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How NASA's Reliance On Commercial Companies Is Shaping Space Exploration

NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, is a mobile robot that will roam around the Moon’s south pole looking for water ice. Photo: NASA
NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, is a mobile robot that will roam around the Moon’s south pole looking for water ice. Photo: NASA

NASA is relying more and more on the private sector to help its exploration efforts -- from building the next moon lander to transporting astronauts to the International Space Station.

So what does the future look like for this new dawn of commercial exploration? We’ll talk with Main Engine Cutoff podcast host Anthony Colangelo about the latest space business news and how leveraging commercial companies will help NASA reach places like the moon and Mars.

Then, magnetars are neutron stars with powerful magnetic fields with the power to destroy anything in their paths. So where did they come from? We’ll chat with our panel of expert scientists on this week’s “I’d Like to Know” segment.

Brendan Byrne is WMFE's Assistant News Director, managing the day-to-day operations of the WMFE newsroom, editing daily news stories, and managing WMFE's internship program.

Byrne also hosts WMFE's weekly radio show and podcast "Are We There Yet?" which explores human space exploration.