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Could you travel back in time through a wormhole? Neil deGrasse Tyson sits down with theoretical physicist and Nobel Laureate Kip Thorne to reflect on discovering gravitational waves with LIGO, the science in the movie Interstellar, black holes, and many more mysteries still yet to be answered.

Discover the origin story of the movie Interstellar on its 10th anniversary. Kip explains how science, not fiction, shaped the film’s narrative—from the colossal waves on Miller’s planet to the physics behind black hole time dilation. Discover the recipe for how to create a wormhole and how turning on a time machine could cause it to self-destruct. Plus, learn about the Casimir effect, exotic particles, and how LIGO manipulated vacuum fluctuations to bypass the uncertainty principle.

Neil and Kip dig into the origins of gravitational wave detection, tracing its roots to Joe Weber’s early experiments and Ray Weiss’s unpublished paper. Kip reflects on the decades of work required to make LIGO a success, the challenges of measuring distortions a fraction of a proton’s width, and the historic detection of gravitational waves in 2016 that confirmed Einstein’s predictions.

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Could we create warp drive someday? In this Star Trek-themed episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-host Chuck Nice team up with astrophysicist Charles Liu to dive into the science, technology, and legacy of one of the most influential sci-fi franchises of all time: Star Trek.

We answer questions about quantum entanglement, the size of electrons, and the real science behind Trek tech or Treknology. How close are we to warp drives, transporters, and subspace communication? You might be surprised to hear what’s theoretically possible and what remains in the realm of science fiction.

We discuss technology that exists already and the solutions to storytelling challenges through warp drives and dilithium crystals. Learn about the show’s physics, from phasers and antimatter to the mycelium network’s fascinating parallels with fungal biology. How do you store antimatter without it annihilating? Plus, find out who everyone’s favorite characters are and who they relate to most.

To unite humanity.

Before we landed on the Moon, in the early days of the Cold War, Project Orion contemplated using Nuclear Bombs to power spaceships to new worlds and stars. More than half a century later, new technologies may see this concept reintroduced bigger, better, and safer. Could the most terrifying weapon of the 20th Century become the Great Hope of the 21st?

Start Forging New Worlds: https://www.worldanvil.com/isaac-arthur.

Spacecraft powered by electric propulsion could soon be better protected against their own exhaust, thanks to new supercomputer simulations.

Electric propulsion is a more efficient alternative to traditional chemical rockets, and it’s being increasingly used on space missions, starting off with prototypes on NASA’s Deep Space 1 and the European Space Agency’s SMART-1 in 1998 and 2003, respectively, and subsequently finding use on flagship science missions such as NASA’s Dawn and Psyche missions to the asteroid belt. There are even plans to use electric propulsion on NASA’s Lunar Gateway space station.

Not your everyday blue marble.

Convair’s Super-NEXUS—a visionary leap into spaceflight—was no ordinary vehicle. This partially reusable, Single-Stage-to-Orbit (SSTO) behemoth was designed to carry an astounding 2 million pounds of payload, making it a true giant of its time. Imagine a colossal structure that stood 400 feet tall, towering over even the mighty Saturn V, which itself reached a height of 363 feet. With a staggering diameter of 150 feet, the NEXUS would have dwarfed its predecessors in both size and capability.

But sheer size is only part of the story. In its largest proposed variant, the Super-NEXUS would have weighed an almost incomprehensible 48 million pounds when fully fueled—compared to the Saturn V’s comparatively modest 6.5 million pounds. This weight discrepancy highlights the ambitious scale of the project. The NEXUS wasn’t just a bigger rocket; it was an entirely new class of spacecraft, designed to deliver an unprecedented payload of 2 million pounds to low Earth orbit—more than eight times the capacity of the Saturn V.

And the innovation didn’t stop there. Unlike traditional one-and-done rockets, the Super-NEXUS was envisioned as a reusable marvel. It was designed not just to launch and land, but to land vertically on the ocean’s surface after each mission. Once safely aloft, the massive vehicle would be towed back to port by ships, ready to be refurbished and launched again. This ambitious dream, while never realized, pointed toward a future where space travel was as routine as any other form of transportation.

Such a vision was perhaps too far ahead of its time—but the audacity and scope of the Super-NEXUS continue to inspire, underscoring the boundless potential of human ingenuity in the quest to conquer the stars.

The space debris problem won’t solve itself. We’ve been kicking the can down the road for years as we continue launching more rockets and payloads into space.

In the last couple of years, organizations – especially the European Space Agency (ESA) – have begun to address the problem more seriously.

Now they’re asking this question: What will it take to reach zero space debris?

It’s one of the most often asked questions I get, while showing off the Moon to the public. “Can you see the flag the astronauts left there?”

This then leads to a discussion on how far the Moon is, versus the difficulty of seeing a 1.5 by 0.9 meter flag at such a distance. My scope is good, but not that good.

During the US Apollo program, six crewed missions landed on the Moon starting with Apollo 11 in 1969, leaving a like number of flags. Now, China recently announced that one more flag will join the collection in late 2026, when Chang’e 7 heads to the Moon.

Blue Ghost, a lunar lander carrying 10 NASA

NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is the United States government agency responsible for the nation’s civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. Established in 1958 by the National Aeronautics and Space Act, NASA has led the U.S. in space exploration efforts, including the Apollo moon-landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle program.

The Nordic nation signed the Accords on Jan. 21.