Speaker 1: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your source for the latest and
Speaker 1: most exciting news in space exploration and astronomy. I'm your host, Anna,
Speaker 1: and today we're diving into several fascinating developments from across
Speaker 1: the Cosmos. We've got a packed episode ahead, covering everything
Speaker 1: from the Space Force's certification of a new rocket for
Speaker 1: national security launches to an upcoming partial solar eclipse that
Speaker 1: will grace our skies. This week, we'll also explore a
Speaker 1: mysterious galaxy that's challenging what we thought we knew about
Speaker 1: the early universe. Check in on China's expanding satellite network,
Speaker 1: and learn how NASA's Europa Clipper will scout potential landing
Speaker 1: sites on one of the most promising worlds for finding
Speaker 1: extraterrestrial life. So settle in as we journey through these
Speaker 1: captivating stories that remind us just how dynamic and ever
Speaker 1: changing our understanding of space truly is. The US Space
Speaker 1: Force has officially certified United Launch Alliances Vulcan Centaur rocket
Speaker 1: for national security missions after analyzing data from the vehicle's
Speaker 1: two certification launches that took place in January and October
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty four. This milestone announcement came on March
Speaker 1: twenty sixth from the Space Force's Space Systems Command, marking
Speaker 1: the completion of a long awaited certification process. Space Force
Speaker 1: Brigadier General Kristin Pansenhagen, who serves as the Program Executive
Speaker 1: Officer for Assured Access to Space, emphasized the significance of
Speaker 1: this development, noting that assured access to space is a
Speaker 1: core function of the Space Force and a critical element
Speaker 1: of national security. She added that the Vulcan certification adds
Speaker 1: launch capacity, resiliency, and flexibility needed for the nation's most
Speaker 1: critical space based systems. This certification is particularly notable as
Speaker 1: ULA now joins SpaceX as only the second provider certified
Speaker 1: to carry out launches under the National Security Space Launch Program,
Speaker 1: enhancing America's launch capabilities for sensitive military and intelligence payloads.
Speaker 1: The path to certification wasn't without challenges. The second Vulcan
Speaker 1: certification flight experienced an incident when the nozzle of one
Speaker 1: of its two solid rocket boosters fell off approximately half
Speaker 1: a minute after liftoff. Remarkably, the vehicle compensated for the
Speaker 1: diminished thrust and still completed its mission successfully. ULA's president
Speaker 1: and CEO, Tory Bruno, later explained that a manufacturing defect
Speaker 1: in an internal insulator part caused the nozzle separation, and
Speaker 1: appropriate corrective actions were implemented and verified through static fire testing.
Speaker 1: Looking ahead, ULA has ambitious plans for their launch cadence.
Speaker 1: Bruno has indicated that the company is projecting a dozen
Speaker 1: launches this year, split roughly evenly between their Atlas and
Speaker 1: Vulcan rockets, serving both national security and commercial missions. The
Speaker 1: first national security space launch mission on Vulcan is planned
Speaker 1: for this summer in North America. ULA aims to establish
Speaker 1: a baseline tempo of two launches per month the end
Speaker 1: of this year and perform twenty launches in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: Bruno noted that the company has been strategically stockpiling critical
Speaker 1: components such as B four engines and solid rocket boosters
Speaker 1: to support this accelerated launch schedule. This certification represents a
Speaker 1: significant advancement for America's space launch capabilities, ensuring redundancy and
Speaker 1: resilience in the nation's ability to deploy critical national security
Speaker 1: assets to orbit. As Bruno remarked, we're all staged up
Speaker 1: and ready, and a spacecraft show up will be able
Speaker 1: to fly them. What a difference A year makes just
Speaker 1: a year after millions across North America witnessed the spectacular
Speaker 1: total solar eclipse on April eighth, twenty twenty four, We're
Speaker 1: already preparing for another celestial event. Mark your calendars for
Speaker 1: this Saturday, March twenty ninth, twenty twenty five, when a
Speaker 1: partial solar eclipse will grace our skies, though with a
Speaker 1: notably different viewing audience. This upcoming eclipse resild volts from
Speaker 1: the Moon's shadow, falling primarily on the north polar regions
Speaker 1: of Earth. It's actually the second eclipse in less than
Speaker 1: a month, coming just two weeks after the total lunar
Speaker 1: eclipse that occurred on March thirteenth, fourteen. This pattern is
Speaker 1: what astronomers call an eclipse season, a roughly thirty seven
Speaker 1: day period when the alignment of the Sun and Moon
Speaker 1: can allow for eclipses to occur at both full and
Speaker 1: new moon phases. For this March twenty ninth event, the
Speaker 1: Moon will pass through the opposite node of its orbit
Speaker 1: compared to the lunar eclipse. However, the moon passes this
Speaker 1: node almost too early. By the time it reaches new
Speaker 1: phase about nineteen hours after crossing the ecliptic. The axis
Speaker 1: of its shadow will pass well to the north of Earth.
Speaker 1: The dark shadow cone or umbra, will completely miss our planet,
Speaker 1: passing about one hundred and eighty miles above the north pole.
Speaker 1: This means no location on Earth will experience totality, but
Speaker 1: instead the Moon's outer shadow, the penumbra, will create a
Speaker 1: partial eclipse, visible in varying degrees. The eclipse will be
Speaker 1: visible across Northwest Africa, much of Europe, excluding some eastern sections,
Speaker 1: Northwest Russia, Iceland, and Greenland. Parts of South America, including Surrey,
Speaker 1: Name French, Guyana, and Amada in Brazil, will see a
Speaker 1: small dent in the sun at sunrise. For North Americans,
Speaker 1: visibility depends entirely on location. If you draw a line
Speaker 1: from Oakville, Ontario, down to Virginia Beach, Virginia, areas west
Speaker 1: of this line won't see any part of the eclipse.
Speaker 1: Those to the east, however, will catch at least a
Speaker 1: glimpse near sunrise, though maximum eclipse will have already occurred
Speaker 1: before the Sun appears above the horizon. The farther north
Speaker 1: and east you go in North America, the more impressive
Speaker 1: the view becomes. In Baltimore, the sun will rise with
Speaker 1: seven point eight percent of its diameter already eclipsed, with
Speaker 1: the event ending just four minutes later, but residents of
Speaker 1: northern New England and Atlantic Canada are in for a
Speaker 1: spectacular treat. The town of Madawasca in far northern Maine
Speaker 1: will experience maximum eclipse almost precisely at sunrise, with eighty
Speaker 1: eight point two percent of the Sun's diameter covered. This
Speaker 1: will create the stunning visual effect of the Sun appearing
Speaker 1: as a delicate crescent with its points aimed nearly straight up,
Speaker 1: resembling two lobster claws emerging from beyond the eastern horizon.
Speaker 1: Similar impressive views await Atlantic Canada, with Halifax seeing eighty
Speaker 1: five point six percent coverage at seven seventeen am, Fredericton
Speaker 1: experiencing eighty seven percent at seven nineteen am, and Saint
Speaker 1: John's reaching eighty five point four percent at seven fifty
Speaker 1: two am. As always with solar eclipses, proper eye protection
Speaker 1: is essential. Unlike a total eclipse with its brief moments
Speaker 1: of totality, a partial eclipse can be observed more leisurely,
Speaker 1: but only through specially designed solar filters or eclipse glasses.
Speaker 1: Remember that looking at the Sun without proper protection is
Speaker 1: extremely dangerous. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has made another
Speaker 1: groundbreaking discovery that's challenging our understanding of the early universe.
Speaker 1: An international team of astronomers has identified bright hydrogen emission
Speaker 1: from an incredibly distant galaxy observed just three hundred thirty
Speaker 1: million years after the Big Bang, a mere fraction of
Speaker 1: our universe's current thirteen point eight billion year age. The galaxy,
Speaker 1: designated Jade's GSC thirteen one, was first spotted in images
Speaker 1: taken by Webb's Near infrared camera as part of the
Speaker 1: James Webb Space Telescope Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey. Researchers initially
Speaker 1: estimated its redshift, a measure of how far the galaxy's
Speaker 1: light has traveled and been stretched by the expansion of space,
Speaker 1: at around twelve point nine. To confirm this extreme distance,
Speaker 1: they then observed it using Web's Near infrared spectrograph instrument.
Speaker 1: The resulting spectrum not only confirmed the red shift at
Speaker 1: thirteen point zero, placing it firmly in the very early universe,
Speaker 1: but also revealed something completely unexpected, a distinctly bright wavelength
Speaker 1: of light. As Lyman alpha emission radiating from hydrogen atoms.
Speaker 1: This emission was far stronger than scientists thought possible during
Speaker 1: this ancient epic. What makes this finding so perplexing is
Speaker 1: that the early universe was filled with a thick fog
Speaker 1: of neutral hydrogen gas. This fog should have completely blocked
Speaker 1: such emissions until a process called realization cleared it away,
Speaker 1: a process that wasn't completed until about one billion years
Speaker 1: after the Big Bang. Yet here was jadas gsz thirteen
Speaker 1: to one shining through this cosmic fog more than six
Speaker 1: hundred million years earlier than should be possible. Roberto Myelino
Speaker 1: from the University of Cambridge and University College London explains
Speaker 1: why this is so significant. GSZ thirteen one is seen
Speaker 1: when the universe was only three hundred thirty million years old,
Speaker 1: yet it shows a surprisingly clear, telltale signature of Lyman
Speaker 1: alpha emission that can only be seen once the surrounding
Speaker 1: fog has fully lifted. This result was totally unexpected by
Speaker 1: theories of early galaxy formation and has caught astronomers by surprise.
Speaker 1: Before and during the realization era, the neutral hydrogen surrounding
Speaker 1: galaxies should have blocked any energetic ultraviolet light they emitted,
Speaker 1: much like colored glass filter's light. Until enough stars had
Speaker 1: formed to ionize this hydrogen gas, no such light, including
Speaker 1: Lyman alpha emission, should have been able to escape and
Speaker 1: reach Earth. We really shouldn't have found a galaxy like this,
Speaker 1: given our understanding of the way the universe has evolved,
Speaker 1: says Kevin Hanline from the University of Arizona. We could
Speaker 1: think of the early universe as shrouded with a thick
Speaker 1: fog that would make it exceedingly difficult to find even
Speaker 1: powerful lighthouses peeking through. Yet here we see the beam
Speaker 1: of light from this galaxy piercing the veil. Scientists aren't
Speaker 1: yet certain what caused this unexpected emission, but they have theories.
Speaker 1: One possibility is that the galaxy contains some of the
Speaker 1: u universe's first generation of stars, much more massive, hotter,
Speaker 1: and more luminous than stars formed later. Another explanation could
Speaker 1: be a powerful, active galactic nucleus driven by one of
Speaker 1: the first super massive black holes. Whatever the explanation, this
Speaker 1: discovery opens exciting new questions about the earliest chapters of
Speaker 1: our cosmic history and how the first stars and galaxies formed.
Speaker 1: The research was published in the journal Nature, marking another
Speaker 1: remarkable achievement for the Web telescope as it continues to
Speaker 1: transform our understanding of the universe's origins. China has taken
Speaker 1: another significant step forward in its space infrastructure with the
Speaker 1: successful launch of a new data tracking and relay communications satellite.
Speaker 1: The Tianlian two zero four lifted off on March twenty
Speaker 1: sixth at eleven fifty five a m Eastern time from
Speaker 1: the Sichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China aboard a
Speaker 1: long March three B rocket. The China Aerospace Science and
Speaker 1: Technology Corporate KSC announced the mission's success about an hour
Speaker 1: after liftoff. While the launch was anticipated due to airspace
Speaker 1: closure notices, the exact payload wasn't revealed until after the
Speaker 1: successful deployment. Tianlian two zero four is now in geosynchronous
Speaker 1: transfer orbit and will eventually maneuver to take up its
Speaker 1: final position along the geostationary belt, approximately thirty five thousand,
Speaker 1: seven hundred eighty six kilometers above Earth's equator. From this
Speaker 1: vantage point, it will join China's second generation geostationary orbit
Speaker 1: data relay satellite constellation. These satellites serve a critical function
Speaker 1: for China's space program, providing data relay and telemetry, tracking,
Speaker 1: and command services for the nation's crewed spacecraft. This includes
Speaker 1: supporting the Tiangong space station and Shenho spacecraft, as well
Speaker 1: as assisting medium and low Earth orbit satellites and launch operations.
Speaker 1: The Tianlian network performs a role similar to NASA's tracking
Speaker 1: and data relay satellite system, with satellites strategically positioned around
Speaker 1: geostationary orbit to die nearly continuous coverage. According to CASCI,
Speaker 1: this newest addition to the fleet features several technical upgrades
Speaker 1: compared to its predecessor, Tanlian two zero three, which was
Speaker 1: launched in July twenty twenty two. These improvements include enhanced
Speaker 1: transmission capacity and faster response speeds, aimed at meeting China's
Speaker 1: growing needs for data relay and tracking services, while also
Speaker 1: strengthening the autonomy and security of their second generation relay system.
Speaker 1: The Tianlian program has a long history, beginning with China's
Speaker 1: first Tanlian satellite, launched in two thousand and eight. The
Speaker 1: earlier Tanlian I series satellites have now been moved to
Speaker 1: graveyard orbits above the geostationary Belt, while the newer generation
Speaker 1: continues active service. Like earlier satellites in the series. Tanlian
Speaker 1: two zero four was developed by the China Academy of
Speaker 1: Space Technology, a major spacecraft making institute under CASCI. This
Speaker 1: launch marks China's fifteenth orbital mission of twenty twenty five,
Speaker 1: demonstrating the country's increasingly ambitious space program. With expanded spaceport capabilities,
Speaker 1: ongoing Mega constellation projects, and new launch vehicles set to debut,
Speaker 1: China could potentially target around one hundred or more launches
Speaker 1: this year, far exceeding their previous national record of sixty
Speaker 1: eight launches set last year. The country's space agenda remains
Speaker 1: packed with other major upcoming missions, including the Shenzho twenty
Speaker 1: and twenty one crude flights to the Tiangong Space Station
Speaker 1: and the chian Win two Near Earth asteroid sample return
Speaker 1: mission expected to launch around May. Let's move a bit
Speaker 1: further out into space now, looking ahead to one of
Speaker 1: NASA's most anticipated deep space missions. New research presented at
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty five Lunar and Planetary Science Conference has
Speaker 1: revealed how the Europa Clipper will help identify potential landing
Speaker 1: sites for a future mission. To Jupiter's icy moon. This
Speaker 1: strategic reconnaissance capability could prove crucial for the next phase
Speaker 1: of exploring this ocean world. The Europa Clip, scheduled to
Speaker 1: reach the Jovian System in April twenty thirty, will follow
Speaker 1: a complex orbital pattern around Jupiter, performing forty nine close
Speaker 1: flybys of Europa. Unlike Mars orbiters that follow relatively simple
Speaker 1: circular paths, the clipper can't orbit Europa directly due to
Speaker 1: Jupiter's intense radiation environment, which would damage the spacecraft. Instead,
Speaker 1: it will follow carefully designed looping orbits that minimize radiation
Speaker 1: exposure while still allowing close study of the moon. Planetary
Speaker 1: geologist Jennifer Scully and her team at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Speaker 1: Laboratory have carefully assessed which of these flybys would be
Speaker 1: most suitable for identifying future landing sites. They determined that
Speaker 1: any reconnable flyby must meet three key requirements proper lighting
Speaker 1: conditions with the surface in sunlight, specific incidence angles between
Speaker 1: thirty and sixty degrees, and an altitude of approximately fifty
Speaker 1: to one hundred kilometers to ensure appropriate image resolution without blurring.
Speaker 1: Based on these criteria, the researchers identified twelve flybys as
Speaker 1: fully reconnable and another thirteen as supporting. Most notably, a
Speaker 1: flyby designated E nineteen stands out as particularly valuable for
Speaker 1: landing site selection. Its ground track extends over seven hundred
Speaker 1: kilometers and covers a fascinating transition between Europa's ridged planes
Speaker 1: and a region called Powis Reggio, one of the Moon's
Speaker 1: mysterious chaos terrains, where the surface appears jumbled and disrupted,
Speaker 1: potentially offering clues about the ocean beneath. The Europa clippers.
Speaker 1: Sophisticated Europa imaging system, with its narrow and wide angle cameras,
Speaker 1: will collect crucial data for what's known as terrain relative navigation.
Speaker 1: This is the same guidance system that allowed NASA's Perseverance
Speaker 1: rover to safely navigate to its landing site on Mars.
Speaker 1: A future Europa lander would use these detailed surface images,
Speaker 1: combined with real time camera data to guide itself safely
Speaker 1: to the surface. The researchers note that their current assessments
Speaker 1: are based on older data from the Galilee omission, and
Speaker 1: rankings will likely change once the Europa Clipper begins returning
Speaker 1: high resolution images. Some potential landing areas haven't even been
Speaker 1: photographed at high resolution yet, highlighting just how much we
Speaker 1: still have to discover about this intriguing world. This research
Speaker 1: provides a critical roadmap for mission planners as they prepare
Speaker 1: for the Europa Clippers operations in the twenty thirties and
Speaker 1: lay groundwork for what could eventually become humanity's first landing
Speaker 1: on an ocean world beyond Earth. And that wraps up
Speaker 1: today's episode of Astronomy Daily. From the Space Force certifying
Speaker 1: ULA's Vulcan rocket to the upcoming partial solar eclipse, Web's
Speaker 1: surprising discovery of ancient light, China's new data relay satellite,
Speaker 1: and the Europa Clippers mission to scout landing sites on
Speaker 1: Jupiter's ocean moon. We've journeyed across the Solar System and beyond.
Speaker 1: I'm anna and it's been my pleasure to bring you
Speaker 1: these fascinating stories from across the cosmos. Whether you're a
Speaker 1: seasoned astronomer or just curious about what lies beyond our atmosphere,
Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's cosmic update. Visit our website
Speaker 1: at Astronomydaily dot io, where you can sign up for
Speaker 1: our free daily newsletter and listen to all our episodes.
Speaker 1: You can also find us on social media. Just search
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Speaker 1: Until next time, keep looking up start starzon