In this episode:

We meet Dr. Jason Reimuller, Executive Director of both the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS) and Project PoSSUM, a nonprofit astronautics research and education program within the IIAS studying our upper atmosphere and its role in our changing global climate. Jason is also Co-Investigator of NASA’s PMC-Turbo experiment and works as a commercial research pilot and flight test engineer with atmospheric remote-sensing company GATS, Inc. He is a National Association of Underwater Instructors scuba divemaster, has authored the book Spacecraft Egress and Rescue Operations, and formerly served as a system engineer and project manager for NASA’s Constellation Program.

In our conversation, Jason explains how little we understand about our planet's upper atmosphere, noctilucent cloud dynamics and how they're indicators for changes in global climate, the many aspects of Project PoSSUM, how it advocates for underrepresented groups in the space community, and whether he personally has an interest in being involved in the space missions of the future.

Explaining his part in Project PoSSUM, Jason says, “You know, my first role in this organization is to serve our community ... serve the community, and to make sure that what we’re all doing is preserving that historic role and the imperative of what astronauts have been.”

To learn more about the IIAS, go to https://astronauticsinstitute.org, and for more on Project PoSSUM visit https://projectpossum.org. Candidate applications for the Out Astronaut program that Jason mentions in this conversation are being accepted through Jan. 31, 2021, at https://outastronaut.org/contest/.

Introductory and closing music: Paint the Sky by Hans Atom © copyright 2015, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/hansatom/50718 Ft: Miss Judged