On The Space Show for Wednesday, 25 June 2025:

Space Show News:

The explosion of Starship 36 on the test stand at Starbase, Texas.

(Insert courtesy NSF)

Turn Back Time:

NASA’s Scout small satellite launcher program

(Feature courtesy The Space Story, NASA 1989)

Is Elon Musk's plan to settle Mars a visionary dream, or a nightmare folly?

* Elon Musk outlines his plan for using Starships to put a human settlement on Mars

* Reactions to that plan by the Planetary Society's Bill Nye and the Mars Society’s founder and president, Robert Zubrin.

(Inserts courtesy SpaceX and Humans to the Moon & Mars Summit)

Listen to the late David Willson, Research and Development Engineer, Space Science and Astrobiology Division, NASA Ames Research Center and Vice President of the Mars Society Australia talk about SpaceX Red Dragon — a collaboration between SpaceX and NASA.

(Recorded by The Space Show in Melbourne, Australia at a joint meeting of the Mars Society Australia and the Space Association of Australia in 2016. Note: Red Dragon was cancelled in July 2017).

See Dr Robert Zubrin’s full presentation, “How to Make the Mars Initiative Successful”, at the 2025 Humans to the Moon and Mars Summit.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 18 June 2025:

Australian Space Industry 2025 Part 8:

* A panel discussion about the emerging Australian space industry as it stood just before the formation of the Australian Space Agency on 1 July 2018.

(Recorded by The Space Show for the Space Association of Australia)

* Also, the recently launched Defence Science and Technology Group's Buccaneer Main Mission satellite gives an insight into how far the Australian space industry has come since 2018.

Turn back time:

The future of the European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) after the Europa 1 F-9 failed 55 years ago this week.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 11 June 2025:

Dr Naomi Mathers, Aerospace Engineer with Geospatial Intelligence and the Space Industry Association of Australia; Andrea Boyd, European Space Agency; and Mike Thompson, amateur astronomer with Backyard AstroScience, discussing Australian space technology applications:

* puncture repair kit

* using satellites

* space situational awareness

* 3D printing

* skinsuits; and

* other spinoffs.

(Recorded by The Space Show at Scienceworks, Spotswood in 2018)

Space Show News:

* Jared Isaacman comments on the proposed NASA budget and the withdrawal of his nomination as NASA Administrator. (Inserts courtesy All-In. See the whole interview here — Jared Isaacman: What went wrong at NASA | The All-In Interview)

* Another one bites the (lunar) dust: The failed lunar landing attempt by iSpace's Hakuto R-M2 “Resilience” on Mare Frigoris. (Inserts courtesy iSpace)

Turn back Time:

The 50th anniversary of the launch of Venera 9 and Venera 10 towards Venus and a report on their findings.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 4 June 2025:

• Breaking News: Jared Isaacman vs the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’.

• The 60th anniversary of the first two extravehicular activities (EVAs), or 'space walks’: Alexei Leonov exited Voskhod 2 and Ed White floated out of Gemini 4. Neither mission went as planned.
• The 60th anniversary of the ill-fated Luna 6 in the context of the other Soviet Luna missions.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 7 May 2025:

Tell him he’s dreaming: Jared Isaacman’s confirmation hearing — Part 2 vs the Trump Administration's NASA Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Request — Part 1

We examine President Trump's nominee for NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman's promises to Congress, compared with the reality of the Trump Administration’s recently announced NASA budget request.

Space and Australia: Opportunities in the second Trump administration

An exclusive interview with Dr Malcolm Davis, Senior Analyst, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, discussing his January 2025 article in The Strategist.

Dr Davis discusses both civilian and military space activity in low-Earth orbit and cislunar space, and the need for Australia to develop sovereign space capabilities, even advocating for an Australian astronaut on the Moon.

You can read the article here: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/space-and-australia-opportunities-in-the-second-trump-administration/

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 26 March 2025:

Australian Federal Budget 2025—2026:

Some space and astronomy aspects of yesterday's Australian Federal Budget. The item includes Professor Peter Quinn (Director, International Centre for Radio Astronomy research, Perth) answering questions about the Square Kilometre Array, and a feature on Landsat and Landsat Next. (Prof. Quinn recorded at a Space Association of Australia meeting)

Fram 2:

The pending launch of the Fram 2 polar orbiting mission with Australian Eric Philips as pilot.

Maria Xygkaki, Senior Business Developer, Saber Astronautics, Adelaide:

Discussion of a potential Australian astronaut programme with Axiom Space. (Recorded at a Space Association of Australia meeting)

Australian Space Industry 2025 — Part 6:

Waratah Seed 1 successfully completes six months in orbit; and a progress report on the ELO2 lunar rover, Roo-ver.

Planet Earth: Season 6 — Episode 65:

Season 6 of our Planet Earth series begins with a report from New Zealand on control of the MethaneSAT.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 19 March 2025:

Blue Ghost 1 Completes Mission

The successful conclusion of the Blue Ghost 1 lunar landing mission, with a description of the experiments carried. (Inserts courtesy NASA and Firefly)

Athena Volatiles

The objectives of the Volatile Contamination experiment on the failed Athena lunar lander. (Insert courtesy IM)

Sun and Butch Return to Earth

Marking this morning's return of the Crew 9 Dragon with the Starliner Crew Flight Test crew, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, after nine months in orbit.

Australian Space Industry 2025 Part 5

The launch of Buccaneer Main Mission for the Australian Defence Force; Droid 02 and LizzieSat 3 carrying HEO Robotics's cameras; and Varda's Winnebago 3.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 12 March 2025:

SPHEREx and PUNCH:

The launch of the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere satellites and the SPHEREx observatory.

Athena Crash:

The crash landing of the Athena spacecraft on Mons Moutan in the South Polar region of the Moon, and the purpose of the Hopper Gracie and Trident drill.

The Nova-C lunar lander, named Athena, reached the surface of the Moon on 6 March 2025, at 17:28:50 UTC. Contact was temporarily lost during the landing process; when it was re-established, it indicated that the spacecraft was not in the correct orientation and one of the two radio antennas was not operating.

Lunar Trailblazer Lost:

Bethany Ehlman (Principal Investigator, Caltech) describes the Lunar Trailblazer and a series of status reports following its loss of attitude control.

Australian Space Industry 2025 Part 4:

Launch due for Buccaneer Main Mission for the Australian Defence Force; Droid 02 and LizzieSat 3 to carry HEO Robotics's cameras; Varda's Winnebago 3 to follow Winnebago 2 to land in the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia.