Ground Control #6
A rocket motor test on Halloween, Kepler Mission deep dive, Mars rovers, asteroids, and Carrington events oh my!
Welcome to Ground Control. This special newsletter for our paid subscribers 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 five episode recommendations.
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Let’s get into it.
Space Culture & History
L.A. Made: Blood, Sweat & Rockets
“Meet the Suicide Squad”
Excuse me for being late to the party on this one, but I just started listening to the extremely compelling Blood, Sweat & Rockets podcast which dives into the history and origin story of JPL. As a Pasadenan, I find myself particularly fascinated to learn more about this particular slice of space heritage that hits close to home.
I’ll share updates on these episodes as I work my way through the series, but if this first segment is any indicator, I think I’m in for a quirky, chaotic, and surprising tale of “the suicide squad” which included the infamous Jack Parsons, Frank Malina, Ed Forman and crew.
How did modern rocketry become an accepted scientific and engineering pursuit? Well, this unlikely (and pretty creepy) group of engineers gets started with a first rocket motor test on Halloween in 1936. And I can’t wait to find out more…
Here’s how to access:
Astronomy
Pale Blue Pod
“Kepler Mission on a Swan Lake”
As an amateur exoplanet enthusiast, I LOVED the inside baseball provided on the exoplanet research community as well as the witty astronomy banter in this episode of Pale Blue Pod.
Dr. Moiya McTier and host Corinne Caputo dive into the groundbreaking Kepler mission, its early history, and the pivotal role it played in furthering transit photometry as a detection method for exoplanets. McTier explains how transit photometry transformed our ability to detect planets beyond our solar system, the challenges that the Kepler mission faced, and how its discovery of nearly 3,000 exoplanets has altered our perception of the universe. You also don't want to miss a rousing game of "Exoplanet President," where McTier and Caputo assign would-be leaders to these alien worlds, from Elizabeth Olsen presiding over Kepler 16b to "Florida Man" ruling the swamp-like Kepler 22b. A fun and surprising listen that had me dreaming about intergalactic political campaigns.
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