CONTENT WARNING: please be aware that this episode includes detailed discussions of wartime killing, and of targeted airstrikes in particular. In this episode I speak to Wing Commander Duncan Blake who spent 22 years as a legal officer in the Royal Australian Air Force, most recently in the Middle East where he provided legal support to aerial targeting operations in Iraq and Syria. He served as the Deputy Director of Operations and International Law for the Australian Department of Defence,...

This week I spoke to David Knoff, who recently spent 537 days in Antarctica as the leader at Davis Station. David and his team did not know when they left Australia in late 2019, that the COVID-19 pandemic would change the world and leave them isolated longer than they had ever expected and force them to endure an extended stay without resupply and alone.   Prior to his posting in Antarctica, David worked with the Australian Defence Force and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade,...

Kathryn Robison Hasani, PhD is a political scientist who is passionate about space and science communication. In addition to her doctorate and master's in Political Science from the University of Alabama, Kat also holds degrees in Anthropology, Near Eastern Studies, and American Studies from the University of Arizona and Youngstown State University. She has traveled the world for research and language studies, and is a poet and podcaster. Her research interests are in the fields of space...

This slightly chaotic episode features Adeene Denton. Adeene is a planetary geologist who works on surface processes on terrestrial bodies. Her current research focuses on massive impact basins on Pluto, Martian subsurface drainage networks, and tectonic activity on icy satellites. Adeene is trained as a scientist, historian, and dancer, and she’s also the co-director of the Ethics and Human Rights in Space Project Group for the Space Generation Advisory Council. Find out more about Adeene...

In this episode I interview Dr Sarah Pearce, the deputy director of CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science. We talk about Sarah’s career path, which includes stints with UK parliament and the Large Hadron Collider, and the challenges and joys of managing the Square Kilometre Array. We also chat about working from home, balancing work and family, and punting!   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this episode I am joined by historian of science Dr Audra Wolfe. With a background in both science (B.S., chemistry, Purdue University, 1997) and history (Ph.D., history and sociology of science, University of Pennsylvania, 2002), Audra has been thinking through the relationship between science and power for more than two decades. Her work specifically focuses on the role of science during the Cold War, a period when science held a special place in maintaining and projecting state power....

The guest for this episode of Space Junk Pod is 17-year-old gender activist Selin Ozunaldim. Selin is Turkey’s youngest United Nations HeForShe representative, the founder of Girl Up Istanbul and Girls Who Code Turkey, and is on the Girl Rising task force. She’s an absolute powerhouse and I was thrilled to have her on the show to talk about Space, her work with women in STEM, and why she does what she does. You can find Selin on Instagram at @selinozunaldim.   See acast.com/privacy for...

On today's episode of the “Space Junk” podcast, guest host Luke Pringle interviews Gilmour Space Propulsion Engineer Nick McLean about hybrid rockets and how to get a job in the Space industry. Luke is a 16-year-old year-10 student from Cherrybrook Technology High School who has been doing Work Experience with The Space Junk Podcast. Luke is studying engineering, physics, and textile design, and would one day like to work in the space industry as an astronaut or maybe an astronautical...

I’m delighted to be able to let you know that the Space Junk Podcast has been picked up by That’s Not Canon Productions, an independent, Australian podcast network and collective. This is super exciting, and opens up a whole range of new possibilities for the podcast.  There are only a couple of small changes you might notice as a result which I want to flag with you so you’re not taken aback by them.  First, the podcast has been moved to the hosting platform Acast. If you were someone...

Kathryn Ross (Astro Kat Ross) is a PhD Candidate researching Active Galactic Nuclei and galaxy evolution using the MWA Telescope at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research at Curtin University in Perth. She has a Bachelor of Science majoring in Physics and Mathematics and was awarded First Class Honours in Physics from the University of Sydney. She has researched stellar evolution, dark matter content of distant galaxies and the variability of supermassive black holes in the...

The guest for this episode is Dr Timiebi Aganaba-Jeanty, the architect of the ASU Space Governance Lab concept, and an assistant professor in the School for the Future of Innovation in Society with a courtesy appointment at the Sandra Day O Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, USA. Timiebi was also a fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Canada where she focused on environmental governance. In 2017, Timiebi was the recipient of a Space Leaders Award by...

In this episode I talk to Vi Tran, a Space Medicine student at Adelaide University. Vi’s Honours project analyses data from the Artificial Gravity Bed Rest study at the European Space Agency, with a focus on the gluteal muscles. In essence, Vi studies what might happen to butts in Space, which makes this episode, recorded over Zoom, a literal Booty Call. Outside of her research, Vi has worked with the Flying Doctor service in Broome, WA, and enjoys long-distance running. Our discussion delves...

In this episode I chat to science communicator and astrophysicist Kirsten Banks. Kirsten is currently undertaking a PhD at UNSW in astrophysics. She is passionate about increasing the representation of women in science, and as a proud Wiradjuri woman often speaks on TV, radio, and at public events about aboriginal astronomy. Kirsten was the winner of the CSIRO Indigenous STEM Award in 2018 and spoke at TEDx Youth @ Sydney in 2019. I was super excited to catch up with Kirsten over a cup of tea...

This podcast begins with a conversation over a cup of tea with Thomas Gooch, founder of the Office of Other Spaces, the Office of Planetary Obervations, and the national Australian director of the Moon Village Association. Regular listeners might remember Thomas as the host of the Moon Village Association panel on the Moon in Melbourne in February this year. The second half of the episode is the audio from the presentation Thomas gave at the conference ‘Property rights and real estate...

In this episode I am joined by experts in the field of Space Law from around the world to discuss the US White House Executive Order 'on Encouraging International Support for the Recovery and Use of Space Resources', released 6 April 2020. The panelists are: Gabriel Swiney: Attorney Advisor, US State Department (https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriel-swiney-975b4843) Chris Johnson: Space Law Advisory, Secure World Foundation...

A/Prof Alice Gorman, who tweets as @drspacejunk and is the author of 'Dr Space Junk vs The Universe' is an internationally recognised leader in the emerging field of space archaeology. Closer to home she has worked extensively in Australian Indigenous heritage management, providing advice for mining industry, urban development, government departments, local councils and Native Title groups in Australia. She is also a specialist in stone tool analysis, and the Aboriginal use of bottle glass...

A/Prof Alice Gorman, who tweets as @drspacejunk and is the author of 'Dr Space Junk vs The Universe' is an internationally recognised leader in the emerging field of space archaeology. Closer to home she has worked extensively in Australian Indigenous heritage management, providing advice for mining industry, urban development, government departments, local councils and Native Title groups in Australia. She is also a specialist in stone tool analysis, and the Aboriginal use of bottle glass...

Cain and Tal join me again to unpack the film Interstellar, the 2014 Christopher Nolan film that made relativity even cooler than it already was. This was recorded back before the crisis really hit Australia, and you can totally tell because we talk about the bushfires as if they are the worst thing we’ll encounter this decade, and about social isolation and video chat lag as if it’s something you’ll only experience on a spaceship or inside NORAD. If you watched the ABC program...

In this very fun episode I'm joined by Cain and Tal from the phenomenal Aussie podcast ‘Movies with Cain and Tal’. We consume junk food while talking about a film that can only be called junk cinema – the 1964 cult classic ‘Santa Claus Conquers the Martians’. If you watched the ABC program ‘employable me’ last year you might remember Cain, who identifies as being on the autism spectrum and channels his talents into watching and reviewing hundreds of movies a year. Natalia Bye, also known...

In part 2 of our interview Tom and I talk about the nature of journalism, how to construct a story around technology, and how the media landscape has shifted over the last 30 years. This is part 2 of 2 parts. You can watch this podcast in video form here:...

In this episode I chat over space and time with Tom Standage, Deputy Editor at The Economist, about his book 'The Writing on the Wall', and how social media is actually not as new as you might think! This is part 1 of 2 parts. You can watch this podcast in video form here:...

Two important messages: The first and most important is that Space Junk Podcast now has a special COVID COVIDeo edition which is on YouTube. In addition to listening to me talking to space folk, you can now watch me do it from my home-office space desk, dressed in my best space themed attire: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYMne7dZMDhkA43I6s8Sbog Second, I'll be releasing daily videos for Patreon subscribers over at www.patreon.com/thespacejunkpod, as part of a special 'Mission to the...

In this episode PhD student (and COVID style icon) Annie Handmer brings you part 2 of her conversation with the brilliant Ingrid Ockert. Dr Ingrid Ockert is a historian of science and media in the 20th century, specialising in depictions of science on TV. In this episode she and Annie talk about Cadbury and Julius Sumner Miller, Dr Karl, things that go bang, and they also have a go at the mass marketing campaign that sells guilty parents STEM, and why they think that STEM, and non-STEM, are...

In this episode I bring you part 1 of my conversation with the incredible Ingrid Ockert. Dr Ingrid Ockert is a historian of science and media in the 20th century. She holds a PhD from the History of Science Program at Princeton University. Ingrid was the was the 2018-2019 NASA/HSS History Fellow and is currently serving as a post-doctoral fellow at the Science History Institute. We had a great conversation about representations of science on TV, and the intersections between Star Trek,...