Can Cosmic Rays or Dust Damage Light Sails?

Brian asks about interstellar degradation; Avi summarizes prior estimates showing interstellar medium is dilute and unlikely to destroy thin sails.

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Once again, I had the pleasure of speaking to one of the most famous and perhaps the most controversial astrophysicists in the world – Avi Loeb!

For those of you who don't know him, Avi is a professor of science at Harvard University, theoretical physicist, astrophysicist, and cosmologist. He is also a bestselling author and a dear friend of mine.

By the time you see this, Avi will have published his new book, Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars. In it, he explains why we need to become an interstellar species to ensure our survival and lays out a plan for how we can settle among the stars.

As usual, we take some time to judge a book by its cover and discuss what went into the making of this book. We also dig into the recent Galileo Project expedition to the Pacific Ocean to retrieve spherules of the first recognized interstellar meteor, IM1, which was led by Avi, and discuss whether they found evidence of alien life.

Judging a book by its cover: Interstellar (00:44)

On extraordinary evidence (08:13)

Does Avi have proof of alien life?! (13:55)

On David Grusch and government obligations (28:01)

Internet hate, constructive criticism, and the scientific method (42:01)

More on Interstellar and what it means to become an interstellar species (1:10:56)

Elon Musk’s plan to make humankind interplanetary (1:15:12)

On space archaeology (1:21:08)

Rapid fire audience questions (1:39:20)

Outro (1:50:57)

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