What space propulsion technologies is the US working on today? Is there really antimatter in your banana? What is antimatter? What is nuclear thermal propulsion? Is it safe? What propulsion systems will we need to get to Mars? To Jupiter? To Pluto? Find out as Sean Patrick Hazlett meets with physicist, author, and NASA technologist, Les Johnson.

You can also watch the episode here.

Links

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Books

A Traveler’s Guide to the Stars
Mission To Methonē
The Spacetime War
Saving Proxima (with Travis Taylor)
Warp Speed (Warp Speed series Book 1) by Travis Taylor

Biography

Les Johnson is a physicist, author, and NASA technologist. He is an elected member of the International Academy of Astronautics, a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society and a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, the National Space Society, and MENSA.

Publisher’s Weekly noted that “The spirit of Arthur C. Clarke and his contemporaries is alive and well…” when describing Les’s novel, Mission to Methone. His non- fiction book, with co-author Joe Meany, Graphene: The Superstrong, Superthin, and Superversatile Material That Will Revolutionize the World was reviewed in the journal Nature, excerpted in American Scientist, and on Salon.com.

In his day job, Les leads the development of advanced, in-space spacecraft propulsion technologies at the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. During his career at NASA, Les served as the Manager for the Space Science Programs and Projects Office, the In-Space Propulsion Technology Project, and the Interstellar Propulsion Research Project.

Sean Patrick Hazlett’s Books

Weird World War III
Weird World War IV
Hell’s Well
Alien Abattoir and Other Stories
Alien Abattoir and Other Stories (Audio)
The Post-Apocalyptic Tourist’s Guide to the Mojave Desert