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NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with William K. Hartmann, Senior Scientist Emeritus at the Planetary Science Institute, part 3 of 3

Part of To the Moon Interviews.

1998

William K. Hartmann, Senior Scientist Emeritus at the Planetary Science Institute, is interviewed about the potential for returning to the moon, and how he became interested in the moon. Hartmann says that humans should return to the moon, and thinks that a primary question to investigate would be the frequency of the impacts that created the moon: are the impacts that created the moon frequent or do they happen infrequently, and what does that mean for the Earth? Tests and investigations so far, according to Hartmann, tend to be focused on disproving theories rather than proving theories, and he calls for more tests that prove theories of the lunar origins. Hartmann describes his own origins in the theory of planetary science, which he says is a relatively new field, and talks about learning about the impact theory of the moon after picking up Ralph Baldwin's "The Face of the Moon" as a child.

Series

NOVA

Program

To the Moon

Program Number

2610

Title

Interview with William K. Hartmann, Senior Scientist Emeritus at the Planetary Science Institute, part 3 of 3

Series Description

NOVA is a general-interest documentary series that addresses a single science issue each week. Billed as "science adventures for curious grown-ups" when it first aired in March, 1974, NOVA continues to offer an informative and entertaining approach to a challenging subject. It is also one of television's most acclaimed series, having won every major television award, most of them many times over.

Program Description

Alan Binder, former Principal Investigator of NASA's Lunar Prospector mission, is interviewed about the Lunar Prospector. Binder says that if moon travel became viable again, he would want to go to the moon, but says that in order to get financial and public support for space exploration, scientists need to sell the science of the moon. Another option, according to Binder, is to make travel to the moon commercially viable, and lists many benefits of going to the moon, including using it as a fuel source, or colonizing the surface for human habitation (audio cuts out from 00:07:30 - 00:09:00). Binder explains the work of the Lunar Prospector and talks about the necessity of having computers to do a lot of the work. On Apollo, Binder calls the program the most significant event of the 21st century, and talks about the roles of the Apollo program, the Clementine spacecraft, and hte Lunar Prospector. The interview ends with Binder's views on his relationship with NASA, which he characterizes as being needlessly bound up in beaurocracy and red tape.

Duration

0:10:02

Asset Type

Raw video

Media Type

Video

Subjects

Astronaut

American history

Moon

Space

Gemini

Apollo

Creators

WGBH Educational Foundation (Producing Organization)

Contributors

Hartmann, William Kenneth, 1939- (Interviewee)

Rights Summary

Rights Holder: WGBH Educational Foundation

Citation

Chicago: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with William K. Hartmann, Senior Scientist Emeritus at the Planetary Science Institute, part 3 of 3,” 1998, GBH Archives, accessed April 16, 2024, http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_84052DF81B264EB485BC3D0571E6895D.

MLA: “NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with William K. Hartmann, Senior Scientist Emeritus at the Planetary Science Institute, part 3 of 3.” 1998. GBH Archives. Web. April 16, 2024. <http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_84052DF81B264EB485BC3D0571E6895D>.

APA: NOVA; To the Moon; Interview with William K. Hartmann, Senior Scientist Emeritus at the Planetary Science Institute, part 3 of 3. Boston, MA: GBH Archives. Retrieved from http://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_84052DF81B264EB485BC3D0571E6895D