
Spaceflight Mechanics: The Cornell Space Technology Podcast
Spaceflight Mechanics is hosted by Professor Mason Peck & Professor Elaine Petro at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. This podcast features conversations with leaders in space technology about where we are now and where we are going.
Episodes
12 episodes
Sibley 300
This is the second of two special episodes of Spaceflight Mechanics to feature time travel. Having acquired near-immortality, Elaine and Mason discuss their experiences from their perspective in the year 2174 and reflect upon how space technolo...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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22:20

Sibley 0
This special episode of Spaceflight Mechanics features time travel. In recognition of the sesquicentennial of mechanical engineering at Cornell, we go back 150 years to the origins of the University and speak to one of its Founders, Andrew Dick...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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33:30

The Zeroth Law of Deploying Structures
Mason and Elaine talk with Manan Arya, Assistant Professor at Stanford University. They discuss very smart structural strategies, why we want to fold and unfold things in space, and "other things we know how to do as a species."
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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45:45

Plasma and Plausibility
Elaine and Mason discuss plasmas, propulsion, and small spacecraft with Kristina Lemmer from Western Michigan University.
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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40:11

Mountainboarding on the Moon
Mason and Elaine talk with Professor Fabien Royer about new ways to build spacecraft, new concepts for space structures, grandparents, and mountainboarding.
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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52:53

Varda Manufactured the Stars
In this second episode about Varda Space Industries' in-space manufacturing technology, Mason and Elaine speak with Wendy Shimata, Varda's Vice President for Autonomy. It was only a few days ago, on February 21 2024, that Varda's W-1 caps...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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34:46

Risks and Rewards of In-Space Manufacturing at Varda: The Percentage of Wood-Roof Houses in Idaho
This is the first of two episodes in which Mason and Elaine speak with the leadership of Varda Space Industries about technologies for manufacturing in space. In this episode, Will Bruey, Varda’s CEO, explains why and how their first technology...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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55:55

Taking the Heat
Sadaf Sobhani, assistant professor in mechanical and aerospace engineering, helps Mason and Elaine warm to the possibility that 3D printing may change how spacecraft keep cool.
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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51:44

The Wind from the Sun
It's not wind, but photons that blow solar-sail spacecraft across vast distances. Mason and Elaine talk with Ryan Caverly, Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota, about his ideas regarding solar sails, tensegrity, and attitude contr...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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44:34

The Nuclear Option
Elaine and Mason talk to John Foster, Professor at The University of Michigan, about space nuclear propulsion and upcoming flight demonstrations.
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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56:58
