Cosmic Cold Cases

In August 1977, a radio telescope in Ohio picked up a strong signal from deep space. It lasted 72 seconds. It has never been heard again.An astronomer circled it on a printout and wrote one word beside it: Wow! This is the story of the signal, the telescope that caught it, the explanations that have been proposed (a message, a comet, a natural fluke), and the question that is still open.Cosmic Cold Cases reopens one unsolved case from the universe in every episode.

On October 19, 2017, a telescope in Hawaii spotted a faint dot moving the wrong way. It was the first object ever seen passing through our solar system from another star.It had no tail, a strangely stretched shape, and an unexplained push. A natural rock? A hydrogen iceberg? An alien light sail? This is the case of ʻOumuamua, and the question is still open.Cosmic Cold Cases reopens one unsolved case from the universe in every episode.

In March 1989, a Soviet probe was days away from touching a small moon of Mars. Then it went silent.Was it a failing computer, a lucky strike by a piece of space rock, or something stranger? And is Mars really cursed, or just very hard? This is the case of Phobos 2.Written with the help of artificial intelligence and narrated by an AI voice. Cosmic Cold Cases reopens one unsolved case from the universe in every episode.