Space on the Page Podcast By cover art

Space on the Page Podcast

By: Library of Congress
Listen for free

  • Summary

  • Space on the Page explores the universe, not via rocket but through ideas. Our guests are authors and scientists: people who think and write about space exploration and the search for life beyond Earth. Our hosts, David Baron and Lucas Mix, are recent holders of the Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology, Exploration, and Scientific Innovation at the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress. In the first three episodes, Baron speaks with authors of books about Mars. They discuss our society’s fascination with the red planet—past, present, and future. In the next three episodes, Mix brings science fiction writers into conversation with scientists. Together, they examine how the human imagination depicts everything that we anticipate, hope, and fear about what is currently unknown.
    Show more Show less
Episodes
  • Mars Past: The Canal Builders

    Mars Past: The Canal Builders
    Mar 16 2022
    At the start of the twentieth century, a Mars “craze” struck Earth. Humans went wild with speculation that the red planet might harbor an advanced civilization. Historian of astronomy William Sheehan explains the science that spawned this imaginative idea. It all began with an optical illusion—a network of lines on Mars that some astronomers believed were irrigation canals. Sheehan is the author, with Jim Bell, of “Discovering Mars: A History of Observation and Exploration of the Red Planet.”
    Show more Show less
    31 mins
  • Mars Present: The Search for Microbial Life

    Mars Present: The Search for Microbial Life
    Mar 16 2022
    The hunt for life on Mars has entered a new phase. NASA’s Perseverance Rover is collecting rock samples that, when returned to Earth, may reveal whether life once existed on the red planet (and perhaps still does). Biologist Sarah Stewart Johnson explains how new discoveries about Mars and a better understanding of life on Earth have propelled this quest, and she ponders what the answers might say about life elsewhere in the universe. Johnson is author of “The Sirens of Mars: Searching for Life on Another World.”
    Show more Show less
    30 mins
  • Mars Future: Humans on the Red Planet

    Mars Future: Humans on the Red Planet
    Mar 16 2022
    For decades, people have fantasized about going to Mars, yet a human expedition to the red planet remains just that—a dream. NASA, other space agencies, and private entrepreneurs are taking concrete steps toward that goal, but science journalist David Whitehouse says we must still overcome many constraints and risks—biological, technological, and social—before we see the first footprint in red Martian soil. Whitehouse is author of “Space 2069: After Apollo: Back to the Moon, to Mars, and Beyond.”
    Show more Show less
    28 mins
Art Literary History & Criticism
Show more Show less

What listeners say about Space on the Page Podcast

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.com reviews

Amazon reviews
No Reviews are Available