Payload Fairing

Space technology explained from launch pad to orbit

Salem Al Mazrouei2 episodes2 min of audio124 playsEpisodic

Episodes

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S1 · E2Sep 6, 20261:1075 plays Preview

The Seven Minutes Before Mars

A flight controller walks Salem through the entry, descent and landing sequence of a Mars mission, minute by minute, and what the team can and cannot do once it begins.

S1 · E1Jul 11, 20261:0949 plays Members

Why the Fairing Falls Away

Salem explains what the nose cone of a rocket actually does, why it is thrown away minutes after launch, and how engineers are now catching and reusing it at sea.

About the show

Payload Fairing is a weekly show about the engineering behind spaceflight, told for people who love the launches but want to understand the machines. Salem Al Mazrouei trained as a propulsion engineer and worked on satellite ground systems in Abu Dhabi before turning to broadcasting, and he has a habit of explaining a rocket the way a mechanic explains a car. Each 40-minute episode mixes a narrated explainer with an interview: a thermal engineer on why spacecraft need blankets, a flight controller on the quietest seven minutes of a Mars arrival, a student team building a cubesat the size of a loaf of bread. Topics range from reusable boosters and lunar landers to weather satellites and the new rules for space debris. It is for engineers, students, teachers and anyone who stays up late to watch a launch stream. Western and Gulf launches both get equal attention.

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