The International Space Station won’t last forever, but what would it take to replace it? Dr. Elaina Hyde helps you understand why that question involves more than designing a newer, nicer place to live in orbit.
An ageing station still has work to do. Experiments involving plants, radiation and the human body could help answer questions about living farther from Earth. But keeping that laboratory overhead takes continuing intervention. What makes its position both useful and difficult to maintain?
Back on the ground, a nine-foot bronze sundial turns sunlight into something you can watch across the seasons. It sounds like ancient technology. Its unusual design gives you another reason to look up, and a different way to notice what the sky is doing.
Topics: International Space Station, orbital decay, space research, heavy-lift rockets, sundial
GUEST: Dr. Elaina Hyde | https://www.yorku.ca/science/observatory/
Originally aired on2026-10-01
