Universe Today Podcast

BONUS STORY STARTS AT 19:40
Watch here (with no ads) or on YouTube https://youtu.be/rV0bRCA2cSs
🔵 Vote for the best story here: https://www.youtube.com/@frasercain/posts
Interviews mentioned:
👉 Interview with Dr Matt Weller https://youtu.be/R18W6VVZMhc?si=RasWhg-Y9sfKvXys
👉 Interview with Dr Paul Byrne https://youtu.be/VXuhaJu-GNM?si=A-lFy8XUQHJLqvL-
Venus might not be completely dead. Evidence of liquid flowing on the surface of Pluto. Can primordial black holes cause supernova? And on Space Bites Plus, what happened to Neptune's rings and moons when Triton showed up?
00:00 Intro

00:18 Three Worlds Not One https://www.universetoday.com/articles/the-asteroid-that-may-be-three-worlds

02:22 Venus Isn’t Dead https://www.universetoday.com/articles/venus-isnt-dead-after-all

06:04 Liquid on Pluto https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/science-news/2026/08/05/nasas-new-horizons-finds-evidence-of-recent-liquid-on-plutos-surface/

07:47 Charon Was Spinning Much Faster https://www.universetoday.com/articles/charons-mountains-reveal-moon-once-spun-10x-faster

09:00 Primordial Black Holes and Supernovae https://www.universetoday.com/articles/primordial-black-holes-can-trigger-type-ia-supernovae-and-astronomers-should-be-able-to-find-them

12:05 SpaceX Slams a Rocket Into The Moon https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2085121782315446613

13:53 Vote results https://www.youtube.com/@frasercain/posts

14:48 Voyager 2 Avoids Shutting Down More Instruments https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-engineers-help-prolong-voyager-2s-science-mission/

17:05 Quick Update on New Glenn https://x.com/davill/status/2085074404627915059

18:07 Rescuing the Rescuer https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/08/heres-how-engineers-plan-to-save-the-satellite-sent-to-save-nasas-swift-mission/

19:40 Bonus story https://www.universetoday.com/articles/smashed-ice-worlds-formed-neptunes-inner-moons-and-rings

20:50 Hank Green's AI controversy

BONUS QUESTION STARTS AT 13:26
Watch the video here (with no ads) or on YouTube: https://youtu.be/2lopY61vhgc
Channels mentioned:
 @filmjoy 

 @WeirdExplorer 

Are primordial gravitational waves still coming to us? How big would a 30 billion Sun mass black hole be? Do photons start experiencing time when slowed down in a medium? And in Q&A+, can any particle pop up into existence any time anywhere?
00:00 Intro

00:27 [@vistotutti6037] Are primordial gravitational waves still going?

04:25 [@AriasThirdOfHisName] Thoughts on charged black holes?

06:45 [@KnownUnknown-i8r] How large is a 30 billion solar mass black hole?

08:04 [@hangmann747tinmann8] Does a photon experience time when it's slowed down in a medium?

09:18 [@oldtimer2662] Is Andromeda traveling towards us or are we traveling towards it?

10:35 [@EpicQuestBio] Has anyone considered using railgun to launch ultra-high-aspect ablation-shieled microgram payloads to escape velocity from their backyard?

13:26 [@yonatan62] Is there a chance that any particle can pop into existence anywhere at any time?

17:29 Final thoughts

BONUS PART STARTS AT 30:33
Watch here (with no ads) or on YouTube: https://youtu.be/bbJ3I37yS4o
🟣 Guest: Dr. Austin Phoenix https://nationalsecurity.vt.edu/personnel-directory/phoenix-austin.html
📜 ECLIPSE – Efficient variable Conductivity Lunar Insulator for Passive Surveyor Environmental control https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/niac/eclipse-efficient-variable-conductivity-lunar-insulator-for-passive-surveyor-environmental-control/
👉 All 2026 NIAC Selections https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/niac/niac-studies/niac-2026-selections/
The Moon is brutal. It's super hot during the day and super cold during the night. Most landers and rovers can't survive that swing. So, how do you mitigate it? One of this year's NIAC projects has a potential solution.
00:00 Intro

01:04 Why is the Moon so terrible?

04:56 Mitigation strategies

30:33 Bistable booms https://arxiv.org/pdf/2605.13818

37:26 Current obsessions

45:03 Final thoughts

BONUS QUESTION STARTS AT 12:55
Watch the video here (with no ads) or on YouTube: https://youtu.be/5JbQSmK6ZyY
Will private companies take over the ISS? Which sci-fi stories need to be written? What's the state of Canadian rocket market? And in Q&A+, a quick rundown of all my telescopes.
00:00 Intro

00:25 [@D.S.8197] Will private companies replace the ISS?

05:51 [@kairon156] Which SciFi stories I would like to see written?

09:16 [@melantorja] Thoughts on Canadian rocket companies

11:32 [@Matthew...1979] How do we see Proxima Centauri?

12:55 [@raelcohen] Which telescopes do I own?

18:17 Gaming hand-helds

BONUS QUESTION STARTS AT 13:36
Watch the video here (with no ads) or on YouTube: https://youtu.be/7016OzflTww
Does the Fermi paradox make any sense? How can we talk about life out there if all the exoplanets are just single pixels or worse? Is it all just nonsense? And in Q&A, what was my favourite part of the Artemis 2 mission?
00:00 Intro

00:25 [@frankshifreen] What's the point of searching for life with our primitive instruments

13:36 [@ConspiracyTheoryEnthusiast] My favorite part of the Artemis 2 mission?

19:33 Summer media