Joe Palca
speaker
141 appearances
18 recordings
1 series
first heard Nov 2025
last heard 7 Sep
Joe Palca’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 18 in all, peaking in Sep 2026 with 6.
Appearances
During its eight year cruise, the twin probes relied on something called the Mercury Transfer Module for propulsion.
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But that module had to be jettisoned before arrival.
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Now that's happened.
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The next mission milestone comes in November when the probes will be captured by Mercury's gravity and can go into orbit.
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For NPR News, I'm Joe Palca.
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The mission is called Bepi Columbo.
It's actually made of two probes, one that will study Mercury's magnetic field, and another that will take close up pictures of the planet's surface, among other things.
In order to reach Mercury, Bepi Columbo needed to fly by Earth once, Venus twice, and Mercury itself six times.
During its eight year cruise, the twin probes relied on something called the Mercury Transfer Module for propulsion.
But that module had to be jettisoned before arrival.
Now that's happened.
The next mission milestone comes in November when the probes will be captured by Mercury's gravity and can go into orbit.
For NPR News, I'm Joe Palka.
The Roman telescope is huge, about the size of a school bus.
Its design lets it see large swaths of the sky at a time.
It's expected to find new planets orbiting distant stars, discover new galaxies, and contribute to astronomers' understanding of a mysterious force called dark energy.
At a news conference after the launch, Roman telescope project manager Jackie Townsend sounded delighted by how well things went.
For NPR News, I'm Joe Palka.
The Roman telescope is huge, about the size of a school bus.
Its design lets it see large swaths of the sky at a time.
Showing 41–60 of 141 · page 3 of 8
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