Cosmic Queries – The Future of the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab with Laurie Leshin

About This Episode

Could there be life under the icy surface of Europa? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic Chuck Nice explore interplanetary missions, asteroid mining, and other exciting launches with the Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Laurie Leshin.

Learn about what the director of JPL gets to do and what goals she has for JPL projects in the future. We hear about plans to visit Jupiter’s moon Europa, to return a sample from Mars, explore an asteroid called Psyche, and a new Earth science project named SWOT: Surface Water and Ocean Topography.

What are the challenges for a mission to Europa? Could there be life there? Find out about plans for our first Europa mission and what makes this moon of Jupiter so special. Will fusion play a role in space travel? How is NASA already using nuclear energy in space? We talk about reusable spaceships and how to get a sample back from Mars.

Will we soon mine near-Earth asteroids? With so many missions to the moon, what makes Artemis special? What are new promising technologies in space travel? Could we use a space laser to get through the ice on Europa? All that, plus hear about many exciting projects that you might not know about…

Thanks to our Patrons Statton Broxham, Ethan Codyre, Ron Lanier, Nathaniel England, and Roger Lee for supporting us this week.

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free.

About the prints that flank Neil in this video:
“Black Swan” & “White Swan” limited edition serigraph prints by Coast Salish artist Jane Kwatleematt Marston. For more information about this artist and her work, visit Inuit Gallery of Vancouver.