Cosmic Queries – LIGO, Light, & Lycanthropy
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What philosophical questions does the episode explore?
Nagin, this round had a lot of deep philosophy in it. Ooh, people got juicy. Juicy about time and space and dimensions.
And just things that don't exist and maybe never will, or will they?
All that and more coming up on StarTalk's Cosmic Queries. The Grab Bag. Welcome to StarTalk. Your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide. StarTalk begins right now. This is StarTalk. We're going to do a Cosmic Queries grab bag edition. And today I've got with me as my co-host, Nagim Farsad. Nagim. Hello.
Welcome back. Oh my God. So excited to be here. So excited to launch myself into space. Yes.
Yes. And you've got all the questions from our Patreon supporters. Yes.
Oh, by the way, just reading through these questions, I have to say, I feel so much better about humanity. There are some extraordinarily smart people out there. You don't get this, you don't know that in your regular life.
So you're saying I'm biased into thinking the world is smarter than it actually is because of our fan base.
Because these are not the kinds of things I get from my fans.
Just so we're clear. Maybe there'll be some spillage over. So what's your podcast is?
My podcast is called Fake the Nation. You can also hear me on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.
Yes, we all love Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, NPR.
I feel like there's probably a big crossover.
I've only ever heard that on the radio, but it sounds like it's live.
That's right. We tape in Chicago usually and other cities around the country.
In an actual auditorium.
In a huge auditorium with 800 people, and it's a really good time. I highly recommend a live taping if you haven't been to one.
Yeah, so I think I've been on them once or twice. Yeah. It was very hard. They asked me hard questions I couldn't feel.
Because the questions were so dumb, you couldn't believe that they were happening.
That's why I did. Thank you for stroking my ego there. That's right. That's right. So I haven't seen the question. Well, let's get into it. So I don't know what it is.
Well, I'm going to start with a question from Nathan Sproul. Nathan writes, Dr. Tyson, could we launch microsatellites as relay points between larger space spacecraft on long distance missions, effectively creating a network like a cosmic hyperlink? Would the main spacecraft release these microsatellites directly, or would we need a separate deployment system to keep them spaced out over the journey? And what would be the biggest challenges, like keeping them aligned or dealing with the signal delay?
So, see, that's a great thought. Yeah. This is a person imagining a future where the solar system is our backyard, or it's an extension of civilization into the solar system or beyond. And what I would ask is, what is the point of having a relay station if instead I could just beam my signal straight to Earth? Why do I have to go off of your relay station? Unless your relay station boosts the signal, that could happen.
Like it gives us better pathways of communication strength to something super far away.
Yeah, but I'm saying that there's the straight way, which is just my own beam of radio waves. But if it goes to you and you want to boost it, you need a source of energy to do that.
What if there's like a planet in between you, your signal, your being?
If I'm blocked.
Yeah.
Space is so empty. This is not your concern. It's like not happening, okay. And even if a planet is there, it's in motion. Right. Okay.
Right.
Like, so imagine you say, oh, I wanna go sunbathing. Oh, darn, there's a total solar eclipse. What am I gonna do? Wait four minutes, okay? Because the moon orbits Earth, and it's not gonna be blocking the sun the whole time. So, blockage. does not tend to be a problem in the vastness of space. But here is what we do need such places for. Okay. If you're going at a very long distance and you need fuel.
Like long distance like Mars or something.
No, no, even farther. Okay. Or let's take a simple case. I don't want to get to Mars in nine months. I want to get to Mars in a week.
Okay.
There's a way to do that. We always say, how far away is it?
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