Blue Origin's TeraWave Network, Historic ISS Medical Evacuation & Buzz Aldrin Turns 96

Anna: Hey there, space fans. I'm Anna.

Avery: And I'm Avery. Welcome to Astronomy

Daily, your daily dose of space and

astronomy News. It's Thursday, January

22, 2026, and boy,

do we have a packed episode for you today.

Anna: We really do. We're covering everything

from Blue Origin's ambitious new

satellite Internet network to an update on

that historic medical evacuation from the

International Space Station. Plus, we'll

celebrate a special bir for a lunar legend.

Avery: That's right. We've also got some fascinating

science stories, including new insights into

Saturn's moon Enceladus, surprising

discoveries about plasma waves at Mercury,

and groundbreaking observations of solar

flares.

Anna: So buckle up, let's dive right

into today's space headlines.

Avery: Alright, Anna, um, let's kick things off with

some major news from Blue Origin. Jeff

Bezos Space Company just announced a new

satellite Internet network called TerraWave.

And the numbers are pretty staggering.

Anna: They really are. We're talking about data

speeds up to 6 terabits per second.

That's seriously impressive. How does that

compare to what's available now?

Avery: Well, for context, SpaceX's Starlink

currently maxes out at

400Mbps for consumers,

though they're planning to upgrade to 1

gigabit speeds in the future. But 6

terabits per second, that's in a completely

different league.

Anna: So this isn't really targeting the same

market as Starlink then?

Avery: Exactly. Blue Origin is very clear about

this. TerraWave is geared toward enterprise

customers, data centers and government

applications. It's meant to add a space based

layer to existing network infrastructure,

particularly for reaching locations that

traditional methods can't access.

Anna: What's the architecture looking like? How

many satellites are we talking about?

Avery: The constellation will use a mix of

5,280 satellites in low

Earth orbit and 128 in

medium Earth orbit. The low Earth orbit

satellites will use RF connectivity with

maximum data transfer speeds of

144 gigabits per second,

while the medium Earth orbit satellites will

use optical lengths to achieve those

incredible 6 terabits per second speeds.

Anna: When can we expect to see this actually

deployed?

Avery: Blue Origin plans to start deploying the

first satellites in late 2027. They

haven't given a timeline for the full build

out yet, which makes sense given the scale of

the project.

Anna: This is interesting timing too, isn't it?

Because Jeff Bezos other company Amazon,

just rebranded their satellite network as

LEO.

Avery: That's right. LEO will have around 3,000

satellites in low Earth orbit, offering more

traditional broadband speeds to consumers.

So, taken together, Amazon's LEO and Blue

Origin's TerraWave could provide pretty

robust competition to SpaceX's Starlink

across different market segments.

Anna: It's really shaping up to be an exciting era

for satellite Internet. The competition

should drive innovation and hopefully improve

service for everyone.

Avery: Absolutely. And it shows how Blue Origin is

evolving beyond just their space tourism

flights. With New Shepard, with the

successful launches of their new Glenn

rocket, landing the booster on just a second

attempt, and now this satellite network

announcement. They're really becoming a

multifaceted commercial space player.

Anna: Great point.

Alright, let's move on to some news from

closer to home, or at least from low Earth

orbit. Avery, we need to talk about the

unprecedented medical evacuation from the

International Space Station. This was a

historic moment and not in a way anyone

wanted. Well, today we have a bit of an

update as the astronauts have made their

first live appearance since returning to

Earth.

Avery: You're absolutely right, Anna. For the first

time in over 25 years of continuous

human presence on the ISS, and the first time

in NASA's entire history, a space

mission was cut short due to a medical issue.

The four astronauts of Crew 11 splashed down

in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of

California on January 15, about

a month earlier than planned.

Anna: Can you tell us who was on this crew?

Avery: The crew included NASA astronauts Zena

Cardman and Mike Fenk, Japan Aerospace

Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui

and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platanov.

They'd been on the station for 167

days, having launched back in August 2025.

Anna: And NASA still hasn't disclosed which crew

member had the medical issue or um, what the

condition was.

Avery: That's correct. They're protecting the

astronauts medical privacy. What they have

said is that the crew member is stable and

that this wasn't an emergency situation

despite bringing the entire crew home early.

Anna: How did this unfold? What were the warning

signs?

Avery: The first public indication came when NASA

canceled a planned spacewalk on January 8

due to a medical concern. Mike Fink and

Zena Cardman were supposed to venture outside

the station to work on the power system. The

next day, NASA made the decision to bring the

entire crew home early.

Anna: That must have been a difficult decision to

make.

Avery: Absolutely. NASA Administrator Jared

Isaacman emphasized that while they have

medical equipment and trained crew members

aboard the iss, the capability

to properly diagnose and treat this

particular condition simply doesn't exist on

the station. He called it, uh, a controlled

medical evacuation, not an emergency

deorbit.

Anna: What's particularly interesting to me is what

the crew members said at their press

conference yesterday. They seemed remarkably

positive about the experience, they really

did.

Avery: Mike Fink, who was the ISS commander during

this mission, said the way the crew and

ground teams handled everything made him more

confident about human space exploration, not

less. He specifically mentioned this bodes

well for the upcoming Artemis program.

Anna: I remember reading that they used the

portable ultrasound machine on the ISS during

this incident.

Avery: Right. Fink mentioned that during the press

conference. He emphasized that while the

ultrasound was extremely helpful, the ISS

doesn't have the capacity for larger imaging

equipment like MRI machines. Zena Cardman

also pointed out that as we venture beyond

low Earth orbit to the Moon and eventually

Mars, having better diagnostic and treatment

tools on board will be a critical challenge

to solve.

Anna: How has this affected operations on the iss?

Avery: Well, their departure left only three people

on the station, two Russian cosmonauts and

one NASA astronaut who'd arrived on a Soyuz

capsule in November. That's significantly

reduced from the typical crew of seven, which

means fewer experiments and less maintenance

can be performed. The next crew rotation,

Crew 12 is scheduled to launch no earlier

than February 15th.

Anna: Despite the challenging circumstances, this

really demonstrates the professionalism and

preparedness of our space programs.

Avery: Exactly as Cardman emphasized,

astronauts are the eyes and ears for

researchers on the ground, and this

experience will undoubtedly inform how we

prepare for longer duration missions further

from Earth. Alright, shall we move on to a

much happier space story?

Anna: Absolutely.

This past Tuesday, January 20th, marked

the 96th birthday of Buzz Aldrin,

the second man to walk the moon and now

the oldest living astronaut.

Avery: What an incredible milestone. Buzz

Aldrin, born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.

On January 20, 1930 in Glen Rich,

New Jersey, made history alongside Neil

Armstrong during the Apollo 11 landing in

1969. He was 39 years old

when he stepped onto the lunar surface.

Anna: I love the story behind his nickname. Did you

know that his sister couldn't pronounce

brother properly and called him Buzzer, which

got shortened to Buzz?

Avery: I did. And he liked it so much he legally

changed his first name to buzz in

1988. Now, it's worth noting that this

past year hasn't been easy for Aldrin. He

lost his wife, Anka Fower, last fall after a

battle with cancer. They'd been married on

his 93rd birthday in 2023.

Anna: That's heartbreaking, but it sounds like he's

surrounded by family now.

Avery: Yes, his family posted an update in late

December showing he's spending time with his

children and grandchildren in Los Angeles and

and they're planning to move him closer to

family in Southern California. Despite his

age and recent loss, he remains a cheerleader

for NASA and space exploration.

Anna: Speaking of which, the timing of his birthday

is pretty special with the Artemis II mission

coming up.

Avery: Absolutely. The Artemis astronauts wished him

a happy birthday this past weekend from

Kennedy Space center as their Orion, uh,

spacecraft atop the Space Launch System

rocket rolled out to launch pad 39B.

It's the same pad that launched many Apollo

missions.

Anna: The Artemis 2 crew, NASA astronauts Reid

Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and

Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen

could launch as early as February 6th.

They'll be the first humans to return to the

vicinity of the moon since 1972.

Avery: And they'll make history, too. Victor Glover

will be the first black astronaut, Christina

Koch the first woman, and Jeremy Hansen the

first non American to travel that far from

Earth.

Anna: What really struck me was how the Artemis

astronauts talked about their connections to

the Apollo program.

Avery: Me too. Reid Wiseman shared this great story

about almost missing a call from Apollo 10's

General Tom Stafford on the day he was

selected for Artemis 2. He thought it was a

telemarketer, but Stafford called to

congratulate him, and Wiseman said, the

Apollo astronauts are just so excited that

we're headed back to the moon.

Anna: Victor Glover mentioned carrying a bag of

wisdom quotes from Apollo 9's Rusty Schweiker

to the space station, and he's planning to

take it to the moon as well.

Avery: And Christina Koch talked about Fred haise

from Apollo 13, teasing her about breaking

their distance record. She said that moment

brought her into the Apollo camaraderie, and

she promised to carry that spirit forward.

Anna: Jeremy Hansen's story is my favorite, though.

He saw a picture of Buzz or Neil on the moon

as a kid, turned his treehouse into a

spaceship, and here he is now about to go to

the moon himself.

Avery: It really shows the lasting impact of the

Apollo program. Of the 12 men who walked on

the moon, only four are still alive. Buzz

Aldrin at 96, David Scott at

93, Charles Duke at 90, and

Harrison Schmidt at 90.

Anna: Buzz Aldrin truly is a living legend, and his

enthusiasm for the future of space

exploration is inspiring. Happy

96th birthday, Buzz.

Avery: Hear, hear. Now let's shift gears and head

out to Saturn's moon Enceladus. Anna.

Uh, this next story is about one of the most

exciting places in our solar system when it

comes to the search for life. Saturn's moon

Enceladus.

Anna: Oh, I love Enceladus. Those gorgeous

plumes shooting out from the south pole are

just mesmerizing. What's the new development?

Avery: A team of Japanese scientists has Developed a

new method for analyzing those plumes that

could help us determine whether Enceladus

subsurface ocean is habitable. They're

proposing to use Rayman spectroscopy To

estimate the ph levels of the water Being

ejected from the moon.

Anna: Rayman spectroscopy, can you explain what

that is for our listeners?

Avery: Sure. Rayman spectroscopy is a technique that

uses laser light to identify the molecular

composition of materials. It's been used on

several planetary missions, including on, um,

the perseverance rover currently on Mars. The

technique can identify different chemical

compounds and in this case, different ph

levels.

Anna: And why is ph so important for habitability?

Avery: Well, the ph level tells us how acidic or

alkaline the water is, which is crucial for

understanding whether life as we know it

could potentially exist there. Scientists

have estimated that Enceladus plumes Likely

have a ph somewhere between 8 and 12,

which is weakly to strongly alkaline.

Anna: So how did they test this method?

Avery: The researchers conducted laboratory

experiments Using carbonate salty fluid

samples at different ph levels. They

placed these samples in a vacuum chamber to

simulate Enceladus surface conditions,

Letting the fluid evaporate and freeze,

Leaving only the salt deposits behind. Then

they used Raman spectroscopy instruments

Configured to simulate how they'd work On a

future space mission.

Anna: And were they successful?

Avery: They were. The Raman spectroscopy

Successfully identified the different ph

levels in each of the salt deposit samples.

The researchers concluded that this technique

could identify Carbonate minerals On

Enceladus surface and potentially estimate

the ph of the subsurface ocean.

Anna: This is particularly clever because it means

we wouldn't necessarily need to drill through

the ice to sample the ocean directly.

Avery: Exactly. The plumes are constantly

depositing material on the surface, so a

lander could analyze these deposits and learn

about the ocean below. It's a much more

accessible approach Than trying to penetrate

kilometers of ice.

Anna: Remind me, what do we already know about

enceladus from the Cassini mission?

Avery: Well, Cassini discovered the plumes back in

the mid 2000s and even flew through them.

The mission found mostly water ice, but also

salt rich ice grains, Organic

molecules, Hydrogen gas, and evidence of

heat, all indicative of active geology

and a warm subsurface ocean.

Anna: And the presence of hydrogen gas Was

particularly exciting because it could be

produced by hydrothermal vents on the ocean

floor, right?

Avery: Exactly. That could provide A source of

chemical energy for potential microbial life,

Similar to what we see around hydrothermal

vents in earth's deep oceans. Being able to

measure the ph more accurately Would be

another crucial piece of the habitability

puzzle.

Anna: This really makes me excited for future

missions to enceladus hopefully we'll see a

dedicated mission there in the coming

decades.

Avery: Absolutely. The technology is there. We just

need the mission.

Alright, let's head to Mercury for our next

story.

Anna: Avery, this next story reveals some

surprising connections between Mercury and

Earth. It turns out these two very different

planets have more in common than we thought

when it comes to their magnetospheres.

Avery: That's right, Anna. Um. An international team

of researchers has discovered that natural

electromagnetic waves, called chorus

emissions occur in Mercury's magnetosphere

with strikingly similar characteristics to

those found around Earth, despite Mercury

having a magnetic field only about 100th

as strong.

Anna: Chorus waves. That's such an evocative name.

Can you explain what these are?

Avery: Sure. Chorus waves are plasma waves that

sound like birdsong when converted to audio

frequencies. They're created when electrons

in a planet's magnetosphere interact with

electromagnetic waves, producing these

characteristic rising and falling tones.

Anna: And why do we care about these waves on

Earth?

Avery: They play a crucial role in the Van Allen

radiation belts. They can both accelerate

particles to create the belts and also cause

particles to rain down into the atmosphere,

depleting them. Understanding these waves is

important for space weather forecasting and

protecting satellites from radiation.

Anna: So how did researchers make this discovery at

Mercury?

Avery: They used data from the BepiColombo mission's

magnetospheric orbiter, called MEO,

during six flybys of Mercury between

2021 and 2025. They

combined this with decades of data from

Earth's Geotail satellite, which operated

from 1992 to 2022.

Anna: Why was Geotail particularly useful for

comparison?

Avery: Great question. Geotail observed Earth's

Magnetotail from about 10 Earth radii

away, conditions that actually resemble

Mercury's much smaller, more compact

magnetosphere. This made it an excellent

benchmark for comparison.

Anna: What exactly did they find?

Avery: The team identified rapid rising and

falling frequency sweeps at Mercury,

indicating the same kind of nonlinear

coupling between electrons and waves that we

see at Earth. They also found that the

emissions were concentrated in the dawn side

sector, just like at Earth, where

energetic electrons preferentially stream

through the magnetosphere.

Anna: What surprised me about this is that Mercury

has almost no atmosphere. I would have

thought that would make a big difference.

Avery: That's what scientists expected, too.

Earlier theories suggested that Mercury

wouldn't have the cold or low energy

electrons necessary to generate chorus

waves. But this discovery confirms

predictions from 2025 that these

electrons do exist around Merc.

Anna: So what does this tell us about how universal

these plasma processes are?

Avery: It demonstrates that the mechanisms

responsible for generating chorus emissions

can operate across vastly different

Planetary environments. From Earth with its

strong magnetic field and thick atmosphere,

to Mercury with its weak field and virtually

no atmosphere. It's a universal

plasma process.

Anna: This has implications for other planets too,

doesn't it?

Avery: Absolutely. The researchers mentioned that

this opens up systematic comparative studies

of auroral and radiation processes at

multiple planets, including Mars, Jupiter

and Saturn. By understanding how these

emissions work across different planetary

systems, we can build a more complete picture

of plasma physics throughout the solar

system.

Anna: And Mio is scheduled to enter Mercury orbit

in late 2026, right?

Avery: That's correct. Once in orbit, Mio will be

able to make much more detailed observations

of how these emissions vary with location and

how they interact with electron populations

around Mercury. We should learn a lot more in

the coming years.

Anna: It's amazing how studying one planet helps us

understand others. Alright, let's wrap up

with some solar.

Avery: Science for our final story today. Anna,

uh, we're heading to the sun to talk about

some remarkable new insights into how

solar flares actually work, courtesy of

ESA's Solar Orbiter spacecraft.

Anna: Solar flares are one of those phenomena that

everyone's heard of and are certainly in the

news this week, but I think many people don't

really understand what's happening. What did

Solar Orbiter discover?

Avery: Well, researchers found that solar flares

start with what they're calling a magnetic

avalanche. Just like a, uh, snow avalanche

starts with a small amount of snow movement

and then cascades into something much larger.

And solar flares begin with initially

weak magnetic disturbances that rapidly

become more violent.

Anna: That's a great analogy. How are they able to

observe this?

Avery: Solar Orbiter captured one of its most

detailed views of a large solar flare during

its September 30, 2024 close

approach to the Sun. What made this

observation special was the combination of

four different instruments working together.

The Extreme Ultraviolet Imager, along with

spice sticks and phi.

Anna: What kind of detail are we talking about?

Avery: The high resolution imagery from the EUI

instrument zoomed in to features just a

few hundred kilometers across in the Sun's

corona, capturing changes every two

seconds. And the team was able to watch the

buildup to the flare for about 40 minutes

before it erupted.

Anna: That's incredibly fortunate timing.

Avery: It really was. Pradeep Cheetah from the Max

Planck Institute for Solar System Research,

who led the study, said they were very lucky

to witness the precursor events in such

beautiful detail. These kinds of high cadence

observations take up enormous amounts of

memory on spacecraft, so they can't do them

all the time.

Anna: So what actually happens during this magnetic

avalanche?

Avery: About 40 minutes before the main Flare. The

instruments observed a dark filament of

twisted magnetic fields connected to a cross

shaped structure of progressively brightening

magnetic field lines. New magnetic field

strands appeared every two seconds or less,

each one magnetically contained and becoming

twisted like ropes.

Anna: And then everything becomes unstable.

Avery: Exactly. Just like in a typical avalanche,

the region becomes unstable. The

twisted strands begin to break and reconnect

in what's called magnetic reconnection.

This rapidly triggers a cascade of further

destabilizations, creating progressively

stronger reconnection events and outflows of

energy visible as increasing brightness in

the imagery.

Anna: This is different from how scientists

previously thought flares work.

Avery: Scientists had proposed a simple avalanche

model for explaining the collective behavior

of thousands of flares on the sun and other

stars. But it wasn't clear whether a single

large flare could be described this way.

Anna: Mhm.

Avery: This result shows that a flare isn't

necessarily one coherent eruption, but can

be a cascade of many interacting

reconnection events.

Anna: I read something about raining plasma blobs

in this study.

Avery: Yes, that's one of the most fascinating

parts. The team observed ribbon like

features moving extremely quickly down

through the Sun's atmosphere even before the

main episode of the flare. These streams of

what they called raining plasma blobs are

signatures of energy deposition. They get

stronger as the flare progresses and continue

even after the flare subsides.

Anna: And they detected some seriously high energy

particles too, right?

Avery: They did. The STIX instrument

measured X ray emission that rose

dramatically during the flare. As

reconnection events increased, particles were

accelerated to speeds of 40 to 50% the

speed of light. That's about 430 to

540 kilometers per hour.

Anna: Those high energy particles can be dangerous

for satellites and astronauts, can't they?

Avery: Absolutely. They can escape into

interplanetary space and pose radiation

hazards to satellites, astronauts and even

Earth based technologies. That's why

understanding this process is essential for

forecasting space weather.

Anna: What surprised the researchers most about

this discovery?

Avery: Cheetah said they didn't expect the avalanche

process could lead to such high energy

particles. They're excited to explore this

further. But he mentioned they'd need even

higher resolution X ray imagery from future

missions to really untangle all the details.

Anna: What does this mean for our understanding of

flares on other stars?

Avery: That's a great question. Miho Janvier,

ESO Solar Orbiter Co project scientist,

called this one of the most exciting results

from Solar Orbiter so far. She said an

interesting prospect is whether this

avalanche mechanism happens in all, uh,

flares and on other flaring stars as well.

It really highlights how much we still have

to learn about our own sun, even as we

explore the far reaches of the solar system.

Anna: Absolutely. And that's the beauty of space

science. There's always new mysteries to

unravel.

Avery: Well, that wraps up another packed episode of

Astronomy Daily. We've covered everything

from cutting edge satellite technology

to historic medical operations in

from birthday celebrations to groundbreaking

scientific discoveries.

Anna: What a journey through the cosmos. From Blue

Origin's ambitious Terra Wave network to

the first medical evacuation in ISS history,

from Buzz Aldrin's 96th birthday to

Enceladus potentially habitable ocean,

from Mercury's plasma waves to the Sun's

magnetic avalanches, there's never a dull

moment in space exploration.

Avery: If you enjoyed today's episode, make sure to

subscribe to Astronomy Daily wherever you get

your podcasts. We bring you the latest space

and astronomy news every single day.

Anna: And don't forget to follow us on social media

for updates, bonus content, and to join our

community of space enthusiasts. You can find

all our episodes and more at

astronomydaily.IO thanks for joining us.

Avery: On this cosmic journey.

Anna: Keep looking up clear skies, everyone.

Avery: This has been Astronomy Daily. We'll see you

tomorrow.

In this episode