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The new space age is upon us, and This Week in Space leaves no topic untouched. Every Friday, join Editor-in-Chief of Ad Astra magazine, Rod Pyle and Managing Editor of Space.com, Tariq Malik as they explore everything related to the cosmos. You can join Club TWiT for $10 per month and get ad-free audio and video feeds for all our shows plus everything else the club offers...or get just this podcast ad-free for $5 per month.Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ Spaceflight and launch industry news • Artemis lunar missions and moonbase planning • Mars exploration history and astrobiology • Space telescopes and observatories • Exoplanets, interstellar chemistry • Space policy, geopolitics, defense • SETI, dark matter, UFO cultureThis podcast is a weekly discussion of major developments in spaceflight and space science, combining breaking news with deeper context about how missions, technology, and policy shape the current “new space age.” Across these episodes, the hosts track the pace of commercial launch and spacecraft programs—especially the testing and operational goals of SpaceX’s Starship, as well as delays and setbacks affecting other crewed and uncrewed vehicles. NASA’s Artemis plans for returning to the Moon recur as a central thread, including debates over how and where to establish longer-term lunar infrastructure, how landers and logistics might work, and how schedule risk is influenced by contractor performance and launch failures.
The show also spends substantial time on space telescopes and planetary exploration. Listeners hear about upcoming observatory launches, efforts to keep aging missions operating, and what new instruments could reveal. Mars exploration appears both as history and as an ongoing scientific puzzle, with attention to life-detection experiments, ambiguous results, and how new discoveries and planetary-protection concerns influence future strategies.
Beyond engineering and mission updates, the podcast regularly explores the broader implications of space activity: national security and defense contracting, the U.S. Space Force and distributed satellite constellations, international competition (including China and India), and legal or environmental disputes tied to launch sites and “territory” in space. Episodes also branch into astrophysical and astrobiological questions—exoplanet atmospheres, possible exomoons, interstellar chemistry relevant to life, and speculative discussions about the challenges of recognizing or communicating with nonhuman intelligence—often through interviews with scientists, historians, and former space agency leaders.
| Episodes: |
TWiS 221: Starship Can Float? - Roman Space Telescope Ready to Launch!2026-Jul-31 57 minutes |
TWiS 220: First on Mars - The 50th Anniversary of Viking 12026-Jul-24 76 minutes |
TWiS 219: SpaceX Goes to War! - And Other Space Headlines2026-Jul-18 73 minutes |
TWiS 218: Which Way to the Moonbase? - With Dr. Pascal Lee2026-Jul-10 70 minutes |
TWiS 217: America in Space - 250 Years of Bold Firsts & Our Favorite Missions!2026-Jul-03 78 minutes |
TWiS 216: Dark Matter Intelligence - With Physicist Dr. Daniel Whiteson2026-Jun-26 70 minutes |
TWiS 215: Disclosure Day - With Dr. David Brin2026-Jun-19 66 minutes |
TWiS 214: Moon Man - With Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine2026-Jun-12 69 minutes |
TWiS 213: Live From ISDC With Gerry Griffin - NASA Flight Director Breaks Down the Realities of Spaceflight2026-Jun-05 82 minutes |
TWiS 212: Kabooms, Starship, and a Moon Base - What New Glenn's Explosion Means for NASA's Moon Base2026-May-29 62 minutes |