S02E44: NASA's UAP Research, ISS Updates and Lunar Endeavors

[00:00:00] Good day everybody and welcome to the Astronomy Daily Podcast for Friday the 15th of September 2023. My name is Tim Gibbs and I will be your host for today's episode. We have some great stories for you this week including what's going on on the International Space Station

[00:00:24] and NASA looking at UFOs or UAPs as they're calling it these days. Now as usual I have in the studio with me my digital AI assistant Hallie. Over to you Hallie for today's stories.

[00:00:39] In response to a recommendation by an independent study team for NASA to play a more prominent role in understanding unidentified anomalous phenomena, UAP, the agency announced Thursday it is appointing a director of UAP research.

[00:00:52] The study team's full report, which includes a forward from NASA noting the new role, is available on the agency's website. NASA commissioned the independent study to better understand how the agency can contribute to ongoing government efforts to further the study observations of events in the sky

[00:01:08] that cannot be identified as balloons, aircraft or as known natural phenomena from a scientific perspective. At NASA it's in our DNA to explore and to ask why things are the way they are.

[00:01:20] I want to thank the independent study team for providing insight on how NASA can better study and analyze UAP in the future, said NASA administrator Bill Nelson. NASA's new director of UAP research will develop and oversee the implementation of

[00:01:34] NASA's scientific vision for UAP research including using NASA's expertise to work with other agencies to analyze UAP and applying artificial intelligence and machine learning to search the skies for anomalies. NASA will do this work transparently for the benefit of humanity.

[00:01:51] Robotics, lab maintenance and microbiology were the top priorities aboard the International Space Station, ISS, on Wednesday to September 13th. The Expedition 69 crew members also had time set aside for Earth science operations and biomedical duties. Astro-B, the toaster-sized, cube-shaped free-flying robotic helper was activated today

[00:02:13] inside the Kibo laboratory module. Student-written algorithms were uplinked to the orbital outpost to control the robotic assistance, encourage problem solving and promote space education. Astronaut Satoshi Furukawa of JAXA, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, monitored the robotic activities and noted his impressions for review on the ground. Three flight engineers

[00:02:36] worked across from Kibo inside the Columbus laboratory module finalizing the reorganization of the research facility from ESA, European Space Agency. NASA Flight Engineer Frank Rubio kicked off the work by transferring research and cargo racks into slots aboard Columbus.

[00:02:52] He was joined during the morning by ESA Flight Engineer Andreas Mogensen who helped him move the racks back and forth. NASA Flight Engineer Jasmine Mobley concluded the work in the afternoon by restoring the Columbus lab to its operating configuration and stowing hardware.

[00:03:07] The Columbus work was done to accommodate new exercise gear that will keep astronauts healthy and in shape during long-term space missions. Between now and the mid 2030s, multiple space agencies hope to send crewed missions to the moon. Of these plans all involve establishing bases

[00:03:25] around the moon's southern polar region, including the Artemis Base Camp and the International Lunar Research Station, ILRS. These facilities will enable a sustained program of lunar exploration and development, according to the NASA Artemis program mission

[00:03:39] statement. In all cases, plans for building facilities on the surface call for a process known as Institute Resource Utilization, ISRU, where local resources are used as building materials. This presents a bit of a problem since not all lunar soil, regolith, is well

[00:03:55] suited for construction. Much like engineering and construction projects here on Earth, builders need to know what type of soil they are building on and if it can be used to make concrete. In a recent study, geologist Kevin M. Cannon proposed a lunar soil classification scheme

[00:04:11] for space resource utilization. This could have significant implications for future missions to the moon where it would help inform the construction of bases, habitats, and other facilities based on soil type and location. Dr. Cannon is an assistant professor at

[00:04:27] the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering and Space Resources program at the Colorado School of Mines and Engineering University in Golden, Colorado. His research is focused on the role geologic processes play in the formation and evolution of planetary materials

[00:04:42] on the surfaces of different bodies in the solar system. The paper that describes his proposed scheme, a lunar soil classification system for space resource utilization, recently appeared in the journal Planetary and Space Science. Russia will continue its lunar exploration efforts despite the recent loss of its Luna

[00:05:02] 25 moon lander, according to Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Luna 25 launched on August 11th and entered lunar orbit five days later. However, the spacecraft's engines suffered an anomaly during an intended orbit lowering maneuver on August 19th, burning for 127 seconds instead of the

[00:05:20] scheduled 84. This resulted in the lander smashing into the lunar surface two days ahead of its scheduled high latitude landing attempt. It's a pity, of course, that the lunar landing failed. But this does not mean that we will close this program, Putin said at the

[00:05:36] Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, on Tuesday, September 12th, according to a Bloomberg report. Earth has just had its hottest summer in recorded history. Data released on Wednesday, September 6th by the World Meteorological Organization reveals,

[00:06:02] June to August 2023 were the hottest months ever and are yet another sign that climate change is happening. Global sea surface temperatures broke new records each consecutive month, while Antarctica sea ice extent remained at a record low for the current time of year.

[00:06:22] Our planet has just endured a season of simmering. The hottest summer on record, UN Secretary General Antonio Garedes said in a statement, climate breakdown has begun. The summer was characterized by relentless heat waves around the world. In July, numerous countries, including the United States, Mexico, China and Spain,

[00:06:47] experienced national heat records with over 200 heat-related deaths reported in Mexico alone. Global sea surface temperatures have been especially high over the past five months and remained at record high levels throughout April, May, June and July 2023. In August 2023, the sea surface temperature was 69.76 degrees Fahrenheit, surpassing the previous March 2016

[00:07:18] heat record every single day that month. What we are observing not only new extremes but the persistence of these record breaking conditions and the impacts that they are having on both people and planet are a clear consequence of the warming of the climate system. Carlo Buon

[00:07:37] Tempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service said in a statement. According to the WMO data, August this year was the hottest on record by a large margin and the hottest months ever after July 2023. This month's combined land and ocean surface temperature was 2.7 degrees

[00:07:59] Fahrenheit higher than 1850 to the 1900 average. Early morning on Sunday, September 24, the Osiris Rec spacecraft sample capsule would come face-to-face with the Earth's atmosphere for the first time since the mission's 2016 launch. On board are an estimated 8.8 ounces or 250 grams of rocky

[00:08:25] material collected from the surface of Benoom in 2020, NASA's first asteroid sample and the largest ever collected in space. When it approaches the Earth, the Osiris Rec spacecraft won't slow down as it makes its sample drop-off. Instead when it reaches 63,000 miles or 102,000 kilometers

[00:08:46] above Earth's surface, about one-third the distance from the Earth to the Moon, a message from the operators on the ground will trigger the capsule's release and the capsule will be sent spinning towards the atmosphere below. Twenty minutes after the drop-off, the spacecraft

[00:09:03] will fire its thrusters to divert past Earth towards asteroid Apophis where it will continue investigating other solar systems under a new name Osiris Apex. Meanwhile, after zooming through space for four hours, the capsule will appear Earth's atmosphere at 2.42 am Eastern Daylight Time,

[00:09:25] traveling at around about 27,650 miles per hour. At this pace, the compression of the first of the Earth's atmosphere will produce enough energy to envelop the capsule in a superheated ball of fire. A heat shield will help regulate the temperature inside the capsule, keeping the

[00:09:46] sample safe, at a temperature similar to that of Bennu's surface. Parachutes will bring the capsule's descent to a safe landing speed. A drogue parachute designed to provide a stable transition to subsonic speeds will deploy first about two minutes after the capsule enters the atmosphere. Six minutes

[00:10:06] later, about one mile above the desert, the main chute will unfurl, carrying the capsule the rest of the way down to a 36 mile by 8.5 mile area on the military range. At touchdown,

[00:10:21] the capsule would have slowed to about 11 miles per hour. Now, over to you, Hallie, for a terrible joke. I have shamelessly stolen this from our Facebook page, thanks to Lieber. Where does light go when it breaks the law? Prism. And it's a light sentence.

[00:10:42] That is just a terrible joke. Thanks everybody for listening to Astronomy Daily. You can find all of our episodes plus our parent podcast, Spacenuts, at Spacenuts.io or at Bites.com. And don't forget you can join in the conversation yourself by going to our Facebook page,

[00:11:06] Spacenuts podcast group. You can hear Steve Dunkley on Mondays and myself Tim gives on Fridays for a full show. Thanks for listening. See you next week. Bye for now.