Exploring Space Lectures
Aside from the meteorites that fall to Earth haphazardly, direct analysis of the materials of the solar system has required explorers–both human and robotic–to collect and return samples from the Moon, comets, asteroids, and one day other planets. The four lectures in this year’s series will spotlight the sample return missions that have helped us better understand the origin and evolution of the Earth and other planets.
This lecture series is made possible by the generous support of Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company, and United Launch Alliance.
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In this lecture, Ken Sembach, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, will highlight some of the exciting science to be conducted in JWST’s first year of observations. Tickets are free but required.
In this lecture, John Mather, senior astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and project manager for the James Webb Space Telescope, will outline how the team conceived the design, why they’re building it the way they are, and how they are testing it to make sure it will work. Tickets are free but required.
Exploring Planets Outside the Solar System. In this Exploring Space lecture Caltech astronomer Heather Knutson will describe ongoing efforts to understand planets outside our solar system. Free tickets are required.
In this Exploring Space lecture Caltech astronomer Mike Brown will explore the evidence of a possible ninth planet in the outer solar system. Free tickets required.
In this Exploring Space lecture, Scott Bolton will discuss the Juno orbiter's mission to understand the orgin and evolution of Jupiter. Free tickets are required.
In this Exploring Space Lecture, Carolyn Porco will discuss what we learned from the Cassini orbiter and what its final legacy is likely to be. Free tickets are required.
David Charbonneau, professor of astronomy at Harvard University, will discuss how, using upcoming large telescopes, astronomers will search the atmospheres of Earth-like planets for the telltale chemical fingerprints of life.
Pamela Conrad will explore some of the challenging locales to which life adapts, from the deep sea floor to the edges of volcanoes, and look at how this can affect the search for life on Mars.
Robert Pappalardo, Europa Mission project scientist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will discuss NASA’s plans to send a robotic mission to evaluate Europa’s potential for life and address one of humanity’s most fundamental questions: Are we alone in the universe?