Gurbir Singh

Episode 125: Britian's Greatest Pilot Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown - AstrotalkUK You may have seen the BBC documentary Britain's Greatest Pilot. Yes, he was an outstanding pilot, but there was much more to him than just that. I published extracts from an interview with Captain Eri...

Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown (20 Jan 1920 – 21 Feb 2016) was one of Britain's Best Pilots. Encouraged to choose flying by a German Flying Ace, Ernst Udet
An interview from Jan 2011, containing segments not previously published.
astrotalkuk.org/episode-125-... @theaviationist.com @theaviation.show

Breakthrough Initiative - A Decade On - AstrotalkUK What is the Breakthrough Initiative? Who leads it? How is it funded and what are the big questions for humanity it is hoping to address?

The Breakthrough Foundation has taken on the challenge of addressing some of humanity's most pressing questions.
Based on interviews conducted during Breakthrough Discuss in June 2025 in Oxford. First published by (i4is.org) astrotalkuk.org/breakthrough... #BreakthroughPrize #BreakthroughFoundation

An interesting read. One tidbit: the risk of collisions is space does NOT increase linearly with the number of satellites - "The collision rate is the square of the number of satellites, which means that if you have 10 times as many satellites, then there’s going to be 100 times as many collisions."

Nuclear Race To Moon: Will India Switch Sides In The Lunar Race & Join Russia & China To Challenge U.S.? One of the unintended consequences of the U.S. President Donald Trump virtually dumping India out of favor on the ostensible grounds of divergence in trade issues and the Modi government buying Russia...

In 2023, India joined the Artemis Accords, led by the USA. China and Russia never joined, offering instead the International Lunar Research Station.

Could India switch sides later this year? An interesting piece from EurAsian Times by Prakash Nanda www.eurasiantimes.com/nuclear-race...

Just under two hours for the launch of @isro @nasa #NISAR mission. Over a decade in the making.
Livestream links for NASA and ISRO and much more here www.reddit.com/r/ISRO/comme...

Not just @esa.int astronauts. #Shubhanshushukla from #ISRO took some gajar halwa (a sweet, carrot-based "pudding") to the #ISS last month. Try it next time you go for an indian meal.

Here is India's PM @narendra-modi.bsky.social‬ talking about it - (in Hindi) www.youtube.com/shorts/wZE5m...

UKSpace Conference 2025 Manchester - AstrotalkUK A few notes from the two-day UKspace conference that started today and ends tomorrow. Located in the heart of Manchester – Manchester Central. Space in UK UK has around 1900 […]

Yesterday was day one of the UK Space Conference here in the heart of Manchester. All three of the UK's selected astronauts, along with the head of the European Space Agency, Josef Aschbacher, were present.

A bit more here astrotalkuk.org/ukspace-conf...

Apologies @groomb.bsky.social - not your talk at the @manlitphil.bsky.social.

I hope to catch you in Hebden Bridge. Your talk 'Made in Manchester' at Hebden Bridge Local History Society, Weds Sept 24th, 7.30pm, Methodist Church, Market Street. Visitors welcome, £4.

How They Built the Atom Bomb: The Manchester Connection With Ed Glinert. What connections does our city have to one of humanity's most transformative scientific developments?

Thanks for your note, @writerlytone.bsky.social
BTW, how do you know I didn't meet your dad:) …I don't think I did.



However, I met many who met Gagarin while researching the book.

BTW Looking forward to @groomb.bsky.social at the @mcrlitphil.bsky.social

www.manlitphil.ac.uk/events/how-t...

Today on Manchester Science on @allfm.bsky.social, Jocelyn Bell-Burnell on her advocacy for women in science & the discovery of Pulsars.

Listen live on allfm.org at 13:00 today or download and listen anytime from astrotalkuk.org/manchesterscience

#radioastronomy
#pulsars
#stem
#Breakthroughprize

Thanks for your time yesterday @manchesterhistory.uk Recording available here astrotalkuk.org/manchestersc....

All FM

Today on Manchester Science, the story of a young German writer with radical ideas - Friedrich Engels and his 1845 book, The Condition of the Working Class, with urban historian, journalist, and author Dr Dean Kerby. Live at 13:00 allfm.org

Interested in aviation history? Heard of Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown? If so you may be interested in radio program on @allfm.bsky.social at 1pm today or a longer version coming as a podcast episode soon on astrotalkuk.org. Here is a two-minute clip @theaviationist.com @areonautical.bsky.social @

Congratulations @mikelittle.com and @ma.tt . A good time to share this interview from 2010. Neither of you has aged a bit! wordpress.tv/2010/03/09/m...

An image and a story that will echo through the ages..

Here's 1 minute clip

Manchester Science - AstrotalkUK This page lists all the programs broadcast on Allfm.org in my series under the title Manchester Science. This series explores the science being conducted in and around Manchester right now. […]

The Toliman Space Telescope will image the Alpha-Centauri System from Earth orbit in exquisite detail. Dr Karel Valenta, Project Manager describes the current mission status.
Live on @allfm.bsky.social at 1 pm today or download astrotalkuk.org/manchestersc....
#breakthroughdiscuss
#AlphaCentauri

Soaring over the surface of Titan: #NASA #Dragonfly Mission.

Want to know the latest on @nasa’s #Dragonfly mission to hashtag#Saturn’s largest Moon - #Titan?

Listen live at 13:00 today on @allfm.bsky.social or download & listen anytime
astrotalkuk.org/manchestersc...
@astrobiology.bsky.social

Episode 122. Are we alone and the Breakthrough Initiatives - AstrotalkUK A two-day Breakthrough Discuss conference held on 23rd and 24th April 2025 in Oxford England, took stock of the latest developments through three main sessions: "Forms of Non-Terrestrial Life", "The N...

The #Breakthrough Discuss conference, held on 23rd and 24th April 2025 in Oxford, overseen by Dr Pete Worden, Chairman of the #breakthroughPrizeFoundation. A former Brigadier. General and astrophysicist in this interview, he talks about @setiinstitute.bsky.social
astrotalkuk.org/the-breakthr...

Episode 121 – Failed stars or successful planets? - AstrotalkUK The story of Teide-1 (the first brown dwarf to be observed) is the story at the other end of a star's life cycle. That early stage is when stars transition from a huge cloud of dust and gas (billions ...

A Brown Dwarf, something between planets and stars was discovered at the Mount Tiede Observatory in 1995.
The full story in episode 121 astrotalkuk.org/episode-121-... with Zhang Jerry.
A short audio clip below, where Jerry explains that free-floating brown dwarfs could host primitive life.

Scientists find promising hints of life on distant planet K2-18b Scientists find new but tentative evidence that a faraway world orbiting another star may be home to life.

The #BBC News piece is an interesting read, but it overeggs the story. There is no smoking gun here - no imminent discovery! Check out reports

BBC Report= www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Press release= www.cam.ac.uk/stories/stro...
The Astrophysical Journal= iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3...

All FM

What is the difference b/w a planet and a star? Are there objects that end up somewhere between stars and planets? Yes, they are called Brown dwarfs. The first was discovered in 1995 in the Pleiades cluster.

Listen at 13:00 today online at allfm.org. listen anytime astrotalkuk.org/manchestersc...

Axiom Mission 4 Set To Launch In May 2025 With India's Gaganyaan Astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla NASA and Axiom Space announce Ax-4 Mission launch in May 2025, marking historic milestones for India, Poland, and Hungary's national space programs.

This was one element of the deal that GOI/ISRO cut with the USA/NASA when signing up to the Artemis Accords in 2023.
www.etvbharat.com/en/!technolo...

Manchester was home to an influential German community until WW1. One of the few who left his mark was Arthur Schuster. Who was he? Why did he end up in Manchester, and what was his scientific and educational legacy? @allfm.bsky.social @uniofmanchester.bsky.social astrotalkuk.org/manchestersc....

Two men, Rudolf Peierls and Hans Bethe, who, in 1933, lived on Stockton Road in #Didsbury, #Manchester, went on to work in the USA’s secret #Manhattan Project to develop the Atomic Bomb during WW2.
Manchester Science today at 13:00 on allfm.org or download from astrotalkuk.org/manchesterscience

Lunar Eclipse 13-14 March 2025 - AstrotalkUK In the UK, you need to get up early to see the #lunareclipse this week on Thursday night or Friday morning. It starts at about 4 a.m. and is totally eclipsed by around 6:30 a.m., just a couple of minu...

This week's lunar eclipse in the UK- it's early in the morning and low in the sky!
If you want to see the lunar eclipse this Thursday
night - you will need to get up earl and have a really good view of the western horizon. astrotalkuk.org/lunar-eclips...

All FM

Starts in 45 minutes on allfm.org Prof. Poole is on @bsky @robertjrp.bsky.social

Prof Robert Poole, historian, discusses Arthur C Clarke’s 1946 seminal paper “The Challenge of the Spaceship”.
Live at 1pm today on @allfm.bsky.social 96.9 FM, DAB or live online at allfm.org. Alternatively, download and listen at any time from astrotalkuk.org/manchesterscience

The story of #Jodrell Bank is directly from Bernard Lovell, an oral history from 2007 by www.webofstories.com about his plans for an even larger 400ft telescope in Wales that almost got built and his role during the Cold War.
Live on Allfm.org now or download here astrotalkuk.org/manchestersc...

Tomorrow, I will be doing a live #Zoom talk (India in Space: Past, Present and Future) with the Chester County Astronomical Society in Pennsylvania.

It will be recorded and available #YouTube. If you are nearby and want to join live, contact pr@ccas.us 19:00 EST(-5 h GMT) 11/2/25 www.ccas.us