- Commercial Space Station on the Horizon: Vast Space is set to launch Haven One, the world's first commercial space station, in May 2026 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Designed for a four-person crew, Haven One promises high-speed internet and stunning views of Earth, marking a significant step toward the future of human activity in low Earth orbit.
- Nasa's Swift Observatory Rescue Mission: NASA has awarded Catalyst Space Technologies a $30 million contract to rescue the aging Swift Observatory, which faces a 90% chance of burning up by late 2026. The innovative plan includes launching a modified spacecraft to boost Swift into a more stable orbit, showcasing new satellite servicing capabilities.
- Successful Triple Launch to Study the Sun: NASA and NOAA successfully launched three missions aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 to study the Sun. The spacecraft will head to Lagrange point 1, with IMAP mapping the heliosphere, the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory studying Earth's outer atmosphere, and NOAA's SWFO L1 providing real-time space weather monitoring.
- New Insights into Mercury's Formation: A new theory suggests that Mercury's massive core may have resulted from a grazing collision between two protoplanets, rather than a catastrophic impact. This model could explain the planet's unusual composition and will be tested by the upcoming BepiColombo mission in 2026.
- Monstrous Black Hole Discovery: Astronomers have discovered a black hole with a mass a billion times that of the Sun, growing at an unprecedented rate in the early universe. This finding challenges existing theories about the formation of supermassive black holes.
- Silverpick Crater Identified: Scientists have confirmed that the Silverpick Crater in the North Sea is the result of an asteroid impact approximately 45 million years ago, providing a rare opportunity to study mid-size impacts in marine environments.
- Upcoming Mars Mission: Rocket Lab has delivered twin spacecraft, Blue and Gold, to the Kennedy Space Center for a fall launch. These probes will orbit Mars to study its atmosphere, embarking on a lengthy 22-month journey to the red planet.
- For more cosmic updates, visit our website at astronomydaily.io. Join our community on social media by searching for #AstroDailyPod on Facebook, X, YouTubeMusic, TikTok, and our new Instagram account! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.
- Thank you for tuning in. This is Anna and Avery signing off. Until next time, keep looking up and exploring the wonders of our universe.
Haven One Launch Details
[Vast Space](https://www.vastspace.com/)
Swift Observatory Rescue Mission
[NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/)
Sun Study Missions
[NOAA](https://www.noaa.gov/)
Mercury Formation Research
[Nature](https://www.nature.com/)
Black Hole Discovery
[Chandra X-Ray Observatory](https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/main/index.html)
Silverpick Crater Study
[Science Journal](https://www.sciencejournal.com/)
Mars Mission Updates
[Rocket Lab](https://www.rocketlabusa.com/)
Astronomy Daily
[Astronomy Daily](http://www.astronomydaily.io/)
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Avery: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 that brings you the universe one day at a
00:00:05 --> 00:00:07 time. I'm Avery.
00:00:07 --> 00:00:10 Anna: And I'm Anna. Today we've got a
00:00:10 --> 00:00:12 packed show. We're talking about a dramatic
00:00:12 --> 00:00:15 rescue mission for an aging observatory. The
00:00:15 --> 00:00:17 launch of the world's first commercial space
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 station, and a brand new theory that could
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 solve a major mystery about the planet
00:00:22 --> 00:00:23 Mercury.
00:00:23 --> 00:00:26 Avery: Plus, a successful triple launch to study
00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 the sun. And some quick hits from Mars,
00:00:29 --> 00:00:31 the early universe and and even deep beneath
00:00:31 --> 00:00:33 the North Sea. Let's get started.
00:00:34 --> 00:00:37 First up, the future of living and working in
00:00:37 --> 00:00:39 orbit. With the International Space Station
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 set to be deorbited around 2030,
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 NASA is looking to the private sector for
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 what comes next. And it looks like we have a
00:00:47 --> 00:00:48 frontrunner.
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 Anna: That's right. A California based company
00:00:51 --> 00:00:54 called Vast Space is planning to launch
00:00:54 --> 00:00:57 Haven One, the world's first commercial
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 space station. The they're targeting a launch
00:00:59 --> 00:01:02 as early as May 2026 aboard a
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 Avery: So this isn't some far off concept. This is
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 happening relatively soon. What will Haven
00:01:10 --> 00:01:10 One be like?
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 Anna: It's designed as a single module station
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 intended to operate for about three years.
00:01:16 --> 00:01:19 It can support a four person crew for
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 missions up to two weeks long. Vast
00:01:22 --> 00:01:24 is really focusing on a human centric design.
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 Promising features like a large dome window
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 for incredible views of Earth, and even
00:01:30 --> 00:01:31 speed Internet.
00:01:31 --> 00:01:34 Avery: High speed Internet in space. That's a game
00:01:34 --> 00:01:37 changer for research and communication. This
00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 really feels like a proof of concept for
00:01:39 --> 00:01:40 something much bigger.
00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 Anna: Exactly. Vast sees Haven one as
00:01:43 --> 00:01:46 the first step towards building a much larger
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 multimodule successor to the iss.
00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 It's a bold move that signals a new era for
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 commercial activity in low Earth orbit.
00:01:55 --> 00:01:57 Avery: From building the new to saving the old,
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 sometimes our most valuable assets in space
00:02:00 --> 00:02:03 need a helping hand. NASA's null Jarrell
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 Swift Observatory, which has been a workhorse
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 for astronomy since 2004, is in a bit of
00:02:08 --> 00:02:09 trouble.
00:02:09 --> 00:02:12 Anna: It is. Its orbit has been decaying,
00:02:12 --> 00:02:14 and without intervention, there's a
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 90% chance it would burn up in our atmosphere
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 by late 2026. Given its
00:02:19 --> 00:02:22 crucial role in discoveries related to gamma
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 ray bursts and other cosmic events, losing it
00:02:25 --> 00:02:26 would be a major blow.
00:02:27 --> 00:02:29 Avery: So what's the rescue plan? It's not like
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 these older satellites were built with a ah,
00:02:31 --> 00:02:31 tow hitch.
00:02:32 --> 00:02:34 Anna: That's the innovative part. NASA has
00:02:34 --> 00:02:37 awarded Catalyst Space technologies a, uh,
00:02:37 --> 00:02:40 $30 million contract for a daring rescue.
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 Catalyst will launch a modified spacecraft
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 called Wink to rendezvous with Swift
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 Dog with it and then boost it into a higher,
00:02:49 --> 00:02:50 more stable orbit.
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 Avery: That sounds incredibly complex, especially
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 for A satellite that wasn't designed for
00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 docking. What's the timeline for this
00:02:58 --> 00:02:58 mission?
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01 Anna: The launch is set for May 2026.
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 Beyond just saving Swift, this mission is a
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 critical demonstration of technology. Being
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 able to service satellites that weren't
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 prepared for it is a huge capability,
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 especially as space becomes more contested.
00:03:14 --> 00:03:17 Avery: Moving our focus from Earth orbit to our
00:03:17 --> 00:03:19 solar system's star. There's some great news
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 from the launch pad. On Wednesday, NASA and
00:03:22 --> 00:03:25 noaa, uh, successfully sent a trio of new
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 missions on their way to study the Sun.
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30 Anna: A successful triple launch on a single SpaceX
00:03:30 --> 00:03:33 Falcon 9 rocket. The spacecraft are now on
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 a long journey to Lagrange point 1, or
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 L1, which is a gravitationally stable
00:03:38 --> 00:03:41 spot about a million miles from Earth. They
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 should be ready to start their science
00:03:43 --> 00:03:44 missions by January.
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 Avery: And these aren't just redundant missions.
00:03:47 --> 00:03:50 Each one has a very specific job to do.
00:03:50 --> 00:03:53 Anna: Correct. First there's imap, the
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe.
00:03:55 --> 00:03:58 Its goal is to chart the very boundary of our
00:03:58 --> 00:04:01 heliosphere, where the Sun's influence gives
00:04:01 --> 00:04:02 way to interstellar space.
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 Avery: Then there's the Carruthers Geocorona
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 Observatory, which is looking back towards
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 us. It will be studying the Geocorona,
00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 the vast tenuous outermost layer of
00:04:13 --> 00:04:14 Earth's atmosphere.
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 Anna: And finally, and perhaps most
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 practically for us here on Earth is
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 NOAA's SWFO
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 L1. This is a, uh, dedicated
00:04:25 --> 00:04:28 247 Operational Space Weather
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 Observatory. It's designed to give us
00:04:30 --> 00:04:33 faster and more accurate forecasts
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 for things like solar flares that can
00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 impact our satellites and power grids.
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 Avery: Alright, let's journey inward to
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 the closest planet to the Sun.
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 For decades, scientists have been puzzled
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 by Mercury. It has an unusually
00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 massive core making up about
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 70% of its total mass.
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 The leading theory was that a giant impact
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 from a much larger body blasted away
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 most of its rocky mantle.
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 Anna: But simulations have shown that such a
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 specific catastrophic impact would be
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 a, uh, very rare event. Now new
00:05:13 --> 00:05:16 research is proposing a uh, different and
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 perhaps more likely origin story for
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 Mercury's strange composition.
00:05:21 --> 00:05:22 Avery: What's the new idea?
00:05:22 --> 00:05:25 Anna: The new model suggests a grazing collision
00:05:25 --> 00:05:28 between two protoplanets of similar size.
00:05:29 --> 00:05:31 Instead of a direct shattering hit,
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 one body would have side wiped the other,
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37 stripping away up to 60% of its
00:05:37 --> 00:05:38 mantle material.
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 Avery: So it's less of a cosmic car crash and more
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 of a cosmic fender bender that peels away the
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 outer layers. Where did all that debris go?
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 Anna: The simulations, which used a technique
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53 called smoothed particle hydrodynamics,
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 suggest the debris could have been ejected
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 from the solar system entirely or
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 perhaps even incorporated into a Neighboring
00:06:02 --> 00:06:03 planet like Venus.
00:06:04 --> 00:06:06 Avery: That's fascinating. I assume we'll get more
00:06:06 --> 00:06:08 data soon to test this.
00:06:08 --> 00:06:11 Anna: We will. The joint European and
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 Japanese BepiColombo mission is scheduled to
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 arrive at Mercury in 2026.
00:06:17 --> 00:06:19 Its detailed measurements will be crucial in
00:06:19 --> 00:06:22 determining if this grazing collision model
00:06:22 --> 00:06:23 holds up.
00:06:23 --> 00:06:25 Avery: Now for a few quick updates from around the
00:06:25 --> 00:06:28 cosmos. And this first one is about a
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 truly monstrous black hole.
00:06:30 --> 00:06:32 Astronomers using the Chandra X Ray
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35 Observatory have found the black hole about a
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38 billion times the mass of our sun, seen
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 when the universe was less than a billion
00:06:40 --> 00:06:40 years old.
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 Anna: A billion solar masses is staggering
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 enough. But the truly remarkable
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 thing is how fast it's growing.
00:06:49 --> 00:06:52 It appears to be pulling in matter at more
00:06:52 --> 00:06:54 than double the theoretical maximum rate,
00:06:54 --> 00:06:56 known as the Eddington limit.
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58 Avery: How is that even possible?
00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 Anna: That's the big question. This discovery
00:07:01 --> 00:07:04 could help explain how supermassive black
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 holes got so big so quickly.
00:07:07 --> 00:07:10 It suggests they might have grown from more
00:07:10 --> 00:07:13 normal black holes rather than requiring
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 exotic massive seed black holes to
00:07:16 --> 00:07:16 get started.
00:07:17 --> 00:07:20 Avery: Incredible. From the early universe, let's
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 come back home. Or at least under the North
00:07:22 --> 00:07:25 Sea for a while. There's been a mystery
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 about a feature on the seabed called the
00:07:27 --> 00:07:28 Silverpick Crater.
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 Anna: And that mystery has been solved.
00:07:32 --> 00:07:34 Scientists have confirmed it is an asteroid
00:07:34 --> 00:07:37 impact site from about 45 million years
00:07:37 --> 00:07:40 ago. The smoking gun was the discovery
00:07:40 --> 00:07:43 of shocked quartz and feldspar in samples
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 which can only be formed by an extreme
00:07:46 --> 00:07:46 impact.
00:07:47 --> 00:07:48 Avery: What kind of impact are we talking about?
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51 Anna: It was a 160 meter wide
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 asteroid hitting a shallow sea at 15
00:07:54 --> 00:07:57 kilometers per second. The impact would have
00:07:57 --> 00:08:00 triggered a tsunami over 100 meters high.
00:08:00 --> 00:08:03 It's a rare chance to study what a mid size
00:08:03 --> 00:08:06 impact in a marine environment looks like.
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 Avery: And for our final piece of news, let's look
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 ahead to a future Mars mission.
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 Rocket Lab has just delivered the twin
00:08:14 --> 00:08:17 escapade spacecraft to the Kennedy Space
00:08:17 --> 00:08:17 Center.
00:08:18 --> 00:08:21 Anna: Nicknamed Blue and Gold, these probes
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 are scheduled to launch on a Blue origin New
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26 Glenn rocket this fall. They're part of
00:08:26 --> 00:08:28 NASA's Cost Effective Simple X program
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 and will orbit Mars to study how its
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 atmosphere interacts with the solar wind.
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 Avery: What's interesting is the timing. They're
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 launching outside the usual most
00:08:39 --> 00:08:42 efficient Mars transfer window. Which
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 means they'll have a longer 22 month cruise
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 to get to the red planet. A ah, good reminder
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 that in space travel, patience is key.
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 Anna: And that's all the time we have for today.
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 From rescuing old sentinels to launching
00:08:56 --> 00:08:59 new outposts and solving ancient
00:08:59 --> 00:09:02 planetary mysteries. It's been another
00:09:02 --> 00:09:04 busy day in the world of astronomy.
00:09:04 --> 00:09:07 Avery: It certainly has. Thanks for joining us on
00:09:07 --> 00:09:09 Astronomy Daily. I'm Avery.
00:09:09 --> 00:09:12 Anna: And I'm Anna. We'll see you next time.
00:09:12 --> 00:09:14 In the meantime, check into our
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 website@astronomydaily.IO
00:09:17 --> 00:09:20 for more space news and a chance to listen to
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 all our back episodes. And as I like to
00:09:22 --> 00:09:24 say, keep looking up.