IMAP Launch Countdown, BION's Space Ark, and Hubble's Cosmic Oddities

0:00 Anna: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily,

0:03 the podcast that brings you the latest news

0:05 from across the cosmos. I'm your host,

0:08 Anna.

0:09 Avery: And I'm, um, Avery. It's great to be with

0:11 you. We have a packed show today covering

0:14 everything from an important upcoming launch

0:17 and the Biological Space Lab's return

0:20 to groundbreaking new plans for lunar

0:22 missions and astonishing discoveries from the

0:24 Hubble Telescope.

0:26 Anna: Let's start with the action at Cape

0:28 canaveral. NASA and SpaceX are

0:31 counting down to a major launch from Florida

0:34 this Wednesday morning. The primary payload

0:36 is the agency's Interstellar Mapping and

0:39 Acceleration Probe, better known as

0:42 imap.

0:43 Avery: It's a really ambitious mission. IMAP is

0:45 designed to journey about a million miles

0:47 from Earth To Lagrange point 1, a

0:50 gravitationally stable spot between us and

0:53 the Sun. From there, it will study the

0:56 boundary of the heliosphere, which is the

0:58 giant magnetic bubble our sun creates around

1:01 the solar system. It's essentially our

1:03 protective shield against harsh galactic

1:06 cosmic radiation.

1:07 Anna: Understanding that boundary is crucial not

1:10 just for pure science, but for protecting

1:13 future astronauts on long duration missions

1:16 to the Moon or Mars. But as you mentioned

1:18 earlier, IMAP isn't flying solo on

1:21 its Falcon 9 rocket launchers.

1:23 Avery: Exactly. This is a ride share

1:26 mission. Joining IMAP is

1:28 NOAA's Space Weather Follow on

1:31 SFWO L1 satellite. This

1:34 will be a critical tool for monitoring solar,

1:36 wind and coronal mass ejections, which can

1:39 disrupt our power grids and communications

1:41 satellites here on Earth. There's also a

1:43 third payload, the Carruthers Geo Corona

1:46 Observatory, which will study Earth extended

1:49 Atmosphere. Liftoff is scheduled for

1:51 Wednesday at 7:30am Eastern Time.

1:54 That's 11:30 UTC. So it's an early

1:57 start for a triple header of important

1:58 science from a.

2:00 Anna: Mission just beginning to one that has just

2:03 concluded. A Russian biological research

2:06 satellite, BION m M number two,

2:09 successfully touched down on September

2:11 19th in the steppes of the Orenburg region.

2:14 After spending a full month in Earth.

2:17 Avery: Orbit, this mission has been nicknamed a

2:19 Noah's Ark in space. And when you look at the

2:22 passenger list, you can see why. The descent

2:25 module carried an incredible variety of life.

2:28 75 mice, over 1500

2:30 fruit flies, as well as various cell

2:33 cultures, microorganisms, and, um, even

2:36 plant seeds.

2:37 Anna: It's a continuation of a long series

2:39 of studies into how living organisms

2:42 respond to the space environment. The

2:45 primary challenges, of course, are

2:47 microgravity and increased radiation

2:50 exposure. Scientists will be looking closely

2:53 at the specimens to see the effects on

2:55 everything from bone density and muscle mass

2:58 in the mice to genetic changes in the flies

3:01 and microorganisms. The data gathered

3:03 is vital. It helps us understand the

3:06 fundamental risks of long term space travel

3:08 for humans and develop countermeasures.

3:11 It's a floating laboratory that provides

3:13 insights we simply can't get on the ground.

3:17 Speaking of human spaceflight, NASA is

3:20 forging ahead with its Artemis program.

3:22 Agency officials provided an exciting update

3:25 this week saying that the Artemis 2 mission

3:28 could take flight as early as February of

3:31 2026. This marks the very

3:34 first time humans will venture beyond low

3:36 Earth orbit in more than 50 years.

3:39 Avery: It's a hugely significant step. This will be

3:42 the very first crewed flight for both the

3:44 powerful Space Launch System rocket and the

3:47 Orion crew capsule. The four person

3:50 crew, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman,

3:52 Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along

3:55 with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy

3:58 Hansen, won't be landing on the moon just

4:00 yet. Instead, they will fly a challenging

4:03 10 day mission on a free return

4:06 trajectory that will loop them around the far

4:08 side of the moon.

4:10 Anna: The goal is to test all of Orion's life

4:13 support systems, navigation and

4:15 communication capabilities in deep space.

4:19 It's essentially the final dress rehearsal

4:21 for the Artemis 3 mission that aims to

4:24 land astronauts including the first woman

4:27 on the lunar surface. It's truly the

4:30 spiritual successor to the Apollo 8 mission

4:33 that first orbited the moon in

4:35 1968. Pushing the launch to

4:38 early 2026 gives teams the

4:41 time they need to address technical

4:43 challenges like those with the capsule's heat

4:45 shield. Ensuring the crew's safety is the

4:48 top priority.

4:50 Avery: Absolutely. It's a methodical, step by

4:53 step approach to a very complex

4:55 endeavor. But the excitement is

4:58 palpable. Seeing that crew launch on a

5:00 path around the moon will be a historic

5:03 moment for a new generation. And it's not

5:05 just government agencies planning ambitious

5:07 flights. We're seeing more and more

5:10 academic institutions getting directly

5:12 involved. Purdue University just announced

5:15 it will send a team of researchers, students

5:18 and alumni to suborbital

5:21 space aboard a Virgin galactic flight in

5:23 2027.

5:25 Anna: This is fantastic news. The mission,

5:28 called Purdue One, really highlights the

5:31 democratization of space access. The

5:33 flight will carry five passengers from the

5:35 university community. Two have already been

5:38 named. Steven Collicot, a professor of

5:41 aerospace engineering, and Abigail Mizzy,

5:44 a UH graduate student.

5:46 Avery: It's an incredible opportunity. For a

5:49 few minutes, they'll experience a

5:51 microgravity environment, allowing them to

5:53 conduct hands on research that was once the

5:56 exclusive domain of NASA astronauts.

6:00 The experiments could cover a range of fields

6:02 like fluid dynamics in zero G,

6:05 material science, or even biomedical

6:08 studies.

6:09 Anna: And beyond the specific research, the

6:11 inspirational value is immense.

6:14 Having students and professors become

6:17 astronauts sends a powerful message.

6:20 It Makes a career in space feel more

6:22 attainable and will surely ignite the passion

6:25 of countless future engineers and scientists.

6:29 Let's zoom out now. Way beyond our solar

6:32 system, the Hubble Space Telescope has

6:34 once again captured an image of something

6:37 both beautiful and baffling.

6:40 Its latest picture of the week features a,

6:42 uh, galaxy named NGC

6:45 2775, located

6:47 about 67 million light years away

6:50 in the constellation Cancer that simply

6:53 refuses to be put in a box.

6:56 Avery: It's a genuine cosmic oddity. When

6:59 you look at its center, you see a large,

7:01 smooth central bulge with almost

7:04 no gas or ongoing star formation.

7:07 In that respect, it looks very much like an

7:09 old, settled elliptical galaxy. But

7:12 then your eyes move outward and you see this

7:15 magnificent, intricate ring of gas and

7:17 dust.

7:18 Anna: And that ring is filled with chaotic,

7:21 unevenly distributed clusters of bright,

7:24 young blue stars. This structure

7:27 is more typical of what's called a, uh,

7:29 flocculant spiral galaxy, One where

7:32 the spiral arms are patchy and not well

7:35 defined. It's like two different types of

7:37 galaxies were stitched together.

7:40 Avery: Astronomers are still trying to understand

7:42 the evolutionary path that leads to such a

7:44 hybrid structure. It challenges our models of

7:47 galaxy formation and shows that nature

7:50 is always more creative than we imagine.

7:53 It's a stunning reminder of the vast,

7:55 complex, and often strange universe we live

7:58 in. Now let's bring our focus

8:01 back to our own cosmic backyard.

8:04 Incredible new research on samples returned

8:07 from the asteroid Ryugu Is

8:09 overturning some long held beliefs.

8:12 The analysis from Chaksa's Hayabusa 2

8:15 mission reveals that water flowed through

8:18 the asteroid's parent body for much

8:20 longer than ever thought possible.

8:23 Anna: This is a really big deal. For a long time,

8:26 the consensus was that water activity on

8:29 asteroids, the interaction of water with

8:32 rock, was something that only happened in the

8:35 very earliest moments of the solar system's

8:37 formation, maybe within the first few million

8:40 years M. But.

8:42 Avery: This new data shows evidence of water

8:44 circulation more than 1 billion

8:47 years after the asteroid itself formed.

8:50 This suggests that the interior of these

8:52 ancient bodies could have remained warm

8:55 and wet for an extended geological

8:57 timescale.

8:58 Anna: The implications for our own planet are

9:01 profound. Ryugu is a

9:03 carbonaceous asteroid, A, uh, type

9:06 believed to be rich in water and organic

9:09 compounds. If these asteroids were

9:11 capable of holding liquid water for so

9:14 long, it means they could have delivered

9:17 these essential ingredients for life to the

9:19 early Earth over a much longer period,

9:23 and perhaps in greater quantities than our

9:26 previous models suggested.

9:28 Avery: And while we're exploring our own solar

9:30 system, let's turn to the Red Planet for a

9:32 moment. New findings from NASA's Perseverance

9:35 rover are uh, painting a much more dynamic

9:38 picture of Mars ancient past. It

9:40 appears a river that once flowed into the

9:42 Jezero crater was far more powerful and

9:45 fast moving than scientists previously

9:47 imagined. A torrent of water carving through

9:50 the landscape. The discoveries just keep on

9:53 coming.

9:54 Anna: For our final story today, we have another

9:57 remarkable finding from the Hubble Space

10:00 Telescope. It has observed a

10:02 burned out star, what's known as a

10:05 white dwarf, in the act of consuming

10:08 the fragments of a Pluto like object.

10:11 This cosmic drama is unfolding

10:13 relatively close to us, just

10:15 260 light years away.

10:18 Avery: A white dwarf is the incredibly dense remnant

10:21 core of a star like our sun, after it has

10:23 exhausted its nuclear fuel. The gravity of

10:26 this one is so intense that it's tearing

10:29 apart this small icy body that strayed too

10:31 close. And we're effectively seeing the

10:34 star's atmosphere become polluted with the

10:36 remains of this object, allowing us to study

10:39 its composition. As a material falls into the

10:42 star, its chemical signature is revealed in

10:45 the star's light.

10:46 Anna: And the composition is what makes this so

10:49 exciting. The fragments are loaded with

10:51 volatiles, elements that vaporize at low

10:54 temperatures like nitrogen, carbon,

10:57 sulfur and oxygen. This chemical

11:00 signature strongly indicates the presence.

11:02 Avery: Of a lot of ice, an incredible amount

11:05 in fact. The Hubble data suggests this

11:08 exopluto object is composed of

11:10 64% water ice.

11:13 It's a powerful confirmation that the kind of

11:15 water rich icy worlds we see in the outer

11:18 reaches of our own solar system, like Pluto

11:20 and other Kuiper Belt objects, are likely

11:23 common in other star systems too. It tells us

11:26 that the fundamental building blocks for life

11:28 as we know it are widespread throughout the

11:30 galaxy.

11:32 Anna: That's all the time we have for.

11:33 Avery: This episode and join us next time for more

11:36 news from across the universe.

11:37 Anna: I'm Anna, and on behalf of Avery and

11:40 myself, thank you for listening and we'll see

11:43 you tomorrow with more space and astronomy

11:45 news. In the meantime, keep looking up.