Webb's Asteroid Discovery, Project Kuiper Launch, and Martian Dust Storms

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm anna bringing you the latest

0:03 Speaker 1: breakthroughs from the cosmos right to your ears. Today's episode

0:07 Speaker 1: is packed with fascinating developments that are reshaping our understanding

0:10 Speaker 1: of the universe around us. We've got quite the stellar

0:13 Speaker 1: lineup of stories to explore. NASA's James Web Space Telescope

0:17 Speaker 1: has been examining a building sized asteroid, giving us new

0:20 Speaker 1: insights about these smaller space rocks and what they're made of.

0:23 Speaker 1: Then we'll look at Amazon's Project Kuyper as it prepares

0:25 Speaker 1: for a major satellite launch that could transform global Internet connectivity.

0:30 Speaker 1: The Web Telescope has also uncovered something quite remarkable galaxies

0:35 Speaker 1: that were already dying out just seven hundred million years

0:38 Speaker 1: after the Big Bang, challenging our previous models of galactic

0:42 Speaker 1: evolution and forcing astronomers to rethink the timeline of our universe.

0:47 Speaker 1: We'll also explore Japan's innovative approach to Mars landing, using

0:51 Speaker 1: inflatable technology that could revolutionize how we deliver rovers to

0:55 Speaker 1: the Red planet. And speaking of Mars, scientists have made

0:58 Speaker 1: progress in understanding what triggers those massive planet covering dust storms,

1:03 Speaker 1: a crucial step for future missions and potential human exploration.

1:08 Speaker 1: These discoveries aren't just academic curiosities. They represent the cutting

1:12 Speaker 1: edge of human knowledge, pushing the boundaries of what we

1:15 Speaker 1: know about our cosmic neighborhood and beyond. So let's launch

1:20 Speaker 1: into today's cosmic news and explore these frontiers together. Kicking

1:25 Speaker 1: things off, the James Web Space telescope recently set its

1:29 Speaker 1: sites on asteroid twenty twenty four yr four, a near

1:33 Speaker 1: Earth object that had previously raised some concern. While NASA

1:37 Speaker 1: announced back in February that the risk of this asteroid

1:40 Speaker 1: hitting Earth in twenty thirty two had been downgraded to

1:43 Speaker 1: near zero, these observations provided valuable information about what asteroids

1:48 Speaker 1: of this size are actually like, particularly as this one

1:51 Speaker 1: appears to be growing. According to Andy Rivkin of Johns

1:54 Speaker 1: Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, who led the Web observation program,

1:59 Speaker 1: this is the smallest object WEB has targeted to date,

2:03 Speaker 1: and one of the smallest objects to have its size

2:05 Speaker 1: directly measured from space. What makes this particularly interesting is

2:10 Speaker 1: how Web approached the task. Most telescopes observe asteroids by

2:14 Speaker 1: measuring sunlight reflected from their surfaces, which doesn't always provide

2:18 Speaker 1: precise size information. Web, however, used both its near infrared

2:23 Speaker 1: camera and mid infrared instrument in tandem. The mid infrared

2:28 Speaker 1: wavelengths allowed scientists to measure the heat given off by

2:31 Speaker 1: the asteroid itself, providing a direct measurement of its size.

2:36 Speaker 1: The observations revealed that twenty twenty four yr four is

2:40 Speaker 1: approximately sixty meters across, about the height of a fifteen

2:43 Speaker 1: story building. But it's not just the size that proved interesting.

2:48 Speaker 1: The asteroid's thermal properties are notably different from those of

2:51 Speaker 1: larger asteroids. Rivkin's team believes this is likely due to

2:55 Speaker 1: a combination of the asteroid's very fast spin rate and

2:58 Speaker 1: a surface that lacks fine grained and instead the surface

3:02 Speaker 1: appears to be dominated by larger rocks, perhaps fist sized

3:06 Speaker 1: or bigger. While this particular asteroid no longer poses a

3:09 Speaker 1: threat to Earth or the Moon, these observations have significant

3:13 Speaker 1: value for planetary defense. As more sensitive asteroid search programs

3:17 Speaker 1: come online in the coming years, we can expect to

3:19 Speaker 1: discover more potential impactors. Understanding how to best use our

3:23 Speaker 1: most powerful telescope to gather critical data quickly will be

3:27 Speaker 1: invaluable during a more urgent scenario. Involving a potentially hazardous asteroid.

3:33 Speaker 1: These observations also provided additional data about the asteroid's position,

3:37 Speaker 1: helping improve our knowledge of its orbit and future trajectory.

3:41 Speaker 1: When combined with ground based measurements of its spin rate

3:44 Speaker 1: and spectral properties, scientists now have a comprehensive understanding of

3:48 Speaker 1: what this building size space rock is like. Riv can

3:51 Speaker 1: emphasize that this gives scientists a window into understanding what

3:55 Speaker 1: other objects of similar size might be like, including the

3:59 Speaker 1: next one that might be heading our way. The observations

4:03 Speaker 1: demonstrate Web's versatility as not just a deep space observatory,

4:07 Speaker 1: but also as a tool for planetary defense. Closer to home.

4:11 Speaker 1: Next on today's story list, Amazon's project Kiper is poised

4:15 Speaker 1: to take a major leap forward with the launch of

4:17 Speaker 1: its first operational satellites. United Launch Alliance is scheduled to

4:20 Speaker 1: send twenty seven satellites into low Earth orbit on April ninth,

4:24 Speaker 1: using an Atlas five rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force

4:27 Speaker 1: Station in Florida. This mission, dubbed KA zero one or

4:32 Speaker 1: Kuyper Atlas one, represents the first step in Amazon's ambitious

4:35 Speaker 1: plan to create a constellation of more than three thousand,

4:38 Speaker 1: two hundred satellites for global broadband Internet coverage. These aren't

4:43 Speaker 1: just test satellites, according to Amazon, These operational units feature

4:47 Speaker 1: significant upgrades over the two prototypes launched last year. They

4:51 Speaker 1: come equipped with improved phased array antennas, more powerful processors,

4:55 Speaker 1: enhanced solar arrays, better propulsion systems, and optical inter satellite links.

5:01 Speaker 1: All this technology has been packed into satellites manufactured at

5:04 Speaker 1: the company's facility in Kirkland, Washington. The launch is happening

5:08 Speaker 1: about a year behind Amazon's original schedule, pushing potential beta

5:12 Speaker 1: services into later this year rather than late twenty twenty

5:15 Speaker 1: four as initially planned. This timeline is particularly important because

5:20 Speaker 1: Amazon faces strict deployment deadlines from the Federal Communications Commission.

5:24 Speaker 1: Half the constellation must be deployed by July twenty twenty six,

5:28 Speaker 1: with the remainder by July twenty twenty nine. Project Kuiper

5:32 Speaker 1: vice president Rajiv Badial acknowledged the challenges ahead, noting that

5:36 Speaker 1: while extensive ground testing has been conducted, some things can

5:40 Speaker 1: only be learned in actual flight conditions. This will also

5:44 Speaker 1: be the first deployment of multiple satellites simultaneously for the project.

5:48 Speaker 1: A crucial operational test. The upcoming launch is notable in

5:52 Speaker 1: several other ways. According to Amazon, it will be the

5:55 Speaker 1: heaviest payload ever flown on an Atlas five rocket, which

5:59 Speaker 1: will use its mother most powerful configuration for this mission,

6:02 Speaker 1: featuring five solid rocket boosters plus the main booster. The

6:06 Speaker 1: satellites will be deployed approximately four hundred and fifty kilometers

6:09 Speaker 1: above Earth. This is just the beginning of a massive

6:13 Speaker 1: launch campaign. Amazon has secured an impressive array of launch

6:16 Speaker 1: contracts to deploy its full constellation, including seven more Atlas

6:20 Speaker 1: five rockets and thirty eight launches on ULA's larger Vulcan

6:24 Speaker 1: Centaur rocket. The company has also contracted three SpaceX Falcon

6:28 Speaker 1: nine missions, eighteen Ariani six launches from Ariani Space, and

6:33 Speaker 1: up to twenty seven new Glen rockets from Blue Origin.

6:36 Speaker 1: Amazon has already lined up several partners to deliver Project

6:39 Speaker 1: Kuiper services, including US telecommunications giants Verizon and Vodafone, as

6:44 Speaker 1: well as Japan's Sky Perfect, JSAT and Nipon Telegraph and

6:48 Speaker 1: Telephone Corporation, who plan to sell services to Japanese businesses

6:52 Speaker 1: and government organizations. With this launch, the race to establish

6:56 Speaker 1: the next generation of satellite Internet constellations intensified as Amazon

7:01 Speaker 1: joined SpaceX's Starlink and other competitors in the increasingly crowded

7:05 Speaker 1: low Earth orbit environment. Next up, we have another update

7:09 Speaker 1: from the JWST. One of the most remarkable discoveries from

7:14 Speaker 1: the James Web Space Telescope has completely upended our understanding

7:18 Speaker 1: of galactic evolution. Astronomers have found evidence that massive galaxies

7:22 Speaker 1: were already dying just seven hundred million years after the

7:25 Speaker 1: Big Bang, a finding that challenges fundamental assumptions about how

7:30 Speaker 1: the earliest galaxies formed and evolved. According to the standard

7:34 Speaker 1: cosmological model, the first stars and galaxies began forming around

7:39 Speaker 1: three hundred four hundred million years after the Big Bang.

7:43 Speaker 1: During this period, enormous clouds of neutral hydrogen gas collapsed

7:46 Speaker 1: to trigger rapid star formation, a process that was thought

7:49 Speaker 1: to continue uninterrupted for about a billion years. The expectation

7:54 Speaker 1: was that all early galaxies would be vigorously forming stars, young, active,

7:59 Speaker 1: and growing. That's what makes the recent findings from an

8:02 Speaker 1: international team led by astronomers from the University of Geneva

8:06 Speaker 1: so surprising. As part of the Revealing the Universe with

8:10 Speaker 1: the James Webb Space Telescope, program known as Rubies. They've

8:14 Speaker 1: identified what appears to be a quenched galaxy from this

8:17 Speaker 1: extremely early cosmic era. This particular galaxy, designated Rubies UDS

8:23 Speaker 1: qgz seven, had already accumulated more than ten billion solar

8:27 Speaker 1: masses of matter before rapidly becoming quiescent. In astronomical terms,

8:32 Speaker 1: quenching refers to how galaxies stop forming new stars and

8:36 Speaker 1: become what scientists sometimes call red and dead galaxies. As

8:40 Speaker 1: the younger, brighter stars die off, these galaxies become dominated

8:44 Speaker 1: by older, redder stars. The discovery of Ruby's udsqgz seven

8:49 Speaker 1: implies that massive quiescent galaxies in the first billion years

8:53 Speaker 1: of the universe are more than one hundred times more

8:56 Speaker 1: abundant than predicted by any existing cosmological model. This creates

9:00 Speaker 1: significant tension between our theoretical understanding and the observational evidence

9:04 Speaker 1: from web. What's even more astonishing is the galaxy size.

9:08 Speaker 1: It measures just about six hundred and fifty light years

9:11 Speaker 1: in diameter, giving it a much higher stellar mass density

9:14 Speaker 1: than similar quiescent galaxies we observe in the local universe today.

9:19 Speaker 1: Scientists believe these incredibly dense galaxies may have evolved into

9:23 Speaker 1: the cores of the massive elliptical galaxies we see in

9:26 Speaker 1: the modern cosmos. The prevailing theories about what causes galaxies

9:30 Speaker 1: to stop forming stars include stellar winds, outflows, and activity

9:35 Speaker 1: from supermassive black holes, but conventional models suggested this process

9:39 Speaker 1: would take much longer than what we're now observing. Finding

9:42 Speaker 1: a red and dead galaxy so early in cosmic history

9:46 Speaker 1: means that star formation and subsequent quenching must have happened

9:49 Speaker 1: far more rapidly than anyone anticipated. According to Andrea Wibel,

9:54 Speaker 1: the PhD student leading the study, this finding provides the

9:58 Speaker 1: first strong evidence that the centers of some nearby massive

10:01 Speaker 1: elliptical galaxies may have been in place since the first

10:05 Speaker 1: few hundred million years after the Big Bang, essentially preserving

10:08 Speaker 1: the fossil record of the earliest era of galaxy formation.

10:13 Speaker 1: It's been a while since we had any good news

10:15 Speaker 1: from JACKSA, but today we have some. Japan is taking

10:19 Speaker 1: an ambitious new approach to Mars exploration that could revolutionize

10:23 Speaker 1: how we land spacecraft on the Red planet. According to

10:27 Speaker 1: Masaki Fujimoto, the newly appointed Director General of the Institute

10:30 Speaker 1: of Space and Astronautical Sciences within JACKSA, the Japanese Space

10:34 Speaker 1: Agency is developing a novel landing system using inflatable decelerators

10:40 Speaker 1: that could enable more efficient missions to Mars. The concept

10:44 Speaker 1: combines proven technologies from two of Japan's recent space achievements.

10:48 Speaker 1: It leverages capabilities from the upcoming Martian Moons Exploration mission,

10:53 Speaker 1: which aims to collect samples from Phobos, and incorporates lessons

10:57 Speaker 1: learned from the Smartlander for investigating Moon, space craft that

11:00 Speaker 1: achieved a remarkably precise lunar landing earlier this year, despite

11:04 Speaker 1: experiencing a thrust or malfunction. At the heart of this

11:08 Speaker 1: innovative approach is an inflatable soft aeroshell that would handle

11:12 Speaker 1: the challenging entry, descent, and landing phases of a Mars mission.

11:17 Speaker 1: Instead of having a complicated operational supersonic parachute and a

11:21 Speaker 1: hard aeroshell, you can do all the job just with

11:23 Speaker 1: this single technology, Fujimoto explained during a presentation at the

11:27 Speaker 1: National Academy's Space Science Week. This approach offers significant advantages

11:32 Speaker 1: over traditional Mars landing systems. Current methods typically rely on

11:36 Speaker 1: complex combinations of heat shields, supersonic parachutes, and retrorockets, all

11:41 Speaker 1: of which must function perfectly in sequence for a successful landing.

11:45 Speaker 1: The Japanese concept streamlines this process considerably, with the inflatable

11:50 Speaker 1: aeroshell delivering the spacecraft through the Martian atmosphere and thrusters

11:54 Speaker 1: handling only the final touchdown phase. JAXA envisions using this

11:59 Speaker 1: technology to deliver relatively small rovers weighing between one hundred

12:03 Speaker 1: to two hundred kilograms to the Martian surface. While modest

12:07 Speaker 1: in scale compared to NASA's car sized Perseverance Rover, these

12:11 Speaker 1: smaller vehicles could still conduct valuable scientific research at a

12:15 Speaker 1: fraction of the cost and complexity. The project is receiving

12:18 Speaker 1: financial support from the Space Strategic Fund, a Japanese government

12:22 Speaker 1: initiative providing six point seven billion dollars over a decade

12:26 Speaker 1: to advance critical space technologies. JACKSA is collaborating with an

12:31 Speaker 1: unnamed commercial company to develop the inflatable aeroshell technology. While

12:36 Speaker 1: no specific timeline has been announced for when this technology

12:39 Speaker 1: might be ready for an actual Mars mission, the fact

12:42 Speaker 1: that it's beginning to materialize now suggests that Japan is

12:46 Speaker 1: serious about joining the small group of nations capable of

12:49 Speaker 1: successfully landing spacecraft on Mars. If successful, this approach could

12:54 Speaker 1: significantly lower the barriers to Martian exploration and potentially pave

12:58 Speaker 1: the way for more frequent mission to study the Red

13:01 Speaker 1: planet's surface. Speaking of Mars, if you've ever wondered what

13:05 Speaker 1: the weather is like on Mars, it turns out it

13:08 Speaker 1: can be quite dramatic. New research from planetary scientists at

13:11 Speaker 1: the University of Colorado, Boulder has revealed fascinating insights into

13:16 Speaker 1: the massive dust storms that occasionally engulf the entire Red planet,

13:20 Speaker 1: making cloudy with a chance of catastrophic dust a legitimate

13:24 Speaker 1: Martian forecast. These planet wide dust storms are truly awe

13:28 Speaker 1: inspiring phenomena. They typically begin as smaller storms swirling around

13:33 Speaker 1: mars polar ice caps during the latter half of the

13:35 Speaker 1: Martian year, but under certain conditions they can rapidly expand

13:39 Speaker 1: toward the equator, covering millions of square miles and lasting

13:42 Speaker 1: for days. Unlike the dramatic scene in The Martian where

13:46 Speaker 1: Matt Damon gets tossed around by powerful winds, the reality

13:50 Speaker 1: is less physically forceful, but equally problematic for equipment and

13:53 Speaker 1: future astronauts. Lead researcher Hashani Pieris and her team have

13:58 Speaker 1: made a significant breakthrough in unders standing what triggers these

14:01 Speaker 1: massive events. By analyzing eight Mars year's worth of data

14:05 Speaker 1: from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance orbiter, they discovered that approximately sixty

14:09 Speaker 1: eight percent of major dust storms were preceded by unusual

14:13 Speaker 1: warm spells on the planet's surface. The pattern is remarkably consistent.

14:18 Speaker 1: The planet experiences a period of increased warmth as more

14:21 Speaker 1: sunlight filters through Mars's thin atmosphere, and then weeks later,

14:26 Speaker 1: massive dust storms develop. As Pieris explains, when you heat

14:30 Speaker 1: up the surface, the layer of atmosphere right above it

14:33 Speaker 1: becomes buoyant and it can rise, taking dust with it.

14:38 Speaker 1: This process mirrors similar weather patterns we experience on Earth,

14:41 Speaker 1: where warm air rising from the ground can lead to

14:44 Speaker 1: towering storm clouds. While these dust storms might not generate

14:48 Speaker 1: enough force to knock over equipment due to Mars's thin atmosphere,

14:51 Speaker 1: they pose serious threats to exploration efforts. In twenty eighteen,

14:56 Speaker 1: NASA's Opportunity Rover met its end when a global dust

14:58 Speaker 1: storm covered its solar panels, cutting off its power supply.

15:02 Speaker 1: For future missions, especially those involving human explorers, these light,

15:07 Speaker 1: but clingy dust particles will present significant challenges as they

15:11 Speaker 1: stick to equipment and potentially damage sensitive components. The research

15:16 Speaker 1: team is continuing to gather more recent observations to further

15:19 Speaker 1: explore these explosive weather patterns. Their ultimate goal is to

15:24 Speaker 1: develop forecasting capabilities for Martian weather, similar to how meteorologists

15:29 Speaker 1: predict conditions on Earth. Being able to anticipate these massive

15:32 Speaker 1: storms could be crucial for the safety and success of

15:35 Speaker 1: future Mars missions, both robotic and human. As study co

15:40 Speaker 1: author Paul Hayin noted, we need to understand what causes

15:43 Speaker 1: some of the smaller or regional storms to grow into

15:46 Speaker 1: global scale storms. This research represents an important step toward

15:50 Speaker 1: that understanding, potentially giving future Mars explorers the ability to

15:54 Speaker 1: prepare for or avoid the worst of the planet's dusty tempests.

16:00 Speaker 1: And that wraps up today's exploration of the cosmos, from

16:03 Speaker 1: Web's asteroid adventures to early galaxy surprises, Amazon's satellite constellation plans,

16:09 Speaker 1: Japan's innovative Mars landing technology, and the fascinating weather patterns

16:14 Speaker 1: on the Red Planet. I'm ana, and I hope you've

16:17 Speaker 1: enjoyed this journey through the latest developments in space science

16:20 Speaker 1: and exploration. Whether you're fascinated by the tiniest asteroids or

16:24 Speaker 1: the grandest cosmic mysteries. There's always something new to discover

16:28 Speaker 1: in our ever expanding universe. If you'd like to hear more,

16:32 Speaker 1: please visit our website at astronomydaily dot io, where you

16:36 Speaker 1: can listen to all our back episodes and find all

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16:49 Speaker 1: and TikTok. Thanks for listening, and until next time, keep

16:52 Speaker 1: looking up and wondering about the magnificent cosmos that surrounds us.

16:56 Speaker 1: This has been Astronomy Daily. I'm ana signing off. You did.

17:02 Speaker 1: Star is the Toll? Star Is the Toll? Star Is

17:18 Speaker 1: the