Highlights:
- The Return of Cosmos 482: Discover the fascinating history of the Soviet Cosmos 482 probe, which has been orbiting Earth for over 50 years. As it prepares to re-enter our atmosphere, learn about its remarkable journey and the legacy of the Venera program that aimed to explore Venus.
- China's Ambitious Venus Mission: Explore China's bold plans to sample Venus's toxic atmosphere between 2028 and 2035. This mission aims to investigate the extreme conditions on the planet and the potential for microbial life, challenging our understanding of planetary environments.
- The Search for Richie Planets: Get excited about the upcoming Nancy Chris Roman Space Telescope, set to revolutionize our understanding of rogue planets—those wandering worlds that don’t orbit stars. Learn how this mission will help uncover the mysteries of these elusive cosmic nomads.
- Ingenious Satellite Rescue: Hear about China's successful rescue mission of two lunar satellites using a gravity slingshot technique. This innovative approach showcases the creativity and problem-solving skills of space engineers in the face of challenges.
- Dark Energy Discoveries: Delve into groundbreaking findings from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, suggesting that dark energy may not be constant. This revelation could challenge Einstein's theories and reshape our understanding of the universe's expansion.
For more cosmic updates, visit our website at astronomydaily.io. Join our community on social media by searching for #AstroDailyPod on Facebook, X, YouTubeMusic, TikTok, and our new Instagram account! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Thank you for tuning in. This is Anna signing off. Until next time, keep looking up and stay curious about the wonders of our universe.
Chapters:
00:00 - Welcome to Astronomy Daily
01:10 - Update on the Cosmos 482 probe
10:00 - China's plans for Venus atmospheric sampling
15:30 - Richie planets and the Roman Space Telescope
20:00 - Satellite rescue mission using gravity slingshot
25:00 - Dark energy findings from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
✍️ Episode References
Cosmos 482 Probe
[NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/)
China's Venus Mission
[China National Space Administration](http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/)
Nancy Chris Roman Space Telescope
[NASA Roman](https://roman.gsfc.nasa.gov/)
Satellite Rescue Mission
[China Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization](http://www.csu.edu.cn/)
Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument
[Argonne National Laboratory](https://www.anl.gov/)
Astronomy Daily
[Astronomy Daily](http://www.astronomydaily.io/)
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Anna: Welcome to a new episode of Astronomy Daily.
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 I'm Anna, and today we're diving into some
00:00:04 --> 00:00:06 truly fascinating developments from across
00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 the cosmos. We have a packed show exploring
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 everything from relics of the space race to
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 cutting edge astronomical research. Coming
00:00:14 --> 00:00:15 up, we'll update you on a story I brought you
00:00:15 --> 00:00:17 last week as we track a, uh, Soviet Venus
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 probe making its return to Earth after more
00:00:20 --> 00:00:23 than 50 years in orbit. Then
00:00:23 --> 00:00:25 we'll examine China's bold plan to sample
00:00:25 --> 00:00:28 Venus's toxic atmosphere. We'll also
00:00:28 --> 00:00:30 explore how the upcoming Roman Space
00:00:30 --> 00:00:32 Telescope will hunt for mysterious rogue
00:00:32 --> 00:00:34 planets wandering through our galaxy without
00:00:34 --> 00:00:37 a star to call home. Plus, we'll hear about
00:00:37 --> 00:00:39 an ingenious satellite rescue mission using
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 gravity as a slingshot. And finally,
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 look at new data that might challenge
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 Einstein's theories about dark energy. It's
00:00:47 --> 00:00:49 an exciting day in space science, so let's
00:00:49 --> 00:00:49 get started.
00:00:51 --> 00:00:54 To kick things off, let's get an update. In
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 the early 1970s, as the space race between
00:00:56 --> 00:00:58 the United States and Soviet Union was in
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 full swing, the Soviets launched an ambitious
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 mission to explore our nearest planetary
00:01:03 --> 00:01:06 neighbor. The Cosmos 482
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08 probe was designed to land on the
00:01:08 --> 00:01:11 inhospitable surface of Venus, protected by a
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 3.3-foot wide titanium shell lined with
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 thermal insulation. Launched in
00:01:16 --> 00:01:19 1972, the mission unfortunately never
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 reached its Venusian destination. A
00:01:21 --> 00:01:23 rocket anomaly during launch left the
00:01:23 --> 00:01:26 spacecraft stranded in an elliptical orbit
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 around Earth, where it has remained for over
00:01:28 --> 00:01:31 five decades, silently circling our planet
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 as a relic of early space exploration.
00:01:34 --> 00:01:36 That lengthy orbital journey appears to be
00:01:36 --> 00:01:39 coming to an end. The 1
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 pound spacecraft is expected to re enter
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 Earth's atmosphere shortly, with new
00:01:44 --> 00:01:45 predictions suggesting it would return around
00:01:45 --> 00:01:48 1:54am um, Eastern Time on May 10,
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 though with a substantial margin of error of
00:01:51 --> 00:01:54 plus or minus nine hours due
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 to its orbital path. Scientists calculated
00:01:57 --> 00:01:58 that the craft could re enter anywhere
00:01:58 --> 00:02:01 between 52 degrees north and 52
00:02:01 --> 00:02:04 degrees south latitude, a zone covering most
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 of Earth's surface. This created some
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 uncertainty about exactly when and where the
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 probe might return. However,
00:02:11 --> 00:02:14 experts stressed there was little cause for
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 concern. Unlike other space debris that
00:02:16 --> 00:02:19 often breaks into multiple pieces, Kosmos
00:02:19 --> 00:02:22 482 was expected to remain largely
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 intact during re entry, presenting
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 a lower risk profile. As the
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 Aerospace Corporation noted, while the risk
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 is non zero, any one individual on Earth
00:02:33 --> 00:02:35 is far likelier to be struck by lightning
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 than to be injured by Kosmos
00:02:37 --> 00:02:40 482. Astronomers and
00:02:40 --> 00:02:42 satellite trackers have been monitoring the
00:02:42 --> 00:02:45 probe for years. Astrophotographer Ralph
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 Vanderburg of the Netherland has captured
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 images of the craft for over a decade,
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 recently photographing what some speculated
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 might be a deployed parachute, though other
00:02:54 --> 00:02:56 experts attributed this to optical
00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 distortion. Cosmos 482
00:02:59 --> 00:03:02 represents an important chapter in Venus
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 exploration history. It was part of the
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 Soviet Union's groundbreaking Venera program,
00:03:07 --> 00:03:10 which achieved remarkable firsts, including
00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 landing the first probe on Venus's surface in
00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 1970 with Venera 7, and later
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 capturing the first color images from the
00:03:17 --> 00:03:19 planet's surface with Venera 13 in
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 1982. As this cold
00:03:22 --> 00:03:25 War artifact makes its final journey, it
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 serves as a testament to the ambitious early
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 days of planetary exploration and the
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 technological challenges involved in
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 venturing to our most extreme neighboring
00:03:33 --> 00:03:33 world.
00:03:35 --> 00:03:38 While on the subject of Venus, China
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40 has set its sights on one of the most hostile
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 environments in our solar system with an
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 ambitious new plan to collect samples from
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 Venus's toxic atmosphere and return them to
00:03:46 --> 00:03:49 Earth. This joint initiative involves several
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 major Chinese space organizations, including
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the China
00:03:54 --> 00:03:57 National Space Administration, and the China
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 Manned Space Engineering Office. The
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 mission is tentatively scheduled for launch
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 somewhere between 2028 and
00:04:04 --> 00:04:07 2035, though specific
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 details about the methodology remain limited.
00:04:10 --> 00:04:12 What we do know is that the mission faces
00:04:12 --> 00:04:15 extraordinary challenges and due to Venus's
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 extreme environment, a planet where
00:04:17 --> 00:04:20 surface temperatures reach nearly 900 degrees
00:04:20 --> 00:04:23 Fahrenheit, atmospheric pressure is 90
00:04:23 --> 00:04:25 times that of Earth, and the air consists
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 primarily of carbon dioxide with clouds of
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 sulfuric acid. Despite these hostile
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 conditions, Venus continues to intrigue
00:04:32 --> 00:04:34 scientists, particularly after recent
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 research suggested that microbial life could
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 potentially exist there in some form. This
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 Chinese mission aims to help settle that
00:04:41 --> 00:04:44 debate by bringing actual atmospheric samples
00:04:44 --> 00:04:46 back to Earth for detailed analysis.
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 The mission will also investigate one of
00:04:49 --> 00:04:52 Venus's most puzzling features, how its
00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 clouds apparently absorb ultraviolet
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 radiation when, according to our
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 understanding of physics, they shouldn't be
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 able to. This mysterious
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 phenomenon has generated several scientific
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 hypotheses that this mission could help
00:05:05 --> 00:05:08 confirm or rule out. Based on
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 preliminary information, the ambitious
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 undertaking will likely require at least two
00:05:13 --> 00:05:16 spacecraft working in tandem. One vessel
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 would remain in orbit around Venus, while
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 another would brave the planet's intensely
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 stormy conditions, descending into the
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 atmosphere to collect gases and particles
00:05:24 --> 00:05:26 before returning the samples to the orbiter.
00:05:27 --> 00:05:30 A similar concept was previously proposed by
00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of
00:05:33 --> 00:05:35 technology in 2022, though NASA
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 ultimately didn't select it for development.
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 That design featured a Teflon coated
00:05:40 --> 00:05:42 corrosion resistant balloon that would carry
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 a collection canister through Venus's clouds
00:05:45 --> 00:05:47 before sending the samples back to orbit and
00:05:47 --> 00:05:50 eventually, Earth. The value of returning
00:05:50 --> 00:05:52 physical samples to Earth cannot be
00:05:52 --> 00:05:55 overstated. Laboratory facilities here would
00:05:55 --> 00:05:57 allow for far more sophisticated and
00:05:57 --> 00:05:59 comprehensive analysis than any spacecraft
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 could perform on its own at Venus.
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 However, the technical challenges of
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 accomplishing this across tens of millions of
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 kilometers presents extraordinary
00:06:09 --> 00:06:12 engineering hurdles. While several
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 Russian probes did successfully land on
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 Venus's surface in previous decades, they
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 only survived for a couple of hours before
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 succumbing to the extreme conditions, and
00:06:21 --> 00:06:24 none attempted a return journey. If China's
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 mission succeeds, even with just a small
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 sample of Venus's atmosphere, it would
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 transform our understanding of Earth's
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 nearest planetary neighbor and potentially
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 provide insights into the evolution of our
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 own world's climate and atmosphere.
00:06:38 --> 00:06:41 Next up, have you ever wondered about planets
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 that don't orbit stars? Astronomers call
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 these wandering worlds rogue planets, and
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 they might be more common in our galaxy than
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 we ever imagined. The upcoming Nancy Grace
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 Roman Space Telescope is poised to
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 revolutionize our understanding of these
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 mysterious cosmic nomads. Over the
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 past decade, scientists have speculated
00:07:00 --> 00:07:03 extensively about rogue planets in the Milky
00:07:03 --> 00:07:05 Way. These free floating worlds don't have a
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07 home star providing them warmth and light.
00:07:08 --> 00:07:10 Instead, they roam through the vastness of
00:07:10 --> 00:07:13 interstellar space, ejected from their
00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 original star systems with current
00:07:15 --> 00:07:17 technology, they're incredibly difficult to
00:07:17 --> 00:07:20 detect precisely because they don't shine or
00:07:20 --> 00:07:23 reflect light like planets orbiting stars.
00:07:24 --> 00:07:25 Astronomers estimate the Milky Way could
00:07:25 --> 00:07:28 contain millions or possibly billions of
00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 these planetary wanderers. If those numbers
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 prove accurate, there could be more rogue
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 planets in our galaxy than there are planets
00:07:35 --> 00:07:38 orbiting stars, a truly mind boggling
00:07:38 --> 00:07:41 possibility. Without the warming influence of
00:07:41 --> 00:07:44 a star, these worlds are likely frozen,
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 icy, and seemingly inhospitable.
00:07:47 --> 00:07:49 The Roman Space Telescope will employ a
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51 specialized search called the Galactic Bulge
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 Time Domain Survey to detect these elusive
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 objects. Scientists expect this survey will
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 help them find anywhere from several hundred
00:07:58 --> 00:08:01 to several thousand free floating planets,
00:08:01 --> 00:08:03 providing an unprecedented census of these
00:08:03 --> 00:08:06 mysterious worlds. Roman will use both the
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 transit method and microlensing to spot these
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 rogues. The transit method detects the
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 dimming of light when one object passes in
00:08:14 --> 00:08:17 front of another. Microlensing, meanwhile,
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 observes how gravity from a foreground object
00:08:19 --> 00:08:21 will warps the light from a background star,
00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 creating a distinctive pattern that can
00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 reveal even non luminous objects like rogue
00:08:27 --> 00:08:29 planets. What's particularly
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 exciting is that Roman might help answer
00:08:31 --> 00:08:34 fundamental questions about how these planets
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 form and get ejected from their original
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 systems. The dynamics of early
00:08:39 --> 00:08:42 planetary systems are chaotic, with
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 gravitational forces sometimes flinging newly
00:08:44 --> 00:08:47 formed planets out into interstellar space.
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 By analyzing the mass distribution of rogue
00:08:50 --> 00:08:52 planets, scientists can better understand
00:08:52 --> 00:08:55 these formative processes. The telescope
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 will be especially valuable for detecting
00:08:57 --> 00:09:00 smaller rogue planets, worlds less massive
00:09:00 --> 00:09:03 than Earth that have previously escaped our
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 notice These smaller planets would
00:09:05 --> 00:09:08 theoretically require less energy to eject
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10 from their star systems than their larger
00:09:10 --> 00:09:12 counterparts, potentially making them the
00:09:12 --> 00:09:15 most common type of rogue planet. Though
00:09:15 --> 00:09:17 the Roman telescope is still a couple of
00:09:17 --> 00:09:19 years from launch, astronomers are already
00:09:19 --> 00:09:22 anticipating the transformative impact its
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 observations will have beyond rogue planets.
00:09:25 --> 00:09:27 It might even detect other non luminous
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 objects wandering through our galaxy,
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 potentially including primordial black holes.
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 When it comes to understanding the full
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 population and characteristics of objects in
00:09:36 --> 00:09:39 our galaxy, the Nancy Grace Roman Space
00:09:39 --> 00:09:41 Telescope promises to fill in crucial gaps in
00:09:41 --> 00:09:44 our knowledge, helping complete the cosmic
00:09:44 --> 00:09:46 census of our galactic neighborhood like
00:09:46 --> 00:09:46 never before.
00:09:47 --> 00:09:50 Next Today, more Chinese space news. In what
00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 can only be described as an impressive
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 display of cosmic problem solving, China's
00:09:55 --> 00:09:57 Technology and Engineering center for Space
00:09:57 --> 00:10:00 Utilization recently pulled off a remarkable
00:10:00 --> 00:10:02 rescue mission in space, saving a pair of
00:10:02 --> 00:10:05 wayward lunar satellites through an ingenious
00:10:05 --> 00:10:08 gravity slingshot technique. Back in March
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 2024, China launched two satellites named
00:10:10 --> 00:10:13 Dro A and Dro B aboard a Long
00:10:13 --> 00:10:16 March rocket. These satellites were
00:10:16 --> 00:10:17 destined for what's called a, uh, distant
00:10:17 --> 00:10:20 retrograde orbit around the moon. That's what
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 the DRO in their name stands for. Their
00:10:22 --> 00:10:24 mission was to provide navigation and
00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 tracking for spacecraft operating in Earth
00:10:26 --> 00:10:29 Moon space, essentially serving as celestial
00:10:29 --> 00:10:32 lighthouses. While the rocket's first and
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 second stages performed flawlessly, a
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 technical issue with the Yuan Zheng one's
00:10:37 --> 00:10:39 upper stage prevented the satellites from
00:10:39 --> 00:10:42 reaching their intended orbit. To make
00:10:42 --> 00:10:44 matters worse, mission control temporarily
00:10:44 --> 00:10:46 lost contact with the duo entirely.
00:10:47 --> 00:10:50 When the team finally located the satellites,
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 they discovered the pair were spinning in an
00:10:52 --> 00:10:54 orbit much closer to Earth than planned.
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 This could have spelled disaster for the
00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 mission, with years of work and significant
00:10:59 --> 00:11:02 investment potentially wasted. As
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 Zhang Hao, a member of the rescue team,
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 explained, it would also be a mental blow to
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 the team. The challenge was particularly
00:11:09 --> 00:11:12 complex because the satellites had sustained
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 partial damage during the launch, limiting
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 their ability to capture enough sunlight to
00:11:16 --> 00:11:19 power the necessary course correction. This
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 is where the team's creativity truly shined.
00:11:22 --> 00:11:24 Rather than attempting to force the
00:11:24 --> 00:11:26 satellites into position using their limited
00:11:26 --> 00:11:29 power resources, engineers devised a
00:11:29 --> 00:11:32 plan to use the natural gravitational forces
00:11:32 --> 00:11:34 of the Earth, moon, and sun to gradually
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 slingshot the satellites toward their
00:11:36 --> 00:11:39 destination. This gravity assist
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 technique essentially borrowed energy from
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 these celestial bodies rather than relying on
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 the satellite's own limited fuel reserves.
00:11:47 --> 00:11:49 As UH CSU researcher Mao Xinyuan put it,
00:11:50 --> 00:11:52 if you don't want to consume much energy, you
00:11:52 --> 00:11:54 must replace it with something else. We chose
00:11:54 --> 00:11:56 to consume more time in order to save energy.
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59 The patience paid off, though. The rescue
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 operation took a substantial 123 days to
00:12:02 --> 00:12:05 complete by mid July 2024,
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07 both satellites had successfully reached
00:12:07 --> 00:12:09 their intended orbits around the moon. And
00:12:09 --> 00:12:12 about six weeks later, DRO A and DRO
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 B separated from each other as planned.
00:12:15 --> 00:12:16 They're now working alongside a third
00:12:16 --> 00:12:19 satellite, drol, which had previously
00:12:19 --> 00:12:22 launched to low Earth orbit. Together, these
00:12:22 --> 00:12:24 satellites form a navigation network that can
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 dramatically reduce the time needed to locate
00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 spacecraft in Earth Moon space. According to
00:12:29 --> 00:12:32 Mao, they can now pinpoint a spacecraft's
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 position in just three hours compared to the
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 two days or more required by traditional land
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 based positioning systems. This
00:12:39 --> 00:12:41 remarkable save demonstrates not only China's
00:12:41 --> 00:12:44 growing expertise in space operations, but
00:12:44 --> 00:12:46 also the ingenuity that makes space
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48 exploration possible even when things don't
00:12:48 --> 00:12:49 go according to plan.
00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 And wrapping things Up Today,
00:12:54 --> 00:12:56 some of the most fundamental aspects of our
00:12:56 --> 00:12:58 universe may be up for reconsideration,
00:12:59 --> 00:13:01 as recent findings from the Dark Energy
00:13:01 --> 00:13:04 Spectroscopic Instrument, or dece,
00:13:04 --> 00:13:07 suggest that dark energy, the mysterious
00:13:07 --> 00:13:09 force thought to be driving the accelerated
00:13:09 --> 00:13:12 expansion of our cosmos, might not be
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 constant after all. This potential
00:13:14 --> 00:13:16 discovery challenges one of modern physics
00:13:16 --> 00:13:19 cornerstone ideas. Einstein's
00:13:19 --> 00:13:22 cosmological constant. For those unfamiliar
00:13:22 --> 00:13:24 with the history, Einstein originally
00:13:24 --> 00:13:26 introduced this concept in 1917 as
00:13:26 --> 00:13:28 an addition to his equations of general
00:13:28 --> 00:13:31 relativity. At the time, he was trying to
00:13:31 --> 00:13:34 create a model for a static universe, one
00:13:34 --> 00:13:37 that neither expanded nor contracted. When
00:13:37 --> 00:13:39 astronomers later discovered the universe was
00:13:39 --> 00:13:41 indeed expanding, Einstein reportedly called
00:13:41 --> 00:13:44 the cosmological constant his greatest
00:13:44 --> 00:13:47 blunder. Fast forward to the 1990s,
00:13:47 --> 00:13:49 when astronomers made the shocking discovery
00:13:49 --> 00:13:52 that the universe wasn't just expanding, it
00:13:52 --> 00:13:54 was doing so at an accelerating rate.
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 This unexpected cosmic acceleration led
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 scientists to revive the idea of a
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 cosmological constant, but now, as an
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 explanation for the mysterious dark energy
00:14:04 --> 00:14:07 driving this acceleration. For years,
00:14:07 --> 00:14:09 the simplest explanation has been that dark
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 energy maintains a constant value throughout
00:14:11 --> 00:14:14 space and time. But DC's first year
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 observations hint at something potentially
00:14:16 --> 00:14:19 revolutionary dark energy that changes over
00:14:19 --> 00:14:21 time. Andrew Hearin, a physicist at
00:14:21 --> 00:14:24 Argonne National Laboratory and DESE member,
00:14:24 --> 00:14:27 puts it in perspective. If the DECE result
00:14:27 --> 00:14:29 holds up, it means that a cosmological
00:14:29 --> 00:14:30 constant is not the origin of cosmic
00:14:30 --> 00:14:33 acceleration. It's much more exciting. It
00:14:33 --> 00:14:35 would mean that space is pervaded by a
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 dynamically evolving fluid with negative
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 gravity, which has never been observed in any
00:14:39 --> 00:14:42 tabletop experiment on Earth. To help
00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 investigate these potentially groundbreaking
00:14:44 --> 00:14:47 observations, research researchers at Argonne
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 have turned to aurora, one of the world's
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 most powerful exascale supercomputers.
00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 They're running enormous simulations that
00:14:53 --> 00:14:55 model how the universe evolves under
00:14:55 --> 00:14:58 different dark energy scenarios. The team
00:14:58 --> 00:15:01 created two massive simulations, one assuming
00:15:01 --> 00:15:03 constant dark energy, as Einstein's theory
00:15:03 --> 00:15:06 suggests, and another where it changes over
00:15:06 --> 00:15:08 time. Starting with identical initial
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 conditions, they can track even the smallest
00:15:11 --> 00:15:13 differences that emerge as these virtual
00:15:13 --> 00:15:15 universes evolve. These
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17 simulations would have taken weeks of compute
00:15:17 --> 00:15:20 time on our earlier supercomputers, but each
00:15:20 --> 00:15:22 simulation took just two days on Aurora,
00:15:22 --> 00:15:25 explained computational scientist Adrian
00:15:25 --> 00:15:27 Pope. This dramatic speedup allows
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 researchers to respond much faster to new
00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 cosmological observations. Gillian
00:15:32 --> 00:15:35 Belts Morman, a postdoctoral research fellow
00:15:35 --> 00:15:38 at Argonne, emphasized the value of these
00:15:38 --> 00:15:40 simulations. Since we can't create a, uh,
00:15:40 --> 00:15:43 mini universe to conduct experiments, we can
00:15:43 --> 00:15:45 test theories by using really big computers
00:15:45 --> 00:15:47 like Aurora to simulate the growth of
00:15:47 --> 00:15:49 structure in the universe over time.
00:15:50 --> 00:15:52 While these simulations can't directly
00:15:52 --> 00:15:55 confirm dese's findings, they provide a
00:15:55 --> 00:15:57 crucial testing ground for examining
00:15:57 --> 00:15:59 different measurement techniques and
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 determining whether the patterns observed by
00:16:01 --> 00:16:03 DECE represent genuine new physics or
00:16:04 --> 00:16:05 are uh, artifacts of how we collect and
00:16:05 --> 00:16:08 analyze data. To maximize the impact
00:16:08 --> 00:16:11 of this work, the Argonne team has made all
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 their simulation data publicly available,
00:16:14 --> 00:16:16 allowing the broader scientific community to
00:16:16 --> 00:16:19 explore different analysis methods and help
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 determine whether Einstein's cosmological
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 constant truly needs to be replaced with a
00:16:23 --> 00:16:26 more dynamic model of dark energy. If
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 confirmed, this finding would represent one
00:16:29 --> 00:16:31 of the most significant shifts in our
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 understanding of the universe in decades,
00:16:33 --> 00:16:36 potentially opening doorways to entirely new
00:16:36 --> 00:16:39 physics beyond our current standard model of
00:16:39 --> 00:16:39 cosmology.
00:16:41 --> 00:16:43 That wraps up today's episode of Astronomy
00:16:43 --> 00:16:46 Daily. What an incredible journey through our
00:16:46 --> 00:16:48 cosmic neighborhood we've had. From a Soviet
00:16:48 --> 00:16:51 probe completing its 50 year orbit of Earth
00:16:51 --> 00:16:54 to China's ambitious plans to sample Venus's
00:16:54 --> 00:16:57 toxic atmosphere, the hunt for rogue planets
00:16:57 --> 00:16:59 wandering our galaxy, an ingenious satellite
00:16:59 --> 00:17:02 rescue mission, and potentially revolutionary
00:17:02 --> 00:17:04 discoveries about the very nature of dark
00:17:04 --> 00:17:06 energy. I'm your host, Anna, and
00:17:06 --> 00:17:08 I want to thank you for joining me as, uh, we
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 explored these fascinating developments in
00:17:10 --> 00:17:12 space science and astronomy. The universe
00:17:12 --> 00:17:15 continues to surprise us, challenging our
00:17:15 --> 00:17:17 understanding and pushing the boundaries of
00:17:17 --> 00:17:20 what we know. And before I go, a quick
00:17:20 --> 00:17:22 reminder to visit our website at
00:17:22 --> 00:17:24 astronomydaily IO um, where you can sign up
00:17:24 --> 00:17:27 for our free daily newsletter and listen to
00:17:27 --> 00:17:29 all our back episodes we're
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 constantly updating with the latest
00:17:31 --> 00:17:32 astronomical discoveries and space
00:17:32 --> 00:17:34 explorations. Exploration news that you won't
00:17:34 --> 00:17:37 want to miss. Don't forget to subscribe to
00:17:37 --> 00:17:39 the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
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00:17:42 --> 00:17:44 podcast to stay connected to the cosmic
00:17:44 --> 00:17:47 frontier. Until next time, keep looking Up
00:17:59 --> 00:18:00 Is the soul
00:18:02 --> 00:18:04 Mhm.