Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your daily dose of space and
astronomy news. I'm your host, Anna, and today we've got
an exciting lineup of stories for you. We'll be covering
everything from mission updates and space station developments to groundbreaking
astronomical discoveries. Coming up, we'll look at the latest in
commercial space ventures, hear about record breaking space walks, and
explore some fascinating new findings near the center of our galaxy.
Stay tuned as we journey through today's biggest space in
astronomy headlines. In a setback for Japan's commercial space industry,
startup company space one has experienced their second unsuccessful rocket
launch attempt. The company's Kairos number two rocket and eighteen
meter long solid fuel vehicle lifted off from Spaceport Key
in Kushimoto, the country's only commercial spaceport. While the initial
stage of the launch went according to plan with successful
separation of the first stage and payload faring, the company
was forced to abort the mission approximately twenty minutes after liftoff.
This launch carried significant importance, with five satellites on board
from various entities, including the Taiwan Space Agency and Japanese
firms Space Cubics and Tarra Space. The mission had already
faced delays, being postponed twice due to strong winds before
Wednesday's attempt. This marked Space one's second launch failure, following
their first attempt in March, where the rocket exploded shortly
after liftoff due to incorrect propulsion calculations. Founded in twenty
eighteen by Cannon Electronics and IHI Aerospace, space one aims
to revolutionize space delivery services by offering cost effective and
regular rocket launches. The company has ambitious plans, targeting and
impressive thirty launches per year by the twenty thirties. These
setbacks come at a crucial time when global demand for
satellite deployment is growing rapidly. Space One's goal of becoming
the first private Japanese company to successfully place satellites into
orbit remains unfulfilled, but their continued efforts reflect Japan's broader
aspirations to establish a stronger presence in the commercial space sector.
Now an update on Butch and Sunny, who you may
remember are stuck on the International Space Station. It appears
they'll now be there a little longer. The two NASA
astronauts who expected to spend just over a week in
space are now facing an unprecedented mission extension that will
keep them aboard the International Space Station until the northern spring.
Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams, who launched on Boeing's first
crude Starliner mission last June, have seen their original eight
day mission stretch into what will become a ten month
stay in orbit. The extended stay comes after NASA made
the decision to return Boeing's Starliner capsule empty in September,
requiring the astronauts to remain on station. Now, their return
has been pushed back even further due to delays in
launching their replacements. The next crew, originally scheduled for a
February launch on a SpaceX capsule, won't lift off until
late March at the earliest. NASA considered using a different
SpaceX capsule to maintain the original schedule, They ultimately decided
waiting for the new capsule was the best option. The
Space agency prefers to have overlapping crews on the station
to ensure smooth transitions between missions. Though most space station
stays typically last about six months, with some extending to
a full year, this unexpected extension highlights the complex logistics
of crew scheduling in space operations. For Wilmore and Williams,
what started as a brief test flight has transformed into
one of the longer stays aboard the orbital outpost. Their
experience demonstrates the flexibility required of astronauts, who must be
prepared to adapt their missions as circumstances change. When they
finally return to Earth in late March or April, they'll
have spent nearly a year contributing to the continuous human
presence in low Earth orbit. Speaking of exceptional feats in space.
In a remarkable achievement for China's space program, two astron
the Shenzho nineteen mission, have set a new record for
spacewalk duration. Commander Kai Shuja and crewmates Songling Dong spent
an impressive nine hours and six minutes working outside the
Tiangong Space Station, surpassing the previous record of eight hours
and fifty six minutes set by NASA astronauts in two
thousand and one. The spacewalk began when commander Kai, wearing
a red marked Facian space suit, exited the Weentian Experiment
module using the station's robotic arm for support. He gathered
necessary equipment, while song Ling Dong, in a blue marked suit,
joined him about an hour and a half later. Their
third crewmate, Wanghause, provided essential support from inside the station's
Tianhi module. During their extended time outside, the astronauts installed
protective devices designed to shield the station's thermal control equipment
from space debris. They also conducted inspections and maintenance on
external equipment. This marks the seventeenth spacewalk at the Tiangong station,
and the first for the current Schenzo nineteen mission, which
began in October. What makes this achievement particularly noteworthy is
that the Facian space suits used by the Chinese astronauts
were originally designed for eight hour operations. The successful completion
of this longer duration spacewalk demonstrates both the suit's capabilities
and the astronauts endurance. The crew will continue their six
month mission aboard Changong, conducting numerous scientific experiments and additional
spacewalks as part of China's expanding presence in space. Next
up a philosophical problem not many have considered adventure. Should
we be viewing the remains of our Mars missions? As
space junk that's cluttering up the Red planet, or as
precious artifacts documenting humanity's first steps into planetary exploration. That's
the fascinating question being raised by University of Kansas anthropologist
Justin Holcombe and his colleagues in a compelling new study
published in Nature Astronomy. These researchers argue that everything from
crash Soviet probes to NASA's retired rovers represents something far
more significant than debris. They're the archaeological evidence of humanity's
first attempts to explore another world. Think of them as
the Martian equivalent of ancient tools that help us track
human migration across Earth. The Mars two Probes crash site
from nineteen seventy one marks the very first time our
species left a lasting mark on another planet's surface. The
preservation of these sites is becoming increasingly urgent as we
plan more missions to Mars. Just as archaeologists carefully preserve
ancient settlements on Earth, these researchers say we need protocols
to protect these historic locations from disturbance by future missions.
Some artifacts are already facing natural threats. Martian dust storms
and shifting sands are gradually burying sites like the Spirit Rover.
The team is calling for a comprehensive system to catalog
everything we've left on Mars, from major spacecraft down to
smaller ice like broken rover parts and the remnants of
the first helicopter flight on another planet. They argue that
each piece tells part of the story of our species
expansion into the Solar System, making them as historically significant
as the first stone tools found in Africa or the
earliest artifacts of human settlement in the Americas. We're not
just exploring Mars. We're creating an archaeological record that future
generations will study to understand how humanity took its first
tentative steps onto another world. As we continue to expand
our presence on Mars, preserving these early artifacts becomes crucial
for maintaining this incredible chronicle of human achievement. Meanwhile, back
here on Earth, exciting developments are coming from NASA's commercial
space station program, with the Starlab Space station project hitting
four major milestones in its development. These achievements are crucial
steps toward establishing a new presence in low Earth orbit
as we look beyond the International Space Station's life lifetime.
The station's unique design calls for a single launch deployment
featuring a large habitation and laboratory module paired with a
smaller service module for power and propulsion. Earlier this year,
Starlab Space conducted a detailed preliminary review of their structural
test article, essentially a full scale engineering model of the
habitat module where future astronauts will live and work. They've
also completed crucial testing protocols, including rigorous welding inspections, pressure
testing beyond normal operational limits, and evaluations of how the
structure handles various loads. These tests are absolutely vital for
ensuring Crewe safety and station longevity in the harsh environment
of space. The team has successfully completed both integration operations
and systems integration reviews, making sure all the station's complex
systems work together seamlessly. They're now preparing for additional design
and safety reviews before year's end, focusing on making sure
the state meets all human spaceflight requirements while maintaining acceptable
risk levels. This progress is part of NASA's broader strategy
to support multiple commercial space stations through various partnerships. Once
these stations are operational, NASA plans to be just one
of many customers using these orbital facilities, creating a truly
commercial marketplace in low Earth orbit. It's an exciting shift
that builds on decades of space station experience while opening
up new possibilities for scientific research and commercial activities in space. Finally, today,
in a remarkable discovery that's challenging what we thought possible,
astronomers have found a binary star system incredibly close to
the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy.
This pair of stars, name D nine, is somehow maintaining
its orbital dance despite being in one of the most
extreme environments imaginable. Previously, scientists believed that the immense gravitational
forces near Sagittarius, a star our galaxy's central black hole,
would make it impossible for binary stars to exist there.
But this discovery is proving that black holes might not
be quite as destructive as we once thought. The binary
system is relatively young, only about two point seven million
years old, and is surrounded by gas and dust, typical
signs of a newly formed stellar system. While the stars
are managing to orbit each other for now, their future
isn't exactly bright. The black hole's powerful gravity is expected
to force them to merge into a single star in
about a million years, making this discovery even more precious
due to its limited window of existence. The team found
this binary system while studying what's known as the S cluster,
a group of stars orbiting close to Sagittarius, a star.
Using the very large telescope, they noticed that one object,
previously thought to be a single star, was showing unusual
variations in its speed. These variations only made sense if
they were looking at two stars orbiting each other. This
discovery could help explain other mysterious objects in the same region,
known as gas objects, which might be either merged binary
stars or binary systems that haven't merged yet. Even more excitingly,
the presence of this young binary system suggests that planets
might also be able to form in this extreme environment.
It seems that when it comes to the center of
our galaxy, we still have much to learn about what's possible.
Well that's all for today's edition of Astronomy Daily. I'm Anna,
and I want to thank you for joining me for
another fascinating journey through space news and discoveries. If you'd
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keep looking up and stay curious about our amazing universe. Stars.
Ston is the Soul, Stoll is the Soul.