Jacob Bleacher's guest appearances

Jacob Bleacher

HARDtalk

Instant Genius

James Lovelock

Chris Packham

Bill Bryson

Donald Trump

Michael Sheen

Bassem Youssef

Yanis Varoufakis

Malcolm Gladwell

Jared Diamond

George Takei

Ryan North

Michael Mann

Bill Richardson

Bryan Stevenson

Abdullah Alaoudh

OwlTail

Scientists have discovered water on the sunlit surface of the Moon for the first time. Does it matter? Well, maybe it does. The Moon is back in vogue in terms of space exploration – the US says it will put astronauts back on the lunar surface by 2024. It is supposed to be the precursor to a manned mission to Mars. Stephen Sackur speaks to Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist at NASA. In this time of pandemic and climate change here on Earth, is space exploration a potential lifeline or a massive vanity project?

Jacob Bleacher: Putting astronauts back on the moon

In 1969, Apollo astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people ever to walk on the Moon, a feat over the next three and a half years only 10 other space explorers would go on to achieve.Now it has taken nearly 50 years, but NASA once again has ambitions to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024.The Artemis Program is a wide-reaching effort by numerous space agencies and led by NASA, with ambitions to not only put human feet on the lunar surface but to build a permanent base there, with a lunar space station in orbit around the Moon.To find out more, this week we speak to Dr Jacob Bleacher, Chief Exploration Scientist for human exploration at NASA, about how we are going to get there, what effect deep space will have on the astronauts, and why now is the time to go back to the Moon.Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.  Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: Acast, iTunes, Stitcher, RSS, Overcast  Read the full transcription This podcast was supported by brilliant.org, helping people build quantitative skills in maths, science, and computer science with fun and challenging interactive explorations.Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast: Elisa Raffaella Ferrè: What happens to the brain in space? Everything You Wanted To Know About… Physics with Jim Al-Khalili Dr Erin Macdonald: Is there science in Star Trek? Kevin Fong: What happened to Apollo... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 1969, <a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/tag/apollo-programme/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Apollo</a> astronauts <a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/neil-armstrong-apollo-11-mission-commander/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Neil Armstrong</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/buzz-aldrin-apollo-11-lunar-module-pilot/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Buzz Aldrin</a> became the first people ever to walk on the Moon, a feat over the next three and a half years only 10 other space explorers would go on to achieve.Now it has taken nearly 50 years, but <a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/tag/nasa/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">NASA</a> once again has ambitions to land the first woman and the next man on <a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/tag/the-moon/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">the Moon</a> by 2024.The <a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/nasa-artemis-program-who-will-design-next-lunar-lander/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Artemis Program</a> is a wide-reaching effort by numerous space agencies and led by NASA, with ambitions to not only put human feet on the lunar surface but to build a permanent base there, with a <a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/lunar-orbital-platform-gateway-the-next-space-station-will-orbit-the-moon/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">lunar space station</a> in orbit around the Moon.To find out more, this week we speak to <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/aes/jacob-bleacher/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dr Jacob Bleacher</a>, Chief Exploration Scientist for human exploration at NASA, about how we are going to get there, what effect deep space will have on the astronauts, and why now is the time to go back to the Moon.Let us know what you think of the episode with a review or a comment wherever you listen to your podcasts.<ul> <li> Subscribe to the Science Focus Podcast on these services: <a href="https://www.acast.com/science-focus-podcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Acast</a>, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/science-focus-podcast/id1296673906?mt=2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/immediate-media-2/science-focus-podcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Stitcher</a>, <a href="https://rss.acast.com/science-focus-podcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">RSS</a>, <a href="https://overcast.fm/itunes1296673906/science-focus-podcast" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Overcast</a> </li> <li><a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/dr-jacob-bleacher-on-the-artemis-program/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Read the full transcription</a></li> </ul>This podcast was supported by <a href="https://brilliant.org/SF/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">brilliant.org</a>, helping people build quantitative skills in maths, science, and computer science with fun and challenging interactive explorations.Listen to more episodes of the Science Focus Podcast:<ul> <li><a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/elisa-raffaella-ferre-what-happens-to-the-brain-in-space/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Elisa Raffaella Ferrè: What happens to the brain in space?</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-physics-podcast-w-jim-al-khalili/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Everything You Wanted To Know About… Physics with Jim Al-Khalili</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/dr-erin-macdonald-is-there-any-science-in-star-trek/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Dr Erin Macdonald: Is there science in Star Trek?</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/kevin-fong-what-happened-to-apollo-13/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Kevin Fong: What happened to Apollo... </a><a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/space/kevin-fong-what-happened-to-apollo-13/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Hosted on Acast. See </a><a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</li> </ul> Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a>

Dr Jacob Bleacher:  Why do we need to go back to the Moon?