How do you navigate in space?

CrowdScience

BBC

Science

4.8 • 985 Ratings

🗓️ 18 February 2022

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How good are you at finding your way from A to B? Humans throughout history have used all sorts of tools to get us to our destination – from a trusty map and compass to the instant directions on a smartphone. But CrowdScience listener Pam from Florida wants to know what happens when we leave the surface of the Earth and try to navigate our way around space. Is there a North and South we can use to orientate ourselves? Which way is left if your nearest landmark is a million light years away? And if you can’t tell which way is up, how do spacecraft know where they’re going?

Presenter Anand Jagatia speaks to experts in an attempt to find his way through the tricky problem of intergalactic space navigation.

Contributors: Ethan Siegal, journalist and astrophysicist Michelle Baker, ESA Coryn Bailer-Jones, Max Planck Institute for Astronomy Presented by Anand Jagatia Produced by Caroline Steel for the BBC World Service

Transcript

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0:00.0	Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of
0:07.0	Happiness Podcast.
0:08.0	For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want
0:14.4	to share that science with you.
0:16.1	And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley.
0:19.4	I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that
0:25.4	calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:30.0	Can you see the sun?
0:34.0	I can see the sun in the bottom half of the mirror, yeah.
0:37.0	Okay, so then swing the arm of the device, which is this thing.
0:41.0	Yeah, until the sun kisses the horizon.
0:44.8	It's a glorious day off the south coast of England
0:47.7	and the conditions are perfect for a trip out to sea.
0:52.4	So now I would say that the sun is pretty much bang on the horizon.
0:57.0	Oh no it's now it's in the sea. Sorry.
1:00.0	Back up, back up.
1:09.0	This is crowd science from the BBC World Service where it's our job to work out the answers to your science questions. I'm Anan Jagatier and this is me standing on the deck of a boat in open water with my producer Caroline
1:16.1	and we're trying to figure out where on earth we are.
1:20.4	Lost the sun. Oh there it is I found it I've lost it I found it now I've lost it again
1:27.3	This is not gonna be a speedy process everyone
1:29.3	Set alone
1:31.8	Luckily we're not lost we're conducting an experiment to see if we can figure out
	...

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