Bob Richards of Moon Express

Moon Express Founder and CEO Bob Richards shares an inspiring vision for a return to the Moon. It includes introduction of a sophisticated line of robotic spacecraft, the first of which may make a soft landing next year. Sample return and Mars missions would follow. Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye returns with concern for the future capabilities of a Hubble telescope descendant. And Bruce Betts surprises Mat Kaplan with an anniversary celebration that’s fit for the cosmos.

Related Links:

• Moon Express
• Bob Richards on Twitter
• The Google Lunar XPRIZE
• The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope
• November 25, 2002: The Premiere of Planetary Radio (Scroll to the bottom of the page)
• Chop Shop Planetary Society Store

This week's prizes are a Chop Shop-designed Planetary Society t-shirt and a 200-point iTelescope.net astronomy account.

This week's question:

Who was the first Planetary Radio guest on November 25, 2002?

To submit your answer:

Complete the contest entry form at http://planetary.org/radiocontest or write to us at [email protected] no later than Wednesday, December 6th at 8am Pacific Time. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.

Last week's question:

Who first proposed the theoretical existence of neutron stars?

Answer:

The answer will be revealed next week.

Question from the week before:

What is the orbital eccentricity of the just-named and discovered interstellar asteroid 1I/'Oumuamua? (Wikipedia: The orbital eccentricity of an astronomical object is a parameter that determines the amount by which its orbit around another body deviates from a perfect circle. A value of 0 is a circular orbit, values between 0 and 1 form an elliptical orbit, 1 is a parabolic escape orbit, and greater than 1 is a hyperbola.)

Answer:

The orbital eccentricity of the just-named and discovered interstellar asteroid 1I/'Oumuamua is approximately 1.2, the greatest ever determined.