Universe Today Podcast

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Episode 717: Q&A 136: Should Falcon Heavy Launch the Lunar Gateway? And More... Feb 23, 2021

Show notes

In this week's questions show, I talk about why some missions go into orbit, and other missions make a direct landing on Mars. Is it a good idea for the SpaceX Falcon Heavy to launch components for the Lunar Gateway? And how can we know if the Universe is finite or infinite?

00:00 Start
00:30 Why go into orbit when NASA goes straight for landing?
04:19 What about SpaceX launching the Lunar Gateway?
08:45 Is the Universe finite or infinite?
11:52 Would a big black hole event horizon look flat?
12:38 If I had $50 billion to spend on space
16:14 Do I own any space stocks?
18:04 Will there be a time when we can't see other galaxies?
21:24 Is it easier or harder to fly to the Moon now?
25:09 When will the first steps be on Mars?
30:58 Would a Moon city protect humanity?
35:46 Could we crash Mars into Pluto?
36:54 Will travel to the Moon/Mars ever be cheap?
39:24 Should we be improving Earth or Mars?
41:06 Which book series do I recommend people read first?
42:13 Will Perseverance hear the helicopter?
44:07 What technologies will improve the Earth in the future?

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Read by 50,000 people every Friday. Written by Fraser. No ads.
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Weekly Space Hangout: Weekly news roundup with Fraser, special guests, and other space journalists.

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Astronomy Cast: Award-winning, long-running deep dive into space and astronomy with Fraser and Dr. Pamela Gay.
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Episode 716: Q&A 135: Where Will We Find Life First? In the Solar System or Another Star? Feb 17, 2021

Show notes

00:00 Start
00:22 Easier to find life in the Solar System or Milky Way?
05:13 Could an exosuit simulate gravity?
06:36 Could you use water as a propulsion system?
08:28 Could you have space-based interferometry?
13:02 Are the moons of Jupiter in severe radiation?
14:19 Is anyone working on spinning habitats?
18:05 What about Amazon's satellite constellations?
22:19 Can you have rogue planets without a star?
25:52 How do you stop a lightsail?
27:22 How far will James Webb see?
31:35 Could gravitational lensing mess up the CMB?
34:27 Will the Titan Dragonfly visit the seas?
37:29 What's my astrophotography setup?
38:55 What type of radiation is around Jupiter?
39:53 Is Blue Origin a serious competitor to SpaceX?
44:22 What telescopes do I have?
44:47 If Earth was locked to the Sun, what would happen to the gravity?
45:23 Will there be a telescope on the Moon?
46:17 Would we know where a WoW signal is coming from?

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Episode 715: Interview: Chris Prophet, SpaceX From the Ground Up Feb 09, 2021

Show notes

This week I interview Chris Prophet, the author of "SpaceX from the Ground Up". His book, now in its 6th edition covers the story of SpaceX, from its initial concept to the latest Starship tests.

https://www.amazon.com/SpaceX-Ground-Up-Chris-Prophet-ebook/dp/B01CUUUZZ2

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Email: frasercain@gmail.com

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Episode 714: Q&A 134: Could Tethered Starships Provide Artificial Gravity? And More... Feb 08, 2021

Show notes

In this week's Q&A show, I answer questions about Starship might be able to provide artificial gravity, whether I'd prefer to have LUVOIR or the Overwhelmingly Large Telescope, and if nuclear-powered rockets will work in space.

You can join me live every Monday on my YouTube channel at 5pm Pacific Time to ask your questions live.

00:00 Start
00:18 Could Starships provide artificial gravity?
03:51 LUVOIR or the Overwhelmingly Large Telescope?
05:30 Are nuclear-powered rockets feasible?
09:08 What do I think about Avi Loeb's theory about Oumuamua aliens?
14:49 What happened with Starship's SN9 test?
16:19 Let's learn more about the Universe Today writing team
19:15 Learning the constellations
23:00 Can spacecraft survive interstellar space?
25:13 What if the Earth had no Moon?
27:52 Why are all craters circular?
30:09 Will humans be able to survive in the Solar System?
33:01 Will there be a limit to orbital refueling?
36:58 Did the Sun have a binary partner?
39:08 Is life more likely on K-type stars?

Want to be part of the questions show? Ask a short question on any video on my channel. I gather a bunch up each week and answer them here.

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🚀 CONTACT FRASER:
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Email: frasercain@gmail.com

🚀 LICENSE:
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

You are free to use my work for any purpose you like, just mention me as the source and link back to this video.

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Episode 713: Interview: The Story of the Europa Clipper: "The Mission" with David Brown Feb 01, 2021

Show notes

In this week's interview, I talk to David Brown about his new book: The Mission. It's all about the campaign to design and build the Europa Clipper mission and everything that happened behind-the-scenes.

David is a science journalist and writer with with work in the Atlantic, New York Times, Scientific American and more.

https://www.dwb.io/

https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-mission-david-w-brown?variant=32126580064290

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🚀 CONTACT FRASER:
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Email: frasercain@gmail.com

🚀 LICENSE:
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

You are free to use my work for any purpose you like, just mention me as the source and link back to this video.

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Episode 712: Q&A 133: What's Causing the Expansion of the Universe? And More... Feb 01, 2021

Show notes

In this week's QA, I talk about what's driving the expansion of the Universe, how big the observable Universe is to the actual Universe, and what will happen to dogs in gravity.

00:00 Start
00:26 What's driving the expansion of the Universe?
04:01 How big is the observable Universe compared to the actual Universe?
07:25 Do people watch videos or listen to my podcasts?
10:37 Will dogs enjoy lunar gravity?
12:59 Why aren't we looking deeper in the Kuiper Belt?
15:54 What would be some good ways to explore lava tubes?
19:36 What happened to the Overwhelmingly Large Telescope?
22:48 Would space LIGO be more sensitive?
27:56 What's the most like Great Filter?
31:07 Why do we talk about distance in form of time?
35:14 Any future collaborations with Isaac Arthur?
35:58 How long will the Mars helicopter survive?
40:07 When will NASA incorporate Starship into its plans?
42:15 How dangerous is the Kessler Syndrome?

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🚀 LICENSE:
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You are free to use my work for any purpose you like, just mention me as the source and link back to this video.

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Episode 711: The Universe in Formation. Hubble Sees 6 Examples of Merging Galaxies Jan 23, 2021

Show notes

10 billion years ago, galaxies of the Universe were ablaze with the light of newly forming stars. This epic phase of history is known as “Cosmic Noon” - the height of all star creation. Galaxies like our Milky Way aren’t creating stars at nearly the rates they were in the ancient past. However, there is a time when galaxies in the present can explode with star formation – when they collide with each other. This recently published collage of merging galaxies by the Hubble HiPEEC survey (Hubble imaging Probe of Extreme Environments and Clusters) highlights six of these collisions which help us understand star formation in the early Universe.

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Episode 710: Interview: Robots Made of Ice with Devin Carroll Jan 23, 2021

Show notes

In this week's interview, I talk with Devin Carroll, a robotics Ph.D. student at the modular robotics lab at the University of Pennsylvania. Devin is working on robots that can build their own structure out of ice.

https://www.modlabupenn.org/people/devin-carroll/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjfDRQWv0x0

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Email: frasercain@gmail.com

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You are free to use my work for any purpose you like, just mention me as the source and link back to this video.

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Episode 709: Q&A 132: How Much Of The Universe Could We Ever Explore? And More... Jan 20, 2021

Show notes

In this week's live Q&A, I talk about the new Space Launch System hot-fire test, how Breakthrough Starshot spacecraft might be able to communicate with home, and what messages would we send to aliens that we might never be able to reach physically.

00:00 Start
02:11 How would Starship chipsats communicate with Earth?
05:00 How far can we ever explore into the Universe?
06:31 Why was the SLS test so short?
08:59 This is why we test.
09:52 What message would we send to aliens we could never visit?
13:52 Is anyone working on a practical artificial gravity?
18:32 Do we know which stars can see Earth transiting?
21:11 How do spacecraft change their trajectories?
23:50 When will LUVOIR launch?
26:24 Why is there a solar cycle?
29:51 Will AI start answering science questions?
32:53 Is a generation ship or seed ship better?
35:25 Are gravitational lenses like telescope lenses?
36:46 Will we hit light speed or wormholes first?
37:49 How prepared are we for a Carrington Event?
40:48 Can we predict gamma ray bursts?
45:52 What are my news sources?
48:41 Do I think there's non-intelligent life out there?
52:56 Would a Europa lander see any life in the surface?

Want to be part of the questions show? Ask a short question on any video on my channel. I gather a bunch up each week and answer them here.

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🚀 CONTACT FRASER:
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Email: frasercain@gmail.com

🚀 LICENSE:
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

You are free to use my work for any purpose you like, just mention me as the source and link back to this video.

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Episode 708: Q&A 131: Can Breakthrough Starshot Slow Down? And More... Jan 14, 2021

Show notes

Welcome to the new style Q&As, which we're now recording every Monday live on my YouTube channel at 5pm Pacific Time. This week we got a lot of great questions about the Proxima Centauri signal, the Fermi Paradox, and Breakthrough Starshot.

00:00:00 Start
00:00:14 Is Starlink portable?
00:01:07 Any thoughts on the Wow signal?
00:03:58 What are magnetars?
00:06:20 Any followup planned on Proxima signal?
00:07:34 My answer to the Fermi Paradox
00:11:50 Why don't neutron stars turn into black holes?
00:13:03 Could Breakthrough Starshot confirm the Oort Cloud?
00:15:07 Can Breaththrough Starshot slow down?
00:20:03 Do other planets have pole stars?
00:20:45 Should we put a telescope out by Neptune or Uranus?
00:23:15 Next rare celestial event
00:26:12 Does Skylon have a future in space exploration?
00:30:35 How will humanity end?
00:33:47 Is Elon Musk a supervillain?
00:35:16 When can regular people do space tourism?
00:38:12 Am I up to date on the Expanse?
00:39:51 SG1 or the Expanse?
00:41:37 Does everything experience gravitational lensing?
00:44:07 What do I think of DALL-E?
00:47:18 Doing space journalism for 21 years
00:48:39 Space assembly of telescopes.

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🚀 LICENSE:
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You are free to use my work for any purpose you like, just mention me as the source and link back to this video.

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