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Dava Newman: Space Exploration, Space Suits, and Life on Mars | Lex Fridman Podcast #51
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Dava Newman: Space Exploration, Space Suits, and Life on Mars | Lex Fridman Podcast #51

Dava Newman is the Apollo Program professor of AeroAstro at MIT and the former Deputy Administrator of NASA and has been a principal investigator on four spaceflight missions.

Lex FridmanhostDava Newmanguest
Nov 22, 201939mWatch on YouTube

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Episode Details

EPISODE INFO

Released
November 22, 2019
Duration
39m
Channel
Lex Fridman Podcast
Watch on YouTube
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EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Dava Newman is the Apollo Program professor of AeroAstro at MIT and the former Deputy Administrator of NASA and has been a principal investigator on four spaceflight missions. Her research interests are in aerospace biomedical engineering, investigating human performance in varying gravity environments. She has developed a space activity suit, namely the BioSuit, which would provide pressure through compression directly on the skin via the suit's textile weave, patterning, and materials rather than with pressurized gas. Thank you for listening ❤ Check out our sponsors: https://lexfridman.com/sponsors/ep51-sb See below for timestamps, and to give feedback, submit questions, contact Lex, etc. *CONTACT LEX:* *Feedback* - give feedback to Lex: https://lexfridman.com/survey *AMA* - submit questions, videos or call-in: https://lexfridman.com/ama *Hiring* - join our team: https://lexfridman.com/hiring *Other* - other ways to get in touch: https://lexfridman.com/contact *OUTLINE:* 0:00 - Introduction 3:11 - Circumnavigating the globe by boat 5:11 - Exploration 7:17 - Life on Mars 11:07 - Intelligent life in the universe 12:25 - Advanced propulsion technology 13:32 - The Moon and NASA's Artemis program 19:17 - SpaceX 21:45 - Science on a CubeSat 23:45 - Reusable rockets 25:23 - Spacesuit of the future 32:01 - AI in Space 35:31 - Interplanetary species 36:57 - Future of space exploration *PODCAST LINKS:*

*SOCIAL LINKS:*

SPEAKERS

  • Lex Fridman

    host
  • Dava Newman

    guest

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Lex Fridman Podcast, featuring Lex Fridman and Dava Newman, Dava Newman: Space Exploration, Space Suits, and Life on Mars | Lex Fridman Podcast #51 explores Designing Future Space Suits and Missions for a Human Mars Era Lex Fridman interviews MIT professor and former NASA deputy administrator Dava Newman about human exploration, from Magellan’s voyages to interplanetary travel. They discuss why Mars and the Moon matter as exploration targets, how and when we might discover past or present life beyond Earth, and what it will take technologically and psychologically to send humans to Mars. A major focus is Newman's next‑generation “BioSuit,” a skin‑tight mechanical counter‑pressure spacesuit designed for mobility and long-duration planetary exploration. She also emphasizes the urgency of protecting “Spaceship Earth,” the role of AI in climate science, and her optimistic timeline for humans on the Moon in the 2020s and on Mars in the 2030s.

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