“Gravity” and Astrophysics

Artificial Intelligence is common in science fiction, with one of the most famous cases being HAL 9000 in “2001: A Space Odyssey.” AI is a topic of much debate and controversy today, but does it have applications in space exploration and technology?

“Gravity” depicts a scientist’s fight against the forces of the universe while orbiting Earth. Gravity is one of the fundamental forces of the universe, and it works in some unexpected ways.

“Outer Wilds” makes predictions for a universe not dissimilar from our own. Our universe is very vast and very, very old, with a long and fascinating history. But what is the future of such a universe?

Continuing our discussion of probes and space telescopes. Two space telescopes that often go unrecognized in the face of the James Webb Space Telescope and Hubble, as well as two probe missions to parts yet unexplored.

“Andor” is a Star Wars show exploring the tactics of fascism and imperial powers. As a separate topic, a number of ground telescopes tend to be overshadowed by their space-borne siblings. Even so, ground telescopes contribute a large amount to the field of astronomy

“Wall-E” follows a little robot who cleans up trash in what is left of the Earth after an environmental disaster. While this is an extreme example, climate change occurs every day on Earth. While it may seem hopeless sometimes, there are ways to fight climate change.

In many sci-fi movies, including “2010: The Year We Made Contact,” astronauts pull daring maneuvers in rockets and spaceships. While we aren’t there quite yet, rocket launches are becoming more and more routine, even for amateurs.

In “The Europa Report,” a team of scientists heads to Europa to find evidence of life. What they find is far beyond their capabilities. We’re still trying to confirm the existence of life in space, but we may be closer than you think…

In “Arrival,” a linguist is given a task of planetary importance: deciphering the language of aliens who have come to Earth for unknown reasons. Linguistics may not be all Hollywood chalks it up to be, but there is actual language science to dissect from the movie’s aliens.

In "Slingshot” three astronauts (or maybe just one?) embark on a voyage to Saturn’s moon Titan to retrieve methane. We tour the beauty that is Saturn, and its unique moons, like Titan.