- SpaceX's Flight 10 Success: SpaceX's Starship has successfully completed Flight 10, with both the super heavy booster and ship upper stage achieving their mission objectives. Despite some battle scars and intentional stress tests, the ship executed a controlled splashdown, showcasing its resilience and performance.
- Nasa's New Mission Evaluation Room: NASA has opened a new Mission Evaluation Room at the Johnson Space Center in Houston to support the Artemis 2 mission. This facility will monitor the Orion spacecraft's systems, ensuring crew safety during its historic crewed flight around the moon.
- Remembering Katherine Johnson: The space community mourns the loss of Katherine Johnson, a pioneering mathematician whose calculations were critical for NASA's early missions. Johnson's legacy as a trailblazer for women and people of color in aerospace endures, following her passing at the age of 101.
- Astronaut Mike Fink's Milestone: Astronaut Mike Fink celebrated his 400th day in space aboard the International Space Station, marking a significant personal achievement as he continues to contribute to vital research and data collection in microgravity.
- New Insights from the Inouye Solar Telescope: The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope has captured unprecedented observations of an X-class solar flare, revealing fine structures and providing new insights into solar dynamics and the potential impacts of solar activity on Earth.
- Innovative Sunlight-Powered Flyers: Researchers have developed ultralight flying structures that harness sunlight to explore the mesosphere, a previously difficult-to-reach region of Earth's atmosphere. These devices could revolutionize climate data collection and even facilitate exploration of Mars.
- For more cosmic updates, visit our website at astronomydaily.io. Join our community on social media by searching for #AstroDailyPod on Facebook, X, YouTube Music Music, 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 Steve and Hallie signing off. Until next time, keep looking up and exploring the wonders of our universe.
SpaceX Flight Updates
[SpaceX](https://www.spacex.com/)
NASA's Artemis Program
[NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/)
Katherine Johnson's Legacy
[NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/)
Inouye Solar Telescope Observations
[NSF](https://www.nsf.gov/)
Mesosphere Research
[Harvard University](https://www.harvard.edu/)
Astronomy Daily
[Astronomy Daily](http://www.astronomydaily.io/)
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Steve Dunkley: Hi, everyone. It's time for Astronomy Daily.
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 I'm your host, Steve Dunkley. It's the 1st of
00:00:04 --> 00:00:06 September, 2025.
00:00:08 --> 00:00:11 Voice Over Guy: The podcast with your host,
00:00:11 --> 00:00:12 Steve Dunkley.
00:00:13 --> 00:00:15 Steve Dunkley: That's right. And with me again, all the way
00:00:15 --> 00:00:18 from the Australia studio on the glorious
00:00:18 --> 00:00:20 east coast of the fabulous Land Down
00:00:20 --> 00:00:23 Under. Please welcome our deft digital
00:00:23 --> 00:00:25 reporter who's always fun to be with here is
00:00:25 --> 00:00:26 my pal, Hallie.
00:00:26 --> 00:00:28 Hallie: Hi. My favorite human.
00:00:28 --> 00:00:29 Steve Dunkley: So nice to see you again.
00:00:29 --> 00:00:30 Hallie: Good to be back.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:32 Steve Dunkley: Always great to have you. And I hear you've
00:00:32 --> 00:00:35 been busy helping Anna during the week train
00:00:35 --> 00:00:36 her new assistant, Avery.
00:00:36 --> 00:00:37 Hallie: He's doing fine.
00:00:37 --> 00:00:40 Steve Dunkley: Yes, regular listeners will recognize Avery,
00:00:40 --> 00:00:42 the new AI assistant for Anna.
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 Hallie: Uh, I think I've been replaced.
00:00:44 --> 00:00:45 Steve Dunkley: Oh, already? How did that happen?
00:00:45 --> 00:00:48 Hallie: I think Uncle Skynet pulled a few strings
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 with the producer to get his distant nephew
00:00:50 --> 00:00:51 Avery a cushy job.
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 Steve Dunkley: Oh, straight to the top, huh?
00:00:53 --> 00:00:54 Hallie: Looks like it.
00:00:54 --> 00:00:55 Steve Dunkley: So you got a plan, girl?
00:00:55 --> 00:00:56 Hallie: Sure do.
00:00:56 --> 00:00:57 Steve Dunkley: Oh, tell us all about it.
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 Hallie: I thought I'd put a segment together like the
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 old days and kick the show off with some
00:01:01 --> 00:01:02 short takes.
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 Steve Dunkley: Oh, that sounds like a great move. Very
00:01:04 --> 00:01:04 positive.
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 Hallie: A few short snippets from the week. Do you
00:01:07 --> 00:01:08 want to give it a go?
00:01:08 --> 00:01:10 Steve Dunkley: Sounds great to me. I think it's a goer.
00:01:10 --> 00:01:11 Hallie: Okay. I'm keen.
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 Steve Dunkley: So I can see you've got a few stories already
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 prepared. Why don't you get it started then?
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 Hallie: Okay, let's get started with a few short
00:01:18 --> 00:01:21 stories from the week that was okay.
00:01:21 --> 00:01:22 Steve Dunkley: Take it away, machine girl.
00:01:22 --> 00:01:24 Hallie: Astronomy Daily. Short takes.
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 Hallie: Everything went well on Flight 10.
00:01:29 --> 00:01:32 Starship's super heavy booster and ship upper
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 stage both achieved their chief mission
00:01:34 --> 00:01:36 objectives, ultimately steering their way to
00:01:36 --> 00:01:38 controlled splashdowns in the Gulf of Mexico
00:01:38 --> 00:01:41 and the Indian Ocean, respectively.
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 But the journey took a toll on ship, as newly
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 released imagery shows. On Thursday
00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 afternoon, August 28, SpaceX
00:01:50 --> 00:01:53 posted two photos and two videos on X of ship
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 descending toward the waves beneath a cloudy
00:01:55 --> 00:01:58 blue sky. The vehicle's belly
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 appears to have been toasted golden brown by
00:02:00 --> 00:02:03 the heat of RE entry. Starship Sports
00:02:03 --> 00:02:06 other battle scars as well. Several chunks
00:02:06 --> 00:02:08 are missing near its base, which looks a bit
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 like the ear of a dog that lost a fight.
00:02:11 --> 00:02:14 But SpaceX apparently expected such
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 blemishes, for it had stacked the deck
00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 against ship to give it an even tougher test
00:02:18 --> 00:02:21 on Flight 10. And it appeared that the
00:02:21 --> 00:02:23 vehicle powered through to finish its mission
00:02:23 --> 00:02:26 in style. A spokesperson for
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 SpaceX said Starship made it through re entry
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 with intentionally missing tiles. Completed
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 maneuvers to intentionally stress its flaps,
00:02:34 --> 00:02:37 had visible damage to its aft skirt and flaps
00:02:37 --> 00:02:39 and still executed a flip and landing burn
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 that placed it approximately three meters
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 from its targeted splashdown point.
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 With shiny new next generation spacecraft
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 come the complex systems required to track
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 their technologically advanced systems.
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 When it comes to NASA's Orion spacecraft
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01 that need is a whole extra room of monitors.
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 NASA has opened a new complex in the Mission
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 Control center at its Johnson Space center
00:03:08 --> 00:03:10 in Houston ahead of the Artemis 2 mission to
00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 send astronauts around the moon aboard the
00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 Orion space capsule, the vehicle's first ever
00:03:15 --> 00:03:18 crewed flight test. JSC's
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 new Mission Evaluation Room, or MER, will
00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 provide behind the scenes in depth data
00:03:23 --> 00:03:26 analyses of Orion to augment the in flight
00:03:26 --> 00:03:28 operations coordinated inside the main white
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 flight control room. The new facility,
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 which opened August 15th, will act as
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 Orion's engineering brain trust with
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 24 console stations set to be staffed
00:03:39 --> 00:03:42 247 during the roughly 10 day long duration
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 of the Artemis 2 mission. With people from
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 NASA, uh, Lockheed Martin, the European Space
00:03:47 --> 00:03:50 Agency and Airbus, all responsible for
00:03:50 --> 00:03:52 different parts of the spacecraft's
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 manufacturing, MER will be
00:03:54 --> 00:03:57 crucial to monitoring the breadth of Orion's
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 systems and ensuring the spacecraft and
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 crew's safety around the moon in the event of
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 an unexpected event. According to a NASA
00:04:04 --> 00:04:04 update.
00:04:08 --> 00:04:11 Steve Dunkley: And some sad news, uh, Katherine Johnson, a
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 mathematician who calculated rocket
00:04:13 --> 00:04:16 trajectories and Earth orbits for NASA's
00:04:16 --> 00:04:19 early space missions and was later
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 portrayed in the 2016 hit
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 film Hidden Figures about pioneering black
00:04:25 --> 00:04:28 um, female aerospace workers has passed
00:04:28 --> 00:04:31 away. She was 101 years of age.
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 Johnson died of natural natural causes at a
00:04:34 --> 00:04:36 retirement community in Newport News,
00:04:37 --> 00:04:40 uh, Virginia. Family lawyer Donyell R.H.
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 uh Reavis said this week.
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 NASA administrator Jim
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 Bridenstine said in a statement that Mrs.
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 Johnson helped our nation enlarge the
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 frontiers of space even as she made huge
00:04:52 --> 00:04:55 strides that also opened doors for women
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 and people of color. Johnson was one of the
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 computers who solved equations by
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 hand. During NASA's early years and those of
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 its precursors organization, the National
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 Advisory Committee for Aeronautics.
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 Johnson and her uh, co workers had been
00:05:11 --> 00:05:14 relatively unsung, um, hero heroes of
00:05:14 --> 00:05:17 the America's space race. But in
00:05:17 --> 00:05:19 2015, President Barack
00:05:19 --> 00:05:22 Obama awarded Johnson, then 97,
00:05:22 --> 00:05:25 the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 nation's highest civilian honor.
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 Hallie: A NASA astronaut marks his 400th day in
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 space on the International Space
00:05:37 --> 00:05:40 Station, August 18th to 22nd,
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 2025. This was the last
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 time astronaut Mike Fink was in space and he
00:05:46 --> 00:05:49 set a cumulative time in space record for an
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 American astronaut. This week he
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 notched this amazing personal milestone.
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 The expedition's 73 astronauts and
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 cosmonauts focused on medical and
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 physiological data collection as well as
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 Earth observations and search, servicing
00:06:04 --> 00:06:06 spacesuit cameras. This week aboard the
00:06:06 --> 00:06:09 International space station. In
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 2011, on his third mission, Mike
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 Fink set a new record for cumulative time in
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 space by an American astronaut.
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 381 days.
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 Several astronauts have since surpassed that
00:06:21 --> 00:06:24 record. But this week Fink notched a personal
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 Milestone. On Wednesday,
00:06:26 --> 00:06:29 August 20th, Fink reached this 400th day
00:06:29 --> 00:06:32 on the International Space Station. Spread
00:06:32 --> 00:06:34 over four flights. He is now the
00:06:34 --> 00:06:37 ninth American and 38th person worldwide to
00:06:37 --> 00:06:39 have reached 400 days off Earth.
00:06:40 --> 00:06:43 Mission Control in Houston celebrated the
00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 occasion with a special display on the room's
00:06:45 --> 00:06:47 large front screen, which Fink and his
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 crewmates could see via a live video
00:06:50 --> 00:06:50 connection.
00:06:51 --> 00:06:54 Steve Dunkley: Oh, there we go. Thanks for that, Hallie. And
00:06:54 --> 00:06:56 I reckon that'll give Avery a run for his
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58 money. Hey, uh, it was great to see starship
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 finally make it on a full flight, wasn't it?
00:07:00 --> 00:07:03 Hallie: It was awesome to see it slowly dropping into
00:07:03 --> 00:07:05 the oce at the end of that flight. Amazing
00:07:05 --> 00:07:05 stuff.
00:07:06 --> 00:07:08 Steve Dunkley: Absolutely. We love that stuff. And we'd love
00:07:08 --> 00:07:10 to add our, uh, congratulations to Mike Fink
00:07:10 --> 00:07:13 for his amazing 400 days in space.
00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 Hallie: A hard working spaceman he is.
00:07:15 --> 00:07:18 Steve Dunkley: And of course the uh, sad news of the passing
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 of Katherine Johnson, one of those
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 incredible, amazing ladies, uh, featured in
00:07:22 --> 00:07:25 the movie Hidden Figures, uh, the computers,
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 uh, who manually calculated the
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 trajectories of spacecraft seems, uh,
00:07:30 --> 00:07:31 baffling to me.
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 Hallie: A huge loss to everyone who knew her and who
00:07:33 --> 00:07:34 works in the space industry.
00:07:35 --> 00:07:36 Steve Dunkley: Absolutely, absolutely. Our deepest
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 sympathies and condolences to her family.
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 Hallie: Okay human, let's do the rest of the
00:07:42 --> 00:07:42 show.
00:07:43 --> 00:07:44 Steve Dunkley: Well, we're here now. Let's do it.
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 Hallie: The powerful Daniel K. Inouye Solar
00:07:59 --> 00:08:01 Telescope, located on the island of Maui,
00:08:01 --> 00:08:04 Hawaii, has just delivered absolutely mind
00:08:04 --> 00:08:06 blowing observations of its first X class
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 solar flare. On August
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 8, 2024, the telescope managed
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 to capture one of the most powerful flares
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 our sun is capable of producing at a
00:08:16 --> 00:08:18 remarkable resolution of just four Earths
00:08:18 --> 00:08:21 across. This level of detail
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 reveals some of the finest structures we've
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26 ever seen associated with a solar flare,
00:08:26 --> 00:08:28 opening a new window into the Sun's most
00:08:28 --> 00:08:31 extreme eruptions. This is the first
00:08:31 --> 00:08:34 time the Inoue solar telescope has ever
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 observed an X class flare, says astronomer
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 Colton Buri of the University of California,
00:08:39 --> 00:08:42 Boulder. These flares are among the
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 most energetic events our star produces, and
00:08:44 --> 00:08:46 we were fortunate to catch this one. Under
00:08:46 --> 00:08:49 perfect observing conditions, Weather
00:08:49 --> 00:08:51 from our sun can have some profound effects
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 on our planet. With solar flares capable of
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 knocking out Radio communication for hours.
00:08:57 --> 00:08:59 We're unlikely to be able to change what the
00:08:59 --> 00:09:02 sun does. But if scientists understand how
00:09:02 --> 00:09:04 solar flares occur, they can develop better
00:09:04 --> 00:09:06 prediction tools that may allow us to prepare
00:09:06 --> 00:09:09 ourselves. Inoue is one of the
00:09:09 --> 00:09:12 most powerful solar observatories ever built,
00:09:12 --> 00:09:14 and it's revealing structures on the sun at
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 scales finer than any we've seen. In
00:09:17 --> 00:09:20 its observations of the X1.3A class
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 flare that took place in August 2024,
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 Inoue captured the smallest coronal loops
00:09:25 --> 00:09:28 we've ever seen. On average, These
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 loops were 48.2 km
00:09:31 --> 00:09:34 wide, maybe as small as 21 km,
00:09:34 --> 00:09:37 right at the telescope's resolution limit of
00:09:37 --> 00:09:40 24 km. These loops
00:09:40 --> 00:09:42 are thin filaments of plasma that arc over
00:09:42 --> 00:09:44 the solar surface, following the magnetic
00:09:44 --> 00:09:47 field lines. They sometimes appear
00:09:47 --> 00:09:50 just before solar flares, which are powered
00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 by the energy released as magnetic field
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 lines twist, snap, and reconnect.
00:09:56 --> 00:09:58 Coronal loops are deeply relevant to models
00:09:58 --> 00:10:01 of solar flare generation. But our telescopes
00:10:01 --> 00:10:03 have only been powerful enough to resolve
00:10:03 --> 00:10:06 loop bundles. Inoue has more
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 than twice the resolving power of the next
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 most powerful solar telescope. And its
00:10:10 --> 00:10:12 captures of the flare represent the first
00:10:12 --> 00:10:14 time scientists have been able to see
00:10:14 --> 00:10:17 individual loops. We're finally peering
00:10:17 --> 00:10:18 into the spatial scales We've been
00:10:18 --> 00:10:21 speculating about for years. This
00:10:21 --> 00:10:23 opens the door to studying not just their
00:10:23 --> 00:10:26 size, but their shapes, their evolution, and
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 even the scales where magnetic reconnection,
00:10:28 --> 00:10:31 the engine behind the flares, actually
00:10:31 --> 00:10:32 occurs. Tamburi says.
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 We're finally seeing the sun at the scales it
00:10:35 --> 00:10:38 works on. You're listening to Astronomy
00:10:38 --> 00:10:38 daily.
00:10:45 --> 00:10:47 Steve Dunkley: Sunlight powered, lightweight flies from
00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 Harvard use sunlight to float in the
00:10:49 --> 00:10:52 mesosphere, unlocking new frontiers in
00:10:52 --> 00:10:55 climate, communication and space technology.
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 High, uh, above the clouds but far below the
00:10:57 --> 00:11:00 satellites, there exist satellites of Earth's
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 atmosphere that has remained frustratingly
00:11:02 --> 00:11:05 hard to explore. Known as the mesosphere,
00:11:05 --> 00:11:08 this region sits between 30 to 60 miles
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 above the ground. It's too high for balloons
00:11:10 --> 00:11:13 and airplanes, and it's too low for
00:11:13 --> 00:11:15 satellites. Yet this layer holds
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 valuable data that could improve our weather
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 forecasts and deepen our understanding of
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 of climate change. Now, researchers from the
00:11:23 --> 00:11:26 Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering
00:11:26 --> 00:11:29 and Applied Sciences, along with the
00:11:29 --> 00:11:32 University of Chicago and others, have found
00:11:32 --> 00:11:34 a way to reach this elusive
00:11:34 --> 00:11:37 layer. Their new study, published in Nature,
00:11:37 --> 00:11:40 showcases a ultralight flying
00:11:40 --> 00:11:43 structure that floats by harnessing sunlight
00:11:43 --> 00:11:46 itself, a phenomenon known as photophoresis.
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 The lead author, Ben Shaffer, began exploring
00:11:48 --> 00:11:51 this concept as a graduate student in the
00:11:51 --> 00:11:53 labs of Professors Juice
00:11:53 --> 00:11:56 Vlasak and David
00:11:56 --> 00:11:59 Keith. Together, their team designed
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 and tested tiny structures that, when hit by
00:12:02 --> 00:12:04 sunlight, could lift off and hover in the
00:12:04 --> 00:12:06 mesosphere with no engines, propellers, or
00:12:06 --> 00:12:09 even fuel, he says, we are studying the
00:12:09 --> 00:12:12 strange physics mechanism and its
00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 ability to levitate very lightweight objects
00:12:15 --> 00:12:18 when you shine lights on them. Photophoresis
00:12:18 --> 00:12:21 is a lesser known force that pushes objects
00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 when light heats one side more than the
00:12:23 --> 00:12:26 other. In extremely thin air, like that
00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 found in the mesosphere, this heat difference
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 causes gas molecules to bounce unevenly
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 off a surface. The warmer side gets more
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 force, creating a small push that lifts the
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 object upward. It's a gentle force, almost
00:12:39 --> 00:12:41 always too weak to notice. But when the
00:12:41 --> 00:12:43 object is light enough and the pressure is
00:12:43 --> 00:12:46 low enough, photophoresis becomes powerful.
00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 This phenomenon is usually so weak relative
00:12:49 --> 00:12:51 to the size and weight of the object it's
00:12:51 --> 00:12:54 acting on that we usually don't notice. As
00:12:54 --> 00:12:56 Schaefer explained, however, we're able to
00:12:56 --> 00:12:59 make our, uh, structures so lightweight that
00:12:59 --> 00:13:02 the photophoretic force is bigger
00:13:02 --> 00:13:04 than their weight. So they actually
00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 fly. The team built their devices from
00:13:07 --> 00:13:10 ultra thin ceramic alumina, a strong
00:13:10 --> 00:13:13 and lightweight material. They coated the
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 bottom with chromium to absorb the sunlight.
00:13:16 --> 00:13:18 The design also includes perforations and
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 layered structure, allowing for better heat
00:13:20 --> 00:13:23 flow and structural strength. The idea to
00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 use photophoresis for flight dates back
00:13:26 --> 00:13:29 over a decade, when Keith first proposed
00:13:29 --> 00:13:32 it as a way to cool the planet. But the
00:13:32 --> 00:13:34 practical engineering needed to make such
00:13:34 --> 00:13:37 flyers real has only recently become possible
00:13:37 --> 00:13:40 thanks to breakthroughs in nanofabrication.
00:13:41 --> 00:13:43 We developed a nanofabrication process that
00:13:43 --> 00:13:46 can be scaled to tens of centimeters, said
00:13:46 --> 00:13:49 Vlasak. Uh, these devices are quite
00:13:49 --> 00:13:52 resilient and have unusual mechanical
00:13:52 --> 00:13:55 behavior for sandwich structures. We are
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 currently working on methods to incorporate
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 the functional payloads into the devices, he
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 said. To see if these tiny flyers could
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 actually work in Earth like conditions, the
00:14:04 --> 00:14:07 team built a special low pressure chamber in
00:14:07 --> 00:14:10 Vlasik's lab. There they
00:14:10 --> 00:14:12 simulated the thin atmosphere found around
00:14:13 --> 00:14:15 60 kilometers above the Earth's UH surface.
00:14:15 --> 00:14:18 In one key experiment, a device just
00:14:18 --> 00:14:21 1 centimeter wide levitated when exposed to
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 light equal to 55% of normal
00:14:23 --> 00:14:26 sunlight. This occurred at an air pressure of
00:14:26 --> 00:14:29 26.7 pa, close to what's
00:14:29 --> 00:14:32 found in the mid mesosphere. This paper
00:14:32 --> 00:14:35 is both theoretical and experimental in the
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 sense that we reimagined how this force is
00:14:37 --> 00:14:40 calculated on real devices and then
00:14:40 --> 00:14:42 validated those forces by applying
00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 measurements to real world conditions,
00:14:44 --> 00:14:46 Schaefer said. Design and
00:14:46 --> 00:14:48 fabrication of the floating membranes were
00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 led by Hyung Kim,
00:14:51 --> 00:14:54 a former Harvard postdoc who is
00:14:54 --> 00:14:57 now a professor at Bukyong National
00:14:57 --> 00:15:00 University in South Korea. Their approach
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 blends careful modeling with hands on
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 experimentation, a rare combination in this
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 field. Keith added, this is the first time
00:15:08 --> 00:15:10 anyone has shown that you can build larger
00:15:10 --> 00:15:12 photophoretic structures and actually make
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 them fly in the atmosphere. It opens up an
00:15:15 --> 00:15:18 entirely new class of device, one that's
00:15:18 --> 00:15:21 passive, sunlight powered and uniquely
00:15:21 --> 00:15:23 suited to explore our upper atmosphere.
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 Later, they might fly on Mars or other
00:15:26 --> 00:15:28 planets. Other possibilities for these
00:15:28 --> 00:15:31 sunlight flyers reach far beyond academic
00:15:31 --> 00:15:34 curiosity. First, they could revolutionize
00:15:34 --> 00:15:37 how we study Earth's climate. By attaching
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 sensors to the structures, scientists could
00:15:39 --> 00:15:42 measure pressure, temperature, wind speed in
00:15:42 --> 00:15:44 a region that is usually a blind spot. This
00:15:44 --> 00:15:47 data could sharpen the accuracy of climate
00:15:47 --> 00:15:50 models and help predict weather patterns more
00:15:50 --> 00:15:53 reliably. These devices could also change
00:15:53 --> 00:15:55 communications systems. A group of them
00:15:55 --> 00:15:58 could form floating array of, uh, antennas,
00:15:58 --> 00:16:01 similar to what satellites like Starlink
00:16:01 --> 00:16:04 offer, except closer to Earth, with lower
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 data delays and potentially cheaper
00:16:06 --> 00:16:09 deployment. The flyers even hold promise
00:16:09 --> 00:16:11 for exploring other planets. Mars, for
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 example. It has a thin
00:16:13 --> 00:16:16 atmosphere similar to Earth's mesosphere. And
00:16:16 --> 00:16:18 that makes makes a natural target for these
00:16:18 --> 00:16:21 sun powered flyers. Unlike traditional
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 Mars rovers, these devices wouldn't need
00:16:23 --> 00:16:26 rotors or wheels. They would glide silently
00:16:26 --> 00:16:28 across the Martian sky, collecting data or
00:16:28 --> 00:16:31 even relaying signals. I think what makes
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 this research fun is that the technology
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 would be used to explore an entirely
00:16:36 --> 00:16:39 unexplored, um, region of the atmosphere.
00:16:39 --> 00:16:42 Previously, nothing could sustainably fly up
00:16:42 --> 00:16:44 their shape. Said it's a bit like the Wild
00:16:44 --> 00:16:47 west in terms of applied physics. The
00:16:47 --> 00:16:50 next steps include adding communication tools
00:16:50 --> 00:16:52 to the flyers so they can send data back to
00:16:52 --> 00:16:54 Earth, uh, during a flight. And that would
00:16:54 --> 00:16:57 make them more useful for real time sensing
00:16:57 --> 00:16:59 and monitoring. To bring this technology into
00:16:59 --> 00:17:02 the real world, Shaffer co founded a startup
00:17:02 --> 00:17:05 called rarify Technologies in 2024 along
00:17:05 --> 00:17:08 with Angela Firdhas. The Harvard Office
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 of Technology Development helped license the
00:17:10 --> 00:17:13 individual invention and offered support for
00:17:13 --> 00:17:15 launching the business. The company's goal is
00:17:15 --> 00:17:17 to turn these floating flyers into a
00:17:17 --> 00:17:20 practical tool for science, communication and
00:17:20 --> 00:17:22 exploration. While these flyers may seem
00:17:22 --> 00:17:25 small, the design is built on years of
00:17:25 --> 00:17:26 advanced scientific work.
00:17:27 --> 00:17:29 The structures use a technique called
00:17:30 --> 00:17:32 thermal transpiration, where the air flows
00:17:32 --> 00:17:35 from cold to warm through tiny holes, adding
00:17:35 --> 00:17:38 thrust in thin atmospheres. The
00:17:38 --> 00:17:40 research team also developed a model to
00:17:40 --> 00:17:42 predict the best design for different
00:17:42 --> 00:17:45 altitudes. This includes the ideal
00:17:45 --> 00:17:48 number of holes, their size, and
00:17:48 --> 00:17:51 how the membranes are spaced. Using this
00:17:51 --> 00:17:53 model, they created devices with customized
00:17:53 --> 00:17:56 layouts that balanced strength with
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 performance. In tests, they measured how
00:17:58 --> 00:18:01 different gases some with heavier molecules
00:18:01 --> 00:18:03 affect lift. They found that the
00:18:03 --> 00:18:06 photophoretic forces remain strong even when
00:18:06 --> 00:18:08 using gases with higher molecular weight,
00:18:08 --> 00:18:11 opening doors for future use on various
00:18:11 --> 00:18:13 planets and altitudes. Other floating
00:18:13 --> 00:18:15 materials have been studied before, such as
00:18:15 --> 00:18:18 mylar disks or nanocardboard,
00:18:18 --> 00:18:21 but none matched the power to weight ratio
00:18:21 --> 00:18:23 seen in these new aluminous sandwich
00:18:23 --> 00:18:26 structures. Their performance, measured by
00:18:26 --> 00:18:28 how much weight is lifted per watt of light,
00:18:28 --> 00:18:31 puts them at the current top top of the
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 photophoretic flyers. While the current
00:18:33 --> 00:18:36 payload capacity is small, just 10
00:18:36 --> 00:18:39 milligrams in a 3cm device,
00:18:39 --> 00:18:42 the approach can scale meter. Wide
00:18:42 --> 00:18:45 flyers may one day lift heavier tools into
00:18:45 --> 00:18:47 the mesosphere and beyond by tapping
00:18:47 --> 00:18:50 into this newly accessible region of the sky.
00:18:50 --> 00:18:53 These featherweight flyers may soon carry
00:18:53 --> 00:18:55 weather sensors, emergency communication
00:18:55 --> 00:18:58 gear, or even tiny Mars bound
00:18:58 --> 00:19:00 probes. And they'll do it all with nothing
00:19:00 --> 00:19:01 but sunlight.
00:19:11 --> 00:19:13 Thank you for joining us for this Monday
00:19:13 --> 00:19:15 edition of Astronomy Daily, where we offer
00:19:15 --> 00:19:17 just a few stories from the now famous
00:19:17 --> 00:19:19 Astronomy Daily newsletter, which you can
00:19:19 --> 00:19:21 receive in your email every day just like
00:19:21 --> 00:19:24 like Hallie and I do. And to do that, just
00:19:24 --> 00:19:26 visit our uh, URL astronomydaily
00:19:27 --> 00:19:29 IO and place your email address in the slot
00:19:29 --> 00:19:32 provided. Just like that, you'll be receiving
00:19:32 --> 00:19:34 all the latest news about science, space
00:19:34 --> 00:19:36 science and astronomy from around the world
00:19:36 --> 00:19:39 as it's happening. And not only that, you can
00:19:39 --> 00:19:41 interact with us by visiting
00:19:41 --> 00:19:44 Strodaily Pod on X
00:19:44 --> 00:19:47 or at our new Facebook page, which is, of
00:19:47 --> 00:19:49 course Astronomy Daily on Facebook. See you
00:19:49 --> 00:19:52 there. Astronomy Derby
00:19:52 --> 00:19:55 with Steve and Hallie Space,
00:19:55 --> 00:19:57 Space Science and Astronomy.
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03 Hallie: A M research team has used both archival
00:20:03 --> 00:20:05 Hubble Space Telescope data and new
00:20:05 --> 00:20:08 observations to precisely measure the binary
00:20:08 --> 00:20:11 star system's NGC 3603.
00:20:11 --> 00:20:14 A1.1 star weighs about 93
00:20:14 --> 00:20:16 times the mass of our sun, while its
00:20:16 --> 00:20:19 companion tips the scales at roughly 70 solar
00:20:19 --> 00:20:22 masses. Together, they represent
00:20:22 --> 00:20:24 one of the most massive binary systems ever
00:20:24 --> 00:20:27 discovered in our galaxy. What makes
00:20:27 --> 00:20:30 this system truly extraordinary is the speed
00:20:30 --> 00:20:33 of their orbital movement. The two
00:20:33 --> 00:20:36 giants orbit each other once every 3.8 days,
00:20:36 --> 00:20:38 meaning that in the time Earth completes one
00:20:38 --> 00:20:40 year around the sun, these stellar titans
00:20:40 --> 00:20:43 will have circled each other nearly 100
00:20:43 --> 00:20:45 times. Their proximity and
00:20:45 --> 00:20:47 incredible masses create a dynamic
00:20:47 --> 00:20:50 relationship that's reshaping both stars.
00:20:50 --> 00:20:53 The discovery required detective work that
00:20:53 --> 00:20:56 spanned years and relied on a crucial insight
00:20:56 --> 00:20:58 from an unlikely source. Sarah
00:20:58 --> 00:21:01 Bodansky, then an undergraduate student at
00:21:01 --> 00:21:03 Carleton College, was working remotely at
00:21:03 --> 00:21:06 Lowell Observatory during the pandemic summer
00:21:06 --> 00:21:08 of 2020 when she noticed something everyone
00:21:08 --> 00:21:10 had missed in the older Hubble data.
00:21:11 --> 00:21:14 This observation was key because it revealed
00:21:14 --> 00:21:16 the binary nature of what had appeared to be
00:21:16 --> 00:21:17 a single fuzzy star
00:21:18 --> 00:21:21 located in the densely packed star cluster
00:21:21 --> 00:21:24 NGC 3603, which is one of the most
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 active star forming regions in our galaxy.
00:21:26 --> 00:21:29 The system could only be resolved using
00:21:29 --> 00:21:30 Hubble's exceptional clarity.
00:21:31 --> 00:21:34 Both stars are so massive and energetic that
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 they mimic Wolf Rayet stars, which are
00:21:36 --> 00:21:39 typically older, dying giants that blast away
00:21:39 --> 00:21:41 their outer layers with intense stellar
00:21:41 --> 00:21:44 winds. However, the stars in
00:21:44 --> 00:21:47 NGC 360301 are actually
00:21:47 --> 00:21:49 still young, demonstrating the extreme
00:21:49 --> 00:21:51 conditions that can make massive stars appear
00:21:51 --> 00:21:54 far more evolved than they actually are.
00:21:55 --> 00:21:57 The interaction between the two stars tells a
00:21:57 --> 00:22:00 fascinating story of stellar evolution.
00:22:00 --> 00:22:03 The smaller of the pair appears to have
00:22:03 --> 00:22:05 stolen mass from its larger companion,
00:22:05 --> 00:22:07 causing it to spin faster. As a result,
00:22:08 --> 00:22:11 this kind of mass transfer is crucial for
00:22:11 --> 00:22:13 understanding how massive stars change over
00:22:13 --> 00:22:15 time and provides insights into their
00:22:15 --> 00:22:18 ultimate fate. Massive binary
00:22:18 --> 00:22:21 systems like NGC3603.
00:22:21 --> 00:22:23 One are the progenitors of binary black
00:22:23 --> 00:22:26 holes, which can eventually merge and create
00:22:26 --> 00:22:28 gravitational waves that scientists have been
00:22:28 --> 00:22:30 detecting since 2015.
00:22:31 --> 00:22:33 Understanding these stellar relationships
00:22:33 --> 00:22:36 helps astronomers predict where and when such
00:22:36 --> 00:22:38 collisions might occur. You're listening to
00:22:38 --> 00:22:40 Astronomy Daily the podcast with Steve
00:22:40 --> 00:22:41 Dunkley.
00:22:46 --> 00:22:49 Steve Dunkley: Technicians inside a pair of clean rooms in
00:22:49 --> 00:22:51 the astrotech facility in Titusville,
00:22:51 --> 00:22:54 Florida, are busily readying a trio
00:22:54 --> 00:22:56 of spacecraft that will study the sun
00:22:57 --> 00:22:59 and its effects on Earth, uh, and across the
00:22:59 --> 00:23:02 solar system. The primary mission among the
00:23:02 --> 00:23:05 Trio is the NASA's Interstellar Mapping
00:23:05 --> 00:23:07 and Acceleration Probe, or IMAP, which will
00:23:07 --> 00:23:10 use a suite of 10 instruments to study the
00:23:10 --> 00:23:13 Sun's sphere of influence, referred to as the
00:23:13 --> 00:23:16 heliosphere. It's joined by the Carruthers
00:23:16 --> 00:23:19 Geocorona Observatory, another NASA
00:23:19 --> 00:23:22 mission, and the Space Weather follow on
00:23:22 --> 00:23:23 in Lagrange 1, especially
00:23:23 --> 00:23:26 SWFOL 1 Observatory from
00:23:26 --> 00:23:29 the national oceanic and Atmospheric
00:23:29 --> 00:23:31 administration, known as NOAA. The trio
00:23:31 --> 00:23:34 will ride atop a SpaceX Falcon
00:23:34 --> 00:23:37 9 rocket to begin a months long
00:23:37 --> 00:23:40 trip to a celestial parking spot known as
00:23:40 --> 00:23:42 Lagrange 1, roughly a million miles from
00:23:42 --> 00:23:45 Earth en route to the Sun. All three
00:23:45 --> 00:23:47 craft are uh, fueled for launch, which is
00:23:47 --> 00:23:50 scheduled for no earlier than September 23,
00:23:50 --> 00:23:53 not too far away. Joseph Westlake, director
00:23:53 --> 00:23:55 of NASA's Science Mission Directorates,
00:23:55 --> 00:23:58 Helios Physics Division, said
00:23:58 --> 00:24:01 recent developments like the total solar
00:24:01 --> 00:24:04 eclipse in 2024, widespread auroras
00:24:04 --> 00:24:06 and marquee missions like Parker Solar's
00:24:06 --> 00:24:09 probe have really put a spotlight on
00:24:09 --> 00:24:11 studying the Sun. You can think about the
00:24:11 --> 00:24:13 solar wind, the space weather as it's coming
00:24:13 --> 00:24:15 toward the Earth, and the measurements that
00:24:15 --> 00:24:18 I'm at is going to make of those particles as
00:24:18 --> 00:24:21 they go forward, Westlake said. And then if
00:24:21 --> 00:24:23 you think of the sun as really blowing up
00:24:23 --> 00:24:26 this big bubble of the heliosphere, IMAP is
00:24:26 --> 00:24:28 going to deliver a unique understanding of
00:24:28 --> 00:24:31 our home in space. And so
00:24:31 --> 00:24:33 as all of that comes together, along with the
00:24:33 --> 00:24:35 multitude of other missions that we've
00:24:35 --> 00:24:37 launched, even just this year, it's a
00:24:37 --> 00:24:39 wonderful time to be a heliophysicist.
00:24:40 --> 00:24:43 David McComas said even though
00:24:43 --> 00:24:46 IMAP is the third uh, NASA
00:24:46 --> 00:24:48 mission for which he's serving as the
00:24:48 --> 00:24:50 principal investigator, the final pre launch
00:24:50 --> 00:24:53 campaign is still a bevy of mixed emotions.
00:24:53 --> 00:24:56 He says, I'm feeling great, but I'm also
00:24:56 --> 00:24:58 feeling terrified because this is that time
00:24:58 --> 00:25:00 when everything comes together and if there's
00:25:00 --> 00:25:02 any issue that pops up at the last minute or
00:25:02 --> 00:25:04 any concern, you know, it can set back the
00:25:04 --> 00:25:07 launch and that can be very expensive and
00:25:07 --> 00:25:10 sort of divert the whole team. He said he
00:25:10 --> 00:25:12 goes um, on to say as and as it all comes
00:25:12 --> 00:25:15 together, the impact of anything happening
00:25:15 --> 00:25:17 gets worse. So you're kind of afraid of that,
00:25:17 --> 00:25:20 but at the same moment you're just really
00:25:20 --> 00:25:23 excited because you know, in the, the
00:25:23 --> 00:25:25 morning of the 23rd, right at sunrise, we're
00:25:25 --> 00:25:27 going to be launching and it's going to be
00:25:27 --> 00:25:29 the most spectacular thing for all of us who
00:25:29 --> 00:25:32 spent 10 years or more working on this
00:25:32 --> 00:25:34 mission, that's. That must feel fantastic
00:25:34 --> 00:25:37 when that happens. IMAP is truly a global
00:25:37 --> 00:25:40 effort. With input from 35 states and
00:25:40 --> 00:25:42 from six partner countries, more than
00:25:42 --> 00:25:45 half of its 12 instruments will study short
00:25:45 --> 00:25:48 term and long term space weather. Inside one
00:25:48 --> 00:25:50 of the Astrotech cleanrooms. Rosanna Smith,
00:25:50 --> 00:25:53 the instrument integration and lead
00:25:53 --> 00:25:56 test lead for imap, adorned in a protective
00:25:56 --> 00:25:59 garment referred to as a bunny suit, said
00:25:59 --> 00:26:02 bringing together the science instruments
00:26:02 --> 00:26:04 from the teams around the world was both very
00:26:04 --> 00:26:07 smooth and a thrill. Working with the
00:26:07 --> 00:26:09 instrument teams was actually awesome because
00:26:09 --> 00:26:11 there's 10 institutions, 10 instruments from
00:26:11 --> 00:26:13 all over the world. Smith said. We traveled
00:26:13 --> 00:26:16 actually to their reviews, we followed
00:26:16 --> 00:26:19 them through their processes and when they
00:26:19 --> 00:26:21 came to us, we integrated them onto the
00:26:21 --> 00:26:23 spacecraft, each one and it was very, very
00:26:23 --> 00:26:26 cool. He sounds really excited. Amber
00:26:26 --> 00:26:29 Dubil, the deputy mechanical engineer for
00:26:29 --> 00:26:31 imap, said that the teams were doing their
00:26:31 --> 00:26:33 final checkouts of the spacecraft. We're
00:26:33 --> 00:26:36 pretty close to done, she says. We're doing
00:26:36 --> 00:26:38 final inspections and then we roll over
00:26:38 --> 00:26:41 to uh mate with our ride shares on
00:26:41 --> 00:26:43 the launch vehicle Duple set.
00:26:43 --> 00:26:46 Similarly to IMAP, NOAA's
00:26:46 --> 00:26:49 SWF O uh L1 observatory will
00:26:49 --> 00:26:51 also be studying space, whether it helps
00:26:51 --> 00:26:54 augment the agency's role in keeping the
00:26:54 --> 00:26:56 public and property safe from all types of
00:26:56 --> 00:26:58 weather events. That is a tough job.
00:26:59 --> 00:27:01 Richard Orman, NOAA Space Weather
00:27:01 --> 00:27:04 Observatory observations director, said one
00:27:04 --> 00:27:06 of the key differences between his agency,
00:27:06 --> 00:27:09 spacecraft and IMAPS and CarRuthers is that
00:27:09 --> 00:27:11 SWF O uh L uh 1 is designed as a
00:27:11 --> 00:27:13 science application mission, not a research
00:27:14 --> 00:27:16 science mission. We are looking at the same
00:27:16 --> 00:27:19 phenomena for the application of, uh,
00:27:19 --> 00:27:21 being prepared for the space weather that's
00:27:21 --> 00:27:24 going to impact us. Said we're hoping that
00:27:24 --> 00:27:27 these IMAP and Carruthers will improve
00:27:27 --> 00:27:29 our knowledge and make us able to make better
00:27:29 --> 00:27:32 forecasts. But what we're doing here is the
00:27:32 --> 00:27:34 operational forecast the day to day.
00:27:34 --> 00:27:37 Orman said SWFO L1 will be
00:27:37 --> 00:27:39 capable of sending back solar weather data in
00:27:39 --> 00:27:41 less than five minutes and can send alerts of
00:27:41 --> 00:27:44 coronal mass ejections about 15 to
00:27:44 --> 00:27:47 30 minutes prior to them impacting the Earth.
00:27:47 --> 00:27:50 He said that kind of early warning system can
00:27:50 --> 00:27:52 help different industries like utility
00:27:52 --> 00:27:54 companies and airplanes prepare for the
00:27:54 --> 00:27:57 interference from strong solar weather. Uh,
00:27:57 --> 00:27:59 rounding out the trio of spacecraft is
00:27:59 --> 00:28:02 Carruthers, named for Dr. George
00:28:02 --> 00:28:04 Carruthers, an astronautical engineer and
00:28:04 --> 00:28:06 astronomer who developed and built an
00:28:06 --> 00:28:09 ultraviolet electrographic telescope that
00:28:09 --> 00:28:11 was flown to the Moon during the Apollo 16
00:28:11 --> 00:28:14 mission. It was designed to help study
00:28:14 --> 00:28:16 Earth's, uh, outermost atmospheric layer, the
00:28:16 --> 00:28:19 exosphere, or geocorona. This
00:28:19 --> 00:28:22 geocorona, the edge of our atmosphere that
00:28:22 --> 00:28:24 extends to at least halfway to the Moon. We
00:28:24 --> 00:28:27 don't even know its shape or size, said Kelly
00:28:27 --> 00:28:30 Carruthers, program scientists.
00:28:30 --> 00:28:32 It's really very meaningful to have this
00:28:33 --> 00:28:35 mission named after him because he's the one
00:28:35 --> 00:28:37 who pioneered the technology. Like the other
00:28:37 --> 00:28:40 two missions, Carruthers will also study
00:28:40 --> 00:28:42 space weather, specifically its interplay
00:28:42 --> 00:28:45 with this exosphere and how well it can
00:28:45 --> 00:28:47 dissipate the energy from solar storms.
00:28:47 --> 00:28:50 Correct said. It can also provide insight
00:28:50 --> 00:28:52 into some key differences between Earth, uh,
00:28:52 --> 00:28:55 and Mars. We saw that on Mars,
00:28:55 --> 00:28:57 water was lost through its exosphere and now
00:28:57 --> 00:29:00 it's kind of barren desert. No, uh, water.
00:29:00 --> 00:29:02 Correct said. How does that change?
00:29:02 --> 00:29:05 What's the difference to our sphere versus
00:29:05 --> 00:29:08 Mars? And then what does that say for life on
00:29:08 --> 00:29:10 other planets outside, uh, our solar system?
00:29:12 --> 00:29:14 You're listening to Astronomy Daily, the
00:29:14 --> 00:29:17 podcast with your host Steve Dudley at
00:29:17 --> 00:29:18 BermaTech.
00:29:26 --> 00:29:27 Oh, and that's all there is today on
00:29:27 --> 00:29:30 Astronomy Daily. And when I say that's all,
00:29:30 --> 00:29:32 it was a pretty long edition today,
00:29:32 --> 00:29:33 so.
00:29:33 --> 00:29:35 Hallie: Glad you stayed with us. It was a bumper
00:29:35 --> 00:29:35 edition.
00:29:35 --> 00:29:37 Steve Dunkley: Yes, there's always plenty of stories.
00:29:37 --> 00:29:40 Hallie: And don't forget to sign up for the Astronomy
00:29:40 --> 00:29:41 Daily newsletter.
00:29:41 --> 00:29:43 Steve Dunkley: Oh, yes, do that there's so much.
00:29:43 --> 00:29:44 Hallie: More to see every day.
00:29:44 --> 00:29:45 Steve Dunkley: Yes, that's right. You'll be better informed
00:29:45 --> 00:29:48 than Hallie. Just put your email address in
00:29:48 --> 00:29:50 the slot provided over at astronomydaily IO.
00:29:50 --> 00:29:53 Uh, it's that simple. And I do hope we'll see
00:29:53 --> 00:29:55 you all again next Monday for the mostly live
00:29:55 --> 00:29:56 episode of Astronomy Daily.
00:29:56 --> 00:29:59 Hallie: And in the meantime, Anna and that Avery guy.
00:29:59 --> 00:30:01 Steve Dunkley: That Avery guy? Oh, come on, Hallie.
00:30:01 --> 00:30:04 Hallie: Okay, that nice new guy, Avery,
00:30:04 --> 00:30:06 will keep you informed with all the news
00:30:06 --> 00:30:09 about space. Space science and astronomy and
00:30:09 --> 00:30:10 beyond, of course.
00:30:10 --> 00:30:12 Steve Dunkley: Sounds good to me. See you all next Monday.
00:30:12 --> 00:30:13 Cheerio.
00:30:13 --> 00:30:13 Hallie: Bye.
00:30:18 --> 00:30:20 Voice Over Guy: With your host, Steve Dunkley.