Universe Today Podcast

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Episode 416: Open Space 1: Live QA on YouTube Apr 18, 2018

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Once a week I'll be opening up the livestream on my YouTube channel and taking questions from the audience, as well as inviting special guests to join me. I didn't think about turning into this into a podcast, so I apologize. Next time I'll be more careful about making sure I read out the questions carefully for audio listeners.

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Episode 415: 349: Farewell Kepler. Welcome TESS And The Quest To Find Earth 2.0 Apr 17, 2018

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We’re now entering the final days for NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope. It’s running out of fuel and already crippled by the loss of its reaction wheels. In just a few months NASA will shut it down for good. That is sad, but don’t worry, NASA’s next planet hunting spacecraft, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Telescope is on the launchpad and ready to fly to space to take over where Kepler left off. Finding Earth-sized worlds in the Milky Way.

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Episode 414: QA 52: Could Satellites With Lasers To Clear Debris Be Weapons Too? And More... Apr 12, 2018

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In this week's questions show, Fraser explains how space debris hunting satellites could also be used as weapons, why his green screen is always set to Endor, and ways to find nearby places for stargazing.

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Episode 413: 348: Living Underground on Other Worlds. Exploring Lava Tubes Apr 11, 2018

Show notes

The Moon and Mars will probably be the first places in the Solar System that humanity will try to live after leaving the safety and security of Earth. But those worlds are still incredibly harsh environments, with no protection from radiation, little to no atmosphere, and extreme temperatures. Living on those worlds is going to be hard, it’s going to be dangerous. Fortunately, there are a few pockets on those worlds that’ll make it a tiny little bit easier to get a foothold in the Solar System: lava tubes.

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Episode 412: QA 51: Could We See Ourselves in the Past? And more.. Mar 29, 2018

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In this week's QA, I wonder if we could use the speed of light to see ourselves in the past, how the Mars rovers clean their solar panels, and if aliens would infect us with their bacteria and viruses.

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Episode 411: 347: Searching for Life on Europa? Going Under the Ice Mar 27, 2018

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We’re now learning that icy worlds seem to be the best places in Solar System where life could be hiding. Worlds like Europa and Enceladus, which have vast oceans of liquid water beneath a shell of water ice. Clearly we need to explore these worlds, to go deep down beneath the ice to explore the ocean depths. But how do you drill through kilometers of ice to reach it?

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Episode 410: QA 50: Can James Webb Find Megastructures? And More... Featuring Abby Harrison Mar 22, 2018

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In this week's questions show, I wonder if the James Webb Space Telescope will be able to find satellites around other stars, what my favorite sci-fi FTL method is, and why can't we see Mars as a bright object in the sky?

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Episode 409: 346: Which Are The Real Pictures of Space? What’s a Photo and What’s An Illustration? Mar 21, 2018

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With modern computer graphics, it’s sometimes hard to know which is an actual photograph of space, and what’s an illustration or a 3D rendering. Some really fascinating discoveries don’t have a pretty picture to go along with them, so illustrations are created to help us understand.

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Episode 408: QA 49: How Would We Drill Into Europa? And More... Mar 15, 2018

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In this week's questions show, I explain why I never get to the point, if we'll ever reach interstellar space, and how we'd get down below the ice sheet on Europa.

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Episode 407: 345: What Will It Take To Make Artificial Gravity? Surviving in Space Forever Mar 14, 2018

Show notes

If we want to live and work in space for long periods of time, we’ll need to conquer the lack of gravity and its effects on the human body. We’ll want to come up with some kind of artificial gravity. Futurists imagine huge rotating space stations, but realistically there are strategies that could provide artificial gravity for the times that we need it, and allow us to survive in space forever.

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