From StarTalk.
Is there life in the Venusian Clouds? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice are joined by planetary astrobiologist David Grinspoon to discuss NASA’s return to Venus, our space future, and whether we’ll find life in our solar system.
As a primary investigator on the upcoming DAVINCI mission, David explains why we haven’t sent a dedicated U.S. mission to our sister planet since the 1980s and how the history of "space futures" has always been a reflection of our own culture and politics. Neil and David explore the evolution of our planetary visions, from the mass delusion of Martian canals and Jules Verne’s moon voyagers to the propaganda efforts during and before the Apollo era. You’ll learn how people once assumed every planet was inhabited, only to have their "cloud swamp" dreams shattered by the harsh reality of a runaway greenhouse effect.
When did scientists realize Venus’s runaway greenhouse and that it wouldn’t have life? We get into the nuts and bolts of the DAVINCI (2031) and VERITAS missions. How do you build a probe to survive pressures 100 times that of Earth and temperatures hotter than a pizza oven? David breaks down the dive through the Venusian atmosphere, where the mission will capture the first-ever 21st-century measurements and descent photography of the surface.
They also tackle the phosphine controversy: Could life actually thrive in a permanent global cloud deck? Why isn’t there life in the clouds on Earth, even though you can find life everywhere else?
With the Europa Clipper heading to Jupiter’s icy moon and the OSIRIS-REX sample from Bennu revealing 14 different amino acids, the kit for life seems to be sprinkled across the cosmos. If the ingredients are common could life itself be too?
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Timestamps:
00:00 – Introduction: David Grinspoon
02:15 – History of Space Futures
04:42 – Growing Up with Carl Sagan & Star Trek
10:30 – Portrayal of Aliens
12:40 – Popularizing Space
17:59 – Realizing Other Planets Didn’t Have Life
20:00 – Mars Canal Conspiracy & War of the Worlds
25:42 – Going Back to Venus with DAVINCI
33:30 – Could Life Thrive in the Clouds?
39:04 – The Health of the Search for Life
41:33 – What We Found on Asteroid Bennu
45:09 – Do Aliens Have Music?
49:20 – Closing Thoughts
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Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up!
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