and proving yourself all under fire may just get you the nod. Frugality, another plus. On Artemis, you'll hear them roar. Recycled from the STS, each core stage carries four.

We're talking RS-25s, 14 in space once hovered, though this time they are single use and will not be recovered. Nice, comes complete with extra content. Hovered and recovered. Nice, good rhymes there. Yeah. He's absolutely right, isn't he? He is indeed. 16 space shuttle engines, the RS-25, that were adapted for this, but only 14 of the 16 flew. Some of them multiple times. All of the ones

on Artemis I have flown before. I don't think we've ever gotten a poem before from Roger Gown in New Hampshire. Here it is with apologies to J.R.R. Tolkien. Four for Artemis I lighting up the sky. Five for the Congress and their halls of stone. Three for the taxpayers asking why two for neo surveyor cut to the bone 14 flown engines doomed to die in the land of nasa where the rockets fly one booster to bring them all one booster to find them one booster to fling them all and in the darkness blind them in the land of nasa where the rockets fly just spectacular spectacular, isn't it? That's very nice. Those of you who have not read The Lord of the Rings or

at least seen the movies, I don't know if it's in the movies, but that's the famous poem about the rings, the rings of power. One ring to rule them all. It permeates the movies. Yes, that's true. Chris Trunk, a first-time winner, long-time listener, I think, in Pennsylvania.

Chris said 14 of the 16 of those RS-25 core stage rocket boaters were previously used. Congratulations, Chris. We're going to send you a copy of Totality, an eclipse guide in rhyme and science by our good friend Jeff Bennett, published by Big Kid Science. It's a very cool book, and it's a wonderful tribute

and a wonderful little educational tool. If you want to know about total eclipses, we have another one coming up. It's just barely a year and a half away, 2024 across North America. Shall we go on to a new question? Yeah. I think it won't be tricksy. Name a dog and a sheep flying on artemis one you can't make up their names you have to give me their names and and no there's not an actual

dog or an actual sheep it's representations go to planetary.org radio contest i know the sheep i hadn't heard about the dog but you have until the 14th that'll be september 14 a wednesday at 8 a.m pacific time why because that's where bruce and i live and guess what you're going to get folks we have a wonderful i think art Artemis one prize package there is a squeeze tool it's a rubber Orion capsule very nice yeah provided by Lockheed Martin they were handing those out here is this is really cool this actually was provided by our colleague Sarah it is a really nice Artemis pin, not just a regular Artemis pin, but a really nice sort of pearl white one.

Here is the lanyard that held my press pass at the Kennedy Space Center. Yes, it was actually in contact with my body. You should sign it too, although you're already sweating it. So I guess that's okay. Yeah, that's what you do in Central Florida. Look at that. I'm going to put it on for just a moment. It is an Artemis baseball cap.

It has touched his head, ladies and gentlemen, I've I've seen it myself. John Greenewald But wait, there's more. No way. If you heard the show, you heard me talk to the guy who's the basically the principal scientist for that radiation vest that is being tested on a mannequin, a phantom as they called it. That is the Matryoshka Asteroid Radiation Experiment, and he gave me this patch. So we're going to throw that patch in.

I thought we were giving away the vest. So we're not giving away the radiation vest? No, no, I'm afraid not. I have something for you too. What? That's awesome. It's from Northrop Grumman. It's these stickers. I don't know if you can read it. I'll hold it up. It's the SLS.

Ooh, fun stickers. Yeah, it's the SLS with a big smile on his face, looking toward the two solid rocket boosters, built by Northrop Grumman, of course, saying, can you give me a boost? I get it. It's cute. Although I have to say it reminds me a little bit of something that might be an ad for a

certain well-known type of contraceptive. But thanks for thinking of me. That image in your head. Okay. I will say no more except to thank you for what you gave me. Yeah, that was some classy. That was a classier gift, man. Although I love your stickers.

But why don't you tell people what I gave you, Matt, and let me know if you and others tried them. Meteor Bites. First Beagle on the Moon, 1969. It's because it has Snoopy on the cover. Meteor Bites are fruity cereal white chocolate clusters, naturally and artificially flavored. And indeed, Bruce picked these up for me.

Where did you get these? At the KSC? Yep. Actually at the Visitor Center. Oh, are you going to eat some while I'm watching? I ate one of these in my hotel in Florida. It looks like sort of a rainbow meteor. Yeah.

They're really gross. Yeah, I know. That's why I bought them for you. They have a nice description. Oh, he's eating it. Oh, thank you. I will eat some of the sticker that you gave me. You can say goodnight, Bruce.

No, I'm enjoying watching this too much you don't look sufficiently disgusted maybe next time alright everybody go out there look up in the night sky and think about what Gandalf would yell to try to get Artemis I to launch thank you and goodnight

I will close with this Pavel Kamesha in belarus a regular after the episode last week i went outside looked up at the night sky and kind of wondered what matt's honda 175 would look like with one of the used rs-25d engines installed on it engines installed on it. I would love to see that, but it's a nice vision. I wonder if I still have that arc welder in the car. Anyway, he's Bruce Beck, the chief scientist of the Planetary Society, who joins us every week here for What's Up, and sometimes at the Kennedy Space Center.

Planetary Radio is produced by the Planetary Society in Pasadena, California, and is made possible by its Rocketeer members. Join us for the next launch at planetary.org. Mark Gilverta and Ray Paletto, associate producers. Josh Doyle composed our theme, which is arranged and performed by Peter Schlosser. Ad Astra.