About this episode

The episode discusses SpaceX's rocket body impacting the Moon and the implications for future lunar exploration and the upcoming launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Observatory.

Space Nuts: Moon impact, Roman Observatory launch, and Neptune’s odd moons Andrew Dunkley is joined by Professor Jonti Horner, Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Southern Queensland, for a wide-ranging astronomy update. They cover SpaceX’s out-of-control rocket body hitting the Moon, the imminent launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Observatory, and a new result that may explain the strange origin of some of Neptune’s moons. We discuss why lunar impacts matter far beyond the Moon itself, how Roman will study exoplanets and dark energy, and why clay minerals on Neptune’s small moons are such a big clue about a violent early solar system. Key topics SpaceX’s rocket body impacted the Moon after being left in a long, uncontrolled orbit Why lunar impacts are a real concern for future habitats, infrastructure, and Apollo heritage sites The sheer scale of human-made objects that have already hit or landed on the Moon Elon Musk’s vision for lunar factories, rail-gun launches, and large-scale off-Earth manufacturing Why the same company could end up both creating the risk and needing to solve it The Nancy Grace Roman Observatory launching around 9 months ahead of schedule Roman’s…

People in this episode

Host: Andrew Dunkley

Guest: Professor Jonti Horner

Topics covered

• SpaceX moon impact
• Nancy Grace Roman Observatory
• Neptune's moons
• lunar impacts
• dark energy
• exoplanets
• solar system origins

Keywords

• SpaceX
• moon impact
• Roman Observatory
• Neptune
• dark energy
• exoplanets
• lunar habitats
• Apollo heritage
• James Webb
• solar system

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Southern Queensland, SpaceX, Nancy Grace Roman Observatory

Products: James Webb

Places: Neptune

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