SpaceX Crew 10 Countdown, European Rocket Milestone, and Supernovae Revolution: S04E46

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily. The Cosmos never fails to amaze us,

0:04 Speaker 1: and today we have a great lineup of space discoveries

0:07 Speaker 1: and developments to share with you. We'll be diving into

0:10 Speaker 1: SpaceX's latest preparations for their upcoming Crew ten mission to

0:14 Speaker 1: the International Space Station, where four brave astronauts are getting

0:18 Speaker 1: ready for their journey to the stars. We'll also explore

0:21 Speaker 1: how Europe's private space sector is reaching new heights, with

0:25 Speaker 1: a German startup achieving a crucial milestone in their quest

0:28 Speaker 1: to join the ranks of spacefaring nations. Plus, we have

0:32 Speaker 1: fascinating news about a groundbreaking collection of supernova that could

0:36 Speaker 1: change our understanding of the universe's expansion. That's not all.

0:40 Speaker 1: We'll look at NASA's innovative approaches to studying our Sun,

0:43 Speaker 1: explore how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing deep space exploration, and

0:47 Speaker 1: examine new developments in protecting Earth from potentially hazardous asteroids.

0:51 Speaker 1: It's an exciting time in space exploration and we're here

0:54 Speaker 1: to break it all down for you, So let's get

0:56 Speaker 1: started with today's stories. At Kennedy Space Center and Florida,

1:00 Speaker 1: the four member crew of NASA's SpaceX Crew ten mission

1:04 Speaker 1: just reached a significant milestone in their launch preparations. On

1:07 Speaker 1: February seventeenth, they got their first up close look at

1:10 Speaker 1: the Dragon spacecraft that will carry them to the International

1:13 Speaker 1: Space Station, conducting crucial equipment interface testing at SpaceX's new

1:18 Speaker 1: Dragon processing facility. The international crew consists of NASA astronauts

1:22 Speaker 1: and McLean and Nicole Ayers jacksa astronaut to Kuya Onishi

1:27 Speaker 1: from Japan, and Roscosmos cosmonaut kirol Peskov for Ayres and Pescov.

1:34 Speaker 1: This will be their first journey to space, while McLain

1:36 Speaker 1: and Onishi are preparing for their second visit to the

1:39 Speaker 1: orbiting Laboratory. During their day long equipment test, the crew

1:43 Speaker 1: went through essential pre flight procedures. They donned their space suits,

1:47 Speaker 1: entered the Dragon spacecraft, and performed detailed suit leak checks

1:51 Speaker 1: to ensure everything fits perfectly. The team also familiarized themselves

1:56 Speaker 1: with the spacecraft's interior systems and completed vital communications checks.

2:01 Speaker 1: Perhaps most importantly, they got acquainted with the ambient sounds

2:05 Speaker 1: they'll hear during their flight, like the dragons, fans, and pumps,

2:09 Speaker 1: small but crucial details that help prepare them for life

2:12 Speaker 1: aboard the spacecraft. The launch is targeted from March twelfth

2:16 Speaker 1: at seven forty eight pm Eastern Time from Launch Complex

2:20 Speaker 1: thirty nine A at Kennedy Space Center. Before then, the

2:24 Speaker 1: crew will continue their preparation at NASA's Johnson Space Center

2:27 Speaker 1: in Houston, where they'll enter routine quarantine approximately two weeks

2:32 Speaker 1: before launch. This mission marks SpaceX's tenth crew rotation flight

2:37 Speaker 1: to the International Space Station through NASA's Commercial Crew program,

2:41 Speaker 1: and their eleventh human spaceflight overall when counting the Demo

2:44 Speaker 1: two test flight. It's another testament to the growing reliability

2:48 Speaker 1: of commercial space operations in supporting NASA's ongoing mission to

2:52 Speaker 1: maintain a continuous human presence in low Earth orbit. Next,

2:57 Speaker 1: we head off to Europe in a major breakthrough for

2:59 Speaker 1: yourp and space capabilities. German startup Esar Aerospace has successfully

3:04 Speaker 1: completed static fire tests of their Spectrum rocket at Norway's

3:07 Speaker 1: Andoya Spaceport. On February fourteenth, nine Aquila Engines roared to

3:12 Speaker 1: life for a full thirty second burn, marking a crucial

3:15 Speaker 1: milestone in the company's journey to become Europe's first private

3:19 Speaker 1: orbital launch provider. The two stage Spectrum rocket stands twenty

3:23 Speaker 1: eight meters tall and is designed to carry payloads of

3:26 Speaker 1: up to one thousand kilograms to low Earth orbit. What

3:30 Speaker 1: makes this vehicle particularly interesting is its propulsion system, which

3:34 Speaker 1: runs on liquid oxygen and propane, a combination that iSER

3:38 Speaker 1: claims is more environmentally friendly than traditional rocket fuels. This

3:42 Speaker 1: successful test follows the earlier qualification of Spectrum's second stage

3:46 Speaker 1: engine in late twenty twenty four, meaning both stages are

3:50 Speaker 1: now ready for flight. All that remains is final approval

3:53 Speaker 1: from Norwegian aviation authorities before Spectrum can attempt its maiden

3:57 Speaker 1: launch from Andoya Spaceport. The significance of this achievement extends

4:02 Speaker 1: far beyond just one company's success. Currently, Europe relies heavily

4:07 Speaker 1: on launches from French Guiana through Ariana space. Having launch

4:11 Speaker 1: capabilities from mainland Europe would provide a critical boost to

4:14 Speaker 1: the continent's space sovereignty and resilience. Looking ahead, Esar Aerospace

4:20 Speaker 1: isn't waiting around. They're already building rockets for their second

4:23 Speaker 1: and third missions, showing strong confidence in their platform. They've

4:27 Speaker 1: secured impressive clients too, including Airbus, the German Aerospace Center,

4:32 Speaker 1: and Spaceflight Ink, with a dedicated launch already scheduled for

4:36 Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. The choice of Andoya Spaceport as their

4:39 Speaker 1: launch site is strategic. Located in northern Norway, it's perfectly

4:43 Speaker 1: positioned for launching satellites into polar and Sun synchronous orbits,

4:48 Speaker 1: which are crucial for Earth observation and communication satellites. As

4:52 Speaker 1: Europe's commercial space sector continues to grow, this facility could

4:56 Speaker 1: become a bustling hub for orbital launches. NASA has taken

5:01 Speaker 1: a significant step forward in planetary defense by selecting SpaceX

5:05 Speaker 1: to launch its Near Earth Object Surveyor mission. The Space

5:08 Speaker 1: agency has awarded a one hundred million dollars contract for

5:12 Speaker 1: a Falcon nine launch targeting September twenty twenty seven from

5:15 Speaker 1: Florida's Space Coast. This one point two billion dollars mission

5:19 Speaker 1: will position a sophisticated space telescope at the Earth Sun

5:22 Speaker 1: L one lagrange point, about one point five million kilometers

5:25 Speaker 1: from Earth. From this strategic vantage point, NEEO Surveyor will

5:29 Speaker 1: employ its fifty centimeter infrared telescope to scan the skies

5:33 Speaker 1: for potentially hazardous asteroids. The mission's goals are ambitious, yet

5:37 Speaker 1: crucial for planetary safety. Within its first five years, NEEO

5:41 Speaker 1: Surveyor aims to detect two thirds of near Earth objects

5:44 Speaker 1: that are at least one hundred and forty meters across.

5:47 Speaker 1: Over ten to twelve years, that target increases to ninety

5:51 Speaker 1: percent of such objects, a goal mandated by Congress. The

5:55 Speaker 1: importance of this mission was recently highlighted by asteroid twenty

5:58 Speaker 1: twenty four yr four, discovered just this past December. Initial

6:03 Speaker 1: calculations showed this forty to ninety meters wide object had

6:06 Speaker 1: a small chance of impacting Earth in twenty thirty two,

6:10 Speaker 1: while subsequent observations have significantly reduced that risk. The incident

6:14 Speaker 1: underscores why we need better detection capabilities. ANYO Surveyor recently

6:19 Speaker 1: passed its critical design review, allowing the project to move

6:22 Speaker 1: forward with assembly and testing. The instrument enclosure is already

6:26 Speaker 1: undergoing environmental testing at Johnson Space Center, and this spring

6:31 Speaker 1: it will head to the Space Dynamics Lab in Utah

6:33 Speaker 1: for integration with other components. Through this mission, NASA is

6:38 Speaker 1: significantly upgrading our planetary defense capabilities. By using infrared detection.

6:44 Speaker 1: ANEO Surveyor will be able to spot dark asteroids that

6:47 Speaker 1: are often missed by ground based telescopes, giving us a

6:50 Speaker 1: more complete picture of potential threats in our cosmic neighborhood.

6:55 Speaker 1: While on the subject of upcoming NASA missions, the groundbreaking

6:59 Speaker 1: Punch mission, set to launch no earlier than February twenty eighth,

7:03 Speaker 1: twenty twenty five, aboard a SpaceX Falcon nine rocket, represents

7:07 Speaker 1: a revolutionary step forward in our study of the Sun

7:10 Speaker 1: and its effects on Earth. This innovative mission will be

7:14 Speaker 1: the first to simultaneously image both the Sun's corona and

7:17 Speaker 1: the solar wind, helping us understand our star and its

7:20 Speaker 1: influence on our planet as an interconnected system. The mission

7:24 Speaker 1: consists of four suitcase sized satellites working in perfect harmony

7:28 Speaker 1: their overlapping fields of view, providing unprecedented coverage of the

7:32 Speaker 1: solar environment. Operating from a unique Sun synchronous orbit, these

7:37 Speaker 1: satellites will maintain constant observation of our Star, creating a

7:41 Speaker 1: comprehensive three dimensional view of the solar wind and its evolution.

7:45 Speaker 1: What makes Punch particularly innovative is its use of polarized light.

7:50 Speaker 1: Just as polarized sunglasses filter glare, Punch's specialized polarimeters will

7:54 Speaker 1: capture detailed information about how solar material moves through space.

7:59 Speaker 1: This breakthrough technolog will allow scientists to track solar storms

8:02 Speaker 1: and coronal mass ejections with unprecedented accuracy, potentially revolutionizing our

8:07 Speaker 1: space weather forecasting capabilities. The mission's scope is impressive, with

8:13 Speaker 1: its combined instruments spanning observations from close to the Sun's

8:17 Speaker 1: surface out to the far reaches of the solar wind.

8:21 Speaker 1: The narrow field imager acts like an artificial eclipse, blocking

8:25 Speaker 1: out the Sun's bright light to study the corona in detail,

8:29 Speaker 1: while three wide field imagers capture the solar wind's journey

8:32 Speaker 1: through space. When combined with data from other missions like

8:36 Speaker 1: Parker Solar Probe, Punch will provide a complete picture of

8:40 Speaker 1: solar activity, from microscopic details to vast system wide views.

8:45 Speaker 1: This comprehensive approach could transform our understanding of space weather

8:49 Speaker 1: events that affect everything from satellite operations to power grids

8:53 Speaker 1: on Earth. Working alongside other upcoming missions like Codex and

8:57 Speaker 1: easy Punch will help create a more complete picture of

9:01 Speaker 1: the Sun Earth system. This collaborative approach to solar studies

9:05 Speaker 1: promises to enhance our ability to predict and prepare for

9:08 Speaker 1: solar events that could impact our increasingly technology dependent civilization.

9:14 Speaker 1: Not to be left behind China is busy coming up

9:17 Speaker 1: with innovations of its own. China is making bold strides

9:21 Speaker 1: in space exploration, with plans to venture to the very

9:23 Speaker 1: edges of our Solar System, and they're bringing artificial intelligence

9:27 Speaker 1: along for the ride. This ambitious mission aims to send

9:31 Speaker 1: spacecraft an incredible one hundred astronomical units from Earth by

9:35 Speaker 1: twenty forty nine. That's one hundred times the distance between

9:39 Speaker 1: Earth and the Sun. Even more remarkably, they're looking to

9:43 Speaker 1: push the boundaries to one thousand astronomical units by the

9:46 Speaker 1: century's end. What makes this mission particularly fascinating is how

9:51 Speaker 1: it plans to leverage AI technology to overcome the unique

9:55 Speaker 1: challenges of deep space exploration. When you're sending spacecraft to

9:59 Speaker 1: such vast distances, you can't rely on traditional Earth based

10:03 Speaker 1: control methods. The time it takes for signals to travel

10:06 Speaker 1: between Earth and the spacecraft becomes a significant obstacle, and

10:10 Speaker 1: that's where AI comes in. These spacecraft will be equipped

10:13 Speaker 1: with advanced AI systems capable of making autonomous decisions about navigation,

10:18 Speaker 1: dealing with unexpected events, and managing onboard resources without waiting

10:23 Speaker 1: for instructions from Earth. The AI will also play a

10:27 Speaker 1: crucial role in processing and compressing data before transmission, ensuring

10:32 Speaker 1: that only the most scientifically valuable information makes the long

10:36 Speaker 1: journey back to Earth. The mission plan calls for two

10:39 Speaker 1: spacecraft powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators to explore both the

10:44 Speaker 1: head and tail of the heliosphere, the bubble of space

10:47 Speaker 1: influenced by our Sun. Along their journey, they'll conduct flybys

10:51 Speaker 1: of Jupiter and potentially other planets, while studying interplanetary dust,

10:56 Speaker 1: cosmic rays, and the mysterious boundary where our Solar system

11:00 Speaker 1: meets interstellar space. The spacecraft will carry an impressive array

11:04 Speaker 1: of scientific instruments, including optical cameras, dust analyzers, and magnetometers.

11:10 Speaker 1: AI systems will help manage these instruments automatically detecting and

11:15 Speaker 1: responding to significant scientific events without waiting for input from Earth.

11:20 Speaker 1: This capability is crucial when dealing with rare but important

11:23 Speaker 1: phenomena like solar storms or unexpected asteroid encounters. This innovative

11:28 Speaker 1: approach to deep space exploration could set new standards for

11:31 Speaker 1: how we conduct missions to the outer reaches of our

11:33 Speaker 1: Solar System. By combining traditional space technology with cutting edge AI,

11:39 Speaker 1: China is pushing the boundaries of what's possible in space exploration,

11:43 Speaker 1: potentially paving the way for even more ambitious missions in

11:45 Speaker 1: the future. Finally, today, in an extraordinary development for astronomy,

11:52 Speaker 1: scientists have just unveiled a massive collection of three thousand,

11:55 Speaker 1: six hundred and twenty eight Type Ia supernova observations from

11:59 Speaker 1: those z Wiki transient facility, marking a watershed moment in

12:03 Speaker 1: our quest to understand the universe's expansion. This isn't just

12:06 Speaker 1: another data release. It's literally doubled the number of these

12:10 Speaker 1: cosmic explosions available for study in just two and a

12:12 Speaker 1: half years, compared to all observations from the past three decades.

12:17 Speaker 1: These Type Ia supernova are special because they act like

12:20 Speaker 1: cosmic measuring sticks. When a white dwarf star ends its

12:23 Speaker 1: life in one of these spectacular explosions, it produces a

12:27 Speaker 1: remarkably consistent amount of light. This consistency allows astronomers to

12:32 Speaker 1: use them as reliable distance markers across the cosmos, helping

12:36 Speaker 1: us map out how the universe expans. What makes this

12:39 Speaker 1: discovery particularly exciting is the unprecedented scale and uniformity of

12:44 Speaker 1: the data. The Zwiki transient facilities advanced camera mounted on

12:48 Speaker 1: the Samuel Austin telescope in California scans the entire northern

12:52 Speaker 1: sky every night, capable of detecting objects a million times

12:56 Speaker 1: fainter than what our eyes can see. This powerful system

13:00 Speaker 1: nearly for supernova per night, creating a treasure trove of

13:03 Speaker 1: data that's both vast and precise. But here's where it

13:07 Speaker 1: gets really interesting. The research team has found that these

13:10 Speaker 1: supernova behave differently depending on their host environment, more than

13:14 Speaker 1: previously thought. This discovery could force us to revise how

13:18 Speaker 1: we measure cosmic distances and might help explain some puzzling

13:22 Speaker 1: discrepancies in our standard model of cosmology. It could even

13:25 Speaker 1: provide new insights into dark energy, that mysterious force causing

13:29 Speaker 1: our universe's expansion to accelerate. For perspective, consider that the

13:34 Speaker 1: Nobel Prize winning discovery of the universe's accelerating expansion in

13:38 Speaker 1: the late nineteen nineties was based on observations of only

13:41 Speaker 1: about one hundred supernova. Now, with over three thousand, six

13:44 Speaker 1: hundred examples to study, astronomers have an unprecedented opportunity to

13:49 Speaker 1: refine our understanding of cosmic expansion and potentially uncover new

13:53 Speaker 1: fundamental physics and that's it for today. Thanks for tuning

13:58 Speaker 1: in to another episode of Astronomy. I'm Anna, and it's

14:01 Speaker 1: been a pleasure bringing you today's fascinating stories from the

14:04 Speaker 1: frontiers of space exploration and astronomical discovery. If you'd like

14:09 Speaker 1: to dive deeper into any of these stories or catch

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14:45 Speaker 1: Until next time, keep looking up and wondering about our

14:48 Speaker 1: magnificent universe. This is Anna signing off. The store is

15:03 Speaker 1: the Soul. Store is the Soul. M