The Cosmic Controversy Podcast

Episode 37 --- Is Oumuamua, Our Solar System’s 1st Identified Interstellar Asteroid, Actually An Alien Probe?

Did an alien lightsail traverse our solar system in 2017?  Harvard University astronomer Avi Loeb thinks so.  In today’s episode, I welcome Loeb to discuss his bestselling book --- “Extraterrestrial:  The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth.”  We chat about why he thinks this object, Oumuamua, is likely to be artificial and why the scientific community at large remains so unreceptive to progressive scientific thinking when it comes to the subject of extraterrestrial intelligence.

Episode 36 --- NASA Aims For The Geophysical Heart Of Mars

I welcome Bruce Banerdt, the principal investigator for NASA’s Mars InSight lander, which has been operating on the Martian surface for two years now.  Although it’s had some technical issues, it’s offered a sea change in how geophysicists are interpreting the dynamics and makeup of the Martian core.  In this episode, we talk about what we currently understand about Mars’ geophysical makeup and, among other things, whether it ever had plate tectonics which was so crucial for the evolution of sentient life here on Earth.

Episode 35 ---America’s Heroic World War II Air Raid On Ploesti --- The ‘Taproot’ Of Nazi Oil

Few if any of you will have ever heard of Ploesti.  But it’s a Romanian city that was what Winston Churchill called the taproot of Nazi might due to its many oil high-quality oil refineries overtaken by Germany during World War II.  Because of its strategic importance, in 1943, the U.S Army Air Force at the time launched a daring, heroic, and ultimately very costly low-level bombing raid on these refineries.  Using some 160 B-24 Liberator medium-range bombers, the Americans were met with heavy anti-aircraft resistance.  Today’s guest Jay A. Stout, author of “Fortress Ploesti:  The Campaign to Destroy Hitler’s Oil Supply,” provides unique insight into this historic chapter of aviation history. 

Episode 34 --- Why Geology Is Crucial To Unlocking The Mysteries Of Our Solar System

Planetary geophysicist Erik Asphaug of the University of Arizona discusses what we really know about our solar system; its age; its formation; and its evolution. Asphaug also addresses some major puzzles. Is our solar system truly anomalous? Is the composition and spacing of our eight planets also anomalous? And what we need to do to further planetary science.

Episode 33 --- How Pan Am Changed The World

The spectacular rise and fall of Pan Am from flying boats to 747s.  International best-selling author and former Pan Am captain Robert Gandt gives me the inside scoop on Pan American World Airways, from its humble beginnings to global empire. 

Episode 32 --- How Deep Space Navigation Is Revolutionizing Planetary Science

Deep space navigator Coralie Adam explains the tricky navigation needed to guide NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft on its flyby of the Pluto system in 2015.  The spacecraft continues operation today.  Meanwhile, Adam and colleagues are awaiting the arrival of a touch-and-go sample garnered from the asteroid Bennu which is expected back at Earth in 2023.  We discuss how deep space navigation is facilitating the precise exploration of the solar system. 

Episode 31 --- Interstellar Propulsion --- What We Need to Make Star Trek Real

Propulsion physicist Marc Millis talks about the prospects for fast, efficient interstellar travel.  Millis was head of NASA’s Breakthrough Propulsion Program at Glenn Research Center outside Cleveland for years beginning in the mid-1990s.  We discuss why the problem of traveling to the stars is so difficult and what would need to happen to help such dreams become a reality.  It’s a lively and irreverent discussion! 

Episode 30 --- Uranus and Neptune --- Our Solar System’s Mysterious Ice Giants

Renowned planetary astronomer Heidi Hammel and I chat about our solar system’s mysterious ice giant planets, Uranus and Neptune.  There’s only been one flyby of these giant planets by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft back in the late 1980s.  Hammel, who was part of the Voyager 2 science team, explains what that mission taught us about these objects and why we need to go back.   

Episode 29 --- How the Cold War Spurred the Race for Supersonic Flight

The age of supersonic flight officially began after World War II, when the late Chuck Yeager pushed the Bell X-1 test aircraft beyond the speed of sound (Mach 1) in October 1947.  But bestselling author and highly-decorated fighter pilot Dan Hampton contends that Yeager wasn’t the first pilot to go supersonic in controlled flight.  On this week’s episode, Hampton and I discuss how the Cold War spurred the quest for speed and why Yeager might not have been the first American fighter pilot to break the sound barrier. 

Episode 28 --- The Glenn Miller Disappearance: One of World War II’s Greatest Aviation Mysteries

Big band historian and author Dennis Spragg talks about the music, the legacy, and the tragic disappearance of the American big band icon, Glenn Miller.  We cover what shaped his unique sound; his driving passion to give back to America’s Greatest Generation in their hour of wartime need; and the tragic disappearance of his December 1944 flight from England to France.