Universe Today Podcast

Heat shields are one of the trickiest problems left to solve before we can have truly reusable spacecraft. So far we've seen different solutions, like ablative materials or ceramic tiles. But can a sweating heat shield be a solution? Finding out in this interview.

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🟣 Guest: Dr. Hassan Saad Ifti

https://nal.tamu.edu/

📜 Could Sweating Spacecraft Make Re-Entry Easier?

https://www.universetoday.com/articles/could-sweating-spacecraft-make-re-entry-easier

00:00 Intro

01:40 Challenges of reentry

12:00 Sweating spacecraft

31:05 Which gas to use

38:49 Metal 3D-printing

45:51 Current obsessions

50:41 Final thoughts

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Can we refuel James Webb at L2 when it runs out of propellant? What will the Dragonfly octocopter see on the surface of Titan? Will discovering life on Mars stop us from going there? And in our extended Q&A+ on Patreon, what are space things I'm hoping to see in my lifetime? Answering all these questions and more in this Q&A show.

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• 00:00 Start

• 00:30 [Monty Skeetch] Will Dragonfly see rains or rivers on Titan?

• 01:35 [Ιwanna_kiIImyself] Why does JWST do figure of 8 movements at its Lagrange L2 point?

• 03:35 [SantiagoMK] Can JWST be refuelled?

• 04:35 [beau danner] Which moon is best for Venus?

• 05:25 [Billy Griffith] Will finding life on Mars stop us from going there?

• 07:11 [veerendra kumar] Do double and triple black hole systems exist?

• 08:29 [kLONDIKE69 NONE] Can we see asteroid belts around other stars?

• 09:04 [Tim G] My position on Planet 9/X

• 10:07 [Kasie Ream] Can Betelgeuse explosion be just a flop?

• 11:51 [Mufasa Putasa] What have we learned from gravitational waves so far?

• 13:54 [Eric D. Wade] What happened to the BEAM module?

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Terraforming Mars is usually considered in the realm of science fiction. But actually we have technology to start doing it in our lifetime and achieve some meaningful results it a timescale of tens of years, not thousands. What are they? Finding out in this interview.

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🟣 Guest: Dr. Erika Alden DeBenedictis

https://www.erikadebenedictis.com/

📜 The Case for Mars Terraforming Research

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-025-02548-0

• 00:00 Intro

• 01:34 Why Mars sucks

• 02:23 Old ideas to terraform Mars

• 11:00 New technologies

• 31:52 Timescales

• 37:00 Ethical consequences

• 46:39 Current obsessions

• 53:39 Final thoughts

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Jupiter could have been twice as big in the past, the challenges of landing on the Moon, the record for the farthest galaxy has been broken. And in our Patreon edition, how the location of gas plays a role in star formation.

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👉 Vote for the best story here:

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• 00:00 Intro

• 00:19 Jupiter was 2 times bigger
  
  

  • https://www.universetoday.com/articles/new-study-suggests-that-jupiter-was-once-twice-as-big-as-it-is-today

• 02:05 Moon landing pads
  
  

  • https://www.universetoday.com/articles/lunar-landing-pads-will-need-to-be-tough

• 03:41 Moon catching device
  
  

  • https://www.universetoday.com/articles/building-a-giant-catchers-mitt-on-the-moon

• 05:59 The world isn't ready for a big solar storm
  
  

  • https://www.universetoday.com/articles/is-the-world-ready-for-a-catastrophic-solar-storm

• 08:45 New record for JWST
  
  

  • https://www.universetoday.com/articles/the-new-farthest-galaxy-has-been-found-by-webb-only-280-million-years-after-the-big-bang

• 10:54 The mystery of little red dots deepens
  
  

  • https://www.universetoday.com/articles/the-deepening-mystery-around-the-jwsts-early-galaxies

• 12:42 Vote results

• 13:17 Habitable moons of Jupiter
  
  

  • https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnras/staf794/8137882?rss=1

• 14:57 Terraforming Mars
  
  

  • https://www.universetoday.com/articles/terraforming-mars-could-be-within-reach

• 17:34 Guide to Space

• 18:21 [Space Bites+] bonus story

• 18:31 Dangers from space

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When did humans first think of aliens? Why is Oort cloud a sphere when the Solar System is a disk? Which space image is my favourite? And in our Q&A+ on patreon, is search for life only limited to looking for water? Answering all these questions and more in this Q&A show.

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00:00 Start

00:30 [Paige Potter] When did humans first think of aliens?

03:24 [Paul_in_Tucson] Why is Oort cloud a sphere while Solar System is a disk?

06:51 [Walter Hartman] Are dark matter and dark energy 100% real?

11:33 [Scotty-Too-Hottie] How long before our Sun turns into a red giant?

13:34 [Heya Sasha] My favourite space image

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Which space mission would I save from cancellation if I could? Is fighting space junk with lasers a good idea or not? What if we find asteroids that have already been mined? And in our Q&A+ on patreon, how do we measure masses of black holes ? Answering all these questions and more in this Q&A show.

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00:00 Start

00:28 [AshStar] Which mission would I save from cancellation?

05:54 [Fearthelettuce] Why missions last longer than their projected lifespan?

09:38 [Briar Patch] Lasers vs space junk. Good or bad?

12:55 [Marie la Misérable] Adblocks with our videos?

13:31 [MikeD] What if asteroids have already been mined?

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So far we couldn't find liquid water on Mars. But there are still places where it can hide from us. One of them is pockets under the ice. How can it exist there and which possible ways do we have to detect it? Finding out in this interview.

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🟣 Guest: Dr. Aditya Khuller

https://apl.uw.edu/people/profile.php?last_name=Khuller&first_name=Aditya

00:00 Intro

01:51 Liquid water on Mars

08:16 Habitability

11:57 Where on Mars could liquid water be?

17:34 How can we detect liquid water

29:52 Current obsessions

32:49 Final thoughts and more interviews

📺 VIDEO VERSION

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ESA’s PLATO mission gets its eyes installed, Webb finds water ice in another star system, could it be dark matter and not dark energy that’s evolving over time? And in our longer [Space Bites+] on Patreon, researchers have found that hardy bacteria are evolving to thrive in spacecraft clean rooms.

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00:00 Intro

00:20 Plato gets its eyes

https://www.universetoday.com/articles/the-plato-mission-just-got-dozens-of-cameras-installed

02:05 Cubesat telescope

https://www.universetoday.com/articles/a-cubesat-to-capture-a-supernovas-uv-spectrum

04:14 Water ice in another star system

https://www.universetoday.com/articles/water-ice-found-in-another-star-system

06:34 Evolving Dark Matter

https://www.universetoday.com/articles/could-dark-matter-be-evolving-over-time-and-not-dark-energy

09:13 Vote results

https://www.youtube.com/@frasercain/community

09:55 Everything evaporates with Hawking radiation

https://www.universetoday.com/articles/everything-in-the-universe-could-decay-from-hawking-radiation

11:25 Venus tectonics

https://www.universetoday.com/articles/venus-might-have-tectonic-activity-after-all

13:25 Auroras on Jupiter

https://www.universetoday.com/articles/webb-watches-auroras-dance-in-jupiters-atmosphere

15:23 More space news in Guide to Space

16:13 [Space Bites+] bonus story

16:28 Patreon Q&A

📺 VIDEO VERSION

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Our current tech doesn't allow us to block light from Sun-like stars to see Earth-like planets. The brightness difference is just too high. One of the ways we can achieve it is with quantum coronagraphs. What are they and how do they work? Finding out in this interview.

👉 [Interview+] Bonus Part. No YT ads. FREE

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🟣 Guest: Nico Deshler

https://github.com/NicoDeshler

📜 Experimental Demonstration of a Quantum-Optimal Coronagraph Using Spatial Mode Sorters

https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.12776

00:00 Intro

02:26 What is a quantum coronagraph

10:39 How to make one

19:20 How can a quantum coronagraph be used

22:02 Applications for ground-based telescopes

27:48 What's next?

34:14 Current obsessions

38:54 Final thoughts

📺 VIDEO VERSION

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Why risk sending big space missions instead of swarms of cubesats? Can NASA protect future Mars astronauts from radiation with EM-rockets? How close are we to discovering our first exomoon? And in our Q&A+ version, which sci-fi tech is the closest to becoming a reality? Answering all that and more in this Q&A show.

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🚀 [Overtime] Even more Q&As

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00:00 Start

00:31 [Ramon Martinez] How will NASA protect astronauts from radiation on Mars?

02:01 [First Ninja] Why launch space missions instead of swarms of cubesats?

05:07 [J Bell] Is it normal to be not interested in life beyond Earth?

08:23 [Xander Schnoebbe] How close are we to discovering exomoons?

10:05 [Jamie Doe] Can we combine a Solar Gravitational Lens and an interferometer?

10:59 [Mandahl] Visible light interferometers on Earth

13:01 [Christopher “Fiss” Brummet] Will CSA/ASC step up after NASA budget cuts?

14:44 [Web Fiji] If we go through space, will we inevitably hit something?

15:31 [Silas Miller] Is the Sun made of the same elements as the planets?

📺 VIDEO VERSION

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