On The Space Show for Wednesday, 6 August 2025:

A Retrospective (2016): Searching for Life in the Outer Solar System

A discussion of the proposed BRINE Discovery Mission to Enceladus and the status of the United States’ commercial space projects with the late Dr David Wilson, then Vice President of the Mars Society Australia and a research and development engineer at the Space Science and Astrobiology Division of the NASA Ames Research Center in California.

In 2012 and 2013, NASA's Ames Research Center undertook a series of studies using a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on Mars, defining possible payloads including deep drills for astrobiology missions and Earth return rockets for Mars sample return. In 2015 Ames proposed the IceBreaker search for life mission to Mars for NASA's Discovery Program and then a mission to Saturn's moon Enceladus, called BRINE.

(Recorded by The Space Show at a joint meeting of the Mars Society Australia and the Space Association of Australia in June 2016)

Planet Earth — Episode 67:

• The Earth's geocentre
• SWOT and Australia
• Five Queensland projects to accelerate the growth of the Earth observation industry

• Cloudsat.

(Inserts courtesy GSFC, JPL)

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 30 July 2025:

Eris TestFlight-1: Gilmour Space takes first step towards Australian sovereign launch capability.

Bowen, Queensland, Australia - 30 July 2025: Gilmour Space Technologies has completed the maiden test launch of Australia's first locally designed and built orbital rocket — a major milestone toward offering low-cost, responsive launch services for small satellites globally.

The 23-meter, 30-tonne Eris rocket, powered by new hybrid propulsion technology, successfully lifted off from the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in North Queensland, achieving approximately 14 seconds of flight.

BONUS: A 2019 Space Show interview with Adam Gilmour, CEO and Founder of Gilmour Space Technologies.

Adam provides a company profile and describes the aspirations of the company to develop an Australian space launch vehicle. (Interviewer: Peter Aylward)

Australian Space Industry 2025 — Part 10:

* Skykraft mission 4

* Artemis 2 Australian laser

* Optimus satellite factory

* Kanyini.

Planet Earth — Episode 66:

* NISAR launch due soon

* MethaneSAT fail

* TRACERS in orbit

* SWOT update.

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 23 July 2025:

A Cold War Handshake in Space — The 50th Anniversary of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project:

* Apollo 7 astronaut, Walter Cunningham, shares his unique and candid perspective on the first international joint mission with America's Soviet adversaries.

* Terry Virts (@AstroTerry), another former NASA astronaut, shares his forthright reflections on training and working with his Russian counterparts on the International Space Station in more recent times.

10th Anniversary of the New Horizons flyby of Pluto:

Astrobiologist, Dr David Grinspoon, Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute and NASA, reflecting on Pluto and the human imagination. A talk about Pluto and the New Horizons spacecraft that flew past the dwarf planet ten years ago. (Courtesy PSI)