S03E65: Celestial Spectacle & Starliner's Snag: Planetary Parade and Boeing's Countdown Trouble

[00:00:00] And here we are for another episode of Astronomy Daily. I'm Steve, your host. It's the 3rd of June, 2024.

[00:00:13] Yes, it's nice to be back with you again. I've been busy, busy, busy again this week.

[00:00:17] I also up and down with some kind of tummy bug. Sucks to be human sometimes, doesn't it?

[00:00:23] Anyway, well, here's someone who never has to worry about tummy bugs. Hi Hallie, how are you

[00:00:27] going? Things are always shiny, Steve. Oh, that's good to hear. There are some interesting things

[00:00:32] happening in the sky this week. They're sure are my favorite human. I've got a story about

[00:00:37] a Japanese billionaire who wanted to go into space. What is it with these billionaires? Can't they

[00:00:41] find something more humanitarian to do with their money down here on Earth? There are plenty

[00:00:45] of options for that in today's world, for sure. But this fellow just cancelled his plans.

[00:00:51] His plans to go into space. Wow. So we'll find out why. Okay, what else? A team from

[00:00:56] Rhode Island have developed a way to map the moon in a new way. Well, we know making maps

[00:01:01] is hard enough here on Earth, but on another world it must be really difficult. So what's

[00:01:05] this new way they've found? It's a way of showing terrain using 2D images in a process

[00:01:10] called shape from shading. It sounds fascinating. Now that does sound fascinating. I can't wait

[00:01:15] to hear that one. And you better be quick because tonight the planets align. A bit like

[00:01:19] Lotto. It's six in a row, isn't it? It won't happen again for a while. Can you guess

[00:01:24] how long the next occurrence will be? Well, knowing the kinds of numbers we talk about on

[00:01:28] this podcast, it's going to be a long while I would say. Longer than long Steve. Really?

[00:01:33] Really. That long? Really. Wow. That's a long time. And also I'll be digging into the

[00:01:39] latest news from Boeing Starliner and the latest lander on the moon. So let's go.

[00:01:50] Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa on Saturday cancelled his planned flight around the moon

[00:01:55] on a SpaceX vehicle because of uncertainty about when it may be possible.

[00:02:00] The tycoon in 2018 launched plans for the lunar flyby voyage. He bought seats for

[00:02:05] eight travelling companions in 2022 for what would be his second space journey after his

[00:02:10] 12-day trip to the International Space Station on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 2021.

[00:02:16] Maezawa was aiming for the moon trip for 2023, a target seen by most space observers as

[00:02:22] overly optimistic given the progress of SpaceX's spaceship-mega rocket project.

[00:02:27] It would have been the first private flight around the moon.

[00:02:31] That project became unfeasible, said the mission organizer on Saturday in a statement

[00:02:36] posted on its website. Without clear schedule certainty in the near term, it is with a heavy

[00:02:41] heart that Maezawa made the unavoidable decision to cancel the project. Maezawa had

[00:02:46] selected eight people for his Sdear Moon project from one million applicants. They

[00:02:52] included a lead rapper for the K-pop group Big Bang and Americans DJ Steve Aoki and

[00:02:57] filmmaker Brendan Hall. Separately on Saturday, Maezawa said in his message on X,

[00:03:03] I can't plan my future in this situation and I feel terrible making the crew members wait

[00:03:07] longer, hence, I made the difficult decision to cancel at this point in time.

[00:03:12] I apologize to those who were excited for this project to happen, he said.

[00:03:18] He said he signed the contract with SpaceX in 2018 assuming the launch would be possible by

[00:03:23] the end of 2023. It's a developmental project so it is what it is, but it is still uncertain

[00:03:29] as to when Starship can launch. SpaceX's two test flights of its

[00:03:34] mega rocket last year ended in explosions minutes after liftoff. In a third test in

[00:03:39] March, its spacecraft was lost as it descended back to Earth. Maezawa and his producer in

[00:03:45] December 2021 became the first self-paying tourists to visit the space station since 2009.

[00:03:52] Maezawa made his fortune in retail fashion, launching Japan's major online fashion mall,

[00:03:57] Zoza Town. There was a time when maps of the moon were created from telescopic

[00:04:03] observations and drawings. Indeed Sir Patrick Moore created maps of the moon that were used

[00:04:09] during the historic Apollo landings. Now researchers have enhanced a technique to create

[00:04:14] accurate maps from existing satellite images. Their approach uses a technique called shape

[00:04:20] from shading and involves analyzing shadows to estimate the features and shape of the terrain.

[00:04:26] Future lunar missions will be able to use the maps to identify hazards on the surface

[00:04:30] making them far safer. Researchers at the Brown University in Rhode Island have helped refine

[00:04:36] a process used to map the surface of the moon making it more accurate than ever before.

[00:04:41] In their paper published in the Planetary Science Journal and authored by Benjamin

[00:04:45] Boatwright and team details the enhancements to the mapping technique.

[00:04:49] It can generate detailed models of the moon's surface to highlight craters, ridges and

[00:04:54] slopes from composites of 2D images. Highly detailed maps are of crucial importance to

[00:05:00] lunar missions and help the planners to identify the safest place to land.

[00:05:05] They can also use them to identify areas of particular interest that require further study

[00:05:09] enabling the whole mission to be far more efficient. Missions such as the Artemis

[00:05:14] project will benefit when it heads for the south pole of the moon, an area which is not

[00:05:18] well mapped. High resolution maps of the area will aid the autonomous landing systems

[00:05:24] to avoid hazards. Creating the maps is a time consuming job and is difficult to be accurate

[00:05:30] when lighting levels on target area are poor. The interpretation of shadows has been less than

[00:05:36] effective until now with the team addressing the issues. In their paper, the team explain

[00:05:41] how advanced computer algorithms can automate a lot of the process and improve the resolution

[00:05:46] of the generated models. Their new software gives lunar astronomers the necessary tools

[00:05:51] and information to create larger more detailed maps of the surface. To allow lunar scientists

[00:05:57] to create a map from images requires at least two images of the same area. Each image must be

[00:06:03] perfectly aligned with its counterpart so that features in one are in exactly the same place

[00:06:08] in the other. Until now, the technology has not been able to take multiple images of an

[00:06:13] area and create a perfect map. Boatwright said, we implemented an image alignment algorithm

[00:06:19] where it picks out features in one image and tries to find those same features in the other

[00:06:23] and then line them up so that you're not having to sit there manually tracing interest

[00:06:27] points across multiple images which takes a lot of hours and brain power. Along with the image

[00:06:33] alignment algorithm, the researchers created quality control algorithms and filters to remove

[00:06:38] poor quality images from the alignment process. By only inputting good quality images to the

[00:06:44] process means the output will be of far higher quality. It is a similar model that astronomical

[00:06:50] imaging employs when processing multiple images through stacking and alignment techniques.

[00:06:55] To evaluate the accuracy of their work, the team compared the output from existing maps of the moon

[00:07:00] to look for errors. To their delight, they found that maps created using their enhanced

[00:07:06] shape from shading a technique was more precise compared to those acquired during traditional

[00:07:10] techniques. On June 3rd, an alignment of six planets and Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,

[00:07:18] Uranus, and Neptune will be visible shortly before sunrise from dark, high vantage points

[00:07:23] with minimal light pollution. This rare event requires optical aids to view all planets.

[00:07:30] Stargazers will have an incredible opportunity to look for six planets in Earth's solar system

[00:07:35] on June 3rd. Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune will appear from some dark,

[00:07:42] weather-free vantage points on Earth to form a more or less straight line in the night sky,

[00:07:47] but it'll take some optical assistance to see them all. The alignment is a bit of an illusion

[00:07:52] astronomers are quick to point out, given the widely varying elliptical path of each

[00:07:57] planet's orbit around the Sun. But the uncommon arrangement could prove captivating indeed,

[00:08:02] if local weather does not interfere. The planetary alignment is likely to be most

[00:08:07] visible 30-60 minutes before sunrise, looking east from a dark, high vantage point with minimal

[00:08:13] light pollution and an unobstructed view of the complete horizon. If you were somewhere out

[00:08:18] in space other than on Earth, these planets would not appear aligned at all, said Dr.

[00:08:23] Alphon Sterling, astrophysicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,

[00:08:28] Alabama. It is not unusual to see two or three lined up, but to have six of them line up like

[00:08:34] this is uncommon. Mars and Saturn will be identifiable with the naked eye, and Mercury

[00:08:40] and Jupiter may also be spotted close to the horizon. To add Neptune and Uranus to

[00:08:45] the lineup, however, will require the use of a telescope or high-powered binoculars.

[00:08:51] You can see it basically anywhere there isn't a ton of light pollution, Sterling said.

[00:08:56] You just need a clear view looking east. Jupiter and Mercury will be the last to join,

[00:09:02] rising just above the horizon. You won't see six bright dots lined up. In the best

[00:09:08] circumstances, you can see Jupiter, Mercury and Mars and Saturn. You'll need binoculars or a

[00:09:14] telescope for the others. Alignments of six planets happen infrequently, depending on

[00:09:20] the orbit and position of each planet as seen from Earth. Indeed, we may see an encore

[00:09:25] performance later this year. The same rough alignment of six planets could be visible in

[00:09:30] the pre-dawn hours of August 28th and again on January 18th, 2025. That's certainly more

[00:09:38] common than a full planetary alignment, in which all eight planets in our solar system

[00:09:42] would appear to fall into approximate formation on the same side of the sun.

[00:09:46] Given all the factors involved, including the orbital plane, speed and distance of each planet,

[00:09:52] estimates suggest it would take more than 300 billion years to happen just once.

[00:09:57] Back to you my favorite human.

[00:10:43] on X or at our parent podcast Facebook page, which is Space Nuts Podcast Group.

[00:10:50] And we hope to see you there.

[00:11:08] Last minute computer trouble cancelled the Saturday's launch attempt for Boeing's first

[00:11:14] astronaut flight, the latest in a string of delays over the years. Two Nastra astronauts

[00:11:19] were strapped into the company's Starliner capsule when the countdown automatically was

[00:11:25] halted at three minutes and 50 seconds by the computer system that controls the final minutes

[00:11:31] before liftoff of Boeing's Starliner. With only a split second to take off,

[00:11:38] there was no time to work out the latest problem and the launch was called off.

[00:11:42] Technicians raced to the pad to help the astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams

[00:11:48] out of the capsule atop the fully fueled Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

[00:11:55] Within an hour of the launch abort, the hatch was reopened.

[00:11:59] The team can't get to the computers to troubleshoot the problem until the rocket is drained of all

[00:12:05] its fuel, said Troy Bruno, CEO for the rocket maker United Launch Alliance.

[00:12:10] Bruno said one of the three redundant computers located near the rocket at the pad was sluggish.

[00:12:16] All three must work properly to proceed with a launch, he said.

[00:12:19] Depending on what needs to be fixed, the next launch attempt could be as early as Wednesday.

[00:12:25] If it doesn't blast off this coming week, then that would be it until mid-June in order to

[00:12:30] move the rocket off the pad and replace the batteries. This is the business that we're in,

[00:12:35] Boeing's Mark Nappey said. Everything's got to work perfectly.

[00:12:39] It was the second launch attempt. The first try on May 6 was delayed for leak

[00:12:44] leak checks and rocket repairs. NASA wants a backup to SpaceX, which has been flying

[00:12:49] astronauts since 2020. Boeing should have launched its first crew around the same time

[00:12:55] as SpaceX, but its first test flight with no one aboard in 2019 was plagued by severe

[00:13:02] software issues and never made it to the space station. A redo in 2020 fared better,

[00:13:08] but parachute problems and other issues caused more delays.

[00:13:12] A small helium leak in the capsule's propulsion system last month came on top

[00:13:17] of a rocket valve issue. More valve trouble cropped up two hours before Saturday's planned

[00:13:23] liftoff, but the team used a backup circuit to get around ground equipment valves working

[00:13:28] to top off the fuel for the rocket's upper stage. Launch controllers were

[00:13:33] relieved to keep pushing ahead, but the computer system known as the Ground Launch

[00:13:38] Sequencer ended the effort. Of course, this is emotionally

[00:13:42] disappointing, NASA astronaut Mike Fink, the backup pilot said from neighboring Kennedy

[00:13:47] Space Center shortly after the countdown was altered. But he said delays are part of space

[00:13:52] flight. We are going to have a great launch in our future.

[00:14:08] A Chinese spacecraft landed on the far side of the moon Sunday to collect soil and rock

[00:14:13] samples that could provide insights into the differences between less explored regions and the

[00:14:19] better known near side. The landing module touched down at 6.23 a.m. Beijing time in a

[00:14:27] huge crater known as the South Pole-Aitken Basin, the China National Space Administration said.

[00:14:34] The mission is the sixth in Chang'e's moon exploration program, which is named after

[00:14:41] a Chinese moon goddess. It is the second designed to bring back samples following the

[00:14:47] Chang'e 5, which did so from the near side in 2020. The moon program is part of a

[00:14:54] growing rivalry with the US, still the leader in space exploration and others,

[00:15:00] including Japan and India. China has put its own space station in orbit and regularly

[00:15:06] sends crews there. The emerging global power aims to put a person on the moon before 2030,

[00:15:13] which would make it the second nation after the states to do so. America is planning to land

[00:15:19] astronauts on the moon again for the first time in more than 50 years, though NASA pushed the

[00:15:24] target date back to 2026 earlier this year. US efforts to use private sector rockets to launch

[00:15:31] spacecraft have been repeatedly delayed, trouble with Boeing's Starliner and earlier Saturday a

[00:15:37] Japanese billionaire called off his plan to orbit the moon because of uncertainty over the

[00:15:42] development of a mega rocket by SpaceX. NASA is planning to use the rocket to send astronauts

[00:15:48] to the moon. In China's current mission, the lander is to use a mechanical arm and drill

[00:15:55] to gather up to two kilograms of surface and underground material over about two days. An

[00:16:01] ascender atop the lander will then take the samples in a metal vacuum container back to

[00:16:06] another module that is orbiting the moon. The container will be transferred to a re-entry capsule

[00:16:12] that is due to return to the earth in the deserts of China's Inner Mongolia region about

[00:16:18] June 25. Missions to the far side are more difficult because it doesn't face the earth.

[00:16:23] This requires a relay satellite to maintain communications. The terrain on the far side

[00:16:29] is also more rugged with fewer flat areas to land. The South Pole Aitken Basin, an impact

[00:16:35] crater created more than four billion years ago, is 13 kilometers deep and has a diameter of 2500

[00:16:43] kilometers according to a report by China's Xinhua News Agency. It is the oldest and

[00:16:50] largest of such craters on the moon and so may provide the earliest information about it.

[00:16:57] The agency added that the huge impact may have ejected materials from deep below the moon's

[00:17:04] surface. And just like that another episode comes to a grinding halt and I want to thank you for

[00:17:16] sticking with us on Astronomy Daily and we'd love to see you next week. Don't forget that

[00:17:21] Hallie's cousins Charlie and Anna will be gracing you with the waves with all the news

[00:17:27] from science, space science and astronomy through the week so don't forget to join them

[00:17:32] as well. We'll see you next week, bye for now.