On the 20th of July it will be 50 years ago that the first human, Neil Armstrong, made his first 'small step' on the Moon. In this episode we discuss this event, what it has meant to us and what it has meant to space exploration. Herbert Blankesteijn and Joeri Nortier talk with our guest, space entrepreneur Arno Wielders, about the plans to return to the Moon and to use this as a stepping stone to Mars. Arno thinks it is great to go to the Moon but it is not necessary as a rehearsal for your Mar...
Jul 16, 2019•1 hr 6 min
==NEWS== Russia to launch X-ray satellite , was in the works for 30 years Orion Launch Abort System test The Titan drone mission proposal Apollo Mission Control restored Starlink, Elon Musks 12,000 satellite plan, has a failure rate of 5% Apollo 11? YT-channel Space Rip has a documentary about Apollo 12! ==CREDITS== Space Cowboys is made by Thys Roes (https://yeah-science.net/) and Herbert Blankesteijn (https://blankesteijn.com/) in collaboration with BNR Nieuwsradio in Amsterdam, The Netherland...
Jul 03, 2019•35 min
Blue Origin started as Jeff Bezos's space tourism company. Amazon's boss wanted to offer people a trip to the edge of space, about 100 kms high - no orbits around the Earth. Today Blue Origin's rockets return form a mission and land upright, just like those of SpaceX. The company launches missions for NASA, has three different rockets in the works, sells rocket engines and has even announced a Moon lander, Blue Moon. Does the plan to send tourists to space even exist anymore? We discuss all thin...
Jun 26, 2019•1 hr 2 min
ESA has started projects where scientists and companies develop stuff ESA could use in spacecraft, or that would make space technology useful for people. An example is a wearable device that in some way has 'satellite communication capabilities'. Space Makers initiatives are ongoing in Ireland, Switzerland and Germany with more on the way. We ask Frank what Space Makers has brought ESA so far in terms of working devices and how this differs from regular assignments to space tech companies. ==LIN...
Jun 19, 2019•1 hr 7 min
The Planetary's Society Lightsail 2 mission President Trump's perculiar tweet about moon and mars missions Co-founder of the Planetary Society Carl Sagan on Lightsail: Space Cowboys is made by Thys Roes and Herbert Blankesteijn in collaboration with BNR Nieuwsradio in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jun 12, 2019•1 hr 1 min
Athena will co-operate with LISA, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna. How do two satellites work together? Both are scheduled for launch in the early 2030s and have been in the works for more than five years already. This is not uncommon in astronomy but how does a person work on such a time frame? Michael happens to be married to Sera Markoff, who recently appears on Space Cowboys too to talk about black holes. ==LINKS== Michael Wise SRON Athena Sera Markoff on Space Cowboys News: Islamic w...
Jun 05, 2019•1 hr 19 min
In this episode of Space Cowboys, were talking about the amazing icy worlds of Enceladus, Europa, and Titan - and ask why it might take some curious billionaires to actually fund ELF. Because NASA has still not allocated money to fund this most important of missions. Lunine is a planetary scientist and physicist and the Director of the Cornell Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science at Cornell Universitys Carl Sagan Institute. Space Cowboys is a show hosted by science journalists Thys Roes...
May 30, 2019•1 hr 9 min
You don't use a match to start a rocket engine. Dutch company APP specializes in igniters, and has found itself in related businesses such as parachute deployment devices and fire extinguishers. Their products are to be found on many space missions. Hosts Tyse Roes and Herbert Blankesteijn talk to Edwin Vermeulen of APP, who explains why igniting rocket engines is a science in itself. ==LINKS== APP Edwin Vermeulen News: NASA video: 'We Are Going' When will Starman return to Earth ? How to move p...
May 22, 2019•1 hr 8 min
Space Cowboys is a weekly podcast about space, rocket science, the hunt for life, telecommunications and maybe even some e-spionage. Space Cowboys is brought to you from Amsterdam by science and technology journalists Herbert Blankesteijn and Thys Roes. Herbert is off today and Joeri is taking his place. ISIS https://www.isispace.nl & htttps://www.cubesatshop.com Blue Origin's new moon lander The new Artemis moon mission See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
May 15, 2019•1 hr 3 min
Space Cowboys is a weekly podcast about space, rocket science, the hunt for life, telecommunications and maybe even some e-spionage. Space Cowboys is brought to you from Amsterdam by science and technology journalists Herbert Blankesteijn and Thys Roes. The moon rover we had on our desk Here's What Happened When The World's Space Agencies Simulated a Killer Asteroid Impact The Hubble Legacy Field Deployment of nano satellites See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
May 08, 2019•1 hr 4 min
But also stay tuned for space debris, Mars quakes and where the Voyagers are going. Our in-house space nerd Joeri Nortier is our guest. ==LINKS== We're NOT going to Mars Mystery accident with SpaceX crew capsule Blue Origin's mystery tweet Hayabusa blows 16 meter crater into asteroid Space janitor supposed to clean up space debris Where will the Voyagers end up ? Mars quakes ==VIDEO VERSION== Look for our videos on our YT channel ==CREDITS== Space Cowboys is made by Thys Roes (https://yeah-scien...
May 01, 2019•1 hr 8 min
Space Cowboys is made by Thys Roes (https://yeah-science.net/) and Herbert Blankesteijn (https://blankesteijn.com/) in collaboration with BNR in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. SHOW NOTES https://eventhorizontelescope.org/ http://www.lofar.org/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Apr 25, 2019•1 hr 9 min
Protecting the environment of Mars and the Moon, let alone other planets and their moons? You'd think we have plenty to worry about the environment here on Earth. Still, the space organizations NASA and ESA both have Planetary Protection Officers, whose sole job it is to make sure we don't mess up other celestial bodies. Gerhard Kminek is ESA's PPO and he is our guest in this Space Cowboys Podcast. He'll explain what he does to prevent that the life we may eventually find elsewhere in the Solar ...
Apr 17, 2019•1 hr 6 min
In this Space Cowboys episode we discuss with Lisa how exoplanets are discovered, what changes life can make to the chemical makeup of an atmosphere and how you can detect those changes from lightyears away. The telescopes that are needed to do this, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Extremely Large Telescope, are expected to come into service in the near future. ==LINKS== Lisa Kaltenegger Carl Sagan Institute Colorful Life Form Catalog ==VIDEO VERSION== Patience... ==CREDITS== Space Cowboy...
Apr 10, 2019•1 hr 7 min
Space's main selling points are, in his view, inspiration, plain utility as in gps satellites, economic value as in return on your invested dollar or euro. We also discuss differences between ESA's and NASA's pr and what companies like SpaceX add to the mix. ==LINKS== Michel van Baal SpaceX's Starship tests in South Texas Video feed of same: live 'Starship Cam' Event Horizon Telescope Project , to be discussed in Space Cowboys 18, three weeks from now. ==VIDEO VERSION== None this time, sorry! ==...
Apr 03, 2019•1 hr 5 min
Fun fact: the data that is Vandersat's raw material is free since governmental space offices love to have their work put to good use. This enables them to secure new funding. Join us as we discuss with Robbert lots of recent developments in spaceflight. ==LINKS== Vandersat ESA's Sentinel program America going back to the moon Timelapse of the Universe - Melodysheep India shoots down satellite Mission to Neptune's Moon Triton Big solar storm hit the Earth Data Becomes Cash Crop for Big Agricultur...
Mar 27, 2019•1 hr 4 min
De Mink has had fellowships at Princeton and Bonn, and at NASA working with data from the Hubble Space Telescope. She has won the MERAC prize, and is a VIDI and Aspasia laureate. She also graduated cum laude at her two BA's, MA's and PhD. Space Cowboys is a show about the exploration of space hosted by tech and science journalists Herbert Blankesteijn and Thys Roes. You can support Space Cowboys by going to patreon.com/spacecowboys Selma de Mink Her animations on the Wikipedia page for binary st...
Mar 21, 2019•1 hr 7 min
The Voyager missions will be in the history books long after much of our time has been forgotten, Carl Sagan said. Voyager 1 and 2 are the first objects made by humans who have left the Sun's bubble called the heliosphere, and are now in interstellar space. They both send data back every day, with the power of a small light bulb. ==PATREON== You can support this show on Patreon , a website designed to fund creators like us to make the content you love: ==VIDEO VERSION== Check it out here on YouT...
Mar 14, 2019•53 min
If you like to support weekly reporting on outer space, please consider supporting this show on Patreon: www.patreon.com/spacecowboys SHOW NOTES Capsule cheat sheet: https://qphl.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-72cadbb192c86ddeaf850b36ce7dc4fe Order a Fluffy Earth in two months: https://www.celestialbuddies.com SLS delayed again? https://spacenews.com/nasa-reassessing-date-for-first-sls-launch/ SpaceIL Mission https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceIL#Launch The Dream Chaser https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...
Mar 06, 2019•57 min
T-minus has its onw rocket, the Dart, which can reach heights of around 100 km, it has contributed to the Insight mission that recently landed on Mars and it is starting its own factory of rocket fuel in the Netherlands itself. Quite a list for a company of no more than seven people. And that's not all, as he tells Tyse and Herbert in this episode of Space Cowboys. ==SHOW NOTES== Roel Eerkens T-Minus Engineering You Won't Believe How the First Spy Satellites Worked New milestone for space touris...
Feb 27, 2019•1 hr 1 min
We have many questions, such as Why, How, and Who pays. So this is going to be one hell of an exciting episode of Space Cowboys. Patreon You can support this show on patreon.com/spacecowboys Show notes Spacelife Origin The weather on Mars Dutch invention to find alien life Russian press conference See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Feb 20, 2019•1 hr 2 min
Hiber's CFO Coen Janssen tells us about building satellites, covering all of the globe, getting your spacecraft launched, abiding by the rules in orbit, being a space company in Amsterdam, making money doing it and much more. ==SHOW NOTES== Hiber Coen Janssen Flyover of Europa (Jupiter's moon, that is) Mars One in trouble , talks to 'new investor' Mark Kelley runs for John McCain's Senate seat Elon Musk confident moving to Mars will one day cost $500,000 for a return ticket. NASA administrator, ...
Feb 14, 2019•1 hr 2 min
Space law is dominated by a handful of (rather old) international treaties. Court cases do not occur, since countries and companies mostly resolve any disputes in a reasonable way. Legal fighting is in nobody's best interest. Tanja Masson is one of the world's leading experts in space law and she has lots to tell about space mining, travel to Mars and planetary protection. Also, if you're considering a career in law, it looks like space law is a growth market. ==SHOW NOTES== Tanja Masson of Leid...
Feb 06, 2019•1 hr 5 min
So tells us Joeri Nortier, a colleague of ours at BNR who is a space nerd and acts as something between a guest and a co-host in this episode. We try and embarrass him by asking questions he can't possibly know the answer to, but then he does. Dive into Asian spaceflight with us and be surprised. ==SHOW NOTES== NASA tries to revive Opportunity Mars Rover three last times Artificial meteor showers from Japan Falcon heavy l aunching again Russian Proton rocket fails spectacularly and majesticall =...
Jan 31, 2019•1 hr 3 min
In this sweeping episode we talk to Anthony Brown, Chair of the Gaia data processing and analysis consortium and researcher at Leiden Observatory - about the huge piles of data this mission is collecting, and the insights its giving us about our own cosmic backyard. ==SHOW NOTES== Impact of meteor on moon during eclipse Blue origin NS-10 launch and landing Gaia app Types of objects found by Gaia Field of view of Gaia Gaia sky v1.0 Galaxymap.org Gaia archive Universe sandbox Space engine ==PATREO...
Jan 24, 2019•1 hr 5 min
All this lead Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb to propose that it might be a product of extraterrestrial technology. His colleague astronomer Seth Shostak knows a thing or two about looking forextraterrestrial life: he works at the SETI institute in Mountain View, CA, where the search for extraterrestrial life is their core business. So we asked Seth what he thinks about Avi's ideas and he tells us in this podcast. ==SHOW NOTES== Avi Loeb explains what's weird about Oumuamua Wikipedia on Oumuamua The...
Jan 17, 2019•59 min
==SHOW NOTES== Abandoned Space Hardware: CANCELLED Part Tess discovers new exoplanet Nasa's planetary protection officer The Enceladus LIFE finder mission was proposed as a NASA New Frontiers mission. It is not expected before 2030 . ==PATREON== Please consider supporting us through Patreon, a website designed to fund creators like us to make the content you love. Please sign up and support us ==VIDEO VERSION== Check it our here on Youtube. ==CREDITS== Space Cowboys is made by Tyse Roes (http://...
Jan 10, 2019•1 hr 2 min
On New Year's Day the spacecraft New Horizons flew by Ultima Thule, a rock about 30 km in size way beyond Pluto. Images are on their way. In this first episode of Space Cowboys we ask astronomer Rudolf le Poole (and ourselves) what we already know about Ultima Thule, what we can expect of the data News Horizons gathered in the mere hours that the flyby lasted and what's next for this incredible mission (spoiler: it may last for another 20 years). Also we discuss related missions such as Voyager ...
Jan 02, 2019•1 hr
