Oct. 28, 2024

#464: Dark Matter Dynamics, Spacecraft Synchronisation & Asteroid Belt Enigmas

#464: Dark Matter Dynamics, Spacecraft Synchronisation & Asteroid Belt Enigmas

Space Nuts Q&A Edition
Join Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson in this engaging Q&A episode of Space Nuts, where they tackle fascinating questions from our audience. From the cosmic mysteries of dark matter to the practicalities of Space...

Space Nuts Q&A Edition
Join Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson in this engaging Q&A episode of Space Nuts, where they tackle fascinating questions from our audience. From the cosmic mysteries of dark matter to the practicalities of Space communication, this episode is filled with intriguing insights and stellar discussions.
Episode Highlights:
- Dark Matter and the Cosmic Web: Explore how dark matter interacts with the cosmic web and the gravitational forces that shape our universe. Fred Watson Watson unravels the complex relationship between galaxies and dark matter, shedding light on this cosmic conundrum.
- Synchronising Spacecraft Communication: Discover how we maintain communication with distant spacecraft as they traverse the cosmos. Learn about the challenges of signal delays, gravitational influences, and the ingenious solutions that keep us connected to our spacefarers.
- Asteroid Belts Beyond Mars: Uncover the mysteries of asteroid belts beyond the familiar one between Mars and Jupiter. Delve into the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud, exploring their significance and the icy bodies that inhabit these distant regions.
- The Future of Space Wheels: Contemplate the possibility of building a Von Braun wheel or a space station with artificial gravity. Fred Watson Watson discusses the engineering challenges and potential benefits of these futuristic structures.
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Stay curious, keep looking up, and join us next time for more stellar insights and cosmic wonders. Until then, clear skies and happy stargazing.

 

 

WEBVTT

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Hi there, thanks for joining us. This is Space Nuts

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Q and A where we answer audience questions, and on

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this episode we're going to be talking about the relationship

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between dark matter and the cosmic web. We'll also look

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at an issue that's been raised about the synchronization of

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communication between Earth and long distance spacecraft. How do they

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do that because they're moving at rat of knots at

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great distances away from us, so how do we talk

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to them. There's also questions about whether or not there's

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more than one asteroid belt and can we build a

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space wheel. We'll tackle all that today on Space.

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Nuts fifteen seconds guidance in Channal ten nine ignition.

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Sequence Space Nuts or three two one Space Nuts.

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As when I reported Bill's.

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Good, here he is again, Fred. What's an hello? Fred? Hi, Andrew?

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How are you?

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I'm as good as the last time you saw me.

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I'm even wearing the same shirt.

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Strangely enough, it's extraordinary, isn't it, Soli?

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What a coincidence? Amazing? Are you ready to tackle some questions?

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Why not?

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All right, let's get down to it now. Our first

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question or questions come from the same source, and it's

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Ben and he's got a couple of interesting ideas. He says, Hi,

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there Andrew and Fred, longtime listener, but first time questioner

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from Chicago, though originally from Australia. Just in the form

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of a text as I'm one of the lucky sods

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who's gotten COVID twice in two months and can't talk.

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I'm sure some people can appreciate that. Just have two questions,

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not related, and of course one is going to be

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about dark matter. Fred mentioned in an episode that matter

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and dark matter don't interact, and one way of seeing

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that was some galaxies have moved over time, but the

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blob of dark matter doesn't move with it, to paraphrase.

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But if that's the case, my question is, how did

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dark matter form the cosmic web pattern of the universe

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in the first place. If it doesn't move, since galaxies

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are theorized to be held together using dark matter, wouldn't

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then wouldn't then moving off the dark matter blob mean

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they would start to fly apart. That's his first question.

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We'll get to the second one after we've solved.

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That riddle thread So that the interaction there is an interaction,

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which is via gravity. The least understood of all the

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fundamental forces, and that's why you know, if you've got

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a unif some baby universe that's got this web of

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dark matter, because that dark matter has gravitational interaction, then

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it will pull the normal matter in, so you do

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get you know, the galaxies strong, all out, strong, out

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along the cosmic web, as we find today when we

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observe galaxy surveys and things of that sort. The point

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I was making about the lack of interaction of other kinds,

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in other words, that you know, they don't bounce off

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one another. Was a couple of examples where we know

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that clusters of galaxies, which are the biggest sort of

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objects in the universe, they've collided and the gas and

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stars in those galaxies have sort of ground to a

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hole in the pile up. So what you end up

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with is a big blob of galaxy debris, except it's

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not debry. It's much the same as it was before

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they interacting, but they're gravitationally probably pulling one of an

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apart and.

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Things like that.

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So you've got two galaxy clusters, they collide, and you

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get a smash up there, which you can identify as

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being two different galaxy clusters colliding, but the dark matter

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from each of those because each of those clusters would

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have had its own dark matter halo. The dark matter

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just carries on. It doesn't interact either apparently with itself

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or with the debris the normal matter.

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So what you've got is.

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A scenario where you've got a new cluster of galaxies

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that's been formed from the two colliding clusters, and on

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either side of it is a blob of dark matter,

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which is the dark matter from the two original clusters

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that's just carried on going because it doesn't impact the

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normal matter. It does gravitationally, so it'll tend to have

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a gravitational influence on it, but the dark matter basically

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just just carries on.

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I'm very confusing for it. I can understand why we

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get so many questions about it, because it just doesn't

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seem to make sense.

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No, So the only thing that makes sense.

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Is that the particles of dark mutter normal matter door

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sort of bounce off one another, but they do have

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a gravitaxial effect on each other.

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That's really the way to put it.

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Okay, that makes it sound a little bit more simple,

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I hope.

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Now.

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Ben's second question, which is for spacecraft Communicating with them

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takes obviously longer and longer the further they are away,

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with all the planets moving all the time along the

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gravitational along with gravitational differences, the further or even closer

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to other orbital bodies, how do we keep the spacecraft

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synced to Earth perfectly? Would we, for spacecraft very far away,

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have to pinpoint or point telescopes further ahead of where

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they will be if it takes hours for the signal,

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or if it's close to a body like the Parker

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Solar probe. Would that not mess with the signals with

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delays possible or possibly the signal bending somehow. I'm sure

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these are taken into account, but I just wonder how

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people plan for it. I know telescopes account for this

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with redshift, but I wasn't sure how two way communication

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with satellite probes works. That's a really interesting question because

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we take for granted that we can still communicate with Voyager,

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and it is way beyond anything else that we've sat

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out so far.

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Right, it's twenty two light hours away at the moment

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I remember, Yeah, So yeah, it is a good question,

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but it can all be compensated for, and in fact

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the ben mentions the signals. And there's a classic case

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of I think it was the Cassini spacecraft when it

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was on its way to Saturn.

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This is in the early two thousands.

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It was at one point behind the Sun to us,

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but we could still see the signals because they were

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being bent by the gravitational effect of the Sun, just

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like light is. You know, it's the general relativity says

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that gravity will alter the direction of a beam of

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light or a beam of radiation. Then that was one

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of the ways. Actually, the Cassini observations of signals coming

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from the you know, the spacecraft being on the backside

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of the song but still being able to see the

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signals was one of the again one of the confirmations

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of gravitational deflection of light. Once again, you know, underpinning

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relativities absolutely fundamental place, you know, understanding of the universe.

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And yes, if you if you had a spacecraft that

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was moving across our line of sight and occasionally they

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are doing because they're you know, if you've got gravitational

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sling shot maneuvers, that might well put the spacecraft on

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the trajectory that's going across our line of sight. You

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do need to aim your your radio telescope ahead of it.

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You've got to you've got to take it into account,

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and people do that and it's completely routine. So because

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we understand what the orbits are doing, it's uh, it's

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basically a routine, you know, a routine maneuver or maneuver

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of telescope operations. Probably the person to talk to you

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about this is Glenn Nagel, who looks after the Tidbin

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Miller tracking station, one of NASA's deep space tracking network,

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which is stop far from camera. I might talk to

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him about it next time, I seeing.

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Yeah, why not? So Ben was pretty spot on with

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his salrus. Ben goes on to say thank you for

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answering this rambling and for the wonderful podcast. He said,

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I also worked for the ABC in Ultimo for a while.

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That's in Sydney, so maybe we crossed paths Andrew and

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never knew it. I was in the dark corner of

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the newsroom, Ben. I never got to the newsroom much.

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I think I actually only entered the newsroom once in

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my life, and I could feel the tension the moment

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or walked in. I know they talk about the atmosphere

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of places creating certain awareness amongst humans. I've never felt

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more intimidated than the Dale walked into the ABC Radio newsroom.

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I could feel how I don't know how deep the

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place was as an observer, and that's where they make

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all the news and current affairs programs for ABC in

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New South Wales. And I yeah, look, I don't envy

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you being there. I couldn't have worked in that environment.

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It was just too much for me. I liked my

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little regional radio job out in the Sticks much more,

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much more relaxed. Thank you, Ben. Great to hear from you,

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and hope all is well in Chicago. This is Space

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Nuts with Andrew Dugley and Professor Fred Watson Space Buds.

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Let's get some audio questions sorted out. Fred, and one

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of our regular sender inters is Sandy from I'm going

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to say Melbourne. I said that last time when I

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was wrong was a Brisbane I don't know Sandy somewhere my.

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Fred, Sandy from Melbourne a game. My question today is

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about the asteroid belts between Mars and Jupiter. As I understand,

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that's where the the primary asteroid belts are now, is

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there any other asteroid belts that's past the orbit of Jupiter,

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so I'm preferring to perhaps out towards Neptune that sort

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of or.

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Uranus sort of sort of distance.

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I'm assuming the answer is known, And if the answer

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is no, how come they've sort of massed together between

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Jupteri Mars and not further out.

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Thank you, Thanks Sandy. If you've got asteroids around Uranus,

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I think you should the doctor. But they're more likely

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to be emerhoids. Sorry I couldn't help it. Yeah, yeah,

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and look, I like the question because my first thought

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is we'll hang on the asteroid belt, yes, know all

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about that. Is there another one out there? And I

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just thought, well, it's the Kuiper Belt, but is not

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the same, is it? Or is it the same? Yeah?

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Right, Andrew.

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It's true that there are other asteroid belts, and they're

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quite different in character. So Sad is right that the

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main asteroid belt is the one and the most highly populated,

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is the one that lies between the orbits of Mars

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and Jupiter, and that's been known about since the early

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nineteenth century. The first one of those series was discovered

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on the first of January eighteen hundred and one, and

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that set the pass for you know the understanding that

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there is a belt of small objects between between Mars

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and Jupiter. We used to call them minor planets. In fact,

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when my MSc thesis is called the determination of minor

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planet orbits where you go. So that's what we now

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call the main asteroid belt. Actually, Sunday is right because

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he's talked about it as being multiple belts, and in

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a way there are different families is within those asteroid belts,

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within that main asteroid belt, if I put it that way.

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We talked about some of those in the last episode

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of Space Notes. Now as regards other asteroid belts, yes

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there are, and as you said, Andrew, the Kliper Belt

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is what really comes to mind. And that's just one

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of a number of different groups of icy asteroids which

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are beyond the orbit of Neptune, which is why they

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called trans Neptunian objects. One of the bigger ones is

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called Pluto, but it is just one of the bigger ones,

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and there are different families within that group of transit

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Tunian objects. There are objects called classical Coiper belt objects.

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There are objects called resonant objects where they have a

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resonance with the orbit of Neptune. And then the most

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distant ones are called scattered disc objects. So these are

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three different groups of objects which are in that to

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asteroid belt. They have a different formation we think from

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from the inner asteroid belt, because mostly I see those

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objects as we know blue toys, and that means that

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what we're seeing is a family of objects that really

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are the remnants of the of the of the cloud

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of dust and gas from which the Solar System formed.

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It's the outer extremities, objects that have never been warmed

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up by the Sun, the star that formed in the middle,

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whereas the asteroid belt is principally rocky objects, and we

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think it's just a sort of cloud of debris that's

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00:14:40.519 --> 00:14:43.679
been shepherd in into that particular orbit between Mars and

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00:14:43.720 --> 00:14:49.360
Jupiter by the huge gravitational pool of Jupiter. Jupiter's gravitational

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00:14:49.440 --> 00:14:53.039
influence is enormous on the other planets and the minor planets,

230
00:14:53.039 --> 00:14:55.840
and we think that's what it is. There's a region

231
00:14:56.080 --> 00:15:00.360
between Mars and Jupiter where debris is collected and probably

232
00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:03.360
it's still primordial damer it's the rocky material from which

233
00:15:03.360 --> 00:15:06.480
the planets were made, but it was never able to

234
00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:08.960
form a planet because it's giant right next to it,

235
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as gravity is kind of swishing.

236
00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:11.840
It around a lot.

237
00:15:12.840 --> 00:15:16.519
So yes, logical reasons why we understand these different sorts

238
00:15:16.519 --> 00:15:17.240
of belts.

239
00:15:17.799 --> 00:15:22.240
What about the oat cloud? Yeah, would that be an

240
00:15:22.240 --> 00:15:23.720
asteroid belt of some kind?

241
00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:26.440
I'm meant to mention the oak cloud. Thank you for

242
00:15:26.840 --> 00:15:31.279
reminding me, Andrew, that's more of a sphere of objects

243
00:15:31.360 --> 00:15:33.159
rather than the belt of objects. I mean, we think

244
00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:34.759
of a belt as being within the plane of the

245
00:15:34.759 --> 00:15:39.919
Solar System, as indeed the asteroid belt is. The Transceptunian

246
00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:42.559
objects are much more highly inclined in their own bits,

247
00:15:42.600 --> 00:15:44.840
so they're not really a belt, but they're more like

248
00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:46.960
a belt than the Oak cloud, which is thought to

249
00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:52.080
be something that surrounds the Solar system completely. And yes,

250
00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:55.639
again it's the outer edges of this blob of gas

251
00:15:55.639 --> 00:15:58.480
and dust from which the Solar System formed. So the

252
00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:01.639
oak cloud is where the bits come from, and they

253
00:16:01.639 --> 00:16:05.320
are mostly made of vice. So that's a big difference.

254
00:16:06.039 --> 00:16:08.480
Yeah, all right, So the answer to say Andy's question

255
00:16:08.679 --> 00:16:09.200
is yes.

256
00:16:09.159 --> 00:16:14.440
Ish, it's yes, and it's big time yes really because

257
00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:17.519
we've got you know, so much more that we now

258
00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:20.480
know about the Solar System, and it's various families of

259
00:16:20.759 --> 00:16:24.759
minor objects, small objects which are important to us because

260
00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:28.399
these things occasionally collide with the Earth, so that's why

261
00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:29.679
we need to know about them.

262
00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:34.679
It would it be logical to suggest that these kinds

263
00:16:34.679 --> 00:16:36.759
of belts exist in other solar systems.

264
00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:41.320
Yeah, I think so. There's the problem with trying to

265
00:16:41.320 --> 00:16:43.240
discover them is that the objects in them are so

266
00:16:43.320 --> 00:16:46.679
small that they're you know, trying to detect them from

267
00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:49.440
from the distance that we are, which is measured in

268
00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:51.759
light years rather than millions of kilometers as we are

269
00:16:51.799 --> 00:16:57.320
in the Solar system. That's a difficult task, but maybe

270
00:16:57.320 --> 00:16:59.759
one day we'll find some evidence. There is actually evidence,

271
00:16:59.759 --> 00:17:04.599
there's evidence of comic clouds. For example, around one star

272
00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:10.880
from below if I remember rightly had an object that

273
00:17:12.079 --> 00:17:14.759
was in its protoplanetary disc that's the disc of stuff

274
00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:17.720
that's got a form planets that actually broke up into

275
00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:21.039
into pieces, and it's thought to have been an asteroid collision.

276
00:17:21.640 --> 00:17:25.640
And we've also seen a very peculiar star that has

277
00:17:25.720 --> 00:17:30.319
a brightness range that changes, and the thinking is that

278
00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:33.000
we're seeing a cloud of comments passing in front of it.

279
00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:36.240
So yes, there evidence is there, right.

280
00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:39.640
Okay, thank you Sandy, Great question, and yes you were right.

281
00:17:42.200 --> 00:17:43.079
Okay, we take a.

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00:17:45.079 --> 00:17:49.799
Space neuts. Our final question today comes from Steve.

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00:17:50.759 --> 00:17:50.960
Hi.

284
00:17:51.079 --> 00:17:56.200
Guys, it's Steve here from Liverpool and England. Actually just

285
00:17:56.279 --> 00:18:01.839
across the river from Liverpool, so technically plastic sculpture. Just

286
00:18:01.880 --> 00:18:06.480
a question reference. Do you ever think a Von Brawn

287
00:18:06.599 --> 00:18:10.279
wheel or you know wheel space station will ever be built?

288
00:18:11.759 --> 00:18:15.160
It's within our capabilities now, I think, you know, with

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00:18:15.279 --> 00:18:20.319
multiple launchers and modular design they could even sell different

290
00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:24.480
modules to hotels, et cetera. But do you think it'll

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00:18:24.519 --> 00:18:28.119
ever be built? Thank you, take care and calling on

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with the show.

293
00:18:28.759 --> 00:18:31.960
Cheers, Good on your Steve. Thank you. I'll be visiting

294
00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:34.960
Liverpool sometime next year. Can't wait.

295
00:18:35.319 --> 00:18:38.079
Can't go to the Beatles experience and do its grown.

296
00:18:38.160 --> 00:18:41.160
That's exactly what I'm going to do. Yeah, I'm going

297
00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:44.720
to do the Beatles Tour. Yeah, space Wheel. The first

298
00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:47.200
time I ever became aware of space Wheel, Fred was

299
00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:48.640
when I was a kid and I used to watch

300
00:18:48.680 --> 00:18:51.519
a TV show called Space Patrol. It was one of

301
00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:59.359
those marrying it type shows. Yeah, they Captain Scarlett was

302
00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:01.720
was probaly will be the most famous of the shows.

303
00:19:02.119 --> 00:19:04.799
This one was called Space Patrol and one of the

304
00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:09.519
space ships was actually a space wheel that I don't

305
00:19:09.599 --> 00:19:13.640
remember much more about it than that. I do remember

306
00:19:13.640 --> 00:19:17.279
a strange space creature called Gabbler, and they were trying

307
00:19:17.319 --> 00:19:20.640
to teach him to say medicine, but he kept saying

308
00:19:20.680 --> 00:19:24.240
pencil instead. Look, I don't know why that's stuck in

309
00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:29.240
my head. Say pencil, Say medicine, Gabler. He'd say pencil.

310
00:19:29.319 --> 00:19:31.680
Or was it say pencil, Gabler, He'd say medicine. It was.

311
00:19:32.279 --> 00:19:37.319
It was a sweet, some weird interstellar bird. I've got

312
00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:40.359
some strange memories from my childhood, but that one sticks

313
00:19:40.359 --> 00:19:44.160
out because of the space wheel. Do you think we'll

314
00:19:44.200 --> 00:19:44.839
ever build one?

315
00:19:46.920 --> 00:19:53.920
I do, because it is, you know, the most direct

316
00:19:54.119 --> 00:19:57.000
way of trying to provide well, that's the only way

317
00:19:57.039 --> 00:20:00.119
we know of trying to provide an artificial gravity in

318
00:20:00.119 --> 00:20:02.119
a spacecraft that's away from the Earth. You've got to

319
00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:04.880
be very careful about it, though, because there are only

320
00:20:04.960 --> 00:20:08.599
certain limits between which you can build it in terms

321
00:20:08.599 --> 00:20:13.079
of diameter and how fast it rotates. What gives me

322
00:20:13.160 --> 00:20:15.640
some confidence in this is a conversation I had. It's

323
00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:18.880
quite a number of years ago now, but with the

324
00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:22.880
husband of Linda Spilker, Linda Spilker was the mission scientist

325
00:20:22.960 --> 00:20:26.480
for Cassini for the Cassini Space mission. Her husband Tom

326
00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:30.559
is the space engineer contracted to NASA. He was at

327
00:20:30.599 --> 00:20:32.839
the time, I guess it problem still is and his

328
00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:37.960
specialty is space wheels. It's all designing the possibility of

329
00:20:38.039 --> 00:20:42.720
these large rotating structures in space that will give you

330
00:20:42.799 --> 00:20:47.839
artificial gravity. I know, when I think of the future

331
00:20:47.880 --> 00:20:51.720
of humankind, I tend to think of them not as

332
00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:54.880
colonizing Mars, which I think would be a bad thing

333
00:20:54.920 --> 00:20:57.680
to do, but I think of them building megastructures in

334
00:20:57.720 --> 00:21:00.680
space which might have artificial gravity, a bit like the

335
00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:04.960
Halo world from that very well lit early game. Oh yeah,

336
00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:08.359
it was in the early years of the century. Love

337
00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:10.680
loved playing that game with the boys when they were

338
00:21:10.680 --> 00:21:12.640
at home. And of course they made it into a

339
00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:17.720
TV series, although they've got canned after two seasons, but yeah,

340
00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:20.480
it's become a huge franchise. Did you know I might

341
00:21:20.519 --> 00:21:23.000
have mentioned this before, but in Halo there was a

342
00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:24.240
Private Chips.

343
00:21:23.960 --> 00:21:29.680
Dubbo, one of the characters. Yeah, Private Chips Dubbo because

344
00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:31.400
and he had an Australian accent.

345
00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:32.799
And well there you go.

346
00:21:33.079 --> 00:21:36.319
So he appeared in the first version of the Halo

347
00:21:36.640 --> 00:21:39.720
video game, Private Chips Dubbo because I'm from Dubbo. This

348
00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:43.279
is where I am. So yeah, so somebody must have. Yeah,

349
00:21:43.440 --> 00:21:46.240
it's a great name. Love it. And he didn't get

350
00:21:46.319 --> 00:21:50.200
killed off. He wasn't he wasn't a Red Shirt. Sorry

351
00:21:50.200 --> 00:21:54.160
I'm getting I'm digressing. Space wheels, Yes, but you're right

352
00:21:54.160 --> 00:21:57.440
that was the Halo was a space wheel, a big one.

353
00:21:57.599 --> 00:21:57.799
Yeah.

354
00:21:58.119 --> 00:22:00.440
And if we could lost to the engineering to build

355
00:22:00.440 --> 00:22:02.319
something like that, I think that's a far better way

356
00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:06.519
than colonizing a lot of the world that might have,

357
00:22:07.079 --> 00:22:09.960
you know, rudimentary microscopic life on it.

358
00:22:10.599 --> 00:22:14.000
So if you build a space wheel, and as you said,

359
00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:16.680
you've got to be careful because of size and speeds

360
00:22:16.720 --> 00:22:21.119
and creating that oneergy effect, would bigger be better because

361
00:22:21.119 --> 00:22:23.920
you wouldn't have to rotate it nearly as fast or

362
00:22:24.200 --> 00:22:24.559
I don't know.

363
00:22:24.759 --> 00:22:28.240
Yeah, Yeah, it's a it's a fine line between the two.

364
00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:31.279
It's I looked at some of the work that Tom

365
00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:35.119
Spilker is done, and you know, you you've you've wanted

366
00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:40.480
big enough that it mimics gravity rather than making you

367
00:22:40.559 --> 00:22:43.559
feel sick, which is what happens with the smaller ones,

368
00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:47.279
and you know you want you want to ensure that

369
00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:50.200
if you if you drop something in this artificial gravity,

370
00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:53.240
it just goes directly downwards rather than moving sideways, which

371
00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:56.279
if it's too small and rotating too quickly, then it

372
00:22:56.319 --> 00:22:57.680
would do or moving.

373
00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:01.039
I'm just thinking all these questions as I go. But

374
00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:04.200
if you did build a space wheel in orbit around

375
00:23:04.279 --> 00:23:09.240
Earth as a hotel or whatever, a research center, probably

376
00:23:09.240 --> 00:23:11.359
both in years to come, and who knows what else,

377
00:23:11.400 --> 00:23:14.599
But would you have it pointing at Earth on its

378
00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:18.200
axis or on its wheel? Because if you if you

379
00:23:18.279 --> 00:23:23.079
had it sort of wheel up, then you'd be standing

380
00:23:24.039 --> 00:23:26.599
with your feet in proximity to Earth. But if you

381
00:23:26.599 --> 00:23:29.279
put it on its axis, you'd actually be standing sideways.

382
00:23:31.400 --> 00:23:35.240
Yes, I think what you might do both, couldn't it?

383
00:23:35.640 --> 00:23:35.839
Yeah?

384
00:23:35.920 --> 00:23:37.960
You could? I think you'd.

385
00:23:39.319 --> 00:23:44.519
You you you know, I'm guessing here that what you'd

386
00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:47.160
want to do is really aligned it up in terms

387
00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:51.440
of where the Sun is. So if you had it

388
00:23:52.200 --> 00:23:54.559
with its axis pointing towards the Earth, but in a

389
00:23:54.559 --> 00:23:58.319
geostatiary orbit, so it was going around the Earth once

390
00:23:58.359 --> 00:24:02.839
a day, that would mean that you'd sort of limit

391
00:24:02.960 --> 00:24:06.240
the twenty four hour cycle of night and day.

392
00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:10.240
In a way that you wouldn't if it was some

393
00:24:10.359 --> 00:24:10.880
other way.

394
00:24:11.279 --> 00:24:15.440
That's a good thought. Yeah, actually that's a really good thought. Yeah,

395
00:24:15.720 --> 00:24:18.960
I know, trust you to come up with a better

396
00:24:19.000 --> 00:24:23.079
idea than me. Yeah, I'm glad did that makes perfect sense?

397
00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:28.400
So the answer is yes, probably it will happen. Why

398
00:24:28.440 --> 00:24:30.599
hasn't it happened yet? I think they've been focused on

399
00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:31.279
other things for it.

400
00:24:31.480 --> 00:24:38.480
I suppose it's fairly significant engineering. You know, there was

401
00:24:38.519 --> 00:24:42.119
certainly talk of earlier in the idea of sending people

402
00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:45.720
to Mars, probably a couple of decades ago, of making

403
00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:49.519
two spacecraft that are tied together and rotate about their

404
00:24:49.559 --> 00:24:54.240
common center of gravity and that basically provides artificial gravity.

405
00:24:54.279 --> 00:24:58.200
But even that turned out to be just a little

406
00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:00.240
bit beyond the engineering we've got at the book.

407
00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:04.920
Although we sound like we're going to get there. Thanks Steve,

408
00:25:05.480 --> 00:25:09.279
I hope you will, hope all as well in Liverpool,

409
00:25:09.480 --> 00:25:12.359
and thanks for your questions. We've got a whole bunch

410
00:25:12.400 --> 00:25:14.279
of new questions that have come in that we're going

411
00:25:14.319 --> 00:25:16.920
to get through. That doesn't mean you should not send

412
00:25:16.920 --> 00:25:19.640
them to us, So go to our website, Spacenuts podcast

413
00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:24.079
dot com or spacenuts dot io and have a look

414
00:25:24.119 --> 00:25:26.519
around while you're there. But if you've got a device

415
00:25:26.680 --> 00:25:32.240
with a microphone like a smartphone or a computer or whatever,

416
00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:36.000
you could send us audio questions. Just don't forget to

417
00:25:36.039 --> 00:25:37.480
tell us who you are and where you're from. Or

418
00:25:37.480 --> 00:25:40.400
you can send us text questions via the AMA link

419
00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:45.480
on our homepage. And that's about it, Fred, thanks so

420
00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:47.599
much for answering all those questions for us today.

421
00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:49.559
It's a pleasure.

422
00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:52.359
It's what I do, so I'm likely to do that

423
00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:55.839
all right, and we'll up with you again real soon.

424
00:25:57.480 --> 00:25:59.720
Fred, what's an astronomer at large? And here in the

425
00:25:59.720 --> 00:26:03.599
student video who I think was taking the bins out

426
00:26:03.640 --> 00:26:06.599
when we started this episode and we I've got to

427
00:26:06.599 --> 00:26:06.839
do that.

428
00:26:09.079 --> 00:26:11.319
Thank you, interesting to do it tomorrow.

429
00:26:11.720 --> 00:26:13.920
Uh, And from me Andrew Acpley, thanks for your company

430
00:26:13.960 --> 00:26:16.519
catching on the next episode of space Nuts. Until then,

431
00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:18.519
bye byepaceus.

432
00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:21.119
You'll be listening to the Space Nuts.

433
00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:28.240
Podcast available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or your favorite

434
00:26:28.279 --> 00:26:31.599
podcast player. You can also stream on demand at bides

435
00:26:31.640 --> 00:26:32.519
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00:26:32.680 --> 00:26:38.279
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