SGU Episode 896

This transcript is not finished. Please help us finish it! Add a Transcribing template to the top of this transcript before you start so that we don't duplicate your efforts.

This episode needs: transcription, formatting, links, 'Today I Learned' list, categories, segment redirects. Please help out by contributing!

How to Contribute

This is an outline for a typical episode's transcription. Not all of these segments feature in each episode.
There may also be additional/special segments not listed in this outline.

You can use this outline to help structure the transcription. Click "Edit" above to begin.

SGU Episode 896
September 10th 2022
depiction of Chicxulub meteor
SGU 895                      SGU 897
Skeptical Rogues
S: Steven Novella
B: Bob Novella
C: Cara Santa Maria
J: Jay Novella
E: Evan Bernstein
Quote of the Week
A good ghost story may hold entertainment and even cultural value, but the popular portrayal of pseudoscientific practices as science may be detracting from efforts to cultivate a scientifically literate public.
Micheal Knees, American engineering psychologist
Links
Download Podcast
Show Notes
Forum Discussion

Introduction, another Artemis launch scrubbed

Voice-over: You're listening to the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, your escape to reality.

[00:09.840 --> 00:13.440] Hello and welcome to the Skeptics Guide to the Universe. Today is Wednesday,

[00:13.440 --> 00:17.360] September 7th, 2022, and this is your host, Stephen Novella.

[00:17.360 --> 00:19.840] Joining me this week are Bob Novella. Hey, everybody.

[00:19.840 --> 00:21.760] Kara Santamaria. Howdy.

[00:21.760 --> 00:23.280] Jay Novella. Hey, guys.

[00:23.280 --> 00:26.400] And Evan Bernstein. Good evening, everyone.

[00:26.400 --> 00:32.400] So we had this scrubbing of the second launch date for the Artemis 1.

[00:32.400 --> 00:35.120] Why do they keep doing that to us? Frustrating.

[00:35.120 --> 00:39.280] Yeah, so, I mean, the first, you know, this was supposed to fly in 2017.

[00:39.280 --> 00:44.720] This is now a five-year rolling delay in terms of getting this thing off the ground.

[00:44.720 --> 00:49.200] But yeah, so on last Monday or Tuesday, I think it was Monday,

[00:49.200 --> 00:51.120] they were going to try to do a launch.

[00:51.120 --> 00:55.040] They had a temperature problem in the engines,

[00:55.040 --> 00:58.720] and then it turned out they couldn't fix it within the launch window,

[00:58.720 --> 01:01.440] so they had to scrub. Turned out it was a faulty sensor.

[01:01.440 --> 01:04.880] Everything was fine, but whatever, one faulty sensor scrubs a launch.

[01:05.760 --> 01:08.640] So they rescheduled it for Saturday, and then on Saturday,

[01:08.640 --> 01:10.400] they had actually a more serious problem.

[01:10.400 --> 01:12.640] I'm not sure why they didn't have the same problem on Monday.

[01:12.640 --> 01:16.800] They had a hydrogen leak from the liquid hydrogen gassing.

[01:16.800 --> 01:19.120] Now, this is a serious problem because...

[01:19.120 --> 01:21.600] Yeah. You don't f*** around with hydrogen, man.

[01:21.600 --> 01:26.560] If it gets too, if the percentage of hydrogen outside the tank gets too high,

[01:26.560 --> 01:29.520] there's a chance that it could explode, you know, when the ship takes off,

[01:29.520 --> 01:30.880] which would be bad, right?

[01:30.880 --> 01:33.840] You don't want the explosion to be happening outside of the tank.

[01:33.840 --> 01:35.920] Oh, what do they call that? There's a name for that.

[01:35.920 --> 01:37.120] Catastrophic failure?

[01:37.120 --> 01:37.760] No, no, no.

[01:37.760 --> 01:39.280] No, you're right, Bob. There is a name for that.

[01:40.240 --> 01:43.600] And it's hilarious. Explosive disassembly or something.

[01:43.600 --> 01:44.320] Yeah, okay.

[01:44.320 --> 01:46.560] That's so scary.

[01:46.560 --> 01:48.960] Let's disassemble it with explosives, yay.

[01:48.960 --> 01:52.640] So this is interesting. So they had to scrub that because they couldn't fix that in time.

[01:52.640 --> 01:54.160] They tried a couple of things to, like,

[01:54.160 --> 01:57.040] I'll change the temperature to get the seals to work, but it didn't work.

[01:57.040 --> 02:01.200] They could potentially fix this problem on the launch pad,

[02:01.200 --> 02:03.760] but by the time they could do that,

[02:03.760 --> 02:10.640] the batteries that are needed for the abort system to work would have to be recycled.

[02:10.640 --> 02:17.920] So they have to bring the ship back to the building just to swap out the abort batteries.

[02:17.920 --> 02:20.240] But of course, while it's there, they'll fix everything.

[02:20.240 --> 02:21.840] And they got to reset everything.

[02:21.840 --> 02:23.520] It's like outside the window.

[02:23.520 --> 02:26.880] So now it's like you're keeping all these plates spinning, you know?

[02:26.880 --> 02:29.360] And if you don't get it to fly within a certain amount of time,

[02:29.360 --> 02:32.960] you got to bring it back and reset everything, you know, and then try again.

[02:32.960 --> 02:36.800] So now the earliest, they haven't set a new launch date yet as this recording,

[02:36.800 --> 02:38.560] but the earliest would be mid-October.

[02:38.560 --> 02:39.600] It would be like six weeks.

[02:39.600 --> 02:41.360] October 2023.

[02:41.360 --> 02:42.480] Yeah, 2022.

[02:42.480 --> 02:43.680] Oh, okay.

[02:43.680 --> 02:48.160] We did talk about it briefly during the live show, Jane.

[02:48.160 --> 02:51.440] You brought up the fact that you've heard some criticism.

[02:51.440 --> 02:54.160] So I did a deeper dive on it because I've heard some criticism too,

[02:54.160 --> 02:55.520] and I wanted to know where that was.

[02:55.520 --> 02:59.440] The bottom line is that it's just really expensive, you know?

[02:59.440 --> 03:04.160] They're spending, you know, $150 billion to get this thing up.

[03:04.160 --> 03:11.680] It's going to cost a billion dollars or $2 billion a launch just for the launch fees itself.

[03:11.680 --> 03:14.000] If you amortize the development cost,

[03:14.000 --> 03:17.440] it's going to be between four and five billion dollars per launch,

[03:18.400 --> 03:22.720] and they only have the infrastructure to launch one a year.

[03:22.720 --> 03:24.080] That's all we're going to get out of it.

[03:24.080 --> 03:26.080] One launch a year, and at the end of the day,

[03:26.080 --> 03:29.840] it's probably going to be at like four to five billion dollars per launch.

[03:29.840 --> 03:32.160] So that's mainly where the criticism is coming from.

[03:32.160 --> 03:32.880] It's expensive.

[03:33.520 --> 03:37.120] It's not really going to be able to do that many launches.

[03:37.120 --> 03:40.480] But you got to keep in mind that you go back to 2011

[03:40.480 --> 03:42.960] when they canceled the Constellation program,

[03:42.960 --> 03:47.360] which is the predecessor to the Space Launch System, the SLS,

[03:47.360 --> 03:51.280] and also that was the end of the life of the space shuttle.

[03:51.280 --> 03:54.640] So we had no, basically, no rockets to go up.

[03:54.640 --> 04:00.160] So at that time, the Obama administration basically made a bargain with NASA.

[04:00.160 --> 04:06.480] They said, okay, we will fund the SLS program for deep space,

[04:06.480 --> 04:10.800] but you are going to contract out low Earth orbit to private industry.

[04:10.800 --> 04:11.680] So that's what they did.

[04:12.480 --> 04:15.920] And that's where SpaceX comes from and like Blue Origin, all these companies.

[04:15.920 --> 04:17.040] So that worked out really well.

[04:17.040 --> 04:21.120] The low Earth orbit, you know, and SpaceX worked out tremendously well,

[04:21.120 --> 04:25.440] but they're kind of hobbled with this really over budget, delayed,

[04:25.440 --> 04:29.680] really expensive SLS, you know, heavy launch system.

[04:30.400 --> 04:34.400] And, you know, now looking back 11 years later,

[04:34.400 --> 04:37.360] it's like, you know, there's nothing innovative about it.

[04:37.360 --> 04:45.040] It's not reusable, you know, and the SpaceX is basically completely leapfrogged over it.

[04:45.040 --> 04:47.600] So I think that's where a lot of the criticism comes from.

[04:47.600 --> 04:50.560] But still, here we are, you know, it's going to get us to the moon.

[04:50.560 --> 04:53.760] You also have to keep in mind that at the other end of the spectrum,

[04:54.400 --> 04:56.800] the Artemis program, not the SLS,

[04:56.800 --> 05:00.640] but the Artemis program was originally planned for 2028.

[05:00.640 --> 05:04.720] Well, to the moon, right, to be back on the moon in 2028.

[05:04.720 --> 05:08.160] That's Artemis mission, not the SLS system, right?

[05:08.160 --> 05:09.280] So not the rocket.

[05:09.280 --> 05:15.520] But the Artemis mission was moved up from 2028 to 2024 by the Trump administration.

[05:15.520 --> 05:18.400] And then it's now pushed back to 2025.

[05:18.400 --> 05:20.880] That's still three years ahead of schedule.

[05:20.880 --> 05:22.080] Of original schedule, yes.

[05:22.080 --> 05:23.120] Original schedule.

[05:23.120 --> 05:26.320] And nobody ever thought that the 2024 thing was realistic.

[05:26.320 --> 05:28.640] NASA was like, this is just not going to be like, OK, sure, right.

[05:28.640 --> 05:32.560] But they knew politically it sounded good, but never going to happen.

[05:32.560 --> 05:35.120] So, all right, we're still on track to get back to the moon

[05:35.120 --> 05:36.720] by the middle of this decade.

[05:36.720 --> 05:39.360] And hopefully, you know, the SLS will work out.

[05:39.360 --> 05:40.720] Artemis will launch.

[05:40.720 --> 05:43.760] It's obviously I'd rather have them scrub for six weeks

[05:43.760 --> 05:45.200] and have the thing blow up on the pad.

[05:45.200 --> 05:46.800] That would be a disaster.

[05:46.800 --> 05:47.840] My gosh.

[05:47.840 --> 05:51.760] What I do think is that NASA should already be planning

[05:51.760 --> 05:53.760] the successor of the SLS, though.

[05:54.960 --> 05:55.200] Right.

[05:55.200 --> 05:55.920] I mean, they shouldn't.

[05:55.920 --> 05:59.040] Well, the SLS is expensive to fly.

[05:59.040 --> 06:01.600] And it's like, you know, it's not reusable.

[06:01.600 --> 06:03.440] It's not efficient or whatever.

[06:04.000 --> 06:06.000] They should probably just contract out, you know,

[06:06.000 --> 06:09.360] to the private space industry now to develop the next thing

[06:09.360 --> 06:12.320] that's going to be able to get to the moon and to Mars

[06:12.960 --> 06:14.720] and not try to do it themselves.

[06:14.720 --> 06:15.440] You know what I mean?

[06:16.000 --> 06:16.560] Yeah.

[06:16.560 --> 06:19.760] Yeah, I mean, that's a really hard thing to predict, Steve.

[06:19.760 --> 06:22.800] You know, first of all, we don't know how well the SLS is going to work.

[06:22.800 --> 06:26.640] It seems like private industry is going to work out better

[06:26.640 --> 06:28.880] than NASA owning their own rockets at this point.

[06:28.880 --> 06:29.920] Don't you agree?

[06:29.920 --> 06:32.160] I mean, for low Earth orbit, it's worked out really well.

[06:32.800 --> 06:34.720] You know, that was sort of the division of labor.

[06:34.720 --> 06:37.120] They would let private industry handle low Earth orbit

[06:37.120 --> 06:39.040] and then NASA will do deep space, right?

[06:39.040 --> 06:40.720] Go back to the moon and then eventually Mars.

[06:41.280 --> 06:45.360] Orion, which is NASA's capsule, that is the only spaceship

[06:45.360 --> 06:47.760] that can get to the, you know, to the moon now, right?

[06:47.760 --> 06:49.120] That can do deep space missions.

[06:49.120 --> 06:51.680] It's rated for 21 days.

[06:51.680 --> 06:54.240] It's long enough to get to the moon and back, you know what I mean?

[06:54.240 --> 06:56.480] So the Dragon module can't do it?

[06:56.480 --> 06:59.360] Well, according to NASA, it's the only one that's rated for,

[06:59.360 --> 07:00.720] like, moon missions at this point.

[07:00.720 --> 07:05.200] So they would, not that you, you know, I'm sure you could get the Dragon capsule

[07:05.200 --> 07:09.280] or a version of it to the point where it would be rated for deep space,

[07:09.280 --> 07:10.480] but it isn't right now.

[07:11.200 --> 07:15.040] But again, they gave the contract to SpaceX, remember, for the lunar lander

[07:15.040 --> 07:20.240] and Musk wants to convert the Starship into a lunar lander.

[07:20.240 --> 07:22.240] Yeah, that's still on.

[07:22.240 --> 07:23.760] Which is, like, weird in a way.

[07:24.640 --> 07:28.080] Would that ship, Steve, leave from Earth or would it stay?

[07:28.080 --> 07:29.120] Well, it'd have to, right?

[07:29.120 --> 07:31.680] We're not going to build it on Earth, send it to the moon,

[07:31.680 --> 07:34.560] and then it's going to land on, that's the ship that's going to land on the moon.

[07:34.560 --> 07:36.560] But, you know, I think we talked about it at the time,

[07:36.560 --> 07:39.360] it's like, yeah, but it's going all the way to the moon.

[07:39.360 --> 07:41.760] Why don't you just make that your moon ship, you know what I mean?

[07:41.760 --> 07:46.800] Like, why are you going to take the SLS to the moon, then hop on over into the Starship

[07:46.800 --> 07:49.120] to go down, to land down on the moon?

[07:49.120 --> 07:49.680] I don't know.

[07:49.680 --> 07:51.680] I don't know exactly how that's going to work.

[07:51.680 --> 07:56.320] So, okay, so it is that way, that ship is going to basically ferry people

[07:56.320 --> 08:00.400] from low moon orbit to the surface.

[08:00.400 --> 08:01.440] Yes, that's right.

[08:01.440 --> 08:04.480] And it stays out there and they just refuel it and keep reusing it.

[08:04.480 --> 08:05.520] I guess so.

[08:05.520 --> 08:08.560] Steve, I'm hoping that the next thing that will be developed

[08:08.560 --> 08:14.720] will be a deep space nuclear rocket, because they're developing nuclear rockets for cislunar.

[08:14.720 --> 08:17.920] Now, they won't be really rated for beyond cislunar, right?

[08:17.920 --> 08:20.960] They really won't be designed to go beyond the moon.

[08:20.960 --> 08:25.680] But, and this is why NASA is working with them on this, once they have it,

[08:25.680 --> 08:29.040] then the homework, you know, the foundational homework will be done,

[08:29.040 --> 08:32.880] and then NASA could take that and then extend it and then make it,

[08:32.880 --> 08:34.640] you know, for a much deeper space.

[08:34.640 --> 08:36.320] So that's my hope.

[08:36.320 --> 08:40.400] That's my hope. The question is, is it going to be the next gen deep space,

[08:40.400 --> 08:41.920] or is it going to be the one after that?

[08:42.560 --> 08:48.560] Well, maybe just like let private companies handle just the heavy lift rockets

[08:48.560 --> 08:49.600] that get you to the moon.

[08:50.240 --> 08:54.560] And NASA just completely focuses on developing nuclear rockets.

[08:54.560 --> 08:57.120] Yeah, shit man, I'd be, I'm all for that.

[08:57.120 --> 08:58.400] Because that's the next thing we need.

[08:58.400 --> 09:01.680] And chemical rockets are just so inefficient, you know,

[09:01.680 --> 09:04.560] like it's just not the way to get to Mars and back.

[09:04.560 --> 09:11.760] No, anything beyond the moon, and chemical rockets are just going to be marginalized.

[09:11.760 --> 09:14.080] I mean, of course, now I'm thinking much deeper into the future,

[09:14.080 --> 09:16.880] but as we, as the decades and centuries accrue,

[09:17.760 --> 09:21.360] chemical is really going to be just like maybe for Earth launch.

[09:21.360 --> 09:22.160] And that's it.

[09:22.160 --> 09:25.120] Getting out of Earth's gravity well, that's pretty much going to be it.

[09:25.120 --> 09:28.640] Right. But that's, you know, who knows how long that's going to take,

[09:29.600 --> 09:32.880] you know, when chemical no longer has any role in deep space,

[09:32.880 --> 09:35.600] because, you know, long distance rocket equation says,

[09:35.600 --> 09:37.360] screw you chemical rockets.

[09:37.360 --> 09:38.080] Yeah.

[09:38.080 --> 09:38.640] Yeah.

[09:38.640 --> 09:40.720] And then, and then eventually fusion.

[09:40.720 --> 09:44.480] Once we get to fusion, then we're, that's the, that's the game.

[09:44.480 --> 09:45.440] Started man, that's good.

[09:45.440 --> 09:45.920] Yeah.

[09:45.920 --> 09:46.800] And what's interesting is-

[09:46.800 --> 09:49.200] Especially the hydrogen proton proton fusion engine.

[09:49.200 --> 09:54.640] Once we develop fusion engines, that's going to be our engines forever.

[09:54.640 --> 10:00.080] Like there's the probability that anything will replace it is so remote.

[10:00.080 --> 10:05.200] Like we don't know if it will ever happen and if it does, it will be in the distant far future.

[10:05.200 --> 10:05.600] Right.

[10:05.600 --> 10:08.560] So that's the brass ring right there.

[10:08.560 --> 10:11.360] Well, for reaction rockets, yes.

[10:11.360 --> 10:16.080] I think that's going to be it for quite, for potentially centuries.

[10:16.080 --> 10:18.560] And you could do an amazing amount of things-

[10:18.560 --> 10:19.520] I think thousands of years.

[10:19.520 --> 10:21.920] With, with, that's silly.

[10:21.920 --> 10:22.960] Technically centuries too.

[10:22.960 --> 10:23.840] But that's, yeah.

[10:23.840 --> 10:24.960] But that's, yeah.

[10:24.960 --> 10:28.320] I mean, even the best we can do with that type of reaction rocket,

[10:28.320 --> 10:31.120] say a fusion hydrogen proton proton, which is really efficient,

[10:31.120 --> 10:34.960] like say 11%, 11% speed of light exhaust velocity.

[10:34.960 --> 10:40.400] That is, you could still do, you know, 20% the speed of light with that type of rocket.

[10:40.400 --> 10:45.040] And if you don't care about cargo at all, you can get that rocket up to 50% the speed of light.

[10:45.680 --> 10:49.520] But then cargo of course becomes literally a millionth of the payload,

[10:49.520 --> 10:52.720] but still 10%, 20% the speed of light with a super advanced-

[10:52.720 --> 10:58.560] Give it a bob, you add, add a little bit of light sails and then that'll get you.

[10:58.560 --> 10:58.880] Yes.

[10:58.880 --> 10:59.680] That'll get you there.

[10:59.680 --> 11:01.840] So that's going to be light sails and fusion.

[11:01.840 --> 11:02.720] That's going to be space travel.

[11:02.720 --> 11:06.880] That seems to be, I think that's pretty much where we're going for centuries.

[11:06.880 --> 11:10.960] Unless an ASI, artificial super intelligence, rises and then all bets are off.

[11:10.960 --> 11:16.880] But even then, he or she would be constrained to, to the physics, to physics as we know it.

[11:16.880 --> 11:19.280] And even, even, you know, the ASI might say,

[11:19.280 --> 11:22.640] damn man, this is the best I could do, but it's still going to be cool.

[11:22.640 --> 11:24.560] Yeah. It's almost as if we wrote a whole book about it.

[11:24.560 --> 11:24.720] Yeah.

[11:26.560 --> 11:30.560] It's almost as if I just did a deep dive research on it because I talked about it at Dragon Con.

[11:31.200 --> 11:31.680] Dragon Con.

[11:31.680 --> 11:32.480] How was Dragon Con?

[11:33.040 --> 11:33.920] It was great.

[11:33.920 --> 11:39.360] Liz and I went first time in three years and I know you guys were just so wicked jealous.

[11:39.360 --> 11:40.000] It was great.

[11:40.000 --> 11:40.560] Totally.

[11:40.560 --> 11:42.160] It was pretty much as we remember it.

[11:42.160 --> 11:45.840] Amazing costumes, amazing fun, lots of people.

[11:45.840 --> 11:50.160] And pretty much, I was double masked for like four days in a row

[11:50.160 --> 11:55.680] and I took a, took a test today and totally clean, no, totally negative.

[11:55.680 --> 11:59.360] So I think I totally, you know, got away with it totally.

[12:00.400 --> 12:01.040] I did a talk.

[12:01.040 --> 12:04.480] I called the science, I called, I called the science panel guys and I'm like,

[12:04.480 --> 12:07.840] I want to do the future of rockets.

[12:07.840 --> 12:10.880] And they'd made a panel with like five guys and I was one of them.

[12:10.880 --> 12:12.320] And I just went off.

[12:12.320 --> 12:14.480] I did a deep dive for weeks.

[12:14.480 --> 12:17.840] For weeks I did a deep dive just to refresh my memory and all the research that I had

[12:17.840 --> 12:20.880] done for the chapter of the book about future rockets.

[12:20.880 --> 12:21.920] And I got it down, man.

[12:21.920 --> 12:26.880] I made an awesome bullet list of all the top, the top things that I needed to keep straight

[12:26.880 --> 12:27.440] in my head.

[12:27.440 --> 12:29.680] And it was so much fun to research.

[12:29.680 --> 12:34.000] And there was a great panel, great panel, great fellow panelists with me.

[12:34.000 --> 12:36.960] They were all very knowledgeable and it was great.

[12:36.960 --> 12:38.880] But also I did some skeptical stuff.

[12:38.880 --> 12:40.240] I talked about the two books.

[12:40.240 --> 12:45.760] I did a, I did a one man show on stage on the skeptical track and I was like, oh boy,

[12:45.760 --> 12:46.960] this is scary.

[12:46.960 --> 12:47.840] But it was fine.

[12:47.840 --> 12:48.640] It was fine.

[12:48.640 --> 12:52.160] I just, I just went off on the books and then I started talking about rockets again.

[12:52.160 --> 12:52.960] And then that was it.

[12:52.960 --> 12:54.400] I was in my happy place.

[12:54.960 --> 12:56.560] And, uh, totally great.

[12:56.560 --> 13:00.160] Bob, totally utterly, absolutely.

[13:00.160 --> 13:04.560] Indubitably your solo talk was basically like a pared down news item for Bob.

[13:04.560 --> 13:06.080] Yeah, that's basically what it was.

[13:06.880 --> 13:07.520] It was great.

[13:07.520 --> 13:13.760] And, uh, so many, as usual, so many great costumes, the talent on display at Dragon

[13:13.760 --> 13:19.840] Con blows me away every time I go and I'm determined next year to have an awesome homemade

[13:19.840 --> 13:21.520] costume, which I didn't have this year.

[13:22.320 --> 13:22.480] Yeah.

[13:22.480 --> 13:24.240] We haven't been, I've been what, in four years now.

[13:24.240 --> 13:26.480] It'll be, we're definitely going to make a plan to go next year.

[13:27.120 --> 13:27.440] Yeah.

[13:27.440 --> 13:28.800] I mean, we were fine.

[13:28.800 --> 13:30.480] Pandemic willing, but I hopefully will.

[13:30.480 --> 13:30.720] Yeah.

[13:30.720 --> 13:31.200] It's time.

[13:31.200 --> 13:33.360] I mean, as long as things are good, we gotta go.

[13:33.360 --> 13:36.960] We were surrounded at times by thousands of people.

[13:36.960 --> 13:39.840] And at a couple of times I was like, this is uncomfortable.

[13:40.560 --> 13:44.080] But I had my double masks, you know, I held my breath a lot.

[13:44.640 --> 13:46.000] And it, and I'm fine.

[13:46.000 --> 13:48.720] Both Liz and I are both, you know, totally testing negative.

[13:48.720 --> 13:50.400] And it's been many, it's been days.

[13:50.400 --> 13:51.200] So it's doable.

[13:51.200 --> 13:53.760] Just, you know, you just, you know, you could take it easy.

[13:53.760 --> 13:57.840] You don't have to go into the big shoulder to shoulder crowds, um, you know?

[13:57.840 --> 13:58.320] And, uh, it's totally doable.

[13:58.320 --> 14:00.400] How about the, uh, the merch room?

[14:00.400 --> 14:00.800] Oh yeah.

[14:00.800 --> 14:02.640] That was, that was, you know, it was Christmas.

[14:02.640 --> 14:04.080] I'm, I'm walking towards it.

[14:04.080 --> 14:04.240] Yeah.

[14:04.240 --> 14:04.720] But how was it?

[14:04.720 --> 14:06.320] Was there a shoulder to shoulder in there?

[14:06.320 --> 14:07.200] No, no.

[14:07.200 --> 14:10.400] The first day, the first day it opened where I was like waiting for it.

[14:10.400 --> 14:13.360] And it was, it was, there's four floors, as you know.

[14:13.360 --> 14:17.680] And, uh, it was not shoulder to shoulder craziness at that, that the first few hours that I was

[14:17.680 --> 14:18.400] there.

[14:18.400 --> 14:20.080] And, uh, so that's, so that was fine too.

[14:20.080 --> 14:21.680] I was worried about that as well.

[14:21.680 --> 14:26.160] By the way, one last detail I've got to mention about the Orion capsule is that it's not just

[14:26.160 --> 14:27.920] that it's rated for 21 days.

[14:27.920 --> 14:32.800] When you come back from the moon, you reenter the atmosphere much faster than when you,

[14:32.800 --> 14:35.520] than when you're just coming down from low earth orbit.

[14:35.520 --> 14:39.360] And so the capsule has to be rated for high speed reentry.

[14:39.360 --> 14:39.680] Yeah.

[14:39.680 --> 14:43.360] And I think the, the Orion capsule is the only one that could do that.

[14:43.360 --> 14:48.400] So like the dragon capsule would really need to be redesigned or refitted to be a high

[14:48.400 --> 14:49.360] speed reentry.

[14:49.360 --> 14:51.520] That's yeah, that's, yeah, that's major.

[14:51.520 --> 14:53.200] You're not going to just slap on duct tape.

[14:53.200 --> 14:56.160] That's like a major event, major redesign.

[14:56.160 --> 14:56.960] I'm sure they could.

[14:56.960 --> 14:57.360] Yeah.

[14:57.360 --> 14:57.520] Yeah.

[14:57.520 --> 14:58.880] But I'm sure they could do it if they wanted to.

[14:58.880 --> 15:02.480] All right, Bob, um, you're going to start us off with a quickie.

[15:02.480 --> 15:05.200] You're going to tell us about Frank Drake.

[15:05.200 --> 15:06.320] Thank you, Steve.

Quickie with Bob: Frank Drake (15:00)

• Frank Drake passes away [link_URL TITLE]

News Items

S:

B:

C:

J:

E:

(laughs) (laughter) (applause) [inaudible]

News_Item_1 (18:51)

• [link_URL TITLE]

News_Item_2 (27:16)

• [link_URL TITLE]

News_Item_3 (43:45)

• [link_URL TITLE]

News_Item_4 (57:14)

• [link_URL TITLE]

Who's That Noisy? (1:10:42)

Answer to previous Noisy:

Chinese tongue-twisting poem, "Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den

J: ... similar to English's "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo [+ 3 'buffalos']"

...

C: (sing-song) Homonymy!

New Noisy (1:14:49)

[musical boings and dings]

J: ... If you think you know the answer or you have a cool Noisy you heard this week, you can email me at WTN@theskepticsguide.org.

Science or Fiction (1:18:27)

Theme: Social Psychology Item #1: A recent study finds that positive fortune-telling results in increased financial risk-taking for men but not for women. Item #2: A study of 5-years-olds finds that they perceive overweight people to be happier than thin people. Item #3: A study of college students finds that mask-wearing does not impair social interactions.

Answer	Item
Fiction	Overweight happier than thin
Science	Risk-taking men vs. women
Science	Mask-wearing impairs not

Host	Result
Steve	win

Rogue	Guess
Bob	Mask-wearing impairs not
Jay	Mask-wearing impairs not
Evan	Overweight happier than thin
Cara	Overweight happier than thin

Voice-over: It's time for Science or Fiction.

Skeptical Quote of the Week (1:29:29)

A good ghost story may hold entertainment and even cultural value, but the popular portrayal of pseudoscientific practices as science may be detracting from efforts to cultivate a scientifically literate public.
– Micheal Knees, engineering psychologist

Signoff

S: —and until next week, this is your Skeptics' Guide to the Universe.

S: Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is produced by SGU Productions, dedicated to promoting science and critical thinking. For more information, visit us at theskepticsguide.org. Send your questions to info@theskepticsguide.org. And, if you would like to support the show and all the work that we do, go to patreon.com/SkepticsGuide and consider becoming a patron and becoming part of the SGU community. Our listeners and supporters are what make SGU possible.

[top]                        

Today I Learned

• Fact/Description, possibly with an article reference
• Fact/Description
• Fact/Description

References

Vocabulary