Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your source for the latest space
in astronomy news. I'm your host, Anna, and today we'll
be exploring some fascinating developments in space exploration, from Mars
sample returns to break through cosmic ray discoveries. We've got
an exciting lineup of stories that showcase just how dynamic
and rapidly evolving our understanding of space continues to be.
So let's get started. Big news from NASA about their
ambitious Mars sample return mission. The Space Agency has just
unveiled a major overhaul of their strategy to bring those
precious Martian samples back to Earth. They're now considering two
streamlined approaches that could significantly reduce both cost and complexity.
The original plan came with a whopping price tag of
up to eleven billion dollars and wouldn't have seen sample's
return until twenty forty, But now NASA Administrator Bill Nelson
has announced they've found ways to potentially cut those costs
nearly in half, with new estimates ranging between five point
eight and seven point seven billion dollars, while potentially getting
the samples back by twenty thirty five. Both new options
focus on delivering the same essential hardware to Mars a
lander carrying the Mars Ascent Vehicle or MV. This rocket
will be responsible for launching the samples currently being collected
by the Perseverance Rover into Mars orbit. The key difference
between the two approaches lies in how they'll land this
hardware on the red planet. The first option would use
a scaled up version of the tried and tested sky
crane system that successfully landed both Curiosity and Perseverance rovers.
The second approach would involve partnering with private industry for
an alternative landing system. In a notable change from earlier designs,
both options will now use nuclear power instead of solar panels.
This switch gives the mission more operational flexibility, allowing it
to work during dust storms and keep the rocket motors
at their optimal temperature. VISA isn't rushing to decide between
these options. They're taking until mid twenty twenty six to
make their final choice, and while China has announced their
own Mars Sample Return mission targeting twenty twenty eight, NASA
emphasizes that their mission offers a more comprehensive scientific approach,
collecting samples from various sites that once hosted liquid water.
Next up, SpaceX is gearing up for another milestone Moon launch,
this time carrying Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lunar lander. The mission,
appropriately named Ghost Riders in the Sky, is set to
lift off from Kennedy Space Center on January fifteenth at
one eleven am Eastern time. Blue Ghost isn't making this
journey alone. It's sharing its ride to space with another
lunar hopeful, the Resilience Lander, built by Japanese company is Space.
This team is looking for redemption after their previous attempt
ended in a crash landing last April. The mission plan
is quite intricate. After launch, Blue Ghost will spend twenty
five days orbiting Earth before firing its engines to begin
its lunar journey. Once it reaches the Moon, it'll spend
another sixteen days in lunar orbit, preparing for what might
be its most crucial moment, the autonomous landing attempt in
mere Chrisium, or the Sea of Crises, an ancient impact
basin roughly four hundred and sixty miles wide. If everything
goes according to plan, we should see our first high
definition images from the lunar surface within just thirty minutes
of touchdown, but Blue Ghost will need to work quickly.
It only has fourteen days before lunar night falls and
cuts off its solar power, though its batteries will give
it about five hours to capture the dramatic lunar dusk.
The lander is carrying ten NASA experiments, including some fascinating
technology demonstrations. One particularly interesting payload is LEXI, the Lunar
Environment Heliospheric X Ray Imager, which will give us an
unprecedented view of Earth's magnetic field as it interacts with
solar wind. Scientists are hoping to witness our planet's magnetosphere breathing,
expanding and contracting in response to solar activity, something we've
never been able to observe before. Should Bluegos succeed in
its mission, it will become just the second commercial lunar
Payload services mission to reach the lunar surface, following the
historic landing of Intuitive Machines Odysseus mission last month. Now
let's turn our attention to China. In a significant development
from China's space sector, the nation has launched its first
batch of satellites for the ambitious Guawang Constellation project. While
this marks a major step forward in China's space capabilities,
the launch has raised more questions than it's answered. The
initial deployment consisted of ten satellites carried to orbit by
a long March five B rocket from the wen Chong spaceport.
A second batch is already at the launch site ready
for deployment, but details about these spacecraft remain remarkably scarce.
What's particularly intriguing is the lack of basic information that's
typically shared about such launches. We don't know the satellite's size, mass,
or even their exact capabilities. This stands in stark contrast
to China's other space Internet project, the thousand Sales constellation,
which has been quite open about its satellite specifications and designs.
The choice to launch just ten satellites on China's most
powerful rocket, capable of carrying up to twenty five thousand
kilograms to low Earth orbit, has sparked speculation about their
true nature. Some experts suggest these satellites might be designed
for more than just Internet services, possibly carrying additional payloads
for reconnaissance or other purposes. The satellites are currently orbiting
at an altitude similar to one Web's constellation between one
thousand and ninety eight and one thousand, one hundred and
twenty seven kilometers. While this might suggest a smaller constellation
focused on connectivity, China's international filings indicate plans for an
eventual network of thirteen thousand satellites. This lack of transparency
becomes particular ularly concerning when considering the growing challenge of
space traffic management. With multiple mega constellations being deployed by
various nations and companies, including SpaceX's Starlink and China's own
thousand sales project, the need for clear communication and coordination
between operators becomes increasingly critical. As more launches are planned,
the space community will be watching closely to see if
China becomes more forthcoming about the Guo Wang constellations capabilities
and intended purposes. The project's development could have significant implications
not just for global connectivity, but also for space traffic
management and international space cooperation. As our presence in space
continues to expand, a crucial gap in our capabilities has
come to light were not adequately prepared for emergency rescues
in orbit. Leading space experts are now calling for urgent
action to address this critical oversight. The Aerospace Corporation's recent
Space Safety Compendium report has highlighted what they term an
in space rescue capability gap. Currently, neither government agencies nor
commercial spaceflight providers have comprehensive plans in place for rescuing
crews from distressed spacecraft, whether in Low Earth orbit or beyond.
This issue gained particular attention during recent events with NASA's
Starliner mission, when astronauts Sunny Williams and Butch Wilmore stay
on the International Space Station was extended from eight days
to nearly ten months. It highlighted the complexities of crew
logistics and emergency planning in space. While NASA maintains that
the astronauts were never stranded, having access to return vehicles
throughout their stay, the situation required creative solutions, including temporary
accommodations in a crew dragon spacecraft that was already assigned
to other crew members. Former NASA administrators Charles Bolden, Jim Bridenstein,
and Sean O'Keefe, along with other space industry leaders, are
advocating for the development of INNA international rescue capabilities. They
emphasize the need for standardization in critical areas like docking
systems and space suits. Current incompatibilities between different spacecraft systems
could severely hamper rescue efforts. The expert stress that we
shouldn't wait for a disaster to act. As one official noted,
we shouldn't need a space equivalent of the Kerk submarine
disaster to drive these changes. With the increasing number of
both government and commercial crews heading to orbit, the time
to develop these capabilities is now before they're needed in
an emergency. In groundbreaking research published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters,
scientists have uncovered new insights into one of space's most
energetic mysteries, ultra high energy cosmic rays. These incredible particles,
found in extreme environments near black holes and neutron stars,
pack an astounding punch, carrying energy levels about ten million
times greater than particles in our most powerful particle accelerators
here on Earth. For years, scientists believe these cosmic rays
got their enormous energy from shockwaves like those produced when
stars explode, but this new research reveals a different story.
The true source appears to be magnetic turbulence, essentially highly
tangled magnetic fields that twist and turn rapidly accelerating particles
to these remarkable energy levels. To put these energies in perspective.
While particles from our sun reach energies of about ten
billion electron volts, these cosmic rays can achieve a mind
boggling one hundred quintillion electron volts. That's like comparing a
grain of rice to the weight of the world's largest
passenger aircraft, an almost incomprehensible difference in scale. What's particularly
fascinating is that, despite the vast difference in environments, these
cosmic rays share something in common with solar particles. They
both get their energy from tangled magnetic fields. It's a
surprising connection between phenomena occurring at vastly different scales in
our universe. This discovery isn't just academic. It helps resolve
long standing questions that have puzzled both astrophysicists and particle
physicists about the mechanics behind these mysterious cosmic rays. The
data clearly shows that magnetic turbulence better explains the observations
than the previous shock acceleration theory, representing a significant breakthrough
in our understanding of these powerful cosmic phenomena. Let's get
a jdused update the James Webb space telescope has once
again pushed the boundaries of what we thought possible, making
an extraordinary discovery that's challenging our understanding of the distant universe.
Thanks to a fascinating cosmic alignment, web has spotted forty
four individual stars in a galaxy that's an incredible six
point five billion light years away, that's halfway across the
observable universe. These stars were found in what astronomers call
the Dragon, a striking tendril of light that's actually a
distorted image of a distant spiral galaxy. This remarkable view
is made possible by a phenomenon called gravitational lensing, where
the massive able three hundred and seventy galaxy cluster acts
like a giant magnifying glass, bending and amplifying the light
from galaxies behind it. What makes this discovery even more
fascinating is that these aren't just any stars. They're red
super giants in their final life stages, similar to our
familiar neighbor beetlejuice in the constellation Orion. The discovery happened
almost by accident, when researchers were examining web images taken
in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three and noticed
what appeared to be individual star points twinkling like Christmas lights.
The observation was further enhanced by an incredible stroke of luck.
Individual stars floating within the Abel three hundred and seventy
cluster temporarily lined up with the background stars, creating additional magnification.
This caused the stars to appear and disappear between images,
creating a spectacular cosmic light show that nobody expected to
see at such vast distances. This discovery isn't just about
breaking records, it's opening new windows into studying the distant universe.
Before Web, the idea of spotting individual stars at such
extreme distances was considered as impossible as trying to see
dust grains and mooncraters through binoculars. Yet here we are
pushing the boundaries of what we thought possible in astronomical observation,
and that brings this episode to a close. Thanks for
joining me today on another fascinating journey through the cosmos.
I'm Anna, and it's been a pleasure bringing you these
incredible stories from the frontiers of space exploration and astronomy.
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and I'm anna signing off day Stars So Star, So Star,