The OSIRIS-APEX mission, an extension of the wildly successful OSIRIS-REx mission, is set to rendezvous with Asteroid 9942 Apophis in April 2029. This mission takes full advantage of the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which still has plenty of fuel and is totally healthy after delivering samples from Asteroid Bennu to Earth on 24 September, 2023.

OSIRIS-APEX will closely observe Apophis as the asteroid makes a remarkably close flyby of Earth, coming within 32,000 kilometers (20,000 miles) – closer than some Earth-orbiting satellites. The mission's primary objectives are to study how Earth's gravitational pull affects the orbit of Apophis, its spin, and surface features.

However, the mission is in peril. The proposed Presidential Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2026 budget calls for the cancellation of OSIRIS-APEX, despite its low cost and the scientific value it offers as an extended mission using an already existing and proven spacecraft.

On this episode of Talking Space, we're joined by Dr. Dani Mendoza DellaGiustina, Principal Investigator for the OSIRIS-APEX mission and Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. We'll delve into the mission's goals, the reasons given behind its potential cancellation in the 2026 NASA Budget, and the options available should the 2026 budget be approved by Congress, a budget that cancels this ambitious mission.

Guest: Dr. Dani Mendoza DellaGiustina

Host: Gene Mikulka

Additional information on the 2026 NASA Budget via NASA

Advocacy Resources from the Planetary Society

Episode 1701: Talking Space returns after a hiatus to discuss the landing attempts by the NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. First a successful soft landing of the Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost 1 mission on the plans of Mare Crisium. Then a much more perilous landing attempt for the Intuitive Machines "Athena" lander, trying to land its suite of science and technology demonstrations closer to the Lunar South Pole than any other mission to date, with some mixed results. We also mention that Japan's ispace is set to try a lunar landing on 6 June.

We then focused on the Expedition 72 / 73 handover at the International Space Station and took one more look at the Crew-9 Mission's saga in the mainstream press with a reminder: Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were never "stuck" or "stranded" on the ISS, and never needed to be "rescued."

Our Mark Ratterman also reminds all that the NASA Spinoff catalog for 2025 is available for download.

If at first, you don't succeed... try, try again out at Boca Chica Texas for the SpaceX Starship with Integrated Flight Test 8. Alas, the same result as Mission 7 with debris scattering over the skies of Caribbean Islands and air traffic having to be diverted out of the area, quickly. We discuss the incident and the possible future of the program.

We end the program with a plea, especially for our friends in the United States. Due to current goings-on within the US government, both NASA's personnel and budget are poised to be cut drastically. A 50 % cut in the NASA science budget is not outside the realm of possibility. The impact would be catastrophic, causing long-established science investigations to shut down, and crippling the start of new missions.

Very rarely do we go into activist mode, but this is one of those times where it is required. If you care for your space program, tell your elected representatives. Don't know how to contact them? Here's a guide via Congress.gov

Participants this Week:

Dr. Kat Robison, Mark Ratterman, Gene Mikulka

It was September 9, 2009; aka 09/09/09.

That was the easy-to-remember air date of the first episode of Talking Space. The Space Shuttle era was ending. As far as most of the public was concerned, that represented the death knell for the U.S. Space Program. But Gene, Mark and Sawyer knew better, and they were trying to figure out how to best spread the word that all was not lost.

Thus, Talking Space was born. And what a ride it’s been.

In Part 2 of this retrospective (Part 1 can be found here), the team reveals:

• The role of audience feedback – pros and cons, and the methods by which we receive it (and don’t, despite our best efforts);
• Our social media follies;
• The behind-the-scenes scrambles to cover launch anomalies;
• The proven importance of dissimilar redundancy, as well as interoperability;
• How we’ve dealt with the occasional bouts of podcast burnout over the last 15 years, because sometimes we just get tired, you know? And sometimes, Life just gets in the way. Those are the times we’re glad we’re not doing this podcasting stuff alone.

And we also talk about how much we value feedback from you, our listeners – even when you let us know you do not particularly agree with us.

Be sure to let us know your thoughts on the topics we discuss. You can always reach us at mailbag@TalkingSpaceOnline.com .

Show recorded 09-19-2023.

Host: Larry Herrin

Panelist(s): Gene Mikulka, Mark Ratterman, Sawyer Rosenstein and Dr. Kat Robison

Podcast Editor: Larry Herrin