Matthew S. Williams's Blog, page 7

Episode 60 of Stories from Space – The Dark Universe – is now Live!

This week was a bit of a treat for me personally since I got to delve into something really astrophysical and theoretical! To break it down, in 1916, Einstein placed the finishing touches on his Theory of General Relativity (GR), which explained how gravity alters the curvature of spacetime, matter and energy are equivalent, and time and space are one. His theory was confirmed almost immediately, but by the 1950s and 60s, astronomers finally had the telescopes they needed to really test GR!

Ah, but there was a snag! When observing massive galaxies, astronomers noticed that their rotational curves suggested there was a lot more mass out there than what they could see. This led to the speculation that the Universe was filled with a mysterious invisible mass (“Dark Matter”) that interacted with “normal matter” only through gravity. The existence of this mass was needed for GR to be correct, which had been confirmed nine ways from Sunday by this point.

In the 1990s, the Hubble Space Telescope provided the most breathtaking and deep images of the cosmos. The primary mission of this observatory was to test Hubble’s Law – i.e., that the Universe is in a state of expansion. When looking back through space and time upwards of 10 billion light-years (or more), astronomers hit another snag. Essentially, the rate at which the cosmos was expanding (the Hubble Metric) was speeding up over time!

This led to speculation that Einstein’s theory about a force that “held back gravity” – the Cosmological Constant, which he described as the “biggest blunder of his career” – was actually correct. This unknown force, “Dark Energy,” became another mysterious phenomenon scientists needed to include in their cosmological models. To this day, neither has been confirmed directly. But next-generation telescopes are coming that could resolve this mystery.

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Episode 59 – “Where is Everybody: The Aurora Hypothesis” – is now Live!

This week, I got into another proposed resolution to the Fermi Paradox (i.e., “Where is everybody?”) Inspired by Kim Stanley Robinson‘s novel of the same name, the Aurora Hypothesis basically states that we aren’t seeing evidence of extraterrestrial civilizations because settling on other planets is hard! And it certainly makes sense. As we all know, space is inherently hostile to life as we know it. There’s the extreme cold and vacuum of space, the elevated levels of radiation, and it takes forever to get anywhere.

But what about so-called “habitable exoplanets”? Just how habitable are they to life that has evolved under entirely different circumstances. Even if a planet checks all our boxes and has oxygen, water, and temperatures that are in our comfort range, there’s no guarantee that indigenous life forms will take kindly to our presence. This could include everything from single-celled bacteria to poisonous plants and ferocious animals. There’s also the possibility that our presence will have a tremendous impact on the local life forms and environment, which raises massive ethical questions.

I highly recommend people check out Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson and to follow the links below to learn more about this hypothesis he inspired.

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Episode 58 – The Great Migration: Living on Jupiter’s Moons! – is Now Live!

In 1610, Galileo Galilee turned his telescope towards Jupiter and discovered something incredible. What initially appeared like stars surrounding the planet were, in fact, natural satellites! These four satellites, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, were named the “Galilean Moons” in his honor. With the dawn of the Space Race, our knowledge and fascination with this system has only deepened. While Jupiter has countless moons and moonlets (95 and counting!), the Galileans are not only the largest but have some pretty unique features as well.

Io is a volcanic moon composed of silica and metals, with mountains on its surface higher than Everest and over 400 active volcanoes, some of which spew lava 400 km (250 miles) high. Europa and Ganymede are frozen worlds largely composed of water ice and volatiles but which have warm and salty oceans in their interior. Callisto is an icy moon covered in massive craters and ringed features, the largest being Valhalla (3000 km; 1864 mi) and Asgard (1400 km; 870 mi).

Since 1979 when the Voyager 1 and 2 probes passed through the system, scientists have speculated that there could be life beneath Europa’s and Ganymede’s icy surfaces. Similarly, science fiction writers and scientific organizations have speculated how humans could live on some (if not all) of these moons with the right strategies, technology, know-how, and precautions. Therefore, living among these moons would present tremendous opportunities but also challenges and ethical considerations.

Follow the links below to get the full story and treatment!

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Episode 57 – Space is for All: An Interview with Space Policy Analyst Ruvimbo Samanga – is now Live!

This week, I finally got the chance to sit down and speak with a rising star of the modern space age, renowned space policy analyst Ruvimbo Samanga. Samanga began her journey by earning her Master of Law and participating in the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition. In 2018, she was part of the first team from Africa to win the competition. She then became the national point of contact for Zimbabwe with the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC).

This global network promotes participation from students and young professionals in the space industry in support of the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA). Since then, she has become a powerful voice in the international community, advocating for sustainable development, education and outreach, and increasing access to space for people worldwide.

She has worked for multiple international organizations and initiatives, including the Space Arbitration Association, Access Space, Inter Astra, and the Charles F. Bolden Group, and is currently an ambassador for the Milo Space Science Institute. She is not slowing down! Have a listen to our conversation by following the links below.

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Episode 56 – “The Ancient Astronaut Theory – is now Live!

This week’s episode is dedicated to a theory that is both fascinating and highly controversial. This theory is that in the distant past, extraterrestrial explorers may have visited Earth and even influenced our evolution (cultural or biological). Known as “paleocontact,” this idea has been explored extensively in science fiction, which includes 2001: A Space Odyssey – based on the short stories “Encounter at Dawn” and “The Sentinel” by Arthur C. Clarke – The X-Files, Stargate, and Prometheus.

A number of prominent scientists have also recommended that this idea be taken seriously. This includes Carl Sagan and Igor Shklovskii in their seminal book Intelligent Life in the Universe and Prof. Avi Loeb in his book Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and our Future in the Stars (which I recently reviewed). That being said, there’s also the pseudoscientific and conspiracy theory-laden version of this school of thought, which is optimized by the theories of Von Daniken and shows like “Ancient Aliens.”

Like I said, it’s controversial, but mainly because there are those who have taken what is fascinating food for thought and turned it into something ignorant and reminiscent of 19th-century racial dogma. Check out the episode to hear more about this idea, where it comes from, and where it departs from scientific curiosity and becomes the kind of stuff that inspires satirical memes (you know the ones I mean!)

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Episode 55 – “The Firstborn Hypothesis” – is now Live!

This week, I decided it was time to get back into the Fermi Paradox! This time, I addressed the Firstborn Hypothesis, the notion that humanity may be the first advanced civilization to emerge in our Galaxy. Much like the Brief Window Hypothesis, I’m not sure it’s an official proposal. In fact, I’m pretty sure I assigned a name to a general idea that has been raised many times over the years and is considered one of the more obvious resolutions.

The name itself was inspired by Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. In this series, “Firstborn” is the name of the advanced species that was the first civilization to emerge in our galaxy. These were the aliens that created the monoliths and tampered with human evolution in the distant past, and are contemplating whether they made a mistake (and need to correct it) in the present. If true, then humanity has a pretty massive responsibility before it! Tune in to hear more:

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Episode 54 – The History of SETI: A Conversation with Dr. Rebecca Charbonneau – is now Live!

This week, I sat down with Dr. Rebecca Charbonneau, a science historian and a Karl Jansky Fellow at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). We talked about the history of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), the significance of Project Ozma, the Arecibo Message, and the enduring legacy of the late Dr. Frank Drake – the creator of the Drake Equation and someone Dr. Charbonneau knew personally!

As a historian of science (a rare but awesome thing!), Charbonneau is in a rare position to appreciate how the field of SETI has evolved and how it has impacted (and reflected) our history. Have a listen as we talk about what the history of SETI has meant for our species so far and how the future of this field could revolutionize our existence!

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Episode 53 – The Drake Equation – is now Live!

For this week’s episode, I addressed one of the most important and well-known theories in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). It’s known as the Drake Equation, a thought experiment proposed by famed astronomer and SETI researcher Dr. Frank Drake. Drake presented this equation during the first SETI meeting in 1961, held at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia and attended by some of the most influential scientists of the day (including Carl Sagan). As Drake later said about his famous equation:

“As I planned the meeting, I realized a few day[s] ahead of time we needed an agenda. And so I wrote down all the things you needed to know to predict how hard it’s going to be to detect extraterrestrial life. And looking at them it became pretty evident that if you multiplied all these together, you got a number, N, which is the number of detectable civilizations in our galaxy.”

The equation basically states that the number of intelligent species we can communicate within our galaxy (N) can be determined by multiplying the average rate of star formation in our galaxy (R*) by the number of stars that have planetary systems (fp), the number of planets that are habitable (ne), the fraction of habitable planets where life will emerge (fl), the fraction of those where intelligent life will emerge (fi), the fraction of those that will develop transmission technologies that are detectable from space (fc), and the average longevity of civilizations (L).

To this day, the equation remains foundational to SETI and is comparable only to the Fermi Paradox and the Kardashev Scale. Dr. Frank Drake passed away on September 2nd, 2022, at the age of 92. He is one of many luminaries to pass on in recent years, like Stephen Hawking (2018) and Freeman Dyson (2020), and he will be missed!

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Episode 52 – Going Interstellar: Generation Ships! – is now Live!

This week’s episode focuses on a time-honored proposal for interstellar travel. Known as a Generation Ship (or Interstellar Ark, Arkship, etc.), the concept envisions a massive starship that can accommodate multiple generations of crews as they travel to nearby stars. The basic philosophy is that if you can’t go fast enough to get there within a single lifetime, then pack for the long haul! But of course, there are lots of considerations that need to be addressed in advance.

A lot can happen on a multi-generational interstellar voyage, which is why Generation Ships are a wonderful setting for science fiction stories! These include Robert A. Heinlein’s Orphans of the Sky, Poul Anderson’s Tau Zero, Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama, Ursula K. LeGuin’s Paradises Lost, Kim Stanley’s Robinson’s Aurora, and something I’m currently working on (titled Traverse). Check out the episode below…

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Episode 51 – The Relativity Revolution: The Life and Times of Albert Einstein – Part II – is now live!

In Part I, we looked at the early life and education of Einstein and the steps that would eventually lead him to his groundbreaking theory of Relativity. In this second installment, we examine the implications of his theories, his later contributions to the sciences, and the years he spent in exile due to the rise of Nazi Germany. And, of course, there’s his enduring legacy, which includes theories like Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and the most predominantly accepted cosmological model that is still in use to this day.

Here’s where you can check it out…

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