S8 Ep660: 4. Robotic Conquests and the Challenges of Human Exploration Shindell traces the history of NASA’s robotic missions, from the Mariner flybys to the Perseverance rover. He also addresses political shifts post-Apollo and the immense technical hurdles fac
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 29 March 2026
⏱️ 6 minutes
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4. Robotic Conquests and the Challenges of Human ExplorationShindell traces the history of NASA’s robotic missions, from the Mariner flybys to the Perseverance rover. He also addresses political shifts post-Apollo and the immense technical hurdles facing future human colonization and survival. (4)
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| 0:36.3 | This is CBSI in the world. I'm John Batchezer with the space way with Indeed. This is CBSI on the world. |
| 0:38.4 | I'm John Batchel with the space historian and curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum |
| 0:44.8 | Matthew Shindell. |
| 0:46.1 | His new book is for the love of Mars, the human history of the red planet. |
| 0:51.0 | The robots, the programs wave after wave of conquest, probing Mars, first a fly-by with |
| 0:59.2 | mariner, then orbiter, then landers, now rovers, and of course, ingenuity, the brave little toaster |
| 1:07.4 | that flies on the surface of Mars. This comes out of the Cold War, and Matt, you make an ironic point that the Cold War came |
| 1:15.6 | to a moment where the U.S. had successfully defeated the Soviets in the race to the moon. |
| 1:22.3 | And a presentation was made by NASA to then Nixon administration to reproduce the Apollo program on Mars. |
| 1:30.0 | What happened, Matt? |
| 1:31.8 | Yeah, so, you know, there was this moment within NASA where the success of the Apollo program, |
| 1:39.1 | to many, was sort of an indication that, you know, NASA was so good at what it did |
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