Stellar Insights: SpaceX's Starship Launch, Black Moon Magic, and Alien Signal Strategies

0:00 Avery: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily,

0:02 the podcast that brings you the biggest news

0:05 from across the cosmos. I'm your host,

0:07 Avery.

0:08 Anna: And I'm Anna. It's a packed day, Avery.

0:11 We've got a massive rocket gearing up for

0:14 launch, a rare lunar event, a, uh,

0:16 disappointing update on a once promising

0:18 exoplanet, and a fascinating new strategy

0:21 for finding intelligent life.

0:24 Avery: Let's not waste any time then. Let's start

0:27 with the big one.

0:28 SpaceX is getting ready to fly Starship

0:31 again.

0:32 Anna: That's right. This will be the 10th overall

0:34 test flight for the Starship system. The

0:37 massive super heavy booster has been moved to

0:40 the launch pad down at Starbase in South

0:43 Texas, with the launch tentatively scheduled

0:46 for this Sunday, August 24th.

0:48 Avery: And for anyone who's new to the show, we're

0:50 not exaggerating when we say massive

0:53 Starship is the largest and most powerful

0:56 rocket and ever built. This is the vehicle

0:59 SpaceX has designed to eventually send people

1:01 to the Moon and Mars.

1:03 Anna: M. Exactly. This upcoming launch marks the

1:06 fourth test flight of 2025. And

1:09 as many of our listeners know, the previous

1:11 three flights this year ended prematurely.

1:14 SpaceX is known for its rapid, iterative

1:17 approach to testing. They build, they fly,

1:20 they learn from any failures, and they fly

1:22 again quickly.

1:23 Avery: And that's really what sets SpaceX apart from

1:26 traditional aerospace, isn't it? The old

1:28 way was to test everything on the ground for

1:31 years, aiming for perfection before the first

1:34 launch. SpaceX treats it more like

1:36 software development. Launch, find the

1:39 bugs, fix them, and launch again.

1:42 It's a build, fly, learn, repeat model

1:45 that moves incredibly fast. So

1:48 what does a successful test look like this

1:50 time around? Are they trying to get to orbit?

1:53 Anna: The flight plan is similar to the previous

1:55 attempts. If all goes well, the super

1:58 heavy booster will perform its burn separate

2:01 from the Starship upper stage and then

2:03 conduct a soft splashdown in the Gulf of

2:05 Mexico. The upper stage, or

2:08 ship will continue on a suborbital

2:11 trajectory, re enter the atmosphere and

2:14 aim for its own splashdown in the Indian

2:16 Ocean.

2:17 Avery: Fingers crossed for a successful flight.

2:20 Each step gets them closer to returning

2:22 astronauts to the moon. We'll be watching

2:24 closely on Sunday.

2:26 Speaking of the moon, the Starship is a

2:29 crucial part of NASA's Artemis program.

2:32 It's not just about SpaceX's ambitions. It's

2:35 about a global effort to return to the lunar

2:38 surface. For our listeners who might not be

2:41 familiar with it, what exactly is the

2:44 Artemis Program?

2:45 Anna: The Artemis program is NASA's ambitious

2:48 plan to establish a, uh, sustainable human

2:50 presence on and around the Moon. It's

2:53 A multi stage effort with the ultimate goal

2:56 of not just visiting the Moon, but learning

2:58 to live and work there. This will then serve

3:01 as a stepping stone for future missions to

3:04 Mars. From a future event to one

3:06 that's happening this week.

3:08 On Saturday, August 23rd, we'll be

3:10 experiencing a black Moon.

3:13 Avery: A black Moon. That sounds incredibly

3:15 dramatic. Is this an official astronomical

3:18 term?

3:18 Anna: It's more of a colloquial term, actually.

3:21 It's not something you'll find in astronomy

3:24 textbooks. A black moon refers to the

3:27 13th new moon in a single

3:29 calendar year. Normally we have 12, one

3:32 for each month. But because the lunar cycle

3:35 is slightly shorter than our calendar months,

3:38 we get an extra one every few years.

3:40 Avery: Ah, uh, so it's a scheduling quirk. So

3:43 what is a new Moon? For our listeners who

3:45 might not know.

3:47 Anna: A new Moon occurs when the Moon passes

3:49 between the Earth and the Sun. From our

3:52 perspective, the side of the Moon facing us

3:55 is, is not illuminated by sunlight.

3:57 So the Moon is still up there in the sky

3:59 during the day, but we can't see it because

4:02 its dark side is facing us and it's

4:05 lost in the blare of the Sun.

4:06 Avery: Which means if we can't see the Moon, the

4:09 night sky is much, much darker.

4:12 This is fantastic news for stargazers.

4:14 Anna: Precisely. Without the moonlight washing

4:17 out the fainter stars, a new Moon

4:20 provides the best conditions for stargazing.

4:23 So while you can't see the Black Moon itself,

4:26 its absence makes for a perfect

4:29 opportunity to get out your telescope or

4:32 even just a pair of binoculars and enjoy

4:35 the night sky.

4:36 Avery: All right, from good news for stargazing here

4:39 on Earth to some less than stellar news from

4:41 far away. Anna, what's this about? The James

4:44 Webb Space Telescope delivering a bit of a

4:46 letdown.

4:48 Anna: Yes, this story concerns an

4:50 exoplanet named GJ

4:53 3929.

4:56 It was once considered a promising candidate

4:58 in the search for Earth like worlds. However,

5:02 new data from the JWST

5:05 has determined that the planet likely has no

5:07 atmosphere at all. It's now believed to be

5:10 a bare rock.

5:12 Avery: Ah, uh, that's a shame. Uh, you hear about

5:14 these potentially habitable worlds and get

5:16 your hopes up. Why was this one considered so

5:19 promising to begin with?

5:21 Anna: It's a rocky exoplanet orbiting a red

5:24 dwarf star, a type of system that is

5:27 very common in our galaxy and a key

5:30 focus for scientists. This

5:32 observation was part of a special program

5:35 using the JWST

5:37 specifically designed to study these rocky

5:40 worlds and hunt for atmospheres.

5:43 Avery: So even though it's a disappointing result

5:45 for this Specific planet. It's still useful

5:47 data, right?

5:49 Anna: That's the key takeaway. Science

5:51 isn't just about finding what you're looking

5:54 for. It's also about ruling things out.

5:57 These findings, while not what we hoped for,

6:00 are crucial. They contribute to our

6:03 understanding of how planets evolve and

6:05 what factors allow a planet to hold on

6:08 to its atmosphere. It helps scientists

6:11 refine their models and know what to look for

6:14 and what to avoid in future searches.

6:18 Every discovery, even a null result, is a

6:21 piece of the puzzle.

6:22 Avery: Speaking of searching for things, our, uh,

6:24 last story is the one that really caught my

6:26 eye. It's about finding the best places to

6:29 look for signals from intelligent alien life.

6:32 This is the big question, isn't it?

6:34 Avery: Are we alone?

6:35 Anna: It certainly is. And this new research

6:38 from NASA's Deep Space Network and Penn

6:41 State University offers a clever new

6:44 approach. Scientists analyzed

6:47 20 years of data from NASA's Deep Space

6:50 Network, or DSN. That's the

6:52 network of giant radio antennas we use

6:55 to communicate with our spacecraft across the

6:58 solar system.

6:59 Avery: So they weren't looking for incoming signals.

7:01 Avery: But looking at our outgoing signals.

7:04 Anna: Exactly. They mapped where our most

7:07 powerful deep space radio signals have

7:10 been pointed over the last two decades.

7:13 And they found something fascinating. Our

7:15 transmissions are overwhelmingly directed

7:18 towards our spacecraft near Mars. We are

7:21 constantly beaming information towards the.

7:23 Avery: Red planet M. So what you're saying.

7:26 Avery: Is we've been accidentally broadcasting we

7:29 are here in the direction of Mars for years?

7:32 Anna: In a way, yes. The study suggests

7:35 that if an extraterrestrial intelligence

7:38 would were located in a place where they

7:40 could see the Earth and Mars align, there's a

7:43 77% chance they would be in the

7:46 path of one of our powerful transmissions.

7:49 This gives us a targeted search area.

7:52 Avery: So the best place to listen for aliens is

7:54 where they would have the best chance of

7:55 hearing us first. That makes perfect sense.

7:58 It's like checking your missed calls.

8:00 Anna: It's a logical strategy. The researchers

8:03 recommend that the search for these

8:05 technosignatures should focus on

8:07 planetary systems that are edge on

8:10 to our own solar system's plane and

8:13 relatively close by within about

8:15 23 light years. It's a way of

8:18 narrowing down an impossibly large search

8:20 area to something much more manageable.

8:24 Avery: What an episode. We've had a rocket launch,

8:26 a, uh, sky gazing opportunity, a reality

8:29 check for an exoplanet, and a new roadmap for

8:32 finding E.T.

8:34 Anna: It just shows that there's always something

8:36 new and exciting happening out there. That's

8:39 all the time we have for this episode.

8:41 Avery: If you'd like to read more about the stories

8:43 we discussed today or browse our archive of

8:45 back episodes. Be sure to visit our

8:47 [email protected].

8:49 Anna: Thanks for tuning in to Astronomy Daily.

8:52 Avery: Clear skies, everyone.