Are We Living in a Simulation? Physics Says No | Asteroid Buzzes Earth TODAY | Starship V3 Tomorrow

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Anna: Right now, as you listen to this, a chunk of

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space rock the size of a blue whale is

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hurtling past Earth at, uh, 20,000 miles per

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hour,

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Avery: closer than some of our own satellites. And

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nobody knew it existed eight days ago.

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Anna: Plus tomorrow, the most powerful

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rocket ever built takes its biggest leap

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forward yet.

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Avery: And later today, we find out whether the

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entire universe might just be a very

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elaborate computer program.

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Probably not.

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Anna: Bizik says. Definitely not. That

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conversation is coming. You're listening to

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Astronomy Daily.

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Avery: I can hear the discussion starting now.

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Anna: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily, your

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daily guide to what's happening in space and

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the science behind it. I'm Anna.

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Avery: And I'm, um, Avery. It is Monday, the

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18th of May, 2026, and we

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have a seriously packed episode for you

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today.

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Anna: We've got the asteroid that's buzzing our

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planet right now, the Starship

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V3 launch that's just hours away.

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And NASA's Psyche spacecraft, fresh

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off a stunning, uh, Mars flyby.

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Avery: Plus new science arriving at the space

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station, a fascinating physics challenge to

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one of the Internet's favorite thought

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experiments, and the latest chapter in the

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battle over NASA's future funding.

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Anna: Let's get into it.

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Avery: We're starting with something that is

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happening literally right now, today.

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As you listen to this, a newly discovered

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asteroid called 2026 JH AH2

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is making a close pass of Earth.

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Anna: And when we say close, we mean genuinely

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close. This space rock is coming within about

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90,000 kilometers of our planet. To

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put that in perspective, the moon is roughly

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380,000 kilometers away.

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We're talking about less than a quarter of

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the lunar distance.

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Avery: Now, before anyone starts worrying,

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astronomers have confirmed there is

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absolutely zero chance of impact, but the

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proximity is remarkable. It's actually closer

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than many of the satellites we rely on every

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day.

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Anna: What makes this even more striking is the

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timeline. 2026 JH2 was

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only first spotted on 10 May. Just

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eight days ago. It went from discovery to

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closest approach in under a fortnight.

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Avery: So how big is this thing? Estimates put it

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somewhere around 35 meters across at

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most, roughly the length of a blue whale,

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which is the comparison everyone's been

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running with. And honestly, it's a pretty

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vivid one at that size.

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Anna: Even if it were headed our way, which, again,

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it is not, it would most likely burn up in

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the atmosphere before causing any real

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surface damage. NASA's general rule of

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thumb is that objects under about 25 meters

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usually disintegrate on entry.

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Avery: But this one is right at that interesting

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threshold. And the close pass is actually

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fantastic for science Observatories around

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the world have been tracking it. The Virtual

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Telescope project is running a livestream

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today, so you can watch it in real time if

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you're near a computer.

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Anna: At its closest approach, 2026

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JH2 is expected to reach a brightness of

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around magnitude 11.5, which means

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it's just within reach of decent amateur

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binoculars if you know exactly where to look.

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The orbit is a looping ellipse that takes it

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between Earth and Jupiter, swinging around

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The sun every 3.7 years.

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Avery: It's a good reminder of just how dynamic the

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neighborhood is and how much we're still

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finding out there.

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Anna: Absolutely, the sky is never boring.

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Avery: Now to a story that has the entire space

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community watching. SpaceX is targeting

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tomorrow, Tuesday the 19th of May, for the

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debut launch of Starship version 3. This

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is flight 12 for the Starship program, and it

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is a genuinely major milestone.

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Anna: So just how different is V3 from what we've

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seen? Because SpaceX has been using the word

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sweeping a lot, and in this case, I think

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it's earned.

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Avery: It really is. Let's go through the

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highlights. The super heavy booster has been

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redesigned with three grid fins instead of

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four, but each one is 50% larger and

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significantly stronger. They've also been

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repositioned lower on the booster to reduce

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heat exposure during the hot staging burn.

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Anna: And the engines themselves. These are Raptor

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3 engines. Now, the sea level variants are

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producing 250 tons of force, up from

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230. The vacuum variants are even more

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impressive. And the engines have shed about

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100kg each, with sensors and

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controllers now integrated internally.

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Avery: What SpaceX says about all of this is that

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the changes together, the new booster design,

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the new engines, the new pad, the new upper

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stage improvements are intended to unlock the

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vehicle's core functions. Full and

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rapid reuse in space, propellant

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transfer, starlink deployment, and

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eventually sending people and cargo to the

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moon and Mars.

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Anna: This flight is also the first launch from pad

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two, which is the updated launch

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infrastructure. And notably, SpaceX

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will not be attempting to catch the booster

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back at the tower this time. Given how many

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new systems are being tested, they're opting

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for a, uh, controlled splashdown in the Gulf

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of Mexico, or if you prefer, the Gulf of

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America.

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Avery: Instead, the upper stage ship 39

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will continue on a suborbital path and splash

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down in the Indian Ocean about 65 minutes

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after launch. Among its test objectives,

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deploying 22 Starlink simulator

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satellites, a Raptor engine relight in

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space, and heat shield assessments, including

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some intentionally painted white tiles for

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imaging the

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Anna: launch window opens at 6:30pm Eastern

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Time. That's on the 19th. That's early

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morning Wednesday for Australian listeners.

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We'll have full coverage in tomorrow's

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episode. Worth staying up for honestly, or

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setting an alarm?

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Avery: This is the rocket that's going to take

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people to the moon under Artemis 3.

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Tomorrow's test matters enormously.

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Anna: Let's check in with one of our favorite

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spacecraft on a very long journey. NASA

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Psyche probe has just completed a critical

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gravity assist maneuver at Mars and the

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results are in. It went perfectly.

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Avery: On May 15th. At around 3:28

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in the afternoon Eastern time, Psyche

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reached its closest point to Mars. Just

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4,500 kilometers above the surface.

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It was traveling over 12,000 miles per

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hour relative to the planet.

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Anna: To put that proximity in perspective, Psyche

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flew closer to Mars than either of its two

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moons, Phobos and Deimos. It threaded right

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through the inner Martian neighborhood.

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Avery: And why does this matter so much? The entire

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six year mission trajectory was designed

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around this single gravitational exchange.

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Mars orbital velocity did something the

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spacecraft's ion thruster simply couldn't do

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alone. It tilted Psyche's orbital plane

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and boosted it towards the main asteroid belt

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where its target, the metal asteroid 16

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Psyche, is waiting.

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Anna: Mission controllers confirmed the success by

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monitoring the Doppler shift in Psyche's

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radio signals. Changes in frequency that

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revealed changes in speed. Everything matched

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the predictions precisely.

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Avery: The spacecraft was also busy doing science.

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During the flyby, the team used Psyche's

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multispectral imager to gather thousands of

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observations of Mars, their first real

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calibration opportunity with something larger

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than a few pixels. Those images will be

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processed in the coming weeks.

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Anna: There was also a watch for a faint dusty ring

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thought to orbit Mars, produced by tiny

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micrometeorite impacts on Phobos and Deimos.

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We'll be watching for those results.

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Avery: Psyche is now on a direct confirmed

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course for arrival at 16 Psyche in

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July 2029. The asteroid is

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thought to be an ancient planetary core

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stripped of its rocky outer layers by

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billions of years of coll. Giving us a rare

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window into what the interior of a rocky

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planet actually looks like. It's going to be

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extraordinary.

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Anna: Three years and counting. Great to see it on

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track. And it's time now for a quick sponsor

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would say. Check out the link in the show

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notes for the details.

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Avery: Alright, back to today's space and astronomy

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news. Closer to home than our last story, or

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at least closer to Earth's orbit.

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SpaceX's CRS 34 Dragon cargo

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capsule docked successfully at the

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International Space Station Yesterday

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morning, Sunday the 17th of May.

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Anna: This was the 34th Dragon mission under

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NASA's Commercial Resupply Contract and it

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delivered nearly 6,500 pounds of science

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equipment and supplies to the Expedition

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74 crew.

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Avery: The Dragon docked autonomously to the Harmony

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Module's forward port at, uh, just after

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6:30 in the morning Eastern, with NASA

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astronaut Jack Hathaway and ESA astronaut

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Sophie Adenot monitoring the arrival from the

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cupola.

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Anna: So what's in the cargo hold? Science wise,

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there are some genuinely interesting

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experiments. One project looks at how well

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Earth based microgravity simulators actually

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replicate conditions in space, important

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for developing experiments before we launch

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them.

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Avery: There's also a bone scaffold made from wood.

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Yes, wood that researchers hope could lead

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to new treatments for fragile bone conditions

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like osteoporosis. The idea is that the

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natural porous structure of wood creates a

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useful scaffold for bone tissue regeneration

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in microgravity.

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Anna: And equipment to study how red blood cells

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and the spleen change during spaceflight,

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which is important for the longer missions

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we're planning. We know space does

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interesting and not always pleasant things to

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human physiology. The more we understand it,

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the better prepared we'll be.

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Avery: Dragon will stay attached to the station for

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about a month, then return to Earth in mid

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June, splashing down off the coast of

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California, bringing back time sensitive

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research results. It's worth remembering that

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Dragon is currently the only cargo ship that

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can bring significant mass back down from the

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station.

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Anna: Routine mission by the numbers, but the

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science inside is anything but routine.

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Avery: Now here's a question for you, Anna. Um, are

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we living in a simulation?

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Anna: I mean, I've definitely had moments where the

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algorithm seemed a little too on the nose,

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but I'm guessing you're about to tell me that

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physics has something to say about this.

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Avery: Physics has quite a lot to say, as it turns

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out. A new paper published in the Journal of

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Holography Applications in Physics, co

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authored by physicists Mir Faisal at AH UBC

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Okanagan and Lawrence Krauss. Yes,

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that Lawrence Krauss argues that the universe

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fundamentally cannot be simulated. Not

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it would be very hard to simulate. It cannot.

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Anna: That's a strong claim. What's the argument?

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Avery: It goes back to the foundations of

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mathematics. In the 1930s, the logician

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Kurt Godel proved something genuinely strange

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about formal that Any

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mathematical framework rich enough to include

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basic arithmetic will contain true

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statements that can never be proven from

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within that system. There are truths that are

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real but unreachable by proof.

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Anna: Which is already a bit of a mind bender on

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its own.

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Avery: It is. And Feisal and his co authors apply

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that same logic to quantum gravity, the

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long sought theory that would unite

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Einstein's general relativity with quantum

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mechanics. They argue that any such

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theory by its nature would need to

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satisfy the conditions that trigger Godel's

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incompleteness theorems, which means it would

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inevitably leave some physical truths out.

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Anna: So the universe contains facts that no

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algorithm can ever fully capture.

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Avery: Exactly. And, and here's where the simulation

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hypothesis comes in. Any simulation

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runs on algorithms. If reality is

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fundamentally non algorithmic, if truths

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built into the fabric of the universe that no

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computation can reproduce, then a simulation

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by definition could never be complete.

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It would always be missing something real.

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Anna: Lawrence Krauss puts it pretty starkly in the

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paper, doesn't he?

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Avery: He does. He says the fundamental laws of

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physics don't exist inside space and time,

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they create it. And any simulation would have

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to run within a computational framework,

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which means it could never express the true

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structure of reality. The laws would always

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be outside the box you're trying to put them

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in.

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Anna: There's also an interesting thread in the

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paper about consciousness, isn't there?

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Echoing Roger Penrose.

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Avery: Right. The authors do gesture toward the idea

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that human thought itself might be non

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algorithmic in some sense. That perhaps

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our ability to recognize certain truths goes

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beyond what formal computation can do.

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That part is more speculative, and the

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authors themselves flag it as such.

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Anna: So how solid is this as a debunking?

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It does feel like strong headline language

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for a theoretical paper.

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Avery: That's a fair point and worth flagging for

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our listeners. This is a theoretical

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argument, not an experimental result. The

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authors themselves acknowledge that no

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complete theory of quantum gravity even

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exists. Yet what they've shown is that if

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such a theory exists and has certain

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properties, which seems very likely, then it

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cannot be purely algorithmic, rhythmic.

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Anna: So it's less we've proven the universe

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isn't a simulation and more we've

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shown that the conditions for, uh, a complete

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simulation can never be met.

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Avery: In principle, that's probably the most

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accurate framing. Fiesel himself puts it

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beautifully. He says that understanding these

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limits doesn't end science, it gives it a new

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direction. Nature, he says, is larger than

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any equation.

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Anna: I love that. And honestly, whether or not the

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simulation hypothesis is your thing, the

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underlying ideas could Goddell's

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incompleteness, the limits of formal systems,

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what it even means for something to be true

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in physics. That's genuinely fascinating

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territory.

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Avery: Drop your thoughts on this one in the

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comments. We have a feeling people will have

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opinions.

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Anna: And finally, back to the ongoing Saga of, uh,

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NASA's budget. If you've been following this

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story, the headline is Congress has done it

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again.

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Avery: The White House's proposed budget for fiscal

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year 2027 asked for $18.8

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billion for NASA, a 23%

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cut from current funding. The House

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Appropriations Committee has now responded by

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approving 24.4 billion instead,

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the same level as FY2026.

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Anna: This is essentially an exact replay of what

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happened last year when the administration

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proposed similarly deep cuts and Congress

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rejected them.

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Avery: The proposed cuts would have been

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particularly severe for NASA's science

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dimensional, facing a, uh, 46%

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reduction that the Planetary Society

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described as. And um, I'm paraphrasing here,

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an extinction level event for space Science.

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More than 50 missions could have been

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terminated.

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Anna: Congress, though, seems to have a different

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view. The House bill specifically protects

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science funding, mandates continued support

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for the Habitable Worlds Observatory and

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pushes back on the proposed elimination of

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NASA's STEM education office, which received

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bipartisan criticism across the aisle.

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Avery: Now, to be clear, this is the House

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appropriations markup. It still needs to go

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through the Senate and ultimately be

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reconciled and signed into law. And so this

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is a positive signal, not a done deal.

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Anna: But it does suggest that the political

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Appetite to gut NASA's science programs is

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not there, at least in Congress. Human

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exploration, Artemis Moon missions, the

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Mars trajectory has strong support on both

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sides. The science programs appear to have

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strong support as well.

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Avery: Well, keep watching this one. The decisions

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made in the next few months will shape the

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scientific agenda for the rest of this

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decade.

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Anna: Before we go, a uh, quick look up at the sky

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because tonight is genuinely worth stepping

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outside for.

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Avery: Tonight, Monday the 18th of May, look

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west just after sunset and you'll find a

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beautiful pairing. A slim crescent moon

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sitting very close to brilliant Venus in the

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sky.

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Anna: Venus is one of the brightest objects visible

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to the naked eye, often the first star you

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see after the sun goes down. Tonight, the

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crescent Moon is acting as a natural pointer,

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making Venus very easy to find. Even if

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you're new to sky watching

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Avery: through binoculars, the view should be

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especially striking. Look for earthshine.

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That's the faint glow on the dark portion of

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the Moon's disk caused by sunlight reflecting

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off Earth onto the lunar surface. It gives to

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crescent a beautiful three dimensional look.

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Anna: For our listeners in Australia and New

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Zealand, look to the west northwest shortly

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after local sunset, the pair will be

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relatively low on the horizon, so you'll want

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a clear western view. Best viewing window is

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probably the first hour after sunset before

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they drop too low.

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Avery: A great night to grab the binoculars or just

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step outside with a cup of tea.

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Anna: That is Astronomy Daily for Monday 18

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May 2026 what a lineup. An

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asteroid flyby, a rocket on the pad, a

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spacecraft slung around Mars, and a genuine

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philosophical challenge from the world of

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physics.

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Avery: Make sure you're back tomorrow. Starship

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V3 is targeting its launch window

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Tuesday evening US time, which means

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Wednesday morning for many of our Southern

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Hemisphere listeners. We'll have the updates

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and let us

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Anna: know what you think about the simulation

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hypothesis discussion. Find us on socials,

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00:17:40.550 --> 00:17:42.270
leave a comment or leave us a review.

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Wherever you listen, we genuinely love

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hearing your take.

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Avery: Until tomorrow, keep looking up clear skies

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everyone. Astronomy Day

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00:17:52.470 --> 00:17:53.670
Stories we told

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Love.