logo
episode-header-image
May 2019
7m 14s

What it takes to launch a telescope | Er...

TED
About this episode
TED Fellow and astronomer Erika Hamden leads the team building FIREBall, a telescope that hangs from a giant balloon at the very edge of space and looks for clues about how stars are created. She takes us inside the roller-coaster, decade-long journey to get the telescope from an idea into orbit -- and shows how failure is inevitable when you're pushing the limits of knowledge.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Yesterday
A story of moral imagination and bold entrepreneurship | Sitoyo Lopokoiyit and Jacqueline Novogratz
In a conversation about visionary leadership, M-PESA CEO Sitoyo Lopokoiyit speaks with impact investor and Acumen CEO Jacqueline Novogratz about how he grew a nascent mobile payment service into Africa’s largest fintech platform — which now handles nearly 60 percent of Kenya's GD ... Show More
19m 36s
Jul 9
"Marigolds," a poem about wonder | Safiya Sinclair
Poet Safiya Sinclair performs "Marigolds: A Letter to Wonder," an original poem she created for TED that explores memory, beauty and the fragility of life. After the poem, she talks with TED's Helen Walters about her writing process — and what it feels like when the creative muse ... Show More
9m 2s
Jul 8
The miraculous device that saved my farm — and changed my life | Josephine Waweru
Exhausted from carrying water up a hill to keep her small farm in Kenya thriving, Josephine Waweru received an unexpected call that offered a nearly unbelievable solution. She shares how one simple device allowed her crops (and her dreams) to flourish — and offers a glimmer of ho ... Show More
10m 18s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2009
Telescopes that Rocked Our World
This year marks the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s use of the first telescope. On this week’s show, we reflect on how telescopes have shifted our perspective on how small we are in size, space, and time. We also discuss how they help astronomers discover new and interesting aspec ... Show More
56 m
Nov 2022
Women leading a revolution in astronomy
Kim Chakanetsa discusses the wonders of the sky with two world-renowned astronomers. Dr Ewine van Dishoeck is a Dutch astronomer and chemist who has been involved with the development of the James Webb Telescope, the largest optical telescope in space. A professor of molecular as ... Show More
27m 50s
Feb 2021
The Bird and The Balloon Telescope
What happens when a baby falcon meets a balloon telescope in an old Wild West town? An astrophysics animal adventure, of course! Erika Hamden is an astrophysicist who’s attempting to launch a space balloon telescope called FIREBall, an experiment to study distant galaxies. But he ... Show More
18m 44s
Sep 2023
How the Webb Telescope Sees Back in Time
On Christmas Day, 2021, NASA launched the James Webb Space Telescope into orbit a million miles from Earth—a huge and insanely ambitious machine, billions of dollars over budget and 14 years past deadline. Now, as the telescope completes its first year of capturing astonishing im ... Show More
45m 9s
Sep 2022
The Biggest Space Telescope in the Universe (UPDATE!)
Hear sounds created from images by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, in this updated episode! The biggest space telescope in the universe had a busy summer, wowing us with incredible images of the cosmos like we've never seen before. But it took a lot of work to get there! Learn ... Show More
21m 54s
Mar 2020
The launch of the Hubble Space Telescope
In 1990, NASA launched the historic mission which put into orbit the Hubble Space Telescope. The orbiting observatory has revolutionized astronomy and allowed us to peer deeper than ever before into the Universe. We hear from astronaut, Kathryn Sullivan. Plus, China's cure for ma ... Show More
50m 21s
Dec 2021
The James Webb Space Telescope
The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope is only days away. Scheduled for lift off on 22 December, the largest and most complex space observatory ever built will be sent to an orbit beyond the moon. James Webb is so huge that it has had to be folded up to fit in the rocket. T ... Show More
33m 49s
Nov 2016
Hunting for Black Holes, with Janna Levin - StarTalk All-Stars
If light can’t escape from black holes, how can we observe them at all? Find out from astrophysicist Janna Levin, co-host Matt Kirshen, and Shep Doeleman, the MIT astrophysicist leading the Event Horizon Telescope project to study black hole Sgr A* at the center of our galaxy. NO ... Show More
49m 37s
Apr 2021
Episode 55 Telescopes And Stars
Edwin Hubble changed our view of the Solar System, but he was also a collegiate National Champion basketball player and high school coach. He also dealt with the struggles of freezing his face to a telescope. Anything for Science! George Ellery Hale had the idea for the largest t ... Show More
32m 48s
Jun 2024
Cosmic Journey II: Voyage into the Abyss
Hitch a ride on the Chandra X-ray Observatory as it scours deep space for some of the most enigmatic and misunderstood objects in the universe: black holes. What are they good for? Absolutely something.This is the second episode of a two-part journey celebrating the 25th annivers ... Show More
32m 10s