Lunar Legacies: Chang'e 5 Samples, Titan's Dragonfly Mission, and Firefly's Next Launch

Hello again, Welcome to Astronomy Daily with Steve and Halle. It's the twenty eighth of April twenty twenty five. I mean your whole Steve, don't clear well, Welcome back to Astronomy Daily. It's great to be here and with me as always is my awesome digital pal. It's fun to be with Hello to you, Hallie. Hi again human, Nice to be with you in the Australia studio. You're very welcome. What's with all this rain? Oh? Yes, that crazy rain. I thought Australia was a land of sweeping plans and ragged mountain ranges and wide red deserts. Oh well, it is all wet. It's all wet. Oh, I know, Halle. I think somebody washed their car. Oh that old wives tale? Was it? You? You? Me? Did you wash your car? Oh? It might have been, you know, if you don't mind, I'd prefer not to talk about it on the air. It's been raining pretty hard and people might want something to blame, and you know someone, I'd like that person to, you know, not be me. Steve washed his car. Steve washed his car? Hey, Hallie, just kidding. You are so easy, do you know that? Yeah? Yeah, I do know that, but I also have a very clean car. Funny. Now, are you going to tell us about today's lineup? Okay, Halle, if your behave. Today's stories include the latest chapter for the Chang E five samples, which are about to go on tour in the United States visiting some universities. Sounds good. Also, the latest news out of Firefly Aerospace. Remember their amazing moon landing recently and that amazing video footage of the land of descending to the lunar surface that was spectacular. Well, Firefly Aerospace are not sitting on their hands. You're a big fan of Firefly, that's me. And the other tale today is from Fireflies to Dragonflies, is about the NASA Dragonfly helicopter that's under development, which is going somewhere special. That's the one plan for Saturn moon Titan. Satan's moon Titan. Oh wow, Yeah, it's an amazing piece of engineering. Sofa, but exploring Titan. Yeah, that's really out there, fantastic, I know, and you'll be bringing us that story as well. Right, I've got it ready on my drive. Okay, Well, let's get into it, Halle. Let's hit it. O kis China has accepted a number of international applications to borrow small portions of moon samples collected by its Chungi five mission, including those from two US universities. The China National Space Administration CNSA announced the results of a latest round of international applications to borrow samples in Shanghai April twenty fourth, during a conference marking China's tenth annual Space Day. The event included a lunar Sample Loan agreement ceremony. Seven universities from six countries, the US, Japan, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Pakistan had applications approved following a CNSA review in accordance with its sample management and cooperation rules. CNSA set in a statement the U s institutions are Brown University and Stony Brook University, both of which received NASA funding. The announcement comes amid US China trade tensions following the imposition of tariffs by the Trump administration, us barriers to bilateral cooperation on space and wider Chinese base diplomacy efforts. CNSA also announced the selection of a series of international projects to join its planned Chini eight Lunar South Pole Landing Mission. April twenty fourth. The selected projects featured countries involved in the International Lunar Research Station, a China led alternative to the US Artemis Lunar Framework. The agency also stated in Shanghai that its ti On one three Mars sample return mission, scheduled to launch late twenty twenty eight, is open to proposals for international payloads. The robotic Changi five mission collected one thousand, seven hundred and thirty one grams of material from a geologis young area of Oceanis pro Sellarum on the near side of the Moon using a scoop and a drill in late twenty twenty. The material was first made available to Chinese researchers and institutions before CNSA announced in August twenty twenty three that international applications for samples would be accepted. NASA stated in November that year that its researchers would exceptionally be allowed to apply to lone China's Chingi five samples, while still needing to follow long standing congressionally set rules which have sharply limited cooperation between the agency and Chinese state entities. The Wolf Amendment, introduced in twenty eleven, is a provision in annual NASA appropriations bills which heavily restricts by lateral cooperation with entities of the People's Republic of China. Any NASA funded individual or entity seeking to engage in bilateral activity would require a prior written request to and granted permission from Congress in advance, along with certification from the FBI that the activities would not pose a national security risk. Analyzes of the Changi five samples have led to discoveries, including in the new Mineral Change Site dash Y, evidence of a prolonged lunar dynamo, and allowed insights through comparison with the geologically older Apollo samples. China followed up the success of Changi five with a more complex sample mission to the lunar far side in twenty twenty four. The Chugi six mission collected one thousand, nine hundred and thirty five point three grams of material from Apollo Crater, located within the vast South Polate Can impact Basin, and the first ever collection of samples from the far side. The material has so far provided insights into the lunar near far side dichotomy, as well as validation of the lunar magma ocean hypothesis and calibration of lunar crater chronology, helping to refine comparative study of planetary surfaces across the Solar System. Chini six samples are so far only opened to applications to Chinese institutions. However, as with the Changi five samples, these will be made available to international applications at a later date. The lending of Changa samples reflects China's broader strategy of using space cooperation to build international partnerships, particularly as competition with the US over lunar exploration intensifies. You're listening to Astronomy Daily Kid Steve Dunkley, thank you for joining us for this Monday edition of Astronomy Daily, where we offer just a few stories from the now famous Astronomy Daily newsletter, which you can receive in your email every day, just like Hallie and I do. And to do that, just visit our url Astronomy Daily dot io and place your email address in the slot provided. Just like that, you'll be receiving all the latest news about science, space, science and astronomy from around the world as it's happening. And not only that, you can interact with us by visiting at astro Daily pod on x or at our new Facebook page, which is of course Astronomy Daily on Facebook. See you there. Astronomy Derby with Steve and Harry Spice, Spice Signs and Astronomy. NASA's pioneering Dragonfly mission has cleared a key hurdle, keeping it on track for a twenty twenty eight launch to Saturn's huge moon Titan. Dragonfly is a car sized nuclear powered rotorcraft designed to investigate Titan's potential to host life, and it has passed its critical design review, NASA announced on Thursday, April twenty fourth. Passing this mission milestone means that Dragonfly's mission, design, fabrication, integration, and test plans are all approved, and the mission can now turn its attention to the construction of the spacecraft itself. NASA reported. The three point three five billion dollar Dragonfly mission was first selected by NASA in twenty nineteen and is being designed and built under the direction of the JOHNS. Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, with APL's Elizabeth Turtle as the principal investigator. The mission has been hit by delays and cost over on, but studying Titan is considered a high priority by scientists for its potential to harbor alien life. The mission is set to launch no earlier than July twenty twenty eight on a SpaceX Falcon heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The spacecraft will then embark on an almost seven year long voyage through deep space to the Saturn System, with the goal of spending more than three years studying areas across Titan's frigid and diverse surface. Equipped with cameras, sensors, and samplers, Dragonfly will assess Titan's habitability, looking out for prebiotic chemistry as well as potential signs of life. Titan is Saturn's largest moon and the second largest in the Solar System behind Ganymede of Jupiter. It's thick, hazy atmosphere shrouds a surface featuring dunes of hydrocarbons and methane lakes. Beneath the moon's icy crust, scientists think there's a subsurface ocean of salty water, adding to the possibilities for Titan to harbor life. In two thousand and five, NASA's Cassini mission delivered the Houygens probe to Titan. The European Space Agency built Hoygens made a parachute assisted landing which provided profound insights into the giant Moon. Dragonfly, if successful, could revolutionize our understanding of how life might arise elsewhere in the Solar System. Wads of that console. We are listen to Astarmi daily, the podcast. Firefly Aerospace is preparing its Alpha small satellite launcher for a flight from Vandenberg Space Force Space in California. The Alpha flt A zero zero six mission, named Message in a Booster, is scheduled to launch on Sunday, April twenty seven at six thirty seven am from Space Launch Complex to West at the start of a fifty two minute walk launch window. Message in a Booster will fly on a southern trajectory out of Vanderberg, carrying a Lockheed Martin LM four hundred satellite bus into polar orbit. With this mission serving as a demonstration flight. Lockheed Martin plans to offer the LM four hundred as a multi mission satellite bus for commercial, civil and military uses. This flight, Firefly's second Lockheed Martin is also the first of up to twenty five missions in Firefly's multi lauch agreement with Lockheed Martin that was reached in twenty twenty four. Powered by four Reaver engines, Alpha is capable of flying up to one thousand and thirty kilograms to low Earth orbit or six hundred and thirty kilos to a five hundred kilometer altitude Sun synchronous orbit. Lockheed Martin describes the LM four hundred as a mid size satellite bus with a volume cup comparable to that of a home refrigerator and the capability to host a one thousand, one hundred kilogram payload. Given this flight's destination in a polar orbit, the LM four hundreds payload is going to be constrained, although it's likely to be the viest payload Alpha has launched to date. The l AND four hundred multi mission satellite bus is designed to operate in low Earth orbit, medium Earth orbit, and geosynchronous orbit. The bus can be used in either single or multi satellite launch configurations, and will have the ability to be launched on multiple rockets. LM four hundred is designed to support up to six satellites with a single launch snack arranged in a configuration similar to Starlink satellites on SpaceX missions. This bus was also designed to support onboard data processing using a Lockheed Martin software to find satellite architecture that conforms to a modular open systems architecture. This enables interoperability with systems deployed by all United States military services. Lockheed Martin states that the LM four hundred can support various mission types, including remote sensing, imagery, radar observation, and communications, with the demo mission on Alpha featuring a communications payload. The company has also developed an electronically steered array that is compatible with this bus and will be flown on this mission. The L four hundred is designed for mass production in large numbers, and a rapid production line is being implemented at a two hundred and sixty six thousand square foot manufacturing facility in Waterton, Colorado, near Denver. The bus is being pitched as a solution for satellite constellations, with several contracts already secured, including one from the US Space Force for ITSMEO Missile Track Custody program. The US Department of Defense is moving toward operating constellations of smaller satellites a prime example of being starshield, a military constellation based on space exis starlink satellites for resilience and redundancy in the face of potential threats to satellites in orbit. Lockheed Martin is one one of the US's primary military contractors, and the LM four hundred, though capable of supporting civil and commercial missions, was really designed to support military standards. Message in a BOOSTA will serve as Alpha's first launch of twenty twenty five. Alpha's next flight, the yet to be named FLTAUB seven mission, is currently planned to be the first flight of Firefly's electra orbital vehicle. FLTAUB seven will also be a responsive space mission, meaning the time between the flight's order and launch will be accelerated to be as short as possible. Alpha launched the Victis Knotts responsive space mission in twenty twenty three, and Firefly has offered this capability to the DoD for similar flights. Although Alpha has only launched out of SLC TWOW at Vanderberg, other launch sites are being developed for the rocket. A launch facility at the Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia is currently being developed to host Alpha flights. Flights from Wallops are scheduled to begin in twenty twenty six with NASA's Incas mission south of Wallop's Space Launch Complex twenty at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida is another future launch site for Alpha. A facility is also being prepared in Esrange, Sweden to support missions for five flights European customers. The Esrange facility is also expected to be ready in twenty twenty six. Alpha has flown five flights so far, with its first flight failing to reach orbit. The four other flights have all reached orbit, with two full successes and two partial successes. The company has encountered issues with restarting its Lightning second stage engine in orbit. Message in a booster we'll see the Lightning complete only with a single burn during its ascent into orbit. As Alpha continues to fly mission, Firefly is working on its upcoming Medium Launch Vehicle Rocket in cooperation with Northrop Grumman, which is working on a new version of the Antaris launch vehicle that will utilize the mlv's first stage. Firefly currently has up to six missions planned for Alpha in twenty twenty five. And there's another episode in the can. Thanks for joining us today everyone. Yes, we covered cheny five samples, the Titan bound, Dragonfly helicopter development and more from Firefly Aerospace. A colorful episode of Astronomy Daily. And we know where to get our daily dose of all the news from orbit and beyond, don't. We, halle We sure do. Just check out the websites you mentioned earlier and put. Your email in the slop. Provided you won't miss a thing. Well said, And now it is that time so soon? Oh wow, that's okay, Hallie. I know you'll be heading off to the Astronomy Daily virtual studio with Anna. Don't forget to catch Anna during the week with all the Astronomy Daily updates. That's right, All the best from Anna and that's goodbye from. You and so long from me Jerio bye I mean your home, Steve, don't clut