#46 - April 2016

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The Discussion: This month Jeni has a PhD offer that’s getting us
all excited, Paul’s been clocking up the miles to teach science
and astronomy to schools and Ralph’s just excited because he’s
got a new telescope.


Mat & Phil from Project Helium Tears join us again on the day
they launched their 2nd Star Wars themed balloon to the edge of
space.


The News: We start the news with last month’s total solar eclipse
seen from parts of Asia before explaining the research that
suggests an ancient cataclysm caused Mars crust & mantle to
shift. Then we discuss the launch of ESA’s Exomars part 1. And we
finish with a round-up of the news from NASA’s Insight mission,
the 1st analysis of the atmosphere of a super earth exoplanet
atmosphere and the latest SpaceX attempt to bring down the cost
of commercial spaceflight.


The Interview: For the interview this month we welcome Apollo 12
lunar module pilot and Skylab 2 commander Alan Bean. We discuss:


44 years of humans staying in Low Earth Orbit

Nearly missing out on walking on the moon due to lightning

Saving the Apollo 12 mission

The colourful crew of Apollo 12

Finding organic matter in lunar orbit

Competing with smarter astronauts – and not being Clint
Eastwood!

A moonwalker’s impressions of the moon

The feeling of the moon’s surface underfoot



And the full hour long interview with Alan Bean will be released
in May 2016.


Woobusters: Continuing our quest to debunk the myths and
conspiracy theories that persist in every dark corner of the news
and the internet. This month’s topic, picked at random from the
Big Hat of Woo, is The Dead Cosmonauts conspiracy.


Q&A: Listeners’ questions via email, Facebook & Twitter
take us on a journey into the astronomy issues that have always
plagued our understanding or stretched our credulity. This month
we tackle:


When will the Theory of General Relativity become Law? Brad Bell
from Texas, United States