First Ever Planetary Defense MissionTop of Mind with Julie Rose • Season 1, Episode 985, Segment 2
Jan 15, 2019 • 16m
Guest: Andy Rivkin, DART Investigation Team Lead Planetary Astronomer, Johns Hopkins University One of the leading explanations for why dinosaurs went extinct is that a giant asteroid smashed into Earth 65 million years ago. We’re lucky another one hasn’t hit us since –otherwise we might have to send Bruce Willis to space with a nuclear bomb on his back to blow up the asteroid while the world cheers him on -like he did in the movie Armageddon. That’s Hollywood, but an asteroid collision really is a threat to Earth –enough so that NASA has a special mission to prepare for it. It’s called, “DART” and it’s entering a crucial phase.

In Rapidly Leaving Syria, US Risks Ceding the Entire Country to Iran, RussiaJan 15, 201917mGuest: Matthew Brodsky, Middle East analyst, Senior Fellow, Security Studies Group The Department of Defense says it’s begun the process of withdrawing all 2,000 US troops currently stationed in Syria to fight ISIS. You’ll remember President Trump declared victory against ISIS and announced the withdrawal rather abruptly a month ago, which precipitated the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Since then, the President’s top advisors have been trying to convince America’s allies the withdrawal is a good thing –and they’ve been hedging a bit, saying the pull-out may take longer than the month President Trump initially promised and may only happen if certain conditions are met.
Guest: Matthew Brodsky, Middle East analyst, Senior Fellow, Security Studies Group The Department of Defense says it’s begun the process of withdrawing all 2,000 US troops currently stationed in Syria to fight ISIS. You’ll remember President Trump declared victory against ISIS and announced the withdrawal rather abruptly a month ago, which precipitated the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. Since then, the President’s top advisors have been trying to convince America’s allies the withdrawal is a good thing –and they’ve been hedging a bit, saying the pull-out may take longer than the month President Trump initially promised and may only happen if certain conditions are met.