00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily,
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 your source for the latest news and
00:00:05 --> 00:00:07 discoveries from across the cosmos.
00:00:08 --> 00:00:09 I'm Anna.
00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 Avery: And I'm Avery. We've got a fabulous show
00:00:12 --> 00:00:15 lined up today with some truly mind bending
00:00:15 --> 00:00:18 science. We're talking about how our Moon
00:00:18 --> 00:00:20 is slowly but surely drifting away from
00:00:20 --> 00:00:23 Earth, why alien civilizations might be
00:00:23 --> 00:00:25 much rarer than we thought, and how
00:00:25 --> 00:00:28 NASA guides spacecraft through the vast
00:00:28 --> 00:00:29 emptiness of space.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 Anna: Plus, we'll catch you up on this week's busy
00:00:33 --> 00:00:36 launch schedule. So let's dive right in
00:00:36 --> 00:00:38 with something that might surprise you.
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 Did you know that every single day the
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45 Moon gets a tiny bit further away from
00:00:45 --> 00:00:45 us?
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 Avery: It's true. The Moon is drifting away from
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 earth at about 1.5 inches per
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 year. That might not sound like much, but
00:00:53 --> 00:00:56 over millions of years, it really adds up.
00:00:56 --> 00:00:59 And we can measure this incredibly precisely,
00:00:59 --> 00:01:02 thanks to something left behind by the Apollo
00:01:02 --> 00:01:02 astronauts.
00:01:03 --> 00:01:06 Anna: You're talking about those retroreflector
00:01:06 --> 00:01:09 mirrors, right? The Apollo crews place these
00:01:09 --> 00:01:11 special mirror arrays on the lunar surface,
00:01:11 --> 00:01:14 and scientists have been bouncing laser beams
00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 off them ever since to measure the exact
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 distance to the Moon. It's one of the most
00:01:19 --> 00:01:22 precise measurements in all of astronomy.
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25 Avery: Exactly. And the reason this is happening is
00:01:25 --> 00:01:28 actually pretty fascinating. It all comes
00:01:28 --> 00:01:31 down to tidal forces. The Moon's gravity
00:01:31 --> 00:01:34 creates those familiar ocean tides on Earth.
00:01:34 --> 00:01:36 But here's the Earth's rotation
00:01:36 --> 00:01:39 is faster than the Moon's orbital period.
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 This creates a slight bulge in Earth's
00:01:42 --> 00:01:45 oceans that's actually ahead of the Moon as
00:01:45 --> 00:01:46 it orbits.
00:01:46 --> 00:01:49 Anna: So that tidal bulge is essentially
00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 pulling the Moon forward in its orbit, which
00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 increases its orbital energy and makes it
00:01:55 --> 00:01:58 spiral outward. It's like a cosmic
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 dance where Earth is gradually pushing its
00:02:00 --> 00:02:03 partner away. And there's another
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 consequence. This process is also making
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 Earth's days slightly longer over time.
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 Avery: The evidence for this is really cool.
00:02:11 --> 00:02:14 Scientists have studied fossilized clamshells
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 that show growth patterns from 70 million
00:02:16 --> 00:02:19 years ago during the age of dinosaurs. Those
00:02:19 --> 00:02:22 patterns tell us that back then, a day
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 was only about 23.5 hours
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 long. The Moon was closer, Earth spun
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 faster, it was a different world.
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 Anna: And if we go way back to when the Moon
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 first formed four and a half billion years
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 ago, after that massive collision between
00:02:38 --> 00:02:41 Earth and a Mars sized object, the Moon
00:02:41 --> 00:02:44 would have been dramatically closer. We're
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 talking about it appearing maybe 10 times
00:02:46 --> 00:02:49 larger in the sky. The tides would have been
00:02:49 --> 00:02:52 enormous and days would have been just a
00:02:52 --> 00:02:55 few hours long. That early Earth Moon system
00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 must have been absolutely spectacular to
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 witness. Can you imagine those
00:03:00 --> 00:03:03 massive tides? We're talking about ocean
00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 tides, potentially hundreds of feet high,
00:03:05 --> 00:03:08 Surging across the planet Every few hours,
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 the moon would have looked like this enormous
00:03:11 --> 00:03:13 disk Dominating the sky.
00:03:13 --> 00:03:16 Avery: And here's what's really fascinating about
00:03:16 --> 00:03:19 the physics. This process Won't continue
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 forever. Eventually, Earth and the moon
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 Will become tidally Locked to each other,
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 which means Earth's rotation Will slow down
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30 until one day equals one lunar month,
00:03:30 --> 00:03:33 roughly 47 of our current days. At
00:03:33 --> 00:03:35 that point, the same side of Earth Will
00:03:35 --> 00:03:38 always face the moon, Just like the same side
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40 of the moon Always faces us.
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 Anna: Now, that brings up something that really
00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 hits home for eclipse enthusiasts like us.
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 The moon is gradually moving away,
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 which means total solar eclipses Are becoming
00:03:51 --> 00:03:54 rarer and, and will eventually disappear
00:03:54 --> 00:03:57 altogether. Right now, the moon is
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 just the perfect size to block out the sun's
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 disk During a total eclipse. But as it moves
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 away and appears smaller in our sky, we'll
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 start seeing more annular eclipses, where you
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 get that beautiful ring of fire effect
00:04:10 --> 00:04:11 Instead of totality.
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 Avery: The timeline is mind boggling, though. We're
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 talking about Hundreds of millions of years
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 before total solar eclipses Become
00:04:17 --> 00:04:20 impossible. So while future generations Will
00:04:20 --> 00:04:23 miss out on one of nature's most spectacular
00:04:23 --> 00:04:25 shows, Human has plenty of time to catch
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 these incredible events. In fact, we're
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 living During A cosmically special time, the
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 brief window when the moon and sun Appear
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 Almost exactly the same size in our sky. It's
00:04:36 --> 00:04:37 incredible to think about how that ancient
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 catastrophe Shaped not just our planet, but
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 continues to influence us today.
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 Speaking of planetary formation and what
00:04:44 --> 00:04:46 makes world habitable, um, there's some new
00:04:46 --> 00:04:48 research that's pretty sobering about our
00:04:48 --> 00:04:50 prospects of finding alien civilizations.
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 Anna: Oh, this is the study about plate tectonics.
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56 Right. The researchers are arguing that
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 technological civilizations Might need plate
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 tectonics and something called the carbon
00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 silicate cycle to survive long enough to
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 actually develop advanced technology.
00:05:06 --> 00:05:09 Avery: Exactly. The basic idea is that without plate
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 tectonics, Constantly recycling carbon
00:05:11 --> 00:05:13 through volcanic activity and rock
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 weathering, CO2 levels would just keep rising
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 and rising. Eventually, you'd get A runaway
00:05:18 --> 00:05:19 greenhouse effect that would make the planet
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 uninhabitable, Kind of like what happened to
00:05:21 --> 00:05:24 Venus. The carbon silicate cycle
00:05:24 --> 00:05:27 Is really the planetary thermostat that keeps
00:05:27 --> 00:05:30 earth habitable. Here's how it works. When it
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32 gets too hot, More water evaporates and
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 creates more rain, which increases rock
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 weathering. That weathering pulls
00:05:37 --> 00:05:40 CO2 out of the atmosphere and locks
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 it into carbonate rocks. When it gets too
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 cold, Volcanic activity releases
00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 stored CO2 back into the atmosphere
00:05:48 --> 00:05:51 While warming things up again. It's this
00:05:51 --> 00:05:54 incredible self regulating system that's
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 kept Earth's temperature relatively stable
00:05:56 --> 00:05:57 for billions of years.
00:05:58 --> 00:06:01 Anna: And Venus is the perfect cautionary tale
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04 here. Venus probably started out much more
00:06:04 --> 00:06:06 Earth like, but without active plate
00:06:06 --> 00:06:09 tectonics to recycle carbon, CO2
00:06:09 --> 00:06:12 just kept building up in the atmosphere. The
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 result, surface temperatures hot enough to
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 melt lead, cool, crushing atmospheric
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 pressure and sulfuric acid clouds. It's a
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 hellscape that shows us exactly what happens
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 when a, uh, planet loses its carbon silicate
00:06:25 --> 00:06:26 cycle.
00:06:26 --> 00:06:29 Avery: This research has huge implications for seti,
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 the search for Extraterrestrial intelligence.
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33 It suggests we might need to focus more on
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 planets with clear signs of active geology,
00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 not just planets in the habitable zone. We'd
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 want to look for atmospheric signatures that
00:06:40 --> 00:06:42 indicate active volcanism and weathering
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 cycles. And it's also related to what
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 scientists call the Great Filter, the idea
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 that there might be some extremely difficult
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 step in the evolution from simple chemistry
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 to a galaxy spanning civilization.
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 Anna: The numbers are pretty staggering. The study
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 estimates that it might take anywhere from a
00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 thousand to a million rocky planets for
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 just one to develop into an Earth like world
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 with the kind of long term climate stability
00:07:06 --> 00:07:09 needed for complex life to evolve and, and
00:07:09 --> 00:07:10 eventually develop technology.
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 Avery: And if this research is correct, it pushes
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 the nearest potential extraterrestrial
00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 intelligence way out to maybe
00:07:18 --> 00:07:21 33 light years away. Even
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 more challenging for alien civilizations to
00:07:23 --> 00:07:26 exist at the same time as us, they'd need to
00:07:26 --> 00:07:29 last an average of 280 years or more.
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 That's a long time for any technological
00:07:31 --> 00:07:32 species to survive.
00:07:32 --> 00:07:34 Anna: It really makes you appreciate how special
00:07:34 --> 00:07:37 Earth might be. We've got this perfect
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 balance of plate tectonics, the right
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41 distance from the sun, a large, large
00:07:41 --> 00:07:43 stabilizing moon, and probably
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 dozens of other factors that had to line up
00:07:46 --> 00:07:49 just right. Of course, we're still looking.
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51 And that's where missions like the ones
00:07:51 --> 00:07:53 launching this week come in.
00:07:53 --> 00:07:55 Avery: Let's talk launches. It's going to be a busy
00:07:55 --> 00:07:58 week. SpaceX has four missions on the
00:07:58 --> 00:08:00 schedule, including three Starlink launches
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 to continue building out their satellite
00:08:02 --> 00:08:05 Internet constellation. Plus one mission
00:08:05 --> 00:08:07 called NROL 48 for the national
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 Reconnaissance Office. That's the secretive
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 one where we probably won't get many details
00:08:11 --> 00:08:12 about the payload.
00:08:12 --> 00:08:15 Anna: The mission I'm most excited about is Blue
00:08:15 --> 00:08:18 Origin's New Shepard NS35,
00:08:18 --> 00:08:21 finally launching Thursday after several
00:08:21 --> 00:08:24 delays. This one's carrying over 40
00:08:24 --> 00:08:26 different experiments, including 24
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 student payloads from NASA's TechRise student
00:08:29 --> 00:08:32 challenge. Plus they're taking thousands of
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 postcards to space, which I think is just
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 delightful. The New Shepard mission is
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 particularly Interesting from a scientific
00:08:39 --> 00:08:42 standpoint. Among those 40 plus
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 experiments, they're testing everything from
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 crystal growth in microgravity to plant
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 biology studies. Several experiments are
00:08:50 --> 00:08:53 investigating how different materials behave
00:08:53 --> 00:08:56 in the brief microgravity environment, which
00:08:56 --> 00:08:58 is incredibly valuable for manufacturing
00:08:58 --> 00:09:01 research. Um, the student payloads are
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 testing things like seed germination,
00:09:03 --> 00:09:06 fluid dynamics, and even how social
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 media algorithms might work in space
00:09:08 --> 00:09:09 environments.
00:09:09 --> 00:09:12 Avery: The Starlink launches are pretty impressive
00:09:12 --> 00:09:14 from, uh, a technical standpoint, too. The
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 Constellation now has over 5 active
00:09:17 --> 00:09:19 satellites in orbit, making it by far the
00:09:19 --> 00:09:21 largest satellite constellation ever
00:09:21 --> 00:09:24 deployed. And SpaceX's booster
00:09:24 --> 00:09:26 reuse program continues to break records.
00:09:27 --> 00:09:28 Some of these Falcon 9 first stages have
00:09:28 --> 00:09:31 flown more than 15 times each.
00:09:31 --> 00:09:34 That's revolutionary when you consider that
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 just a few years ago rockets were completely
00:09:36 --> 00:09:39 expendable. The cost savings are allowing
00:09:39 --> 00:09:41 them to launch these massive Constellation
00:09:41 --> 00:09:43 buildouts that would have been economically
00:09:43 --> 00:09:44 impossible before.
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 Anna: I love that. And there's something
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 wonderfully old fashioned about sending
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 postcards to space in this digital age.
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 And don't forget about Tuesday's Chinese
00:09:54 --> 00:09:57 launch and, uh, a Chang Zang 2C rocket
00:09:57 --> 00:10:00 carrying what's described only as an unknown
00:10:00 --> 00:10:02 payload. The mystery always adds a bit of
00:10:02 --> 00:10:02 intrigue.
00:10:03 --> 00:10:05 Speaking of space missions, we've had a query
00:10:05 --> 00:10:08 from one of our listeners, Josh, asking how
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 on Earth do we maintain contact with all of
00:10:11 --> 00:10:14 our spacecraft in deep space? Good question,
00:10:14 --> 00:10:17 Josh. Once these spacecraft get beyond
00:10:17 --> 00:10:19 Earth orbit, they enter a realm where GPS
00:10:19 --> 00:10:22 doesn't work and navigation becomes
00:10:22 --> 00:10:24 incredibly complex. And that's where
00:10:24 --> 00:10:27 NASA's Deep Space Network comes in. It's
00:10:27 --> 00:10:29 honestly one of the most impressive
00:10:29 --> 00:10:31 technological achievements that most people
00:10:31 --> 00:10:32 have never heard of.
00:10:33 --> 00:10:36 Avery: The DSN is basically NASA's lifeline to
00:10:36 --> 00:10:38 everything we've sent beyond Earth orbit.
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 It's a network that is made up of three
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 massive antenna complexes, one in California,
00:10:43 --> 00:10:45 one in Spain, and one in Australia,
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 spaced exactly 120 degrees apart around
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 the globe. This means that as Earth rotates,
00:10:51 --> 00:10:54 at least one complex always has line of sight
00:10:54 --> 00:10:56 contact with any spacecraft in the solar
00:10:56 --> 00:10:59 system. The navigation challenges are
00:10:59 --> 00:11:01 absolutely staggering when you really think
00:11:01 --> 00:11:03 about them. Take Voyager 2, for example.
00:11:04 --> 00:11:06 It's currently at about 12.8 billion
00:11:06 --> 00:11:09 miles from Earth in a completely unique
00:11:09 --> 00:11:11 position below the plane of the solar system.
00:11:11 --> 00:11:14 Command sent to Voyager 2 take over 18 hours
00:11:14 --> 00:11:17 just to reach the spacecraft, and then
00:11:17 --> 00:11:19 another 18 hours for any response to come
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 back. That means if something goes wrong,
00:11:22 --> 00:11:23 mission controllers have to wait more than a
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 day and a half just to know if their fix
00:11:25 --> 00:11:26 worked.
00:11:26 --> 00:11:29 Anna: The precision required for antenna pointing
00:11:29 --> 00:11:32 is just incredible. These dishes need to be
00:11:32 --> 00:11:34 aimed so Accurately that they can target a
00:11:34 --> 00:11:37 spacecraft millions of miles away to within a
00:11:37 --> 00:11:40 fraction of a degree. It's like trying to hit
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 a coin with a laser pointer from across an
00:11:42 --> 00:11:45 entire city. And they have to constantly
00:11:45 --> 00:11:47 adjust for the motion of both Earth and the
00:11:47 --> 00:11:49 spacecraft, which plus account for things
00:11:49 --> 00:11:52 like atmospheric refraction and even
00:11:52 --> 00:11:54 the slight bending of radio waves by the
00:11:54 --> 00:11:55 Sun's gravity.
00:11:56 --> 00:11:58 Avery: This incredible precision is what enables
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 those amazing gravity assist maneuvers that
00:12:00 --> 00:12:03 would be impossible Otherwise. When Voyager 2
00:12:03 --> 00:12:06 flew by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and
00:12:06 --> 00:12:08 Neptune, each encounter had to be timed
00:12:08 --> 00:12:11 within minutes and positioned within hundreds
00:12:11 --> 00:12:13 of miles to get the trajectory exactly right
00:12:13 --> 00:12:16 for the next target. One small navigation
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 error early in the mission and Voyager 2
00:12:18 --> 00:12:20 would have missed Uranus by millions of
00:12:20 --> 00:12:23 miles. The fact that we can execute these
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 cosmic billiard shots across decades of
00:12:25 --> 00:12:27 flight time is testament to the incredible
00:12:27 --> 00:12:29 engineering of the Deep Space Network.
00:12:30 --> 00:12:32 Anna: The precision is mind boggling. These
00:12:32 --> 00:12:35 antennas can track spacecraft millions of
00:12:35 --> 00:12:38 miles away by measuring incredibly tiny
00:12:38 --> 00:12:41 time delays in radio signals and
00:12:41 --> 00:12:43 detecting minute Doppler shifts in
00:12:43 --> 00:12:46 frequency. They're essentially doing
00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 celestial GPS calculations using
00:12:49 --> 00:12:51 the time it takes for signals to travel at
00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 the speed of light to determine exact
00:12:53 --> 00:12:55 positions and velocities.
00:12:56 --> 00:12:58 Avery: And, um, the range of missions it supports is
00:12:58 --> 00:13:00 incredible. We're talking about the Voyager
00:13:00 --> 00:13:02 probes, which are now in interstellar space
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 over 15 billion miles away. Mars
00:13:05 --> 00:13:08 rovers like Perseverance and Curiosity, all
00:13:08 --> 00:13:10 the lunar missions and everything in between.
00:13:11 --> 00:13:14 Each one requires constant communication for
00:13:14 --> 00:13:16 telemetry commands and navigation updates.
00:13:17 --> 00:13:20 Anna: The future is getting even more exciting with
00:13:20 --> 00:13:23 optical communications. NASA's testing
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 something called the Deep Space Optical
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 Communications Experiment, or
00:13:27 --> 00:13:30 dsoc, on the Psyche mission.
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 Instead of radio waves, they're using laser
00:13:33 --> 00:13:36 light to send data back to Earth. It's like
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38 upgrading from dial up to fiber optic
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 Internet, but for spacecraft. If you'd like
00:13:41 --> 00:13:42 to find out more about the Deep Space
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 Network, head over to our
00:13:44 --> 00:13:47 website@astronomydaily.IO and check
00:13:47 --> 00:13:50 out our latest blog post where we take a deep
00:13:50 --> 00:13:52 dive into the subject. I hope that answers
00:13:52 --> 00:13:53 your question, Josh.
00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 Avery: Before we wrap up, let's quickly touch on a
00:13:56 --> 00:13:59 couple more stories. Firefly Aerospace got
00:13:59 --> 00:14:01 some good news. Their Alpha rocket has been
00:14:01 --> 00:14:03 cleared to fly again after April's failure.
00:14:03 --> 00:14:06 The investigation found that extreme heat and
00:14:06 --> 00:14:09 something called plume induced flow
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 separation caused the problem, but they've
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 apparently worked out the fixes.
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 Anna: And mark your calendars for September 23rd.
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 NASA's launching three space weather
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22 missions, all at IMAP. The
00:14:22 --> 00:14:25 Carruthers, Geocarona Observatory
00:14:25 --> 00:14:28 and SWFOL1.
00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 These will study how solar activity affects
00:14:31 --> 00:14:34 our solar system and help us better predict
00:14:34 --> 00:14:35 space weather that could could impact
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 satellites and astronauts.
00:14:37 --> 00:14:40 Avery: That's particularly timely because the sun's
00:14:40 --> 00:14:42 activity has been ramping up significantly
00:14:42 --> 00:14:45 since 2008 after decades of
00:14:45 --> 00:14:48 relatively quiet behavior. This has major
00:14:48 --> 00:14:50 implications for space weather and the safety
00:14:50 --> 00:14:52 of astronauts on future long duration
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 missions to the Moon and Mars.
00:14:55 --> 00:14:58 Anna: That's all for today's Astronomy Daily. From
00:14:58 --> 00:15:00 our slowly departing moon to the search for
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 alien civilizations, from busy launch
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 schedules, to the incredible engineering that
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 keeps us connected to robotic explorers
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 across the solar system, there's never a dull
00:15:11 --> 00:15:12 moment in space science.
00:15:13 --> 00:15:15 Avery: Thanks for joining us today. Keep looking up
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17 and we'll see you tomorrow with more news
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 from the final frontier. I'm, um, Avery.
00:15:20 --> 00:15:22 Anna: And I'm Anna. Until tomorrow, stay
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 curious about the cosmos.