Podcast #20: Edwin le Grange at ScopeX
Welcome to the 20th episode of the Urban Astronomer Podcast, featuring a public talk given by Edwin le Grange at ScopeX 2017. This episode has been a long time coming, because I’m doing something new that I’ve never done before and it’s taken me way longer to figure out that I’d really anticipated, but I finally got there, we’re here, and your patience is about to be rewarded.
As you’ll know from previous episodes, the annual ScopeX telescope and astronomy expo happened at the usual venue back in September, and I was there to record the talks and lectures. I’ll be playing you those lectures over the next few episodes, but the new thing that I’m doing with these is Video. Along with the audio recordings, I also filmed the speakers, and grabbed copies of their slide shows, and have been trying to learn how to tie this all together into a set of videos for the ScopeX organisers to show on their website. Those videos will also appear on my (very small!) YouTube channel, once I figure out how to make them look the way I want.
Edwin le Grange
Edwin was the first speaker of the day, and he spoke about the Mars One project. This is a plan to send a large group of explorers on a one-way mission to Mars, and he hopes to be one of those who get to go along. Now personally I have my doubts about the project — it all seems a little slapdash to me. The way the organisers gloss over fundamental questions, like “Do you have a rocket?” makes me wonder how seriously they have thought this through, and I’m certainly not the only person to have my doubts. Still, Edwin himself seems confident, and if there’s one thing that the past decade has taught us, it’s not to underestimate private companies and individuals when they decide to go to space.
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