The Asteroid Hunter: A Scientist’s Journey to the Dawn of our Solar System Hardcover – March 19, 2024 by Dante Lauretta (Author) Title: Genesis of a Galactic Pursuit Author: Dante Lauretta
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 6 September 2025
⏱️ 10 minutes
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Summary
Title: Genesis of a Galactic Pursuit Author: Dante Lauretta
In February 2004, Assistant Professor Dante Lauretta was recruited by his mentor, Mike Drake, to join Steve Pricefrom Lockheed Martin in pursuing an asteroid sample return mission for NASA. Drake, the director of the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL), aimed to bring the university back to the forefront of space exploration. Inspired by a "Work for NASA" ad in the student newspaper in 1992, Lauretta, a cosmochemist, began a journey marked by initial rejections. Their first proposal in July 2004 received the lowest possible ranking, a "gut punch," which made them redouble their efforts.
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| 0:33.5 | This is CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor. Here's John Batchelor. I welcome Professor Dante Loretta, University of Arizona. Most importantly, the author of a new book, The Asteroid Hunter, |
| 0:40.8 | a scientist journey to the dawn of our solar system. |
| 0:45.0 | Professor, congratulations. |
| 0:47.1 | This is wonderful, but we get in a time machine and go to February of 2004. |
| 0:52.0 | A clear day in Arizona. |
| 0:54.2 | You are an assistant professor at the time looking forward to tenure, and your good |
| 0:59.4 | friend and boss, Mike Drake, calls you on your mobile phone and says, come on over here to |
| 1:07.4 | the Arizona Inn and meet Steve Price from Lockheed. |
| 1:11.2 | That day begins a journey that we're just now illustrating in your new book. |
| 1:17.3 | So who is Steve Price? |
| 1:19.9 | Who was Mike Drake? |
| 1:20.9 | And what did you learn that day? |
| 1:22.2 | Good evening to you. |
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