Ed Helms and Lunar Nukes

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Grand Central Publishing.

Actor Ed Helms is making his rounds to sell his book Snafu: The Definitive Guide to History’s Greatest Screwups.

One of the stories he tells is about the US “planting nukes on the moon.” Is this true?

Yes, it was a top secret effort called Project A119, with the goal of exploding a hydrogen bomb on the Moon. And believe it or not, Carl Sagan was involved in the calculations related to this zany idea.

This was in the late 1950s during the Cold War when the US and Soviet Union were doing everything they could to trump one another. It also was right after Sputnik, when the US felt it was losing the space race. In this case, the US would make a clear demonstration of its power through this distant explosion.

Fortunately, the US decided to take a better route by going into orbit and eventually to the Moon. If we had blown up the Moon, Carl Sagan would have been remembered in a very different way today – less as the educator, and more as Dr. Strangelove.

Just never underestimate the ability of the government to go down some dark roads. We needed guardrails then like we need them now.

You can read more about it in this History.com story.

Podcast: Cool Worlds Considers Communicating with Aliens

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Cool Worlds

You may enjoy this week’s episode from the Cool Worlds Podcast all about leaving evidence of our civilization for alien visitors, or even a future civilization here on Earth. The episode, “Nick Searra – Alien Communication, Golden Record, Future Relics,” covers a lot of ground from the Pioneer and Voyager missions to the idea of placing time capsules about our civilization on the Moon or even within the orbit of Jupiter.

The guest is Nick Searra, who is Founder and Executive Directory of the Interstellar Foundation. The Interstellar Foundation has a clear mission – to create messages that represent the diversity and creativity of humanity, inspire future generations of explorers, and communicate with potential extraterrestrial life.

On the site, you an read about the Foundation’s Aspire One, which was an effort to create a lunar record to preserve Earth’s cultural and scientific heritage on the Moon. Preserved records include UNESCO archives, World Heritage images, and other scientific, historical, and cultural material. This message is already on its way to the Moon via this week’s launch of the Blue Ghost lunar lander.

A second messaging mission, Aspire Two, is now in development.

The podcast discussion and related website basically cover the continuation of work stared by Carl Sagan with the launch of Pioneer 10 back in 1972. I recommend you check out both of them.

Image (Credit): Sample images from Aspire One. (Interstellar Foundation)

Podcast: Crash Course Pods – The Universe

Posted on by onespaceman2000

If you are looking for another podcast on astronomy with some deep ideas, then you will want to tune into Crash Course Pods: The Universe. It’s a discussion between author John Green (Looking for Alaska, The Fault in Our Stars) and Dr. Katie Mack, a theoretical astrophysicist and author of The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking). It is not your usual combination for such a show, but it works.

Only one episode has been release to date, but it is enough to keep your head spinning. It may also merit another listen just to be certain you heard what you think you heard. The topic is the beginning of the universe, which is not the straightforward tale I have been hearing for the past number of years. The Big Bang is much more complex, and her statement about hydrogen goes beyond that of Carl Sagan, who said we are all “Star Stuff.” She notes that we are still mostly made of hydrogen atoms that were created in the first two minutes of the universe, so a lot of us precedes the stars.

Dr. Mack noted that her students sometimes find it difficult to follow her stories, so this is your warning that you are jumping into the deep end with this podcast. The only saving grace is John Green’s questions and humor to keep us afloat.

Just try it our for yourself. I think you will want to stick around for the second episode.

Credit: Scribner

Podcast: Cool Worlds Labs Has Started a Podcast

Posted on by onespaceman2000

In an earlier posting, I noted that the people at Cool Worlds Lab were planning to create a podcast to further share the Lab’s research. Well, that day has come and you can now listen to the first episode with Professor David Kipping interviewing Rebecca Charbonneau, who is a Janksy Fellow at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). She is a historian of astronomy who is writing a book on the history of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).

The conversation covers a number of SETI topics, including a young Carl Sagan’s collaboration with Soviet astronomer I.S. Shklovsky on an English translation of Shklovsky’s book Universe, Life, Intelligence. It was a chance to escape Soviet censors and bring new light to SETI ideas.

It’s a great start to a new series. I look forward to many more podcast episodes in addition to all of the other great media shared by Cool Worlds Labs.

Credit: Emerson-Adams Press