Cosmic Debris in Australia, NASA's Lunar Shakeup, and the Mystery of Moonlight Signals

0:00 Anna: Welcome everyone to Astronomy Daily, your

0:02 regular guide to the biggest stories

0:03 happening off world. Give us 10 minutes and

0:06 we'll give you the universe. I'm Anna.

0:08 Avery: And I'm Avery. It's fantastic to have you

0:11 with us, Anna. Uh, it feels like every week

0:13 the pace just gets faster. We've got so much

0:16 to talk about today.

0:17 Anna: We really do on the docket. Today we're

0:19 starting on the ground in Australia with some

0:21 mysterious burning debris that appears to

0:23 have fallen from orbit.

0:25 Avery: From there we'll jump to the moon, or at

0:27 least the plans to get there. NASA is

0:29 signaling a major potential shakeup for its

0:32 Artemis 3 landing contract. And it's all

0:34 about competition and a new space race.

0:37 Anna: Then we'll look at SpaceX's relentless launch

0:39 cadence, including a very special satellite

0:42 and a mind boggling milestone for their

0:44 Starlink constellation.

0:45 Avery: And after that, we're diving into one of my

0:48 favorite topics. Are we alone?

0:51 There's a huge update to the official

0:53 playbook for what scientists should do if

0:55 they actually detect a signal from ET.

0:58 Anna: It's a big deal, it really is. And we'll

1:01 finish by looking at our own moon and the

1:03 strange flashes of light that have puzzled

1:04 astronomers for centuries. With some new

1:06 theories emerging, it's a packed show, so

1:09 let's get right into it.

1:11 Avery: Alright. Our first story takes us to

1:13 Western Australia, where miners

1:16 stumbled upon something you don't see every

1:19 day. A large, still smoking

1:22 piece of metal that had clearly fallen from

1:25 the sky.

1:26 Anna: Right. Pictures show this charred

1:28 dome shaped object and authorities were

1:31 quickly called in. The Australian Space

1:33 Agency is now leading the investigation

1:36 to formally identify the object.

1:39 Avery: It must be quite a sight to just find that in

1:41 a field. Now, while the official confirmation

1:44 is pending, an astrophysicist has suggested

1:47 it's very likely from the fourth stage of a

1:50 Chinese Jielong 3 rocket which was launched

1:53 last September.

1:54 Anna: And that makes sense, given the trajectory

1:56 and the materials. It really brings the issue

1:58 of space debris into sharp focus.

2:01 We often talk about it as a problem for

2:03 satellites in orbit, but this is a reminder

2:06 that it can and does have an impact right

2:09 here on Earth.

2:10 Avery: Exactly. Most of the tens of

2:13 thousands of trackable objects are small but

2:15 larger pieces like rocket stages and have

2:18 a non zero chance of surviving re

2:21 entry. We've seen it before with

2:23 Skylab in 1979, also

2:26 in Australia, and more recently with other

2:29 Chinese rocket stages making uncontrolled,

2:31 uh, re entries.

2:33 Anna: Mhm. And that's the key term, uncontrolled.

2:36 Most modern rockets are designed to re enter

2:38 over the ocean or have systems to deorbit

2:41 themselves safely. But some older designs

2:44 or in some specific mission profiles, the

2:46 stages are just left to tumble down wherever

2:48 gravity and atmospheric drag take them.

2:50 Avery: It's a bit like cosmic roulette.

2:53 Thankfully, since so much of the Earth is

2:55 water or uninhabited land, the

2:58 risk to human life has been statistically

3:01 very low. But it's not zero.

3:04 And as the number of launches increases,

3:07 that risk goes up.

3:09 Anna: It's a problem that space agencies and

3:11 private companies are taking more seriously

3:13 with new technologies for active debris

3:15 removal being developed. But for now, it

3:18 seems we'll occasionally be getting these

3:19 fiery visitors from above.

3:21 Avery: Okay, from falling hardware to the hardware

3:24 we're intentionally trying to send to the

3:26 moon.

3:27 Anna, uh, there's some major news from NASA

3:29 about the Artemis 3 mission. The one that's

3:32 supposed to put astronauts back on the lunar

3:34 surface.

3:35 Anna: This is a huge development. NASA's acting

3:37 chief Sean Duffy has indicated that the

3:40 agency is strongly considering opening up the

3:42 moon landing contract to a second company in

3:45 addition to SpaceX.

3:47 Avery: Right. As it stands, SpaceX and its

3:50 lunar Optimized Starship were the sole

3:52 winners of that lucrative contract. But the

3:55 new thinking at, uh, NASA is that relying on

3:57 just one provider for such a critical

4:00 national capability is risky.

4:02 Anna: It definitely is. The acting chief cited a

4:05 couple of key reasons. First, he acknowledged

4:07 that SpaceX is behind schedule in developing

4:10 the lander. They need to perform many test

4:13 flights of starship, including an uncrewed

4:15 lunar landing, before they can put astronauts

4:17 on board. And that's taking longer than

4:19 hoped.

4:20 Avery: The second reason he gave was much more

4:22 direct. He explicitly mentioned a race

4:24 against China. China has its own

4:27 ambitious lunar program with plans for a

4:30 lunar base. And NASA is feeling the pressure

4:33 to not fall behind.

4:34 Anna: Yeah, you don't hear that kind of direct

4:36 language every day. So the idea is to bring

4:39 in another company like Blue Origin with

4:41 their Blue Moon lander concept to develop a

4:44 competing system. This creates redundancy and

4:47 spurs competition.

4:48 Avery: It's a return to the Apollo era model in a

4:51 way where multiple contractors were often

4:54 working on different parts of the same

4:56 problem. This also comes with a more

4:58 realistic timeline, with the Artemis 3

5:01 landing now being publicly targeted for

5:04 2028.

5:05 Anna: It's a smart move in my opinion. It might

5:08 cost more in the short term to fund two

5:10 landers, but in the long term, it makes the

5:12 entire enterprise more resilient and it

5:15 signals that NASA is serious about creating a

5:17 sustainable presence at the moon, not just a

5:19 one off visit.

5:20 Avery: Absolutely. The next few months will be

5:23 critical as we wait to see if NASA formally

5:26 opens up bids for this second contract, a

5:28 very big story to watch.

5:31 Anna: Well, while NASA might be worried about

5:33 SpaceX's timeline for the moon, there's no

5:35 question about their launch cadence here on

5:37 Earth. This week alone, they're aiming for as

5:40 many as four Falcon 9 launches.

5:42 Avery: The pace is just relentless.

5:45 It has fundamentally changed the launch

5:47 industry. And one of this week's missions is

5:50 particularly noteworthy because the Falcon 9

5:53 first stage booster is going to be expended.

5:56 Anna: Right? It's not going to attempt a landing.

5:58 This is for the SpainSat NG1 satellite,

6:01 a sophisticated communications satellite for

6:03 the Spanish government. Why are they

6:05 expending the booster for this one?

6:07 Avery: It all comes down to performance. This

6:10 satellite is very heavy and it's headed for a

6:13 high energy geostationary transfer orbit.

6:16 To get it there, the Falcon 9 has to burn its

6:18 engine for longer and at a higher thrust,

6:22 leaving no fuel reserves for the complex

6:23 boostback and landing burns.

6:25 Anna: So they're prioritizing the customer's

6:27 mission over recovering the hardware. It's a

6:30 good reminder that as routine as the landings

6:33 have become, they are still secondary to

6:36 the primary mission.

6:37 Avery: Exactly.

6:38 And Speaking of routine, SpaceX quietly

6:41 passed a massive milestone recently. They

6:44 successfully launched their 10,000th Starlink

6:47 satellite. Just think about that number for a

6:49 second.

6:50 Anna: 10,000. The scale of that constellation is

6:52 almost impossible to comprehend. It's

6:55 providing Internet to remote places all over

6:57 the world, which is incredible. But it's also

7:00 causing ongoing headaches for ground based

7:03 astronomers due to light pollution.

7:05 Avery: It's a complex issue with passionate

7:07 arguments on both sides. And to complete the

7:10 global launch picture for the week, a Chinese

7:12 Long March 5 rocket is also scheduled to lift

7:15 off. But but its payload is a secret.

7:17 Anna: A little bit of intrigue from the China

7:19 National Space Administration. We'll be

7:21 keeping an eye out for what that might be.

7:23 Avery: Okay, for our next story, let's venture

7:26 into the hypothetical. Let's say

7:28 tomorrow. Astronomers using a radio

7:31 telescope detect an unmistakable

7:34 structured signal from a nearby star system.

7:37 It's intelligent. What happens next?

7:40 Anna: Well, for decades, the plan has been what's

7:42 known as the post detection policy. But now

7:45 the International Academy of Astronautics is

7:47 proposing a major, major update. And

7:50 it's a fascinating look at how our

7:51 perspective has changed.

7:53 Avery: It really is. The old protocol was largely

7:56 about verification. A scientist who found a

7:59 signal would first need to rule out all

8:01 terrestrial sources and then get independent

8:04 verification from another observatory.

8:06 After that, the information would be released

8:08 to the public.

8:10 Anna: And crucially, the decision of whether or not

8:11 to reply was left largely to the discoverers.

8:15 There wasn't a Global consensus required. The

8:17 new proposal completely changes that last

8:19 part.

8:20 Avery: That's the core of it. The new protocol

8:23 states that no response should be sent to a,

8:25 uh, confirmed alien signal until

8:27 appropriate international consultations have

8:30 taken place. Specifically through a body like

8:33 the United Nations.

8:34 Anna: So in essence, we have to talk amongst

8:36 ourselves before we talk to them. It

8:39 takes the decision out of the hands of a

8:41 small group of scientists and places it on

8:43 the world stage.

8:45 Avery: Exactly. And the rationale is a

8:48 reply to an alien signal would be sent on

8:50 behalf of all of humanity. What would we say?

8:53 Who would craft the message? What are the

8:56 potential risks and rewards? These aren't

8:58 just scientific questions. They're political,

9:01 cultural and ethical.

9:03 Anna: You can just imagine the debates at the un.

9:06 It would be unbelievable. This reflects a,

9:08 uh, growing understanding that contact isn't

9:11 just a scientific discovery. It's a

9:14 species level event. And it's probably

9:17 wise to have a plan in place before we're

9:19 forced to improvise.

9:21 Avery: I agree. It's a sober, mature step

9:23 for the SETI community to take.

9:26 Anna: Alright, for our last story, we're heading

9:28 back to the Moon to look at a genuine long

9:30 standing astronomical mystery. Transient

9:33 lunar phenomena or TLPs.

9:35 Avery: Right. These are reports of short lived

9:37 lights, colors or other changes on the lunar

9:40 surface. They've been documented for

9:42 centuries, even by pre telescopic observers,

9:45 but they're notoriously difficult to confirm

9:47 and study.

9:48 Anna: So what are the leading theories for what's

9:50 causing them? It seems like there's more than

9:52 one answer.

9:53 Avery: There likely is. For the briefest flashes.

9:56 Just a blink and they're gone. The

9:59 consensus is that these are meteoroid

10:01 impacts. We have networks of telescopes

10:04 that now monitor the Moon for these, and we

10:07 see them fairly often. A small rock hitting

10:10 the dark side of the moon at 30,000 miles per

10:12 hour creates a visible flash of

10:15 vaporized rock.

10:16 Anna: Okay, that one makes sense. But what about

10:18 the ones that last longer? The reports of

10:20 areas that seem to glow or have a strange

10:22 haze for minutes or even hours?

10:25 Avery: That's where it gets more interesting. A

10:27 strong candidate is the release of gas from

10:30 the Moon's interior. The Moon isn't

10:32 geologically dead. It's thought to have a

10:35 molten core and still experiences

10:37 moonquakes. These quakes could release

10:40 pockets of trapped gas, like radon from

10:43 below the surface.

10:44 Anna: And that gas could glow.

10:46 Avery: Potentially. The gas itself might

10:48 fluoresce under the harsh solar radiation.

10:51 Or, or it could stir up fine lunar dust which

10:53 then reflects sunlight in a peculiar

10:56 way. The Aristarchus Plateau is a known

10:59 hotspot for these kinds of events. And it's

11:02 also a region known for a gas release.

11:05 Anna: Fascinating. And what about the really weird,

11:07 long lasting lights?

11:09 Avery: Those are the most contentious. One theory

11:12 is electrostatic dust levitation,

11:15 where solar radiation charges fine dust

11:18 particles and makes them hover above the

11:20 surface, forming a kind of temporary

11:23 dusty atmosphere that can scatter light.

11:26 Other scientists are more skeptical,

11:29 suggesting these are just misidentified

11:31 satellites or even phenomena in our

11:34 own atmosphere projected against the Moon.

11:38 Anna: So we still don't have a definitive answer.

11:40 It's amazing to think that we've walked on

11:42 the Moon, yet it still holds these

11:44 fundamental mysteries. It's a good reason to

11:46 keep sending robotic and eventually human

11:49 observers back to investigate.

11:51 Avery: And with that mystery, our time is up for

11:52 this episode of Astronomy Daily. From cosmic

11:55 litter in the outback to global debates about

11:57 talking to aliens, it's been an episode full

12:00 of incredible science.

12:02 Anna: It certainly has. The universe never fails to

12:04 keep us on our toes. We hope you've enjoyed

12:07 this tour of the latest astronomical news.

12:09 Avery: A, uh, huge thank you to all of you for

12:12 listening. Be sure to join us again tomorrow

12:14 for another deep dive into the cosmos.

12:18 Until then, from both of us, clear

12:20 skies and keep looking up.