Space Robots On The Angry Red Planet

There is little that is cooler than robots on mars doing science. Human space agencies have been sending probes to the surface of various planets (and the Moon) for years now, with the full range of failure and success. But the last decade or so has seen space robots such as Mars Curiosity Rover sciencing the shit, as they say, out of the planet Mars.

Emily Lakdawala, of the Planetary Society, is a planetary geologist and science communicator who knows a lot about driving rovers. It turns out that this is all very complicated, and when science gets big, expensive, high stakes, and complicated, it isn't uncommon to find a diminishing number of individuals with a sufficient handle on all its aspects that they can explain most things to most people most of the time.

Emily's framework for science communication is not that different from my own. I'm a scientist who likes to talk to non scientists at a level or two above the press release, and that's what Emily does on her blog.

So, for all these reasons, Mike Haubrich and I were very happy to have the opportunity to interview Emily on Ikonokast.

Check out the interview here.

And, if you are not familiar with Ikonkast, check out the other podcasts.

We also threw in some suggestions for books related to Mars science and space exploration, and links to Emily's blog, etc.