Europe's Space Comeback, NASA's Artemis Delays, and the Hunt for Planet X: S03E225

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your daily dose of space and

0:03 Speaker 1: astronomy news. I'm your host, Anna, and we've got an

0:07 Speaker 1: absolutely packed show for you today with some incredible developments

0:10 Speaker 1: from across the space sector. We'll be diving into Europe's

0:13 Speaker 1: triumphant return to space with the Vegas Sea rocket launch,

0:17 Speaker 1: unpacking NASA's latest timeline adjustments for their ambitious Artemis Moon missions,

0:22 Speaker 1: and exploring fascinating new evidence that suggests we might have

0:25 Speaker 1: a mysterious Planet X lurking in the outer reaches of

0:28 Speaker 1: our Solar system. We've also got some groundbreaking observations from

0:32 Speaker 1: the Hubble Space Telescope that's given us our closest ever

0:36 Speaker 1: look at Aquasar, plus exciting news about the Curiosity rovers

0:40 Speaker 1: next mission, targeting some intriguing spiderweb formations on Mars. And

0:44 Speaker 1: we'll round things off with crucial findings from NASA's investigation

0:47 Speaker 1: into the Artemis heat shield performance. So strap in for

0:51 Speaker 1: another fascinating journey through the latest developments in space exploration

0:55 Speaker 1: and astronomical discoveries. First up, some good news. Europe's space

1:01 Speaker 1: program has just achieved a significant milestone with the successful

1:05 Speaker 1: launch of the Vegas Sea rocket from the Kuru Spaceport

1:08 Speaker 1: in French Guiana. This marks a triumphant return to flight

1:11 Speaker 1: for the Italian built launcher after a two year hiatus

1:14 Speaker 1: following a failed mission in December twenty twenty two. The

1:18 Speaker 1: rocket blasted off at six twenty pm Local time, carrying

1:21 Speaker 1: the Sentinel one Sea satellite, a crucial component of the

1:24 Speaker 1: European Union's Copernicus Earth observation program. This successful launch represents

1:29 Speaker 1: a critical step in securing Europe's independent access to space,

1:34 Speaker 1: especially important given recent geopolitical challenges that have limited the

1:37 Speaker 1: continent's launch options. The mission's success is particularly noteworthy as

1:42 Speaker 1: Europe has faced several setbacks in its space program recently.

1:46 Speaker 1: The previous Vegas Sea failure had grounded the entire fleet

1:50 Speaker 1: when an anomaly destroyed two Earth imaging satellites just two

1:53 Speaker 1: and a half minutes into flight. This return to service

1:56 Speaker 1: demonstrates the resilience and determination of Europe's space sector. Looking ahead,

2:01 Speaker 1: Vegas C is set to play an increasingly important role

2:04 Speaker 1: in Europe's space strategy. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the

2:08 Speaker 1: EU was forced to stop using Russian Soyuz vehicles, making

2:11 Speaker 1: the successful operation of platforms like vegas c even more crucial.

2:16 Speaker 1: Starting from twenty twenty five, Italy's Avio will take over

2:19 Speaker 1: the marketing of Vegacy launches, marking a new chapter in

2:22 Speaker 1: European space operations. The Sentinel one CE satellite, now heading

2:27 Speaker 1: to its seven hundred kilometer orbit, will join an impressive

2:31 Speaker 1: constellation of Earth observation satellites, expanding our planet's most extensive

2:36 Speaker 1: radar imaging network. This system plays a vital role in

2:40 Speaker 1: monitoring our environment, from tracking the climate to supporting disaster

2:43 Speaker 1: response efforts. Next, some not so good news. In a

2:47 Speaker 1: significant announcement today, NASA has revealed further delays to its

2:51 Speaker 1: ambitious Artemis program, pushing back the timeline for humanity's return

2:55 Speaker 1: to the Moon. The next Artemis mission, which will send

2:58 Speaker 1: astronauts around the Moon without landing, has been rescheduled from

3:01 Speaker 1: September twenty twenty five to April twenty twenty six. The

3:05 Speaker 1: subsequent mission, aiming to land astronauts on the lunar surface,

3:09 Speaker 1: is now targeted for mid twenty twenty seven. These delays

3:12 Speaker 1: stem from crucial safety considerations, particularly regarding the Orion spacecraft's

3:17 Speaker 1: heat shield. During the Artemis one test flight in twenty

3:20 Speaker 1: twenty two, the heat shield experienced unexpected cracking and partial

3:24 Speaker 1: erosion during re entry into Earth's atmosphere. While NASA officials

3:28 Speaker 1: stress that astronauts would have been safe had they been aboard,

3:31 Speaker 1: the agency is taking extra precautions to ensure crue safety

3:35 Speaker 1: for future missions. I'll have some more on this shortly. Also,

3:39 Speaker 1: the financial scope of the Artemis program is substantial, with

3:42 Speaker 1: estimated costs reaching ninety three billion dollars through twenty twenty five.

3:48 Speaker 1: Despite these delays, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson emphasized that the

3:52 Speaker 1: revised timeline still puts the United States well ahead of

3:55 Speaker 1: China's announced intention to land on the lunar surface by

3:59 Speaker 1: twenty thirty, maintaining America's leadership in space exploration. The technical

4:04 Speaker 1: team has decided to keep the current heat shield design

4:06 Speaker 1: for the next mission, but will modify the capsule's return

4:09 Speaker 1: trajectory to prevent similar issues future missions Beyond Artemis, The

4:14 Speaker 1: second will feature an upgraded heat shield design. While replacing

4:18 Speaker 1: the current heat shield might have provided additional safety margins,

4:22 Speaker 1: it would have resulted in an even longer delay of

4:24 Speaker 1: at least a year. These setbacks highlight the complex challenges

4:28 Speaker 1: of modern space exploration, but they also demonstrate NASA's unwavering

4:33 Speaker 1: commitment to crue safety. The Artemis program remains the flagship

4:37 Speaker 1: American effort to not only return humans to the Moon,

4:40 Speaker 1: but also to establish permanent lunar bases that will serve

4:42 Speaker 1: as stepping stones for eventual human missions to Mars. Next up,

4:48 Speaker 1: are we a step closer to solving this mystery? For decades,

4:53 Speaker 1: the idea of an undiscovered planet lurking in the outer

4:56 Speaker 1: reaches of our Solar System has captured imaginations. Now, exciting

5:00 Speaker 1: new research from Princeton University has significantly boosted the likelihood

5:05 Speaker 1: that this mysterious planet X actually exists. The studies findings

5:10 Speaker 1: suggest we might be closer than ever to confirming one

5:14 Speaker 1: of astronomy's most intriguing possibilities. The evidence comes from studying

5:18 Speaker 1: the orbits of objects in the outer Solar System, specifically

5:22 Speaker 1: trans Neptunian objects or Kuiper Belt objects. What makes this

5:26 Speaker 1: research particularly compelling is its expanded scope. While previous studies

5:31 Speaker 1: focused on just eleven of the most distant objects, the

5:34 Speaker 1: Princeton team's analysis included fifty one objects, providing a much

5:38 Speaker 1: more robust statistical foundation. The results are striking The team

5:43 Speaker 1: found that there's only a one in one thousand chance

5:46 Speaker 1: that the unusual alignment of these objects' orbits is random.

5:51 Speaker 1: This strongly suggests the presence of a massive body influencing

5:55 Speaker 1: their movements through gravitational forces. Think of it like seeing

5:59 Speaker 1: multiple boats all being pulled in the same direction by

6:02 Speaker 1: an unseen current. It's a clear sign that something significant

6:05 Speaker 1: is affecting their paths. The study also gives us our

6:09 Speaker 1: best picture yet of what Planet X might be like.

6:12 Speaker 1: The data suggests it's about four point four times the

6:15 Speaker 1: mass of Earth, making it either a super Earth or

6:18 Speaker 1: a mini Neptune. This hypothetical planet would follow an elliptical orbit,

6:23 Speaker 1: more aligned with the known planets than previously thought, though

6:26 Speaker 1: pinpointing its exact location remains challenging since it could be

6:30 Speaker 1: anywhere along its orbital path. The hunt for Planet X

6:35 Speaker 1: isn't just about adding another world to our Solar System map.

6:38 Speaker 1: If confirmed, its discovery would revolutionize our understanding of how

6:43 Speaker 1: our cosmic neighborhood formed and evolved. With the Versi Reuben

6:47 Speaker 1: Observatory coming online next year, equipped with the world's largest

6:51 Speaker 1: camera for astronomical observations, we might be just months away

6:55 Speaker 1: from finally spotting this elusive world. In a remarkable achievement,

7:00 Speaker 1: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has given us our closest look

7:03 Speaker 1: ever into the heart of a quasar, peering deeper than

7:06 Speaker 1: ever before into one of the universe's most energetic phenomena.

7:10 Speaker 1: The observations focused on Quasar three C two hundred and

7:13 Speaker 1: seventy three, which holds the distinction of being the first

7:17 Speaker 1: quasar ever identified back in nineteen sixty three. What makes

7:21 Speaker 1: this observation truly groundbreaking is Hubble's ability to overcome the

7:26 Speaker 1: intense glare of the quaser. Imagine trying to spot an

7:30 Speaker 1: ant crawling on the rim of a car headlight while

7:33 Speaker 1: staring directly into the beam. The Telescope Space Telescope Imaging

7:37 Speaker 1: spectrograph acted like a celestial coronagraph, blocking out the quasar's

7:42 Speaker 1: overwhelming brightness, much like the Moon blocks the Sun during

7:45 Speaker 1: a solar eclipse. The resulting images reveal what scientists describe

7:49 Speaker 1: as weird things in the quasar's immediate surroundings. Within just

7:54 Speaker 1: sixteen thousand light years of the central black hole, researchers

7:58 Speaker 1: have spotted various mysterious blobs and an L shaped filamentary structure.

8:03 Speaker 1: Some of these objects might be smaller galaxies being pulled

8:06 Speaker 1: into the quasar's monstrous black hole, providing the fuel that

8:10 Speaker 1: powers its incredible luminosity. The team also made fascinating discoveries

8:15 Speaker 1: about the quasar's jet, a massive stream of material stretching

8:18 Speaker 1: and astounding three hundred thousand light years across space, moving

8:22 Speaker 1: at nearly the speed of light. By comparing observations taking

8:26 Speaker 1: twenty two years apart, they found that the jet actually

8:29 Speaker 1: accelerates as it moves farther from the black hole. This

8:34 Speaker 1: unprecedented view of three C two hundred and seventy three,

8:38 Speaker 1: located two point five billion light years away, is helping

8:41 Speaker 1: bridge our understanding between what we see in radio observations

8:45 Speaker 1: and larger scale optical imaging. It's offering crucial insights into

8:49 Speaker 1: how these cosmic lighthouses interact with their host galaxies and

8:53 Speaker 1: shape the evolution of the universe around them. Let's change

8:57 Speaker 1: gears and get Amar's update. NASA's Intrepid Curiosity Rover is

9:01 Speaker 1: gearing up for a fascinating new chapter in its already

9:04 Speaker 1: remarkable mission on Mars. After successfully wrapping up its exploration

9:08 Speaker 1: of the getis Vallis region, where it made several significant discoveries,

9:12 Speaker 1: including pure sulfur crystals and ancient lake bed formations. The

9:16 Speaker 1: rover is now setting its sights on something truly extraordinary,

9:20 Speaker 1: massive spiderweb like structures that stretch across the Martian surface.

9:25 Speaker 1: These peculiar formations, known as the box work, span an

9:29 Speaker 1: incredible six to twelve miles across and represent one of

9:32 Speaker 1: the most intriguing geological features ever identified on Mars. While

9:37 Speaker 1: similar structures exist on Earth in places like wind Cave

9:40 Speaker 1: National Park in South Dakota, they typically only extend a

9:44 Speaker 1: few feet, the Martian versions dwarf their terrestrial cousins by

9:48 Speaker 1: orders of magnitude. The boxwork formations are believed to have

9:52 Speaker 1: formed through a process involving mineral rich water, much like

9:55 Speaker 1: their Earth counterparts. As ancient waters carrying dissolved minerals seeped

10:00 Speaker 1: through cracks in the Martian rock, they left behind crystalline deposits.

10:05 Speaker 1: Over time, as the surrounding rock eroded away, these more

10:08 Speaker 1: resistant mineral veins remained, creating the distinctive weblike pattern we

10:12 Speaker 1: see today. What makes these structures particularly exciting for scientists

10:17 Speaker 1: is their potential to reveal new insights about Mars's watery past.

10:21 Speaker 1: The minerals preserved in these ancient formations could tell us

10:25 Speaker 1: not just about the chemistry of Mars's ancient waters, but

10:28 Speaker 1: potentially about whether the environment might have once been suitable

10:32 Speaker 1: for microbial life. The mineral composition of these structures could

10:36 Speaker 1: mirror similar environments on early Earth where microorganisms thrived. Curiosity

10:42 Speaker 1: won't reach these remarkable features until early twenty twenty five,

10:46 Speaker 1: but the anticipation among the science team is already building.

10:50 Speaker 1: This investigation promises to add another fascinating chapter to our

10:54 Speaker 1: understanding of Mars's geological history and its potential for having

10:58 Speaker 1: once harbored life. And now some more Artemis news. After

11:03 Speaker 1: extensive investigation, NASA has finally uncovered the root cause of

11:07 Speaker 1: the unexpected heat shield damage observed during the Artemis one mission.

11:11 Speaker 1: The investigation revealed a fascinating technical challenge that occurred during

11:16 Speaker 1: the spacecraft's revolutionary skip re entry maneuver. The issue stemmed

11:20 Speaker 1: from gases that built up inside the heat shield's protective

11:23 Speaker 1: avcoat material during re entry. Normally, these gases should have

11:27 Speaker 1: vented and dissipated, but they became trapped, creating pressure that

11:31 Speaker 1: caused cracking and led to pieces of charred material breaking

11:35 Speaker 1: away in several locations. What's particularly interesting is that this

11:39 Speaker 1: phenomenon wasn't captured in pre flight testing. The ground tests

11:43 Speaker 1: used much higher heating rates than what the spacecraft actually

11:46 Speaker 1: experienced during its return. Under those more intense conditions, the

11:51 Speaker 1: material behaved as expected, but the actual gentler heating during

11:55 Speaker 1: artemis the Fort's re entry created a different reaction, slowing

11:59 Speaker 1: down the formation of protective char while still generating gases

12:03 Speaker 1: within the material. Despite these findings, there's good news for

12:07 Speaker 1: future missions. The investigation confirmed that even with the unexpected

12:12 Speaker 1: heat shield behavior, the spacecraft's internal temperature remained remarkably stable

12:17 Speaker 1: in the mid seventies fahrenheit. Had astronauts been aboard, they

12:20 Speaker 1: would have remained perfectly safe throughout the re entry process.

12:24 Speaker 1: NASA's engineers have already identified solutions for future missions. They

12:28 Speaker 1: discovered that areas of the heat shield that were naturally

12:31 Speaker 1: more permeable didn't experience the same cracking issues, as the

12:34 Speaker 1: gases could escape more easily. This insight is driving improvements

12:39 Speaker 1: in the manufacturing process to ensure more consistent permeability in

12:43 Speaker 1: future heat shields. These findings represent a perfect example of

12:47 Speaker 1: why we conduct uncrude test flights. They allow us to

12:50 Speaker 1: identify and solve potential issues before putting astronauts at risk,

12:54 Speaker 1: ultimately making future crude missions safer and more reliable. Up

13:00 Speaker 1: today's episode of Astronomy Daily, I'm Anna, and I want

13:03 Speaker 1: to thank you for joining me on this journey through

13:05 Speaker 1: the latest developments in space exploration and astronomy. Remember the

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