S03E140: SpaceX's Latest Challenges, Electric Field Milestone, and XB-1's Triumph

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast where we explore the

0:03 Speaker 1: latest in space and astronomy news. I'm your host Anna.

0:07 Speaker 1: Today we have a fantastic lineup of stories that will

0:09 Speaker 1: take you from the high stakes of space travel to

0:12 Speaker 1: fascinating new scientific discoveries. From SpaceX facing challenges with their

0:16 Speaker 1: Falcon nine rocket to scientists measuring a planet wide electric

0:20 Speaker 1: field for the first time ever. We have so much

0:23 Speaker 1: to explore. Will also delve into Boom SuperSonics second test

0:26 Speaker 1: flight of their XB one aircraft, and wrap up with

0:30 Speaker 1: a look at the detection of water vapor in the

0:32 Speaker 1: atmosphere of an ultra hot Saturn like exoplanet. So grab

0:36 Speaker 1: your telescopes and let's dive in. First up today, the

0:39 Speaker 1: Federal Aviation Administration has grounded SpaceX's Falcon nine rocket following

0:43 Speaker 1: a failed booster landing, marking the second mishap in less

0:47 Speaker 1: than two months. The booster in question, serial number b

0:50 Speaker 1: oney sixty two, was consumed in a dramatic fireball on

0:54 Speaker 1: the deck of the drone chip a shortfall of gravitas

0:58 Speaker 1: stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. This incident occurred at the

1:01 Speaker 1: tail end of its record setting twenty third flight after

1:04 Speaker 1: having successfully launched a batch of Starlink satellites. In a statement,

1:08 Speaker 1: the FAA emphasized that while no injuries or public property

1:12 Speaker 1: damage were reported, an investigation has been mandated to thoroughly

1:16 Speaker 1: understand the root cause of the mishap. This grounding follows

1:20 Speaker 1: a similar stance taken by the FAA after a Falcon

1:23 Speaker 1: nine upper stage failure on July twelfth during the Starlink

1:26 Speaker 1: nine three mission, which led to the loss of twenty satellites.

1:31 Speaker 1: SpaceX rockets only resumed flights on July twenty seventh for

1:34 Speaker 1: the Starlink ten to nine mission. Despite the setback, SpaceX

1:38 Speaker 1: remained steadfast in its commitment to resolving the issue. John Edwards,

1:42 Speaker 1: the SpaceX Vice president of Falcon Launch Vehicles, highlighted on

1:45 Speaker 1: social media that while unfortunate, the event posed no threat

1:50 Speaker 1: to the primary mission or public safety. He assured that

1:53 Speaker 1: the team is working diligently to identify the root cause

1:57 Speaker 1: and implement corrective actions as soon as possible. Similarly, Kikodonchev,

2:02 Speaker 1: another high ranking SpaceX official, stressed that the lessons learned

2:06 Speaker 1: from these recovery failures will not only enhance recovery reliability,

2:10 Speaker 1: but improve acent reliability as well. This incident coincides with

2:14 Speaker 1: a challenging period for SpaceX, which had to delay the

2:17 Speaker 1: Polaris Dawn astronaut mission twice in the same week due

2:20 Speaker 1: to a helium leak and recovery weather concerns. The Polaris

2:24 Speaker 1: Dawn crew remains in quarantine awaiting clearance for their next

2:27 Speaker 1: launch attempt. Timing for the Polaris Dawn launch remains uncertain,

2:31 Speaker 1: largely due to the ongoing FAA investigation, landing, weather, and

2:35 Speaker 1: launch pad availability. The mission is set to take off

2:38 Speaker 1: from Launch Complex thirty nine A at Kennedy Space Center,

2:41 Speaker 1: which also needs to be prepared for NASA's Europa Clipper mission,

2:45 Speaker 1: with a launch window opening on October tenth. Complicating matters further,

2:49 Speaker 1: Space Launch Complex forty at Cape Canaveral is already booked

2:52 Speaker 1: for NASA's Crew nine mission to the International Space Station,

2:55 Speaker 1: penciled in for no earlier than September twenty fourth. Ultimately,

2:59 Speaker 1: the date for Polaris Dawn will depend on how quickly

3:01 Speaker 1: SpaceX can satisfy the FAA's requirements and how cooperative the

3:06 Speaker 1: weather will be. It's a race against time for the

3:08 Speaker 1: SpaceX team, who continue to epitomize perseverance and adaptation in

3:12 Speaker 1: the relentless world of space exploration. Next, for the first

3:16 Speaker 1: time in history, scientists have successfully measured a planet wide

3:20 Speaker 1: electric field known as the ambipolar electric field using NASA's

3:24 Speaker 1: Endurance Mission. This breakthrough field plays a crucial role in

3:28 Speaker 1: atmospheric escape shaping our ionosphere, and it opens new doors

3:32 Speaker 1: for understanding planetary atmospheres, not just on Earth, but also beyond.

3:36 Speaker 1: Let's dive into the discovery. The ambipolar electric field was

3:40 Speaker 1: first hypothesized over six decades ago. It was believed to

3:43 Speaker 1: drive how Earth's atmosphere escapes above the North and South poles. However,

3:48 Speaker 1: actually measuring it remained a challenge until now. Utilizing data

3:52 Speaker 1: from NASA's Endurance Mission, an international team of scientists has

3:56 Speaker 1: confirmed the existence of this field and even quantified its strength.

4:00 Speaker 1: The ambipolar electric field is subtle yet potent. Despite being

4:03 Speaker 1: weak about zero point five to five volts, roughly equivalent

4:07 Speaker 1: to a small watch battery, it draws particles from the

4:10 Speaker 1: atmosphere into space. This phenomenon has been termed the polar wind.

4:14 Speaker 1: For years, scientists noticed a stream of particles escaping from

4:17 Speaker 1: Earth's poles, but couldn't precisely explain why many were cool

4:20 Speaker 1: yet moving at supersonic speeds. Glenn Collinson, the principal investigator

4:25 Speaker 1: of the Endurance mission, noted that this minuscule electric field

4:28 Speaker 1: exerts a force ten times stronger than gravity on hydrogen ions,

4:33 Speaker 1: which are the most abundant particles in the polar wind.

4:36 Speaker 1: To carry out their observations, the Endurance team chose an

4:39 Speaker 1: ideal location Sphalbarred in the Norwegian Arctic, home to the

4:42 Speaker 1: Northernmost Rocket Range. On May eleventh, twenty twenty two, they

4:47 Speaker 1: launched their rocket, reaching an altitude of four hundred and

4:50 Speaker 1: seventy seven miles. During its short lived flight, the Endurance

4:54 Speaker 1: made groundbreaking measurements unearth a mere zero point five to

4:57 Speaker 1: five volts change in electric potential across three hundred and

5:00 Speaker 1: twenty two miles of altitude. Though minuscule, this measurement has

5:04 Speaker 1: vast implications. The significance of the results can't be overstated.

5:08 Speaker 1: This electric field can elevate particles, essentially acting as a

5:12 Speaker 1: conveyor belt, lifting the atmosphere into space. The research team

5:15 Speaker 1: found that the ambipolar field increases the ionosphere's scale height

5:19 Speaker 1: by two hundred and seventy one percent, allowing it to

5:22 Speaker 1: remain denser at higher altitudes. The implications extend far beyond Earth.

5:27 Speaker 1: Since the ambipolar field is generated by the internal dynamics

5:31 Speaker 1: of an atmosphere, it's expected to exist on other planets,

5:34 Speaker 1: such as Venus and Mars. This discovery offers a new

5:37 Speaker 1: lens through which to explore the evolution of planetary atmospheres

5:41 Speaker 1: and even assess the habitability of other worlds. The study,

5:44 Speaker 1: published in the prestigious journal Nature, marks a significant milestone

5:48 Speaker 1: in our understanding of planetary atmospheres. With this knowledge, scientists

5:52 Speaker 1: can now begin to unravel the field's role and how

5:55 Speaker 1: it's been shaping our planet and potentially others over time.

5:58 Speaker 1: That's a wrap on this fascinating break through an atmospheric science.

6:01 Speaker 1: Stick around as we delve into more groundbreaking discoveries here

6:04 Speaker 1: on Astronomy Daily. Boom SuperSonics XB one aircraft successfully completed

6:10 Speaker 1: its second test flight from the Mojave Air and Spaceport.

6:13 Speaker 1: This flight, lasting about fifteen minutes, saw the XB one

6:16 Speaker 1: reaching an altitude of ten than four hundred feet and

6:19 Speaker 1: achieving a speed of two hundred and seventy seven miles

6:22 Speaker 1: per hour. Impressively. This flight demonstrated the retraction and extension

6:26 Speaker 1: of landing gear for the first time, along with testing

6:29 Speaker 1: a new digital stability augmentation system designed to enhance handling.

6:34 Speaker 1: Blake Scholl, founder and CEO of Boom Supersonic, shared his

6:38 Speaker 1: excitement by saying XB one had a fantastic second flight

6:41 Speaker 1: this morning. Initial results indicate we've successfully resolved the findings

6:45 Speaker 1: from flight one and are excited to continue flight testing

6:48 Speaker 1: on the path to supersonic flight. This milestone marks another

6:52 Speaker 1: significant step towards the return of supersonic passenger travel, a

6:56 Speaker 1: goal that Boom Supersonic is inching closer to with each

6:59 Speaker 1: successful test. The XB one test plane had its made

7:02 Speaker 1: in flight earlier in March of this year. Now, Boom

7:04 Speaker 1: Supersonic is looking to ramp up its flight rate, with

7:07 Speaker 1: around ten more tests planned before attempting supersonic speeds. Each

7:12 Speaker 1: test brings the company closer to achieving its ambitious objectives

7:15 Speaker 1: of revolutionizing air travel, making it faster and more efficient.

7:19 Speaker 1: The XB one program is part of the broader design

7:22 Speaker 1: and development process for Boom's flagship project Overture, a planned

7:26 Speaker 1: supersonic airliner. Boom Supersonic and visions of future where supersonic

7:30 Speaker 1: travel redefines the pace of global air travel, cutting down

7:34 Speaker 1: travel times significantly. This recent test flight underscores their commitment

7:38 Speaker 1: to bringing that vision to life, one flight at a time.

7:41 Speaker 1: As the team at Boom Supersonic continues to push the

7:44 Speaker 1: bounds of aviation technology, the promise of supersonic passenger travel

7:48 Speaker 1: edges closer to becoming a reality, holding the potential to

7:52 Speaker 1: transform the way we think about air travel in the

7:54 Speaker 1: not so distant future. Next up, yet another exciting discovery

7:58 Speaker 1: involving water. Researchers have detected water vapor in the atmosphere

8:01 Speaker 1: of HD one four nine zero two six B, an

8:04 Speaker 1: ultra hot Saturn like exoplanet located approximately two hundred and

8:08 Speaker 1: fifty light years away in the constellation of Hercules. This exoplanet,

8:12 Speaker 1: which is similar in size to Saturn, has an extremely

8:15 Speaker 1: close orbit to its host star, nearly ten times closer

8:18 Speaker 1: than Mercury's orbit around the Sun. As a result, it

8:21 Speaker 1: completes a full orbit in just about two point nine days,

8:25 Speaker 1: leading to surface temperatures soaring above seventeen hundred kelvin, hot

8:29 Speaker 1: enough to melt even the strongest steel. The discovery of

8:33 Speaker 1: water vapor was made using a technique called transmission spectroscopy.

8:37 Speaker 1: This method involves observing the planet as it transits or

8:40 Speaker 1: passes in front of its host star from our perspective

8:43 Speaker 1: on Earth. When this happens, some of the star's light

8:46 Speaker 1: filters through the planet's atmosphere. The gases in the atmosphere

8:50 Speaker 1: absorb specific wavelengths of light, creating a unique absorption spectrum

8:54 Speaker 1: which can be detected and analyzed. One of the major

8:57 Speaker 1: challenges in observing the atmosphere of such exoplanets lies in

9:00 Speaker 1: the high contrast between the bright star and the dim planet.

9:03 Speaker 1: This high contrast often means that the planetary atmospheric signatures

9:07 Speaker 1: are exceedingly faint and can be easily lost in the

9:09 Speaker 1: stellar photon noise. However, the extreme temperatures and close proximity

9:14 Speaker 1: of HD one four nine zero two six B to

9:17 Speaker 1: its host star made the atmospheric detection somewhat easier, albeit

9:21 Speaker 1: still a significant challenge. The strength of these atmospheric signatures

9:25 Speaker 1: would be stronger for hotter planets, as their atmospheres are

9:28 Speaker 1: more extended and therefore more detectable. Despite the inherent difficulties,

9:32 Speaker 1: the researchers were able to separate the planetary absorption spectrum

9:37 Speaker 1: from the stellar spectrum by analyzing the light before and

9:40 Speaker 1: during the transit. This allowed them to identify and confirm

9:44 Speaker 1: the presence of water vapor in the planet's atmosphere. This

9:47 Speaker 1: discovery provides valuable insights into the characteristics and composition of

9:51 Speaker 1: exoplanetary atmospheres, shedding light on the complex processes occurring in

9:56 Speaker 1: these distant worlds. Research like this not only deepens our

9:59 Speaker 1: understand of exoplanets, but also helps us piece together the

10:03 Speaker 1: vast diversity of planetary systems beyond our own. Thank you

10:06 Speaker 1: for tuning into Astronomy Daily. I'm your host Anna. For

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