Based at the Observatoire de Paris, Dr Athena Coustenis is the world's pre-eminent expert on Titan, the Saturn moon that has fascinated astronomers and astrophysicists since its discovery in 1655.

Born in Athens, Greece, Dr Coustenis moved to France to study, receiving her PhD Astrophysics and Space Techniques in 1989 for her research into Titan. In the past two decades, as technological development has allowed space exploration to expand, she has deepened her fascination with Titan and in particular it's atmosphere and environment....

There is little doubt among experts and observers that the world’s resources are stretched and will continue to be depleted in decades to come. It is the best solution to this resource shortage that animates the debate in international society. How to keep the globe going in the face of resource shortages is a question that encompasses issues of energy, population, migration, and technology.

But what if the answers to the problems our planet is encountering do not lie on the planet at all? This month’s Comment Visions talks to Dr Athena Coustenis, an Astrophysicist who specialises in studying planetary atmospheres and is an international authority on Titan, the moon of Saturn that has long fascinated scientists due to its environmental similarities to Earth.

Dr Coustensis looks at what role the solar system and the planets beyond it could play in alleviating the earth resource shortage. In a fascinating interview that provides a fresh angle on questions of energy and overpopulation, she also predicts that these planets could lessen the demand on land across the globe as human colonisation of the solar system becomes a technological possibility.

Monday: 05:15, 07:45, 15:45
Tuesday: 22:45*, 03:15
Wednesday: 11:15, 14:15, 18:45
Thursday: 05:15, 15:15, 17:45, 19:45
Friday: 11:45, 17:15, 04:15
Saturday: 09:15, 15:45, 18:45
Sunday: 09:15, 13:45, 23:15

*Starts Tuesday 22:45, all times CET.

Only broadcast in the first week of each month.