About This Episode
How do we engineer our way into the future and off the Earth? First time StarTalk host, former astronaut and ISS Commander Chris Hadfield, comic co-host Scott Adsit, electrical engineer Katherine Pratt, mechanical engineer Suveen Mathaudu, and comedian Maeve Higgins traveled to Washington D.C. to search for the answers. Recorded live at Future Con, inside of Awesome Con, our panelists turned their attention towards the technology that helps us explore. You’ll hear how the path of exploration has led from Magellan to the International Space Station and why the urge to explore is inherent within human beings. Chris shares an example of that inherent urge when he talks about his own experience of spacewalking “through the Northern Lights.” You’ll learn about biorobotics and the discoveries being made while testing innovative surgical robotic machines. You’ll also hear about NASA’s nationwide call for astronaut applications and why the new class of astronauts might be the first to help colonize the Moon and beyond. Explore the problems that need to be overcome when traveling to Mars, including the dangers from cosmic radiation, which leads to a discussion about superheroes, and our panel reveals which superhero they hold closest to their heart. All that, plus, theoretical physicist and rock star scientist Stephen Hawking joins the panel via holographic projection. And, this is only part one!
NOTE: All-Access subscribers can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: StarTalk Live! from Future Con: Engineering the Future Part One