麻豆约拍

Adam Walton discusses developments in space science, including the recent launch of NASA's Orion spacecraft, an unmanned test flight that its hoped will pave the way for future astronauts to visit the Moon and Mars. 麻豆约拍 Science Correspondent Jonathan Amos, who was at Cape Canaveral for the launch, explains the importance of the mission.

We hear from researchers at Cardiff University who have made a breakthrough in helping scientists locate black holes. By combining the very directional bursts of gamma ray energy given out by colliding black holes, with the extremely faint non-directional gravitational waves, they have come up with what's been called a "spotter's guide" to finding these massive dark objects.


Adam chats to Welsh scientist Geraint "Taff" Morgan of the Open University about the Philae craft which, after a ten year trip, landed on a comet hurtling around the solar system at thousands of miles per hour. Geraint was at one of the ESA control rooms when the tiny lander touched down, and tells us about the "Ptolemy" experiment which is designed to "scratch and sniff" the comet.



We also hear about research being carried out in Aberystwyth University into how landforms are created on planets, and what the features on Earth's surface can help us understand distant worlds.