2 Tales of 2 decades: Rubin Observatory and SpaceX Starship
EVSN: Escape Velocity Space News
Join us as we look at two parallel stories - the development of the Vera Rubin Observatory and the SpaceX Starship rocket. Both projects are 20 years in the making, and both were supposed to start work in 2019. Both hit new milestones in June, and it's time to review their very different progress. Also included in this episode: Tales from the launch pad.
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When the Universe Attacks
EVSN: Escape Velocity Space News
In this episode we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Fermi Paradox by looking at a bunch of science capable of preventing and destroying civilizations. We also review our latest not-so-great attempts to land on the moon and launch a rocket that (if it worked) could carry us to Mars.
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Happy Space News! Aurorae, Planet 9, and weird things that make us say "it's not aliens"
EVSN: Escape Velocity Space News
This week, we take a closer look at the weirdly twisty search for a possible planet in our outer solar system. We'll also take in the happy science of aurorae here, at Jupiter, and over Neptune, as well as a bunch of weird discoveries that has some people screaming "It's Aliens!" (it's not aliens).
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A failing look at Earth, a first look at other worlds, and more
EVSN: Escape Velocity Space News
In this week’s closer look we are going to look at the earth-facing missions that are getting dragged down by our atmosphere and will be forcibly retired by physics in the next few years, again with no replacements in the works. These missions allow us to do long term monitoring of our planet, its atmosphere, and the variables that help us understand everything from weather to climate change. We also look at cool new exoplanet discoveries, the beautiful death of a star, and tales from the launch pad.
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Federal Budget Cuts: An extinction-level event
EVSN: Escape Velocity Space News
This week we look at how the elimination of science programs, projects, datasets, and funding may be shaping into an extinction-level event for US Space-related sciences. Come cry with us.
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From the beginning of the universe to the beginning of spring, it's all science
EVSN: Escape Velocity Space News
Let's take a fast-paced journey through all that's new in space and astronomy, including dark energy news, the death of supersymmetry, a closer look at remoting sensing in Earth science, and tales from the launch pad.
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Space is hard: IM2 Failure, Starship 8 explosion, Mars Sample Return delays, and more
EVSN: Escape Velocity Space News
Let's take a fast-paced journey through all that's new in space and astronomy, including new results from Perseverance Rover, Venusian Volcanism, Mars Sample Return (or not), Intuitive Machines' failure to land upright, Firefly Aerospace's amazing success with Blue Ghost, and tales from the launch pad.
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The Book of Mars, Star Formation, and More
EVSN: Escape Velocity Space News
Let's take a fast-paced journey thru all that's new in space and astronomy, including DESI takes a census of central blackholes, star formation in clusters, and updates on Europa Clipper, along with a deep dive into Mars science, and tales from the launch pad.
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Temperatures That Kill
EVSN: Escape Velocity Space News
Let's take a fast-paced journey thru all that's new in space and astronomy, including a potentially killer asteroid, a new look at the history of Earth's water, and a mini-quasi-moon, along with a deep dive into climate change, and tales from the launch pad.
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Space stories of joy
EVSN: Escape Velocity Space News
It's the kind of week where we feel the need to put joy into the world, and we've made the decision to just find stories to bring a smile and share them with you. And also rockets, we're bringing you all the rocket news.
info_outlineThere are some news cycles that are just plain weird, and this news cycle tried really, really hard to be one of them. Headlines last week highlighted that JWST observed methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet, which is entirely true. This headline was followed by stories that the reason could be aliens… and there is not enough data to be aliens. We want there to be definitive signs of life on other worlds. We want to know that life is common. We want the universe to thrive with societies capable of art, exploration, empathy, and science. We want our universe to not be a tremendous waste of space. And it is really frustrating to see these stories that inevitably imply that researchers are trying to cover up the truth. We’re not; we’re impatiently waiting for there to be enough evidence that we can say, yes, there is life out there among the stars. And that evidence isn’t here. (This episode was originally released on YouTube September 27, 2023.)