{"podcast":{"title":"PBS Space Time","slug":"pbs-space-time-7778773","podcast_index_feed_id":7778773,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/VG4094887262","website_url":null,"image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/f982ec76-1991-11f1-8531-1763dcadb313/image/9a88c1c5ae91e65f64e0c1324090ebb9.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"PBS","episode_count":188,"summary":"Space Time explores the outer reaches of space, the craziness of astrophysics, the possibilities of sci-fi, and anything else you can think of beyond Planet Earth with our astrophysicist host: Matthew O’Dowd. For all business inquiries and sponsorship opportunities please reach out to: pbsspacetime@lighthouseagents.com Matt O'Dowd spends his time studying the universe, especially really far-away things like quasars, super-massive black holes, and evolving galaxies. He uses telescopes in space to do it. Matt completed his Ph.D. at NASA's Space Telescope Science Institute, followed by work at the University of Melbourne and Columbia University. He's now a professor at the City University of New York's Lehman College and an Associate at the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium. Previous host Gabe Perez-Giz is an astrophysicist who studies black hole physics. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University and also hosted PBS Infinite Series. patreon.com/pbsspacetime","last_synced_at":"2026-07-24T02:17:15.545680+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/pbs-space-time-7778773"},"episode":{"title":"Interstellar Expansion WITHOUT Exceeding the Speed of Light","slug":"interstellar-expansion-without-breaking-the-light-barrier","published_at":"2026-07-22T15:30:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/pbs-space-time-7778773/interstellar-expansion-without-breaking-the-light-barrier","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/pbs-space-time-7778773","url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/VG2522692832.mp3?updated=1778607685","audio_url":"https://traffic.megaphone.fm/VG2522692832.mp3?updated=1778607685","summary":"Watch Space: The Longest Goodbye on Independent Lens: https://pbs.org/longestgoodbye In the far future we may have advanced propulsion technologies like matter-antimatter engines and compact fusion drives that allow humans to travel to other stars on timescales shorter than their own lives. But what if those technologies never materialize? Are we imprisoned by the vastness of space—doomed to remain in the solar system of our origin? Perhaps not. A possible path to a contemporary cosmic dream may just be to build a ship which can support human life for several generations; a so-called generation ship. Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime Check out the Space Time Merch Store https://www.pbsspacetime.com/shop Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements! https://mailchi.mp/1a6eb8f2717d/spacetime Search the Entire Space Time Library Here: https://search.pbsspacetime.com/ Senior Creative Producer (ITVS): Andrea Bloom Creative Director (ITVS): Carol Paik Executive Producers (ITVS): Carrie Lozano, Lois Vossen Vice President, Marketing and Communications (ITVS): Lisa Tawil Original Production Funding Provided By: The Corporation for Public Broadcasting Acton Family Giving John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Ford Foundation Wyncote Foundation National Endowment for the Arts Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Written by Christopher Pollack & Matt O'Dowd Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini & Stephanie Faria Directed by Andrew Kornhaber Associate Producer: Bahar Gholipour Executive Producers: Eric Brown & Andrew Kornhaber Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campb…","meta_description":"Watch Space: The Longest Goodbye on Independent Lens: https://pbs.org/longestgoodbye In the far future we may have advanced propulsion technologies like m…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1739,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/pbs-space-time-7778773/episodes/interstellar-expansion-without-breaking-the-light-barrier/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/pbs-space-time-7778773/interstellar-expansion-without-breaking-the-light-barrier.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}