SpaceX Ax-4 Mission Delay, Satellite Paint Breakthroughs, and James Webb's Breathtaking Revelations

0:00 Anna: Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm

0:02 your host, Anna. Today we've got a,

0:04 fascinating lineup of stories from across the

0:06 cosmos, ranging from launch delays and

0:08 exciting advancements in mitigating light

0:10 pollution, to stunning images of alien

0:12 worlds and groundbreaking orbital refuelling

0:15 tests. So buckle up as we dive into the

0:17 latest happenings in space and astronomy.

0:21 First up, we have some news regarding a

0:23 slight delay to the SpaceX AXE 4 mission

0:26 to the International Space Station. The

0:28 launch, which was initially scheduled for

0:31 Wednesday, June 11, has been postponed due to

0:33 a liquid oxygen leak detected in the Falcon 9

0:36 rocket. Now, liquid oxygen, or

0:39 LOX, is one of the two propellants that the

0:41 Falcon 9 uses to power its Merlin engines,

0:44 the other being rocket grade kerosene.

0:47 SpaceX discovered the leak after conducting a

0:49 static fire test, which is a pretty standard

0:52 pre launch procedure where they briefly

0:54 ignite the rocket's engines while it's still

0:56 anchored to the launch pad. According to Bill

0:59 Gerstenmaier, SpaceX's VP of Build and

1:02 Flight Reliability, this particular Falcon

1:05 9 first stage has actually flown once before

1:08 and they'd noticed a similar leak during its

1:10 re entry into Earth's atmosphere on that

1:12 mission. Turns out they hadn't fully repaired

1:15 it during refurbishment. Or as he put it,

1:17 they didn't find the leak and didn't get it

1:19 corrected. SpaceX is currently working

1:22 on installing a purge system that should

1:25 mitigate the leak, even if it continues on

1:27 launch day. The AXE 4 mission is the fourth

1:30 private astronaut mission to the ISS

1:33 organised by Axiom Space. The mission is

1:35 commanded by Peggy Whitson, a record breaking

1:38 former NASA astronaut who is now Axiom's

1:41 Director of Human Spaceflight. The crew

1:43 includes pilot Shubanshu Shukla from India,

1:46 mission specialist Slawash Usnanski

1:48 Wisniewski from Poland and the European Space

1:51 Agency, and Hungarian mission specialist

1:53 Tibor Kapu. It's interesting to note

1:56 that no astronaut from any of these three

1:58 countries has ever visited the ISS before.

2:01 The AXE4 astronauts are scheduled to spend

2:04 about two weeks living and working aboard the

2:07 orbiting Lab, conducting around 60 different

2:09 science experiments before returning to Earth

2:11 with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

2:14 Moving on from the Axe 4 mission, there's a

2:16 whole bunch of other launch activity to keep

2:18 an eye on this week. SpaceX has been super

2:21 busy as always. They recently celebrated

2:24 the 500th launch of a Falcon rocket with the

2:26 Starlink 1219 mission. Can you believe

2:29 that's also their 70th launch this year? And

2:32 get this, they managed, a whopping 17

2:34 launches in May alone. That included 16

2:37 Falcon 9 launches and the ninth test flight

2:40 of Starship. So, yeah, pretty busy. Speaking

2:43 of Starlink, there are several more Starlink

2:45 missions lined up. Just recently they

2:47 launched another batch of 23 Starlink

2:50 satellites, a mix of the V2 mini and direct

2:53 to cell variants. Rocket Lab

2:56 is also in the mix. They're planning to

2:58 launch another batch of imaging satellites

3:00 for their customer, IQPS of Japan.

3:02 IQPS wants to build a 36 satellite

3:04 constellation to monitor the Earth. Oh,

3:07 and remember Amazon's Project Kuiper? Well,

3:10 the launch of their second batch of

3:11 satellites has been pushed back a bit due to

3:13 weather delays. And just to recap on

3:16 that Axiom mission four that we talked about

3:18 earlier, it's going to be the seventh private

3:20 Dragon mission and the 18th crewed launch for

3:23 SpaceX. Besides Peggy Whitson, the crew

3:25 includes Shubanshu Shukla from India, Slavash

3:28 Usnansky Wisniewski from Poland, and Tibor

3:31 Kapu from Hungary. Dragon will be docked at

3:34 the ISS for up to 14 days and the crew will

3:37 be doing around 60 science experiments

3:40 focusing on human health, plant and microbial

3:42 biology, and the effects of microgravity.

3:46 Now let's talk about something that could

3:48 really help clean up our night skies. It's

3:50 about this new super black paint called

3:52 Vantablack 310 and how it might just

3:55 be a game changer in the fight against

3:58 satellite light pollution. You know, all

4:00 those mega constellations of satellites

4:02 orbiting Earth, they can really mess with

4:04 astronomical observations. Vantablack

4:07 310 can reduce the amount of light reflected

4:09 by satellites down to as little as 2% of

4:12 what's reflected by uncoded satellites.

4:14 That's a massive difference. This is

4:16 especially important for observatories like

4:18 the Vera Rubin Observatory, which, when it's

4:21 fully operational, could have up to 40% of

4:24 its images affected by satellite streaks.

4:27 That's a huge problem. The paint itself is

4:29 made from a special blend of carbon black,

4:31 sort of like soot mixed with binders that

4:34 make it tough enough to handle the harsh

4:36 conditions of space. And the best part, it's

4:39 easy to apply, so satellite manufacturers can

4:41 use it in their own facilities. What's really

4:44 impressive is how durable this stuff is.

4:46 Tests have shown that it can withstand about

4:49 three years in orbit with almost no change,

4:51 while other space paints erode pretty

4:53 quickly. Plus, it doesn't seem to cause the

4:55 same overheating issues that earlier dark

4:57 paints did. This new paint could make

4:59 satellites virtually invisible to the naked

5:02 eye. This is a big improvement, and hopefully

5:04 it means that we can preserve our dark Skies

5:06 while still benefiting from satellite

5:08 technology.

5:10 Okay, next up, let's dive into some

5:12 absolutely breathtaking images captured by

5:14 the James Webb Space Telescope, or jwst.

5:17 These images, they're not just pretty

5:19 pictures. They're giving us incredible

5:21 insights into exoplanets, planets beyond our

5:24 own solar system. Specifically,

5:26 scientists have been studying two exoplanets

5:29 orbiting a star called YSES 1.

5:32 And what they've found is just, well, mind

5:34 blowing. On one of these planets, YSEs

5:37 1c, they've detected clouds made of fine

5:40 sand. Yes, you heard that right. Sand

5:43 clouds drifting in the alien atmosphere. And

5:45 it gets even cooler on the other planet,

5:48 YSEs 1b observations

5:51 suggest it's surrounded by a large swirling

5:54 disc rich with olivine. Olivine is a mineral

5:57 that, get this, can form the gemstone

5:59 peridot here on Earth. These observations

6:01 are, groundbreaking because they allow us to

6:03 directly study the composition of

6:05 exoplanetary atmospheres. Scientists have

6:08 found evidence of water, carbon monoxide,

6:10 carbon dioxide and methane in the atmospheres

6:12 of both planets, which, while common,

6:15 help us to build a clearer picture of what

6:17 these alien worlds are like. The discovery of

6:20 the olivine disc is particularly intriguing.

6:22 It shouldn't really be there because dust

6:24 like that usually settles pretty quickly,

6:27 geologically speaking. So its presence

6:29 suggests there might have been a recent

6:30 collision between objects orbiting near YSEs

6:33 1b. Talk about being in the right place at

6:36 the right time to see something amazing.

6:39 Now let's turn our attention to some

6:41 interesting activity happening in

6:43 geostationary orbit. It seems that China

6:45 is gearing up for an orbital refuelling test

6:48 with its Shijian satellites. The Shijian

6:51 21 and Shijian 25 spacecraft appear to be

6:54 manoeuvring towards a rendezvous and docking.

6:56 This is a pretty big deal because it's all

6:58 about testing technologies for servicing and

7:01 refuelling satellites in orbit. Shijian

7:04 25 was launched earlier this year

7:06 specifically, specifically to test on orbit

7:08 refuelling and mission extension

7:09 technologies. While Shijian 21,

7:12 which has already completed a mission towing,

7:14 ah, a defunct navigation satellite, is now

7:17 the target for this refuelling demonstration.

7:20 But here's where it gets even more

7:21 interesting. The US surveillance satellites

7:24 USA 270 and USA

7:27 271, part of the Geosynchronous Space

7:30 Situational Awareness Programme, are also in

7:32 the area, apparently keeping a close eye on

7:34 these operations. So it's kind of like

7:36 everyone's watching everyone else. The

7:38 ability to refuel and service satellites in

7:41 orbit has some pretty significant strategic

7:43 implications. It could extend the lifespan of

7:46 existing satellites, reduce costs and even

7:48 decrease space debris. Of course, it also has

7:51 potential military applications. It's worth

7:54 noting that Northrop Grumman has already

7:56 demonstrated this capability with its mission

7:58 extension vehicle 1, which successfully

8:01 docked with an Intelsat satellite back in

8:03 2020 for a five year servicing mission.

8:06 So it's not a totally new thing, but it's

8:08 definitely an area where we're seeing

8:09 increasing activity and interest.

8:13 So to quickly recap today we've covered the

8:16 delay of the SpaceX AXE 4 mission, some of

8:19 the many other launches that are happening in

8:21 coming days, the use of vantablack to combat

8:24 light pollution, those incredible new JWST

8:26 images of exoplanets, and China's upcoming

8:29 orbital refuelling test. Thanks for tuning

8:32 in to Astronomy Daily. I've been your host,

8:34 Anna. if you want to catch up on any past

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9:00 with us next time. Until then, keep looking

9:02 up. You never know what you might see. This

9:04 is Anna signing off.