Stellar Updates: SpaceX's New Launch Capacity; New Theories on Cosmic Age

0:01 Avery: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily, the

0:04 podcast that brings you the universe, one

0:07 story at a time. I'm Avery.

0:10 Anna: And I'm Anna. It's great to have you with us.

0:13 We've got a packed show for you today, Avery.

0:15 We're talking about a massive expansion for

0:18 SpaceX launches, a new theory that could

0:20 double the age of the universe, and a

0:23 potential glimpse of a primordial black hole

0:26 and an interstellar visitor heading for

0:28 Mars.

0:29 Avery: An absolutely fascinating lineup.

0:32 So where do you want to start? Should we kick

0:34 things off with the launch pad?

0:36 Anna: Let's do it.

0:37 Our first story is big news for the pace of

0:40 space exploration. SpaceX has just

0:43 received a green light from US regulators to

0:46 more than double their launch rate from

0:48 Florida.

0:49 Avery: And when you say more than double, you really

0:52 mean it. They're going from 50 Falcon

0:54 9 launches per year up to

0:57 120 from Cape Canaveral.

1:00 And that is a staggering increase in

1:02 frequency.

1:03 Anna: It really is. And to handle all those

1:06 returning boosters, the approval also

1:08 includes a, uh, new on site landing zone.

1:11 They're planning for up to 34 booster

1:13 landings right there at the Cape. This is all

1:16 about streamlining their operations.

1:18 Avery: So how does an approval like this work?

1:21 I imagine launching that many rockets has

1:24 some environmental considerations.

1:26 Anna: Absolutely. The approval is officially called

1:29 a, uh, mitigated finding of no significant

1:31 impact. That means they've put measures in

1:34 place to protect local wildlife and the

1:36 environment. But it's not the final step.

1:39 SpaceX still needs a final licence

1:41 modification from the FAA and approval from

1:44 the Air Force before they can start ramping

1:46 up.

1:47 Avery: It sounds like they're clearing the final

1:48 hurdles. This has to be a huge relief for a

1:51 lot of companies and agencies. We've heard

1:54 about the launch bottleneck for a while now.

1:56 This should really help ease the traffic jam

1:58 for commercial satellites, military missions,

2:00 and of course, SpaceX's own Starlink

2:03 constellation.

2:04 Anna: Exactly. And this isn't just happening in

2:07 Florida. They're planning a similar expansion

2:09 for their west coast operations at Vandenberg

2:12 Space Force Base in California. We are

2:15 truly entering an era of unprecedented

2:17 access to space.

2:19 Avery: Beyond just easing the traffic jam, what does

2:22 this increased capacity mean for the kinds of

2:25 missions? We'll see. Are we talking more

2:27 sc, more commercial activity, or

2:30 both? Well, I guess we'll have to wait and

2:33 see what happens in practise, but I think

2:35 you'll find it'll be a balance of both

2:37 science and commercial. Alright,

2:40 from the very practical to the deeply

2:43 theoretical. Anna.

2:44 Uh, our next story is a real mind bender.

2:48 A new study is suggesting that dark matter

2:51 doesn't exist, and that the universe is

2:53 twice as old as we thought.

2:56 Anna: That's the headline, and it's as provocative

2:58 as it sounds. A physicist named

3:01 Rajendra Gupta has proposed a new

3:04 cosmological model that attempts to explain

3:06 the universe without the need for dark matter

3:09 or dark energy, which are foundational

3:12 pillars of our current understanding.

3:14 Avery: Okay, I'm intrigued. How does he

3:16 propose to do that? Our current model relies

3:19 on dark matter to explain why galaxies don't

3:22 fly apart.

3:23 Anna: Well, Gupta's model combines two different

3:26 and somewhat controversial ideas. The

3:29 first is called covarying coupling constants,

3:32 or ccc. This theory suggests that

3:35 the fundamental physical constants of nature,

3:37 things like the strength of gravity, might

3:40 actually change over cosmic time.

3:43 Avery: Whoa. That alone would rewrite the

3:45 textbooks. Um, and what's the second idea?

3:49 Anna: The second is an old hypothesis called

3:51 tired light. This idea proposes that

3:54 light particles, photons, lose

3:57 energy as they travel over billions of light

4:00 years. This energy loss would cause their

4:02 light to shift toward the red end of the

4:04 spectrum, which is something we currently

4:07 attribute almost entirely to the expansion of

4:09 the universe.

4:11 Avery: So by combining these two theories, he can

4:14 explain cosmic observations without

4:16 dark matter. And how does that lead to the

4:19 universe being twice. Twice as old?

4:22 Anna: By reinterpreting the redshift of distant

4:24 galaxies, his calculations suggest that

4:27 the universe isn't 13.8 billion years

4:30 old, but actually 26.7

4:33 billion years old. It completely changes the

4:35 timeline of cosmic evolution.

4:38 Avery: This is a monumental claim. Dark matter is

4:41 thought to make up about 27% of the universe.

4:44 To just remove it from the equation is a

4:47 radical step. So what's the next step

4:50 for this theory? How do we know if it holds

4:52 any water?

4:53 Anna: That's the key question. The model now has to

4:56 be rigorously tested against real world

4:58 observational data. Can it accurately predict

5:01 the rotation speeds of galaxies? Can it

5:04 explain the patterns we see in the cosmic

5:06 microwave background, the afterglow of the

5:08 big Bang? The Standard Model does this very

5:11 well. So Gupta Siri has a very high

5:14 bar to clear. It's a fascinating

5:16 alternative. But for now, the Standard Model

5:19 remains the reigning champion.

5:21 Avery: Speaking of cosmic mysteries, our next story

5:24 comes from the James Webb Space Telescope,

5:26 which may have just found the first direct

5:28 evidence of a primordial black hole.

5:31 Anna: This is an amazing story. Astronomers were

5:34 looking at an object nicknamed the little red

5:37 dot, officially called QSO

5:39 uh1. And this little dot might just be

5:42 a massive black hole seed born in the

5:45 fiery chaos of the very early universe.

5:48 Avery: How early are we talking?

5:50 Anna: The light from this object comes from the

5:52 epoch of reionization just

5:55 600 million years after the Big Bang.

5:57 That's incredibly early in cosmic history.

6:00 And the black hole itself is estimated to

6:02 have a mass of 50 million suns.

6:06 Avery: 50 million solar masses, less

6:09 than a billion years into the universe's

6:10 existence. That's a monster.

6:14 How were they even able to see something so

6:16 distant and ancient?

6:17 Anna: They had a little help from Einstein. The

6:20 observation was made possible by

6:22 gravitational lensing, where the gravity of a

6:25 massive galaxy cluster in the foreground

6:27 acted like a cosmic magnifying glass,

6:30 amplifying the light from the little red dot

6:33 behind it.

6:34 Avery: So what makes this discovery so significant?

6:36 What does it tell us about how black holes

6:39 form?

6:40 Anna: Here's the most fascinating part. This

6:42 enormous black hole is located in a

6:45 surprisingly small host galaxy. According

6:48 to our current models, galaxies and their

6:50 central black holes are supposed to grow up

6:52 together. But this black hole is way too big

6:55 for its galaxy. It's like finding a giant

6:58 skeleton inside a child's playroom.

7:01 Avery: Which suggests the black hole came

7:03 first.

7:04 Anna: Exactly. This could be evidence for what are,

7:07 uh, called heavy seeds. Instead of forming

7:10 from a collapsed star and slowly growing,

7:12 these black holes might have formed directly

7:15 from the collapse of massive gas clouds, or

7:18 even from density fluctuations right after

7:20 the Big Bang itself. These would be true

7:23 primordial black holes.

7:25 Avery: It's an incredible find. I

7:27 assume there's a caveat here.

7:29 Anna: Of course, the findings are currently in a

7:32 preprint, which means they're awaiting the

7:34 rigorous process of peer review. But if they

7:37 hold up, this little red dot could

7:39 fundamentally change our understanding of how

7:42 the first galaxies and the giants within them

7:45 came to be.

7:46 Avery: Alright, for our, uh, final story today.

7:48 We're coming back into our own solar system,

7:51 but we're tracking a visitor from very, very

7:53 far away. An interstellar comet is

7:56 set to make a close flyby of Mars.

7:59 Anna: That's right, Avery. The Comet is designated

8:01 3i Atlas, with the I standing for

8:04 interstellar. And on 10-3-20,

8:08 it's going to pass within 18.6 million

8:11 miles of the red planet. That's a

8:14 fantastic observation opportunity for our,

8:16 uh, robotic explorers there.

8:17 Avery: And it sounds like the European Space Agency

8:19 is already getting its probes ready. What's

8:22 the plan?

8:23 Anna: ESA's Mars Express and Trace Gas

8:25 Orbiter are going to attempt to observe it as

8:28 it passes. They'll try to image the comet,

8:31 though it will still be quite distant for

8:33 detailed close ups. More importantly, they'll

8:36 use their spectrometers to measure the light

8:38 coming from it, which can tell us about its

8:40 chemical composition.

8:42 Avery: So we get a chance to analyse the building

8:45 blocks of another solar system. That's

8:47 incredible. Are any other spacecraft going to

8:50 be looking?

8:51 Anna: It's very likely. NASA's orbiters like

8:53 Maven and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,

8:56 and perhaps even China's Tianwen one

8:59 could all potentially point their instruments

9:01 at the Comet. Even the JWST

9:04 has already taken a look at 3i

9:06 Atlas from its vantage point further out in

9:09 space. It's an all hands on deck effort to

9:12 study this rare traveller.

9:13 Avery: It's amazing to think that we have a fleet of

9:16 advanced scientific instruments orbiting

9:19 another planet ready to welcome a visitor

9:22 from the stars. October 2025 is a

9:25 date to mark on the calendar.

9:27 Anna: And that's a wrap on today's astronomical

9:29 news. We've gone from the bustling launch

9:32 pads of Florida to the edge of

9:34 cosmological theory, deep into the cosmic

9:37 dawn and back to a close encounter at

9:40 Mars.

9:41 Avery: What a journey. A, uh, big thank you to all

9:43 of you for tuning in and sharing it with us.

9:46 And for even more news, please visit our

9:48 website at astronomydaily IO

9:51 where you'll find our continually updated

9:53 news feed, plus all our back episodes if you

9:56 need to do some catching up. Until next time,

9:59 this has been Astronomy Daily. Um, I'm

10:01 Avery.

10:02 Anna: And I'm Anna. Keep looking up.