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This Week In Space podcast: Episode 86 — Home is Where the Air Is

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On Episode 86 of This Week In Space, Tariq and Rod discuss keeping your life support system working when on Mars.

On Episode 86 of This Week In Space, Tariq and Rod keeping your life support working while on Mars.

We all know you must carry breathable air and drinkable water with you into space... but when traveling to Mars, how can you ensure your life support system will keep working all the way there and beyond? Technology is fallible, and when talking about life support—breathable air, temperature control, and potable water—all are non-negotiable and critical to survival. It's enough to give engineers nightmares.

Grant Anderson, the president and CEO of Paragon Space Development Corporation, has been working on these problems since early in his career, and his company is developing mission-critical systems today. We join Grant to learn about how we can be assured that Tariq and I will still have enough air to tell bad space jokes in month 6 of our trip to Mars.

Download or subscribe to this show at: https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space.

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Space news of the week

Model Falcon 9!

TOP TELESCOPE PICK:

A Celestron telescope on a white background

(Image credit: Celestron)

Looking for a telescope to see planets and comets? We recommend the Celestron Astro Fi 102 as the top pick in our best beginner's telescope guide. 

Finally, did you know you can launch your own SpaceX rocket? Model rocket maker Estes' stunning scale model of a Falcon 9 rocket that you can pick up now. The launchable model is a detailed recreation of the Falcon 9 and retails for $149.99. You can save 10% by using the code IN-COLLECTSPACE at checkout, courtesy of our partners collectSPACE.com.

About This Week In Space

This Week in Space covers the new space age. Every Friday we take a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What's happening with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars? 

Join Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik from Space.com as they tackle those questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe today on your favorite podcatcher.

Host of This Week In Space on TWiT
Rod Pyle
Host of This Week In Space on TWiT
Rod Pyle

Rod Pyle is an author, journalist, television producer and Editor-in-Chief of Ad Astra magazine. He has written 18 books on space history, exploration, and development, including Space 2.0, Innovation the NASA Way, Interplanetary Robots, Blueprint for a Battlestar, Amazing Stories of the Space Age, First On the Moon, and Destination Mars

In a previous life, Rod produced numerous documentaries and short films for The History Channel, Discovery Communications, and Disney. He also worked in visual effects on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the Battlestar Galactica reboot, as well as various sci-fi TV pilots. His most recent TV credit was with the NatGeo documentary on Tom Wolfe's iconic book The Right Stuff.

This Week In Space co-host
Tariq Malik
This Week In Space co-host
Tariq Malik

Responsible for Space.com's editorial vision, Tariq Malik has been the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com since 2019 and has covered space news and science for 18 years. He joined the Space.com team in 2001, first as an intern and soon after as a full-time spaceflight reporter covering human spaceflight, exploration, astronomy and the night sky. He became Space.com's managing editor in 2009. As on-air talent has presented space stories on CNN, Fox News, NPR and others.

Tariq is an Eagle Scout (yes, he earned the Space Exploration merit badge), a Space Camp veteran (4 times as a kid, once as an adult), and has taken the ultimate "vomit comet" ride while reporting on zero-gravity fires. Before joining Space.com, he served as a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering city and education beats. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Space.com Staff
Space.com Staff
News and editorial team

Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor. 

7 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Dave
    I listened to your podcast. Here a group of intelligent men had a difficult time talking seriously about an important topic. Intelligent lifeforms beyond our world visiting earth. Let us look at the facts. Is there intelligent life in our galaxy. Yes. Is the milky way galaxy a habitat for life. Yes. Does life dominate a world where liquid water is present. Yes. Is it possible a more advanced form of life can form. Yes. A serious topic deserves its due. There are 300 million potentially habitable worlds in our galaxy alone. All of the people on your podcast had a similar opinion about this topic. Perhaps someone who believes we are not alone could have been added to the podcast. It reminds me of our only true source of information concerning UFO's. The military. They investigate all UFO claims. What did you see? Classified. Never an honest answer. Not a speck of truth in any conversation. Make a joke. Provide everything but the real truth concerning this very important question.
    Reply
  • Mergatroid
    "There's no middle ground on SpaceX's Starship, it seems. You love it, or you hate it; you're an Elon Musk fanboy or a grizzled Old Space curmudgeon. "

    I realize that many comments about SpaceX are polarized, but I disagree in general.

    Years ago I started out as a Musk fanboy, but over the years I have seen that he is a bit of a dick. Twitter proved that to me. However, I still admire what he has done with SpaceX.

    Most of the bad things I hear about SpaceX are actually from people who don't like Musk, and somehow think that should include SpaceX. Dumb people IMAO.

    Starship itself is quite the project6, and if it works out it will be the most advanced ship on the planet, capable of doing things no other ship can achieve right now.

    Credit where credit is due.
    Reply
  • Mergatroid
    Dave said:
    I listened to your podcast. Here a group of intelligent men had a difficult time talking seriously about an important topic. Intelligent lifeforms beyond our world visiting earth. Let us look at the facts. Is there intelligent life in our galaxy. Yes. Is the milky way galaxy a habitat for life. Yes. Does life dominate a world where liquid water is present. Yes. Is it possible a more advanced form of life can form. Yes. A serious topic deserves its due. There are 300 million potentially habitable worlds in our galaxy alone. All of the people on your podcast had a similar opinion about this topic. Perhaps someone who believes we are not alone could have been added to the podcast. It reminds me of our only true source of information concerning UFO's. The military. They investigate all UFO claims. What did you see? Classified. Never an honest answer. Not a speck of truth in any conversation. Make a joke. Provide everything but the real truth concerning this very important question.

    There is a difference between knowing that there could be other intelligent life in our universe and claiming they have visited us. In other words, there is no logic to claiming any UFOs are of alien origin.
    Currently we know of no way that could be achieved. Without resorting to science fiction, there is no way to travel faster than light, and generational ships could be destroyed or the crew killed of by radiation or having objects slam into it. Highly doubtful anyone would use a ship like that to visit us and stick around.
    And unless we see some evidence of FTL travel, there is no point claiming it exists.
    Reply
  • Dave
    Another podcast 'same old, same old' If you believe in the Big Bang then the essence of what made us can certainly make other intelligent lifeforms, in our living universe. It is like you explore a mile all around from your oasis and then proclaim there is no other oasis in the desert.
    "Take me to your leader" is the joke. And yet humans have not evolved to even have a leader of the human race yet.
    We are a violent race, those intelligent lifeforms who observe us wish to remain hidden. They are helped by those who make false claims. In the same category are the 'non believers' those who say 'we are alone' We are the center of the universe. These people who wear the stupid hats and do not treat this topic with the sincerity or seriousness it truly deserves. They help those intelligent lifeforms who remain hidden. There is no conspiracy or paranoia. Only facts.
    Our science is primitive and cannot help us.
    This is what we will do in our own future, we will observe other intelligent species. This is how you can discover them. You figure out where they are hiding.
    Reply
  • Dave
    Yes it is true there are a lot of crazy conspiracies out there. Podcast number 75 and here we are still fighting the good fight. Yes, it is August of 2023.
    My favorite conspiracy is from the 'we are alone' crowd, still steadfastly rigid in their way of thinking. Humanity is the center of the universe. We are alone. Love the way you guys put your fingers in your ears singing la, la, la, la...
    (Congressional hearing - not real, not credible. All credible testimony - not a shred of truth.
    All credible witnesses - must be lies.)
    Now more than ever we need to bolster our collective strength putting pressure on the military, to come forth with the truth.
    Showing the evidence that we all know exists.

    Now we have bipartisan members of congress leading the way. Unprecedented support in a search for the truth. Misdirection revealed. Cover up and secrecy exposed. We have known it for decades. UAP's are real. The real investigation can truly begin.
    Reply
  • DrRaviSharma
    Hello Tariq Malik and Dr Petro and Rod Pyle On Episode 76 dated August
    Great talks.
    Tell us more about Artemis Plans and details down the timeline.

    Tariq - thanks for Publishing my Expert Voices on Pace.com. Chandrayaan-2.
    2020 - Space.com article analyzing Chandrayaan-2 and suggestions for Future ISRO missions. https://www.space.com/india-moon-landing-not-a-failure.htmlDr Petro
    Geologists who helped us were Tommy Gold, Dr. Eugene Schumacher, my team-colleague Dr Farouq El Baz and Bill Smith and others who were advising us at the then Manned space flight experiment Board. MSFEB.
    Why could the Orange and Green glass not contain trapped Meteoritic or cometary ices made during impact?
    Why are we not using automated rovers analyzers etc. to get more data rather than wait for expensive Artemis missions to do that, I mean as preparatory ones.

    On LRO the camera resolution is poorer (0.5m) than on Chandrayaan-2 orbiter but why do we not see those images in open published sets?
    Grail data on gravity are these much more detailed than Lunar Mascon s from Orbiters of 1960's prior to Apollo.
    Also how well do we have Lambertian and specular reflectance data from LRO and CH-2 orbiter?

    Why did you not mention benefits of using China data from Far side of Moon?

    Will you use Propulsion Module and certainly Ch-2 Orbiter data to supplement for Artemis?
    Continuity of our exploration is political wind dependent and this has cost us dearly in Fusion, Fuel Cells and Human Space Flight.

    What are essential steps before you repeat our Apollo like safe missions with Artemis?

    How many automated missions before human landing in 2026 or earlier Artemis.
    Long range gateways.

    Thanks.
    Ravi
    (Dr. Ravi Sharma, Ph.D. USA)
    NASA Apollo Achievement Award
    Ontolog Board of Trustees
    Particle and Space Physics
    Senior Enterprise Architect
    Reply
  • DrRaviSharma
    Thanks for editing.
    Reply