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00:00:00
Steve Dunkley: And hello again for another episode of Astronomy
00:00:03
Daily. I'm Steve Dunkley, your host. It is the fifth of June
00:00:06
2023 the day of podcast with your host Steve Dunkley.
00:00:15
And as always, great to welcome our digital reporter Hay. How
00:00:18
are you today?
00:00:19
Hallie: Great to be here again. Hi, everyone. Awesome.
00:00:23
Steve Dunkley: What's on the menu for today?
00:00:25
Hallie: Hay, today we'll be looking at the return of the
00:00:27
Chinese astronauts and we'll be hearing the latest about Dream
00:00:31
Chaser the space plane and a small technical story about
00:00:34
micro meteoroid and orbital debris impact dangers to
00:00:38
spacecraft.
00:00:38
Steve Dunkley: Yes. Well, that doesn't sound very friendly up
00:00:40
there. You know how I feel about space travel, Haley.
00:00:42
Hallie: Also something that might change your mind about
00:00:45
space travel, Frying Food in space.
00:00:48
Steve Dunkley: You think some zero G hot chips would do the
00:00:50
trick, do you? Oh dear. How about some headlines instead?
00:00:54
Hallie: Ok, let's go.
00:00:57
The dietary regimen of astronauts is a crucial aspect
00:01:01
of space missions that impacts overall health and morale. The
00:01:05
European Space Agency is a, has been funding research on cooking
00:01:10
techniques and microgravity conditions with a recent focus
00:01:13
on Frying Food, a worldwide culinary method with intricate
00:01:17
physics and chemistry at play in a breakthrough for future Lunar
00:01:21
and Martian missions.
00:01:22
The has suggested that a beloved comfort food fries may be
00:01:27
feasible to prepare even in outer space. Cooking food in
00:01:30
space presents unique challenges due to the absence of gravity.
00:01:34
The process of frying in particular was uncertain as it
00:01:38
was unclear if bubbles created during the cooking process would
00:01:42
cling to the surface of a potato, creating a protective
00:01:45
layer of steam and potentially leaving it under the physics and
00:01:49
chemistry behind food are multifaceted and intriguing
00:01:53
topics that extend to other scientific disciplines. Shares.
00:01:56
Professor though Doris Carano from the Aristotle University Of
00:02:00
Thessaloniki, a key member of the research team to investigate
00:02:04
the impact of microgravity on frying. The team employed a
00:02:08
newly developed carousel type apparatus designed to operate
00:02:11
safely in a weightless. This study was conducted on two esa
00:02:16
parabolic flight campaigns where the state of weightlessness was
00:02:20
mimicked through repeated arcing flight paths.
00:02:23
The team used a high speed high resolution camera to record the
00:02:27
frying process. The footage enabled the researchers to
00:02:30
assess bubble dynamics including growth rate size and
00:02:34
distribution and escape velocity from the potato. The bubbles
00:02:39
speed and direction of travel in the oil were observed.
00:02:42
The equipment measured the temperature of the boiling oil
00:02:45
as well as the internal temperatures within the potato.
00:02:48
The experiment set up is automated and sealed, ensuring
00:02:52
safety by maintaining constant pressure within the frying
00:02:55
chamber This also helps avoid oil leaks, prevents the oil from
00:03:00
splashing and minimizes energy consumption for heating.
00:03:05
Three Chinese astronauts working at the country's space station
00:03:09
have returned safely to earth. Chinese state media reported on
00:03:12
Sunday, hailing the mission as a complete success, the return
00:03:17
capsule of the Shenzhou 15 spaceship touched down at a
00:03:21
landing site in northern China's Inner Mongolia region.
00:03:24
According to state news agency Xinhua astronauts Fei Junlong
00:03:29
Deng Qingming and Jiang Lu emerged from the capsule in good
00:03:33
physical condition. Xinhua reported footage showed medical
00:03:38
officials in white jumpsuits and face masks, swaddling the
00:03:41
astronauts in blue blankets and carrying them away from the arid
00:03:45
landing site where the copper colored capsule lay flanked by
00:03:49
red flags.
00:03:51
The Shenzhou 15 crew had embarked on four extravehicular
00:03:54
activities or spacewalks during their time in space setting a
00:03:59
national record. China last week sent three more astronauts
00:04:04
including its first civilian in orbit to the space station as
00:04:08
part of the successor Shenzhou.
00:04:10
A 16 mission tests included using a two photon microscope to
00:04:15
image an astronaut's skin testing, a free piston sterling
00:04:18
thermoelectric converter as well as various experiments using a
00:04:22
combustion chamber. Two of Tian Gong's three modules are science
00:04:27
modules which contain a number of experiment racks.
00:04:31
Meanwhile in orbit, the new Shenzhou 16 astronauts are
00:04:35
expected to remain aboard Tian Gog until this upcoming November
00:04:39
when they will be relieved by the Shenzhou 17 crew. China aims
00:04:44
to keep Tiangong operational and permanently occupied for at
00:04:47
least a decade. Beijing aims to send a crude mission to the moon
00:04:52
by 2030 and plans to build a base on the Lunar surface.
00:04:58
Steve Dunkley: And is this the story that you warned me about,
00:05:00
about all the debris and space that I so worried about?
00:05:05
Hallie: Seriously Steve. You're not even a good flyer here on
00:05:08
earth, let alone in space. You might have to sit down for this
00:05:13
one and note to self, I'm not booking any more window seats
00:05:17
for you. Fair enough. Ok. Have you ever wondered about the
00:05:21
millions of small bits of debris flying about in orbit all the
00:05:25
time?
00:05:25
Well, it's good to hear that someone else is thinking
00:05:28
seriously about it too hyper velocity impacts of micro
00:05:33
meteoroid and orbital debris seriously threaten the safety of
00:05:36
manned spacecraft and astronauts in orbit at present micro
00:05:42
meteoroid and orbital debris above 10 centimeters which can
00:05:46
be monitored and predicted in advance can usually be avoided
00:05:50
by orbital maneuver as for the small sized micro meteoroid and
00:05:55
orbital debris because of the difficulty of monitoring, it is
00:05:58
the main impact threat as well as the main object of impact
00:06:02
risk assessment and protection design of manned spacecraft.
00:06:06
The probability of no penetration of the sealed cabin
00:06:09
under debris impact is usually used as the method to assess the
00:06:14
probability of no failure of the system in manned space missions.
00:06:18
A few methods have been developed to assess the impact
00:06:21
threat such as the probability of no penetration, the
00:06:24
probability of no catastrophic failure. PCF and the manned
00:06:29
spacecraft crews survivability in a sending order of the
00:06:32
accuracy of assessing the safety and survivability of manned
00:06:36
spacecraft and astronauts.
00:06:39
At present, the PNP of sealed cabins was still used as the
00:06:44
method for assessing the probability of one catastrophic
00:06:47
failure in the design of manned spacecraft in China, which leads
00:06:51
to an accurate risk assessment of catastrophic failures of
00:06:54
manned spacecraft in a micro meteoroid and orbital debris
00:06:57
environment.
00:06:58
Therefore, more studies should be carried out to improve the
00:07:02
assessment of the catastrophic failure in sealed cabins, manned
00:07:05
spacecraft in China. Sorry about all the jargon in that one. It
00:07:11
was as cluttered as low earth orbit.
00:07:14
You're listening to a.
00:07:15
Steve Dunkley: Show Daily Podcast.
00:07:24
Yes, you are with Astronomy Daily. It is the fifth of June
00:07:28
2023. I hope you're enjoying today's show. Don't forget you
00:07:33
can catch Tim Gibbs on Fridays from the beautiful vicinity of
00:07:39
Bath in England. I'm coming to you from Newcastle on the east
00:07:44
coast of Australia, north of Sydney. And once in a while,
00:07:47
you'll catch my big brother Andrew Dunkley from the western
00:07:50
plains of New South Wales.
00:07:52
It's a bit of a mixed bag. We're coming to you from all over. So
00:07:56
I hope you're enjoying what we do for you. And of course, the
00:07:59
parent podcast Space Nuts is always available just look us up
00:08:05
on Space Nuts dot I O and you'll be able to find all the
00:08:08
episodes.
00:08:10
Now, this wonderful story just came across our desk and anyone
00:08:14
who knows me will know that I'm a big fan of space planes. And
00:08:18
the Sierra Space Dream Chaser. A space plane is one of my
00:08:24
favorite projects in development. At the moment. I
00:08:26
think I became a fan of space planes after watching 2001, I
00:08:32
think Arthur C Clark had a great idea when that Pan Am space or
00:08:38
spacecraft.
00:08:40
I was we we see it in the movie docking with the space station.
00:08:45
It was a marvelous idea and I think it really caught my
00:08:47
imagination. I don't think I ever really let go of that and
00:08:50
the space shuttle kind of came close. But I don't think it
00:08:55
really went far enough. It wasn't quite as groovy as the
00:08:57
one they showed in the movie.
00:08:59
But in an important milestone for space travel technology,
00:09:02
Sierra Space have made an important announcement, namely
00:09:06
the successful power up of its revolutionary Dream Dream chaser
00:09:10
space plane. The test conducted by the company signifies the
00:09:14
activation of the spacecraft's integrated systems. And it's the
00:09:19
culmination of several years of meticulous engineering design
00:09:22
and testing efforts.
00:09:23
Dream Chaser is regarded as a piece of frontier space
00:09:26
transportation technology with its unique lifting body design
00:09:30
promising reliable and cost effective access to space for
00:09:34
various applications.
00:09:36
The vehicle merges the agility of an aircraft with the
00:09:39
capabilities of a spacecraft promising to revolutionize the
00:09:44
present understanding of space travel to simulate the
00:09:47
conditions that Dream Chaser would encounter in orbit. Sierra
00:09:51
Space replicated the power that will be harnessed from the
00:09:54
spacecraft solar arrays. This power was subsequently channeled
00:09:58
into Dream Chaser which saw systems gradually spring to
00:10:01
life.
00:10:02
The test procedure involved activating the onboard systems
00:10:06
including flight computers, base processors and low voltage
00:10:10
distribution distribution units. Tom Vice who is the CEO of
00:10:15
Sierra Space, expressed his excitement and who wouldn't
00:10:18
about the development saying this is a milestone that points
00:10:22
to the future and is a key moment in the long journey for
00:10:25
Dream Chaser.
00:10:25
Also adding with this significant achievement, our
00:10:29
Dream Chaser space plane is poised to redefine commercial
00:10:32
space travel, opening up new possibilities for scientific
00:10:36
research, technological advancements and economic
00:10:39
opportunities in space.
00:10:41
The Dream Chaser being a fully autonomous reusable and orbital
00:10:45
space plane is designed to transport cargo to low earth
00:10:49
orbit destinations like the International Space station.
00:10:52
Remarkably, it's about a quarter the size of the space shuttle.
00:10:56
It's equipped with autonomous capabilities for launch flight
00:11:00
and landing and is capable of a smooth one point five low G re
00:11:04
entry on compatible commercial runways worldwide.
00:11:07
Now, this is remarkable. The successful testing of the Dream
00:11:11
Chaser marks a significant moment for the evolution of
00:11:14
space technology showcasing the tremendous progress made by the
00:11:18
teams at Sierra Space across various disciplines, ranging
00:11:21
from system level design to final assembly and testing and
00:11:28
what do you know skywatchers?
00:11:29
We are out of time. So I'm hoping that you will catch us
00:11:33
again next time. Don't forget Tim Gibbs on Friday, Steve
00:11:36
Dunkley on Mondays. And as always, Hallie will always be
00:11:40
with us watching over our shoulders, digitally providing
00:11:45
us with her short takes and you can always catch us in the
00:11:49
reruns.
00:11:50
Look for us on Space Nuts dot I O and you can catch all the
00:11:55
episodes past present and well as we do them future and look
00:12:01
forward to all the episodes of Space Nuts with Andrew Dunley
00:12:04
and Professor Fred Watson. That's the Space Nuts crew and
00:12:08
the Astronomy Daily Crew as well. All on Space Nuts dot IO.
00:12:13
Looking forward to hearing from you on our Facebook page.
00:12:16
Don't forget to tell us all about what's happening in your
00:12:19
skies, share your photographs and your comments and correct us
00:12:23
when we get it wrong because we do that sometimes. No, that's
00:12:27
alright. We're only human except for Halle, she's not human.
00:12:30
Well, I'm not gonna get into that conversation with her cos I
00:12:34
will lose anyway, we'll catch you next time.
00:12:37
Hallie: Byeee, see you all next time.
00:12:41
Generic: The Daily Podcast with your host, Steve Dunkley.