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 targ…

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…

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…

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 …

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 pun…

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 speci…

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, …

On today's episode of the “Space Junk” podcast, guest host Luke Pringle interviews Gilmour Space Propulsion Engineer Nick McLean (pronounced like John McClane) 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 Spa…

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 wan…

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 …

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 Internati…

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…

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 …

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 …

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-…

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 departmen…

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 departmen…

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 iso…

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 iden…

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: https://youtu.be/Yy-2cyzvRbU https://mediadirectory.economist.com/people/tom-standage/ https:/…

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: https://youtu.be/NMD363NJgCA https://mediadirectory.economist.com/people/tom…

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…

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 tha…

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…

Last October I attended the 70th International Astronautical Congress in Washington DC. IAC is a massive conference, bringing together thousands of people who work in the space sector from national agency representatives to defence practitioners to those in private industry. In this episode I speak with three Australians at the conference who give …

This is the final instalment of the live audio from the Moon Vilalge Association event in Melbourne. In this episode, I join the panel to lead a conversation about space environmentalism, ethics, and exploration. The panellists are Alice Gorman, Gabrielle Harris, Ceridwen Dovey, Donna Lawler, and Kerrie Dougherty. https://mpavilion.org/program/mva-…

In this episode I bring you part 2 of the live audio from the Moon Village Association forum on the moon in Melbourne last month. We hear talks from journalist and writer Ceridwen Dovey, Space Lawyer Donna Lawler, and Space Historian Kerrie Dougherty. https://moonvillageassociation.org/ https://mpavilion.org/program/mva-mini-moon/ https://officeofo…

Last month I traveled to Melbourne to moderate the Moon Village Association’s public forum on the Moon. This is the audio from the event. First to the microphone was Thomas Gooch, who heads up the Office of Other Spaces and the Office of Planetary Observation, and is the regional coordinator for the Moon Village Association. You’ll then hear from M…

In this episode, I speak to some grade 6 students about how they see the Moon, the Earth, and our place in the Cosmos. I also touch base with Madeleine Bandurski from the Moon Village Association, and Thomas Gooch, founder of the Office of Other Spaces and the Office of Planetary Observation. On Wednesday 26 February 2020 at 6:15pm I’ll be moderati…

In this episode, I speak with Australian space historian Kerrie Dougherty about Australia's place in the history of space exploration. We reflect on Australia’s history with the Apollo program, and how we see our place in the universe. Kerrie will be on a panel that I will be moderating on 26 Feb 2020 at 6:15pm at the MPavillion in Melbourne. Other…

In this episode I speak with Dr Moriba Jah, an Associate Professor and the University of Texas at Austin in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics. Moriba Jah is the director for Computational Astronautical Sciences and Technologies (CAST), a group within the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences at Th…

In this episode, I bring you part 2 of my conversation with NASA Sagan Fellow Dr Benjamin Pope, a conversation ostensibly about space movies, but at this point so off the rails that I’m almost embarrassed to give it that title. We launch straight in after having watched Grimes’ music video ‘we appreciate power’ and our chat quickly devolves to AI a…

In this episode, I bring you part 1 of a relaxed, wide-ranging and delectable conversation with fan-favourite and good friend Dr Benjamin Pope. Ben has a PhD in Astrophysics from Oxford University and is currently a NASA Sagan Fellow at NYU researching exoplanets. In this episode, Ben and I tackle an in-advisably large number and bewilderingly wide…

In this episode, we get technical. I catch up with Dr Francis Bennet, a researcher from the Australian National University who works on Lasers, adaptive optics, and quantum electronics and is currently based out of Mt Stromlo. Our conversation ranges from space situational awareness (SSA) and riding bicycles, to making your own chocolate while fixi…

In this episode I chat to space lawyer Donna Lawler, the Principal at Azimuth Advisory, a firm which provides advice and assistance to Governments and businesses who are engaged in space activities. Donna is a commercial space lawyer with decades of experience working with Optus Satellite, and other Aussie space companies. We talk about the intrica…

In part 2 of my conversation with Dr Vince Houghton, the chief historian and curator at the international spy museum in Washington DC, we continue to delve into the intersections between technology, espionage, and society. If you haven't heard part 1, listen to that one first! http://spaceaustralia.com/opinions/space-junk-space-espionage-dr-vince-h…

In this week's episode, I interrupt the normal scheduling to bring you a special episode on space and bushfires. It seems that despite the technological advances that space has brought, we are still at the whim of nature when it comes to natural disasters. Or are we? To help me answer this question, I tracked down the best expert I know to tell me …

In this episode, I chat to Dr Vince Houghton, the chief historian and curator of the International Spy Museum in DC and the host of their podcast 'SpyCast' about Space Espionage, and Space-enabled spying. Dr Houghton specializes in military and intelligence history, with specific expertise on late-WWII and early-Cold War eras. He is a veteran of th…

In this episode, Meaghan Munro and I talk about the future of space in Australia and internationally. Meaghan is an aerospace engineering student who founded the Monash University rocketry team and is chairing the Australian Youth Aerospace Association (AYAA) Space Futures conference in Adelaide, Australia in 2020. This episode is a wild ride in wh…

In this episode, Secure World Foundation Space Lawyer Chris Johnson and I branch out from our discussion on the tardigrades on the Moon to chat about the benefits of using robots for space exploration, whether it's possible to interpret space law in a non-anthropocentric manner, and what it means to use space sustainably. We also touch on astropoli…

In this episode, Chris Johnson from the Secure World Foundation joins me to do a deep dive on the curious news about an Israeli spacecraft crash landing onto the moon, and potentially releasing thousands of little critters called tardigrades onto the lunar surface. We ask such important questions as 'what is a tardigrade?', explore the ins and outs…

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing, I tracked down Dylan O'Donnell, one of Australia's leading amateur astrophotographers, in beautiful Byron Bay. Dylan is also the creator of the 'Star Stuff' festival. In this episode we speak about astronomy, the state of science in Australia, the power of space to inspire, and the rising…

In this episode I talk with Daniel Porras, a Space Security Fellow at UNIDIR, the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research. Daniel focuses on political and legal issues surrounding space security and, in particular, the progressive development of sustainable norms of behaviour for space. We talk about space weaponization, space debris, and…

In this podcast, I chat to Professor Steven Freeland, international space law expert and current Dean of Law at Western Sydney University, about the challenges and opportunities posed by the international legal regime that governs our activities in space. What is international law? how does it work? How do advances in technology drive or impede its…

In this episode I sit down with Dr Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). Malcolm's research focuses on defence strategy and capability development, military technology, and the future of warfare. In this episode we talk about the importance of space to national security, what a hybrid cyber / space war…

In this episode I talk with Ben Piggott, a submariner and Communications and Information Warfare Officer with the Royal Australian Navy. Ben did his undergraduate degree in Chemistry and recently completed his Masters of Space Operations at UNSW Canberra. He is Secretary of the Australian Youth Aerospace Association and on the Future Strategic Lead…

In September 2018 the 69th annual International Astronautical Congress was held in Bremen, Germany. In this episode I take you through the event from start to finish, with music from the opening ceremony and interviews with international attendees. There is a particular focus on the Australian Space Agency. Support this show http://supporter.acast.…

Part 2 of my conversation with visiting NASA Sagan Fellow and exoplanet-studying astrophysicist Dr Ben Pope is a lot like a Jane Austen novel. We unpack our prejudice against the Humanity Star and Musk's space Tesla, we spend a lot of time talking about money and the elite, and ultimately find common ground in our mutual embarrassment about Austral…

In this episode I sit down with visiting NASA Sagan Fellow, Dr Ben Pope, to talk about Space Force. What is it, and why is there such controversy? In a wide ranging conversation that covers history, politics, art, science and sociology, we discuss everything from communist cowboys to our vision for the future of Australia's new Space Agency. Ben di…