Are We There Yet?
393 episodes - English - Latest episode: 14 days ago - ★★★★ - 346 ratingsThere’s a lot going on up there. Join space reporter Brendan Byrne each week as he explores space exploration. From efforts to launch humans into deep space, to the probes exploring our solar system, "Are We There Yet?" brings you the latest in news from the space beat. Listen to interviews with astronauts, engineers and visionaries as humanity takes its next giant leap exploring our universe.
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Episodes
Explosions & Parachutes: Slowing Down Orion
March 14, 2017 18:12 - 16 minutes - 7.78 MBHow do you stop a 20,000 pound spacecraft traveling 300 miles per hour? Explosions and parachutes, that's how.
The Next Space Race?
March 03, 2017 20:19 - 26 minutes - 12.1 MBElon Musk wants to go to the moon. Well, two private customers want Elon to send them to the moon. The founder of SpaceX says he can do it by the end of 2018. But the mission is similar to one NASA is working on. Is there a new space race on the horizon?
To Crew, Or Not To Crew, That Is The Question
February 23, 2017 11:29 - 24 minutes - 11.2 MBCould humans be on NASA's next deep-space mission, as early as 2019? NASA’s acting director Robert Lightfoot wants to find out.
Martian Farmers
February 06, 2017 19:04 - 21 minutes - 9.85 MBRalph Fritsche is a lot like Mark Watney. He’s growing potatoes in Martian regolith. And as we’ll find out, it’s harder than it looks.
Farming In Space
January 27, 2017 20:01 - 18 minutes - 8.47 MBAstronauts on the International Space Station are growing their own food. So how do you grow plants in space?
President Trump’s Space Policy
January 20, 2017 21:49 - 27 minutes - 12.7 MBAs President Trump begins his term, he'll appoint a new NASA Administrator. That new head of the public space program will steer NASA's vision for space exploration. So where is it heading?
Put A Ring On It
January 13, 2017 21:16 - 25 minutes - 11.7 MBThe Cassini spacecraft has been exploring Saturn since launching in 1997. Cassini gave planetary scientists incredible insight into the planet’s rings, it’s surface, and moons. As it enters it's final year, UCF Professor and Planetary Scientist Josh Colwell reflects on what insight the spacecraft provided to planetary scientists.
Oh My: George Takei Talks Science Fiction, Technology, And Interplanetary Equality
January 06, 2017 20:05 - 24 minutes - 11 MBGeorge Takei is best known for his role as Sulu, helmsmen on the USS Enterprise during the show Star Trek. George took some time to chat with "Are We There Yet?" about Star Trek, science fiction, and equality in the 23rd century.
The Glass Universe: How Harvard Women Measured The Stars
December 16, 2016 20:10 - 17 minutes - 7.79 MB'The Glass Universe' explores how the women of Harvard Observatory in 1890 broke through the gender barrier and revolutionized the way astronomers observe the night sky.
The Everyday Astronaut
December 09, 2016 16:51 - 27 minutes - 12.4 MBIt started with a space suit, a bit of imagination and a near-death experience.
Have You Ever Seen (Through) The Rain?
December 02, 2016 17:07 - 21 minutes - 9.88 MBA fleet of 8 toaster-oven sized satellites are heading to orbit with the task of seeing through rain. NASA’s Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System will measure wind speeds in the tropics to better understand cyclones and hurricanes. And it does this in a pretty interesting way: using left-over GPS signals beamed down to earth.
I’m Gonna Be Sick
November 18, 2016 19:39 - 29 minutes - 13.6 MBJohn French wants to make people throw up. But don't worry, it's for science!
The Troubles With Spacecraft
November 11, 2016 19:30 - 15 minutes - 6.87 MBSome troubling times for spacecrafts around our solar systems over the past view weeks. Juno, the Jupiter orbiter, entered safe mode after engine troubles. And the ExoMars lander crashed hard onto the martian surface.
National Geographic Explores Mars Mission
November 04, 2016 17:13 - 19 minutes - 17.9 MBIf you picked up this month’s copy of National Geographic, you’ll see a composite photo of Mars, taken by India’s Mars Orbiter Mission Probe. It’s a sneak peak at what’s to come this month from National Geographic: an in-depth look at colonizing the red planet.
James Webb Is Seein’ Red
October 28, 2016 16:13 - 18 minutes - 8.24 MBWe’re about to see things in the universe never before seen. The James Webb Space Telescope is huge and it’s going to give us a peek at things from a perspective we haven’t seen before.
From Moonshot To Mars: A History Lesson
October 21, 2016 19:21 - 31 minutes - 14.6 MBJohn F. Kennedy’s speech sent the U.S. on a moonshot and by the end of the decade, just as he said, we put men on the moon. Now, we’re looking to Mars as our next moon-shot with visionaries like NASA’s Charlie Bolden and SpaceX’s Elon Musk promising to send humans to the red planet.
I Feel Mars. Move. Under My Feet
October 14, 2016 12:58 - 25 minutes - 11.4 MBDid you know there are earthquakes on Mars. Or would you call them Mars-quakes?
Musk, Mars & Battlestar Galactica
September 30, 2016 18:36 - 29 minutes - 13.3 MBElon Musk wants to go to Mars. The SpaceX founder and multi-planetary visionary outlined his plan to colonize Mars at a talk at the International Astronautical Congress.
We Are V.R.
September 23, 2016 17:42 - 20 minutes - 9.25 MBWhat’s it like to walk on Mars? I’m sure if you listen to this podcast you’ve at least thought about that question. Thanks to Microsoft’s HoloLens, and the incredible engineers over at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, you can know experience what it’s like to walk on Mars.
The Renegades Of Research & Development
September 16, 2016 19:50 - 29 minutes - 26.6 MBAt the Kennedy Space Center, there’s a groups of scientists and engineers that think outside the box when it comes building the tools that will one day take us to Mars.
Commander Hadfield, Space Oddity
September 12, 2016 20:08 - 25 minutes - 23.3 MBCommander Chris Hadfield has been to space three times. On the Shuttle twice and served as Commander on the International Space Station. He was the first Canadian astronaut to walk in space and produced a rendition of David Bowie’s Space Oddity from orbit.
To Bennu & Back
September 02, 2016 10:24 - 25 minutes - 11.7 MBNASA and its academic partners are about to do something they’ve never done before: launch a spacecraft, rendezvous with an asteroid, collect a sample of regolith, or dust, from the surface and return it to Earth.
Just A Hop, Skip And A Parsec Away
August 26, 2016 17:31 - 17 minutes - 8.01 MBYou’ve probably already heard by now, but scientist just discover an exoplanet that might just be like Earth. Joseph Harrington is a planetary scientist in the Department of Physics at the University of Central Florida and he’s going to try and spot evidence of the planet using telescopes in space.
The Case Of The Missing T-Cells
August 19, 2016 16:24 - 22 minutes - 10.4 MBResearchers noticed something strange about astronauts returning from space. They were getting sick from viruses that should have remained in check by their immune systems.
Fly Me To The Moon
August 12, 2016 16:51 - 26 minutes - 12.1 MBMoon Express is a startup company competing for Google’s X-Prize. That’s a prize of at least $15 million to the first private company to make it to the moon. But CEO Bob Richards says it not all about the money.
The First Martians
August 05, 2016 17:12 - 19 minutes - 9.08 MBOn this podcast we’ve been focusing a lot on the technology of space exploration. We talked to rocket engineers, scientists, designers. But the ultimate goal of Martian exploration is to colonize the planet and while all this technology is imperative in getting humans to Mars, there’s one aspect of this ambition we haven’t really talked about yet. The first Mars colonists.
How Did We Get Here?
July 29, 2016 19:41 - 26 minutes - 12.1 MBEach week, this podcasts asks the question "are we there yet?" but maybe it's time to start asking "how did we get here?"
They See Me Rovin’
July 22, 2016 16:48 - 17 minutes - 7.81 MBBefore we send humans to Mars, we’re exploring the red planet with rovers. NASA reached a critical milestone in the development of the Mars 2020 rover, set to launch in two years.
Baby Got Boosters
July 15, 2016 16:03 - 21 minutes - 9.79 MBNASA wants to head to Mars. To do that, they’re developing a brand new rocket. But just leaving the Earth’s gravity requires a huge amount of thrust. So the hammer that’s going to launch astronauts to Mars are two Solid Rocket Boosters.
Thirsty? Urine Luck.
July 06, 2016 16:30 - 17 minutes - 7.82 MBIf we're going to Mars, we've got to maximize the resources we're taking by recycling, and that includes water. That's right, astronauts are going to have to recycle their urine. Actually, they already do, and the technology is getting better.
What ‘Chu Know About Juno?
June 22, 2016 20:08 - 18 minutes - 8.53 MBIt’s been five years since Juno launched from Cape Canaveral. Once it enters its polar orbit, we’re going to learn so much about the make-up of the planet, as well as key scientific findings that will help us better understand how planets and solar systems form.
If You Build It…
June 09, 2016 18:38 - 21 minutes - 10 MBIf we’re going to work and live on Mars, we need a place to live. What if we could build a habitat when we get there?
Planning A Mars Base Camp
May 27, 2016 19:50 - 28 minutes - 13.2 MBTony Antonelli spent 24 days in space as a shuttle pilot, working on building the International Space Station. Now, he’s the chief technologist for Lockheed Martin’s civil exploration division. And he’s working on building the next space station, this one bound for Mars.
We’re On The Hunt For Exoplanets
May 20, 2016 17:11 - 24 minutes - 11.3 MBNASA’s Kepler telescope discovered 1,284 new planets outside our solar system. They’re called exoplanets and the total count is now more than 3,000 confirmed planets. The telescope is only looking at a tiny fraction of the sky. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite -- or TESS for short -- is the next chapter in the search for other planets.
Becoming ‘At Home In Space’
May 09, 2016 05:27 - 23 minutes - 10.6 MBRemember going on road trips as a kid - all cooped up in a car for what seemed like forever? Well, imagine being cooped up like that for six months. That’s the typical mission duration on the International Space Station. So how do astronauts put up with each other? And how do they make that tin can in the sky a bit more like home?
You’ve Got To Have A Plan
May 02, 2016 06:12 - 19 minutes - 9.09 MBSpaceX announced plans to send a Dragon capsule to Mars as earlier as 2018. The Planetary Society's Casey Dreier thinks NASA can take notes.
Kicking Rockets To The Curb?
April 25, 2016 05:32 - 18 minutes - 8.36 MBEvery space exploration mission begins with a countdown. The clock hits zero, the rocket launches and heads to space. But What if we could get rid of rockets all together?
A Deep Space Rescue Mission, Mars 2020 & More Pluto Pics
April 18, 2016 13:59 - 20 minutes - 9.53 MBWhat happens when there’s an emergency on a spacecraft 75 million miles away? Operators of the Kepler deep space telescope ran into that problem recently when a scheduled check-in proved to be a bit more difficult than expected.
Batteries Not Included
April 11, 2016 06:00 - 21 minutes - 9.74 MBExploring space is a lot like camping -- you need to bring everything with you. And that includes power. So how do scientists 'pack' for deep space missions? And how do you power these probes? NASA's Jim Green explains.
Some Assembly Required
April 04, 2016 06:00 - 22 minutes - 10.5 MBThe interesting thing about the Orion capsule is that it’s being put together at Kennedy Space Center where it will eventually launch. That’s a new technique for NASA. In the past, capsules were shipped to KSC fully assembled.
Building A Deep Space Capsule
March 20, 2016 14:30 - 26 minutes - 12.1 MBIf we’re going to go to Mars, we going to need a new spacecraft. That’s what NASA’s Orion capsule is for.
Red Rover, Red Rover
March 15, 2016 21:19 - 18 minutes - 8.42 MBBefore we send humans to new worlds, we’re sending robots first.
The Martian
March 14, 2016 16:21 - 20 minutes - 9.2 MBWhen it comes to human space exploration, we’re on the brink of something big. We’re going to Mars.