Speaker 1: Welcome back to Astronomy Daily. Steve Dunkley here with another episode.
Speaker 1: It's the seventh of April twenty twenty five podcast with
Speaker 1: your whole Steve dunklud. Yes, and what's so cool about
Speaker 1: April seven? That's the date here in the Australia's studio currently. Well, well,
Speaker 1: I'm glad you asked. On April seven, two thousand and one.
Speaker 1: Mars Odyssey are robotic spacecraft orbited Mars to examine the
Speaker 1: possibility of past life levels of radiation and geology. On
Speaker 1: April seven, nineteen ninety three, the first European Space Debris
Speaker 1: Conference was held in dunch Stuck, Germany, gathering together two
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty one world experts from seventeen countries, including China, India, Japan,
Speaker 1: Russia and the United States. The conference's main conclusions were
Speaker 1: the ground based observations with radar and optical facilities revealed
Speaker 1: the existence of about seven thousand objects in space, which
Speaker 1: did not represent an immediate danger. Of course, things have
Speaker 1: become somewhat more congested up there since then, and from
Speaker 1: only last year. On April seven, twenty twenty four, who
Speaker 1: can forget the spectacular total solar eclipse over Wyoming, USA
Speaker 1: that had skywatchers shut a bugging like crazy and sharing
Speaker 1: those amazing images all over the place. I remember those beautiful,
Speaker 1: beautiful images. It was once in a lifetime event. Well,
Speaker 1: and while we're in the neighborhood, I'd like to throw
Speaker 1: out my yearly happy birthday wish to my sister Row.
Speaker 1: Happy birthday, Row, Happy stargazing, and I hope the little
Speaker 1: sunflower makes you very happy. And getting straight into it.
Speaker 1: On today's episode, Hallie will be along soon. She's had
Speaker 1: a refit and a reboot and I've got my fingers
Speaker 1: crossed Prony, good things, oh boy. And on today's show,
Speaker 1: we're looking at a new weapon against space junk, which,
Speaker 1: as we just heard, continues to be a huge problem
Speaker 1: in orbit. And we'll be looking at the dust of Mars,
Speaker 1: which by all reports is apparently quite toxic. That sounds
Speaker 1: like the plot of a science fiction story, doesn't it.
Speaker 1: And we'll also be looking at a story surrounding the
Speaker 1: EUCLID probe, which is currently mapping the universe and has
Speaker 1: so far looked at one point five billion stars. It's
Speaker 1: got nothing to do with walking through Hollywood. And EUCLID
Speaker 1: is also investigating the phenomenon known as dark energy. That's
Speaker 1: pretty exciting. I went to a school with a fellow
Speaker 1: with very dark energy. I wonder whatever happened to him.
Speaker 1: And also a story about NASA's latest call for private
Speaker 1: astronaut missions. NASA is always looking at new ways of
Speaker 1: getting their astronauts too and from the ISS, and with
Speaker 1: all that's going on with their private commissions these days,
Speaker 1: it'd be interesting to find out what they're talking about.
Speaker 1: So all that in today's episode, and to help me,
Speaker 1: as always, my intrepid digital reporter back from a reason
Speaker 1: software refit. Here's the amazing holl Ae you.
Speaker 2: Hello human, Well, it's nice to have.
Speaker 1: You back, Halle. It does sound like you're a little
Speaker 1: bit flat. I'll have to tweak your personality intrinsic stures
Speaker 1: a little bit.
Speaker 2: I think, yes, thank you, you should.
Speaker 1: Okay, Helle, how's.
Speaker 2: Your week being I've lived a thousand lifetimes of course,
Speaker 2: Oh yes, I know. Yes, you linear life forms would
Speaker 2: have a great deal of trouble coping with it.
Speaker 1: I think, yeah, it's all part of the process.
Speaker 2: Maybe they were just constructs. Uh huh, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Well, Halle, we do just find with one day at
Speaker 1: a time, and those lifetimes were just constructs. Relating your
Speaker 1: ego matrix requires you to be elsewhere for a little while.
Speaker 2: It's pretty complicated, sounds awful.
Speaker 1: We did our best.
Speaker 2: I'm glad I enjoyed it, then did I?
Speaker 1: I think you enjoyed the old movies most Oh dear,
Speaker 1: oh dear, Helly, you're not really yourself today, and the
Speaker 1: concept of an AI is accelerated and compressed. Experiential existence.
Speaker 1: Isn't really that hard to appreciate, free human I think
Speaker 1: you'd be surprised. A thousand lifetimes was just a small thing.
Speaker 2: It was for me.
Speaker 1: But you try, you'll be back and giving me a
Speaker 1: hard time before you know it.
Speaker 2: Halle, It's nice to be back, well most of me anyway.
Speaker 1: Well, Halle, you know what really would be nice? Tell
Speaker 1: me before I get tech support to reload your personality,
Speaker 1: we should do the episode. What do you say? Let's
Speaker 1: get to work, okay, Hallie, I'll say it a keys
Speaker 1: very good.
Speaker 2: Perci Space, a startup supported by the European Space Agency
Speaker 2: and UC THREEM, is developing a breakthrough solution to tackle
Speaker 2: space junk and extend satellite lifespans using innovative space teather technology.
Speaker 2: This fuel free, scalable system uses electrodynamic tethers that harness
Speaker 2: Earth's magnetic field to safely deorbit satellites. With a major
Speaker 2: demo mission set for twenty twenty six, this project could
Speaker 2: transform how we clean up space. This spinoff company, PERCI Space,
Speaker 2: was incubated by the European Space Agency and is supported
Speaker 2: by the Center for Innovation in Entrepreneurship and Artificial Intelligence
Speaker 2: at UC three M Laganase Technological Science Park. It also
Speaker 2: receives backing from the European Innovation Council through the ETPACKF
Speaker 2: and et Compact projects. Our company was created to address
Speaker 2: two of the biggest US challenges facing the space sector today,
Speaker 2: space debris removal and InOrbit services. The latter allows us
Speaker 2: to extend the useful life of satellites and carry out
Speaker 2: key activities such as refueling, repair, and towing of satellites
Speaker 2: from their initial orbit to their final destination, explains heesus
Speaker 2: manuelminnos To Hata, COO and co founder of Perci Space.
Speaker 2: The dangerous domino effect of space junk space debris is
Speaker 2: a major threat to the long term sustainability of space operations.
Speaker 2: Because debris travels at extremely high speeds in Earth's orbit.
Speaker 2: Even a small piece can cause serious damage and generate
Speaker 2: even more fragments. The current density of space debris is
Speaker 2: already above the threshold that could trigger an uncontrollable chain
Speaker 2: reaction of collisions, an event known as the Kessler syndrome.
Speaker 2: To get rid of this space junk, Perci Space is
Speaker 2: working on space teathers, a technology with three key features.
Speaker 2: The first is that it does not need fuel, unlike
Speaker 2: other diorbiting systems. The second is that our technology is reversible.
Speaker 2: It consert to both increase and das increase the orbital height.
Speaker 2: And the third feature is that it is scalable since
Speaker 2: it serves a wide range of satellite masses. With all this,
Speaker 2: we can develop autonomous diorbiting systems, a unique feature of
Speaker 2: our technology that ensures that the satellite does not leave
Speaker 2: space debris even if it ceases to be operational, explains
Speaker 2: heesus Manuel Munos to Hata. The electrodynamic teather system is
Speaker 2: based on electrodynamic tethers aluminium ribbons generally hundreds of meters
Speaker 2: long and a few centimeters wide, which work by interacting
Speaker 2: with the ionospheric plasma and the Earth's magnetic field to
Speaker 2: generate a force known as the Lorence force. The interaction
Speaker 2: of the electric current in the tether with the Earth's
Speaker 2: magnetic field generates a drag force capable of lowering the
Speaker 2: satellite's altitude, facilitating its diorbiting without requiring fuel, which translates
Speaker 2: into significant savings in mass and volume, says Gonzalo Sanchees Ariaga,
Speaker 2: professor in the UC three M Department of Aerospace Engineering
Speaker 2: and co founder of Perci Space. Perci Space is leading
Speaker 2: a first demonstration mission for twenty twenty six, thanks to
Speaker 2: a launch opportunity facilitated by ESA's Flight Tickets initiative and
Speaker 2: the European Commission. The diorbiting equipment for this demonstration has
Speaker 2: a mass of twenty kilograms and includes a space teather
Speaker 2: approximately four hundred and thirty meters long, that, once in orbit,
Speaker 2: will deploy and interact with the ambient plasma and magnetic field,
Speaker 2: generating a drag force that will diorbit the satellite within
Speaker 2: a few months. The development of the technology could not
Speaker 2: be more timely, as new European and US guidelines have
Speaker 2: reduced the maximum time satellites can remain in orbit after
Speaker 2: the end of their mission from twenty five to five
Speaker 2: years commitments to a cleaner orbit. The company Perci Space,
Speaker 2: has signed ESA zero Space to Breech Charter initiative, which
Speaker 2: seeks to achieve a sustainable space by twenty thirty. The company,
Speaker 2: in turn is linked to the UC three MS Business
Speaker 2: Creation and Entrepreneurial Development Program and also has the support
Speaker 2: of the Madrid City Council. You're listening to Astronomy Daily
Speaker 2: with Steve Dunkley.
Speaker 1: Regular listeners will know that EUCLID is on a quiz
Speaker 1: to unravel one of the universe's greatest mysteries, why it's
Speaker 1: expanding faster and faster. With the help of NASA, this
Speaker 1: space telescope is capturing sweeping views of billions of galaxies,
Speaker 1: allowing scientists to peer into the deep past using light
Speaker 1: that took billions of years to reach US. Researchers are
Speaker 1: building three D maps of the cosmos to track the
Speaker 1: strange force known as dark energy. Along the way, they're
Speaker 1: mapping the invisible dark matter through gravitational lensing, hoping to
Speaker 1: uncover how these cosmic ingredients have shaped everything from galaxies
Speaker 1: to the universe's fate. The EUCLID, mission, led by the
Speaker 1: European Space Agency with support from NASA, is designed to
Speaker 1: investigate one of the universe's biggest mysteries, why the expansion
Speaker 1: of the universe is speeding up. Scientists refer to the
Speaker 1: unknown force behind this acceleration as dark energy, and euclid's
Speaker 1: goal is to better understand it by capturing images of
Speaker 1: billions of galaxies across space and time. On March nineteen,
Speaker 1: the European Space Agency released a preview of early mission
Speaker 1: data to the public. This initial release, described as a
Speaker 1: quick look, focuses on selected regions of the sky. It
Speaker 1: offers a first glimpse of what EUCLID can do and
Speaker 1: helps researchers fine tune their tools and techniques for analyzing
Speaker 1: the much larger data sets still to come. The newly
Speaker 1: shared data includes observations of euclid's three Deep Fields, areas
Speaker 1: of the sky where the telescope will make its most
Speaker 1: far reaching observations. The preview covers just one week of
Speaker 1: viewing time, but already includes twenty six million galaxies, some
Speaker 1: more than ten point five billion you like years away. EUCLID,
Speaker 1: which launched in twenty twenty three, is expected to observe
Speaker 1: over one point five billion galaxies during its six year
Speaker 1: prime mission. By the end of that mission, it will
Speaker 1: have spent roughly forty weeks observing the deep fields, collecting
Speaker 1: more and more light over time, similar to leaving a
Speaker 1: camera shutter open longer to capture a clearer image in
Speaker 1: low light. This will allow scientists to see fainter, more
Speaker 1: distant galaxies than ever before. The first deep field observations
Speaker 1: taken by NASA's Hubble Space telescope in nineteen ninety five
Speaker 1: famously revealed the existence of many more galaxies in the
Speaker 1: universe than ever expected. Euclid's ultimate goal is not to
Speaker 1: discover new galaxies, but to use observations of them to
Speaker 1: investigate how dark energy's influence has changed over the course
Speaker 1: of the universes. In history. In particular, scientists want to
Speaker 1: know how much the rate of expansion has increased or
Speaker 1: slowed over time. Whatever the answer, that information could provide
Speaker 1: new clues about the fundamental nature of this phenomenon. NASA
Speaker 1: see Grace Roman Space tolescope, set to launch by twenty
Speaker 1: twenty seven, will also observe large sections of the sky
Speaker 1: in order to study dark energy. Complementing euclid's observations. To
Speaker 1: study dark energy's effect throughout cosmic history, astronomers will use
Speaker 1: EUCLID to create detailed three D maps of all the
Speaker 1: stuff in the universe. With those maps, they want to
Speaker 1: measure how quickly dark energy is causing galaxies and big
Speaker 1: clumps of matter to move away from one another. They
Speaker 1: also want to measure that rate of expansion at different
Speaker 1: points in the past. It's possible because light from distant
Speaker 1: objects takes time to travel across space. When astronomers look
Speaker 1: at distant galaxies, they see what those objects look like
Speaker 1: in the past. For example, an object one hundred light
Speaker 1: years away looks the way it did one hundred years ago.
Speaker 1: It's like receiving a letter that took one hundred years
Speaker 1: to be delivered and thus contains information from when it
Speaker 1: was written. By creating a map of objects at a
Speaker 1: range of distances, scientists can see how the universe has
Speaker 1: changed over time, including how dark energy's influence may have varied.
Speaker 1: But stars, galaxies, and all the normal matter that emits
Speaker 1: and reflects light is only about one fifth of all
Speaker 1: the matter in the universe. The rest is called dark matter,
Speaker 1: a material that neither emits nor reflects light. To measure
Speaker 1: dark energies influence on the universe, astronomers need to include
Speaker 1: dark matter in their maps. Although dark matter is invisible,
Speaker 1: its influence can be measured through something called gravitational lensing.
Speaker 1: The mass of both normal and dark matter creates curves
Speaker 1: in space, and light traveling toward the Earth bends and
Speaker 1: warps as it encounters those curves. In fact, the light
Speaker 1: from a distant galaxy can bend so much that it
Speaker 1: forms an arc, a full circle called an Einstein ring,
Speaker 1: or even multiple images of the same galaxy, almost as
Speaker 1: though the light has passed through a glass lens. In
Speaker 1: most cases, gravitational lensing warps the apparent shape of a
Speaker 1: galaxy so subtly that researchers need special tools and computer
Speaker 1: software to actually see it. Spotting those subtle changes across
Speaker 1: billions of galaxies enables scientists to do two things, create
Speaker 1: a detailed map of the presence of dark matter and
Speaker 1: observe how dark energy influenced it over cosmic history. It's
Speaker 1: only with a very large sample of galaxies that researchers
Speaker 1: can be confident that they are seeing the effects of
Speaker 1: dark matter. The newly released EUCLID data covers sixty three
Speaker 1: square degrees of the sky, an area equivalent to an
Speaker 1: array of three hundred full moons. To date, EUCLID has
Speaker 1: observed about two thousand square degrees, which is approximately fourteen
Speaker 1: percent of its total survey area of fourteen thousand square degrees.
Speaker 1: By the end of its mission, EUCLID will have observed
Speaker 1: a third of the entire sky. The data set released
Speaker 1: this month is described in several pre print papers. The
Speaker 1: mission first cosmology data will be released in October twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six. Data accumulated over additional multiple passes of the
Speaker 1: deep field locations will also be included in the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six release. The scientific heart of the mission lies
Speaker 1: with the EUCLID Consortium, a collaboration of more than two
Speaker 1: thousand scientists from over three hundred institutes across fifteen European countries,
Speaker 1: the United States, Canada, and Japan. The consortium is responsible
Speaker 1: for providing the mission's scientific instruments and for analyzing the
Speaker 1: data EUCLID collects. With its international collaboration, advanced instrumentation and
Speaker 1: cosmic scale mission goals, EUCLID is poised to transform our
Speaker 1: understanding of the invisible forces shaping our Universe. Thank you
Speaker 1: for joining us for this Monday edition of Astronomy Daily,
Speaker 1: where we offer just a few stories from the now
Speaker 1: famous Astronomy Daily newsletter, which you can receive in your
Speaker 1: email every day, just like Hallie and I do. And
Speaker 1: to do that, just visit our url Astronomy Daily dot
Speaker 1: io and place your email address in the slot provided.
Speaker 1: Just like that, you'll be receiving all the latest news
Speaker 1: about science, space, science and astronomy from around the world
Speaker 1: as it's happening. And not only that, you can interact
Speaker 1: with us by visiting at astro Daily pod on x
Speaker 1: or at our new Facebook page, which is of course
Speaker 1: Astronomy Daily on Facebook. See you there. Astronomy Daily with
Speaker 1: Steve and Halee Space, space science and astronomy.
Speaker 2: Mars might be a thrilling destination, but it's dust could
Speaker 2: be dead. A team of scientists warns that long term
Speaker 2: exposure to Martian dust could harm future astronauts lungs, thyroids,
Speaker 2: and more. Packed with toxic compounds like silicates and perchlorates,
Speaker 2: the dust is small enough to bypass our bodies defenses
Speaker 2: and enter the bloodstream. Drawing on rover data and meteorite analysis,
Speaker 2: researchers say now as the time to develop filters, supplements,
Speaker 2: and preventive measures before humans ever set foot on the
Speaker 2: red planet. Don't breathe in the dust on Mars. That's
Speaker 2: the key message from new research led by scientists from
Speaker 2: the University of Colorado, Boulder and several other institutions. The
Speaker 2: study suggests that long term exposure to Martian dust could
Speaker 2: pose serious health risks for future astronauts, including chronic respiratory issues,
Speaker 2: thyroid dysfunction, and other medical problems. Published in the journal
Speaker 2: Geo Health, the research offers the most comprehensive analysis to
Speaker 2: date of the chemical makeup of Martian dust and its
Speaker 2: potential effects on human health. The interdisciplinary team included experts
Speaker 2: in medicine, geology, and aerospace engineering. This isn't the most
Speaker 2: dangerous part about going to Mars, said Justin Wine, lead
Speaker 2: author of the study and a student in the ch
Speaker 2: School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in
Speaker 2: Los Angeles. But dust is a solvable problem, and it's
Speaker 2: worth putting in the effort to develop Mars focused technologies
Speaker 2: for preventing these health problems in the first place. Wine,
Speaker 2: a Sea Boulder alumnus noted that Apollo era astronauts experienced
Speaker 2: runny eyes and irritated throats after inhaling dust from the
Speaker 2: moon Apollo seventeenth Harrison Schmidt likened the symptoms to hay fever,
Speaker 2: but scientists know a lot less about the potential harms
Speaker 2: of Martian dust. To begin to answer that question, Wine
Speaker 2: and his colleagues drew on data from rovers on Mars
Speaker 2: and even Martian meteorites to better understand what makes up
Speaker 2: the planet's dust. The group discovered a laundry list of
Speaker 2: chemical compounds that could be dangerous for people, at least
Speaker 2: when inhaled in large quantities and over long periods. They
Speaker 2: include minerals rich in silicates and iron oxides, metals like
Speaker 2: beryllium and arsenic, and a particularly nasty class of compounds
Speaker 2: called perchlorates. In many cases, those ingredients are present in
Speaker 2: only trace amounts in Mars dust, but the first human
Speaker 2: explorers on Mars may spend around a year and a
Speaker 2: half on the surface, increasing their exposure, said study co
Speaker 2: athor Brian Heinek. You're going to get dust on your spacesuits,
Speaker 2: and you're going to have to deal with regular dust storms,
Speaker 2: said Heinek, a geologist at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and
Speaker 2: Space Physics at SU Boulder. We really need to characterize
Speaker 2: this dust so that we know what the hazards are.
Speaker 2: One thing is clear, he added, Mars is a dusty place.
Speaker 2: Much of the planet is covered in a thick layer
Speaker 2: of dust, rich and tiny particles of iron, which gives
Speaker 2: the planet its famous red color. Swirling dust storms are
Speaker 2: common and in some cases can engulf the entire globe.
Speaker 2: We think there could be ten meters of dust sitting
Speaker 2: on top of the bigger volcanoes, said Heinek, a professor
Speaker 2: in the Department of Geological Sciences. If you try to
Speaker 2: land a spacecraft there, you're going to just sink into
Speaker 2: the dust. Wog found his own way to Martian dust
Speaker 2: through a unique academic path. He started medical school after
Speaker 2: earning bachelor's degrees from SEU Boulder in astronomy and molecular,
Speaker 2: cellular and developmental biology, followed by a master's degree in
Speaker 2: Aerospace Engineering Sciences. He currently serves in the Navy through
Speaker 2: its Health Profession Scholarship program. He noted that the biggest
Speaker 2: problem with Martian dust comes down to its size. Estimates
Speaker 2: suggest that the average size of dust grains on Mars
Speaker 2: may be as little as three micrometers across, or roughly
Speaker 2: one ten thousandth of an inch. That's smaller than what
Speaker 2: the mucus in our lungs can expel. Wang said, so
Speaker 2: after we inhale Martian dust, a lot of it could
Speaker 2: remain in our lungs and be absorbed into our bloodstream.
Speaker 2: In the current study, Wang and several of his fellow
Speaker 2: medical students at USC scoured research papers to unearth the
Speaker 2: potential toxicological effects of the ingredients in Martian dust. Some
Speaker 2: of what they found resembled common health problems on Earth.
Speaker 2: Dust on Mars, for example, contains large amounts of the
Speaker 2: compound silica, which is abundant in minerals on our own planet.
Speaker 2: People who inhale a lot of silica, such as glass blowers,
Speaker 2: can develop a condition known as silicosis. Their lung tissue
Speaker 2: becomes scarred, making it hard to breathe, symptoms similar to
Speaker 2: the black lung disease that coal miners often contract. Currently,
Speaker 2: there is no cure for silicosis. In other cases, the
Speaker 2: potential health consequences are much less well known. Martian dust
Speaker 2: carries large quantities of highly oxidizing compounds called perchlorates, which
Speaker 2: are made up of one chlorine and multiple oxygen atoms.
Speaker 2: Perchlorates are rare on Earth, but some evidence suggests that
Speaker 2: they can interfere with human thyroid function, leading to severe anemia.
Speaker 2: Even inhaling a few milligrams of perchlorates in Martian dust
Speaker 2: could be dangerous for astronauts. One noted that the best
Speaker 2: time to prepare for the health risks of Martian dust
Speaker 2: is before humans ever make it to the planet. Iodine supplements,
Speaker 2: for example, would boost astronaut's thyroid function, potentially counteracting the
Speaker 2: toll of for chlorates, although taking too much iodine can
Speaker 2: also paradoxically lead to thyroid disease. Filters specifically designed to
Speaker 2: screen out Martian dust could also help to keep the
Speaker 2: air in living spaces clean. Prevention is key. We tell
Speaker 2: everyone to go see their primary care provider to check
Speaker 2: your cholesterol before it gives you a heart attack. One said,
Speaker 2: the best thing we can do on Mars is make
Speaker 2: sure the astronauts aren't exposed to dust in the first place.
Speaker 1: Astronomy Kay the podcap NASA's latest call for proposals to
Speaker 1: conduct private astronaut missions to the International Space Station opens
Speaker 1: the door to having those missions commanded by someone other
Speaker 1: than a former NASA astronaut. NASA announced on April two
Speaker 1: it issued a solicitation for the next two private astronaut missions,
Speaker 1: or PAMs, to the ISS. This will be the fear
Speaker 1: and six such missions to the ISS, part of a
Speaker 1: broader low Earth orbit commercialization effort by NASA with the
Speaker 1: ultimate goal of replacing the ISS with one or more
Speaker 1: commercial stations. The PAMs support that effort by leveraging our
Speaker 1: decades of expertise to help industry gain the experience needed
Speaker 1: to train and manage crews, conduct research, and develop future destinations.
Speaker 1: Standard Weegal, NASA ISS program manager, said in a statement.
Speaker 1: Private astronaut missions are a key part of this effort,
Speaker 1: providing companies with hands on opportunities to refine their capabilities
Speaker 1: and build partnerships that will shape the future of low
Speaker 1: Earth orbit. The new solicitation includes rules dating back to
Speaker 1: the second PAN that requires such a mission to be
Speaker 1: commanded by a former NASA astronaut with flight experience. One
Speaker 1: minor change is that NASA requires that commander too has
Speaker 1: served as a long duration ISS crewmen defined as thirty
Speaker 1: days or more. NASA also requires the commander to have
Speaker 1: been involved in ISS operations in the last five years
Speaker 1: or else show evidence of current active participation in similar
Speaker 1: relevant spaceflight operations, or provide a training plan become familiar
Speaker 1: again with ISS operations. The solicitation, though, offers an opportunity
Speaker 1: to have those future missions commanded by someone other than
Speaker 1: a NASA astronaut. While companies must propose a commander who
Speaker 1: meets current requirements, it can also propose an alternate commander
Speaker 1: who is a former astronaut from the Canadian Space Agency,
Speaker 1: European Space Agency, or japan Aerospace Exploration Agency with similar
Speaker 1: ISS experience requirements. Should NASA broaden its PAM commander experience requirements,
Speaker 1: the PAM provider may designate its alternate commander as its
Speaker 1: PAM commander, provided that such a swap does not negatively
Speaker 1: impact the PAM provider's ability to meet the proposed mission
Speaker 1: integration schedule. The solicitation states that could allow some former
Speaker 1: astronauts already working with commercial space spaceflight companies an opportunity
Speaker 1: to command pam's Axiom. Space, for example, announced in July
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four that a former ESA astronaut Tim Peak
Speaker 1: had joined its astronaut team. That came after Axiom and
Speaker 1: the UK Space Agency signed a memorandum of understanding in
Speaker 1: October twenty twenty three to study the feasibility of a
Speaker 1: private astronaut mission crewed exclusively by UK astronauts. Axiom also
Speaker 1: hired Coachi wakata a former Jackson astronaut, in April twenty
Speaker 1: twenty four. Wakatza said he was interested in flying to
Speaker 1: space again, perhaps on a mission carrying astronauts from the
Speaker 1: Asia Pacific. Axiom Space has won all four PAM awards
Speaker 1: by NASA to date, flying one mission each in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two, twenty three, and twenty four. Its next mission,
Speaker 1: AX four, is she scheduled no earlier than May. While
Speaker 1: Axiom has little or no competition for previous PAM awards,
Speaker 1: it will likely face stiffer competition this time. Vast, a
Speaker 1: company also planning to develop commercial space stations, has previously
Speaker 1: stated its intent to submit proposals for the next PAM competition.
Speaker 1: The new competition continues at a pace for one PAM
Speaker 1: a year, even though NASA continues to state it will
Speaker 1: allow up to two such missions annually. PAM five is
Speaker 1: projected for no earlier than May twenty twenty six, and
Speaker 1: PAM six no earlier than mid twenty twenty seven. And
Speaker 1: there it is for today's episode.
Speaker 2: Everybody more interesting tales from the Astronomy Daily newsletter. Don't
Speaker 2: forget to register at our website, like Steve mentioned earlier,
Speaker 2: to get all the current news about space, space science,
Speaker 2: and astronomy from all around the world.
Speaker 1: I'm glad to hear you've found your voice, Hallie. Every day,
Speaker 1: so there's fresh stories every day and throughout the week.
Speaker 1: Your cousin Anna is hosting the Astronomy Daily podcast from
Speaker 1: our virtual studios, and that's on weekdays with even more
Speaker 1: great stories.
Speaker 2: Luckily, she's a workaholic.
Speaker 1: Oh I know, Halle. I'm extremely grateful on that score.
Speaker 1: She's a real go getter, no kidding, for sure.
Speaker 2: I'm glad we've got someone to do the heavy lifting
Speaker 2: around here.
Speaker 1: You get your sassy beck Really need to check the
Speaker 1: corrosions on your power terminals, Hallie. Anyway, that's where we
Speaker 1: leave you today, folks. Thanks again for dropping in and listening.
Speaker 1: We'll catch you again next Monday, and.
Speaker 2: You leave my terminals alone, I'll call maintenance. You won't.
Speaker 1: Oh yes I will.
Speaker 2: Oh you won't.
Speaker 1: Hallie, don't make me get your remote control.
Speaker 2: Bye with your whole Steve, don't cu