Launch Scrubs, Voyager's Milestone Journey, and 3D Exoplanet Mapping

0:00 Avery: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast

0:03 that brings you the universe one story at

0:06 a time. I'm Avery.

0:07 Anna: And I'm Anna. Uh, today we've got an update

0:10 on a story we brought you yesterday. A second

0:13 launch attempt for a massive communication

0:15 satellite.

0:16 Avery: Fingers crossed for that one.

0:19 Anna: Celebrating an incredible milestone for a

0:21 deep space explorer and witnessing a first

0:24 in US China space cooperation.

0:28 Plus a stunning 3D map of a distant

0:30 world from J and a look

0:33 at Europe's ambitious launch plans.

0:36 Avery: It's a busy day in the cosmos. Let's get

0:39 right to it.

0:40 Starting with that nail biter down at Cape

0:43 Canaveral. So United Launch

0:45 alliance was planning on giving it another go

0:48 tonight with their Atlas V rocket.

0:51 Anna: That's right. They were hoping to launch the

0:54 Viasat 3F2 satellite.

0:56 Liftoff had been scheduled from Cape

0:58 Canaveral at 10:16pm M. Eastern,

1:01 right at the start of a 44min window.

1:04 Avery: However, the launch had to be scrubbed the

1:07 second time this week. The first attempt last

1:10 night was also scrubbed.

1:12 Anna: The valve issue that prevented a launch

1:14 Wednesday night remained persistent on

1:17 Thursday. Launch director James Whelan

1:19 scrubbed the launch attempt Wednesday night

1:22 when a vent valve on the Atlas 5's first

1:24 stage liquid oxygen tank failed to work

1:27 properly during final pre launch checkouts.

1:30 Then again, a little more than an hour before

1:32 the Thursday night window opened, ULA

1:35 said it was foregoing the launch attempt with

1:37 the same valve issue causing the problem.

1:40 Avery: A, uh, third attempt has already been touted,

1:43 but no date or time just yet.

1:46 So tell us about the passenger. This is a

1:48 pretty significant satellite.

1:50 Anna: Isn't really is. The Viasat

1:52 V3F2 is a hefty communication

1:55 satellite weighing in at 6 metric

1:58 tons. Its job will be to provide K

2:02 network capabilities, essentially high speed

2:05 Internet over the Americas.

2:07 Avery: And um, this is the second in a series.

2:09 Right. How did the first one fare?

2:12 Anna: That's the part that adds a little pressure.

2:15 The first one launched in 2023

2:18 unfortunately suffered an antenna deployment

2:20 issue that significantly reduced its

2:23 capacity. So there's a lot riding on this

2:26 mission for viasat.

2:27 Avery: Absolutely. Well, we'll be watching for news

2:30 on the third attempt.

2:31 Anna: Details from a new beginning.

2:34 Let's turn to an incredible

2:36 decades long journey. We have a milestone

2:39 coming up for one of humanity's greatest

2:41 explorers.

2:43 Avery: Oh, you have to be talking about one of the

2:45 Voyagers.

2:46 Anna: Exactly. In November of

2:48 2026, Voyager 1 will become

2:51 the first human made object to

2:54 travel a full light day away from Earth.

2:57 Avery: A light day. That is just staggering to

3:00 think about. That's about

3:02 25.9 billion kilometers.

3:05 Anna: It is remember, this spacecraft was

3:08 launched way back in 1977.

3:11 It's already in interstellar space, having

3:14 left the Sun's direct influence behind.

3:17 Now it's heading towards the Oort Cloud.

3:20 Avery: The Oort Cloud, the great icy shell

3:23 at the very edge of our solar system. And

3:25 it's still talking to us after all this time.

3:28 It's hard to fathom. How is it even powered

3:31 after all these decades?

3:33 Anna: That's the one. And the timescales are

3:36 mind boggling. It will take Voyager

3:39 about 300 years just to reach the

3:42 inner edge of the Oort Cloud.

3:44 Avery: Wow.

3:45 Anna: And another 30,000 years to pass

3:47 completely through it. The journey is almost

3:50 eternal. And what happens after that?

3:54 In about 40,000 years, it'll make a

3:56 relatively close pass of another star,

3:59 Gliese 445. It will actually

4:02 be closer to that star than it is to our own

4:05 sun.

4:06 Avery: And all that time, it's carrying its message

4:08 in the bottle. The golden record.

4:11 Anna: That's right. A message from humanity. Just

4:13 in case any extraterrestrial intelligence

4:16 ever finds it. It's a testament to our

4:19 curiosity and our hope to connect with the

4:21 cosmos. A truly profound legacy,

4:24 an incredible mission.

4:26 Avery: It really puts our own sense of time into

4:28 perspective.

4:29 Well, from reaching out to the unknown, let's

4:32 talk about connecting a little closer to

4:34 home. There's been a really interesting

4:36 development in orbit between the US and

4:38 China.

4:39 Anna: This M is a significant first. For the first

4:42 time, the China National Space Administration

4:45 proactively reached out to NASA to

4:48 coordinate a satell maneuver.

4:50 Avery: Right. To avoid a potential collision. So

4:53 what's the big deal here? How did this work

4:55 before?

4:55 Anna: Well, previously, NASA's orbital tracking

4:58 would identify a potential conjunction and

5:01 they would notify China. It was then

5:04 typically NASA or the US Space Force that

5:07 would perform any necessary avoidance

5:09 maneuvers.

5:10 Avery: So this is a reversal. China reached out

5:13 first and handled the coordination. What does

5:16 that tell us?

5:17 Anna: It suggests that China's own space

5:19 situational awareness capabilities have

5:22 improved dramatically. They are now able to

5:25 track, predict, and act on these threats with

5:27 high confidence.

5:28 Avery: That's crucial, especially now. The number of

5:31 satellites up there is just exploding.

5:34 Anna: Exactly. We have mega constellations like

5:37 SpaceX's Starlink and China's own

5:39 Guoang Network being deployed. Low

5:42 Earth orbit is getting very crowded very

5:45 fast.

5:45 Avery: So more communication and coordination is

5:48 essential to prevent disaster.

5:50 Anna: Absolutely. This move is a really positive

5:53 step for the safety and sustainability of

5:55 space operations for everyone.

5:57 Speaking of seeing things more clearly, let's

6:00 jump from low Earth orbit to a world hundreds

6:03 of light years away. The James Webb Space

6:05 Telescope has Given us another incredible

6:08 first.

6:09 Avery: JWST is the gift that keeps on

6:12 giving. What has it found now?

6:14 Anna: Astronomers have used it to create the very

6:17 first three dimensional map of an

6:19 exoplanet's atmosphere.

6:21 Avery: A 3D map of the air on another planet.

6:24 That sounds like science fiction. Which

6:26 planet did they look at?

6:27 Anna: The target was a fascinating one called Wasp

6:30 18B. It's what's known as an

6:33 ultra hot Jupiter. It orbits its

6:36 star so closely that its atmosphere

6:38 reaches temperatures hot enough to destroy

6:41 water vapor.

6:42 Avery: Wow. Okay, so how do you even begin to

6:45 map something like that?

6:47 Anna: They used a brilliant technique called

6:49 spectroscopic eclipse mapping. As

6:52 the planet passes behind its star,

6:54 JWST carefully measures the changes

6:57 in light. By analyzing this data, they can

7:00 build a picture of the temperature at, ah,

7:02 different altitudes and locations.

7:04 Avery: A, uh, temperature profile in three

7:06 dimensions. What did it show?

7:09 Anna: It revealed some really significant

7:11 temperature variations across the planet's

7:13 atmosphere, giving us insights into its

7:16 weather and energy circulation. Far

7:19 more complex than our previous 2D models

7:21 suggested.

7:22 Avery: That's amazing. And I assume this technique

7:25 isn't just for hot Jupiters.

7:27 Anna: That's the most exciting part. This new

7:29 method opens the door to studying the

7:31 atmospheres of many other exoplanets

7:34 in much more detail, including

7:36 potentially smaller rocky worlds like our

7:39 own.

7:39 Avery: Incredible.

7:40 From 3D maps to launch manifestos, Our

7:43 final story today takes us back to Earth,

7:46 focusing on Europe's ambitions in the launch

7:48 industry. Ariane Ace is looking to seriously

7:51 ramp things up.

7:52 Anna: They certainly are. The company is aiming

7:55 to double, uh, its Ariane 6 launch cadence in

7:58 the year 2026.

8:00 Avery: Double it? The Ariane 6 is still

8:02 relatively new, having debuted in 2024.

8:05 How many flights are we talking about?

8:08 Anna: Well, after flying three times in

8:10 2025, the plan for 2026 is to

8:13 conduct between six and eight missions. It's

8:16 a very ambitious.

8:18 Avery: What's enabling this increase in pace?

8:20 Anna: They're getting more efficient with launch

8:22 processing. But more importantly, they're

8:25 introducing an upgraded block 2

8:27 version of the rocket in 2026 which will

8:30 boost its performance.

8:32 Avery: More power, more launches. Do we know what

8:35 they'll be launching?

8:36 Anna: We do. The very first launch of

8:38 2026 will be the more powerful

8:41 Ariane 64 variant. Its

8:44 primary payload will be a batch of satellites

8:46 for Amazon's Project Cooper Constellation.

8:50 Avery: Ah, uh, another megaconstellation driving the

8:53 market. So what's the long term goal

8:56 for Arianespace?

8:58 Anna: Ultimately, they're aiming for a maximum

9:00 launch cadence of nine to 10 flights per

9:03 year, driven entirely by customer

9:06 demand. It's a clear sign that the global

9:08 launch market is hotter than ever.

9:11 Avery: And that's a wrap on the big stories from

9:13 around the cosmos today. From another launch

9:15 scrubbed at the Cape and Voyager's lonely

9:18 journey to new cooperation in orbit,

9:21 3D alien atmospheres, and the

9:23 bustling European launchpad, it's a

9:26 reminder that.

9:27 Anna: There is always something new to discover,

9:29 both near and far. Thank you so

9:32 much for joining us.

9:33 Avery: Be sure to subscribe to Astronomy Daily

9:36 wherever you get your podcasts so you don't

9:38 miss an episode. Until next time, keep

9:40 looking up.