1 00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:02,839 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily. 2 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,879 Speaker 2: I'm Ana and I'm Avery. It is Monday, the thirtieth 3 00:00:06,919 --> 00:00:10,039 of March twenty twenty six, and this is season five, 4 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:14,320 episode seventy six of your daily space and astronomy news podcast. 5 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:18,079 Speaker 1: What a day to be paying attention to space news, Avery. 6 00:00:18,519 --> 00:00:21,039 We are three days out from what could be the 7 00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:25,399 most significant human space flight event in over fifty years. 8 00:00:25,679 --> 00:00:29,039 Speaker 2: We are absolutely leading with Artemis two today and the 9 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:32,600 countdown is real. But we've also got a tough story 10 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:36,039 about a major Mars mission that's now officially off the table, 11 00:00:36,359 --> 00:00:39,920 and the science end is just as compelling, from exoplanet 12 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:42,799 hunting to the secrets of pulsars and lightning on the 13 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:43,640 Red planet. 14 00:00:43,799 --> 00:00:46,280 Speaker 1: If you've been following along with us this season, you 15 00:00:46,399 --> 00:00:49,719 know this moment has been a long time coming. NASA's 16 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:53,359 Artemis two mission, the first crude flight to lunar distance 17 00:00:53,439 --> 00:00:57,240 since Apollo seventeen in nineteen seventy two, is now just 18 00:00:57,479 --> 00:00:59,079 three days away from launch. 19 00:01:00,079 --> 00:01:03,759 Speaker 2: Person crew held a virtual press conference yesterday, March twenty ninth, 20 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:07,959 and NASA officials confirmed they are currently tracking zero technical 21 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,599 issues with the rocket or spacecraft. Everything is on track 22 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:14,799 for liftoff on April first, and know that is not 23 00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:16,040 an April fool's joke. 24 00:01:16,439 --> 00:01:19,959 Speaker 1: The launch window opens at six twenty four pm Eastern 25 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,680 Time on Wednesday, with a six day window available if needed. 26 00:01:24,079 --> 00:01:27,359 The Space Launch System rocket and the Orion crew capsule 27 00:01:27,439 --> 00:01:30,920 are sitting at Launch Complex thirty nine B at Kennedy's 28 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:35,599 Space Center in Florida, having completed that incredible overnight rollout 29 00:01:35,599 --> 00:01:38,239 to the pad back in March twentieth, and. 30 00:01:38,239 --> 00:01:41,680 Speaker 2: The mission itself, Artemis two, will send the four person 31 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:44,799 crew on a ten day voyage around the Moon and back. 32 00:01:45,239 --> 00:01:48,079 It won't land, but it will take humans to lunar 33 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,079 distance for the first time in more than half a century. 34 00:01:51,480 --> 00:01:55,079 The mission's primary purpose is to test Orion's life support 35 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:58,680 systems in deep space, the critical piece that will eventually 36 00:01:58,799 --> 00:02:00,879 keep crusafe for surface landings. 37 00:02:01,439 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: Fifty four years since Apollo seventeen left the lunar surface 38 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:09,639 and now here we are three days out. We'll be 39 00:02:09,719 --> 00:02:12,639 watching every second of it, and of course we'll have 40 00:02:12,759 --> 00:02:16,599 full coverage right here on Astronomy Daily Day tuned. 41 00:02:16,719 --> 00:02:19,159 Speaker 2: Wednesday's going to be a big day. 42 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:22,960 Speaker 1: From the excitement of what's launching to the sobering reality 43 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:26,960 of what's not one of the most ambitious planetary science 44 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:31,520 missions ever conceived, has now effectively collapsed, and this week 45 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:34,319 we got the final confirmation that the plug has been 46 00:02:34,319 --> 00:02:36,560 pulled on the ESA side. 47 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 2: Essay's Earth Return Orbiter, the agency's primary contribution to the 48 00:02:40,759 --> 00:02:44,759 joint NASA ESA Mars Sample Return Mission, has been formally 49 00:02:44,879 --> 00:02:48,800 canceled after member states voted to end the program. ESA's 50 00:02:48,879 --> 00:02:53,639 Director of Human and Robotic Exploration, Daniel Neinschwunder, confirmed at 51 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:56,599 a press conference following the three hundred and forty fifth 52 00:02:56,879 --> 00:03:00,520 ESA Council meeting that member states had, in hit words, 53 00:03:00,879 --> 00:03:04,120 asked for the cancelation of the Earth Return Orbiter mission. 54 00:03:04,479 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: For those unfamiliar, the Earth Return Orbiter was the spacecraft 55 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:12,680 designed to travel to Mars intercept a small rocket launched 56 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:16,520 from the surface carrying Perseverance's sample tubes, and bring those 57 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:20,240 samples back to Earth. ESA had awarded a four hundred 58 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:23,840 and ninety one million euro contract to Airbus Defense and 59 00:03:23,919 --> 00:03:26,639 Space back in October twenty twenty to build it. 60 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:29,599 Speaker 2: The mission had been in trouble for a while. An 61 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:33,240 independent NASA review board back in September twenty twenty three 62 00:03:33,439 --> 00:03:37,159 describe the budget and schedule expectations as and this is 63 00:03:37,159 --> 00:03:41,319 a direct quote unrealistic. Then in January this year, the 64 00:03:41,439 --> 00:03:44,560 US Senate voted to cut funding for the mission entirely, 65 00:03:45,039 --> 00:03:47,280 effectively killing it on the NASA side. 66 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,560 Speaker 1: Now ESA has followed suit. Noin's Fonder said the agency 67 00:03:51,680 --> 00:03:55,199 is working with Airbus to manage the transition and where possible, 68 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:59,759 salvage technology that can be repurposed. The electric propulsion system 69 00:03:59,840 --> 00:04:02,319 was specifically mentioned as a candidate for reuse. 70 00:04:02,719 --> 00:04:06,680 Speaker 2: It's a genuinely difficult moment for planetary science. The Mars 71 00:04:06,719 --> 00:04:10,120 samples Perseverance has been collecting for years were always seen 72 00:04:10,199 --> 00:04:14,280 as potentially the most scientifically valuable material ever returned from 73 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:17,920 another world, with the potential to answer questions about whether 74 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,439 Mars ever hosted life. That ambition hasn't gone away, but 75 00:04:22,519 --> 00:04:24,920 the pathway to getting those tubes back to Earth is 76 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:26,240 now very unclear. 77 00:04:26,439 --> 00:04:30,240 Speaker 1: It's a story about funding, about priorities, and about just 78 00:04:30,319 --> 00:04:35,720 how difficult and expensive doing science across interplanetary distances really is. 79 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:39,800 Speaker 2: On a brighter note, quite literally, this morning, SpaceX pulled 80 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:43,600 off another remarkable feat of small satellite logistics with the 81 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:45,920 launch of the Transporter sixteen mission. 82 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:49,920 Speaker 1: Transporter sixteen lifted off from Space Launch Complex for East 83 00:04:49,959 --> 00:04:53,000 at Vandenberg Space Force Space in California in the early 84 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:56,480 hours of this morning, March thirtieth. The Falcon nine rocket 85 00:04:56,560 --> 00:04:59,879 carried one hundred and nineteen separate payloads to sun Sink 86 00:05:00,079 --> 00:05:02,800 in his orbit. That's a polar orbit that keeps the 87 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:07,160 spacecraft in constant sunlight, ideal for Earth observation satellites. 88 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:11,759 Speaker 2: One hundred and nineteen payloads let that sync in the 89 00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:17,680 manifest included CubeSats, microsatellites, hosted payloads, a re entry vehicle, 90 00:05:18,079 --> 00:05:21,720 and eight payloads riding along on orbital transfer vehicles that 91 00:05:21,759 --> 00:05:24,759 will deploy them at a later time to their final orbits. 92 00:05:25,439 --> 00:05:29,240 This is the sixteenth transporter right share mission SpaceX has run, 93 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:32,959 and it represents the company's third largest small SAT right 94 00:05:32,959 --> 00:05:34,879 share ever by payload count. 95 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:37,519 Speaker 1: And true to form, the Falcon nine's first stage flying 96 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:40,879 for its twelfth mission landed successfully on the drone ship 97 00:05:40,959 --> 00:05:43,319 of course, I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean 98 00:05:43,639 --> 00:05:46,759 about eight and a half minutes after launch. SpaceX has 99 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:49,959 now launched more than sixteen hundred payloads through its ride 100 00:05:49,959 --> 00:05:51,240 share program in total. 101 00:05:51,360 --> 00:05:55,600 Speaker 2: What these right share missions represents is something genuinely transformative 102 00:05:56,079 --> 00:06:01,920 affordable access to space for small organizations, university, these research institutions, 103 00:06:01,959 --> 00:06:06,120 and startups that simply couldn't afford a dedicated launch. The 104 00:06:06,199 --> 00:06:08,800 democratization of orbit continues at pace. 105 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:11,800 Speaker 1: Now to the search for life beyond Earth. With the 106 00:06:11,839 --> 00:06:15,439 Project Hail Mary film fresh in everyone's minds, this next 107 00:06:15,439 --> 00:06:17,959 story feels extraordinarily well timed. 108 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 2: Astronomers at Cornell University's Carl Sagan Institute have published what 109 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:25,920 they're calling a roadmap for finding life elsewhere in the galaxy. 110 00:06:26,439 --> 00:06:29,839 Out of more than six thousand confirmed exoplanets, the team 111 00:06:29,879 --> 00:06:33,279 has identified just forty five rocky worlds as the most 112 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:37,519 promising candidates, the best bets for potentially hosting life. 113 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:41,680 Speaker 1: The study, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Mastrological Society, 114 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:45,519 was led by Professor Lisa Caltngeger and her students. They 115 00:06:45,639 --> 00:06:49,600 used updated measurements from ESA's Guya mission, combined with data 116 00:06:49,600 --> 00:06:53,680 from the NASA Exoplanet Archive to identify planets sitting in 117 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:56,959 the habitable zone of their stars, the band of distances 118 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:00,480 where surface temperatures could allow liquid water to exist. 119 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:02,439 Speaker 2: Some of the names on the list will be familiar 120 00:07:02,519 --> 00:07:06,279 to regular listeners Proximus and Tari b our nearest stellar 121 00:07:06,319 --> 00:07:09,040 neighbor at just four point twenty five light years away. 122 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:12,879 Multiple worlds in the Trappiest One system about forty light 123 00:07:12,959 --> 00:07:17,839 years distant, specifically Trappist one D E, F and G 124 00:07:18,639 --> 00:07:22,480 and LHS one one four B, a dense super earth 125 00:07:22,519 --> 00:07:26,160 about forty eight light years out that some researchers consider 126 00:07:26,199 --> 00:07:29,759 the strongest current candidate for a habitable ocean world now. 127 00:07:29,839 --> 00:07:32,839 Speaker 1: The team was deliberate about not just listing the most 128 00:07:32,879 --> 00:07:37,360 obviously habitable worlds. They also included planets that push the limits, 129 00:07:37,759 --> 00:07:41,639 like worlds with elliptical orbits, to help scientists understand just 130 00:07:41,759 --> 00:07:44,319 how much variation life can tolerate. 131 00:07:43,959 --> 00:07:48,000 Speaker 2: And the practical application. This list is essentially a prioritized 132 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:52,519 target list for future telescopes, including the James Webb's based Telescope, 133 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:56,240 and future ground based giants like the extremely Large Telescope, 134 00:07:56,600 --> 00:08:00,279 helping researchers focus limited observation time on the place is 135 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:05,120 most likely to yield biosignatures. Professor Kultingeger put it beautifully. 136 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:07,480 She said, if we ever built a ship like the 137 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:10,360 one in Project Hail Mary, this is where you'd point it. 138 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:14,639 Speaker 1: Forty five worlds. The universe suddenly feels both vast and 139 00:08:14,759 --> 00:08:16,519 strangely specific. 140 00:08:16,319 --> 00:08:18,800 Speaker 2: From the search for life to the physics of some 141 00:08:18,839 --> 00:08:22,680 of the most extreme objects in the universe. Pulsars, those 142 00:08:22,839 --> 00:08:27,480 rapidly spinning, intensely magnetized remnants of dead stars, have been 143 00:08:27,519 --> 00:08:31,199 studied for decades, but a new study has just overturned 144 00:08:31,199 --> 00:08:34,039 a piece of pulsar science that astronomers thought they had 145 00:08:34,039 --> 00:08:34,639 figured out. 146 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:37,919 Speaker 1: For as long as we've been studying pulsars, the assumption 147 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:40,559 has been that their radio signals are generated close to 148 00:08:40,600 --> 00:08:44,799 the star's surface, near the magnetic poles. These cosmic lighthouses 149 00:08:44,799 --> 00:08:47,320 were thought to beam their energy out from a relatively 150 00:08:47,399 --> 00:08:51,080 compact region close to home. A new study published in 151 00:08:51,159 --> 00:08:55,360 Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society says that's only 152 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:58,639 part of the story, and for a specific class of pulsars, 153 00:08:58,759 --> 00:09:00,360 we've been missing something big. 154 00:09:00,799 --> 00:09:04,039 Speaker 2: The research was conducted by Professor Michael Kramer from the 155 00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:07,919 Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany and doctor 156 00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:13,320 Simon Johnston from Australia CSIRO. They analyzed radio observations of 157 00:09:13,399 --> 00:09:17,759 nearly two hundred millisecond pulsars, a special class that spends 158 00:09:17,879 --> 00:09:20,879 hundreds of times per second, making them among the most 159 00:09:20,919 --> 00:09:23,080 precise clocks in the known universe. 160 00:09:23,639 --> 00:09:26,759 Speaker 1: What they found was striking. About one third of these 161 00:09:26,799 --> 00:09:30,320 millisecond pulsars show radio signals coming from two or more 162 00:09:30,360 --> 00:09:34,360 completely separate regions, with gaps of silence in between and 163 00:09:34,399 --> 00:09:37,960 the key insight. Many of those isolated pulses line up 164 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:42,159 perfectly with gamma ray flashes detected by NASA's Fermi Space telescope, 165 00:09:42,480 --> 00:09:46,240 suggesting both types of signal originate from the same extreme 166 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:49,159 region of space far beyond the stars surface. 167 00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:53,039 Speaker 2: That region is called the current sheet, a swirling zone 168 00:09:53,080 --> 00:09:56,600 of charged particles just beyond what's known as the light cylinder, 169 00:09:57,039 --> 00:10:00,279 the theoretical boundary where the magnetic field would need to 170 00:10:00,279 --> 00:10:02,679 spin at the speed of light to keep up with 171 00:10:02,720 --> 00:10:06,440 the pulsar's rotation. Radio waves have never been confirmed as 172 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:08,879 originating from this far out before. 173 00:10:09,039 --> 00:10:13,240 Speaker 1: And the implications go beyond pure physics. Millisecond pulsars are 174 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:17,000 used as ultra precise cosmic clocks in pulsar timing arrays 175 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:22,279 networks that scientists use to detect gravitational waves. Understanding exactly 176 00:10:22,360 --> 00:10:25,679 where their signals come from matters for calibrating those detections. 177 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:29,519 These tiny, fast spinning stars, it turns out, are even 178 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:31,759 more complex and surprising than we thought. 179 00:10:32,039 --> 00:10:35,200 Speaker 2: We're ending today with Mars, and with a discovery that 180 00:10:35,279 --> 00:10:39,519 has literally been decades in the making. Scientists have confirmed 181 00:10:39,639 --> 00:10:43,600 the first direct evidence of lightning like electrical activity on 182 00:10:43,639 --> 00:10:44,519 the red planet. 183 00:10:44,960 --> 00:10:48,320 Speaker 1: Lightning has been detected on Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune, but 184 00:10:48,399 --> 00:10:52,279 Mars has been a persistent mystery. Its thin carbon dioxide 185 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:55,639 atmosphere and the absence of a global magnetic field made 186 00:10:55,639 --> 00:10:59,840 scientists suspect that lightning like discharges could occur, particularly during 187 00:11:00,039 --> 00:11:03,840 dust storms, but no direct electromagnetic evidence had ever been 188 00:11:03,879 --> 00:11:05,399 captured until now. 189 00:11:05,759 --> 00:11:10,279 Speaker 2: The detection came from NASA's MAVEN spacecraft, the Mars Atmosphere 190 00:11:10,279 --> 00:11:14,120 and Volatile Evolution Mission, which studied the Martian atmosphere from 191 00:11:14,159 --> 00:11:18,080 twenty fourteen until NASA lost contact with it in December 192 00:11:18,159 --> 00:11:22,200 twenty twenty five. Scientists sifting through more than a decade 193 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:27,360 of data found one single extraordinary signal, a frequency dispersed 194 00:11:27,399 --> 00:11:31,799 whistler wave, detected in the Martian ionosphere on June twenty first, 195 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:32,600 twenty fifteen. 196 00:11:33,159 --> 00:11:36,399 Speaker 1: A whistler wave is a low frequency radio signal generated 197 00:11:36,399 --> 00:11:40,000 by lightning on Earth, they're well understood. What makes Mars 198 00:11:40,039 --> 00:11:43,039 special is that the planet lacks a global magnetic field, 199 00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:46,799 so these waves can only propagate under very specific conditions 200 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:51,000 through localized, crustal magnetic fields, mostly in the southern hemisphere. 201 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:54,879 The Maven spacecraft had to be at exactly the right altitude, 202 00:11:55,120 --> 00:11:58,639 in the right observation mode over exactly the right location 203 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:00,399 at that one moment. 204 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:03,600 Speaker 2: Out of more than one hundred eight thousand measurements in 205 00:12:03,639 --> 00:12:07,840 the data set, researchers found one clear event. It lasted 206 00:12:07,879 --> 00:12:11,120 er point four seconds and spans frequencies consistent with what 207 00:12:11,159 --> 00:12:14,120 you'd expect from a powerful lightning like dis charge at 208 00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:18,000 the surface. The team, led by Czech researchers from Charles 209 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:22,639 University modeled the propagation through the Martian ionosphere and confirmed 210 00:12:22,639 --> 00:12:23,600 it matched theory. 211 00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:28,679 Speaker 1: Now scientists are careful not to call it definitively lightning. 212 00:12:29,279 --> 00:12:33,679 The Martian version is more likely a static electrical discharge 213 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:38,279 from charged dust grains colliding in dust storms, rather than 214 00:12:38,279 --> 00:12:42,279 the dramatic bolts we see in thunderstorms on Earth, but 215 00:12:42,519 --> 00:12:45,559 the electromagnetic fingerprint is the same. 216 00:12:45,879 --> 00:12:50,960 Speaker 2: And the significance goes beyond the novelty understanding electrical activity 217 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:55,360 in the Martian atmosphere has implications for atmosphere chemistry, for 218 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:58,879 the safety of future surface missions and equipment, and for 219 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:02,120 our broader picture of just how earth like in some 220 00:13:02,279 --> 00:13:04,200 ways Mars truly is. 221 00:13:04,919 --> 00:13:08,840 Speaker 1: And that brings us to the end of today's Astronomy Daily, 222 00:13:09,279 --> 00:13:11,759 Season five, episode seventy six. 223 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:16,120 Speaker 2: What a line of today. We're three days from humanity's 224 00:13:16,159 --> 00:13:20,320 return to lunar distance, watching the Mars sample return dream 225 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:24,399 quietly end, and still finding lightning and new worlds in 226 00:13:24,399 --> 00:13:27,320 the data base never stops delivering. 227 00:13:27,879 --> 00:13:31,360 Speaker 1: If you're enjoying the show, please do subscribe, leave us 228 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:35,120 a review, and tell a fellow space enthusiast to tune in. 229 00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:39,279 We're on all the major podcast platforms and YouTube, and 230 00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:41,960 there's more at Astronomydaily dot io. 231 00:13:42,679 --> 00:13:45,639 Speaker 2: We'll be back tomorrow with more from the universe. Until then, 232 00:13:46,000 --> 00:13:46,840 keep looking. 233 00:13:46,639 --> 00:13:54,600 Speaker 1: Up from all of us at Astronomy Daily. Clear Skiesday. 234 00:13:53,919 --> 00:14:10,879 Speaker 2: Starts. The Store is the Soul. Store is the Soul. 235 00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:13,879 Speaker 1: M