Mark Clampin, Director of Astrophysics Division NASA - Full interview, Habitable Worlds Observatory

The full unedited version of my interview with Mark Clampin, the Director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA. We chatted about the Habitable Worlds Observatory, including how it will be different to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and how the plan is to use it to take a direct images of Earth-like exoplanets and study their atmospheres for biosignatures. I also couldn't help but ask Mark about his career path and how he became NASA's Director of Astrophysics.

00:00 - Introduction
00:32 - Introducing Mark Clampin
00:37 - What does the head of Astrophysics at NASA do?
01:52 - How long has Mark been in this job?
04:12 - Why was the Habitable Worlds Observatory project chosen? NASA's decision making process.
07:13 - What will the Habitable Worlds Observatory give us that we've never had before?
10:10 - Is the biggest leap from the telescope or coronagraph technology?
10:46 - What is Mark's science research focus?
11:47 - Mark's career path - how do you become head of astrophysics at NASA?!
15:45 - What's going to be the biggest chance in how we do astronomy/astrophysics in the next few decades?
17:29 - Outro

Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV & iPhone 13 Pro

---

---

---

---

---

🔔 Don't forget to subscribe and click the little bell icon to be notified when I post a new video!

---

👩🏽‍💻 I'm Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don't know. If you've ever wondered about something in space and couldn't find an answer online - you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.

[nmnml]

job titles don't sound much better than Director of Astrophysics at NASA. That was a nice interview.

[giantfrigginnerd]

I really like these types of videos. Good interviews with an expert guest with the questions being asked from a position of expertise as well just gives great results.

[orchidquest]

Thank you for posting the full interview!

[chrisroberts]

Well, I was gonna go to bed. Now I have to watch this first.

[MCsCreations]

Thanks a bunch for the interview, dr. Becky! 😊
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[AudraK]

I can see the little bit of anxiety you had during the interview ❤ I don’t know who wouldn’t be at least a little nervous interviewing this man. He’s such a massive piece of such a massive organization that has so much to do with your line of work. I’d be absolutely terrified! I praise you with all my heart! It was an incredible interview!

[BillPatten-zhlx]

The first thing I thought of was just how huge NASA must be to develop and accomplish the missions it does with the limited resources NASA often has to contend with. The expansion in the roughly 75 years of NASA has impacted human knowledge so highly, and our expanding yearning for more knowledge in what Carl Sagan described as a "candle in the dark".

[chrisray]

Thanks for posting this. It’s really interesting to peek behind the curtain at NASA. I had never even heard of the decadal surveys until your recent video about them. I’ve learned so much from your channel.

[Hannah_The_Heretic]

A phenomenal video, and an excellent interview 👏
Ive watched it twice already

[martynspooner]

Thanks for bringing this world to the average guy/girl on the street. There is so much that is beyond my understanding but that doesn't detract from my love of everything you share with us. Thanks

[OllyF]

He is an absolute pleasure to listen to! 🙏 Thanks for the full video Becky!

[glenncurry]

Great interview. Lots of things to look forward to!

[JJ-dbjw]

Thanks for posting the whole interview. Very interesting to watch.

[johnwishart]

I still don't know how or the difference between very intelligent people and out and out geniuses each video I watch I end up shaking my head
great just great

[lethargogpeterson]

I got distracted by the white board in the background starting at about @0:50. Halfway down the left side there is a part that I think says t end = 500 Myr. However, when I first looked at it I thought the "500 M" part just said BOOM!

[GorkaJon]

Thank you Dr. Becky for this very interesting interview! My regards and respects for both of you

[lightsaber]

Good interview! Thank you for teaching us!

[AKRichardM]

I just met him a couple of weeks ago. Fascinating person.

[christopherweston]

Nice, this really shows the many aspects of how science reaches the masses

[oldman]

Hey Becky, (my sisters’ name btw) you are the perfect person to ask this question about (maybe a video?) the impacter on Dimorphos .
How did they know that Dimorphos, with its slower smaller orbit will not eventually impact Didymos itself thereby changing its orbit and making it more of a hazard to us, when the result of the impact was not predictable.