Astronauts Answer 50 Of The Most Googled Space Questions | CORRECTED

Date started: some time in April        Date completed: the same time in April         Date first published: 02/07/18


This is a response to:

'Astronauts Answer 50 of the Most Googled Space Questions | WIRED'
https://youtu.be/dikG4vMJG1s

It's a shame they didn't get all the answers right :-D

Here are the correct answers...

#50    Can birds fly in space? (wrong)

Yes, they can, and do. But not in outer space, where there's no medium for them to achieve propulsion in. Caveat: does the atmosphere of another planet count as 'outer space'? If so, then birds can fly in those atmospheres, if they already exist there, or are put there.

#49    Does space ever end? (wrong)

Yes and no. It depends whether you mean 'end' spatially, or temporally. It's not possible for the universe to be spatially unlimited, as it would take an infinite time for the previously finite universe to expand to infinite size, and it's only had ~14 billion years. On the other hand, if you mean 'end' as in time, then the answer is a probable 'no' because it's expected to die a 'heat death' in which it just expands unceasingly.

#48    Can you see the space station from Earth? (right)

Yes. When its solar panels reflect light toward the ground, where you're standing, it looks like a very square planet zooming by. I've seen it myself :o)

#47    Why was NASA created? (right)

The question 'why' supposes that the creation of NASA had a reason behind it. It's easier to answer 'how' describing motives, which are basically: scientists wanted to study inner and outer space, and were pressurising the government to make an agency for that purpose; and the nationalist government wanted to be seen as superior to the CCCP government, so they built a 'civil' organisation, to disguise their efforts to build massive, massive rockets, to threaten each other with.

#46    How was space created? (wrong)

The words 'how' and 'created' suppose design, of which there was none. The physics that caused spacetime to form is unknown, but the breadth of spacetime that exists today, is the result of almost 14 billion years of cosmic expansion since the start of spacetime.

#45    How much does a space shuttle weigh? (right)

That depends whether it's loaded. I'll take the astronauts' word for it that it used to weigh 2000 tonnes when taking off, and 100 tonnes when coming back. The difference is the weight of cargo transported into outer space.

#44    Can you see stars in space? (right)

Usually, yes. You might be able to make out individual stars, if you're in intergalactic space, as well. All of the stars we see when we look up into outer space, from Earth, are part of the Milky Way galaxy.

#43    How fast is the International Space Station moving? (almost right)

All orbiting bodies, the ISS and the Moon examples, follow ellipitical orbits (just because it's highly unlikely to be perfectly round) meaning their speed increases and decreases along their journey. The ISS' speed averages out at: 7.67 km/s 27,600 km/h or 17,200 m/h - not 17,500 m/h as stated.

#42    What is the temperature in outer space? (right+wrong)

It varies hugely, just as it does on Earth. The corona of our star - Sol - extends millions of kilometres beyond its atmosphere, and can be as hot as 3 million kelvin, and 100 million kelvin inside a solar flare! In contrast, the surfaces of bodies beyond the Kuiper belt are known to regularly be as cold as 25 kelvin. That's -346 degrees celsius. But then, the word 'temperature' means nothing in a near-vacuum, so what is the temperature of the space inbetween? N/A.

#41    Can you shoot a gun in space? (right)

Absolutely. The powder inside the cartridge/round contains enough oxygen and fuel to work, even outside the artificial atmosphere of a space station. But you probably don't want to be letting a live round off, if you're inside one. The air will leak out, the oxygen tanks will empty ahead of schedule, and everybody will be asphyxiated before Earth base can come to your rescue.

#40    What is the Goldilocks Zone? (right)

The volume around a stellar heat source, that is 'not too hot, not too cold' so that water can exist there, in liquid, solid, and gaseous forms, simultaneously. It's not actually necessary for a cosmic body to be inside the Goldilocks Zone, for water to be in all these states there, as sunlight isn't the only source of heat. Tidal forces, volcanism, and nuclear isotopes can work too.

#39    What orbits the Earth? (almost right)

Lots of things. The Moon, the ISS, lots of artificial and non-artificial satellites, and a whole load of junk too: bits broken off satellites by asteroid damage, bags of poo ejected from early space missions - you name it, there's one of it floating around, up there. In fact, objects don't really orbit other objects - they share a barycentre between the two of them - so the Sun and the Earth share a barycentre. If you stretch the definition of 'orbits' you could include Sol in that list :D

#38    How many rovers are on Mars? (i'm gonna say they were right)

Now here's a question that invites pedantry. The distinction between rovers and landers is that landers are static, whereas rovers move around. But if the rover's broken, does that make it a lander? Sojourner, Curiosity, Spirit, and Opportunity, are the four rovers called 'rovers' that have made it to Mars, and worked. Curiosity and Opportunity are the two that are still working. But then Beagle 2, Mars 2, and Mars 3, were designed with components that would detach and rove around on Mars. All of them failed, along with their roving components. So that makes seven, if you count the broken rovers. Viking 1, Viking 2, and Phoenix were successful Mars landers; Mars 5 was a lander that failed in orbit around Mars, Mars 6 didn't survive the descent to Mars' surface, and Mars Polar Lander is presumed to have crashed. So the answer's two, four, seven, eleven, thirteen, or fourteen, depending on whether you count broken equipment as being "on Mars", whether you were thinking of landers too, when you said "rovers", and whether you assume that Mars 5 fell to Mars' surface, after contact with it was lost. So now you know.

#37    How long does it take to orbit the Earth? (right)

It depends how far away you are. An orbit at the height of Earth's surface would take 42 minutes (if all the atmosphere and mountains weren't there) and any orbital distance further away is just going to take longer than that.

#36    How was Mars named? (right)

Somebody thought "you know that shiny thing in the sky? what shall we call it?" and somebody else said "how about..." (paraphrase) The English names of the planets are inherited from Roman nomenclature; and they humbly and unsuperstitiously named them after their favourite deities. Probably. We might never really know.

#35    What is a cosmonaut? (right)

The Russian translation of 'astronaut', except it makes more sense. 'Astronaut' means 'star sailor' or 'star ship' whereas 'cosmonaut' means 'universe sailor'. So in the way those words are used, to refer to people, 'cosmonaut' makes more sense.

#34    Do you age in space? (right, but the caption's wrong)

Of course. If you mean 'age' as in 'passively submit to the progress of time' then yes, but faster in outer space than in inner space, down on the ground, because as described by Special Relativity, gravitation slows time down. If you mean 'age' as in 'senesce' as in 'decay, bodily' then also yes, because there's little provocation to exercise; bones and blood atrophy, causing the body to be poisoned by calcium and iron; and cosmic rays and light radiation that is usually attenuated by an atmosphere can damage your body, especially your skin, making you look older than you would if you lived indoors, on terra firma.

#33    What is a space probe? (right)

A probe that's sent into space. Next....

#32    Does Mars have gravity? (right)

Yes. But as Mars has less mass, it produces a less strong gravitational field, that is less consistent due to the lumpiness of Mars' shape. So on Mars, you would generally weigh ~38% of what you do on Earth.

#31    Where is Kennedy Space Center? (right)

Here.

#30    How fast does a space shuttle go? (almost right)

The speed any ship has to reach, in order to remain in low-Earth orbit is 17,500 m/h or 27,870 km/h. But that's an orbital speed. If it were to orbit lower, it would start to travel faster, until it were slowed by friction from the Earth's atmosphere. So what starts off as 17,500 mph temporarily increases on re-entry, until the ship reaches ~80 km up, when the speed starts to plummet. At ~80 km, the velocity has actually increased to something more like 17,800 m/h or 28,600 km/h

#29    What is space time? (right)

Spacetime is the fabric of the cosmos. The idea of it, ideated by Albert Einstein, revolutionised understanding of large-scale physics, because it meant that people could finally get to grips with questions about light, gravity, etc. If you want more than that, you're going to need a heck of a lot more than this paragraph.

#28    Can we live on Mars? (right)

Yes. But currently, nobody does.

#27    How far is space? (right+wrong)

How hot is temperature? Space is the medium in which you measure how far away things are :-P

#26    Why is space black? (wrong)

Space isn't black. It's bathed in colour, but in a range of colours that your eyes can't see. If all the colour from stars could be evened out to one wavelength, the universe would look beige, but this doesn't include the light from other sources. The Spitzer Space Telescope sees some beautiful panoramas in Infra-Red, and the Cosmic Microwave Background, which also can't be seen with the naked eye, can be seen in all directions (yes, even the 'black' bits) through any telescope that can pick up microwaves.

#25    Who was the first woman in space? (conditionally right)

Valentina Tereshkova. As long as you mean 'outer space' otherwise the question's meaningless, as explained by Richard Dawkins more times than he'll ever want to recall :-D

#24    Where is the Asteroid Belt? (right)

Between the orbital distances of Mars and Jupiter

#23    When was Mars discovered? (wrong)

This depends on what you mean by 'discovered' as Mars is easily visible in the night's sky. It's almost certain that some synapsids are going to have looked in its direction, hundreds of millions of years ago, but whether they had any idea that they were looking at an object structurally similar to the one they were standing on at the time, is a different and much less likely prospect. The word 'planet' means 'wanderer' in Greek, so we can take from that that they had no understanding of what they were looking at, either. So who were the first organisms to understand that they were looking at the Mars that we think of as Mars, today? I'm going to plump for a generation of astronomers, but i refuse to pick one right now :-P

#22    What does orbit mean? (right)

It's a kind of chewing gum. Or it's from 13th century French 'orb' meaning a circular thing; then referring to the socket of the eye in 14th century latin; then being used to refer to a course or journey, in 16th century Latin; and being used to refer to the paths of cosmic bodies, in English, by the 1690s.

#21    Can you see the Great Wall Of China from space? (wrong)

Yes, if you're standing on it. Or, if you're in 'outer space', yes you can. You still can. As correctly captioned for #27, the edge of inner space isn't that far. It's very easy for mapping satellites to spot TGWOC from there. I mean, how do you think Google Maps got those pictures? People commonly mix up "Can you see [this] from space?" in their minds, with "Can you see [this] from the Moon?" You definitely can't see TGWOC from 380,000 km away.

#20    When can you see Mars (almost right)

At night. Or if you're in outer space, away from Earth's day-night cycle. Or during the day. The planets are faint, during the day, but with good seeing it is possible to see them during the day. I mean, think about it - you've seen the Moon during the day, haven't you? Well, the planets are fainter, but Mars can be seen, and so can Jupiter.

#19    Who was the first American in space? (conditionally right)

Alan Shepard. Unless you're going for the first American, in which case you might count that as Benjamin Franklin.

#18    Does Mars have an atmosphere? (right)

Yes. Except on Thursday nights. Never do gigs there, on Thursdays :-P

#17    Who was the first man in space? (conditionally right)

Oh no, not again! Let's just say Yuri Gagarin.

#16    How long does it take to get to space? (right)

Again, depending on what you mean by 'space' about 9 minutes.

#15    Where is the International Space Station? (right)

As i write {wrote} this, it's 405 km above the Caribbean. But now, it's here.

#14    How long is a year on Mars? (right)

As long as you want it to be. If you want to keep using Earth years, then go ahead, but you might find it slightly confusing - a full orbit of Sol takes 687 Earth days, over there, and because its tilt is about the same as Earth's, it has seasons that are all twice as long, too.

#13    How much do astronauts make? (quibblable)

I'll presume this means money, and not clay pots, or 'making money' in the literal sense that banks and mints make money, and say: "iduno"

#12    Is Mars bigger than Earth? (right)

No. It's substantially smaller.

#96    Why is Mars red? (right)

Mars isn't all red. Iron oxide dust floating around in the atmosphere makes it look red, from the outside. From the surface, it looks much greyer. P.S. Why is this question #96??

#10    How many satellites orbit Earth? (duplicately right)

Isn't this the same as #39??

#9    Is space a vacuum? (almost right)

Outer space is not a perfect vacuum, as a vacuum is defined as empty space. We know it's at least got Earth floating around in it, so it can't be an actual vacuum. The gaps in-between the things, however, are near-vacuums, with only a few hydrogen atoms per cubic metre in intergalactic space... if you ignore the quantum foam. And what about all the photons of light that are pinging around? In fact, the more you think about it, the less vacuumy outer space seems to be.

#8    What is the temperature on Mars? (right)

It depends on where you're standing, and what time of the year it is, of course, so recorded temperatures range from a 20 degrees celsius average at the equator, and 35 degrees in the shade during the day, to -153 degrees celsius at the poles, during winter. So, it's colder than Earth, but it has similar temperature variations.

#7    Can you hear sounds in space? (questionable)

Here's another good question for pedantry. There's a difference between "are there sounds in outer space?" and "can you hear sounds in outer space?" because: sound is much weirder than people generally admit; and hearing sounds doesn't mean they're there. Tinnitus, for example, is a medical complaint in which ears send signals to the brain (or at least, the brain infers that it's being sent signals) even though nothing happened in the outer ear - no sound was picked up. Even if you don't have tinnitus, in perfect silence, eventually your brain will acclimatise, like with sight in the dark, and then you'll start to notice things that you usually don't: the sound of your breath, the creaking of your joints, the pumping of your heart, and the flow of your blood. In the quiet of outer space, you might well hear all these things, as the sounds are transmitted through your body. But can sounds be transmitted from someone else's body to yours, through the vacuum? Well, this is where it gets really weird, because sound is made of longitudinal waves, and we're all told that this means they can only propagate through a medium - air, metal, our body, whatever. But in air, the particles aren't actually touching. They push each other remotely, by the same electro-static forces that define touch. So the 'sound wave' is an abstract concept, transmitted mostly across the gaps in-between particles in the air. This is impossible, unless you accept the fuzziness of location, that is understood to be part of Quantum Physics. So if you try to broadcast sound across a chamber with lots of air in it, the gaps are small, and the wave propagates effectively; and as you suck air out, the gaps broaden, and the wave propagation weakens, making the sound quieter. But in QP it's known that you can't keep an electron in a well - there's a finite chance that it can be anywhere. So you can't say that an empty chamber can't transmit that wave at all. Can you? I don't know the actual answer to this, but i suspect that it's theoretically plausible for sound to propagate, even in a perfect vacuum, let alone what we colloquially call a vacuum - the dusty gasyness of outer space. So i'm going to answer the question "can you hear sounds in outer space?" with: Yes, yes you can. Probably.

#6    How to become an astronaut (right)

There must be numerous possible paths, but i'm not going to disagree with actual 'nauts on this one, am i :-D

#5    What is an asteroid? (almost wrong)

The definition of 'asteroid' is a splodgy mess of spilt ink. There are stars, there are planets, there are dwarf planets, there are moons, there are comets, and then there are asteroids. Asteroids are basically everything else. They don't have to orbit Sol (if an asteroid gets slingshotted out of the Solar System, does it cease to be an asteroid? No) and they don't have to be small. Do they have to be rocky? I'm going to turn that one down, too. Asteroids are... everything else.

#4    Is there life on Mars? (right)

Nobody knows. There could be cellular or even acellular life on Mars, living somewhere currently unperturbed. Despite the various space agencies' extensive efforts, some Earth bacteria might have contaminated the surface; or it might have developed there independently. Either way, none has been found.

#3    How many moons does Mars have? (right)

Two: Phobos and Deimos. There might well be many smaller satellites (maybe including Mars 5, mentioned earlier) orbiting it, but they don't count as moons. There might even be Russell's Teapot, floating around over there :-P

#2    What does NASA stand for? (right)

Because they ran out of money for seats. No, seriously, it's a running joke that climate change deniers and obstructionists forget what the first 'A' stands for. NASA's purvue is not just outer space - it exists to study Earth, too.

#1    How long does it take to get to Mars? (right)

Well, Curiosity took 8.6 months to get there, but it depends on the relative locations of the two planets, when you leave. If Mars is coming toward Earth when you leave, then the distance to travel will be lower, so it'll take less time than the current distance suggests.


Adding up the scores: that's 6 wrong, 31 right, 4 almost right, 1 almost wrong, 2 right and wrong, 1 i'm gonna say they were right, 3 conditionally right, 1 quibblable, and 1 questionable

Not bad for a bunch of astronauts, huh? But then, they didn't have long to think about their answers before they gave them. I'm sure they would have got a much better score if they'd had the same amount of time and freedom as me.

But i couldn't let the unnecessary constraints of that video's filming result in some highly-respected space-travellers being unrectifiedly wrong on the internet now, could i? :-D.,
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