Universe Today Podcast

Extending humanity to other worlds in the Solar System is at the very limits of our modern technology. And unless there are dramatic discoveries in new propulsion systems or we learn how to build everything out of carbon nanotubes, the future of space exploration is going to require living off the land.

The technique is known as In-Situ Resource Utilization or ISRU, and it means supplying as much of your mission from local resources as possible.

And many of our future exploration destinations, like Mars, have a lot to work with. Let’s look at the raw materials on Mars that missions can use to live off the land and the techniques and technologies that will need to be developed to make this possible.

In this week's questions show, I explain why you could have a steam-powered rocket, how often spacecraft have crashed into asteroids and comets, and why a red supergiant star actually has a very low surface gravity.

The exploration of Venus has been mainly about getting down to the surface of the planet. The Soviet Union sacrificed lander after lander to discover just how extreme the conditions are down there on the ground.

But higher up, among the clouds, the climate on Venus is surprisingly Earthlike in temperature and pressure, and there have been some fascinating ideas for robotic and human explorers to fly the skies of Venus, to help understand our evil twin planet.

Let’s take a look at them.

This week I'm joined by Jason Derleth from NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (or NIAC). This is a special part of NASA that funds innovative ideas for new telescopes, propulsion systems and rovers. Many of the cool, science-fiction ideas I present on this channel come from research done at NASA.

In this week's questions show, I explain why we can see meteor showers every year, why we're not 3D printing telescopes in space, why there aren't any plans to launch telescopes with SpaceX Starship. And a lengthy answer to one of the most common James Webb questions we get: can it be refueled? This was answered by Paul Geithner, a Deputy Project Manager for James Webb during a recent livestream.

We talked about the implications of SpaceX Starship, Starlink, why power beamed from space or asteroid mining will never turn a profit down here on Earth, and why he's not that scared about space radiation.

In case you're interested, I was the special guest rogue for episode 750 of the Skeptic's Guide to the Universe. This long-running science podcast features all kinds of topics relating to science and skepticism. We talked about recent news in space and astronomy as well as the pseudoscience that I run across in my job. If you haven't already, you should definitely subscribe to their podcast, it's one of my favorites.

https://www.theskepticsguide.org/

When it comes to telescopes, bigger is better. That’s true down here on Earth, and it’s especially true out in space. As astronomers and engineers design the next generation of giant space telescopes, they’re running up against the limits of current launch providers. There are only so many ways you can fold a huge telescope to get it to fit inside a 5-meter launch fairing.

The upcoming James Webb Space Telescope is pretty much the very limit of what you can construct on Earth and put into space in a single launch. To go bigger, space agencies will need to consider assembling their next-generation space telescopes… in space.

In this week's questions show, I tackle all the questions about James Webb generated by the videos we did this week. Can it be refueled? How can it see the entire sky? Is the delay a blessing? And more...

Today I'll be joined by Paul Geithner, the Deputy Project Manager for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. You've had questions about this mission. Well... now's your chance to get them answered directly from the source.

Paul started working with NASA in 1991 on the Hubble Space Telescope, shifting over to James Webb. In 2011, he became the Deputy Project Manager, Technical for James Webb.

On March 30, 2021, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will blast off from the European Space Agency’s European spaceport in Kourou, French Giana on board an Ariane 5 rocket.

It’ll fly to the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, a relatively stable spot in space that keeps the glare from the Sun, Earth, and Moon all in a tiny spot in the sky. Then, it’ll unfurl its tennis court-sized sunshade, fold out its gigantic 6.5-meter mirror, and peer out into the distant cosmos.

Over the course of the next 10 years, this infrared observatory will help astronomers learn about the earliest moments of the Universe, directly observe the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars, and peer at newly forming stars and planets.

And if you listened to the words I just said with equal parts terror and skepticism, I don’t blame you. James Webb’s path to space has been long and tortuous. And the risks that the mission still faces are very real. Hopefully, the science will be worth it. Hopefully, nothing else goes wrong from now until deployment.

So today, I want to do a deep dive into James Webb. To talk about the history of the mission, why it exists, how the development went, and where it stands today.

I’ll warn you though, the length of this video is going to go way over budget.

Today's guest is Dustin Gibson from Oceanside Photo and Telescope (OPT). Dustin will talk about his journey to becoming an astrophotographer and eventually running one of the most successful telescope retailers in the world.

In this week's questions show, I answer what will bring geostationary satellites back to Earth, if you could use the heat on Venus to power a rover, why are we so arrogant to believe that life formed only here on Earth, and more.

It was another solo live QA this week and I did my best to answer as many audience questions as I could do, closing in on 60 questions during the hour. Needless to say it was a wide-ranging conversation with questions about where I think rovers should go, what do I think about time travel, and whether we should do more SETI or build more space telescopes.

Solar energy is the ideal way to power a spacecraft. There’s no weather, there’s no pesky atmosphere, just pure photons streaming from the Sun to harvest for whatever you need. Well, as long as you’re within the inner Solar System.

But solar panels are complicated and fragile made of sensitive electronics and glass - not to mention, really heavy. Any spacecraft equipped with solar panels needs to handle the gravity down here on Earth for the construction and testing, then the shaking and high Gs of launch. The solar panels need to unfold perfectly once they get to space. And the total amount of energy you can harvest is limited by the size of your rocket’s launch fairing.

Maybe there’s a new strategy. NASA is currently funding research into a new type of solar panel that can be carried into space as a liquid and then sprayed onto a surface to turn it into a power generating surface.

In this week's questions show, I tackle questions about seeding Europa with hardy Earth life, what makes galaxies spin, what are we competing with aliens for, and why is it so hard for second stages of rockets to land?