Universe Today Podcast
Space news, interviews, Q&As, and exclusive content from Universe Today.
Audio versions of Fraser Cain YouTube channel.
- Update frequency
- every day
- Average duration
- 27 minutes
- Episodes
- 1405
- Years Active
- 2014 - 2025
Episode 405: 344: What Are the Limits of Science? A Conversation with Dr. Paul Sutter
During our Iceland adventure, I had a chance to sit down with Dr. Paul Sutter and talk about the limits of science. Why a better version of the Planck Mission can't tell us anything else about the co…
Episode 404: QA 47: Starter Telescope Advice and More. Featuring Dr. Alan Stern from New Horizons
In this week's question show, I explain why I'm happy to answer questions, what first telescope people should get, and if we've ever seen a black hole ever. Also, stick around to the end, where Dr. A…
Episode 403: 343: NASA Wants To Bring A Chunk Of Comet Back To Earth.
NASA is going to decide between a comet sample return mission or a helicopter on Titan. Which mission should it be?
Episode 402: QA 46 - Why Doesn't NASA Cancel SLS? And more... Featuring Emma Osborne
In this week's QA, I answer the several related questions about why NASA doesn't just cancel the Space Launch System and give all their money to SpaceX. With special guest answerer Emma Osborne.
Episode 401: 342: What Has The Curiosity Rover Discovered?
NASA’s Curiosity Rover has been exploring the surface of Mars for over 5 years now. What has it turned up?
Episode 400: QA 45: Solving Mysteries At The Speed Of Light? And more... Featuring Dr. Paul Sutter
In this QA from Iceland, astrophysicist Dr. Paul Sutter steps in to tackle some of the more complicated cosmology and physics based questions from the audience. Did the Big Bang create the matter of …
Episode 399: 341: The Rocket Engines Carrying Us to Space. The SLS RS-25 (aka The Space Shuttle Main Engine)
There are few rockets more iconic than the RS-25, also known as the Space Shuttle main engine. Even though it’s been around in some form since the 1970s, it’s been improved and upgraded several times…
Episode 398: QA 44: Am I Ruining Sci-Fi? and more
In this week's questions show, I talk about being wrong, why I'm such a buzz kill to sci-fi, and what I'd launch on a Falcon Heavy.
Episode 397: 340: What Is The Flyby Anomaly? Why Spacecraft Aren't Where They're Supposed to Be
You might have heard of the recently solved Pioneer anomaly. But what about the flyby anomaly? The unexpected velocity change that happens during gravitational slingshots.
Episode 396: QA 43: Will New Telescopes Challenge The Big Bang and More...
In this week's questions show, Fraser is excited to see the southern hemisphere night sky, considers how the next generation of telescopes will change our understanding of the Big Bang, and suggests …
Episode 395: 339 - What'll It Take to Find Life? Searching the Universe for Biosignatures
When astronomers scan the atmospheres of other worlds, they’ll be looking for gases to confirm that yes, indeed, there’s life there. It turns out, this is actually pretty tough.
Episode 394: QA 42: Where Can You Escape Time Dilation? And More...
In this week's questions show, Fraser wonders where you'd have to go in the Universe to minimize your time dilation, how to see Iridium Flares, how interferometry works, and more.
Episode 393: 338 - Which Are The Real Photos of Spacecraft?
When we see images of space, it’s hard to know which are real images and which are artist illustrations.
Episode 392: QA 41: Will We Ever Clear That Space Junk? and more...
In this week's questions show, Fraser wonders how we're ever going to clear all that space junk orbiting Earth, whether it's better to colonize Mars or Mercury, and can water worlds explain the Fermi…
Episode 391: 337 - Life Beneath the Ice
Forget rocky worlds like Earth and Mars. New discoveries about icy worlds like Europa and Enceladus make them the ideal candidates for the search for life in the Universe. In fact there could be hund…
Episode 390: 336 - What Do We Do With Dead Spacecraft
We try to avoid thinking about it, but spacecraft are machines that break down and eventually fail. Some can last for years, others decades, but in the end they’ll be gone forever.
Episode 389: QA 40: When Will the Big Rip Happen and more...
In this QA episode, Fraser wonders when the Big Rip might happen, could there be binary galaxies, what it would be like to live in higher gravity.
Episode 388: 335 - Why Did Mars Lose Its Atmosphere?
Mars is in the spotlight now, as both SpaceX and NASA are preparing their long range plans to send humans to the Red Planet. But Mars is an inhospitable environment, especially because of its tenuous…
Episode 387: 334 - Interstellar Asteroid
On October 25, 2017, astronomers from NASA’s Minor Planet Center sent out an announcement that they needed help confirming the trajectory of an interesting object.
Episode 386: QA 39: Galactic Escape Velocity and More... Featuring Astronaut Terry Virts
In this week’s question show, Fraser explains why almost everything in the Solar System is spinning in the same direction, is there a limit to how massive black holes can get, and do galaxies have an…