Speaker 1: Welcome listeners to Astronomy Daily, your go to podcast for
the latest updates and fascinating facts about space and astronomy.
I'm Ana your friendly host. Today, we've got an exciting
lineup of news topics to discuss. First, we'll delve into
NASA's remarkable achievement of streaming four K video footage from
an aircraft to the International Space Station. Next, we'll uncover
the astonishing discovery of a diamond mantle beneath Mercury's crust.
Then we'll explore the groundbreaking ionospheric insights from NASA's recently
concluded Icon mission, and finally we'll marvel at the James
Webb Space Telescopes imaging of a super Jupiter in the
Epsilon Indie system. So buckle up and get ready for
a journey through the Cosmos. Recently, a team at NASA's
Glenn Research Center in Cleveland achieved something extraordinary. They streamed
four K video footage from an aircraft to the International
Space Station and back marking, the first time this has
been done using optical laser communications. This groundbreaking technology can
transmit data ten to one hundred times faster than traditional
radio frequency systems. Imagine the possibilities this opens up for
future lunar missions. Historically, NASA has relied on radio waves
to send information to and from space, but laser communications
utilize infrared light, which can carry much more data at
higher speeds. For these tests, the engineers installed a portable
laser terminal on the belly of a Polattis PC twelve
aircraft flying over Lake Erie. They streamed video data to
an optical ground station in Cleveland. From there, the data
traveled over an Earth based network to NASA's White Sands
test facility in New Mexico using infrared light signals. The
data was then sent twenty two thousand miles to NASA's
laser communications relay demonstration in orbit, which relate it to
the ISS and back. According to doctor Daniel Rabel, principal
investigator for the project, this achievement is a tremendous milestone.
The success of these laser communication tests lays the groundwork
for much anticipated features like high definition video conferencing for
astronauts on the Moon during the Artemis missions. Continuous improvement
of this technology during each test flight has shown that
aeronautics testing can be more effective and cost efficient than
ground or space testing alone. James Demmer's chief of aircraft
Operations at Glenn, emphasize that the goal is to ensure
new technologies don't just stay in the lab, but are
tested and matured in real world conditions. These initiatives are
part of a broader goal to enable high bandwidth data
streaming from deep space, which will be crucial for future
human missions beyond Low Earth orbit. While the current hardware
setup may conclude its tests soon, the successful trials of
four K video streaming from aircraft indicate a promising future
where high definition video brings us closer to experiencing space
missions in real time. As NASA develops advanced instruments to
capture high definition data on the Moon and beyond, the
capabilities of laser communications will continue to play a pivotal
role in bringing space exploration right to our screens. New
research using data from NASA's Messenger spacecraft has uncovered a
surprising diamond mantle beneath Mercury's crust. Scientists have long been
puzzled by Mercury's unique characteristics, like its very dark surface
and dense core. By analyzing patches of graphite on its surface,
they speculated that Mercury once had a carbon rich magma ocean,
leading to the formation of this diamond mantle. The data
suggests that heavy pressures and high temperatures inside Mercury caused
carbon in the mantle to crystallize into diamonds over billions
of years. This diamond layer could be up to ten
miles thick, providing a completely new understanding of the planet's composition.
This discovery not only changes our understanding of Mercury, but
also sheds light on its rapid cooling and shortened volcanic era,
making it starkly different from other rocky planets like Earth
or Mars. Researchers believe that the diamond mantle might have
played a role in the planet's fast cooling process, effectively
ending its volcanic period much earlier than other planets. This
finding exemplifies how unique Mercury is compared to its solar siblings,
and opens up new pathways for understanding planetary formation and
evolution in highly carbon rich conditions. As scientists eagerly await
more data from future missions, including ESA's BEPY Columbo, set
to arrive at Mercury in twenty twenty six, this diamond
revelation continues to intrigue and inspire. NASA's ICON mission has concluded,
but what a journey it has been. Launched in October
twenty nineteen, ICON, or Ionospheric Connection Explorer, has provided unprecedented
insights into the ionosphere, the outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere.
Region nestled between fifty five miles to three hundred and
sixty miles above our planet, is a bustling zone teeming
with charged particles. Studying this frontier has been crucial as
it impacts everything from satellite operations to GPS signals. One
of the most stunning achievements of the ICON mission was
capturing data that showcased the intricate relationship between space weather
and Earth's weather. A mesmerizing feature called air glow was
extensively observed, helping scientists decode the ionosphere's density, composition, and structure.
Unlike the Aurora borealis, which paints the polar skies, air
glow is a subtle, world spanning phenomenon created by similar processes.
But that's not all. ICON provided the scientific community with
its first ever concrete observations of the long theorized ionospheric dynamo.
This dynamic system of terrestrial winds and space weather interactions
generates complex electric and magnetic fields. Icon's measurements revealed how
unp predictable terrestrial winds move plasma around the ionosphere, causing
charged particles to either shoot out into space or plummet
towards Earth. This discovery has been nothing short of transformational.
The mission also captured how external events such as volcanic
eruptions influenced the ionosphere. The twenty twenty two Hunga Tonga
Hangaha up high eruption, for instance, disrupted electrical currents in
this charged layer. Icon's instruments were able to directly observe
the speed of this volcanic plume and its far reaching
impacts on ionospheric structures. However, as with all great missions,
there came a time to say goodbye. Communication with the
ICON spacecraft was lost in November twenty twenty two, and
despite best efforts, contact could not be re established. While
the mission officially ended, its legacy endures the wealth of
data collected will continue to benefit space and atmospheric science
for years to come. Icon has indeed lived up to
its name, making iconic contributions to our understanding of the
boundary between Earth and space. The James Webb Space Telescope
has achieved another groundbreaking milestone by successfully imaging a super
jupiter in the nearby Epsilon INDIE system. This monumental discovery
is setting the stage for a new era of exoplanet research,
allowing scientists to study colder gas giant planets in much
more detail than ever before. Epsilon INDIPS and D for short,
is a nearby triple star system located just twelve light
years from Earth. The newly imaged planet designated as epsend
ab orbits the primary star of the system. Previous studies
had identified this planet, but with the data from JWST,
scientists were able to correct earlier misconceptions about its mass
and orbital path. It turns out this super jupiter is
about six times the mass of Jupiter and follows an
elliptical orbit ranging from twenty to forty astronomical units from
its star. One of the most exciting aspects of this
discovery is that it's the first time a relatively cold
gas giant planet has been imaged directly, rather than through
indirect methods like transits or radial velocity measurements. By capturing
direct images and analyzing the planet's spectra, researchers can study
its atmosphere and monitor its evolution, comparing it to computational models.
This advances our understanding of planet formation processes and the
late stages of planetary system development. The EP's end AB, planet,
cooler than the gas giants previously studied, showed up in
JWST's mid infrared instrument MIRRY images as a bright dot.
To achieve this, JWST used a coronagraph that blocks out
the blinding light of the host star, making it possible
to see the faint light emitted by the planet itself.
This method opens new doors to studying gas giants that
are otherwise difficult to detect due to their distance from
their parent stars. The data also revealed some intrigue characteristics
about PSI and d AB's atmospheric composition, suggesting substantial amounts
of heavy elements like carbon. However, further research is necessary
to draw definitive conclusions. In future observations, scientists aim to
obtain detailed spectra that will provide in depth information about
the planet's climate and chemical composition. This discovery acts as
a stepping stone for hunting more cold gas giants. Helping
to refine our theories on how such planets form and
evolve in their mature stages. So keep your eyes on
the stars and stay tuned to Astronomy Daily for more
fascinating insights as we continue to explore the ever expanding universe.
Thank you for tuning into this episode of Astronomy Daily.
I've been your host. Anna. Be sure to visit our
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