BBC R4 - Four space related documentaries

BBC R4 - Gravity Probe B
Broadcast April 23, 2003

BBC Blurb
In 1916 Einstein first put forward his general theory of relativity.
Now, nearly 90 years later, physicists are finally getting ready to
put Einstein to the test. Gravity Probe B is a satellite containing
some of the most precise measuring devices ever built. It has been
more than 40 years in the making, cost over 600 million dollars, and
has needed to invent a dozen completely new technologies in order to
make it happen.

Not only has the financial investment been huge, but it has been a
life time’s work for many of the scientists involved, including Francis
Everitt, the chief scientist on the mission. Everitt has dedicated 42
years to Gravity Probe B and hopes this year will finally see his life’s
work come to fruition with the Probe’s launch. This extraordinary experiment
is set to reveal once and for all whether Einstein’s brilliant predictions
about the Universe were in fact correct. But as the September launch date
draws nearer, NASA has just ordered a last minute review on the project
and its very survival hangs in the balance.

Peter Evans visits Stanford University - the home of Gravity Probe B - to
find out how this extraordinary experiment came to be, why it has taken so
long and why the plug may be pulled at the last minute. The project has had
some of the greatest minds in physics working on it, but just why has it taken
nearly 90 years to get even close to testing Einstein’s landmark theory?

NB Gravity Probe B launched April 20, 2004
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BBC R4 - The Goldilocks Planet
Broadcast August 21, 2005

BBC Blurb
Ten years ago the first "solar-system-like" planet was discovered,
but it was too close to it's parent-star and so too hot to sustain
life. Now more and more candidates for extra-terrestrial life are
being found, and the disparate worlds of sci-fi fan and astro-physicist
are in danger of collision. So if the arguments about first contact
and  non-intervention have been rehearsed in film, in literature and
on television, is it really possible that William Shatner once spoke
of the secrets of the cosmos?

The picturesque setting of Castel Gandolfo, nestling on the lip of a
burnt-out volcano in the mountains south of Rome, is the setting for
a gathering of scientists. And for Christians in particular, astrobiology
has a particularly bizarre set of questions. How does their understanding
of the salvation offered by Jesus Christ change when alien life is discovered?
To put it crudely, if God sent us his only son, who, if anyone, did he send to
51 Pegasi, an earth-like planet many light years away?

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BBC R4 - SETI
Broadcast November 30, 2005

BBC Blurb
The SETI institute in California is dedicated to the search
for extraterrestrial intelligence. It's a serious scientific
endeavour that is about to get a big boost with a new, cutting
edge telescope that experts are predicting could stumble across
ET within the next 25 years - if he, she or it is out there.

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BBC R4 - Mission To Mars
Broadcast May 5, 2008

BBC Blurb
Richard Hollingham reports from the Institute of Biomedical Problems
in Moscow. Drawing on their expertise in space endurance, scientists
at the Institute are planning to simulate a mission to Mars.

Early next year, six cosmonauts will enter a simulated spacecraft and stay
there for 500 days. Called Mars-500, scientists hope that the simulation
will provide them with valuable psychological and physiological information
about how a crew might withstand the rigours of such a long space flight.

Richard meets Inessa Kozlovskaya, one of the world’s leading authorities
on the physiological effects of weightlessness. Under Inessa’s watchful eye,
Richard is strapped into a horizontal treadmill. Without regular load-bearing
exercise in space, cosmonauts’ bodies are unable to withstand the stress of
returning to Earth’s gravity after prolonged weightlessness.

Kevin Fong from University College London tells Richard more about the
psychological pressures on astronauts taking part in endurance missions.

Richard also visits the Institute of Space Science in Moscow. He talks
to Russian space scientist Anatoli Petrukovich about the dangers of prolonged
exposure to cosmic rays. Two Italian space scientists, Livio Narici and Marco
Casolino, both from the University of Rome Tor Vergata, assess the dangers of
cosmic radiation and how best to protect astronauts from its worst effects.