Universe Today Podcasts With Fraser Cain

NASA just funded a NIAC project to study the possibility of building large structures on the Moon, on Mars and in space out of glass. Blowing glass bubbles similarly to how it's done on Earth.

Will space debris prevent us from accessing orbit and when could it happen? Is the Universe with all its rules just a lucky accident? What does "The Publisher of Universe Today" even do? Answering all these questions and more in this Q&A show.

Venus has a thick layer of clouds that obscures our view of the surface. To tackle that, this NIAC project suggests launching a balloon with a tether that will go below the cloud layer and help us image Venus surface.

A new asteroid with a 1% chance of hitting Earth in 2032, the European Space Agency is building a Lunar Lander platform, the largest structure in the Universe has been discovered, and how far away could we detect ourselves?

Who will get sample from Mars first? Who controls the James Webb Space Telescope? Does space radiation rule out panspermia? Answering all these questions and more in this Q&A show.

We all want to see potentially habitable exoplanets around Sun-like stars. But to do that you need a starshade. Something to cover the star and reveal the faint planets around it. What can we build these structures from to make them rigid and strong enough? Finding out in this interview.

Why are most craters circular, no matter which angle the meteor falls? Is there a size limit for a telescope before diminishing returns take place? Can black holes have atmospheres? Answering all these questions and more in this Q&A show.

Space Docks are everywhere in science fiction. It's the most logical way to build big constructions in space. So, NASA funded a futuristic project that studies the possibility of assembling structures in space.

The MOXIE experiment on the Perseverance rover showed that creating oxygen on other planets is possible. Now, we can apply the same logic to Venus. This could allow the creation of constantly floating balloons, leading to cloud cities in the future.

Venus is closer than Mars. It's more Earth-like. We can bring back samples from it. But it's chronically underexlored. This is why we need a Venus Exploration Program!

The building blocks of life have been found in asteroid samples, the most volcanic activity ever seen on Io, astronauts are searching for bacteria on the outside of the space station, and Ingenuity found surprisingly fast wind speeds on Mars.

How big can a space crowbar be? Why does the Sun look bigger near the horizon? How do we measure temperature on the Moon? Answering all these questions and more in this Q&A show.

NASA is launching a new telescope this year called Pandora. It'll be specifically inspecting atmospheres of exoplanets. It even uses spare parts from JWST. Learning more about the Pandora telescope in this interview.

Did we find ore veins on Moon or Mars? Can we see astronomical objects in 3D? Can we catch a ride on a comet? How will the internet work on Mars? Answering all these questions and more in this Q&A.

What's going on with the TRAPPIST-1 system? Did James Webb find atmospheres or not? Do any of the planets have a chance to be habitable? When should we expect more information? Answering all these questions in this interview.

What happened to Starship during test flight 7? Astronomers see a black hole’s jets forming in real-time. Curiosity finds ripples of an ancient shore, and an insanely high-resolution image of Andromeda captured by Hubble.

How does JWST stay in L2 and not drift away? What is the wait calculation for Alpha Centauri? How can we use Jupiter's Lagrange points? Answering all these questions and more in this Q&A show.

To look for lifer in space we need to understand it. What fundamental boundaries does it have? What limits are imposed on life? Finding out in this interview.

Did we already contaminate Mars with life from Earth? When will we find the first intergalactic object? How do we know dark matter is in the center of the Milky Way? Answering all these questions and more in this Q&A show.

We're used to look for life on exoplanets. But what if we're looking in the wrong place? Can life exist without a planet? Finding out in this interview.