Weekly Space Hangout - Dr. Scott Bellamy, Mission Manager for DART
Release Date: 01/14/2022
Astronomy Cast Ep. 763: Interstellar Comets
The 365 Days of Astronomy
Season 19. Streamed live Sep 8, 2025. Welcome to the first episode of our 19th season! This week we look at objects coming from other solar systems that come passing on by our Sun. During the summer hiatus the 3rd interstellar object was discovered: Comet 3I/ATLAS! So now we have 3 different interstellar interlopers to compare & contrast. What are we starting to learn about other star systems from this small sample size and how will our detection get even better? [Editor’s note: HiRISE’s telescope is 1/2 meter.] We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to...
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Travelers in the Night Eps. 331E & 332E: Asteroid Defense & Another Close One
The 365 Days of Astronomy
Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. From April 2025. Today's 2 topics: - In 2013 a 56 foot diameter space rock exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia releasing the energy of 450 kilotons of TNT and filled local hospitals with some of the 1,500 people who were injured. Fortunately no one died. In 1908 a 200 ft diameter meteor exploded over a largely unpopulated region at Tunguska, Siberia knocking down trees over a 750 square mile area. If it had hit over a...
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NOIR Lab - Fast X-Ray Transients & The Deaths Of Massive Stars
The 365 Days of Astronomy
Since their first detection, powerful bursts of X-rays from distant galaxies, known as fast X-ray transients (FXTs), have mystified astronomers. FXTs have historically been elusive events, occurring at vast distances away from Earth and only lasting seconds to hours. Einstein Probe (EP), launched in 2024, is dedicated to observing transient events in the X-ray and is changing the game for astronomers looking to understand the origin of these exotic events. In this podcast, Dr. Robert Eyles-Ferris discusses a recent FXT and what it reveals about the deaths of massive stars. ...
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EVSN - Rockets Make Bad Neighbors
The 365 Days of Astronomy
From September 3, 2025. In this week's episode, we take a look at the impact SpaceX launches from the Space Coast will have on their competitors and those living, working, and going to school near Kennedy and Cape Canaveral. We also look at a bunch of new science discoveries, including the origins of Ryugu & Bennu, the solar system shocked itself, a new supernova that blew off an unusual number of layers before exploding, and quick updates on Psyche, Juno, JUICE, and the number of moons orbiting Uranus. We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing,...
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Space Stories - Where Day Meets Night: The Equinox
The 365 Days of Astronomy
Hosted by Avivah Yamani, our Director. We are exploring the word Equinox. We start by having the definitions, why “equal night” isn’t quite exact, how spring/autumn flip between hemispheres, and a whirlwind tour of equator monuments from Pontianak to Macapá, Cayambe, Kayabwe, Nanyuki, Ilhéu das Rolas, and Bonjol. We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you!...
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Guide To Space - What Does the Universe Do When We're Not Looking?
The 365 Days of Astronomy
Hosted by Fraser Cain. From Jul 19, 2016. Some of the greatest discoveries in astronomy have been made by watching how the skies change over time. Today we talk about these techniques, and an observatory that will revolutionize time-based astronomy. We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit for cool Astronomy Cast...
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Ask A Spaceman Ep. 255: How Do The Biggest Stars Get So Big?
The 365 Days of Astronomy
How do we measure the sizes of stars? What are the biggest ones today, and how big could stars have gotten in the past? Is there any way for a star to cheat and get even bigger? I discuss these questions and more in today’s Ask a Spaceman! Support the show: All episodes: Watch on YouTube: Read a book: Keep those questions about space, science, astronomy, astrophysics, physics, and cosmology coming to #AskASpaceman for COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE OF TIME AND SPACE! Big thanks to my top Patreon supporters this month: Justin G, Chris L, Alberto M, Duncan M, Corey D, Michael P,...
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Astronomy Cast Ep. 155: Dwarf Stars
The 365 Days of Astronomy
From September 14, 2009. We think we live near an average star, but that’s not the case at all. Compared to most stars in the Universe, the Sun is a giant! Let’s look at the small end of the stellar spectrum, to stars with a fraction of the size and mass of our own Sun. There are many ways that a star can get small, and they lead dramatically different lives and deaths. We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon...
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Travelers in the Night Eps. 329 & 330: Near Neighbor & Comet Johnson
The 365 Days of Astronomy
Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. From November 2024. Today's 2 topics: - My Catalina Sky Survey teammate Carson Fuls was using the new hundred million pixel camera on our team's Schmidt telescope located on Mt. Bigelow, Arizona, when he discovered 2017 AG13. It passes near the Earth's orbit twice a year on its own 345 day path around the Sun. When Carson spotted it, 9 lunar distances from him it was heading in our direction at about nine and a half miles...
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Awesome Astronomy - September Part 1: Paul in Festival Land
The 365 Days of Astronomy
Paul Hill, Ralph Wilkins and Dr. Jenifer “Dr. Dust” Millard host. Damien Phillips, John Wildridge and Dustin Ruoff produce. [Editor’s note: This episode is 1 hour 37 minutes long.] A bumper end of summer episode with Paul out in the world of science outreach and communication in a Summer music festival. There’s also discussion of the new Astronomer Royal, China’s moon program, Starship and a deep dive on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: and...
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Special Guest: This week we are excited to welcome Dr. Scott Bellamy to the WSH. Scott is the Mission Manager for NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission which successfully launched in the early morning hours from Vandenberg atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on November 24, 2021.
Scott Bellamy is one of the Mission Managers in the Planetary Missions Program Office (PMPO) at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Huntsville, AL. Presently, Scott is responsible for day-to-day oversight of the Europa Clipper flagship mission, as well as the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission.
DART's mission is to conduct a real-life experiment in changing an asteroid’s orbit through kinetic impact. In late September 2022, DART will intercept the moonlet (i.e., Dimorphos,) of the asteroid Didymos — a binary system — and slow Dimorphos’ orbit by up to 10 minutes. DART is the first-ever mission of this type and is sponsored by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office.
Europa Clipper, on the other hand, will launch in October 2024 to perform a detailed exploration of Jupiter’s ocean-world moon, Europa. This mission will provide priceless information on the thickness and composition of the ice shell to possibly enable a future mission to land a probe on Europa and search for microbial life.
Prior to these missions, Scott was simultaneously the Mission Manager for another project that we at CosmoQuest hold near-and-dear to our hearts, the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission to obtain and return the first-ever United States asteroid sample; the NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster–Commercial (NEXT-C) project providing DART’s primary propulsion; and the Near Earth Object Surveyor (NEO Surveyor) mission to provide the capability for detecting low-observable asteroids.
Scott originally came to Marshall Space Flight Ccenter as the Air Force Liaison Office in 2008 and afterwards retired with over 25 years of service. He then served in several roles, including being a member of the very small team that shaped what later became the Space Launch System (SLS), before joining the Planetary Missions Program Office in 2013.
Regular Guests:
Ashley Walker ( https://www.blackinastro.com/ @That_Astro_Chic )
Dave Dickinson ( http://astroguyz.com/ & @Astroguyz )
Pam Hoffman ( http://spacer.pamhoffman.com/ & http://everydayspacer.com/ & @EverydaySpacer )
This week's stories:
- Diamond rain in the ice giants.
- James Webb. Again.
- Everything to see in the night sky in the next month.
- A strange mystery at Jupiter. SOLVED!
- An interstellar probe proposal.
We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.
Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can!
Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!
Every bit helps! Thank you!
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The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu
Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at [email protected].