Aerospace podcasts

Sue Nelson and Richard Hollingham discuss astronaut training and future missions with European Space Agency reserve astronauts John McFall and Meganne Christian. The conversation includes plans for a private space-station mission and an Atlantic crossing in winter. Project scientist Geraint Jones explains the joint European–Japanese BepiColombo mission as it approaches Mercury.

Hosted by Sue Nelson, Richard Hollingham

Chris Smith presents a research-news episode covering a treatment for prematurely fused infant skull bones, discussion of advanced AI risks, animal-assisted observations in Greenland’s fjords, and a European commercial rocket launch. The surgery segment explains how biomedical modelling and engineered springs supported treatment planning.

Hosted by Chris Smith

NASA aerospace engineer Nate Olson joins Taylor Sparks and Andrew Falkowski to discuss the materials and engineering behind spacecraft thermal protection. Topics include blunt-body designs, Apollo’s ablative heat shield, the Artemis I heat-shield anomaly and future protection systems. The scientific discussion is part of the Materialism materials-science series.

Hosted by Taylor Sparks, Andrew Falkowski