S03E193: Voyager's Vanishing Act, Tiangong's Triumph, and Miranda's Icy Secret

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your source for the latest space

0:03 Speaker 1: in astronomy news. I'm your host, Anna, and today we've

0:06 Speaker 1: got an exciting lineup in store for you. We'll be

0:09 Speaker 1: diving into some fascinating stories, from Voyager one's latest communication

0:13 Speaker 1: challenges at the edge of our Solar System, to intriguing

0:16 Speaker 1: new discoveries about potential ocean worlds. From the furthest reaches

0:20 Speaker 1: of human exploration to surprising findings closer to home. We've

0:24 Speaker 1: got a packed show ahead that you won't want to miss.

0:28 Speaker 1: Let's dive into our first story of the day, which

0:30 Speaker 1: takes us to the very edge of human exploration. NASA's

0:33 Speaker 1: legendary Voyager one spacecraft, now an astounding fifteen billion miles

0:37 Speaker 1: from Earth, recently gave its team quite a scare when

0:40 Speaker 1: it temporarily fell silent. After decades of faithful service, the

0:44 Speaker 1: spacecraft's communications went dark, triggering an intensive effort to re

0:48 Speaker 1: establish contact. The drama began on October sixteenth, when the

0:53 Speaker 1: flight team sent what should have been a routine command

0:55 Speaker 1: to turn on one of the spacecraft's heaters. Despite having

0:59 Speaker 1: sufficient power for this operation, something unexpected happened. The spacecraft's

1:04 Speaker 1: fault protection system was triggered, leading to a series of

1:08 Speaker 1: communication challenges. The situation became even more complex when Voyager

1:13 Speaker 1: switched from its usual X band radio transmitter to a

1:16 Speaker 1: backup S band system, something it hadn't used since nineteen

1:20 Speaker 1: eighty one. This was particularly concerning because at such an

1:23 Speaker 1: enormous distance, the weaker S band signal might not have

1:26 Speaker 1: been detectable from Earth at all. Imagine trying to troubleshoot

1:30 Speaker 1: a computer problem, but instead of being able to walk

1:32 Speaker 1: over and check what's wrong, your commands take twenty three

1:36 Speaker 1: hours just to reach the device and another twenty three

1:39 Speaker 1: hours to get a response back. That's exactly what NASA's

1:42 Speaker 1: engineers faced as they worked to solve this puzzle across

1:45 Speaker 1: the vast expanse of space. Thankfully, through some impressive detective

1:50 Speaker 1: work and engineering expertise, NASA successfully re established contact with

1:54 Speaker 1: Voyager one on October twenty fourth. The spacecraft appears to

1:58 Speaker 1: be stable, so engineers are still working to understand exactly

2:02 Speaker 1: what triggered these issues in the first place. This incident

2:06 Speaker 1: serves as a reminder of both the remarkable longevity of

2:09 Speaker 1: the Voyager mission, now over forty seven years old, and

2:12 Speaker 1: the increasing challenges of maintaining such aging spacecraft in the

2:16 Speaker 1: uncharted territory of interstellar space. It's truly remarkable that we

2:21 Speaker 1: can still communicate with this pioneer of space exploration, even

2:25 Speaker 1: as it ventures further into the unknown than any human

2:28 Speaker 1: made object in history. In a significant step for China's

2:33 Speaker 1: space program, a new crew of three astronauts successfully launched

2:38 Speaker 1: to the Tiangong space station in the early hours of

2:41 Speaker 1: Wednesday morning. The Shenzho nineteen mission lifted off at four

2:45 Speaker 1: to twenty seven am local time from the Jukan Satellite

2:48 Speaker 1: Launch Center in northwest China, marking another milestone in the

2:52 Speaker 1: nation's ambitious space exploration journey. Among the crew is thirty

2:56 Speaker 1: four year old Wang houseI, who joins the elite ranks

2:59 Speaker 1: as China's third woman to participate in a crude space mission.

3:04 Speaker 1: What makes Wang particularly noteworthy is her role as the

3:07 Speaker 1: country's only female space flight engineer, bringing unique technical expertise

3:12 Speaker 1: to the mission. The crew is led by veteran astronaut

3:16 Speaker 1: Kai Suje, a forty eight year old former Air Force

3:19 Speaker 1: pilot who brings valuable experience from his previous stint aboard

3:22 Speaker 1: Tiangong during the Shenzho fourteen mission in twenty twenty two.

3:26 Speaker 1: Rounding out the team is thirty four year old Songlingdong,

3:29 Speaker 1: completing this carefully selected trio of space explorers. During their

3:33 Speaker 1: approximately six months stay aboard Tchiangong, the crew will conduct

3:37 Speaker 1: various scientific experiments, with a particularly interesting focus on testing

3:41 Speaker 1: special bricks made from materials that simulate lunar soil. This

3:46 Speaker 1: research directly ties into China's broader ambitions of establishing a

3:49 Speaker 1: human presence on the Moon by twenty thirty. These lunar

3:53 Speaker 1: soil experiments are especially significant as scientists hope to eventually

3:57 Speaker 1: use actual Moon materials for constructing their plan lunar base,

4:01 Speaker 1: potentially revolutionizing how we approach off world construction. This mission

4:07 Speaker 1: represents more than just another crew rotation. It's a crucial

4:10 Speaker 1: stepping stone in China's expanding space program. The country has

4:14 Speaker 1: made remarkable progress in recent years, including successfully landing rovers

4:18 Speaker 1: on both Mars and the Moon, and establishing Tiangong as

4:22 Speaker 1: their crown jewel in low Earth orbit. The new crew

4:26 Speaker 1: is scheduled to return to Earth in late April or

4:28 Speaker 1: early May of next year, continuing the steady rhythm of

4:31 Speaker 1: operations that has characterized China's presence in space. Their mission

4:35 Speaker 1: demonstrates China's growing capabilities in space exploration and their commitment

4:39 Speaker 1: to maintaining a continuous human presence in orbit. Let's move

4:43 Speaker 1: further out into space now a lot further fascinating new

4:46 Speaker 1: research has revealed that Miranda, one of Uranus's smallest major moons,

4:52 Speaker 1: might be hiding something remarkable beneath its bizarre surface, a

4:55 Speaker 1: subsurface ocean. What makes this discovery particularly surprising is Miranda's

5:00 Speaker 1: small size, at just four hundred and seventy one kilometers

5:04 Speaker 1: in diameter. The Moon's surface has long puzzled scientists with

5:08 Speaker 1: its unique patchwork of jumbled terrain, including what might be

5:12 Speaker 1: the tallest cliff in our entire Solar system, a massive

5:15 Speaker 1: twenty kilometer drop called Verona rupus. But it's what lies

5:19 Speaker 1: beneath this chaotic surface that's now catching researcher's attention. Using

5:24 Speaker 1: advanced computer modeling, scientists worked backward from Miranda's current surface

5:28 Speaker 1: features to understand what could have created such a complex landscape.

5:32 Speaker 1: Their findings suggest that beneath the Moon's icy crust, which

5:36 Speaker 1: is likely less than thirty kilometers thick, there could be

5:39 Speaker 1: an ocean up to one hundred kilometers deep. This hidden

5:43 Speaker 1: ocean probably existed in its fullest form between one hundred

5:47 Speaker 1: and five hundred million years ago, kept liquid by tidal

5:50 Speaker 1: heating from gravitational interactions with Uranus's other moons. When these

5:55 Speaker 1: moons were in orbital resonance with each other, their gravitational

5:59 Speaker 1: tugs created enough heat to maintain liquid water beneath Miranda's surface.

6:04 Speaker 1: What's particularly intriguing is that the ocean might still exist today,

6:08 Speaker 1: albeit in a thinner form. Scientists believe if it had

6:11 Speaker 1: completely frozen, we would see evidence of expansion cracks on

6:15 Speaker 1: the surface, features that are notably absent. This discovery puts

6:19 Speaker 1: Miranda in the company of other potential ocean worlds like

6:22 Speaker 1: saturns Enceladus, and Jupiter's Europa, expanding our understanding of where

6:27 Speaker 1: liquid water might exist in our Solar system. It's a

6:31 Speaker 1: reminder that even in the coldest, most distant corners of space,

6:35 Speaker 1: the conditions for potential habitability might be more common than

6:38 Speaker 1: we once thought. The findings are even more remarkable considering

6:42 Speaker 1: they're based on decades old data from Voyager two's brief

6:45 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty six flyby. It shows how modern analytical techniques

6:49 Speaker 1: can reveal new secrets from limited historical observations, while also

6:53 Speaker 1: highlighting the need for new missions to these distant worlds. Now,

6:57 Speaker 1: let's double back to Mars, where new findings suggest there

7:00 Speaker 1: may have been life there a lot more recently than thought.

7:03 Speaker 1: New research from Harvard's Paleomagnetics Lab has dramatically shifted our

7:07 Speaker 1: understanding of Mars's potentially habitable past. Scientists have discovered that

7:11 Speaker 1: the red planet's protective magnetic field may have persisted hundreds

7:15 Speaker 1: of millions of years longer than previously thought, lasting until

7:19 Speaker 1: about three point nine billion years ago, rather than disappearing

7:22 Speaker 1: around four point one billion years ago. This protective magnetic field,

7:27 Speaker 1: generated by convection in the planet's iron core, much like

7:30 Speaker 1: Earth's field today, would have played a crucial role in

7:33 Speaker 1: defending the Martian surface from harmful cosmic rays. The longer

7:37 Speaker 1: this shield remained active, the more time there would have

7:40 Speaker 1: been for potential life to develop and thrive. The research

7:44 Speaker 1: team reached this conclusion through innovative analysis of Mars's impact basins.

7:49 Speaker 1: These massive craters have traditionally been thought to show weak

7:52 Speaker 1: magnetic signatures because they formed after Mars's magnetic field had

7:56 Speaker 1: already disappeared. However, the Harvard team proposes a different explanation.

8:02 Speaker 1: These weak signatures could instead be evidence that the craters

8:05 Speaker 1: formed during magnetic pole reversals, similar to the way Earth's

8:09 Speaker 1: magnetic poles occasionally flip. By studying the famous Allen Hills

8:14 Speaker 1: meteorite using a quantum diamond microscope, the researchers found evidence

8:19 Speaker 1: supporting their theory of a longer lasting magnetic field. This

8:23 Speaker 1: new timeline suggests Mars remained protected from harmful radiation during

8:27 Speaker 1: a crucial period when we believe the planet still had

8:30 Speaker 1: liquid water on its surface. The implications are profound. If

8:34 Speaker 1: Mars maintained its protective magnetic field for hundreds of millions

8:37 Speaker 1: of years longer than we thought, it means the window

8:40 Speaker 1: for potential life to emerge and evolve was significantly larger.

8:44 Speaker 1: The planet would have remained warmer and wetter for longer,

8:47 Speaker 1: with its atmosphere better protected from being stripped away by

8:50 Speaker 1: solar radiation. This research challenges our previous assumptions about Mars's

8:56 Speaker 1: early history and opens up new possibilities about how long

8:59 Speaker 1: the red planet might have been capable of supporting life.

9:03 Speaker 1: It's another piece in the complex puzzle of Mars's transformation

9:06 Speaker 1: from a potentially habitable world to the cold, dry planet

9:10 Speaker 1: we see today. Now, speaking of life on Mars, how

9:14 Speaker 1: about this for an intriguing idea in the future. Here's

9:17 Speaker 1: how we could one day see trees growing on the

9:19 Speaker 1: red sands of Mars, at least according to fascinating new

9:22 Speaker 1: research that maps out the conditions needed to make it possible,

9:25 Speaker 1: and the findings might surprise you. Scientists at the Warsaw

9:29 Speaker 1: University of Technology have been crunching the numbers on exactly

9:32 Speaker 1: how much we'd need to alter Mars's atmosphere to support

9:36 Speaker 1: tree growth. They looked at everything from temperature requirements to

9:40 Speaker 1: atmospheric pressure and the length of growing seasons needed. Interestingly,

9:45 Speaker 1: the first Martian forests likely wouldn't take root where you

9:48 Speaker 1: might expect. While on Earth, trees grow best in tropical regions,

9:53 Speaker 1: Mars's unique orbital characteristics mean the planet's southern hemisphere experiences longer,

9:59 Speaker 1: warmer somemait. This, combined with the extremely low elevation of

10:04 Speaker 1: the Hellas Basin, makes it the most promising location for

10:07 Speaker 1: the first Martian trees. For trees to survive, Mars would

10:11 Speaker 1: need significantly higher temperatures with much less dramatic data to

10:15 Speaker 1: night swings than it experiences now. The growing season would

10:19 Speaker 1: need to last at least one hundred and ten Martian days.

10:22 Speaker 1: The researchers mapped out precisely how much carbon dioxide would

10:25 Speaker 1: be needed in the atmosphere to create these conditions through

10:28 Speaker 1: the greenhouse effect. The whole concept might sound like science fiction,

10:33 Speaker 1: but this research provides concrete numbers and specific locations that

10:36 Speaker 1: could guide future terraforming efforts. While we're still a long

10:39 Speaker 1: way from planting the first Martian forest, understanding exactly what

10:43 Speaker 1: it would take brings us one step closer to potentially

10:46 Speaker 1: transforming the Red planet into a second home for Earth life.

10:50 Speaker 1: Of course, there are still major hurdles to overcome, including

10:53 Speaker 1: establishing sufficient oxygen levels and protecting any plants from harmful radiation.

10:58 Speaker 1: But having a clearer picture of the temperature and atmospheric

11:01 Speaker 1: requirements gives future Mars colonists a better road map for

11:05 Speaker 1: what might be possible. Well, it seems our hopes for

11:08 Speaker 1: a spectacular Halloween sky show have been dashed. Comet C

11:12 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four S one Atlas, which initially showed such

11:16 Speaker 1: promising brightness after its discovery in late September, has met

11:20 Speaker 1: a fiery end in the Sun's scorching embrace. The comet

11:23 Speaker 1: gave us early warning signs that it might not survive

11:26 Speaker 1: its close solar encounter. After an initial bright outburst when

11:30 Speaker 1: it was first spotted, it began to fade considerably in

11:33 Speaker 1: early October. Still, astronomers held out hope that it might

11:37 Speaker 1: join the rare ranks of sungrazers that survived their close

11:39 Speaker 1: solar passages. Unfortunately, when the comet entered the field of

11:44 Speaker 1: view of NASA's Soho Solar Observatory yesterday morning, it was

11:47 Speaker 1: already showing signs of breaking apart. As it approached within

11:51 Speaker 1: just three hundred thirty thousand, six hundred miles of the

11:54 Speaker 1: Sun's surface, about one and a half times the distance

11:57 Speaker 1: between Earth and the Moon, the comet completely disintegrated. What

12:01 Speaker 1: makes this particularly interesting is that calculations suggest this comet

12:05 Speaker 1: had an orbital period of about nine hundred and fifty

12:07 Speaker 1: three years. This means it may have visited the inner

12:10 Speaker 1: Solar System before nearly a millennium ago, only to meet

12:14 Speaker 1: its end on this final journey. While S one Atlas

12:18 Speaker 1: joins the thousands of comets that have perished in similar

12:21 Speaker 1: solar encounters. It's worth noting that some sungrazers do survive.

12:26 Speaker 1: The most famous example is perhaps comet Lovejoy, which in

12:29 Speaker 1: twenty eleven survived passing just eighty seven thousand miles from

12:32 Speaker 1: the Sun's surface and went on to provide spectacular views

12:36 Speaker 1: for observers on Earth. These close encounters with the Sun

12:39 Speaker 1: give us valuable insights into both the composition of comets

12:43 Speaker 1: and the extreme conditions near our star. While we may

12:47 Speaker 1: have missed out on a bright Halloween comet this year,

12:50 Speaker 1: the next great comet could appear at any time. That's

12:53 Speaker 1: the unpredictable nature of these cosmic visitors that makes them

12:57 Speaker 1: so fascinating to observe. And that wraps up our coverage

13:02 Speaker 1: for today. I'm Anna and thank you for joining me

13:05 Speaker 1: for another episode of Astronomy Daily. If you're hungry for

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