Space news: Project Hail Mary, Artemis, data centers

Short Wave

NPR

News, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Daily News, Nature, Science

4.7 • 6.5K Ratings

🗓️ 30 March 2026

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Short Wavers, we hear your requests. You want MORE! SPACE! So this is the first installment of a new segment focusing only on space news. First, we talk about the new sci-fi film Project Hail Mary and the accuracy of the science in the movie. Then, we move on to data centers in orbit, if they are better for the environment and why even send them up into space. Finally, we round out the conversation with a quick update about the upcoming Artemis II launch. The space nerds assembled for this conversation are host and astrophysicist Regina G Barber, known space enthusiast and host of All Things Considered Scott Detrow and NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel.

Interested in more on space? Check out our whole summer series, Space Camp. Or email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:06.6	Hey, Shortwaivers, Regina Barber here.
0:09.1	And if you've been listening to this show for any time at all, you probably know that I'm a formally trained physicist with a focus in astrophysics because I love all things space.
0:19.2	Basically, I'm all about any chance to learn more about,
0:23.3	you know, everything. So I am so excited because today we're going to try something new.
0:29.7	Something I've been workshopping with colleagues for a while. We're dedicating this entire
0:34.4	episode to nerding out about a bunch of space news. And with the power
0:39.4	vested in me as host, I'm summoning friends from around NPR to do just that. And who better to do
0:47.4	that for this inaugural episode than science correspondent Jeff Brumfield? Hey Jeff. Hello. And And I've brought Known Space Nerd, All Things Considered hosts, one of the co-creators of this great idea.
1:00.6	I think I was the other people.
1:02.0	The only other co-creator of this great idea, Scott Detrow.
1:05.8	Hey, Scott.
1:06.4	I'm excited.
1:07.3	This has gone from something we have talked excitedly about around the coffee machine at work to something into microphones. Yeah. Okay. Can we call this podcast segment spacing out with Gina? What a good idea. It's your show. You can call it whatever you want.
1:23.8	Excellent. Okay. I think the only way to start is to tell our listeners why you both deserve to be here. I've talked about my field of science. I loved hanging out with my dad and watching Star Trek Next Generation. Jeff, why do you love space?
1:38.6	I don't know. It's quiet. Less bad things seem to happen there.
1:42.7	Maybe. Maybe.
1:46.0	What about you?
1:49.2	I think I could answer that on a lot of different levels.
1:56.9	I think on the human level, there's so many things that, you know, world where it is hard to sometimes feel good and inspired by the news that we cover.
2:01.9	There's so many things that I think are really inspiring, whether it's telescopes that are reaching back into the prehistoric early days.
2:05.2	Beginning of time. Exactly. Like the beginning of time, that is exciting to me, whether
	...

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