NASA's chief scientist this week on planetary Radio. Radio. Hi everyone, welcome to Public Radio's travel show that takes you to the final

frontier.

I'm Matt Kaplan. The topic of our main segment this week is also

our top news story. We're going back to the moon people and NASA knows how we're going

to get there. The Space Agency revealed the shape of the crew exploration vehicle

last week and it was a bit of deja vu all over again. No more wings in space, at least not

for a while. The C.E.V. looks a whole lot like the Apollo Command

and Service modules of the 1960s, and with good reason.

NASA says the design will be ten times as safe as the space shuttle, which the C.E.

will replace in just five years.

What you can't easily tell from the illustrations is that the C.E.V. is three times the size of Apollo and it sits on

top of proven space shuttle components.

Just as important was the announcement of a heavy lift launch vehicle capable of putting enormous amounts of mass into orbit,

along with a lander that looks, well, a lot like a ship called Eagle to touch down on the moon 36 years ago.

Get more details at planetary.org.

And stick around to hear the comments of NASA's chief scientist Jim Garvin, followed by analysis from Planetary Society Executive Director Lou Friedman.

And Bruce Betts will be along shortly going where no chicken has gone before in this week's what's up.

There's just one other development we have to mention.

High above the red planet,

Mars Global Surveyor has found that things are really hopping down on the surface.

The orbiter has seen gullies that have formed in just the last two or three years,

and something has rolled boulders down hills in the same time span.

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