PODCAST: First Catalan nanosatellite in space - small step, giant leap or a load of hot air?

 

As Catalonia launches its first nanosatellite, science writer and educator Joan Anton Català Amigó joins the Filling the Sink team to talk all things space. Press play below to listen or subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify.

  

Catalan Digital Policies minister Jordi Puigneró defends the formation of the Catalan Space Agency and explains that it's clearly not "a Catalan Nasa."

Alan Ruiz Terol takes a visit to Montsec Observatory and Astronomical Park in western Catalonia, where the nanosatellite – named Enxaneta – will be controlled from after taking off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

And with Nasa's Mars Perseverance rover toiling away on the red planet, Dr Carolina Arnau Jimenez tells Cristina Tomàs White how the European Space Agency's research at the Autonomous University of Barcelona could pave the way for humans to follow suit in the future.

Presented by Lorcan Doherty.

This podcast was recorded on Thursday, March 18. The nanosatellite was due to be launched on Saturday, March 20 but was postponed until Monday, March 22.

Listen to more episodes of Filling the Sink below.