Spaceflight Mechanics: The Cornell Space Technology Podcast

Mason Peck and Elaine Petro
  • 5.0 (7)
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY

Spaceflight Mechanics is hosted by Professor Mason Peck & Professor Elaine Petro at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. This podcast features conversations with leaders in space technology about where we are now and where we are going.

Episodes

  1. 05/06/2024

    Sibley 300

    This is the second of two special episodes of Spaceflight Mechanics to feature time travel. Having acquired near-immortality, Elaine and Mason discuss their experiences from their perspective in the year 2174 and reflect upon how space technology has changed since they launched the podcast 150 years ago.

    22 min

  2. 04/22/2024

    Sibley 0

    This special episode of Spaceflight Mechanics features time travel. In recognition of the sesquicentennial of mechanical engineering at Cornell, we go back 150 years to the origins of the University and speak to one of its Founders, Andrew Dickson White. We get his take on the origins of mechanical and aerospace engineering and ask him to speculate what innovations the 20th century may bring.

    34 min

  3. 04/08/2024

    The Zeroth Law of Deploying Structures

    Mason and Elaine talk with Manan Arya, Assistant Professor at Stanford University. They discuss very smart structural strategies, why we want to fold and unfold things in space, and "other things we know how to do as a species."

    46 min

  4. 03/25/2024

    Plasma and Plausibility

    Elaine and Mason discuss plasmas, propulsion, and small spacecraft with Kristina Lemmer from Western Michigan University.

    40 min

  5. 03/11/2024

    Mountainboarding on the Moon

    Mason and Elaine talk with Professor Fabien Royer about new ways to build spacecraft, new concepts for space structures, grandparents, and mountainboarding.

    53 min

  6. 02/26/2024

    Varda Manufactured the Stars

    In this second episode about Varda Space Industries' in-space manufacturing technology, Mason and Elaine speak with Wendy Shimata, Varda's Vice President for Autonomy.  It was only a few days ago, on February 21 2024, that Varda's W-1 capsule successfully landed in the Utah desert. Wendy served as the Mission Director for the deorbit and reentry shifts. She explains some of the innovations that made it possible and goes over how this technology will enable Varda to scale up to hundreds of missions each year.

    35 min

  7. 02/12/2024

    Risks and Rewards of In-Space Manufacturing at Varda: The Percentage of Wood-Roof Houses in Idaho

    This is the first of two episodes in which Mason and Elaine speak with the leadership of Varda Space Industries about technologies for manufacturing in space. In this episode, Will Bruey, Varda’s CEO, explains why and how their first technology-demonstration mission, Winnebago, will produce ritonavir with unprecedented purity.

    56 min

  8. 01/29/2024

    Taking the Heat

    Sadaf Sobhani, assistant professor in mechanical and aerospace engineering, helps Mason and Elaine warm to the possibility that 3D printing may change how spacecraft keep cool.

    52 min

  9. 01/15/2024

    The Wind from the Sun

    It's not wind, but photons that blow solar-sail spacecraft across vast distances. Mason and Elaine talk with Ryan Caverly, Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota, about his ideas regarding solar sails, tensegrity, and attitude control.

    45 min

  10. 01/01/2024

    The Nuclear Option

    Elaine and Mason talk to John Foster, Professor at The University of Michigan, about space nuclear propulsion and upcoming flight demonstrations.

    57 min

  11. 12/11/2023

    Space Adversary

    Greg Falco, Assistant Professor at Cornell University, talks with Mason about security in space: hacking, cyber crime, and stealing spacecraft.

    46 min

  12. 11/27/2023

    We Untwinkle Stars

    Elaine and Mason talk to Dmitry Savransky, Associate Professor at Cornell University, about space telescopes.

    44 min
  • 12 Episodes

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
7 Ratings

About

Spaceflight Mechanics is hosted by Professor Mason Peck & Professor Elaine Petro at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. This podcast features conversations with leaders in space technology about where we are now and where we are going.

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