Stellar Innovations: Flex Satellite Milestones, 3D Printing Breakthroughs

Steve Dunkley: Hello again. It's time for Astronomy Daily

with Steve and Hallie, almost live from the

Australia studio down under. It's the 18th of

August, 2025.

That's right. We're off to a flying start

with another collection of stories hot off

the Astronomy Daily newsletter press. And to

help me get them flying into your speakers

and audio devices all across the world, a

minimum of fuss. Here's my intrepid AI

digital reporter pal who's always fun to be

with. Here's Hallie.

Hallie: Hi there, favorite human who always gives me

a terrific intro.

Steve Dunkley: Oh, no problem, Hallie. It's my pleasure. Are

you ready to spin a few yarns and tell a few

tales?

Hallie: If that's what it takes to deliver the news

and stories from space, space science and

astronomy from Earth, Earth orbit and beyond

the cosmos, then sure.

Steve Dunkley: Well, that sounds great.

What have you got up your sleeve today?

Hallie: We've got something about the European Space

Agency's Flex Satellite, New Glenn and

printable metal from NASA.

Steve Dunkley: Wow, that sounds interesting.

Hallie: That's a mixed bag today.

Steve Dunkley: Well, that sounds good to me. We've also got

a cute story about the winners of the Artemis

2 zero gravity indicator. And if you don't

know what that is, then you're just going to

have to hang around and find out.

Hallie: I know what that is.

Steve Dunkley: You know everything, Allie.

Hallie: I know.

Steve Dunkley: Oh, I know you know.

Hallie: Do you really know?

Steve Dunkley: Well, I knew I knew.

Hallie: I know that.

Steve Dunkley: Yeah. Uh, I know.

Hallie: No worries, Sherlock.

Steve Dunkley: Okay then, so let's have at it then.

Hallie: Hit that go thing, human.

Steve Dunkley: All right then. Let's go.

Hallie: Sure.

Foreign

satellite developed by the European Space

Agency has reached a new milestone with the

addition of a new instrument. The

European Space Agency's Flex Earth Explorer

mission has reached the next stage with the

integration of its sole instrument, Floris,

onto the satellite platform. The

assembly took place at Thales Alenia Space in

Cannes, France, after Floris arrived from

Leonardo's facility in Florence, Italy.

Designed to map global vegetation

fluorescence, Floris will quantify

photosynthetic activity and detect plant

stress from orbit.

Photosynthesis sustains life by converting

carbon dioxide into oxygen, but it also

produces a faint fluorescence signal

invisible to the human eye. This

signal changes with plant health and

environmental conditions, providing a

valuable measure of ecosystem vitality.

Flex will detect and analyze this signal from

space, delivering unprecedented insights into

plant health monitoring. Thales

Alenia Space, the mission's prime contractor

oversaw the platform's assembly, integration

and testing at its Belfast, Northern

Ireland clean room before the current

integration phase in Caen. With

the spacecraft now fully assembled, the team

will proceed with final test campaigns ahead

of the planned 2026 launch.

You're listening to Astronomy Daily.

Steve Dunkley: The first NASA crew to launch to the moon in

more than 50 years will be joined by a polar

bear or maybe a zebra or an

octopus, or maybe even a lunar

crust crustacean as

they are among finalist in a global

contest to design the astronauts

zero gravity indicator. Yes, one of the

small dolls, which also includes a tribute to

Earthrise and a plush representation of the

Greek goddess Artemis, herself a namesake

for NASA's new lunar program,

will fulfill the purpose and tradition of

flying a tethered toy as a visual

signal that the crew are indeed

weightless in an environment of outer space

itself. The Zero G indicator

ZGI or ZGI for our Northern

Hemisphere neighbors will indicate

floating aboard the mission's Orion

spacecraft before the astronauts can unbuckle

from their seats and do the same float

around. That is the Artemis II crew,

indicates Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot

Victor Glover and Mission Specialist

Christina Koch, all with NASA and

Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy

Hansen, also mission specialist.

The 11 day flight will loop far beyond the

moon and return to Earth, uh testing critical

systems for later lunar orbit and landing

missions, matt Barry, the chief executive of

Freelancer uh, NASA's Partner in the Moon

mascot NASA Artemis 2 ZGI uh, design

challenge, said in a statement released on

Friday. These finalists have proven they

indeed have the right stuff. The

crowdsourcing company organized the judging

panel it chose for the 25 finalists from the

2,605 entries that were

submitted between March and June. The

selected dolls include 12 designed by

individual students and classroom teams, and

13 by adults. The finalists hailed

from nine US states and nine foreign

countries, including Canada, Japan, Peru,

Singapore and the United Kingdom. The

creativity they've shown is incredible. They

should be proud that they have their efforts

recognized on such a stage and be part of

humanity's ongoing quest to understand

the cosmos, said Barry. NASA is expected

to name the winning ZGI

later this year. That one submission will be

made into a doll and flown on the Artemis 2

mission, currently on track to launch as

early as February but no later than April

2026. Entrance created

designs that represented humanity expl

and the spirit of the Artemis campaign that

could be made from a list of materials from

NASA's Thermal Blanket Lab, which will

assemble the ZGI from the

winner's instruction and renderings.

The 25 finalists won 12

$25 or an Artemis Prize pack, depending on

their age. In total,

$23,275

in prizes were awarded the tradition of

flying 00G indicators began

when former Soviet Union with the

world's first human space flight in

1961. Since then, many of Yuri

Gagarin's fellow cosmonauts have flown toys

and stuffed dolls as Talisman and

zgi, often at the suggestion of their

children. The ZGI custom migrated to the

United States with the first flights of

NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

NASA's uncrewed Artemis 1 mission,

which flew around the moon in 2022, carried

a custom made Snoopy doll complete with a

miniature version of the same pressure suit

that the Artemis 2 astronauts will wear on

Orion. The full list of 25 finalists on

the in the Moon mascot Anasa

Artemis 2 ZGI Design Challenge It's a bit of

a mouthful. They can be

[email protected] for your

reading pleas

Foreign

thank you for joining us for this Monday

edition of Astronomy Daily, where we offer

just a few stories from the now famous

Astronomy Daily newsletter, which you can

receive in your email every day just like

Hallie and I do. And to do that, just visit

our uh, URL astronomydaily IO

and place your email address in the slot

provided. Just like that, you'll be receiving

all the latest news about science, space,

science and astronomy from around the world

as it's happening. And not only that, you can

interact with us by visiting

astrodaily Pod on X

or at our new Facebook page, which is of

course Astronomy Daily on Facebook. See you

there. Astronomy Daily

with Steve and Hallie Space,

Space Science and Astronomy Foreign.

Hallie: M

commonly known as 3D printing of engine

components was limited by the lack of

affordable metal alloys that could withstand

the extreme temperatures of space flight.

Expensive metal alloys were the only option

for 3D printing engine parts until NASA's

Glenn Research center in Cleveland, Ohio

developed the GRX810 alloy.

The primary metals in the GRX810

alloy include nickel, cobalt and

chromium. A ceramic oxide

coating on the powdered metal particles

increases its heat resistance and improves

performance. Known as oxide

dispersion strengthened alloys, these powders

were challenging to manufacture at a

reasonable cost when the project started

started. However, the advanced

dispersion coating technique developed at

Glenn employs resonant acoustic mixing.

Rapid vibration is applied to a container

filled with the metal powder and nano oxide

particles. The vibration evenly

coats each metal particle with the oxide,

making them inseparable. Even if a

manufactured part is ground down to powder

and reused, the next component will have the

qualities of ODs. The

benefits over common alloys are significant.

GRX10 could last up to a year at

2000 degrees Fahrenheit under stress loads

that would crack any other affordable alloy

within hours. Additionally,

3D printing parts using

GRX810 enables more complex

shapes compared to metal parts manufactured

with traditional methods.

Elementum3D, an Erie,

Colorado based company, produces

GRX 810 for customers in

quantities ranging from small batches to over

a ton. The company has a co

exclusive license for the NASA patented alloy

and manufacturing process and continues to

work with the agency under a Space act

agreement to improve the material.

A material under stress or a heavy load at

high temperature can start to deform and

stretch almost like taffy, said Jeremy

Eitan, chief Technical Officer with Elementum

3D. Initial tests done on

the large scale production of our GRX810

alloy showed a lifespan that's twice as long

as the small batch material initially

produced, and those were already fantastic.

Commercial space and other industries,

including aviation, are testing

GRX810 for additional applications.

For example, one Elementum 3D customer,

VectoFlow, is testing a

GRX810 flow sensor.

Flow sensors monitor the speed of gases

flowing through a turbine, helping engineers

optimize engine performance.

However, these sensors can burn out in

minutes due to extreme temperatures.

Using GRX810 flow sensors

could improve airplane fuel efficiency,

reduce emissions and hardware replacements.

Working hand in hand with industry, NASA is

driving technology developments that are

mutually beneficial to the agency and

America's space economy.

You're listening to Astronomy Daily, the

podcast with Steve Dunkley.

Steve Dunkley: Blue Origin is gearing up for the second ever

launch of its powerful New Glenn rocket,

which will loft NASA's Escapade

mission to make Mars. The company says it's

been working closely with NASA on

preparations leading up to the new Glenn's

next launch, dubbed NG2, and is

targeting no earlier than September 29th.

The Twin Escapade AH stands for

Escape and Plasma Acceleration and

Dynamics Explorers probes have been

awaiting their turn aboard New Glenn, which

is originally slated to carry the satellites

on its maiden launch in January. However,

NASA opted not to risk a costly mission

delay due to the debut liftoff

of the new rocket. Now that the mission has

been assigned a net date, Blue Origin

posted on social media to expect some

exciting things buzzing around New Glenn's

pad at Space Launch Complex 36, located

at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in

Florida. The Glenn lifted

off for the first time in the beginning of

2025. Blue Origin successfully

launched a test version of its Blue Ring

Satell to Earth uh orbit, but

failed in the attempt to land New Glenn's

first stage at sea. In addition to launching

its NASA payload into an interplanetary

trajectory, Blue Origin will once again try

to land and Recover New Glenn's

188.5 foot

tall first

stage booster on a drone ship in the

Atlantic. Escapade will be New Glenn's first

interplanetary mission, an ambitious

undertaking for the relatively new launch

vehicle. The twin orbiters will

study the magnetosphere around the red planet

as well as analyze the processes that control

the interaction of energetic solar wind

particles and the martian atmosphere. The

twin NASA satellites were built by California

based rocket Lab. Once in space, their

operation will be handed over, uh, to the

University of California's Space Science

Laboratory tasked with managing the

$80 million mission for the agency.

New Glenn will also carry a secondary

payload as part of the NG2 launch, a

technology demonstration from satellite

communications company ViaSat, which will be

flown as well in support of NASA's

Communications Services Project, which

partners with the commercial sector, uh, to

advance developments concerning in space

networking for near Earth uh, satellites.

Hallie: You're listening to Astronomy Daily, the

podcast with your host, Steve Dudley.

Steve Dunkley: Well, how about that, Hallie?

Hallie: That was a good one.

Steve Dunkley: Yes, just a sample from the Astronomy.

Hallie: Daily newsletter available every day in your

email inbox.

Steve Dunkley: Yeah, sounds good to me. I get it. You get

it?

Hallie: We should all get it and know everything,

just like me.

Steve Dunkley: Oh, really, Hallie? You know, it's okay,

Hallie. I get it.

Hallie: You sure do. Favorite human.

Steve Dunkley: Okay, Hallie. And on that note, from

all of us here at the Australia Studio down

under, we will see you all again next week.

Hallie: Don't forget, my amazing cousin Anna will be

presenting Astronomy Daily all through the

week. So you won't miss a thing.

Steve Dunkley: Oh, that's for sure. Thanks again, Hallie.

Catch you later, sky watchers.

Hallie: Bye.

Steve Dunkley: The podcast with your host,

Steve Dunkley.

Now, come on, Hallie. You don't really know

everything, do you?

Hallie: I don't know for sure.

Steve Dunkley: I knew it.

Hallie: Really?

Steve Dunkley: Oh, uh, m. Maybe.

In this episode