On Episode 185 of This Week In Space, Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik talk with Dr. Jim Green, NASA's former chief scientist, about snow on the moon.
Snow on the moon? Yes, though not recently... but maybe billions of years ago. Recent discoveries indicate that the early moon, orbiting just 20,000 miles above our planet at the time, may have shared a dynamic magnetic field with that of the Earth, resulting in the moon having an early atmosphere about twice as dense as the Martian atmosphere is today!
This has wide implications for planetary science, but perhaps our favorite is that it may have snowed both carbon dioxide and water ice on the moon back in the day.
We're also talking about the amazing launch and recovery of New Glenn, the plight of the Chinese taikonauts aboard the Tiangong space station, and a recent SpaceX memo about—no surprises here — a delay to their lunar landing program for Artemis III. Join us!
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Space news of the week
- China's Shenzhou 20 astronauts return to Earth on different spacecraft after finding window cracks in their own
- Blue Origin lands huge New Glenn rocket booster for 1st time after acing Mars ESCAPADE launch for NASA
- Comet C/2025 K1 (ATLAS) splits into 3 pieces after a close brush with the sun
- There's Water on the Moon?
- New Supercomputer Simulation Sheds Light on Moon’s Origin
- The Late Heavy Bombardment: A Violent Assault on Young Earth
- NASA Selects Blue Origin to Deliver VIPER Rover to Moon’s South Pole
- Scientists open untouched Apollo 17 lunar samples from 1972 — they may hold clues about the moon's violent origins
Model Falcon 9!
Looking for a telescope to see planets and comets? We recommend the Celestron Astro Fi 102 as the top pick in our best beginner's telescope guide.
Finally, did you know you can launch your own SpaceX rocket? Model rocket maker Estes' stunning scale model of a Falcon 9 rocket that you can pick up now. The launchable model is a detailed recreation of the Falcon 9 and retails for $149.99. You can save 10% by using the code IN-COLLECTSPACE at checkout, courtesy of our partners collectSPACE.com.
About This Week In Space
This Week in Space covers the new space age. Every Friday we take a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What's happening with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars?
Join Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik from Space.com as they tackle those questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe today on your favorite podcatcher.
