We Have Sampled an Asteroid! And the Search for Life Above Venus

Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science

The Planetary Society

Science, Technology

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 21 October 2020

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

OSIRIS-REx has done it! We have special coverage of the spacecraft’s successful collection of a sample from asteroid Bennu. Then we talk with Jane Greaves, leader of the team that found evidence of phosphine gas in the atmosphere of Venus. Has this put us on the road to discovery of life above that hellish world? Bruce Betts and Mat Kaplan offer a copy of Beyond Earth’s Edge: The Poetry of Spaceflight in the new space trivia contest. Learn more at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/1021-2020-jane-greaves-venus-phosphine

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Osiris Rex says,
0:02.0	Tag, you're it.
0:04.0	And the search for life above Venus this week on planetary radio.
0:08.0	Welcome, I'm Ad Kaplan of the Planetary Society, with more of the human adventure across our solar system and beyond.
0:20.0	Tag, touch and go. That's what just happened at an asteroid. We have breaking news
0:26.2	from Planetary Society editorial director Jason Davis about what the
0:30.6	Osiris Rec spacecraft appears to have accomplished at asteroid Bennu.
0:35.9	You'll also hear Dante Loretta, the mission's principal investigator at the breathless moment of contact.
0:46.4	Meanwhile, over at Venus, let's not jump to conclusions.
0:55.3	Astrophysicist Jane Grieves is the first to say that we are a long way from determining if living organisms are responsible for the phosphine gas her team has discovered in the Venusian atmosphere.
1:00.4	Stay with us for a fascinating and very enjoyable conversation with Jane.
1:05.0	Jason, welcome back. We waited till nearly our production deadline so that we could include your report in this week's episode.
1:13.0	Tell us what happened just minutes ago,
1:15.4	more than 320 million kilometers from Earth.
1:19.0	Yeah, hot off the press here.
1:22.0	NASA's Osiris Rec spacecraft just touched down on asteroid Bennu.
1:26.1	It's a near-Earth asteroid.
1:27.8	It launched in 2016.
1:29.4	Took about four years to get there and survey the asteroid,
1:32.1	find a place to land.
1:33.2	And finally, the big moment just happened where it touched down, fired this little
1:37.4	bottle of gas into the surface that hopefully collected some good sample material that will eventually be brought back to Earth.
	...

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