Q&A With Universe Today’s Astronomer Fraser Cain
Estimated Read Time: 3 minute(s)
Common Topics: mars, research, next, years, look
Special thanks to Universe Today founder Fraser Cain for this fascinating video Q&A! All questions were provided by the members of Physics Forums. The question list is below the video.
Read the next interview with astronomer Pamela Gay
I have a BS in Information Sciences from UW-Milwaukee. I’ve helped manage Physics Forums for over 22 years. I enjoy learning and discussing new scientific developments. STEM communication and policy are big interests as well. Currently a Sr. SEO Specialist at Shopify and writer at importsem.com
I particularly like his down-to-Earth debunking of what I (and clearly he) view as wide-eyed, unrealistic, thoughts that we are going to terraform Mars in some usable way. We've had several threads here on PF where I just think people are … well,forum decorum prohibits my saying it bluntly, but let's just say I admire their enthusiasm but not their grasp of reality.
Thanks for all those who submitted a question! btw, did you hear Fraser is up for a second round? Start thinking of your question, but let’s give him a little time :)
Ha! The first thing he mentioned was related to a question I was going to ask; "Are you going somewhere to view the solar eclipse this year?"
He didn't answer the question exactly, but perhaps with some googling, I can find out if he'll be in one of the 5 neighborhoods I'll likely be in.
The rest of the interview was great. I really like his honesty. We could probably start at least one thread discussing each of those topics, if we haven't already.
I came up with one alternative idea to the "asteroid shield for trips between Earth and Mars" question. (I know…. It's probably been proposed already, countless times. People are always stealing my ideas before I think of them, and then don't tell me, just to make me look bad…. :oldgrumpy:)
ps. He has one new Twitter and FB follower. :smile:
And I see they've posted an article today about Ceres having a transient atmosphere. Must go share that.
I started looking up the times of the questions:
0:25 You cover a large range of topics with your articles on Universe Today. How do you do research for all the different topics?
1:45 Which astronomical event in the next years do you look forward to the most?
3:00 Which event in spaceflight in the next years do you look forward to the most?
4:40 When (if at all) do you expect a first manned mission to Mars?
6:00 Would you like to visit Asteroid 158092 Frasercain?
7:30 How do astronomers deal with galaxies and “stuff” photo bombing the isolated small distant object.
9:10 Could we nudge the orbit of an asteroid a bit so its orbit overlapped Earth and Mars on a regular basis (maybe every so many years) and we could sneak in behind the asteroid and use it as radiation protection for our trip to Mars?
11:10 Does your experience give you any sense of how long it might be before we get answers to the big questions such as what is dark energy, what is dark matter, what is the relationship between SMBH’s and galactic formation, or is more likely that these are so tough that it’s just impossible to say how long it might be before some kind of breakthrough occurs on each?
13:00 Why would anyone want to live on Mars when Antarctica is so warm and inviting?
14:25 What’s the biggest “stopper” to living in space for extended periods that remains unresolved? Anything promising going on toward resolution of that issue?