LIGO's Getting Its Upgrades. What's Next? | Q&A 426

Why It Matters

Keeping LIGO online to partner with Rubin boosts multi-messenger discovery potential and refines gravitational-wave science ahead of major upgrades; meanwhile, unresolved radiation threats pose a fundamental barrier to safe, long-duration crewed Mars missions with significant health and mission-planning consequences.

Summary

LIGO has paused its latest observing run to prepare optics and sensitivity upgrades, but will likely resume within months to coordinate observations with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory through 2027 before a longer shutdown for major improvements. The global gravitational-wave network — including Virgo and KAGRA and future projects like Cosmic Explorer and the Einstein Telescope — improves sky localization and drives shared technique development. On human spaceflight, there is currently no practical full shielding for long-duration missions: lunar bases can use natural or regolith shielding, but Mars transit crews face unavoidable elevated radiation exposure and higher lifetime cancer risks despite short-term mitigations. The episode also touched on related observatory advances and research into novel radiation-deflection materials, though none yet solve deep-space exposure.

Original Description

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What's going on with LIGO? Which fictional spaceship is the most realistic? How will astronauts protect themselves during long time flights? And in Q&A+, what evidence will remain if humanity vanishes tomorrow?

00:00 Intro

00:24 [@Hooves1] LIGO upgrades?

02:13 [@JamesMcIntosh-r7j] aren't there a couple more LIGOs?

03:53 [@tedkrouse8222] What is The astronaut protection for long term use? like to mars or moon long time habation ?

07:52 [@howlmg] Do we have a spacecraft in deep space watching the earth as it transits in front of the sun so we learn how to remove the noise when checking exoplanet atmospheres?

10:36 [@paigepotter4682] What fictional spaceship design feels the most realistic?

14:09

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