Are satellites (or satellite parts) ever made from metal salvaged from pre-1945 shipwrecks? Possibly to ensure that those metals were refined before atmospheric A-bomb explosions increased the background radiation levels? [more inside]
posted by metaBugs on Aug 4, 2009 - 17 answers

How would you get through a black hole? [more inside]
posted by smoke on Aug 3, 2009 - 28 answers

Was the entire universe created by the Big Bang, or is the space/time generated by the Big Bang part of a larger universe? [more inside]
posted by Lownotes on Jun 23, 2009 - 23 answers

Does the curvature of space mean that the dimensions of height, breath and width are not independent of each other? [more inside]
posted by leibniz on Mar 2, 2009 - 45 answers

Let's say you're thrust headlong into a dogfight engagement in space. Era and galaxy of your choosing. What would the real-world physics look like? [more inside]
posted by Gordion Knott on Nov 2, 2006 - 58 answers

Would a bag collapse if I sucked the air out of it in outer space? [more inside]
posted by TimeTravelSpeed on Sep 8, 2006 - 32 answers

AskMeFi Physics folk: How do astronomers account for the temporal distinctiveness of their galactic subjects in their calculations? I understand that observations of the red shift of quasars delinates a speed increase in the expansion of the universe - yet my brain explodes when I try to understand how the enormous expanse of time is factored into these models. [more inside]
posted by 0bvious on Apr 9, 2006 - 12 answers

I've been somewhat obsessed with faster-than-light travel lately. Are there any scientists seriously studying thing such as the Alcubierre drive or other plausible, albeit exotic, ways to get from point a to point b without taking a million years? Is this something that just lacks the funding for any respected physicists to get involved? Surely there must be a department within NASA working on something a little more fun than sending a chemical rocket to a close planet. [more inside]
posted by geoff. on Aug 26, 2005 - 17 answers

What would happen if someone were to build a tunnel or tube into space? (Description inside...) [more inside]
posted by punkbitch on Jan 20, 2005 - 10 answers