From VLEO Satellites to Black Hole Breakthroughs: Your Daily Space Update

0:00 Anna: Hello and welcome to Astronomy daily. Give us

0:03 10 minutes and we'll give you the universe.

0:05 I'm Anna and with me as always, is my co

0:08 host, Avery. Hey Avery. It's January

0:10 5th, 2026. Hope everyone's having a

0:13 fantastic start to the year. We've already

0:16 seen some exciting launches and sky events

0:18 kicking off and I'm pumped for what's ahead.

0:21 Avery: Hi Anna. And a big hello to all our listeners

0:23 out there exploring the cosmos with us.

0:26 Absolutely. 2026 is buzzing right from the

0:29 get go. Today we've lined up 6 int

0:32 storeys from cutting edge tech for satellites

0:34 hugging Earth closer than ever before to a

0:37 mission finally orbiting the scorched world

0:39 of Mercury black holes confirming

0:42 Einstein's wild predictions, a speedy

0:45 SpaceX launch, NASA's clever waiting game for

0:48 Mars probes and the sharpest X ray peak

0:50 yet at a spinning black hole beast. We'll

0:53 dive deep, discuss the science and share our

0:56 thoughts.

0:56 Let's jump in.

0:58 Anna: First storey of the day is all about pushing

1:00 the boundaries of satellite orbits. We're

1:03 talking about very low Earth orbit or

1:05 VLEO satellites which zip around at

1:08 altitudes between 100 and 400

1:11 kilometres above Earth. That's a lot

1:13 closer than the usual low Earth orbit stuff,

1:16 which can go up to 2000 kilometres.

1:19 Avery, why go so low? And what makes this

1:22 the next frontier?

1:24 Avery: Great question, Ana. Uh, the advantages are

1:26 pretty compelling at these lower heights,

1:28 satellites can capture much sharper images

1:31 for Earth observation. Imagine super

1:33 detailed views that ah, boost agriculture by

1:36 spotting crop health issues early, enhance

1:38 climate monitoring with precise data on

1:40 deforestation or ice melt, aid

1:43 in disaster response like tracking wildfires

1:46 or floods in real time, and even support

1:48 military reconnaissance with crystal clear

1:51 intel. On the communications side, the lower

1:54 altitude means red signal latency. Think

1:56 faster Internet and more responsive networks.

1:59 Weather forecasting gets an upgrade too, with

2:01 better resolution on cloud formations and

2:04 atmospheric layers.

2:05 Anna: Sounds revolutionary, but I bet there are

2:08 challenges. The atmosphere doesn't just

2:10 vanish at 100 kilometres. There's still

2:13 enough air to cause serious drag, right?

2:16 Satellites could spiral down and burn up in

2:18 mere days without some kind of constant

2:21 boost.

2:22 Avery: Spot on. Atmospheric drag is the big

2:25 hurdle. Along with corrosion from atomic

2:27 oxygen. That's highly reactive stuff that

2:29 eats away at materials and intense heating

2:32 from friction, pushing temperatures beyond

2:34 1500 degrees Celsius. To combat

2:37 this, engineers are developing innovative

2:40 propulsion systems like air breathing

2:42 electric thrusters. These scoop up sparse

2:44 atmospheric molecules and ionise them for

2:47 thrust. For example, researchers at Penn

2:49 State are experimenting with microwave plasma

2:52 technology, while darpa' OTTER programme,

2:54 partnered with Redwire is testing similar

2:57 concepts. It's like giving satellites a way

2:59 to breathe the air they're flying through.

3:01 Anna: And with orbits like LEO getting increasingly

3:04 congested, starLink has over 6,000

3:07 satellites alone, plus competitors.

3:10 VLEO could open up new real estate in

3:13 space, reducing collision risks up higher.

3:16 Investments are skyrocketing, with

3:18 projections in the hundreds of billions over

3:20 the coming decade. Right now it's mostly

3:23 prototypes and demos, but Earth,

3:26 Observant and Albedo are leading the charge.

3:28 This could really change how we monitor our

3:31 planet and connect globally.

3:33 Avery: No doubt. It's exciting to think about the

3:35 applications. Closer orbits mean better data

3:38 and who knows what breakthrough that'll lead

3:40 to in environmental science or urban

3:42 planning.

3:43 Anna: Moving on to our second storey. After a

3:45 long journey, the BepiColombo mission is

3:48 poised to enter orbit around Mercury later

3:51 this year in the second half of 2026.

3:54 This is a collaborative effort between the

3:56 European Space Agenc and

3:59 Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

4:02 Launched way back in October 2018,

4:05 it features two ESA's

4:08 Mercury Planetary Orbiter, focused on the

4:11 planet's surface composition and interior

4:14 structure, and JAXA's Meo, which will study

4:17 the magnetic field, magnetosphere and

4:19 thin exosphere.

4:21 Avery: Mercury is one of the trickiest planets to

4:23 reach because of its proximity to the sun.

4:26 The gravity pull is immense, so you need a

4:29 lot of energy to slow down and get captured

4:32 into orbit. BepiColombo has been using

4:35 a series of gravity assist flybys

4:37 Earth once, Venus twice and

4:40 Mercury itself six times, to bleed

4:43 off speed without guzzling fuel. The

4:46 planet's extreme environment adds to the

4:48 challenge. Surface temperature swings from

4:51 negative 173 degrees

4:53 Celsius at night to 427

4:56 degrees Celsius during the day. It has an

4:59 eccentric orbit, a um, massive iron

5:01 core making up 60% of its mass,

5:04 and a surprisingly active magnetic

5:07 field, despite its small size.

5:09 Anna: Once in orbit, it'll provide groundbreaking

5:12 data, like the first ever X ray fluorescence

5:14 maps of another planet's surface. That'll

5:17 reveal elemental compositions, things like

5:19 magnesium, aluminium, silicon in

5:22 unprecedented detail, helping us understand

5:25 Mercury's volcanic history and crustal

5:28 evolution. We'll also get better insights

5:30 into its tenuous atmosphere and how solar

5:33 wind interacts with the magnetosphere.

5:36 Avery: Comparing this to data from Earth, Mars

5:38 and the Moon will refine our models of inner

5:41 solar system planet formation. The

5:44 instruments are state of the art, but after

5:46 eight years in space, the teams will be

5:49 holding their breath during activation. If

5:51 all goes well, it'll operate for at least a

5:54 year with possible extensions.

5:56 Anna: I'm eager for those close up views and what

5:58 they tell us about the sun's closest

6:00 companion. It's been a patient wait, but

6:03 science like this is worth it.

6:05 Avery: Absolutely.

6:06 Now for something that bends the mind and

6:09 spacetime itself. Astronomers have

6:12 caught a black hole in the act of twisting

6:15 the fabric of reality, exactly as

6:17 Albert Einstein predicted back in 1918

6:20 with his general theory of relativity. This

6:23 is the lens theoring effect, also

6:26 known as frame dragging, where a spinning

6:29 massive object warps spacetime around

6:31 it.

6:32 Anna: The observation comes from a tidal disruption

6:35 event dubbed at

6:36 2020afhd, where a

6:39 supermassive black hole shredded a passing

6:41 star, creating a swirling accretion

6:44 disc of hot gas and launching powerful

6:47 jets. Using X ray data from NASA's

6:50 Neil Gerald Swift Observatory and radio

6:53 observations from the Very Large Array in New

6:55 Mexico, the team detected the disc and one

6:58 jet precessing or wobbling in unison

7:01 every 20 days. That wobble is the

7:04 direct result of the black hole's spin

7:06 dragging spacetime Like.

7:07 Avery: A vortex, these events are rare.

7:10 Tidal disruptions happen maybe once in every

7:13 10,000 to 100,000 years per

7:16 galaxy. And catching the repeating signals

7:19 needed for this measurement is even tougher.

7:21 It not only confirms general relativity in

7:24 one of the most extreme environments, but

7:27 also gives us a new tool

7:29 precisely measure black hole spins.

7:32 Understanding spin helps explain how these

7:35 monsters power jets that can stretch across

7:38 galaxies and influence star formation.

7:41 Anna: It's incredible Einstein's equations

7:43 scribbled over a century ago still hold up

7:46 under scrutiny from modern telescopes. This

7:49 could lead to more detections as we get

7:51 better at spotting these quasi periodic

7:53 eruptions.

7:54 Avery: Onto launches. SpaceX is keeping the

7:57 momentum from 2025. Just yesterday,

8:00 on January4, at 1:48am

8:03 Eastern Time, they sent up a fresh Falcon

8:06 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 at

8:08 Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for the

8:11 Starlink Group 688 mission.

8:13 Anna: The rocket carried 29 Next Gen

8:16 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit,

8:19 deploying them successfully about an hour

8:21 after liftoff. This was the debut for

8:24 booster B1081, which

8:27 nailed its landing on the drone ship. Just

8:30 read the instructions in the Atlantic. These

8:32 satellites are part of the expanding

8:35 constellation aimed at global broadband

8:37 coverage. With improvements in speed and

8:40 coverage, this.

8:41 Avery: Marks SpaceX's second launch of

8:43 2026, already following closely

8:46 after their first one earlier in the week.

8:49 With over 165 launches last

8:51 year, they're on track to beat that record.

8:54 The reliability of Falcon 9 continues to

8:57 impress, enabling more frequent and efficient

9:00 affordable access to space.

9:01 Anna: Indeed, it's democratising orbit in ways we

9:04 couldn't imagine a decade ago.

9:06 Avery: Our fifth storey involves a bit of cosmic

9:09 patience NASA's Escapade mission to

9:12 Mars the twin probes named

9:15 Blue and Gold for escape and plasma

9:18 acceleration and dynamics explorers

9:20 blasted off aboard AH Blue Origin's New Glenn

9:23 Rocket in November 2025.

9:26 Anna: Their goal is to investigate how the solar

9:28 wind erodes Mars atmosphere, a process

9:31 that's stripped away much of the planet's air

9:34 over 4 billion years, turning it from

9:36 potentially habitable to the barren world we

9:39 see today. By measuring plasma flows,

9:42 magnetic fields, and ion escape rates from

9:45 two vantage points, they'll provide a, uh, 3D

9:48 view of this interaction.

9:50 Avery: But here's the twist they're not rushing

9:52 straight to Mars due to planetary alignment

9:55 at launch. They're spending about year in a

9:58 halo orbit around Earth's Lagrange point 2,

10:01 roughly a million miles away on the far side

10:04 from the Sun. This stable kidney bean

10:07 shaped path conserves fuel while waiting for

10:10 the optimal window.

10:11 Anna: In fall 2026, they'll ignite their

10:14 thrusters for a trajectory adjustment, using

10:16 Earth's gravity for a slingshot to Mars.

10:19 Arriving in September 2027,

10:22 science operations kick off shortly after

10:25 Lasting at least a year, the dual probe

10:27 setup adds redundancy if one fails, the

10:30 other can still deliver key data.

10:33 Avery: This flexible design expands launch

10:35 opportunities beyond the every 26 months home

10:38 and transfer windows, making Mars missions

10:41 more feasible. It's a smart blend of orbital

10:44 mechanics and engineering.

10:45 Anna: Patience in space pays dividends.

10:48 Reminds me of how Voyager probes are still

10:50 going strong after decades.

10:53 Avery: Last but not least, the X ray Imaging and

10:56 Spectroscopy mission, or

10:58 xrism, has given us the

11:00 clearest X ray spectrum yet of a fast

11:03 spinning supermassive black hole in The

11:05 Active Galaxy MCG

11:08 630 15,

11:11 located 121 million light years

11:14 away in the constellation Aquarius.

11:16 Anna: This black hole, weighing in at about

11:19 2 million solar masses, is accreting

11:22 material at a furious pace.

11:24 Xrism's Resolve spectrometer

11:27 captured a broad asymmetric iron

11:30 K alpha emission line distorted by

11:33 relativistic effects near the event

11:35 horizon, where gas orbits at nearly

11:38 light speed. By combining this with

11:41 archival data from M, ESA's XMM

11:43 Newton and NASA's NuSTAR,

11:46 astronomers dissected the spectrum into

11:48 components from the inner accretion disc and

11:51 outer regions.

11:52 Avery: They identified five distinct zones in an

11:55 outflowing wind plus a hot corona

11:58 above the disc. Remarkably, the

12:01 reflection signal from gas perilously close

12:03 to the black hole is 50 times brighter than

12:06 from distant material, confirming the

12:09 hole's high spin rate, likely close to the

12:11 maximum allowed by physics. This spin

12:14 influences how efficiently black holes

12:17 accrete mass and eject jets.

12:19 Anna: These insights help unravel how

12:21 supermassive black holes co evolve with

12:24 their host galaxies, whether through steady

12:27 accretion or violent girders.

12:30 Xrism M A uh, JAXA

12:33 NASA collaboration with ESA input

12:36 is setting new standards in high energy

12:38 astrophysics with its micro

12:41 calorimeter technology.

12:42 Avery: It's transforming our view of the hot and

12:45 energetic universe one spectrum at a time.

12:48 Anna: Wow, what an episode packed with

12:51 innovation, discovery and cosmic

12:53 wonders. From Vleosat's

12:56 redefining Earth Observation to

12:58 Xrism's black hole revelations,

13:02 it's a thrilling time to be following Space

13:04 News.

13:05 Avery: Couldn't agree more. Thanks for tuning in to

13:08 Astronomy Daily. We love sharing these

13:10 storeys with you. If you're enjoying the

13:12 show, please subscribe, leave a review or

13:14 tell a friend. It helps us grow and reach

13:16 more stargazers.

13:18 Anna: We'll catch you tomorrow with the latest

13:19 updates. Until then, keep wondering about the

13:22 universe.

13:23 Avery: Clear skies everyone.