S03E120: China's Constellation Project and Webb's Stellar Surprise

0:02 Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your daily dive into the latest

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

0:09 Speaker 1: excited to take you through some fascinating updates. Today. We've

0:12 Speaker 1: got riveting stories lined up for you, from China's ambitious

0:16 Speaker 1: satellite constellation launch to rival Starlink, to a groundbreaking revelation

0:21 Speaker 1: by the James Webb Space telescope that has astronomers buzzing.

0:24 Speaker 1: Plus we'll delve into NASA's quirky but educational screaming balloon

0:28 Speaker 1: demonstration involving pennies in space. It's going to be an

0:32 Speaker 1: enlightening and funfilled journey through the Cosmos, So let's get started.

0:36 Speaker 1: A Chinese state owned enterprise has made a bold move

0:39 Speaker 1: in the realm of space technology by launching the first

0:41 Speaker 1: batch of satellites designed to rival SpaceX's Starlink. This ambitious

0:46 Speaker 1: initiative marks a pivotal step in Beijing's broader strategic objective

0:51 Speaker 1: of developing a robust broadband network to compete on a

0:54 Speaker 1: global scale, not only in commercial domains, but with significant

0:58 Speaker 1: military implications of well. The launch, which took place at

1:02 Speaker 1: the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanshi Province was spearheaded

1:07 Speaker 1: by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology or SSST. This is a

1:12 Speaker 1: major milestone in ssst's thousand sales constellation project, also known

1:17 Speaker 1: as the G sixty Starlink plan, initiated last year. The

1:21 Speaker 1: plan aims to deploy over fifteen thousand low Earth orbit

1:24 Speaker 1: LEO satellites by the end of this decade. LEO satellites

1:27 Speaker 1: typically operate between three hundred kilometers and two thousand kilometers

1:31 Speaker 1: from the Earth's surface. Their lower altitude allows for cheaper

1:34 Speaker 1: deployment and more efficient data transmission compared to satellites placed

1:38 Speaker 1: in higher orbits. The first batch of satellites launched is

1:41 Speaker 1: just the beginning, with plans to deploy one hundred and

1:44 Speaker 1: eight satellites this year alone and six hundred and forty

1:47 Speaker 1: eight by the end of twenty twenty five. The ultimate

1:50 Speaker 1: goal is to achieve global network coverage by twenty twenty

1:52 Speaker 1: seven and fully deploy the fifteen thousand satellites before twenty thirty.

1:57 Speaker 1: This ambitious plan is part of a broader trend where

1:59 Speaker 1: various countries are competing to occupy Earth's lower orbits, with

2:03 Speaker 1: significant ramifications for global communications and military capabilities. Starlink, the

2:09 Speaker 1: brainchild of Elon Musk's SpaceX, has already become a significant

2:13 Speaker 1: player in this field, boasting around five thousand, five hundred

2:16 Speaker 1: satellites in orbit and serving tens of thousands of users

2:19 Speaker 1: in the United States. The comparison between Starlink and the

2:23 Speaker 1: Thousand Sales constellation is inevitable, as both aim to provide

2:27 Speaker 1: near global Internet coverage, but the competition goes beyond commercial interests.

2:32 Speaker 1: Chinese researchers within the People's Liberation Army have been studying

2:35 Speaker 1: Starlink's deployments closely, particularly its role in the Ukraine conflict.

2:40 Speaker 1: Their concern is not unfounded. The potential military applications of

2:44 Speaker 1: a vast satellite constellation could indeed influence the balance of

2:48 Speaker 1: power in any future conflicts. An op ed published in

2:52 Speaker 1: a leading PLA mouthpiece earlier this year described Starlink's deployment

2:56 Speaker 1: as a serious threat to the security of space assets

2:59 Speaker 1: of various country trees, highlighting the anxieties about how such

3:02 Speaker 1: technology could be used against China in a military context.

3:06 Speaker 1: The strategic importance of developing a competing mega constellation cannot

3:11 Speaker 1: be overstated. If successful, the Thousand Sales constellation would provide

3:15 Speaker 1: China with a similar level of connectivity and control over

3:19 Speaker 1: space based communications, thereby reducing reliance on infrastructure operated by

3:23 Speaker 1: potential rival states. The significant investment and rapid deployment timeline

3:29 Speaker 1: underscore the urgency Beaging feels inclosing the gap with SpaceX's

3:32 Speaker 1: Starlink and ensuring future technological and military parity. SST's achievement

3:38 Speaker 1: is receiving significant attention both domestically and internationally. While the

3:41 Speaker 1: company has not commented on this latest development, it's clear

3:45 Speaker 1: that the launch represents a promising start. As the initiative progresses,

3:50 Speaker 1: it will be crucial to monitor both the technological advancements

3:54 Speaker 1: and policy implications resulting from this rapidly growing network. The

4:01 Speaker 1: James Webb Space Telescopes Mid Infrared Instrument, or MIRI, has

4:05 Speaker 1: delivered a truly breathtaking discovery. What astronomers long believe to

4:09 Speaker 1: be a single star known as WL twenty S is

4:12 Speaker 1: actually a twin star system. This revelation doesn't just add

4:15 Speaker 1: a fascinating twist to our understanding of this celestial body,

4:19 Speaker 1: it opens up new avenues in the study of stellar

4:21 Speaker 1: life cycles and planetary formation. So how did this all

4:24 Speaker 1: come to light. The story begins with astronomers turning NASA's

4:28 Speaker 1: James Webb's Space telescope toward a group of young stars

4:31 Speaker 1: called WL twenty located in a star forming region of

4:34 Speaker 1: the Milky Way called Roe O Fiuci. This group of

4:38 Speaker 1: stars has been the topic of scientific scrutiny since the

4:40 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies, despite being studied by at least five different

4:44 Speaker 1: telescopes over the years. It was Webb's unprecedented resolution and

4:48 Speaker 1: specialized instruments that revealed WL twenty s to be two

4:52 Speaker 1: stars rather than one. The discovery was unveiled at the

4:55 Speaker 1: two hundred and forty fourth meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

4:59 Speaker 1: Using Mary, scientists discovered that these twin stars also possess

5:03 Speaker 1: matching jets of gas streaming from their north and south poles.

5:07 Speaker 1: Imagine their excitement. After decades of studying what they thought

5:10 Speaker 1: was a single star, they suddenly found themselves looking at

5:13 Speaker 1: not one, but two stars with intriguing features. Mary Barsony,

5:18 Speaker 1: the lead author of the new paper presenting these results,

5:21 Speaker 1: put it aptly, our jaws dropped, adding another layer to

5:25 Speaker 1: the mystery. Further observations by the Atacama Large Millimeter submillimeter

5:30 Speaker 1: array ALMA provided even more surprising findings. ALMA, with its

5:35 Speaker 1: array of over sixty radio antennas in Chile, detected disks

5:39 Speaker 1: of gas and dust encircling both stars. Given the stars age,

5:43 Speaker 1: it is highly probable that planets are forming within these disks.

5:47 Speaker 1: This means we're not just looking at a new twin

5:49 Speaker 1: star system, but potentially at a burgeoning planetary system as well.

5:53 Speaker 1: But why hadn't we seen this before? It turns out

5:55 Speaker 1: that WL twenty is hidden behind thick clouds of gas

5:58 Speaker 1: and dust, making it difficult for visible light telescopes to

6:02 Speaker 1: penetrate Web. However, detects in the infrared spectrum which can

6:06 Speaker 1: pass through these obscuring layers. MIRI, specifically designed for such observations,

6:12 Speaker 1: can detect the longest infrared wavelengths of any instruments on WEB,

6:16 Speaker 1: making it especially suited for looking into regions like WL twenty.

6:20 Speaker 1: This high powered observation means that we can now see

6:23 Speaker 1: not just the structure of these twin stars, but also

6:26 Speaker 1: their behavior. The jets of gas detected by MIRI are

6:29 Speaker 1: composed of ions atoms stripped of some electrons, which radiate

6:34 Speaker 1: at mid infrared wavelengths. These features would not be visible

6:38 Speaker 1: at the submillimeter wavelengths observed by a facility like Alma,

6:42 Speaker 1: thus highlighting the importance of having both types of telescopes

6:45 Speaker 1: working in conjunction. They say a penny doesn't go far

6:50 Speaker 1: these days, but NASA has added its own twist to

6:53 Speaker 1: that phrase by sending two pennies into space. These pennies,

6:57 Speaker 1: believe it or not, are on an extraordinary mad aboard

7:00 Speaker 1: the International Space Station, traveling millions of miles and proving

7:04 Speaker 1: that even the smallest objects can play a big role

7:07 Speaker 1: in education. On August fourth, two humble US one cent

7:11 Speaker 1: coins lifted off for the ISS aboard the SS Francis R.

7:15 Speaker 1: Dick Scobie, Northrop Grumman's twenty first Signus cargo spacecraft, named

7:21 Speaker 1: in memory of the Challenger Shuttle commander. These pennies were

7:23 Speaker 1: part of an uncrude capsule's eight two hundred pounds of cargo,

7:28 Speaker 1: launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida by

7:30 Speaker 1: a SpaceX Falcon nine rocket. What's the mission for these

7:34 Speaker 1: tiny travelers? They're part of NASA's latest demonstration, an educational

7:39 Speaker 1: project designed to engage grade school children in science, technology, engineering,

7:43 Speaker 1: and mathematics. Michelle Hook's Education project manager for NASA's Office

7:48 Speaker 1: of Stem Engagement, explained that the pennies are crucial to

7:52 Speaker 1: an experiment called the Screaming Balloon demonstration. In this activity,

7:57 Speaker 1: one penny is inserted into a deflated balloon, which is

8:00 Speaker 1: then inflated and given a spin by an astronaut. The

8:03 Speaker 1: experiment will compare the motion of the penny to a

8:05 Speaker 1: hex nut spun inside a second balloon. What makes this

8:10 Speaker 1: all the more fascinating is the accessibility of the materials.

8:14 Speaker 1: Pennies are abundant and familiar to students, making it easy

8:17 Speaker 1: for them to replicate the experiment in their classrooms. This

8:21 Speaker 1: hands on approach brings the excitement of space right down

8:24 Speaker 1: to Earth, allowing students to draw direct connections between their

8:28 Speaker 1: everyday lives and the extraordinary work happening on the iss.

8:33 Speaker 1: But it wasn't an easy task to find the right

8:35 Speaker 1: pennies for this mission. NASA wanted pennies minted in twenty

8:39 Speaker 1: twenty four to mark the year they were sent into space,

8:42 Speaker 1: and they needed to be shiny, camera ready. Coins Hooks,

8:46 Speaker 1: along with her team, went on a penny hunt that

8:48 Speaker 1: spanned local banks and personal spare change. After checking hundreds

8:52 Speaker 1: of coins and enlisting help from bank tellers, NASA staff,

8:56 Speaker 1: and local educators, they finally collected a pair of perfect

9:00 Speaker 1: twenty four pennies. These aren't the first pennies to venture

9:04 Speaker 1: into space, though previous missions have seen pennies flown on

9:07 Speaker 1: Apollo missions and even to Mars. For instance, a penny

9:10 Speaker 1: flew aboard Apollo eleven with Neil Armstrong, and multiple coins

9:13 Speaker 1: traveled on Apollo fourteen and fifteen missions. A particularly valuable penny,

9:18 Speaker 1: a seventeen ninety three flowing haircent, even hitched a ride

9:21 Speaker 1: on Gemini seven, later selling for over eighty two thousand

9:25 Speaker 1: dollars at auction. Today, NASA has strict policies against astronauts

9:30 Speaker 1: personally flying items like coins to prevent exploitation. However, uncrude

9:34 Speaker 1: missions like the current Penny project allow a modern continuation

9:38 Speaker 1: of this tradition, and these pennies aren't just about looking good.

9:41 Speaker 1: They help carry forward NASA's long standing educational goals. The

9:46 Speaker 1: coins are set to be reused in various ways aboard

9:49 Speaker 1: the iss, maximizing their educational impact before they eventually returned

9:54 Speaker 1: to Earth. That's it for today's episode. Of Daily I'm

10:01 Speaker 1: Anna and it's been a pleasure to share these stories

10:03 Speaker 1: with you. Don't forget to visit our website at Astronomy

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