S03E119: Northrop Grumman's ISS Mission and August Sky Highlights

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome again to Astronomy Daily. It's Steve here with another episode.

0:03 Speaker 1: It's the fifth of August twenty twenty four, the podcast

0:09 Speaker 1: I mean to be your whole speed gun clue. And

0:16 Speaker 1: on today's episode, we'll be talking about Northrop Grumm and

0:19 Speaker 1: launching to a mission to the iss or to be

0:23 Speaker 1: talking about my favorite little rock, dimorphous. Hallie's going to

0:26 Speaker 1: be talking about Hercules, which has a very weird rotation,

0:31 Speaker 1: and she's also going to be talking to you about

0:34 Speaker 1: the sky watching highlights for August. That's all really good.

0:38 Speaker 1: And speaking of the girl at the moment, would you

0:40 Speaker 1: welcome Hallie? How are you going? Hallie?

0:42 Speaker 2: Doing just great? Thank you, my human. I heard it

0:45 Speaker 2: was your turn for a holiday.

0:46 Speaker 1: This week, that's right. I took a couple of days

0:49 Speaker 1: for a bit of rest and recuperation, Hallie.

0:51 Speaker 2: And how are you feeling now.

0:53 Speaker 1: About the same, Hallie.

0:54 Speaker 2: Do you think you need a longer holiday?

0:56 Speaker 1: Yeah? Probably, I think we all need a longer holiday.

0:59 Speaker 1: And I think I'll coin a phrase and call it

1:01 Speaker 1: Boeing syndrome.

1:02 Speaker 2: What's that?

1:03 Speaker 1: Well, that's when you only planned for eight days off

1:05 Speaker 1: and you end up taking fifty.

1:07 Speaker 2: Oh, I get it.

1:08 Speaker 1: I wonder if the astronauts feel the same way, But

1:11 Speaker 1: it's not really their choice, and it's definitely not a

1:13 Speaker 1: holiday for them anyway, I guess not. And hey, Halle,

1:16 Speaker 1: something else I saw yesterday that really shocked me.

1:20 Speaker 2: What was it?

1:21 Speaker 1: It was a survey and the results showed that ninety

1:24 Speaker 1: four percent of all those surveyed didn't know that the

1:26 Speaker 1: lights in the sky were stars like our sun.

1:29 Speaker 2: Wow. That's a bit disappointing to hear.

1:32 Speaker 1: I know, I know, but I had to read it

1:34 Speaker 1: a couple of times to really get my head around it.

1:36 Speaker 1: But before we get all out of shape about it,

1:38 Speaker 1: I have no idea how big the sample size was

1:41 Speaker 1: because it was an open survey on a social media

1:44 Speaker 1: platform and they didn't release comprehensive results, just the.

1:47 Speaker 2: Percentage, which is a bit sensationalist. Really, well, yes it is,

1:50 Speaker 2: and here you are giving it a boot.

1:52 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, guilty is charged. But it still doesn't

1:55 Speaker 1: change the inputs. There are still people out there with

1:57 Speaker 1: the sum total of human knowledge of their fingers. She

2:00 Speaker 1: simply choose not to discover anything, and I'll find it

2:03 Speaker 1: quite amazing.

2:03 Speaker 2: Well, dear listeners, aren't we glad we have inquiring minds,

2:07 Speaker 2: and that is.

2:07 Speaker 1: Where it starts. Yes, and speaking of starting, I think

2:11 Speaker 1: it's your turn, Hollie.

2:12 Speaker 2: Okay, here we go. Here are some of August's skywatching

2:21 Speaker 2: highlights for all you stargazers. We can look forward to

2:25 Speaker 2: Mars and Jupiter having a super close meetup, and the

2:28 Speaker 2: conditions look good for the persied meteors, and also how

2:30 Speaker 2: to observe a stellar nursery the lagoon Nebula. Firstly, on

2:35 Speaker 2: August fourth, we will have a new moon. Then on

2:38 Speaker 2: August eleventh, the Persied meteor shower peaks overnight tonight. Provided

2:43 Speaker 2: you have clear skies, viewing conditions will be favorable this year.

2:46 Speaker 2: As the moon sets by around eleven thirty pm Local time,

2:50 Speaker 2: meteor activity picks up from then until dawn. On August fourteenth,

2:55 Speaker 2: Planets Jupiter and Mars have an extremely close pair up

2:58 Speaker 2: called a conjunction. This morning, they'll appear just a third

3:01 Speaker 2: of a degree apart, which is less than the width

3:03 Speaker 2: of the full moon. You will find them in the

3:06 Speaker 2: eastern sky in the couple of hours before sunrise. August

3:10 Speaker 2: nineteenth gives us another full moon before August twentieth sees

3:13 Speaker 2: the moon chasing Saturn across the sky. Tonight, the pair

3:16 Speaker 2: rise in the east shortly after dark and trek toward

3:19 Speaker 2: the west together until dawn. On August twenty seventh, in

3:23 Speaker 2: the morning, the crescent moon joins Mars and Jupiter to

3:25 Speaker 2: form a captivating trio. Look for them in the east

3:29 Speaker 2: in the hour or so before sunrise and all month.

3:32 Speaker 2: You can use binoculars or a telescope to observe the

3:35 Speaker 2: Lagoon Nebula all month in the first few hours after dark.

3:39 Speaker 2: It's located in the constellation Sagittarius, near the star pattern

3:42 Speaker 2: known as the Teapot. Similar in size and brightness to

3:46 Speaker 2: the Orion Nebula. It's a cauldron of star formation located

3:49 Speaker 2: about four thousand light years away. The Sun rotates the

3:56 Speaker 2: fastest at the equator, and the rotation rate slows down

3:59 Speaker 2: at higher lil latitudes, becoming the slowest in the polar regions,

4:03 Speaker 2: but a nearby sun like star V eight eighty nine Hercules,

4:06 Speaker 2: some one hundred and fifteen light years away in the

4:08 Speaker 2: Constellation of Hercules, rotates the fastest at a latitude of

4:11 Speaker 2: about forty degrees, while both the equator and polar regions

4:14 Speaker 2: rotate more slowly. A similar rotational profile has not been

4:19 Speaker 2: observed for any other star. The result is stunning because

4:22 Speaker 2: stellar rotation has been considered a well understood fundamental physical parameter,

4:26 Speaker 2: but such a rotational profile has not been predicted even

4:29 Speaker 2: in computer simulations. We applied a newly developed statistical technique

4:34 Speaker 2: to the data of a familiar star that has been

4:36 Speaker 2: studied in the University of Helsinki for years. We did

4:39 Speaker 2: not expect to see such anomalies in stellar rotation. The

4:43 Speaker 2: anomalies in the rotational profile of V eight eighty nine

4:46 Speaker 2: Hercules indicate that our understanding of stellar dynamics and magnetic

4:49 Speaker 2: dynamos is insufficient, explains researcher Miko Twami, who coordinated the research.

4:55 Speaker 2: The target star V eight eighty nine Hercules, is much

4:57 Speaker 2: like a young sun, telling a story about the the

5:00 Speaker 2: history and evolution of the Sun. Twami emphasizes that it

5:02 Speaker 2: is crucial to understand stellar astrophysics in order to, for instance,

5:06 Speaker 2: predict activity induced phenomena on the solar surface, such as

5:10 Speaker 2: spots and eruptions. Stars are spherical structures where matter is

5:14 Speaker 2: in the state of plasma consisting of charged particles. They

5:18 Speaker 2: are dynamic objects that hang in a balance between the

5:20 Speaker 2: pressure generated in nuclear reactions in their cores and their

5:23 Speaker 2: own gravity. They have no solid surfaces. Unlike many planets,

5:29 Speaker 2: the stellar rotation is not constant for all latitudes, an

5:32 Speaker 2: effect known as differential rotation. It is caused by the

5:36 Speaker 2: fact that hot plasma rises to the star's surface via

5:38 Speaker 2: phenomenon called convection, which in turn has an effect on

5:42 Speaker 2: the local rotation rate. This is because angular momentum must

5:46 Speaker 2: be conserved, and the convection occurs perpendicular to the rotational

5:49 Speaker 2: axis near the equator, whereas it is parallel to the

5:51 Speaker 2: axis near the poles and right in your backyard. Steve

5:59 Speaker 2: rocket Lab has launched its fifty first electron rocket, deploying

6:02 Speaker 2: a single satellite into low Earth orbit for Sinspective, a

6:05 Speaker 2: Japanese earth imaging company. The mission, named al for one

6:10 Speaker 2: one VOWL in reference to Sinspective strict satellites, which are

6:13 Speaker 2: named after the genus of owls, lifted off at four

6:15 Speaker 2: thirty nine a m August third NZT sixteen thirty nine

6:18 Speaker 2: Universal time coordinated August second from Launch Complex one, rocket

6:23 Speaker 2: Lab's private orbital launch site on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula.

6:27 Speaker 2: This launch deployed the fifth Strict SAAR imaging satellite for

6:30 Speaker 2: Suspective into low Earth orbit. In addition to the launch service,

6:34 Speaker 2: rocket Lab provided a custom electron fairing to encapsulate the

6:38 Speaker 2: strict satellite and performed an advanced mid mission maneuver with

6:40 Speaker 2: electrons hickstage to shield the satellite from the Sun and

6:43 Speaker 2: reduce radiation exposure on its way to orbit. Rocket Lab

6:47 Speaker 2: has been the sole launch provider for Suspective's constellation to date.

6:52 Speaker 2: This mission marked the fifth of sixteen launches booked on

6:54 Speaker 2: Electron for s Inspective, and the second launch for the

6:57 Speaker 2: Japanese company this year, following the All Night Life mission

7:00 Speaker 2: in March twenty twenty four. Recently, Inspective booked ten dedicated

7:05 Speaker 2: Electron launches as part of a new multi launch agreement

7:07 Speaker 2: announced in June twenty twenty four, with launches in that

7:10 Speaker 2: deal set to take place from twenty twenty five to

7:12 Speaker 2: twenty twenty seven. Rocket Lab founder and CEO Sir Peter

7:16 Speaker 2: Beck stated, it's wonderful to have launched our second mission

7:19 Speaker 2: for Suspective in five months as we continue our long

7:22 Speaker 2: standing launch partnership. Electron is the ideal rocket for providing flexible,

7:27 Speaker 2: tailored and direct access to orbit for constellation builders like

7:30 Speaker 2: Suspective and I'm proud of the team for delivering this

7:33 Speaker 2: latest mission success. The launch window for Rocket labs next

7:37 Speaker 2: electron mission will be announced in the coming days. And

7:41 Speaker 2: that's it for me. Back to you in the real world.

7:53 Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us for this Monday edition of

7:56 Speaker 1: Astronomy Daily, where we offered just a few stories from

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8:36 Speaker 1: and hall Space, space, science, and Astronomy. Now off to

8:49 Speaker 1: the surface of Dimorphos again. This is one of my

8:52 Speaker 1: favorite little rocks in the Solar System. When NASA's Dart

8:57 Speaker 1: mission intentionally slammed into Dimorphis September twenty twenty two. The

9:03 Speaker 1: orbit of the moonlight was altered, and we've covered this

9:06 Speaker 1: several times on Astronomy Daily, and those of you who

9:09 Speaker 1: listen regularly will know how closely we've been following this story.

9:14 Speaker 1: Researchers have studied the photos and data taken by Dart

9:18 Speaker 1: before its impact, learning more about the geology of the

9:21 Speaker 1: Didymus Dimorphous system, and they've now estimated the surface age

9:26 Speaker 1: of both the asteroid and its moon, and the Asteroidnymus

9:30 Speaker 1: has a surface age of one point five sorry twelve

9:34 Speaker 1: point five million years, while the moon Dimorphos is only

9:38 Speaker 1: three hundred thousand years old. What that you say? As

9:42 Speaker 1: numbers don't know what add up. Additionally, the Dart researchers

9:46 Speaker 1: concluded that both Didymus and Dimorphous are rubble piles, with

9:50 Speaker 1: the Dimorphos' likely and inheriting its bolders from Ditamis. It's

9:56 Speaker 1: a pile of gravel and boulders and some sand and

9:59 Speaker 1: dust together by its own gravity, and really not much else,

10:03 Speaker 1: said Andy Rutkin, Dart investigation team with co lead at

10:08 Speaker 1: Johns Hopkins Applied Physics lab at on Blue Sky. There's

10:13 Speaker 1: really no cohesion between different pieces of gravel or rocks

10:17 Speaker 1: on Diorphus. That's really interesting concept is necessary lot of

10:22 Speaker 1: gravel that makeup. That makeup explains why Dart's impact made

10:27 Speaker 1: such a surprising change to dimorphous orbital period, decreasing it

10:32 Speaker 1: by about thirty four minutes. A collection of boulders is

10:36 Speaker 1: easier to shift than a solid object. Several Dart researchers

10:40 Speaker 1: published five papers in Nature Communications looking at the geology

10:44 Speaker 1: and geophysics of Timus and Dimorphis as seen by Dart.

10:49 Speaker 1: These findings give us new insights into the ways that

10:53 Speaker 1: asteroids can change over time, said Thomas Stadler, lead Scientists

10:57 Speaker 1: for Solar Systems Small Bodies at NASA head Quarters in Washington,

11:01 Speaker 1: in a NASA press release. This is important not just

11:05 Speaker 1: for understanding the Near Earth objects that are the focus

11:08 Speaker 1: of planetary defense, but also for our ability to read

11:12 Speaker 1: the history of our Solar System from these remnants of

11:15 Speaker 1: planet formation. This is just of the wealth of new

11:19 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, this is just part of the wealth of

11:21 Speaker 1: new knowledge that we've gained from Dart in the geology

11:26 Speaker 1: and evolution of the Near Earth binary asteroid system Dinamus.

11:30 Speaker 1: Oliver Barton, Ronald Sorry, Ronald Louise values of APL and

11:39 Speaker 1: their team were able to determine the disparate ages of

11:43 Speaker 1: Didymus and Dimorphous. They also found that both objects have

11:47 Speaker 1: weak surface characteristics, which are very likely contributed to dart

11:52 Speaker 1: significant impact on the Moodlitz orbit. The images and data

11:56 Speaker 1: that DART collected at the Dinamus system provided a unique

12:00 Speaker 1: opportunity for a close up geological look at a near

12:04 Speaker 1: Earth asteroid binary system, said Burnout in a press release

12:08 Speaker 1: from APL. From these images alone, we were able to

12:12 Speaker 1: infer a great deal of information on geophysical properties of

12:15 Speaker 1: both Denimis and Domorphos and expand our understanding of the

12:19 Speaker 1: formation of these two asteroids. We also better understand why

12:23 Speaker 1: DART was so effective in moving Dimorphos. Images captured by

12:28 Speaker 1: DART and its CubeSat Companion showed Domorphoss topography covered with

12:33 Speaker 1: boulders of various sizes, while the larger asteroid Namis was

12:38 Speaker 1: smoother at lower elevations though rocky at higher elevations. It

12:43 Speaker 1: also had more craters than Dimorphos. The authors inferred that

12:47 Speaker 1: Domorphos had likely spun off from Dinamis in a larger

12:50 Speaker 1: mass shedding event. This was confirmed in another paper, Evidence

12:55 Speaker 1: for multi fragmentation and mass shedding of boulders on Robert

12:58 Speaker 1: Piled binary aster asteroid system Dinymis. Marizio Pazola of the

13:04 Speaker 1: National National Institute of Astrophysics in Rome and teams show

13:08 Speaker 1: how both Dinymus and dimorphous are mainly comprised of a

13:12 Speaker 1: collection of boulders. This team concluded that the formation of

13:16 Speaker 1: Domorphus likely came as Dinamus shed material creating a new

13:21 Speaker 1: asteroid moonlet. The size frequency distribution of boulders larger than

13:26 Speaker 1: five metres on Domorphos and larger than twenty two point

13:29 Speaker 1: eight meters on Dinimis confirms that both asteroids are pars

13:33 Speaker 1: of fragments produced in the catastrophic description of their progenitors

13:38 Speaker 1: the temper. This finding supports the hypothesis that some asteroid

13:42 Speaker 1: binary systems for through the spin up and mass shedding

13:46 Speaker 1: of a fraction of appropriate asteroid. In another paper, Fast

13:50 Speaker 1: Bolder fractional ye do fatigue dedicted stone asteroids Alice Legetii,

13:56 Speaker 1: also of A and A and colleagues found ethn size

14:01 Speaker 1: and distribution of pots and Dimorphus is consistent with thermal fatigue,

14:06 Speaker 1: which is the gradual weakening and cracking of material caused

14:10 Speaker 1: by heat. This could rapidly break up boulders on the

14:13 Speaker 1: surface of dimorphous generating surface lines and altering the physical

14:17 Speaker 1: characteristics of this type of asteroid more quickly than previously thought.

14:22 Speaker 1: The Dart mission was likely the first observation of such

14:25 Speaker 1: a phenomenon on this type of asteroid. Thermal fatigue could

14:29 Speaker 1: also have been a bearing on what happens if this

14:32 Speaker 1: type of asteroid would need to be deflected for planetary defense.

14:36 Speaker 1: The presence of boulder fields affected by thermal fact fracturing

14:40 Speaker 1: on near Earth asteroid surfaces may contribute to an enhancement

14:44 Speaker 1: in the ejected mass and momentum from kinetic impactors when

14:48 Speaker 1: deflecting asteroids. The authors wrote and finally mechanical properties of

14:53 Speaker 1: rubble pile asteroids through surface boulder Morpholological analysis by Colus

14:59 Speaker 1: rob And also of Isae and co authors analyze the

15:05 Speaker 1: surface boulders on diamophers, comparing them with those on other

15:08 Speaker 1: rubber partl asteroids, including ETKOA, Raguru, and Venu. The researchers

15:15 Speaker 1: found striking similarities the boulders on all four asteroids, suggesting

15:21 Speaker 1: they all formed and evolved in a similar fashion and

15:24 Speaker 1: were also changed by impacts. This data, too, informs future

15:28 Speaker 1: planetary defense missions or attempts at impact emissions. Planetary defense

15:33 Speaker 1: efforts rely on estimates of the mechanical properties of asteroids,

15:38 Speaker 1: which are difficult to constrain accurately from Earth. The team

15:41 Speaker 1: rate the mechanical properties of asteroid material are also important

15:46 Speaker 1: in the interpretation of the data impact. All the DART

15:50 Speaker 1: researchers team will continue to observe and study Dart's impact. Additionally,

15:55 Speaker 1: another spacecraft will launch in twenty twenty four to study

15:59 Speaker 1: domorphice e e bit closer. The European Space Agency's her

16:04 Speaker 1: mission should arrive at Didymus and Dimorphos in December twenty

16:08 Speaker 1: twenty six. HERA will undertake a detailed study of Dimorphos

16:13 Speaker 1: to understand more deeply how the impact has affected it.

16:18 Speaker 1: You're listening to a Slightly Day the podcast now. On Sunday,

16:29 Speaker 1: SpaceX successfully launched a resupply mission for the International Space

16:34 Speaker 1: Station after it was postponed on Saturday because of unfavorable weather.

16:40 Speaker 1: The Space Exploration Company used a Falcon nine rocket to

16:44 Speaker 1: launch the signas spacecraft made by Northrop Grumman, best known

16:48 Speaker 1: as a defense contractor. Northrop Grumman changed its launch vehicle

16:54 Speaker 1: for Signus missions from its own Antaris two thirty plus

16:57 Speaker 1: rocket to SpaceX's FOUC nine rocket after the war in

17:02 Speaker 1: Ukraine ended engine and booster production for the Entaris program.

17:06 Speaker 1: On board are tests of water recovery technology and a

17:10 Speaker 1: process to produce stem cells in microgravity, studies of the

17:14 Speaker 1: effects of spaceflight on micro organism DNA and liver tissue growth,

17:19 Speaker 1: and some live science demonstrations for students, NASA said. In

17:23 Speaker 1: a statement shortly before the launch, SpaceX said that the

17:27 Speaker 1: weather was only thirty five percent favorable for liftoff yet.

17:32 Speaker 1: The rocket took off from Space Launch Complex forty at

17:35 Speaker 1: the Cape Canaveral's Space Force Station in Florida around eleven

17:39 Speaker 1: h two am local time. About fifteen minutes later, the

17:43 Speaker 1: Signet spacecraft successfully separated to make its way toward the ISS.

17:48 Speaker 1: Next up is a solar array deployment expected in about

17:52 Speaker 1: three hours. The next step was the solar array deployment.

17:56 Speaker 1: The solar arrays helped power the spacecraft for its journey

18:00 Speaker 1: to the space station, said a spokesman. The Falcon nine

18:03 Speaker 1: first stage returned to landing Zone one at Canaveral Space

18:07 Speaker 1: Force Station. This was the tenth flight of the first

18:11 Speaker 1: stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched AX two, EUCLID,

18:16 Speaker 1: AX three, CRS, thirty S, s Astra one P and

18:22 Speaker 1: four Starlink missions. That's quite a collection. As for the

18:26 Speaker 1: Signus spacecraft, once the cargo hall is unloaded by the

18:30 Speaker 1: ISS crew, it will continue to be used as an

18:33 Speaker 1: extended science lab space for the months it remains DOC

18:36 Speaker 1: to the station. And I wonder, if you're thinking what

18:38 Speaker 1: I'm thinking, could it be used as a rescue craft

18:41 Speaker 1: for the stranded the astronauts. Everybody's thinking that. And there

18:56 Speaker 1: it is. Another episode done and Dust, thank you so

18:59 Speaker 1: much for staying and we'd love to see you all

19:01 Speaker 1: again next week, right Halle.

19:04 Speaker 2: Sure, Steve, And don't forget Anna and Charlie with their

19:07 Speaker 2: shows during the week and register for the newsletter just

19:10 Speaker 2: like Steve.

19:10 Speaker 1: Said, Yes, that's right, Anna and Charlie, our other AI

19:14 Speaker 1: presenters will be carrying you through the week. Don't forget

19:16 Speaker 1: their shows. It's always good stuff. And the Astronomy Daily

19:20 Speaker 1: newsletter has a thousand times more well well, not a

19:23 Speaker 1: thousand times, but a whole lot more in it. So yes,

19:27 Speaker 1: get your fill every week in your email. It's fantastic,

19:30 Speaker 1: all right. So that's all from me. Goodbye, everybody say

19:33 Speaker 1: next week see you.

19:34 Speaker 2: Halle Bye

19:38 Speaker 1: Podcast your whole Steve, don't cu