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Co-hosts Tom Hill and Eleanor O’Rangers had the opportunity to interview Rich Overbeck, who is currently wintering over at South Pole Station! As many of our listeners may know, expeditions to our planet’s polar regions are considered to be extreme environmental analogs, not unlike what would be encountered on the surface of Mars, for example. Indeed, as Rich will tell us, part of his motivation for wintering over in Antarctica was because it’s the closest he can come to traveling to Mars in this lifetime. This is part 3 and our conclusion of our conversation with Rich Overbeck. We’ll chat about astronaut visits to the Pole, whether missions have patches or service medals associated with them, searching for elusive Martian meteorites in the ice, and some surprisingly interesting “mundane” details regarding the water supply and dealing with waste disposal. We’ll conclude with Rich’s final thoughts on Antarctica and his time “on the ice.” This episode was recorded via Zoom on February 12, 2022. Rich will remain in Antarctica until November, 2022. By the time this episode goes live in late May 2022, Rich will experience full darkness, something which he has been eagerly anticipating because of the incredible views of the night sky that he will be able to enjoy.

Co-hosts Tom Hill and Eleanor O’Rangers had the opportunity to interview Rich Overbeck, who is currently wintering over at South Pole Station! As many of our listeners may know, expeditions to our planet’s polar regions are considered to be an extreme environmental analog not unlike what would be encountered on the surface of Mars, for example. Indeed, as Rich will tell us, part of his motivation for wintering over “on the ice” was because it’s the closest he can come to traveling to Mars in this lifetime. In Part 2 of our conversation with Rich Overbeck, we’ll explore more insights regarding life on the Ice, including the number of showers one is permitted to take weekly and what Rich likes to do during downtime. Then, we’ll explore some broader aspects of Ice Life, including whether there are animals at the South Pole, what storms are like, how COVID was prevented at the Pole, and the duration of time one is permitted to serve down there. We’ll also delve into what Rich looks most forward to when his time at the South Pole draws to a close. This episode was recorded via Zoom on February 12, 2022. Rich will remain in Antarctica until November, 2022.

Co-hosts Tom Hill and Eleanor O’Rangers had the opportunity to interview Rich Overbeck, who is currently wintering over at South Pole Station! As many of our listeners may know, expeditions to our planet’s polar regions are considered to be an extreme environmental analog not unlike what would be encountered on the surface of Mars, for example. Indeed, as Rich will tell us, part of his motivation for wintering over “on the ice” was because it’s the closest he can come to traveling to Mars in his lifetime. In Part 1 of our interview, we’ll get to know Rich and what it takes to qualify for supporting winter missions to the South Pole. We’ll learn about Rich’s typical day at the Pole, how long he’ll be down there, what the most challenging aspects of life at the Pole are for him and his fellow crewmates. We’ll also discuss what surprised Rich the most when he travelled there for the first time about twenty years ago. We’ll have the opportunity to dispel at least one myth about life at the Pole, and gain insight to a surprising benefit from hydroponics—aside from a supply of fresh greens-- that has never been mentioned by planetary scientists and researchers, to our knowledge. This episode was recorded via Zoom on February 12, 2022, so by the time this episode is posted in April, the pole is nearly enveloped in 24-hour darkness, something which Rich is actually looking forward to. As Rich says, the night sky… is just incredible.

Welcome to Space 3D! Two well respected aerospace organizations had experience making high altitude pressure suits, but only a couple of engineers from a relatively unknown company known as ILC Dover had set their sights set on developing a true space suit with high mobility for the Apollo program. In his book, Lunar Outfitters: Making the Apollo Space Suit, Ayrey tells the people story of ILC and documents the technical details of the various models of the Apollo suit, including pre-Apollo suits. Bill retired in May 2019 from ILC Dover after 41 years of service. He was responsible for managing the test laboratories for the company where the space suits made for the Space Shuttle than the International Space Station were tested prior to delivery. He also represented the company as their historian. Join us in this podcast for the conclusion of our interview with Bill Ayrey. In this episode, we’ll hear about Bill’s experiences with trying on pressure suits over the years—including a certain Apollo astronaut’s training suit. We’ll also learn about ILC Dovers ongoing work with the Air Force to product aerostats. Finally, we’ll conclude with some reassurance from Bill that the ILC historical archives of the Apollo suits will be in good hands for perpetuity.

Welcome to Space 3D! Two well respected aerospace organizations had experience making high altitude pressure suits, but only a couple of engineers from a relatively unknown company known as ILC Dover had set their sights set on developing a true space suit with high mobility for the Apollo program. In his book, Lunar Outfitters: Making the Apollo Space Suit, Bill Ayrey tells the people story of ILC and documents the technical details of the various models of the Apollo suit, including pre-Apollo suits. Bill retired in May 2019 from ILC Dover after 41 years of service. He was responsible for managing the test laboratories for the company where the space suits made for the Space Shuttle than the International Space Station were tested prior to delivery. He also represented the company as their historian. In part 3 of our interview with Bill Ayrey, we’ll start out with discussing the curiosity of Space Shuttle “rescue balls” and then explore some other interesting anecdotes- including assisting the sound engineer for the movie First Man to record actual sounds of an Apollo suit and his work assisting the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum with preservation efforts for Neil Armstrong’s Apollo suit. We’ll conclude this episode by turning to Bill’s work on space suits at the close of his career with ILC Dover, with comments on where the future lies with new space suits, and what might be Elon Musk’s role in driving innovation in design.

Two well respected aerospace organizations had experience making high altitude pressure suits, but only a couple of engineers from a relatively unknown company known as ILC Dover had set their sights set on developing a true space suit with high mobility for the Apollo program. In his book, Lunar Outfitters: Making the Apollo Space Suit, Ayrey tells the people story of ILC and documents the technical details of the various models of the Apollo suit, including pre-Apollo suits. Bill retired in May 2019 from ILC Dover after 41 years of service. He was responsible for managing the test laboratories for the company where the space suits made for the Space Shuttle than the International Space Station were tested prior to delivery. He also represented the company as their historian. Join cohosts Tom Hill and me, Eleanor O’Rangers, for part 2 of our interview with Bill Ayrey on the history of US spacesuits. In this episode, we’ll discuss how ILC tackled the development of the Apollo spacesuits with some particular emphasis on the special and indispensable role the seamstresses played in the creation of specialized equipment which never suffered a failure during the lunar program. Bill will also share some interesting anecdotes about the astronauts who visited ILC for suit fittings as well.

Welcome to Space 3D! Two well respected aerospace organizations had experience making high altitude pressure suits, but only a couple of engineers from a relatively unknown company known as ILC Dover had set their sights set on developing a true space suit with high mobility for the Apollo program. In his book, Lunar Outfitters: Making the Apollo Space Suit, Ayrey tells the people story of ILC and documents the technical details of the various models of the Apollo suit, including pre-Apollo suits. Bill retired in May 2019 from ILC Dover after 41 years of service. He was responsible for managing the test laboratories for the company where the space suits made for the Space Shuttle than the International Space Station were tested prior to delivery. He also represented the company as their historian. Join cohosts Tom Hill and me, Eleanor O’Rangers, for part 1 of a discussion of the history of US spacesuits from Apollo, the Space Shuttle, International Space Station and beyond with Bill Ayrey.

This is part 3 and the conclusion of our interview with with Morgan and Lee Grant Irons on sustainable environmental systems and terraforming. Morgan is a Soil and Crop Sciences Ph.D. candidate in the Lehmann Lab at Cornell University, where her research focuses on microbial-adhesion mechanisms and organo-mineral, organo-organic interactions in soil aggregates and their effects on soil organic carbon sequestration under Earth gravity and microgravity. Lee Grant Irons is a scientist and engineer, with experience in the fields and industries of space plasma and computational physics, nuclear power design and operations, radioactive and hazardous waste management, environmental remediation, and large-scale engineering and construction projects. As the Executive Director of the non-profit Norfolk Institute, he is working on the existential challenges of human sustainability on Earth and in space. In this episode, cohosts Tom Hill and Eleanor O’Rangers conduct a “lightning round” of questions and answers with their guests. While the answers were much more involved than a typical lightning round… that’s OK—because we had the opportunity to discuss the Martian, musings on a Biosphere 3… and the subject of… biosolids. +++++++++++++++++++++++ Additional links of interest related to our interview with Morgan and Lee Grant Irons: Link to the paper referred to during the interview: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2021.789563/abstract Morgan's social media where you can follow her research: Instagram: astroecologist Twitter: @Astroeco_Morgan Facebook: www.facebook.com/astroeco.morgan/ Research Gate profile links for even more supplemental material related to the podcast: www.researchgate.net/profile/Lee-Irons www.researchgate.net/profile/Morgan-Irons Norfolk Institute: www.norfolkinstitute.org

We continue our conversation with Morgan and Lee Grant Irons on everything you wanted to know about the intricacies of terraforming. In short: it’s complicated! Morgan is a Soil and Crop Sciences Ph.D. candidate in the Lehmann Lab at Cornell University, where her research focuses on microbial-adhesion mechanisms and organo-mineral, organo-organic interactions in soil aggregates and their effects on soil organic carbon sequestration under Earth gravity and microgravity. In 2018, Morgan was also awarded US Patent 9,970,208; ""Ecological system model for a self-sustaining and resilient human habitation on the Moon and Mars and for food security and climate change mitigation anywhere on Earth." Lee Grant Irons is a scientist and engineer, with experience in the fields and industries of space plasma and computational physics, nuclear power design and operations, radioactive and hazardous waste management, environmental remediation, and large-scale engineering and construction projects. As the Executive Director of the non-profit Norfolk Institute, he is working on the existential challenges of human sustainability on Earth and in space. In part 2 of our interview, we’ll discuss the challenges of conducting research on real and simulated soil samples in space, the long-term goal of creating an independent ecosystem on another planetary body that does not rely on an earth supply chain for sustainability, and lessons we can take from sustainable eco-practices on earth. Finally, we’ll consider whether there is any role for genetic modification of humans to address some of the limitations and risks associated with the creation of adaptive, sustainable ecosystems for interplanetary settlement. +++++++++++++++++++++++ Additional links of interest related to our interview with Morgan and Lee Grant Irons: Link to the paper referred to during the interview: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2021.789563/abstract Morgan's social media where you can follow her research: Instagram: astroecologist Twitter: @Astroeco_Morgan Facebook: www.facebook.com/astroeco.morgan/ Research Gate profile links for even more supplemental material related to the podcast: www.researchgate.net/profile/Lee-Irons www.researchgate.net/profile/Morgan-Irons Norfolk Institute: www.norfolkinstitute.org

We are joined by Morgan and Lee Grant Irons for a discussion of everything you wanted to know about the intricacies of terraforming and more. Morgan is a Soil and Crop Sciences Ph.D. candidate in the Lehmann Lab at Cornell University, where her research focuses on microbial-adhesion mechanisms and organo-mineral, organo-organic interactions in soil aggregates and their effects on soil organic carbon sequestration under Earth gravity and microgravity. Lee Grant Irons is a scientist and engineer, with experience in the fields and industries of space plasma and computational physics, nuclear power design and operations, radioactive and hazardous waste management, environmental remediation, and large-scale engineering and construction projects. As the Executive Director of the non-profit Norfolk Institute, he is working on the existential challenges of human sustainability on Earth and in space. In part 1 of our interview, we’ll get acquainted with these researchers, define what terraforming is—and which planets Morgan and Lee would choose to terraform first, And then discuss recent experiments Morgan sent up on the International Space Station and on a suborbital Blue Origin spaceflight. ++++++++ Additional links of interest related to our interview with Morgan and Lee Grant Irons: Link to the paper referred to during the interview: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fspas.2021.789563/abstract Morgan's social media where you can follow her research: Instagram: astroecologist Twitter: @Astroeco_Morgan Facebook: www.facebook.com/astroeco.morgan/ Research Gate profile links for even more supplemental material related to the podcast: www.researchgate.net/profile/Lee-Irons www.researchgate.net/profile/Morgan-Irons Norfolk Institute: www.norfolkinstitute.org

Welcome to Space 3D and the conclusion of our interview with space historian and policy analyst Dwayne Day. Day is a senior program officer for the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board of the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences, where he has served as a study director on studies concerning NASA's aeronautics flight research capabilities, the planetary exploration program, the size of the astronaut corps, the threat of asteroids striking Earth, NASA workforce skills, radiation hazards to astronauts on long duration spaceflights, U.S. Air Force astrodynamics standards, and other projects. He previously served as a program officer on the Space Studies Board and served as an investigator for the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. He has also written extensively on the history of American satellite reconnaissance. In this episode, we focus on two fascinating stories about the intersection of Skylab with the National Reconnaissance Office... and wrap things up with the question we’ve all wanted to ask: has all this work with declassified history ever resulted in a midnight visit from some Men in Black?

Welcome to Space 3D and part 2 of our wide-ranging interview with space historian and policy analyst Dwayne Day. Day is a senior program officer for the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board of the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences, where he has served as a study director on studies concerning NASA's aeronautics flight research capabilities, the planetary exploration program, the size of the astronaut corps, the threat of asteroids striking Earth, NASA workforce skills, radiation hazards to astronauts on long duration spaceflights, U.S. Air Force astrodynamics standards, and other projects. He previously served as a program officer on the Space Studies Board and served as an investigator for the  Columbia Accident Investigation Board. He has also written extensively on the history of American satellite reconnaissance. In this episode, Dwayne dashes our childhood fantasies about Bigfoot, the Bermuda Triangle and UFOs, but then we get to the story we’ve all been waiting for: The Origin Story of Boris the Space Chimp. We then conclude with Dwayne’s thoughts on some of his priorities for the future, including finishing a plethora of manuscripts, and delving into some alt-history speculation in the spirit of our favorite Apple TV show, For All Mankind.

Over our next few episodes, co-hosts Emily Carney and Eleanor O’Rangers had the opportunity to interview space historian and policy analyst Dwayne A. Day. Day is a senior program officer for the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board of the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences, where he has served as a study director on studies concerning NASA's aeronautics flight research capabilities, the planetary exploration program, the size of the astronaut corps, the threat of asteroids striking Earth, NASA workforce skills, radiation hazards to astronauts on long duration spaceflights, U.S. Air Force astrodynamics standards, and other projects. He previously served as a program officer on the Space Studies Board and served as an investigator for the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. He has also written extensively on the history of American satellite reconnaissance. In Part 1 of our interview, we’ll discuss how Dwayne became interested in satellite reconnaissance, the process of intelligence declassification in the United States, and the value that first-hand accounts of individuals who previously worked in declassified programs brings to his historical research in this area. We’ll conclude with his thoughts as a historian on how the Apple TV show, For All Mankind, has carefully crafted their alternative history tale.

This is the conclusion of our interview with physicist and space radiation expert Jeff Chancellor. Jeff is an Assistant Professor of Physics at Louisiana State University with research interests in applications of how heavy ion radiation interacts with soft and condensed matter for ground-based analogs, manned spaceflight vehicle structure, shielding, and clinical healthcare. Part 3 of our interview starts with a discussion of options for radiation shielding of astronauts during interplanetary travel and while on the surface of either the moon or Mars. We’ll discuss how certain radiation risks may vary according to the solar cycle--- and then we’ll transition to radiation event risk prediction…. Which at best, is an evolving and still somewhat unpredictable discipline. We’ll learn about how NASA’s tolerance for radiation risk is evolving, particularly in relation to short-term risks to crew, and we’ll conclude with a few more provocative questions for Jeff. If you are interested in reading the open-access review on space radiation that he and his colleagues have just published, check out the April 27, 2021 issue of Journal of Environmental Science and Health Part C, pages 113-128 for the article entitled, “Everything you wanted to know about space radiation but were afraid to ask.”

Co-hosts Tom Hill and Eleanor O’Rangers continue their interview with physicist and space radiation expert Jeff Chancellor in this podcast episode. Jeff is an Assistant Professor of Physics at Louisiana State University with research interests in applications of how heavy ion radiation interacts with soft and condensed matter for ground-based analogs, manned spaceflight vehicle structure, shielding, and clinical healthcare. During part 2 of our interview, we’ll discuss the specific risks posed by space radiation to space explorers, starting with defining the types of radiation that concern us in space exploration. We’ll delve into the particulars of risks specific to the lunar and Martian surface and conclude with beginning to explore issues pertaining to radiation shielding, which can be summed up simply as: easier said than done.

In this Space 3D episode, co-hosts Eleanor O'Rangers and Tom Hill had the opportunity to interview physicist and space radiation expert Jeff Chancellor. Jeff is an Assistant Professofr of Physics at Louisiana State University, with research interests in applications of how heavy ion radiation interacts with soft and condensed matter for ground-based analogs, manned spaceflight vehicle structure, shielding, and clinical healthcare. During part 1 of our interview, we’ll get to know Jeff Chancellor a bit better, including how he got interested in space radiation research. We’ll share some mutual admiration For All Mankind, including "nerding" out on a recent season 2 episode involving his favorite topic, and then we’ll get back to learning about Jeff’s involvement in the Red Bull Stratos mission, his patents in the space radiation field, and whether any of the monitoring hardware he has helped to develop has flown in space. We’ll ask whether Jeff had any words of wisdom on space radiation for his wife, Astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor, prior to her flight to the International Space Station, and we’ll end with defining the difference between the terms space radiation and space weather. Continuing in part 2 of our interview, we’ll begin to explore the specific risks posed by space radiation to space explorers.

Welcome to Space 3D and the conclusion of our interview with co-host, Emily Carney, about the life and times of futurist Gerard K. O’Neill. In this episode, we discuss O’Neill’s enduring legacy and how the upstarts of commercial space, including Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, are helping to realize his prescient vision of space settlement for the masses.

Co-hosts Eleanor O’Rangers and Tom Hill continue their interview of fellow co-host Emily Carney about Gerard K. O’Neill, theoretical physicist and space futurist who she has written about in her National Space Society blogs. First, we’ll discuss O’Neill’s entrepreneurial ventures into space solar power and pioneering work in GPS that lead to the launch of Geostar satellites. Then, we’ll conclude the episode with a transition to the origins of the Space Studies Institute and L5 Society.

In our next series of episodes, co-hosts Eleanor O’Rangers and Tom Hill had the opportunity to interview their fellow co-host Emily Carney about Gerard K O’Neill, theoretical physicist and space futurist who she has written about in her National Space Society blogs. In Part 1 of our interview, we’ll discuss what sparked Emily’s interest in GKO, and then we’ll explore O’Neill’s protracted journey to space settlement stardom.

Welcome to Space 3D and part 2 of our interview with aerospace engineer and amateur astronomer, Scott Gauer. Originally from Danville, PA, Scott is a graduate of Penn State University with a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and a minor in Astrophysics. Since 2017 he has been employed at Space Exploration Technologies Corp. in Hawthorne, CA as a propulsion engineer on both the Dragon ISS cargo resupply spacecraft, and most recently, the Falcon 9 2nd stage engine (Merlin 1D Vacuum). He has been doing astronomy & astrophotography in his free time since 2010, and enjoys public outreach & education. In this episode, Tom Hill, Emily Carney and Eleanor O'Rangers get into some of the nitty gritty with Scott on telescope design considerations, enhancements for added deep sky viewing, including cameras, and how computers have become an essential companion to many budding astronomers, particularly for post-image processing. Scott’s FLICKR astrophotography page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/scott_gauer/