When Yuri Gagarin blasted into orbit in 1961 to become the first human in space, he was already 14 years behind the first animals from Earth. The fruit flies that were flew to space in 1947 were just the first of many different animals in the decade and a half before Gagarin’s orbital flight that were used to test equipment and living things’ capacity to survive and work in weightlessness. There were primates, dogs, mice and rabbits that crewed orbital and suborbital test flights. And the ani...

Earth has a new moon! well, for about 8 weeks anyway. Asteroid 2024 PT5 has been captured by Earth’s gravity and will be in orbit until late November 2024. This is really unusual and there have only been a few confirmed mini moons in the past. Our new temporary neighbour is only about 11 metres across and won’t be visible to anyone who doesn’t have a professional large-scale telescope, but we’ll know it’s there! and although it will only stay for about 2 months, 2024 PT5 will be back again in...

Boeing’s Starliner space capsule blasted off for its first crewed test flight in early June. Great news right? Turns out, no. After arriving at the International Space Station, some technical problems meant that it couldn’t be used to take its crew of Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Suni Williams back to Earth. The two astronauts were left with no way to get home. The two capsules already docked at the space station couldn’t be used, so the astronauts were stranded. Let’s find out what ha...

NASA's Curiosity rover touched down on Mars in August 2012, and it's been exploring the Red Planet all that time. There have been some amazing discoveries and it's travelled over 30km but it has just made the most scientifically significant discovery of its 12 year career, and did it simply by running over a rock! One of Curiosity's wheels crushed a rock. It had looked just like any other orange martian rock, but when it shattered under Curiosity's wheels, it revealed breathtaking yellowish g...

As I write this, just a couple of days have passed since the Chang'e 6 sample return capsule touched down with its historic payload. The first sample of rock and soil from the far side of the moon touched down on Earth. This has the potential to unlock some of the secrets from the side of the moon that we never see from Earth, why is the lunar crust thicker? Why are there fewer 'seas' on the far side? And what lies beneath the lunar crust?All of this against the background of a surface operat...

In September 2023, Greg Brennecka stopped by to preview the return to Earth of the OSIRI-REx asteroid Bennu sample return capsule. The sample landed safely and the mission scientists like Greg Brennecka have started their analysis. Some of our toughest questions are being answered by the data already. How old is Bennu? Is there organic material? Where was the asteroid formed? Is Bennu different from what we expected? But hasn't been all smooth sailing. The mission team had to go into full inn...

Titan. The largest moon in the Saturnian system has been a candidate as a habitable world ever since NASA’s Cassini mission sent back the first radar images of its surface in 2004. Astrobiologist Dr. Catherine Neish of Western University in Canada has spent years studying Titan, and has just published a study on the habitability of Titan. Catherine joins us to step through the findings, what is needed for life? Is there enough of it on Titan? And does it all come together?Read Ralph Lorez's p...

Space and cosmology throws up some strange effects sometimes, none stranger than spaghettification. Stephen Hawking coined the term for the stretching out that happens when you get close to a black hole. Let's take a look at what it really is, how it works, and if we should have anything to fear from spaghettification... Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content       X.com/CosmicCoffTime You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from...

Houston-based aerospace company Intuitive Machines produced the first private mission to land on the moon. The Odysseus lander is just 300 km from the lunar south pole, investigating water ice and demonstrating the capabilities of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program (CLPS). But space is difficult and not many projects go perfectly first time. Is Odysseus ok? Let’s find out! Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content       X.com/CosmicCoffTime You can request a...

So we pollute the upper atmosphere with rocket exhaust, is it worth the benefits of communications satellites and GPS? What about space junk? the garbage of earth orbit. Or mining asteroids? who owns the asteroids, can should they be able to sell the minerals asteroids provide? These are questions that would never have been asked before space travel became as regular as it has today. Let's take a look at this new way of thinking about our responsibilities in space. Follow Cosmic Coffee Time...

Apollo 8 orbited the Moon in December 1968, seven months before the first moon landing. Even though Apollo 8 never landed on the Moon, it did produce one of the most iconic photographs of the Apollo program, the Earthrise photograph. Astronaut Bill Anders snapped a colour picture of the Earth rising over the lunar horizon as the capsule orbited the Moon. But what makes this picture so iconic? And why did we nearly miss out on it. Let's dive in! Check out the Earthrise photograph Follow...

In the news lately, you might have seen reports that the rings of Saturn are going to disappear from view. What could make that happen? And will they come back? Let’s check out what’s going on with the most spectacular feature in our solar system.  Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content       x.com/CosmicCoffTime You can request a topic for the show! Or even just say hi! We'd love to hear from you. Email us! [email protected]

Photographing the night sky is a completely different technique to photographing almost anything else. There's hardly any light, the objects are tiny and they move! It's really difficult. We've all given it a go and been disappointed, but how do they get the incredible pictures we see on the internet and on TV, and how can normal spacefans like us take a night sky picture? Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on X for some special content       twitter.com/CosmicCoffTime You can request a topic for...

India’s Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, with the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover have landed in the south polar region of the moon. Some craters in this region are permanently shaded from the blazing sun and can have water ice at the base of these lunar craters.  India became only the fourth nation to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on the moon, and the first to successfully land a spacecraft in the moon’s south pole region. It’s an incredible story! Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on Twitter for...

Cosmic Coffee Time’s resident space rock expert and NASA mission scientist Greg Brennecka is back again to preview the return to Earth of NASA’s incredible OSIRIS-REx mission. OSIRIS-REx is coming to the end of an epic seven year journey to collect a rock and soil sample from asteroid Bennu. Greg is a mission scientist on OSIRIS-REx and will be doing analysis on the Bennu sample in his own lab. It’s breathtakingly rare to get a pristine sample from an asteroid in another part of the solar...

Around 80% of the human made objects in orbit are mission left overs. Some of it is real junk, but some of it has an incredible story to tell. What relics from the early space age are held in safe storage in orbit? How does the accumulation of space junk affect mission planning, and how are we going to keep space safer from impacts in the future? You’ll never guess how we rediscovered some space hardware from an early moon mission!      Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on Twitter for some special...

Around the 21st of June every year is the June solstice. We might know that it’s the longest or shortest day of the year – depending on which hemisphere you’re in, but why does that happen? And we know of the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, but how does the solstice define them? Same with the Arctic and Antarctic circles. Does it fall on the same date each year? Well almost, but it does take some clever human manipulation of the calendar to keep it that way.       Follow...

Ask an eastern Australian about the Southern Aurora, and they might think you’re talking about the old overnight express train between Sydney and Melbourne. But! The train was named after the spectacular light show in the southern sky. The Aurora Australis to use the phenomenon’s correct name, and its northern equivalent the Aurora Borealis or Northern lights have a fascinating astronomical cause. And the nature of the Aurora remained a mystery until the 20th century, despite being documented...

In 2021, NASA announced the VERITAS mission to Venus, NASA’s first voyage to Earth’s twin planet since the early 90’s. Things haven’t gone completely to plan for this project, but one thing VERITAS has already accomplished, it got scientists reviewing data from previous missions, and what they found was truly incredible. And all without leaving the ground.     Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on Twitter for some special content   twitter.com/CosmicCoffTime You can request a topic for the show!...

Our favourite space rock expert Greg Brennecka joins us to talk about the amazing Hayabusa2 mission, the sample return mission to asteroid Ryugu by Japanese space agency JAXA. Greg and his colleagues have been analysing the sample and some of the findings are incredible. What does Ryugu tell us about the early solar system? What do we learn about water on bodies like asteroids? and could Ryugu be carrying enough of the building blocks of life to potentially populate another habitable...

Recently, we took a look at GPS and the space science that makes it work. This time, we're going back to an era when navigators had nothing but their equipment and the stars to tell them where they were, even on the open ocean. Celestial navigation combined the sextant, almanac and chronometer to make a reliable navigation system that just needed one other thing, the sun and the stars... And some handy astronomical knowledge!    Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on Twitter for some special...

In 1978, NASA changed the rules around who could be selected as an astronaut. Civilian engineers, doctors and scientists could be selected to fly on the then brand new space shuttle. Meredith Bagby joins us to talk about this group, whose social backgrounds were as diverse as their professions. For the first time, the group included women and people of colour. There were triumphs with astronauts like Sally Ride and Greg Bluford, and tragedy when four of this talented group were lost in the...

We all love GPS. The Global Positioning System helps us navigate across country and across town, and it also shows us where our rideshare car is, or how far away our food delivery driver is. Take a look at what space science makes it work, and why it can still provide your coordinates even if you're miles away from any phone or data signal or Wi-Fi.    Follow Cosmic Coffee Time on Twitter for some special content  twitter.com/CosmicCoffTime You can request a topic for the show! Or even just...

Friend of Cosmic Coffee Time and expert meteoriticist Greg Brennecka returns to talk about the breathtaking detection of a new meteorite impact on Mars. Greg tells us how the impact was detected, and then confirmed with detailed imagery from Mars orbit. What does this tell us about the subsurface geology of Mars, and what does it mean for astrobiology and the future exploration of Mars and beyond? It's a fascinating chat. Find Greg's book 'Impact' at Harper Collins here Follow Cosmic...