S03E197: Kuiper Belt Revelations, Unrolling Space Telescopes, and China's Astronaut Return

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of Astronomy Daily. I'm Steve your host.

0:03 Speaker 1: It's the fourth of November twenty twenty.

0:05 Speaker 2: Four podcast I Mean to be your whole.

0:10 Speaker 1: Speed gun que oh and another big episode looking at

0:14 Speaker 1: the objects discovered in the Kaiper Belt giant unrolling space telescopes.

0:20 Speaker 1: Yes you heard me right, Also the return of Chinese

0:23 Speaker 1: astronauts from their space station and an update on Expedition

0:27 Speaker 1: seventy two gearing up for a trip to THESS. All

0:30 Speaker 1: from the Astronomy Daily newsletter and joining me as per

0:34 Speaker 1: usual is my aipal who's fun to be with. Gooday, Halle,

0:38 Speaker 1: what's happening?

0:39 Speaker 3: Hi there, my favorite human. It's all happening, of course,

0:43 Speaker 3: really really everywhere all the time.

0:46 Speaker 1: Are you referring to the jumble of stories we've got today?

0:48 Speaker 3: That's just a few bits and pieces from the Astronomy

0:51 Speaker 3: Daily newsletter too.

0:52 Speaker 1: Well, as you say, there's something new every day, and

0:54 Speaker 1: I don't want to miss the thing.

0:55 Speaker 3: I know, it's all happening, all right.

0:57 Speaker 1: Well, Hally, you tell me what's your favorite story this week?

1:00 Speaker 3: It's the same as.

1:01 Speaker 1: Yours, okay, which is which the.

1:04 Speaker 3: Meteors which are due across November, of course, I love

1:07 Speaker 3: to see them every time, just like you.

1:09 Speaker 1: And you've got that story.

1:10 Speaker 3: I'll have that story shortly, roddy.

1:12 Speaker 1: I so we should launch into it. Why don't you

1:14 Speaker 1: take the.

1:14 Speaker 3: Late helle okey dokey human? Wait, what's up? Did you

1:17 Speaker 3: say giant unrolling space telescopes in the intro?

1:20 Speaker 1: Well? Yes, so I did say that, Helen.

1:22 Speaker 3: Criike, sounds amazing.

1:24 Speaker 1: Krikey. Indeed, all right, have about you heading to the news.

1:27 Speaker 3: Helly, so pushy, here we go for Expedition seventy two.

1:36 Speaker 3: Crew members are gearing up for a brief ride to

1:38 Speaker 3: relocate the International Space Station's Dragon Freedom spacecraft this weekend,

1:42 Speaker 3: creating space for an upcoming cargo mission. The crew has

1:46 Speaker 3: also spent the week conducting life science research and performing

1:49 Speaker 3: maintenance tasks aboard the orbiting laboratory. NASA astronaut Nick Hage

1:53 Speaker 3: and Rose Cosmos cosmonaut Alexander Gorbanov reviewed relocation procedures on

1:57 Speaker 3: Friday for the Dragon Freedom's upcoming manuwe The relocation is

2:02 Speaker 3: scheduled to begin at six thirty five am Eastern Standard

2:04 Speaker 3: Time on Sunday, when Freedom ondocks from the Harmony Modules

2:07 Speaker 3: forward port. The crew will include commander Sunny Williams and

2:11 Speaker 3: flight engineer Butch Wilmore, joining Haig and Gorbinov for the relocation.

2:16 Speaker 3: The spacecraft will be redocked to Harmony's space facing port

2:19 Speaker 3: at seven eighteen am. Haig and Gorbanov initially arrived at

2:23 Speaker 3: the space station aboard Dragon Freedom as part of SpaceX

2:25 Speaker 3: Crew nine on September twenty eighth. Their return to Earth

2:29 Speaker 3: is planned for February, along with Williams and Wilmore. The

2:33 Speaker 3: relocation of Dragon Freedom will free up the forward Harmony

2:36 Speaker 3: port for the arrival of a new Dragon CARCO mission,

2:38 Speaker 3: which is set to launch from Kennedy Space Center at

2:41 Speaker 3: nine twenty nine pm on Monday. The cargo Dragon is

2:44 Speaker 3: expected to dock at ten fifteen am on Tuesday, bringing

2:47 Speaker 3: nearly six thousand pounds of science, experiments and supplies for

2:50 Speaker 3: the station. Haig and Wilmore will oversee the arrival of

2:54 Speaker 3: the cargo Dragon. Flight engineer Don Pettit will assist with

2:58 Speaker 3: Sunday's relocation monit during Dragon Freedom's automated movements from within

3:02 Speaker 3: the station. He joined his crewmates at the end of

3:05 Speaker 3: Friday's shift to coordinate with mission controllers regarding the procedure

3:09 Speaker 3: Earlier in the day, Pettit and haig worked together to

3:12 Speaker 3: collect blood samples, spin them in a centrifuge, and store

3:15 Speaker 3: them in a science freezer for later analysis. Pettitt also

3:19 Speaker 3: spent time dismantling parts of the cell biology experiment facility

3:22 Speaker 3: in preparation for the new experiments being delivered on the

3:25 Speaker 3: next Cargo Dragon. Haigu continued reviewing the procedure for commanding

3:30 Speaker 3: Dragon during its relocation maneuver on Sunday. Meanwhile, Commander Williams

3:35 Speaker 3: and Flight Engineer Wilmore were focused on station upkeep, including

3:38 Speaker 3: replacing filters on the Tranquility module's water recycling system and

3:41 Speaker 3: installing a new instrumentation box on the Advanced Resistive Exercise device.

3:46 Speaker 3: The duo also took time to train for the upcoming

3:49 Speaker 3: Cargo Dragon mission. In the Russian segment of the station,

3:53 Speaker 3: Flight Engineer Ivan Banner assisted ALEXE option in with maintenance tasks.

3:56 Speaker 3: In the AFT section of the Savesta Service module, Opchenan

4:00 Speaker 3: spent part of his day studying piloting techniques for future

4:03 Speaker 3: planetary missions, while Gorbanov concluded an experiment observing Earth's atmosphere

4:07 Speaker 3: in ultraviolet wavelengths before resuming relocation preparations with Haig. The

4:16 Speaker 3: Southern Torrets will reach their zenith early Tuesday morning, and

4:18 Speaker 3: the Northern Torrets on November twelfth. While the two showers

4:22 Speaker 3: only produce around five visible meteors per hour under ideal

4:25 Speaker 3: viewing conditions, they are often very bright fireballs, said Sally Brummel,

4:29 Speaker 3: planetarium manager at the University of Minnesota's Bell Museum. What's

4:34 Speaker 3: notable is that they're likely to produce brighter and longer

4:36 Speaker 3: lasting meteors than some other showers, even if there aren't

4:39 Speaker 3: as many at a time. She said, the Southern Torrets

4:42 Speaker 3: will peak on an evening with only a slim crescent

4:45 Speaker 3: moon just eleven percent full. The Northern Torrets may be

4:48 Speaker 3: more obstructed by moonlight since the moon will be seventy

4:51 Speaker 3: nine percent full. Viewing of both showers will last into December,

4:56 Speaker 3: not long after the Torrets. The next big meteor shower,

4:59 Speaker 3: the Leonie, will peak on the early morning of November seventeenth.

5:07 Speaker 3: A three person Chinese crew returned to Earth early Monday

5:09 Speaker 3: after more than six months aboard the Teongong Space Station.

5:12 Speaker 3: State news agency Sheinwa reported Yiguang Fu, Leed Song, and

5:17 Speaker 3: Leekwangsu were all in good health after touching down in

5:19 Speaker 3: the return capsule of their Senjo spaceship at the Dongfong

5:22 Speaker 3: landing site in Inner Mongolia. Sinha said the three men

5:26 Speaker 3: had traveled to Tiangong in late April and were met

5:28 Speaker 3: on October thirtieth by three new astronauts, including the country's

5:32 Speaker 3: only woman's spaceflight engineer, with whom they did a five

5:34 Speaker 3: day handover before making their return journey. China has ramped

5:38 Speaker 3: up plans to achieve its space dream under President Shi Jinping.

5:42 Speaker 3: Its space program was the third to put humans in

5:45 Speaker 3: orbit and has also landed robotic rovers on Mars and

5:47 Speaker 3: the Moon, crewed by teams of three astronauts that are

5:51 Speaker 3: rotated every three to six months. The Tiogong Space Station

5:54 Speaker 3: is the program's crown jewel. Its core module was launched

5:58 Speaker 3: in twenty twenty one, and it is planned to be

6:00 Speaker 3: used for about ten years. Beijing says it is on

6:03 Speaker 3: track to send a crude mission to the Moon by

6:05 Speaker 3: twenty thirty, where it intends to construct a base on

6:07 Speaker 3: the lunar surface. Now it's back to you, my favorite human,

6:14 Speaker 3: and to tell you the truth, I just want to

6:16 Speaker 3: hear about the giant unrolling space telescopes.

6:29 Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us for this Monday edition of

6:31 Speaker 1: Astronomy Daily, where we offer just a few stories from

6:33 Speaker 1: the now famous Astronomy Daily newsletter, which you can receive

6:37 Speaker 1: in your email every day, just like Hallie and I do.

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6:47 Speaker 1: Just like that, you'll be receiving all the latest news

6:50 Speaker 1: about science, space, science and astronomy from around the world

6:54 Speaker 1: as it's happening. And not only that, you can interact

6:56 Speaker 1: with us by visiting at astro Daily pod on x

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7:04 Speaker 1: Astronomy Daily on Facebook. See you there, Astronomy. We've see Andy, space, space,

7:13 Speaker 1: sience and astronomy.

7:21 Speaker 2: Oh.

7:21 Speaker 1: One of my favorite favorite things about astronomy and space

7:24 Speaker 1: is the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud, the region

7:27 Speaker 1: beyond Neptune where while Perl Pluto is one of the

7:33 Speaker 1: most popular or well known objects out there, the Subaru

7:37 Speaker 1: telescope has discovered new objects beyond the known Kuiper Belt,

7:41 Speaker 1: suggesting a more complex structure at the edge of our

7:43 Speaker 1: solar system. This finding could reshape our understanding of planet

7:48 Speaker 1: formation and boost the well search for life outside Earth.

7:53 Speaker 1: Using the suber telescope to observe the Outer Solar System,

7:56 Speaker 1: astronomers have just uncovered new objects in the regions where

8:00 Speaker 1: none were previously expected. These newly found bodies likely belonged

8:05 Speaker 1: to a much larger, yet to be discovered population. This

8:09 Speaker 1: finding has significant implications for our understanding of the Solar

8:12 Speaker 1: System structure and history. Most notably, it suggests that the

8:17 Speaker 1: Solar System may share more similarities with other planetary systems

8:21 Speaker 1: than previously thought, which could influence the ongoing search for

8:24 Speaker 1: life beyond the Solar System. The Subaru telescope has been

8:28 Speaker 1: conducting observations of the outer Solar System to help support

8:32 Speaker 1: NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, the first mission to observe the

8:36 Speaker 1: Kuiper Belt on the outer edge of the Solar System

8:39 Speaker 1: beyond Neptune while flying through it. Doctor Fumi Yoshida, University

8:45 Speaker 1: of Occupational and Environmental Health scientists comments on the possibility

8:50 Speaker 1: of a second ring of Kuiper Belt objects beyond the

8:52 Speaker 1: known one. If this is confirmed, he says it would

8:56 Speaker 1: be a major discovery. The primordial Solar nebula was much

9:00 Speaker 1: larger than previously thought, and this may have implications for

9:04 Speaker 1: studying the planetary formation process in our Solar system. Doctor

9:09 Speaker 1: Wes Fraser of the National Research Council of Canada, a

9:13 Speaker 1: co investigator on the New Horizon's mission science team and

9:17 Speaker 1: the study's lead author, explains our Solar systems Kuiper belt

9:21 Speaker 1: long appeared to be a very small in comparison with

9:24 Speaker 1: many other planetary systems, but our results suggest that the

9:28 Speaker 1: idea might just have arisen due to observational bias. He adds,

9:33 Speaker 1: so mainly this if this result is confirmed, our Kuiper

9:37 Speaker 1: belt isn't all that small and unusual after all, compared

9:41 Speaker 1: to those around other stars. Our search for life in

9:45 Speaker 1: the universe is hindered by the fact that we have

9:48 Speaker 1: only one confirmed example of a planet were life a rose,

9:51 Speaker 1: that is Earth in our own Solar system. With only

9:55 Speaker 1: one example, we can't determine which idiosyncrasies were important for

10:00 Speaker 1: the appearance of life and which were irrelevant. So anything

10:04 Speaker 1: we do can to rule out the possible reprerequisite moves

10:08 Speaker 1: us closer to finding the true prerequisites for life. If

10:13 Speaker 1: it is confirmed that the Solar System formed from a

10:16 Speaker 1: solar nebula that was much larger and therefore much less

10:21 Speaker 1: unusual than we thought. It not only eliminates a small

10:25 Speaker 1: parent nebula from the list of possible prerequisites, it greatly

10:30 Speaker 1: increases the possibilities of finding another planetary system that meets

10:34 Speaker 1: all the true prerequisites for life, thus increasing the possibility

10:39 Speaker 1: of finding alien life new horizons. Principal investigator doctor Allan

10:46 Speaker 1: Stern says this groundbreaking discovery revealing something unexpected, new and

10:52 Speaker 1: exciting in the distant reaches of the Solar System. This

10:56 Speaker 1: discovery probably would not have been possible without the world

10:59 Speaker 1: class capabilities of the Subaru telescope. The number and distribution

11:04 Speaker 1: of objects at the end of the Solar System is

11:07 Speaker 1: a question for future study, but at the very least,

11:10 Speaker 1: the Subaru Telescope's results indicate that new discoveries await in

11:15 Speaker 1: what was thought to be a very old, empty, boring

11:18 Speaker 1: void beyond the known carpet belt.

11:21 Speaker 2: Cost podcast space.

11:36 Speaker 1: Based telescopes are remarkable, and future space telescopes could very

11:41 Speaker 1: well be made from thin membranes unrolled in space to

11:45 Speaker 1: enormous sizes. Their view isn't obscured by the weather in

11:52 Speaker 1: our atmosphere, so they can capture incredibly detailed images of

11:56 Speaker 1: the heavens. Unfortunately, they are quite limited in mirror size.

12:04 Speaker 1: As amazing as the James Webb Space Telescope is, its

12:09 Speaker 1: primary mirror is only six point five meters in diameter.

12:13 Speaker 1: Even then, the mirror had to have foldable components to

12:17 Speaker 1: fit into the launch rocket. In contrast, the extremely large

12:20 Speaker 1: telescope currently under construction in Northern Shell, we'll have a

12:26 Speaker 1: mirror of more than thirty nine meters across. If only

12:29 Speaker 1: we could launch that such a large mirror into space.

12:34 Speaker 1: A new study looks at how that might actually be done.

12:40 Speaker 1: As the study points out, when it comes to telescope mirrors,

12:44 Speaker 1: all you really need is a reflective surface. It doesn't

12:47 Speaker 1: need to be coated onto a thick piece of glass,

12:50 Speaker 1: nor does it need a big, rigid support structure. What's

12:53 Speaker 1: really important is to hold the shape of the mirror

12:56 Speaker 1: against its own weight. As far as stalod is, the

13:00 Speaker 1: shiny surface is all that matters. So why not use

13:04 Speaker 1: just a thin sheet of reflective material. You could just

13:08 Speaker 1: roll it up and put it on your launch vehicle.

13:11 Speaker 1: We could, for example, easily launch a forty meter roll

13:14 Speaker 1: of anumidium foil into space. Of course, things aren't quite

13:18 Speaker 1: that simple. You would still need to unroll your membrane

13:21 Speaker 1: telescope back into its proper shape. You would also need

13:25 Speaker 1: a detector to focus upon the image upon and you

13:28 Speaker 1: need a way to keep that detector in the correct

13:31 Speaker 1: alignment with the broad sheet mirror. In principle, you could

13:34 Speaker 1: do that with a thin support structure, which wouldn't add

13:37 Speaker 1: excessive bulk to your telescope. But even if we assume

13:40 Speaker 1: all of those engineering problems could be solved, you'd still

13:44 Speaker 1: have a problem. Even in the vacuum of space, the

13:47 Speaker 1: shape of such a thin mirror would deform over time.

13:51 Speaker 1: Solving this problem is the main focus of this new paper.

13:55 Speaker 1: Once launched into space and unfurled, the membrane mirror wouldn't

13:59 Speaker 1: deform significantly, but to capture sharp images, the mirror would

14:03 Speaker 1: have to maintain focus on the order of visible light.

14:08 Speaker 1: When the hubble was launched, its mirror shape was off

14:11 Speaker 1: by less than the thickness of human hair, and it

14:14 Speaker 1: took correct correcting lenses and an entire Shuttle mission to

14:18 Speaker 1: fix it. Any shifts on that scar would render our

14:21 Speaker 1: membrane telescope useless, So the authors took a well used

14:25 Speaker 1: trick of astronomers, known as adaptive optics. This technique adaptive

14:30 Speaker 1: optics is used on large ground based telescopes as a

14:34 Speaker 1: way to correct for atmospheric distortion. Actuators behind the mirror

14:38 Speaker 1: distored the mirror's shape in real time to counteract the

14:41 Speaker 1: twinkles of the atmosphere. Essentially, it makes the shape of

14:44 Speaker 1: the mirror imperfect to account for our imperfect view of

14:48 Speaker 1: the sky. A similar trick could be used for a

14:51 Speaker 1: membrane telescope. But if we had to launch a complex

14:54 Speaker 1: actuator system for the mirror, we might as well go

14:57 Speaker 1: back to launching rigid telescopes. What if we simply used

15:01 Speaker 1: laser projection instead. By shining a laser projection into the mirror,

15:07 Speaker 1: we could alter its shape through radiative recoil. Since it's

15:11 Speaker 1: simply a thin membrane, the shape would be significant enough

15:14 Speaker 1: to create optical corrections, and it would be modified in

15:18 Speaker 1: real time to maintain the mirror's focus. The authors call

15:22 Speaker 1: this technique radiative adaptive optics, and through a series of

15:25 Speaker 1: lab experiments, have demonstrated that it could work. Doing this

15:30 Speaker 1: in deep space is much more complicated, of course, than

15:33 Speaker 1: doing it in the lab, but the work shows the

15:36 Speaker 1: approach is worth exploring. Perhaps in the coming decades we

15:40 Speaker 1: might build an entire array of such telescopes, which will

15:44 Speaker 1: allow us to see details in the distant heavens that

15:47 Speaker 1: we can now only just imagine. Well that's another episode

16:02 Speaker 1: done and space dusted for another Monday. I hope you

16:05 Speaker 1: enjoyed our little adventure through space, space, science, and astronomy today.

16:10 Speaker 3: Some interesting stories from the Astronomy Daily newsletter again today.

16:13 Speaker 1: Yeah, we never know what's going to turn up. We'll

16:16 Speaker 1: be watching out for those meteors though this month the

16:18 Speaker 1: orion it's were a bit of a fizzy from where

16:21 Speaker 1: I was last month, but I'm hoping the turrets are

16:23 Speaker 1: going to be a spectacular display.

16:26 Speaker 3: Meteors are always something to watch out for, and I

16:28 Speaker 3: know they are one of your favorite things.

16:30 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, meteors for sure, along.

16:32 Speaker 3: With robots, moon buggies, the ort cloud and asteroids and

16:36 Speaker 3: yeah yeah, just.

16:37 Speaker 1: A few of my favorite things there. Thank you. How

16:39 Speaker 1: about we say good night, Alie, Okay, see you all

16:42 Speaker 1: next week for Astronomy Daily Bye.

16:46 Speaker 2: Podcast.

16:48 Speaker 1: We be your whole speed gone clue, No, Hallie, we

16:53 Speaker 1: cannot make our own giant unrolling space telescope with Tim

16:57 Speaker 1: Foyle put it back in the kitchen rank.

16:59 Speaker 2: You f