On Episode 111 of This Week In Space, Rod and Tariq talk with Dr. John Mulchaey, Director of the Carnegie Observatories, about the threat to completing two new giant astronomical observatories.
Welcome to the Big Glass Wars! That's right, just when you thought you'd heard it all, turns out there's hot competition among a few countries to stay on the cutting edge of optical astronomy, and to do that, you need a great big hunk of glass to gather light from distant galaxies and stellar systems.
Enter the Carnegie Observatories and their partners on the Thirty Meter Telescope and the Giant Magellan Telescope. Both are currently under construction, and both are threatened by budget parsimony from the U.S. Congress.
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Space news of the week
- Helium leak delays Boeing's 1st Starliner astronaut launch to May 21
- Blue Origin will launch these 6 space tourists on May 19, its 1st crewed mission since 2022
- Private mission to save the Hubble Space Telescope raises concerns, NASA emails show
- Solar storms and Auroras!
- Opinion: America’s ‘big glass’ dominance hangs on the fate of two powerful new telescopes
- Carnegie Observatories
- Thirty Meter Telescope
- Magellan Telescope
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About This Week In Space
This Week in Space covers the new space age. Every Friday we take a deep dive into a fascinating topic. What's happening with the new race to the moon and other planets? When will SpaceX really send people to Mars?
Join Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik from Space.com as they tackle those questions and more each week on Friday afternoons. You can subscribe today on your favorite podcatcher.
