MAVEN's Final Hour: Mars Orbiter Crisis + Historic ISS Evacuation Update & Lunar Timekeeping

Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your source for

the latest space and astronomy news. I'm

Anna.

Avery: And I'm, um, avery. It's Saturday, January

17, 2026, and we've got an

absolutely packed episode for you today.

Anna: We really do. And we're leading with some

bittersweet news from Mars. NASA's making

what might be their final attempt to contact

the Maven Orbiter, which has been silent for

over a month now. It's looking increasingly

unlikely that they'll be able to recover the

spacecra.

Avery: That's tough news, but we've also got some

incredible human achievements to celebrate.

The SpaceX crew, 11 astronauts have

safely returned to Houston following the

first ever medical evacuation from the

International Space Station. We'll get into

the details of how that historic operation

unfolded.

Anna: Europe's stepping up its launch game too.

Arianespace has announced they'll be

launching the first Ariane 6.4 Rocket on

February 12th. That's the more powerful 4

booster version. This is a big deal for

European space capabilities.

Avery: We're also diving into some fascinating

research today. Scientists have been using

CERN's particle accelerators to simulate

asteroid impacts. And what they discovered

about iron rich space rocks could change how

we approach planetary defense.

Anna: Then we've got something that sounds like

science fiction, but is very real. China has

released the world's first practical software

for keeping time on the Moon. Yes,

lunar timekeeping is now a thing and it's

more important than you might think.

Avery: And we'll wrap up with some stunning new

images from from Hubble. Even after 35 years

in orbit, it's still showing us where planets

are born in protoplanetary disks around young

stars.

Anna: Lots to cover. So let's get started.

Avery: Let's start with that Mars story. Anna.

NASA's Maven orbiter has been one of our most

valuable assets at Mars for over a decade.

What's the latest on the recovery efforts?

Anna: Well, it's not looking good, I'm afraid.

Maven, that's the Mars Atmosphere and

Volatile Evolution Orbiter went silent on

December 6, 2025, and NASA has

unable to re establish contact ever since.

The spacecraft has been orbiting Mars since

2014, providing invaluable data

about the Martian atmosphere and serving as a

critical communications relay for the

Curiosity and Perseverance rovers.

Avery: So what exactly happened? I mean,

communications blackouts aren't completely

unusual for Mars missions, right?

Anna: You're right, they're not. In this case,

Maven passed behind Mars, which

temporarily blocks communication. That's a

routine occurrence. But when it should have

emerged on the other side, NASA's Deep Space

Network couldn't regain contact. What makes

it worse is that this happened right before a

solar conjunction.

Avery: That's when the sun sits directly between

Earth and Mars, correct?

Anna: Exactly. During solar conjunction, which

occurs roughly every two years, solar

particles interfere with radio signals.

NASA, uh, temporarily halts all

communications with Mars missions during this

period to avoid sending corrupted commands

or receiving incomplete data that could

damage spacecraft. Though the conjunction

basically meant NASA had to wait before they

could even try to recover Maven.

Avery: And, um, that conjunction period just ended.

Anna: Right? NASA said they wouldn't have contact

with any Mars missions until Friday, January

16th. So as of today, they're making

renewed attempts to contact Maven. But here's

the concerning part. Louise Proctor, the

director of NASA's Planetary Science

Division, said on January 13, and

I quote, we'll start looking again, but

at this point, it's looking very unlikely

that we are going to be able to recover the

spacecraft.

Avery: That's pretty pessimistic language from NASA.

Do we know what might have caused the initial

failure?

Anna: The leading theory is that Maven started

rotating unexpectedly after passing behind

Mars. This would have shifted the spacecraft

out of its planned orbit and potentially

moved its antenna away from Earth. But

here's where it gets more complicated. Maven

has had aging hardware issues for years now.

Avery: What kind of issues are we talking about?

Anna: The spacecraft has had problems with its

onboard inertial measurement units, or

IMUs, which are essential for

orientation in space. Back in

2022, Maven spent about three months

in safe mode. Because of IMU problems,

the mission team had to rely on backup

systems that have experienced accelerated

wear and tear. They even developed an

alternative all stellar navigation mode that

uses stars for orientation instead of relying

on the imus.

Avery: So it sounds like Maven has been living on

borrowed time for a while now.

Anna: In some ways, yes. The spacecraft's

inability to fully recover from those 2022

outages led to missed observations of

significant solar flares and disrupted its

communications relay role. That said,

Maven still has enough fuel to remain in

orbit until at least 2030. So the

hardware could theoretically keep working if

they can just re establish contact.

Avery: What's the impact going to be if they can't

recover it? I imagine the rovers depend on

these orbiters for communications.

Anna: That's a great point. Maven has been, uh, a

key communications relay for the Curiosity

and Perseverance rovers. With Maven

offline, NASA has had to shift more of that

burden to other orbiters, specifically Mars

Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey.

This puts increased pressure on those

Spacecraft to maintain communications and

support surface science.

Avery: Activities and scientifically, what are we

losing?

Anna: Maven's scientific contributions have been

enormous. It's helped us understand how

Mars lost its once thick atmosphere and

became the cold dry world it is today.

The data it collected on Martian weather

patterns, dust storms and auroras

provided insights into the planet's climate

system and potential habitability. Without

Maven, we'd have critical gaps in our

ongoing atmospheric studies of Mars.

Avery: So fingers crossed that these new contact

attempts work out. When um, will we know

more?

Anna: NASA should have results from their latest

attempts very soon, but given the

pessimistic tone from their leadership, I

think we need to prepare for the possibility

that Maven's remarkable decade long mission

may have come to an end. It would be a sad

conclusion to such a successful spacecraft,

but it's given us more than 10 years of

groundbreaking science.

Avery: Absolutely. And that's well beyond its

original design life, right?

Anna: Oh, definitely. Like so many NASA

missions, it far exceeded expectations.

Let's hope there's one more surprise left in

it. Here's hoping. Moving from Mars back

to closer to home.

Let's talk about that historic ISS medical

evacuation. Avery, this was really

unprecedented.

Avery: It absolutely was. The four astronauts of

SpaceX's Crew 11 mission are now safely

back in Houston after splashing down off the

coast of Long Beach, California early

Thursday morning. This marked the very first

medical evacuation from the International

Space Station in its more than 25 year

history.

Anna: Who were the crew members involved?

Avery: The crew consisted of NASA astronauts Zena

Cardman and Mike Finke, Kimiya Yui from

Japan's Aerospace Agency, and cosmonaut

Oleg Platanov from Roscosmos.

They launched back in early August for what

was supposed to be a standard six month stay

aboard the station.

Anna: So they came home about five weeks early,

correct?

Avery: That's right. One of the four crew members

experienced a medical issue in orbit last

week and NASA made the decision to bring the

entire crew home ahead of schedule.

Now NASA has been very protective of medical

privacy, which is absolutely appropriate. So

they haven't disclosed which crew member had

the issue or what the specific medical

problem was.

Anna: What do we know about how they're doing now?

Avery: According to NASA's latest update from Friday

afternoon, all four crew members are stable

and undergoing standard post flight

reconditioning and evaluations at uh, Johnson

Space Center. After splashing down, they

spent about a day and night at a local

medical facility in California before flying

to Houston.

Anna: I have to say the fact that they described

them as stable and that they're doing

Standard post flight evaluations

suggests this wasn't a dire emergency

situation.

Avery: That's my read on it too. And NASA officials

have been pretty clear about describing this

as a deliberate, carefully planned operation

rather than a panic situation. In fact, one

NASA representative said, and um, I'm, um,

paraphrasing here. This is NASA at its

finest, referring to how smoothly the

evacuation and splashdown went.

Anna: Can you walk us through what a medical

evacuation from the ISS actually involves?

This seems incredibly complex.

Avery: It is. First, you have to understand that the

ISS has medical capabilities on board.

There's medical equipment supplies, and the

crew receives training to handle various

medical situations. They can consult with

flight surgeons on the ground in real time.

But sometimes ground based medical care is

simply necessary, either for more advanced

diagnostic equipment or for treatment options

that aren't available in orbit.

Anna: So, uh, the decision to bring someone home is

never made lightly.

Avery: Exactly. In this case, the medical issue

required evaluation and potential treatment

that couldn't be done on the station. Once

that call was made, they had to prepare the

crew Dragon spacecraft, the same one they

arrived in, named Endeavour, for an early

departure. This involves checking all

systems, planning the undocking and reentry

trajectory, coordinating with recovery teams,

and making sure weather conditions would be

suitable for splashdown.

Anna: And they successfully executed all of that in

just a few days.

Avery: They did. The crew undocked from the ISS on

January 14, completed their deorbit

burn and splashed down safely early on

January 15th. Recovery teams were standing by

and quickly retrieved the capsule and crew.

The whole operation went remarkably smoothly.

Anna: What about the ISS itself? How is it

operating with a reduced crew?

Avery: That's a great question. Right now the

station is operating with what they're

calling a skeleton crew of just three people.

NASA astronaut Chris Williams and two

Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergei Kuts

Vertskov and Sergei Mikayev. That's less

than half the normal complement of seven crew

members.

Anna: Can three people effectively run the iss?

Avery: They can maintain it and keep critical

systems running, but it definitely limits

what science can be done. The station won't

return to its full operational capacity until

SpaceX's Crew 12 mission arrives. That's

currently scheduled for February 15, though

NASA and SpaceX are looking at whether they

can move that timeline up a bit.

Anna: I imagine this whole situation must have been

quite stressful for everyone involved.

Avery: No doubt, but what strikes me is how calmly

and professionally it was handled. In one of

the final communications before undocking,

Crew 11 Commander Mike Finke said it was

bittersweet to be leaving early. He handed

over command of the ISS to Chris Williams,

and you could hear in his voice that he would

have preferred to complete the flight full

mission, but he also understood the necessity

of coming home.

Anna: It really speaks to the incredible planning

and preparation that goes into human

spaceflight. Even in an off nominal

situation like this. The systems and

procedures worked exactly as designed.

Avery: And I think it's worth noting that this won't

affect other upcoming missions. NASA

Administrator Jared Isaacman specifically

stated that this ISS evacuation shouldn't

interfere with the upcoming Artemis 2 moon

mission, which is still on track for a

possible launch as early as February 6th.

Anna: That's good to hear. Well, here's hoping for

a full recovery for whichever crew member

needed the medical attention. And kudos to

everyone involved in executing such a complex

operation so flawlessly.

Avery: Agreed. It really was NASA at its

finest.

Anna: Switching gears now to European spaceflight.

Avery. Europe is about to debut a

significantly more powerful version of its

new rocket, right?

Avery: That's right, Anna. Arianespace has announced

that the first flight of the Ariane 64 will

launch on February 12 from the Guyana Space

center in French Guiana. This is the four

booster configuration of the Ariane 6, and it

represents a major step up in capability for

European launch services.

Anna: Let's back up a second for anyone who might

not be familiar with the Ariane 6. Can you

give us the background?

Avery: Sure. Huh? The Ariane 6 is Europe's newest

heavy lift rocket, designed to replace the

Ariane 5, which served for nearly three

decades. The inaugural flight was back in

July 2024. And throughout 2025,

Arianespace flew four more missions, all

carrying payloads for organizations like ESA,

Umetsat and Sinas. The French Space

Agency.

Anna: And all of those flights used the Ariane

62 configuration?

Avery: Exactly. The Ariane 62 uses

two P120C solid fuel boosters

strapped to the side of the rocket's core

stage. Each of those boosters produces

roughly 4,500 kilonewtons of thrust.

It's been doing great for medium lift

missions with a capacity to deliver about

10.3 tons to low Earth orbit.

Anna: So the Ariane 64 just adds two

more boosters, right?

Avery: It uses four of those P120C boosters

instead of two. And that makes a dramatic

difference in capability. The Ariane 64

can deliver up to 21.6 tons to

low Earth orbit, more than double what the

Ariane 62 can handle. That puts it in the

heavy lift category, competing with rockets

like SpaceX's Falcon Heavy.

Anna: That's a significant jump. What's driving the

need for this more powerful version.

Avery: Well, this first mission actually gives us a

perfect example. The Ariane 6 4's first

flight will be launching satellites for

Amazon's Project Cooper Broadband Internet

Constellation. Arianespace has an 18

flight contract with Amazon, and this first

mission, designated LE01, which

stands LEO Europe 01, will

deploy 32 Cooper satellites.

Anna: Amazon's competing with SpaceX's

Starlink, right?

Avery: That's right. Amazon already has about

180 satellites in orbit, and they're

rapidly building out the Constellation.

Having access to the more powerful Ariane

64 means they can launch more satellites at

once, which speeds up the deployment schedule

and reduces the total number of launches

needed.

Anna: Is there anything else notable about this

particular flight?

Avery: Yes, actually. This will be the first Ariane

6 mission to use the rocket's larger 20 meter

long fairing. All previous flights used a

shorter 14 meter fairing. The longer fairing

provides more volume for larger payloads, or

in this case, for fitting more satellites

into the payload stack.

Anna: How long will the mission last?

Avery: Ariane Stace hasn't published a complete

mission breakdown yet, but they've stated the

entire flight will last one hour and 54

minutes. That presumably includes deploying

all 32 satellites and then deorbiting the

rocket's upper stage in a controlled manner,

which is important for reducing space debris.

Anna: What does this mean for Arianespace's launch

cadence going forward?

Avery: They're being pretty ambitious. Arianespace

is aiming to double the number of Ariane 6

launches this year compared to 2025.

That would mean as many as eight Ariane 6

flights over the next 12 months. Given that

they're still ramping up operations with what

is still a fairly new rocket, that's a

challenging goal, but it shows their

confidence.

Anna: Are there any other upgrades in the works?

Avery: Actually, yes. The company is developing an

upgraded version of the solid fuel booster

called the P160C. It carries

an additional 14 tons of solid propellant

compared to the current P120C.

That upgrade has already been fully qualified

for use on Both the Ariane 62 for medium

lift missions, the Ariane 644 for heavy

lift, the Vega C for smaller payloads and

these future upgrades. Europe is positioning

itself to be very competitive in the

commercial launch market. And that's crucial,

especially as we see increasing competition

from SpaceX, China and other emerging launch

providers.

Anna: Will the, uh, February 12 launch be publicly

viewable?

Avery: Arianespace typically provides live coverage

of their launches, so I'd expect we'll be

able to watch this historic first flight of

the Ariane 6 4. It should be quite a

sight. Those four boosters firing together

should make for an impressive liftoff.

Anna: I'll definitely be watching. It's great to

see Europe maintaining and expanding its

independent access to space.

Avery: Anna.

Uh, let's talk about planetary defense.

Scientists have been conducting some

fascinating experiments using particle

accelerators to understand how asteroids

might respond to deflection attempts.

Anna: This is really cool work, Avery. An

international research team used CERN's High

Radiation to Materials facility, that's

HIRADMAT, to simulate what happens when

high energy impacts strike iron rich

asteroids. And what they found could

significantly change our approach to

planetary defense.

Avery: Before we get into the results, can you set

up the context? Uh, why is this research

important?

Anna: Sure. We know There are around

37,000 known near Earth

asteroids and 120 short period

comets whose orbits bring them close to

Earth. While scientists are confident that

none of the known potentially hazardous

objects will strike Earth within the next

century, we know that eventually planetary

defense measures will be needed.

Avery: And NASA's DART mission demonstrated one

approach. The kinetic impactor.

Anna: Exactly. In 2022, Dart

successfully struck the asteroid Dimorphos

and altered its orbit. But to do this

reliably and develop effective defense

strategies, we need to understand how

different types of asteroids respond to

impacts. And that's where this new research

comes in.

Avery: So they focus specifically on iron rich

asteroids.

Anna: Right? What astronomers call M M type

asteroids. These are thought to be exposed

metallic cores of ancient protoplanets

that were shattered in collisions billions of

years ago. They're made primarily of iron and

nickel, unlike the more common rocky

asteroids or icy comets.

Avery: How did they simulate an asteroid impact? In

the lab?

Anna: This is where it gets really clever. They

used a sample of the Campo del CIO iron

meteorite, which is a well studied iron

meteorite from Argentina. They subjected it

to extremely energetic 440

GeV proton beams at CERN's

high RadMat facility. At CERN, that's an

incredibly high energy level.

Avery: And how did they measure what happened to the

sample?

Anna: They used a technique, uh, called Doppler

vibrometry, which can detect tiny surface

vibrations. This allowed them to capture real

time data on how the material responded to

rapidly increasing stress, all without

destroying the sample. They could see exactly

how iron behaved under extreme conditions.

Avery: What did they discover?

Anna: This is where it gets really interesting. The

results showed that M M type asteroids can

absorb significantly more energy without

fragmenting than conventional models

predicted. But even more surprisingly, the

meteorite actually got tougher as it was

subjected to increasing stress.

Avery: Wait, it got stronger under stress?

Anna: Yes. The researchers found that the iron

dissipated more energy as stress

increased, suggesting that the internal

structure of asteroids can redistribute and

amplify stress in unexpected ways,

Similar to what we see in complex composite

materials.

Avery: That seems counterintuitive. You'd expect

materials to weaken under extreme stress, not

strengthen.

Anna: That's exactly why this is such an important

finding. It contradicts what conventional

models have suggested. One of the study's co

authors, Professor Gianluca Grigori from the

University of Oxford, said this is the first

time they've been able to observe in real

time. How an actual meteorite sample

deforms, strengthens, and adapts under

extreme conditions without destroying it.

Avery: So what does this mean for planetary defense

strategies?

Anna: A couple of things. First, it means that iron

rich asteroids might be harder to deflect

than we thought. Because they can absorb more

energy without breaking apart. But it also

suggests that we could potentially deliver

energy deep inside an asteroid without

fragmenting it.

Avery: That could be useful if you want to push an

asteroid rather than shatter it.

Anna: Exactly. The research also helps explain

a long standing puzzle in planetary defense.

Why there's often a discrepancy between what

we infer from meteorite breakup in Earth's

atmosphere. And actual laboratory

measurements of meteorite strength. This

study shows that internal stress

redistribution. Within the heterogeneous

structure of meteorites can explain that

difference.

Avery: This sounds like it could inform new

deflection methods.

Anna: That's the hope. The data could help develop

redirection techniques. That push asteroids

more effectively while keeping them intact.

After all, the last thing you want when

deflecting an asteroid. Is to break it into

multiple pieces that might still pose a

threat.

Avery: Have they tested this with other types of

asteroid materials?

Anna: This particular study focused on iron

meteorites. But the methodology could be

applied to other types of asteroids. Rocky

asteroids, carbonaceous asteroids, and so on.

Each type would likely behave differently

under extreme stress. And understanding those

differences is crucial for developing a, uh,

comprehensive planetary defense toolkit.

Avery: I think what's particularly valuable here is

that they've developed a technique. That can

test actual meteorite samples non

destructively. That means we can build up a

library of data on how different asteroid

materials behave. Without having to rely

solely on computer simulations or destroying

precious samples.

Anna: And as we continue to study asteroids with

missions like Osiris x and

Hayabusa2, we'll have more samples to

test.

Avery: Exactly. The combination of sample return

missions, laboratory testing like this, and

missions like DART that demonstrate actual

deflection techniques. It's all building

toward a real capability to protect Earth

from asteroid impacts.

Anna: It's reassuring to know that even though we

don't face an immediate threat, we're doing

the groundwork now, so we'll be prepared when

we need to be.

Avery: Absolutely. And this research was just

published in Nature communications, so it's

getting a lot of attention from the planetary

defense community.

Anna: Avery.

Our next story sounds like something out of

science fiction, but it's very much real

and increasingly necessary. China

has released the world's first practical

software for keeping time on the moon.

Avery: Lunar timekeeping software. When you say

it out loud, it really drives home how much

space exploration has advanced. Why do we

need to keep time differently on the moon?

Anna: It all comes down to Einstein's theory of

general relativity. Time doesn't pass at, uh,

the same rate everywhere. It's affected by

both gravity and velocity. The moon's

gravity is weaker than Earth's, which means

time actually passes slightly faster on the

moon than it does on Earth.

Avery: How much faster are we talking about?

Anna: About 5, 6 millionths of a second

per day. Now, that might not sound like much,

but it adds up over time, and it can

seriously disrupt navigation systems,

Especially when you're trying to do precision

work on the lunar surface.

Avery: So this is a precision navigation issue.

Anna: Exactly. Think about gps. On Earth,

the satellites constantly have to correct for

relativistic effects caused by gravity and

motion. Those corrections are, uh, what allow

your phone to pinpoint your location within

just a few meters without accounting for

relativity. GPS would be useless within

minutes.

Avery: And the moon is about to have a similar need

for precision navigation.

Anna: Right. In the past, this wasn't really a

problem because lunar missions were rare,

short, and mostly isolated. Engineers

could just use Earth time and apply mission

specific fixes when needed. But that's

changing rapidly because we're about.

Avery: To have multiple spacecraft and eventually

humans operating on the moon simultaneously.

Anna: Exactly. Under those conditions, relying on

custom fixes for each mission becomes risky

and inefficient. You need a

standardized lunar time reference that

everyone can use.

Avery: So what exactly did the Chinese team create?

Anna: Researchers from the Purple Mountain

Observatory in Nanjing developed detailed

software called LTE 440.

That stands for lunar time ephemeris.

It's based on modern planetary data and

tracks how lunar time drifts relative to

Earth time. The software automates

calculations that once required deep

expertise in relativity and celestial

mechanics.

Avery: How accurate is it?

Anna: Remarkably accurate. The researchers found

their method stays accurate to within a few

tens of nanoseconds, Even when projected over

a thousand years. And to keep daily

differences within about 10 nanoseconds,

the calculations need to be accurate to parts

in 10 trillion. Their tests show

LTE 440 meets that standard.

Avery: Why such extreme precision?

Anna: Well, navigation is one driver, but there's

also science. The Moon offers unique

conditions for astronomy. No atmosphere,

minimal interference. One promising idea

is Earth Moon, very long baseline

interferometry, where you link radio

telescopes on Earth and the Moon to create

sharper images of distant objects.

Avery: Um, and that requires extremely precise

timing.

Anna: Right. Signals recorded on both bodies need

to be timestamped to better than a

microsecond to allow for instrument noise.

The underlying time model needs to be even

more accurate. Hence the extreme precision

requirements.

Avery: How does the software actually work?

Anna: Instead of using long equations, they used a

numerical approach based on a planetary model

called DE440, which tracks

the positions and velocities of solar system

bodies with high precision. From that data,

they computed how time near the Moon differs

from a solar system reference time. The

software stores these results in compact

files that can be quickly interpolated.

Avery: What affects lunar time most?

Anna: The Moon's motion and the Sun's gravity

dominate the effect. But Earth, Jupiter,

and even distant objects in the Kuiper Belt

add smaller effects. There are monthly and

yearly patterns that range from milliseconds

down to microseconds.

Avery: I'm curious about the international response

to this. Is China the only one working on

this?

Anna: That's a great question. Jonathan McDowell,

an astronomer at Harvard, told reporters that

similar efforts are underway in the United

States, but he's not aware of another openly

available tool like this. He emphasized that

this shows China is serious about lunar

exploration and is being quite open about

sharing its lunar related research.

Avery: That's actually encouraging from an

international cooperation standpoint.

Anna: I think so, too. And it's worth noting that

in 2024, the International Astronomical

Union adopted a, uh, framework calling for

the Moon to have its own time reference. So

this software really builds on that

international consensus.

Avery: What are the practical implications for

upcoming.

Anna: Missions as lunar activity

increases? And we're talking about

NASA's Artemis program, China's

own lunar base plans, commercial lunar

landers, and more reliable

timekeeping will support safer landings,

smoother navigation, and better coordination

between missions. Eventually, we'll likely

see lunar GPS style systems

that depend on this kind of precise

timekeeping.

Avery: It really is laying the groundwork for

sustained human presence on the Moon.

Anna: Absolutely. And the Researchers emphasize

that LTE 440 is just an

early step. Future versions will need to

support real time navigation and networks

of lunar clocks. But the release marks

a shift from abstract planning to

practical infrastructure.

Avery: It's one of those things that sounds mundane

time software, but is actually fundamental to

making lunar operations work.

Anna: Exactly. You can have the fanciest rockets

and landers in the world. But if your

spacecraft can't agree on what time it is,

you're going to have problems. This is the

kind of unsexy but essential infrastructure

work that makes the exciting stuff possible.

Avery: For our final story today, let's talk about

the Hubble Space Telescope. After 35 years in

orbit, it's still delivering incredible

science.

Anna: It really is remarkable. NASA just

released a new gallery of Hubble images

showing protoplanetary disks around young

stars, essentially the birthplaces of

planets. And these images beautifully

illustrate one of Hubble's original mission

understanding how planets form.

Avery: Can you walk us through what we're seeing in

these images?

Anna: Sure. When stars form, they're surrounded

by gas and dust left over from the formation

process. In the early stages, this is called

a circumstellar disk. But once planets

start forming in the disk, we call it a

protoplanetary disk. These disks are

where planetary systems like our own solar

system come from.

Avery: What makes these particular images special?

Anna: Hubble captured them using two different

approaches. The visible light images taken

with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys,

show four plutoplanetary disks where you

can actually see polar jets of gas

shooting out from the young stars. You can

also see brightly lit nebulae, and

there's this cool effect where the dark band

around each star is actually a shadow

cast onto the nebula by the disk itself.

Avery: That's wild. So we're seeing the shadow of

the planet forming disk.

Anna: Exactly. And each of these systems has

unique characteristics. One, called

HH390, isn't quite edge

on, so you only see one side of its

nebulosity. Another,

TAU042021,

is seen edge on and is in a later stage

of evolution where the dust grains have

already clumped together into larger grains,

which is part of the planet formation

process.

Avery: What about that third one, HH48?

Anna: Oh, that's particularly interesting.

HH48 is actually a

binary protostar system. And you can see

how the gravitational power from the larger

star is shaping the disk around its less

massive companion. It's a great example of

how stellar environments affect planet

formation.

Avery: And, um, the infrared images show something

different.

Anna: Right. The infrared images taken with

Hubble's Wide Field Camera three show

the bright protostars despite being

surrounded by dust. Dust absorbs

starlight and then re emits it in infrared,

which allows Hubble to see the stars. The

jets aren't visible in these infrared images,

but you get a much better view of the stars

themselves and their dusty disks.

Avery: Where are these protoplanetary disks located?

Anna: Most of them are in well known star forming

regions. Several are in the Orion

Molecular Cloud Complex. That's one of the

most active star forming regions visible from

earth, located about 1500 light years

away. Others are in the Perseus Molecular

Cloud.

Avery: Now we also have the James Webb Space

Telescope observing these kinds of objects.

How do Hubble's observations compare?

Anna: That's a great question. JWST

has been doing incredible work on protostars

and protoplanetary disks too. In fact,

there was research published in 2024 based on

JWST observations showing that

some young protostars have layered structures

of winds and jets, inner jets surrounded

by outer cone shaped jets.

Avery: So the two telescopes are complementary.

Anna: Exactly. Hubble excels in visible and

some infrared wavelengths, while JWST

is optimized for infrared. Together they give

us a much more complete picture. For

instance, Hubble can show us those beautiful

jets and nebulae in visible light, While

JWST can peer through dust to

see the nested structure of winds and jets

using different chemical tracers.

Avery: How much longer can we expect Hubble to keep

operating?

Anna: That's the big question. Hubble was launched

in 1990 with an expected 15 year

lifetime, but it's now lasted more than

35 years thanks to five servicing

missions. However, it is showing its age.

The telescope has been losing gyroscopes,

which means it takes more time to point at

targets. Observations are down by about

12% with a corresponding reduction

in science output.

Avery: But it's still functioning, right?

Anna: Oh, yes. NASA expects Hubble to keep

operating into the 2000 and 30s. And there's

been talk, though it's not confirmed, of a

possible servicing mission that could extend

its life even further.

Avery: Who would conduct that servicing mission?

Anna: That's the interesting part. NASA doesn't

have the Space Shuttle anymore, which was

used for all previous servicing missions. Any

future servicing mission would likely involve

a, uh, commercial spacecraft, possibly

something from SpaceX or another company

developing servicing capabilities.

Avery: It would be amazing if Hubble could keep

going for another decade.

Anna: It really would. And if it does, it'll

continue contributing to our understanding of

star formation, planet formation, and

so many other areas of astronomy. These

protoplanetary disk images are a perfect

example of how Hubble is still answering

fundamental questions about how planetary

systems like ours come to be.

Avery: When you think about it, Hubble has literally

changed our view of the universe from the

Hubble Deep Field to these protoplanetary

disks. From measuring the expansion rate of

the universe to studying exoplanet

atmospheres, it's been an incredible

horsework.

Anna: Absolutely. And the fact that it's still

delivering cutting edge Science More than 30

decades after launch is a testament to the

foresight of designing it to be serviceable

and upgradable. It's a model for how we

should think about building space based

observatories.

Avery: Well, that wraps up today's episode of

Astronomy Daily. We covered a lot of ground,

from the uncertain fate of NASA's MAVEN

orbiter to the historic ISS medical

evacuation, from Europe's expanding launch

capabilities to groundbreaking asteroid

defense research.

Anna: And we learned about lunar timekeeping

software that will enable the next generation

of moon missions. AMB saw how Hubble

continues to reveal the birthplaces of

planets after 35 years in orbit.

Avery: It's been quite a week in space news, and

we've only just scratched the surface.

Anna: Before we go, a quick reminder that you can

find more space and astronomy news at our

website astronomydaily.IO and

don't forget to subscribe so you never miss

an episode.

Avery: You can also follow us on social media for

bonus content and updates throughout the

week.

Anna: Thanks for joining us today, everyone.

Avery: Clear skies and we'll see you on Monday.

Astronomy Day

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