Honda's Rocket Revolution, European Aerospace Alliances, and Celebrating Sally Ride's Legacy

0:00 Anna: Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm Anna. Today we're going to be diving headfirst into the latest and greatest news from across the cosmos. We've got a really exciting lineup for you from Honda's. Yes, Honda's surprising foray into rocket tests all the way to an exploration of the legacy, a very important legacy of Sally Ride. So buckle up, space enthusiasts. Get ready for your daily dose of cosmic updates. Let's get started. Alright, let's kick things off with some news that might surprise you.

0:29 Honda, you know the car company has successfully launched and landed an experimental reusable rocket. That's right. They're not just making Civics anymore. They're also testing the waters in space tech. The company's R and D division conducted a test flight in Hokkaido, Japan, reaching almost 900ft. The aim, to demonstrate crucial technologies for rocket reusability, like flight stability during ascent and descent, as well as landing capabilities. Now, Honda's rocket, dubbed the Reusable launch vehicle, or RLV, is pretty small compared to SpaceX's Falcon 9.

1:03 We're talking about 20.6ft tall versus Falcon 9's impressive 230ft. But Honda is hopeful that this emerging rocket technology will one day be able to launch satellites. They're aiming to achieve a suborbital launch by 2029. It's clear that Honda's got its sights set on the stars. And who knows? Maybe one day we'll see Honda competing with the likes of SpaceX. In other news today, some major players in the European aerospace industry are in talks to consolidate their space divisions. Airbus Defence and Space.

1:35 Leonardo and Thalus Alenia Space are considering a merger to create a larger, more competitive European space venture. This move aims to create a European champion in space better equipped to compete globally. The CEOs of these companies expect to make a final go, no go decision by the end of July. They're currently assessing antitrust concerns, conducting due diligence on finances and evaluating the potential value creation of such a combination. Now, if they decide to move forward, don't expect to see changes overnight.

2:06 Securing the necessary European antitrust approvals could take up to two years before the combined venture can formally begin operations. The goal is to gain scale and speed by consolidating the business, positioning themselves to better compete with companies like SpaceX and the satellite market. Now let's turn our attention to the ambitious plans of the exploration company, yet another new European space player. While they're currently focused on developing the Nyx spacecraft for cargo missions, they have their sights Set on something even bigger.

2:37 Human spaceflight. The exploration company envisions a crewed version of Nyx capable of carrying four or five astronauts. This isn't just a distant dream. They've already begun preliminary studies and are designing the interior to include features like windows and touchscreen displays, much like SpaceX's Crew Dragon. However, transforming Nyx into a crew rated spacecraft is a significant undertaking. The company estimates that it would take about 10 years and cost around 1.15 billion euros to develop a fully crewed version.

3:09 They're actively seeking European government support, particularly from the European Space Agency, to make this vision a reality, as the costs are beyond the reach of private financing alone. Now, let's look at something here on Earth. For a long time, scientists have wondered if passing stars, stellar flybys, could have altered Earth's climate in the past. It's a pretty interesting idea, right? Could a star zooming past our solar system actually mess with our planet's climate? Well, new research is disputing the idea that stellar flybys have significantly altered Earth's climate in the past 56 million years, including during a climate event called the Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum, or petm.

3:52 The PETM was a period of rapid warming with global temperatures rising by 5 to 8 degrees Celsius. It also saw a massive influx of carbon into the atmosphere and oceans. And scientists have been trying to figure out what caused it for years. Some researchers thought that stellar flybys could be the culprit. The idea is that a passing star could disrupt the orbits of the giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn, which could then affect Earth's orbit and climate. But using a, uh, comprehensive solar system model, scientists found no significant influence from passing stars.

4:25 They considered all sorts of factors, including the positions of the planets, the gravitational effects of the sun and moon, and even the properties of the passing stars themselves. The researchers found that even when they simulated extremely close flybys, there was no significant impact on Earth's climate. So it seems like we can rule out stellar flybys as a major driver of climate change on Earth, at least for the past 56 million years. Okay, shifting gears now, National Geographic's new documentary, Sally takes a deep dive into the life of Sally Ride.

4:58 You know, the first American woman in space. But it's not just about her time at NASA. The film also explores the private side of her life, which a lot of people didn't know about. The documentary reveals her nearly 30 year relationship with Tam O' Shaughnessy, which she kept secret for most of her life. It also touches upon her disillusionment with NASA after the Challenger disaster. You see, Ride was the only NASA employee to serve on the Rogers Commission investigation following the Challenger explosion.

5:29 The documentary highlights how she wasn't afraid to challenge the status quo and she even secretly passed along information about the O rings to physicist Richard Feynman. What's really interesting is hearing from o' Shaughnessy herself. She talks about the challenges of being in a same sex relationship during that time and the pressures that Ride faced to keep their relationship a secret. It really gives you a sense of the personal sacrifices that she made. Ride and o' Shaughnessy eventually co founded an education and outreach programme together called Sally Ride Science and even co wrote several children's books about space science.

6:06 It's a pretty inspiring story about breaking barriers both in space and in life. It's also a reminder of the importance of being true to yourself, even when it's difficult. The documentary is streaming on Hulu and Disney. Well worth a look. And that's all the space and astronomy news we have for you today on Astronomy Daily. This has been your host Anna uh. For the latest updates, a constantly updating newsfeed, and to listen to all our back episodes, make sure you visit our website at astronomydaily IO and don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify and YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an episode.

6:47 Time for me to sign off and remind you to keep looking up at this wonderful universe we are a part of. Bye.