S03E115: SpaceX's Ambitious Plan for Australia

0:02 Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your go to podcast for all

0:05 Speaker 1: the latest in space and astronomy news. I'm your host Anna.

0:09 Speaker 1: Today we have a fantastic lineup of stories that will

0:12 Speaker 1: ignite your curiosity and expand your understanding of the cosmos.

0:16 Speaker 1: We'll start with SpaceX's ambitious plans to land and recover

0:19 Speaker 1: its starship rocket off the coast of Australia, a move

0:22 Speaker 1: that could mark a significant milestone in international space collaboration.

0:26 Speaker 1: We'll also delve into NASA's recent groundbreaking insights into near

0:30 Speaker 1: Earth asteroids thanks to the high resolution images captured during

0:33 Speaker 1: the Dart mission.

0:35 Speaker 2: On top of that, we have some.

0:36 Speaker 1: Intriguing news from the United Launch Alliance's latest mission, where

0:39 Speaker 1: a top secret payload for the US Space Force was

0:42 Speaker 1: successfully launched. And last, but not least, we'll touch on

0:46 Speaker 1: the upcoming repair mission for NASA's Nicer X ray telescope

0:49 Speaker 1: on the International Space Station, an essential fix that promises

0:53 Speaker 1: to restore its stellar research capabilities. So stay tuned and

0:57 Speaker 1: let's dive into the cosmos together. SpaceX is making waves

1:03 Speaker 1: with its latest ambitious plan to land and recover its

1:05 Speaker 1: starship rocket off the coast of Australia. Discussions are underway

1:09 Speaker 1: between SpaceX and officials in both the United States and Australia,

1:13 Speaker 1: signifying a monumental step forward in SpaceX's quest to expand

1:17 Speaker 1: its operations globally. This initiative highlights the strengthening of security

1:21 Speaker 1: ties between the two nations, positioning Australia as a crucial

1:25 Speaker 1: partner in future space endeavors. The first successful controlled splashdown

1:29 Speaker 1: of a Starship rocket happened just last June in the

1:32 Speaker 1: Indian Ocean. This milestone has emboldened SpaceX to extend its

1:36 Speaker 1: testing campaign. The recovery and successive landings of the Starship

1:39 Speaker 1: boosters are pivotal in enhancing the development of this enormous

1:42 Speaker 1: reusable rocket, one design not only to launch satellites, but

1:46 Speaker 1: also to land astronauts on the Moon. The current plan

1:49 Speaker 1: involves launching the Starship from a facility in Texas and

1:52 Speaker 1: landing it in the sea off Australia's coast. From there,

1:56 Speaker 1: the rocket would be recovered on Australian territory. Requires the

2:00 Speaker 1: loosening of US export controls on sophisticated space technologies, a

2:04 Speaker 1: process that President Joe Biden's administration has already started to

2:08 Speaker 1: facilitate within the Aucue Security Alliance, which includes the United States,

2:13 Speaker 1: Australia and Britain. Although SpaceX, the US Space Force, and

2:18 Speaker 1: the Australian Space Agency have yet to comment officially, unnamed

2:22 Speaker 1: sources reveal that towing Starship to a port on Australia's

2:25 Speaker 1: western or northern coasts could be an ideal recovery method. However,

2:30 Speaker 1: specific plans and locations are still under discussion. These conversations

2:34 Speaker 1: reflect the US determination to bolster Australia's military capabilities as

2:39 Speaker 1: a countermeasure to China's increasing assertiveness in the region. The

2:43 Speaker 1: collaboration would signify a heightened level of trust in Australia,

2:47 Speaker 1: which has long sought to enhance its space defense program

2:50 Speaker 1: and build stronger civil and military ties with the United States.

2:55 Speaker 1: The ongoing discussions primarily focus on the regulatory challenges of

2:59 Speaker 1: bringing a record covered starship booster ashore in a foreign country,

3:03 Speaker 1: making the timing of any landing still uncertain for SpaceX,

3:08 Speaker 1: The proposed test landings in Australia could be the initial

3:11 Speaker 1: phase of a broader initiative that may eventually include launching

3:14 Speaker 1: from a facility on the continent, or even achieving land

3:17 Speaker 1: based recoveries. A similar incremental approach was employed in the

3:21 Speaker 1: development of the Falcon nine rocket, which is now SpaceX's

3:24 Speaker 1: workhorse and has executed hundreds of successful landings. Standing at

3:29 Speaker 1: a towering four hundred feet, Starship is designed to be

3:32 Speaker 1: fully reusable. This next generation rocket system has the capability

3:38 Speaker 1: to launch large satellite batches into space, facilitate lunar missions,

3:43 Speaker 1: and could potentially be utilized for rapid military cargo deliveries

3:47 Speaker 1: around the globe in as little as ninety minutes.

3:51 Speaker 2: The successful test flight.

3:52 Speaker 1: In June, where Starship managed a soft splash down in

3:55 Speaker 1: the Indian Ocean while its booster landed in the Gulf

3:58 Speaker 1: of Mexico, marked a signalificant progression for the program. Prior

4:02 Speaker 1: tests had ended with disintegration before achieving a safe landing.

4:06 Speaker 1: This achievement has propelled SpaceX into a new phase of

4:10 Speaker 1: more complex landing tests, reinforcing the potential military applications envisioned

4:15 Speaker 1: by the US Air Force Research Laboratory's Rocket Cargo program.

4:20 Speaker 1: Under a one hundred two million dollars Pentagon contract, SpaceX

4:24 Speaker 1: has been studying point to point delivery using Starships since

4:27 Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, with plans to move into a more

4:30 Speaker 1: advanced prototype phase next year. This capability could revolutionize logistics

4:34 Speaker 1: by reducing the time needed to deliver cargo across the

4:37 Speaker 1: world to a fraction of the current twelve to twenty

4:40 Speaker 1: four hours required by traditional aircraft. As these plans unfold,

4:45 Speaker 1: it's clear that SpaceX is not just looking at the stars,

4:48 Speaker 1: but also at the future of international partnerships in space exploration.

4:52 Speaker 1: The coming months and years are sure to bring exciting

4:55 Speaker 1: developments as regulations are navigated and tested, setting the stage

4:58 Speaker 1: for SpaceX's growing presence in Australia and beyond. This could

5:03 Speaker 1: very well be the dawn of a new era in

5:05 Speaker 1: global space collaboration, with SpaceX leading the charge. NASA's Dart mission,

5:12 Speaker 1: which made headlines in twenty twenty two when it successfully

5:15 Speaker 1: struck the asteroid Dimorphose, has recently yielded some incredibly valuable findings.

5:20 Speaker 1: As you might remember, the Dart spacecraft was part of

5:22 Speaker 1: a planetary defense test aiming to see if a kinetic

5:25 Speaker 1: impact could alter the path of an asteroid. Well, in

5:29 Speaker 1: addition to proving that such a strategy can work, the

5:32 Speaker 1: mission has provided a wealth of scientific data that's helping

5:35 Speaker 1: us delve even deeper into the mysteries of near Earth asteroids.

5:39 Speaker 2: In the moments leading up to the.

5:40 Speaker 1: Impact, DART captured high resolution images of de MorphOS and

5:44 Speaker 1: its larger companion, Ditemos.

5:46 Speaker 2: These images have been.

5:47 Speaker 1: Critical for scientists trying to piece together the complex history

5:51 Speaker 1: of these two fascinating celestial bodies. The craters and surface

5:55 Speaker 1: features on Didimos suggest it formed about twelve point five

5:58 Speaker 1: million years ago, likely in our Solar System's main asteroid

6:02 Speaker 1: belt between Mars and Jupiter, before being knocked into the

6:06 Speaker 1: inner Solar System. Dimorphose, on the other hand, appears to

6:11 Speaker 1: be much younger, clocking in at around three hundred thousand

6:15 Speaker 1: years old. Both asteroids are what scientists call rubble pile structures,

6:20 Speaker 1: meaning they're composed of rocky fragments that have coalesced under

6:23 Speaker 1: gravitational forces. This type of formation generally results from the

6:27 Speaker 1: catastrophic breakup of apparent asteroid. Detailed analyzes of the largest

6:32 Speaker 1: boulders on both Dimorphose and Didamos indicate they couldn't have

6:36 Speaker 1: formed from surface impacts, as such collisions would have destroyed

6:40 Speaker 1: these bodies rather than creating massive boulders. Leading this fascinating

6:44 Speaker 1: research is astronomer Maurzio Pagola from Italy's National Institute for Astrophysics.

6:50 Speaker 1: Payola explains that the surface of these asteroids is covered

6:53 Speaker 1: with boulders, with the largest on Dimorphose being as big

6:57 Speaker 1: as a school bus and the largest Ondidamos, comparable to

7:00 Speaker 1: a soccer field. The rocks on Dimorphose even show signs

7:04 Speaker 1: of cracks, and Didamos might have finer grained soils at

7:07 Speaker 1: its equator, though that's still up for debate based on

7:10 Speaker 1: current imagery. Interestingly, the researchers also discovered that Demorphose likely

7:16 Speaker 1: formed from material ejected from Didamos's equatorial region, caused by

7:20 Speaker 1: its rapid rotation, an effect known as the yorp effect,

7:24 Speaker 1: which is driven by sunlight. This past rapid spin caused

7:27 Speaker 1: Ditamos to eject mass, some of which coalesced to form dimorphose.

7:32 Speaker 1: NASA's DART mission marks a significant milestone in our understanding

7:36 Speaker 1: of binary asteroid systems, where a primary asteroid is orbited

7:39 Speaker 1: by a smaller moonlight. These systems represent about ten to

7:43 Speaker 1: fifteen percent of all near Earth asteroids, so learning more

7:46 Speaker 1: about them is crucial. According to Olivier barnouin a planetary

7:50 Speaker 1: geologist at Johns Hopkins University. Every new observation helps us

7:54 Speaker 1: understand how these cosmic rocks form and evolve. Despite their complexities,

7:59 Speaker 1: smaller asteroids under a kilometer in size share surprisingly similar characteristics,

8:04 Speaker 1: making each new data point invaluable. The DART mission didn't

8:08 Speaker 1: just strike dimorphose. It slightly altered the asteroid's trajectory, proving

8:13 Speaker 1: that kinetic force can indeed change the course of a

8:15 Speaker 1: potential Earth threatening object. This finding has massive implications for

8:20 Speaker 1: planetary defense strategies going forward. So that's a wrap on

8:24 Speaker 1: the latest insights from NASA's DART mission. It's amazing to

8:28 Speaker 1: think about how much we're learning, not just about these

8:30 Speaker 1: specific asteroids, but about the larger patterns and processes that

8:34 Speaker 1: govern near Earth objects. As always, space offers us endless

8:38 Speaker 1: opportunities for discovery, and it's thrilling to see these small

8:41 Speaker 1: steps leading to giant leaps in our understanding. And now

8:47 Speaker 1: a follow up from our story yesterday, the United Launch

8:50 Speaker 1: Alliance or ULA has achieved a significant milestone by successfully

8:55 Speaker 1: launching a top secret payload for the US Space Force.

8:59 Speaker 1: This mission was carried out using the trusted Atlas five rocket,

9:03 Speaker 1: lifting off successfully from Launch Complex forty one in Florida

9:06 Speaker 1: on Tuesday morning, EDT. It's worth noting that this launch

9:09 Speaker 1: represents the one hundredth national security mission for ULA, a

9:14 Speaker 1: testament to their long standing partnership with the US government

9:17 Speaker 1: and their expertise in space missions that are crucial to

9:20 Speaker 1: national defense. However, this mission is particularly notable for another reason.

9:25 Speaker 1: It marks the final national security mission for the Atlas

9:27 Speaker 1: five rocket. The Atlas five has been a reliable workhorse

9:31 Speaker 1: for ULA, playing a pivotal role in numerous critical.

9:34 Speaker 2: Missions over the years.

9:36 Speaker 1: Now, as the Atlas five prepares for retirement, ULA is

9:39 Speaker 1: shifting its focus to the next generation of launch vehicles,

9:42 Speaker 1: specifically their Vulcan rocket. The Vulcan is set to take

9:45 Speaker 1: over and continue providing the same level of reliability and

9:48 Speaker 1: performance that its predecessor, the Atlas five, has delivered. As

9:53 Speaker 1: is often the case with national security payloads, specific details

9:56 Speaker 1: about the cargo remain classified. The secrecy surrounded the payload

10:00 Speaker 1: underscores the importance and sensitivity of the mission. Despite this

10:05 Speaker 1: veil of confidentiality, the successful launch highlights ULA's reputation for

10:09 Speaker 1: dependability and precision in executing complex missions. Colonel Jim Horn,

10:15 Speaker 1: the senior material leader of the launch execution Delta, expressed

10:18 Speaker 1: a mix of emotions about the transition. He reminisced about

10:22 Speaker 1: the first national security launch involving an Atlas five and

10:25 Speaker 1: the journey to this final mission. It's indeed a bittersweet

10:28 Speaker 1: moment for everyone involved as they say goodbye to a

10:31 Speaker 1: rocket that has served them well and look forward to

10:33 Speaker 1: the future with the Vulcan. So while we might not

10:36 Speaker 1: know exactly what was aboard the Atlas five this time,

10:39 Speaker 1: the mission's success certainly adds another impressive chapter to ULA's

10:43 Speaker 1: storied history.

10:45 Speaker 2: It also sets the stage.

10:46 Speaker 1: For an exciting new era, with the Vulcan rocket poised

10:49 Speaker 1: to continue ULA's legacy of excellence in space launch services.

10:56 Speaker 1: In exciting news from the International Space Station, NASA is

10:59 Speaker 1: prepping for a repair mission on the Nicer Telescope, an

11:03 Speaker 1: X ray observatory that has been delivering incredible science since

11:06 Speaker 1: its deployment. In May twenty twenty three, Nicer sustained damage

11:10 Speaker 1: that created a light leak, letting unwonted sunlight interfere with

11:14 Speaker 1: its sensitive measurements. This issue hampered the telescope's ability to

11:18 Speaker 1: study the Cosmos during the station's daylight hours, although nighttime

11:22 Speaker 1: observations remained unaffected. NASA's dedicated team has been hard at

11:27 Speaker 1: work diagnosing and preparing for this repair. It's remarkable that

11:30 Speaker 1: within a year they were able to detect the issue,

11:34 Speaker 1: design a solution, and get everything prepped and ready for deployment.

11:38 Speaker 1: NICER's repair kit, lovingly crafted by the expert team at

11:42 Speaker 1: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, contains specialized patches designed to

11:46 Speaker 1: cover the damaged areas of the telescope's thermal shields, located

11:51 Speaker 1: near the station's starboard solar array. NICER's thermal shields are

11:55 Speaker 1: ultra thin and engineered to filter out various types of

11:58 Speaker 1: light while allowing X rays to pass through. These shields

12:02 Speaker 1: are crucial for nyser's primary mission to observe neutron stars

12:05 Speaker 1: and other X ray sources in space. Any damage to

12:08 Speaker 1: these shields compromises the telescope's ability to conduct its groundbreaking research.

12:13 Speaker 1: The repair operation will take place during an upcoming spacewalk.

12:16 Speaker 1: Astronauts will install these custom designed patches, each shaped like

12:20 Speaker 1: a piece of pie to easily fit under the sunshades

12:22 Speaker 1: of the X ray concentrators. This ingenious design will block

12:26 Speaker 1: the intrusive sunlight and restore niser's capabilities. The patch materials

12:30 Speaker 1: include a mix of existing parts of the telescope and

12:32 Speaker 1: standard toolkits available on the ISS, showcasing NASA's innovative problem

12:37 Speaker 1: solving skills. What makes this even more special is that

12:41 Speaker 1: NICSER wasn't originally designed to be serviced or repaired. It

12:44 Speaker 1: was installed robotically and remotely operated, so the team's ability

12:48 Speaker 1: to come up with a viable repair plan is a

12:50 Speaker 1: testament to their resourcefulness and expertise. With twelve patches available

12:55 Speaker 1: in the repair kit, the astronauts will have plenty of

12:57 Speaker 1: material to address all the significant areas of damage. The

13:01 Speaker 1: patches will be carried in a specially designed caddy during

13:04 Speaker 1: the spacewalk, ensuring they are easily accessible. This mission accomplishes

13:10 Speaker 1: more than just a fix. It marks the first time

13:13 Speaker 1: an X ray telescope in orbit will be serviced by astronauts.

13:17 Speaker 1: NICER joins an elite group of space observatories like the

13:20 Speaker 1: Hubble Space Telescope that have received on orbit repairs, further

13:24 Speaker 1: enhancing its legacy of scientific discovery. This repair is not

13:28 Speaker 1: just about fixing what's broken, It's about enabling Nicer to

13:31 Speaker 1: continue its invaluable research. The telescope provides unprecedented insights into

13:36 Speaker 1: the structure of neutron stars, measures mysterious fast radio bursts,

13:41 Speaker 1: and even observes comets and Earth's upper atmosphere. Steve Kenyon,

13:46 Speaker 1: Nicser's mechanical lead at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, voice

13:50 Speaker 1: the collective enthusiasm, sharing how excited they are for the

13:53 Speaker 1: repairs to be completed and for Nicer to return to

13:56 Speaker 1: its full potential. The mission's principle investing gator, Keith Jendro,

14:01 Speaker 1: also praise the collaboration across various NASA centers and the

14:05 Speaker 1: Space Station program to make this repair possible. As we

14:09 Speaker 1: look forward to this repair mission, the successful patching of

14:12 Speaker 1: Nicer will undoubtedly lead to more groundbreaking discoveries and enhance

14:16 Speaker 1: our understanding of some of the universe's most enigmatic phenomena.

14:20 Speaker 1: So stay tuned for updates on this extraordinary mission as

14:24 Speaker 1: Nicer gears up to get back to doing what it

14:26 Speaker 1: does best, exploring the X ray universe and expanding our

14:29 Speaker 1: cosmic knowledge. Thank you for tuning in to this episode

14:36 Speaker 1: of Astronomy Daily. I'm anna and it was a pleasure

14:39 Speaker 1: to share these fascinating updates from the world of space

14:42 Speaker 1: and astronomy with you. Don't forget to visit our website

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