Ground Control #3

The sound of space, Venus represents its namesake goddess of desire, and all the emerging voices of the space industry.

Welcome to Ground Control. This is our third edition of a brand-new newsletter that was born out of our love for the intersection of space + podcasting. Because as much as we love to write and talk about space – we also love to listen to space…news. Because you can’t listen to space. Unless it’s a ripple of hot star gas.

Today, we have four episode recommendations.

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Let’s get into it.

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Astronomy

Credit: NASA’s Curious Universe

NASA’s Curious Universe

“Hum of the Sun”

Euclid’s mesmerizing debut images were the talk of pod-town this week, and there were certainly some compelling episodes covering this – from Australian Public Radio’s Spacetime with Stuart Gary to a brief recap with WIRED Science. Ultimately though, our recommendation for best astronomy audio has to go to a more sonic revelation, in “Hum of the Sun” from NASA’s Curious Universe. With solar activity expected to peak next year – giving us space weather effects as cool as auroras and as not-cool as electrical grid interference – podcast host and NASA astrophysicist Padi Boyd invites data sonification specialist Robert Alexander to explain how listening to space can help us understand it…and maybe even predict it. We know – listen? To space? According to Ridley Scott – and literally us two seconds ago in the intro to this newsletter – our eardrums cannot hear sound in space, be it a scream or a blast of solar plasma. But like the JWST transforms infrared light into imagery our human eyes can understand, Robert has figured out how to translate solar activity into “raw,” “powerful” audio. So, if you’re interested in hearing coronal mass ejections exploding out from the sun at insane speeds, or perhaps the more soothing musical harmonic components within solar wind, give this episode a listen. 

Here’s how to access:

Spotify | Apple Podcasts

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Space Exploration