SpaceTime Series 28 Episode 33
The Astronomy, Space and Science News Podcast
World's Oldest Meteor Impact Crater, Water Ice on the Moon, and the Secretive X37B Shuttle Returns
In this episode of SpaceTime, we unveil the discovery of the world's oldest known meteor impact crater located in Western Australia. This ancient structure, dating back 3.5 billion years, was identified in the Pilbara region and challenges previous notions about Earth's geological history and the origins of life. We discuss the implications of this significant find, including its potential to reshape our understanding of crust formation and the environments conducive to early microbial life.
Water Ice on the Moon
We also delve into exciting new research suggesting that water ice may be found just centimeters below the lunar surface across a much larger area of the Moon's polar regions than previously believed. Based on observations from India's Chandrayaan 3 mission, these findings could greatly influence future lunar exploration and habitation efforts, highlighting the potential for accessible sources of water ice.
The X37B Space Shuttle's Secret Mission
Additionally, we cover the return of the United States Space Force's X37B space shuttle after a classified 434-day mission. The shuttle's successful landing at Vandenberg Space Force Base marks another milestone in its ongoing operations, which include specialized testing and reconnaissance in orbit. We explore the implications of this mission for national security and the future of space operations.
00:00 Space Time Series 28 Episode 33 for broadcast on 17 March 2025
00:49 Discovery of the world's oldest meteor impact crater
06:30 Implications for Earth's geological history
12:15 Overview of potential water ice locations on the Moon
18:00 Findings from the Chandrayaan 3 mission
22:45 Return of the X37B space shuttle
27:00 Summary of recent scientific developments
30:15 Discussion on advancements in HIV prevention
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✍️ Episode References
Nature Communications
https://www.nature.com/naturecommunications/ (https://www.nature.com/naturecommunications/)
Communications Earth and Environment
https://www.nature.com/commsenv/ (https://www.nature.com/commsenv/)
NASA
https://www.nasa.gov (https://www.nasa.gov/)
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Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/26124997?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 this is Spacetime Series 28 episode 33
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 for broadcast on the 17th of March
00:00:05 --> 00:00:09 2025 Coming up on Spaceime the world's
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 oldest meteor impact crater discovered
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 in Western Australia More potential
00:00:14 --> 00:00:17 locations for water ice on the moon and
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 the super secret X37b space shuttle
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 returns to Earth following its latest
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 mission All that and more coming up on
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 Spaceime
00:00:27 --> 00:00:45 Welcome to SpaceTime with Stuart
00:00:45 --> 00:00:48 Garry Scientists have uncovered what is
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 now the world's oldest known meteor
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 impact crater in Western Australia
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 Remnants of the ancient 3 and a half
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 billiony old structure were discovered
00:00:56 --> 00:00:57 in the north pole derm region of the
00:00:58 --> 00:01:00 Pilbur in the state's north The previous
00:01:00 --> 00:01:03 oldest known impact crater also in
00:01:03 --> 00:01:05 Western Australia was dated at 2.2
00:01:05 --> 00:01:08 billion years The new discovery reported
00:01:08 --> 00:01:10 in the journal Nature Communications
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12 could significantly redefine science's
00:01:12 --> 00:01:14 understanding of the origins of life and
00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 how the planet was formed and evolved
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 One of the study's authors Tim Johnson
00:01:19 --> 00:01:20 from Curtain University says the
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 structure challenges previous
00:01:22 --> 00:01:24 assumptions about Earth's ancient
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 history Johnson and colleagues
00:01:26 --> 00:01:27 discovered the crater thanks to shatter
00:01:27 --> 00:01:29 cones distinctive rock formations that
00:01:29 --> 00:01:32 only form under the intense pressure of
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 a meteor strike The shatter cones at the
00:01:34 --> 00:01:37 site about 40 km west of Marble Bar were
00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 formed when a meteor slammed into the
00:01:39 --> 00:01:43 area at more than 36 kmh
00:01:43 --> 00:01:45 Johnson says this impact would have been
00:01:45 --> 00:01:47 a major planetary event resulting in a
00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 crater more than 100 kilometers across
00:01:50 --> 00:01:51 which would have sent ejected debris
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 high into the atmosphere eventually
00:01:53 --> 00:01:56 raining back down across the entire
00:01:56 --> 00:01:59 planet He says the face of the moon is
00:01:59 --> 00:02:01 proof that large impacts were common in
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 the early history of the solar system
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 But until now the absence of any truly
00:02:06 --> 00:02:07 ancient impact craters on Earth has
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 meant they're largely ignored by
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 geologists Johnson says this study
00:02:11 --> 00:02:13 provides a crucial piece of the puzzle
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 of Earth's impact history and suggested
00:02:15 --> 00:02:17 there could be many more ancient craters
00:02:17 --> 00:02:20 yet to be discovered Uncovering this
00:02:20 --> 00:02:21 impact structure and finding more from
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 the same period could also help explain
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 how life began on Earth That's because
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 impact craters generate environments
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 friendly to microbial life such as hot
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 water pools full of mineral nutrients
00:02:33 --> 00:02:35 Johnson says it also radically
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 redefineses science's understanding of
00:02:37 --> 00:02:40 crust formation You see the tremendous
00:02:40 --> 00:02:42 amount of energy from this impact could
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 have played a major role in shaping the
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 Earth's early crust It does this by
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 pushing one part of the crust under
00:02:49 --> 00:02:51 another or by forcing magma to rise from
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 deep within the Earth's mantle up
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 towards the surface It may even have
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 contributed to the formation of large
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01 ancient geological structures stretching
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 deep down into the planet that may well
00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 be the foundations of today's continents
00:03:05 --> 00:03:09 So in 2022 we published a paper in
00:03:09 --> 00:03:12 Nature suggesting that the Pilra caton
00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 ultimately may have formed above one of
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 these giant impacts of the type that we
00:03:18 --> 00:03:19 see on the on the surface of the moon
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 Those dark Luna Mariah the Imbrium
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 crater you know there was very big
00:03:24 --> 00:03:25 impacts that hit the moon There was very
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 big impacts that hit the Earth And we
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30 believed as I say that the Pilocraton
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 could have been a consequence of these
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 And we used at that time we found some
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 evidence based on the chemical
00:03:37 --> 00:03:40 composition of these tiny sandsized
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 grains of the mineral zirkon So zirkon
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 is very very robust chemically and
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 physically robust It also contains lots
00:03:46 --> 00:03:49 of radioactive uranium which decays over
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 time for lead So we can date it and its
00:03:52 --> 00:03:55 host rocks very very accurately And we
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 can also measure various trace elements
00:03:57 --> 00:04:00 and isotopes of oxygen and hapneium and
00:04:00 --> 00:04:02 other sorts of things in these zirkon
00:04:02 --> 00:04:04 grains to say something about how they
00:04:04 --> 00:04:07 might have formed and the processes Now
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 that is all a bit esoteric and it's all
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 sort of microscopic or nanocale science
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 So it's very difficult for anybody to
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 get their heads around really and I
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 don't think very many if any people
00:04:18 --> 00:04:21 really believed that paper So we thought
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 we would go up to the Pilra and try and
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26 look for some more macroscopic evidence
00:04:26 --> 00:04:28 if you like Could we find the crater or
00:04:28 --> 00:04:32 the crater a floor and we simply started
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 our search right in the middle of the
00:04:35 --> 00:04:38 exposure of the most ancient rocks So
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 part of the Pilraaton the most ancient
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 core of it is called the east Pilra
00:04:42 --> 00:04:45 terrain and that is a curiously round
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 set of exposures of rocks about 200 km
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 across And in the middle of that is a
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 structure called the North Pole Dome So
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56 we headed there and in particular to
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 find this unusual layer called the
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 Antarctic Creek member We were looking
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 for that because that layer people had
00:05:04 --> 00:05:08 formerly found sper So sparials are
00:05:08 --> 00:05:12 quite simply the frozen droplets of melt
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 that forms as a direct effect of the
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 heat of the impact But they can also
00:05:17 --> 00:05:19 form as the result of volcanic eruptions
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 But at least this layer had some
00:05:21 --> 00:05:24 evidence for a distal impact So we
00:05:24 --> 00:05:26 thought we would start there And we
00:05:26 --> 00:05:29 parked our four-wheel drives just off a
00:05:30 --> 00:05:31 dusty truck heading south from the main
00:05:31 --> 00:05:33 road where we thought these rocks might
00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 appear Three of us got out and had a
00:05:36 --> 00:05:37 wander around and we agreed to meet back
00:05:38 --> 00:05:39 at the vehicles an hour or so later And
00:05:40 --> 00:05:42 we found when we did meet back we
00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 thought we'd all found the same thing
00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 which is this feature called shatter
00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 cones in the rock And shatter cones are
00:05:48 --> 00:05:51 the only unequivocal evidence that you
00:05:51 --> 00:05:54 can see with a naked eye for a direct
00:05:54 --> 00:05:57 meteorite impact crater So shatter cones
00:05:57 --> 00:05:59 are known almost exclusively from what
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 are called the central uplift of big
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 craters So much like when you drop into
00:06:04 --> 00:06:06 water that drop hits the surface and
00:06:06 --> 00:06:08 then you have a rebound the drop comes
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 back up Um that's exactly what happens
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13 with big craters So the impactor hits
00:06:13 --> 00:06:15 and then the center where you've had the
00:06:15 --> 00:06:19 maximum impact force rebounds and you
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 get something called a central uplet And
00:06:21 --> 00:06:23 that's what we believe this whole big 20
00:06:23 --> 00:06:26 or 30 km wide dome in the middle of the
00:06:26 --> 00:06:29 East Pilra is And we found the evidence
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 supporting that which was extremely
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 lucky but very nice The Zirkons then
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 gave you the date for that Yes So this
00:06:36 --> 00:06:38 layer Antarctic creek member it is
00:06:38 --> 00:06:42 called it's a very unusual very complex
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 layer a whole mish mash of lots of
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 different things including broken up
00:06:46 --> 00:06:49 bits of bassalt and shirts and these
00:06:49 --> 00:06:51 sperial layers and it's sitting in
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 between a few kilometers of bassalt
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 underneath it and a few kilometers of
00:06:55 --> 00:06:58 bassalt above it These shatter cones are
00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 developed right the way throughout this
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 20 m or so thick layer called the
00:07:03 --> 00:07:05 Antarctic creek member But immediately
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07 above them are these beautiful pillow
00:07:07 --> 00:07:10 lavas So like giant toothpaste sort of
00:07:10 --> 00:07:12 squirted out which tell us that they
00:07:12 --> 00:07:15 were erupted underwater But there is no
00:07:15 --> 00:07:18 sign of shock at all in those rocks
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 above And we traced them up for several
00:07:20 --> 00:07:21 tens of meters to try and look for
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 shatter cones above where we found them
00:07:23 --> 00:07:26 and couldn't find any The Antarctic
00:07:26 --> 00:07:29 Creek member is also overlaining by
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 these really complex carbonate breers
00:07:31 --> 00:07:34 that penetrate into it as dikes and big
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 fractures So what we think we're looking
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 at is the surface of the crater We're
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 actually standing on the crater floors
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 in this huge structure which is the
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 central uplift of the crater So because
00:07:46 --> 00:07:49 we didn't find any shatter cones above
00:07:50 --> 00:07:52 we think the stratographic age of that
00:07:52 --> 00:07:54 layer the Antarctic creek member gives
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 you the age of the impact and
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 fortunately the geocchronologists of the
00:07:58 --> 00:08:00 geological society of Western Australia
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 had already dated the rocks and there is
00:08:02 --> 00:08:06 a layer of felicit volcanic rocks below
00:08:06 --> 00:08:08 the shatter cone bearing horizon which
00:08:08 --> 00:08:11 has been dated by uraniumled ziron to be
00:08:11 --> 00:08:13 3.47 47 billion years old And the
00:08:13 --> 00:08:16 bassalts above there is a layer of
00:08:16 --> 00:08:18 feltic volcanics in those as well which
00:08:18 --> 00:08:21 has also been dated at 3.47 billion
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 years old So that provides us with a
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26 stratographic age of 3.47 for the um
00:08:26 --> 00:08:27 shatter cone bearing horizon So we knew
00:08:27 --> 00:08:30 we had our age and we had our oldest
00:08:30 --> 00:08:33 impact breaker This discovery is really
00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 exciting because we know Earth was
00:08:35 --> 00:08:37 formed as a result of meteor and
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 asteroid impacts It's called accretion
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 There was a big one about 4.5 billion
00:08:41 --> 00:08:44 years ago which we call thea the moon
00:08:44 --> 00:08:46 Yes So we know this happens but there's
00:08:46 --> 00:08:48 also a thing with the earth called plate
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 tectonics and also we have erosion and
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 things like this So the early earth's
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 history is something we know very little
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 about This ancient impact must be
00:08:57 --> 00:08:59 telling us a lot about the history of
00:08:59 --> 00:09:02 our planet Absolutely Yes Yes I mean
00:09:02 --> 00:09:05 we've argued it's 2018 really where we
00:09:05 --> 00:09:07 first got into this that large impacts
00:09:07 --> 00:09:09 were absolutely fundamental to earth's
00:09:09 --> 00:09:12 early evolution as we can see they were
00:09:12 --> 00:09:13 on all the other silicate bodies in the
00:09:14 --> 00:09:15 unis solar system that we can see be
00:09:15 --> 00:09:18 they planets moons or asteroids as you
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 say plate tectonics is an incredibly
00:09:20 --> 00:09:23 efficient way of recycling the surface
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 the rigid surface of the earth the
00:09:25 --> 00:09:27 lithosphere and the crust back into the
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 convecting mantle So most of the
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 evidence is destroyed particularly given
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 that most of the planet would have been
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 oceanic and most of those impacts would
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 have been into the ocean and and they've
00:09:38 --> 00:09:40 subsequently disappeared But we do have
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 areas of really really truly ancient
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 continental crust these so-called catons
00:09:46 --> 00:09:47 that occur in the middle of all of the
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 continents and they started forming
00:09:50 --> 00:09:53 right at the tail end of what we know
00:09:53 --> 00:09:55 would have been an intense bombardment
00:09:55 --> 00:09:57 from the formation of the solar system 4
00:09:57 --> 00:10:00 1/2 billion years ago right up to 3 1/2
00:10:00 --> 00:10:02 billion years ago So we should be able
00:10:02 --> 00:10:04 to find evidence of these impacts and we
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 think we do and we think they would have
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 been fundamental to the processes
00:10:09 --> 00:10:11 operating then including how those
00:10:11 --> 00:10:14 catons might originally have come to be
00:10:14 --> 00:10:17 but also how for example the earliest
00:10:17 --> 00:10:18 mineral systems the earliest
00:10:18 --> 00:10:20 hydrothermal mineralization systems
00:10:20 --> 00:10:23 formed and perhaps even creating the
00:10:23 --> 00:10:25 ecological niches from which life
00:10:25 --> 00:10:27 eventually took a foothold and emerged
00:10:27 --> 00:10:30 to become us The catons themselves
00:10:30 --> 00:10:31 they're fascinating because they've
00:10:32 --> 00:10:33 given place like Western Australia where
00:10:34 --> 00:10:35 you are it's mineral wealth that's made
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 at one of the richest places on earth
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 quite literally Exactly So many of the
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 mineral deposits things like gold and
00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 nickel and lithium even are found
00:10:46 --> 00:10:49 predominantly in these aranatons and at
00:10:49 --> 00:10:51 their margins and we don't think that is
00:10:52 --> 00:10:54 a coincidence So yes in incredibly
00:10:54 --> 00:10:56 important processes and incredibly
00:10:56 --> 00:10:59 important consequences for humankind I
00:10:59 --> 00:11:01 mean we argue that large impacts created
00:11:01 --> 00:11:03 the land masses on which all humankind
00:11:03 --> 00:11:06 walks and the life from which we evolve
00:11:06 --> 00:11:08 So they couldn't be more fundamental in
00:11:08 --> 00:11:11 our view The link between the cratons
00:11:11 --> 00:11:13 and meteor impact site is quite
00:11:14 --> 00:11:15 fascinating What's the idea that the
00:11:15 --> 00:11:18 asteroids slammed into the earth and it
00:11:18 --> 00:11:20 melted everything underneath and that
00:11:20 --> 00:11:21 went all the way deep into the went into
00:11:22 --> 00:11:23 the deep mantle because some of these
00:11:23 --> 00:11:26 cratons can can go close to the core
00:11:26 --> 00:11:27 mantle boundary that melted material
00:11:27 --> 00:11:30 just upworld because of the the lack of
00:11:30 --> 00:11:31 pressure and so it was able to upworld
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33 towards the surface towards the crust
00:11:33 --> 00:11:35 Absolutely That's the that's the key
00:11:35 --> 00:11:38 point this decompression The earth is a
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 layered structure and we have this rigid
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 lithosphere crust which is sitting on
00:11:42 --> 00:11:45 top of the convecting mantle underneath
00:11:45 --> 00:11:47 and the convecting mantle is primed to
00:11:47 --> 00:11:50 melt and think of it like slowmoving
00:11:50 --> 00:11:52 molasses or honey Yes You can also think
00:11:52 --> 00:11:54 of it as a bit like a champagne bottle
00:11:54 --> 00:11:56 if you like So the only thing that's
00:11:56 --> 00:11:59 stopping the molasses the convecting
00:11:59 --> 00:12:01 mantle from melting is the fact that
00:12:01 --> 00:12:03 it's got a a lid on it This lithosphere
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 Okay So that's like the cork in the
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07 champagne bottle As soon as you remove
00:12:07 --> 00:12:09 that lithosphere or you remove the cork
00:12:09 --> 00:12:12 everything goes mad and your champagne
00:12:12 --> 00:12:13 starts squirting out the top It's
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 exactly the same for the mantle If you
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 remove the lithosphere in with a big
00:12:17 --> 00:12:19 impact then the underlying mantle will
00:12:19 --> 00:12:22 melt profusely and produce huge volumes
00:12:22 --> 00:12:25 of bassalt So you'll get something like
00:12:25 --> 00:12:27 an oceanic plateau So something like on
00:12:27 --> 00:12:29 Java or even Hawaii those sorts of
00:12:29 --> 00:12:32 things But because Earth had still
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 retained its water it still had a
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 hydrosphere and and that hydrosphere is
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 still around You then offer yourself the
00:12:39 --> 00:12:42 possibility of reprocessing that thick
00:12:42 --> 00:12:45 basultic pile of rocks into more evolved
00:12:45 --> 00:12:48 continental rocks granics if you like So
00:12:48 --> 00:12:50 the pale colored rocks And once you've
00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 formed those pale colored rocks they're
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54 really stable because they're they're
00:12:54 --> 00:12:56 much less dense than the basil And they
00:12:56 --> 00:12:59 basically float and and stay around for
00:12:59 --> 00:13:01 billions of years as as we know they
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 have And one of the fundamental things
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 about platons one of the fundamental
00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 observations that anybody can make when
00:13:07 --> 00:13:09 looking on Google Earth or geological
00:13:09 --> 00:13:12 maps is that they are uncommonly round
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 And you need to provide a decent
00:13:14 --> 00:13:16 explanation as to why that would be
00:13:16 --> 00:13:18 because it's important I think
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 geologists have perhaps forgotten what
00:13:20 --> 00:13:22 we have traditionally been good at which
00:13:22 --> 00:13:24 is making straightforward observations
00:13:24 --> 00:13:27 mapping things and recognizing patterns
00:13:28 --> 00:13:29 and then trying to interpret those
00:13:29 --> 00:13:31 patterns That's exactly how we
00:13:31 --> 00:13:33 discovered plate tectonics the patterns
00:13:33 --> 00:13:36 of the magnetic reversals on the seabed
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38 allowed people to interpret those that
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 they were sites of creation of new crust
00:13:41 --> 00:13:43 That's how geology came about in the
00:13:43 --> 00:13:45 first place an observation was made of
00:13:45 --> 00:13:48 rocks on a cliff and they noticed that
00:13:48 --> 00:13:51 Yeah it was folded over Exactly Exactly
00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 And it would have taken time for that
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 folding to take place Of course Of
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 course And and it's those fundamental
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 observations that people interpret And
00:13:59 --> 00:14:01 of course you know way back in the 17th
00:14:01 --> 00:14:03 and 18th century we didn't have any
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 machinery to measure isotopes or trace
00:14:05 --> 00:14:07 elements or anything like that It really
00:14:07 --> 00:14:09 was what you can see with your eyes and
00:14:09 --> 00:14:10 map out to try and make sense of that
00:14:10 --> 00:14:12 But just fundamental observations such
00:14:12 --> 00:14:15 as catton if you look at maps of the
00:14:15 --> 00:14:17 Pilra caton or even the old one of the
00:14:17 --> 00:14:20 oldestratons the slaveraton it's just
00:14:20 --> 00:14:22 uncommonly round a circular feature and
00:14:22 --> 00:14:24 then that's a very hard thing to do with
00:14:24 --> 00:14:27 plate tectonics plate tectonics features
00:14:27 --> 00:14:29 like spreading ridges or continental
00:14:29 --> 00:14:31 arcs like Japan and Indonesia they're
00:14:31 --> 00:14:33 all these big long linear features
00:14:33 --> 00:14:35 that's exactly what you would expect if
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 you have rigid plates jostling against
00:14:38 --> 00:14:39 each other and where they meet that's
00:14:39 --> 00:14:41 where all the action is happening But
00:14:41 --> 00:14:42 you wouldn't expect plate tectonics to
00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 produce anything like a a circular
00:14:44 --> 00:14:46 structure You would expect that to
00:14:46 --> 00:14:49 result from either impacts or these
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 mantle plumes that is the other sort of
00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 widely held This is the hot spots like
00:14:53 --> 00:14:56 Hawaii and Iceland Precisely Yes So in
00:14:56 --> 00:14:57 the earlier well the earth certainly
00:14:57 --> 00:14:59 would have been hotter and you might
00:14:59 --> 00:15:01 expect mental plumes to have been even
00:15:01 --> 00:15:03 more vigorously active but it just
00:15:03 --> 00:15:06 doesn't make sense when you compare the
00:15:06 --> 00:15:08 likelihood that the impacts could have
00:15:08 --> 00:15:09 given rise to the same thing That's
00:15:10 --> 00:15:12 Professor Tim Johnson from Curtain
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 University and this is spacetime Still
00:15:15 --> 00:15:18 to come a new study suggests water ice
00:15:18 --> 00:15:20 may be present just a few centimeters
00:15:20 --> 00:15:22 below the lunar surface over a far wider
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 area of the moon's polar regions than
00:15:24 --> 00:15:27 previously thought And the United States
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 secret X37B space shuttle returns to
00:15:30 --> 00:15:31 Earth following its latest classified
00:15:31 --> 00:15:34 mission All that and more still to come
00:15:34 --> 00:15:50 on
00:15:50 --> 00:15:53 Spaceime A new study suggests that water
00:15:53 --> 00:15:55 ice may be present just a few
00:15:55 --> 00:15:57 centimeters below the lunar surface over
00:15:57 --> 00:15:59 a far greater area of the moon's polar
00:15:59 --> 00:16:02 regions than previously thought The
00:16:02 --> 00:16:03 findings reported in the journal
00:16:03 --> 00:16:05 communications earth and environment are
00:16:05 --> 00:16:07 based on observations by the Indian
00:16:07 --> 00:16:09 Chandrean 3 mission in
00:16:09 --> 00:16:12 2023 It showed that the moon's surface
00:16:12 --> 00:16:14 is covered by large yet highly localized
00:16:14 --> 00:16:17 variations in surface temperatures It's
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19 an important factor because future
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 long-term exploration and habitation of
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 the moon will depend on the availability
00:16:23 --> 00:16:25 of ice to provide water So far
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 measurements have shown the presence of
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 water ice in cold sinks These are the
00:16:29 --> 00:16:31 dark permanently shadowed floors of deep
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 polar craters that never experience any
00:16:33 --> 00:16:35 sunlight The only previous direct
00:16:36 --> 00:16:37 measurements of lunar surface
00:16:37 --> 00:16:39 temperatures were taken way back in the
00:16:39 --> 00:16:42 1970s by the Apollo missions However
00:16:42 --> 00:16:43 those missions all landed near the
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45 equator where terrain slopes had little
00:16:45 --> 00:16:47 effect on temperature The sites were
00:16:48 --> 00:16:49 several thousand kilometers from the
00:16:49 --> 00:16:51 proposed southern polar landing sites
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53 now being selected for the future
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 Artemis man missions The study's lead
00:16:56 --> 00:16:57 author Dugra Prasad from India's
00:16:58 --> 00:16:59 physical research laboratory analyzed
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 temperature readings taken on the lunar
00:17:01 --> 00:17:04 surface and down to a depth of 10 cm by
00:17:04 --> 00:17:05 a temperature probe experiment aboard
00:17:06 --> 00:17:08 the Changeran 3 vicram lander which
00:17:08 --> 00:17:09 touched down right at the edge of the
00:17:09 --> 00:17:12 lunar south pole Brasard and colleagues
00:17:12 --> 00:17:13 found that temperatures at the landing
00:17:13 --> 00:17:16 site a sun-facing slope angle at about
00:17:16 --> 00:17:20 6° peaked at around 355 Kelvin that's 82
00:17:20 --> 00:17:23 degrees C and dropped to 105 Kelvin
00:17:23 --> 00:17:27 that's - 168° C during the lunar night
00:17:28 --> 00:17:30 However a lower peak temperature of 332
00:17:30 --> 00:17:34 Kelvin or 59° C was measured on a flat
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 region just a meter away The authors
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 then use this collected data to derive a
00:17:39 --> 00:17:41 model of how slope angle affects surface
00:17:41 --> 00:17:43 temperatures on the moon especially at
00:17:43 --> 00:17:44 higher lunar latitudes similar to the
00:17:44 --> 00:17:47 landing site The model indicated that
00:17:47 --> 00:17:49 for slopes facing away from the sun and
00:17:49 --> 00:17:51 towards the nearest pole a slope with an
00:17:51 --> 00:17:54 angle greater than 14° may well be cool
00:17:54 --> 00:17:56 enough for ice to accumulate close to
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 the surface And this is similar to
00:17:58 --> 00:18:01 conditions at the lunar poles including
00:18:01 --> 00:18:02 those at the proposed landing sites for
00:18:02 --> 00:18:05 Artemus The authors therefore suggest
00:18:05 --> 00:18:06 that areas on the moon where the ice can
00:18:06 --> 00:18:09 form may be far more numerous and easier
00:18:09 --> 00:18:12 to access than previously thought This
00:18:12 --> 00:18:15 is spaceime Still to come America's
00:18:15 --> 00:18:18 super secret X37b space shuttle returns
00:18:18 --> 00:18:19 to Earth following its latest mission
00:18:20 --> 00:18:22 And later in the science report we may
00:18:22 --> 00:18:24 finally be a step closer to a once a
00:18:24 --> 00:18:27 year injection which could help prevent
00:18:27 --> 00:18:29 HIV infection All that and more coming
00:18:30 --> 00:18:46 up on
00:18:46 --> 00:18:49 Spaceime The United States Space Force's
00:18:49 --> 00:18:51 highly secretive X37B space shuttle has
00:18:51 --> 00:18:54 returned to Earth following a classified
00:18:54 --> 00:18:57 434-day orbital mission It was the
00:18:57 --> 00:18:58 seventh mission for the program which
00:18:58 --> 00:19:00 uses two of the wing space planes to
00:19:00 --> 00:19:03 undertake specialist orbital testing and
00:19:03 --> 00:19:05 reconnaissance operations The landing at
00:19:05 --> 00:19:07 the Vandenberg Space Force Base in
00:19:07 --> 00:19:09 California took place appropriately
00:19:09 --> 00:19:11 under the cover of darkness in the
00:19:11 --> 00:19:13 middle of the night and the touchdown
00:19:13 --> 00:19:15 wasn't publicly announced until several
00:19:15 --> 00:19:18 hours after its pre-dawn return The
00:19:18 --> 00:19:19 mission had launched aboard SpaceX
00:19:19 --> 00:19:21 Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy
00:19:22 --> 00:19:25 Space Center way back in December 2023
00:19:25 --> 00:19:27 While few details were released by Space
00:19:27 --> 00:19:29 Force mission managers they did say the
00:19:29 --> 00:19:31 flight successfully demonstrated the
00:19:31 --> 00:19:33 vehicle's ability to change orbits by
00:19:33 --> 00:19:35 using aerobreing that is atmospheric
00:19:35 --> 00:19:38 drag to slow down in the process saving
00:19:38 --> 00:19:41 valuable fuel And that's an important
00:19:41 --> 00:19:42 development because one of the big
00:19:42 --> 00:19:45 advantages of the X37B is its ability to
00:19:45 --> 00:19:48 easily change orbits making it difficult
00:19:48 --> 00:19:50 for the enemy to keep track of Following
00:19:50 --> 00:19:52 its deployment from the Falcon into a
00:19:52 --> 00:19:54 highly elliptical orbit the reusable
00:19:54 --> 00:19:56 space plane conducted what Space Force
00:19:56 --> 00:19:58 describes as space domain awareness
00:19:58 --> 00:20:00 technology experiments that aim to
00:20:00 --> 00:20:02 improve America's knowledge of the space
00:20:02 --> 00:20:05 environment Now that word salad suggests
00:20:05 --> 00:20:06 that one of its functions is close
00:20:06 --> 00:20:09 proximity inspector missions studying
00:20:09 --> 00:20:11 imaging and maybe even attaching spy
00:20:11 --> 00:20:14 equipment onto enemy satellites First
00:20:14 --> 00:20:16 launched back in 2010 the Boeing made
00:20:16 --> 00:20:18 autonomous spacecraft are based on a
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 prototype originally developed to be
00:20:20 --> 00:20:22 transported into space in the payload
00:20:22 --> 00:20:24 bay of NASA's space shuttle fleet and
00:20:24 --> 00:20:25 then deployed on missions lasting well
00:20:26 --> 00:20:29 over 900 days And the previous X37B
00:20:29 --> 00:20:33 mission OTV6 lasted 98 days in orbit
00:20:33 --> 00:20:36 Genuine proof of concept This is
00:20:36 --> 00:20:52 spaceime
00:20:52 --> 00:20:54 And time now to take a brief look at
00:20:54 --> 00:20:56 some of the other stories making news in
00:20:56 --> 00:20:59 science this week with a science report
00:20:59 --> 00:21:01 Early stage trials suggesting that a
00:21:01 --> 00:21:04 once a year injection to prevent HIV may
00:21:04 --> 00:21:07 now be a step closer to fruition
00:21:07 --> 00:21:09 HIV is the human immuno deficiency virus
00:21:09 --> 00:21:13 which causes AIDS The findings reported
00:21:13 --> 00:21:15 in the Lancet medical journal found that
00:21:15 --> 00:21:17 one injection of the drug licamp into
00:21:17 --> 00:21:19 the muscle resulted in the compound
00:21:19 --> 00:21:20 remaining detectable in the blood for at
00:21:20 --> 00:21:24 least 56 weeks At the one-year mark the
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 study found the drug was safe and that
00:21:26 --> 00:21:27 blood levels of the drug were still
00:21:27 --> 00:21:29 higher than those recorded in previous
00:21:29 --> 00:21:30 studies where the drug was shown to
00:21:30 --> 00:21:33 block HIV transmission However as a
00:21:33 --> 00:21:35 phase one study the trial didn't
00:21:35 --> 00:21:36 actually measure the drug's
00:21:36 --> 00:21:38 effectiveness at preventing HIV
00:21:38 --> 00:21:40 infection and so further clinical trials
00:21:40 --> 00:21:41 will be needed including with
00:21:41 --> 00:21:43 participants from more diverse
00:21:43 --> 00:21:45 population
00:21:45 --> 00:21:47 sets Scientists say the record-breaking
00:21:47 --> 00:21:50 high sea temperatures of 2023 and 24
00:21:50 --> 00:21:52 were strange but not totally unexpected
00:21:52 --> 00:21:54 when looking at climate models A report
00:21:54 --> 00:21:56 in the journal Nature's found that
00:21:56 --> 00:21:58 global sea surface temperatures reached
00:21:58 --> 00:22:00 record highs breaking the previous
00:22:00 --> 00:22:04 records by around 0.25° 25° C The sudden
00:22:04 --> 00:22:06 increase raised concerns that global
00:22:06 --> 00:22:08 warming might be accelerating faster
00:22:08 --> 00:22:10 than models had predicted However
00:22:10 --> 00:22:11 looking at observation-based statistical
00:22:12 --> 00:22:13 models the authors found the jump was
00:22:13 --> 00:22:16 considered to be a 1 in 512-year event
00:22:16 --> 00:22:19 relative to current warming trends This
00:22:19 --> 00:22:20 means that while such an anomaly would
00:22:20 --> 00:22:22 have been practically impossible without
00:22:22 --> 00:22:24 current global warming trends the events
00:22:24 --> 00:22:27 not entirely unexpected
00:22:27 --> 00:22:29 Paleontologists have discovered red
00:22:29 --> 00:22:31 dinosaur footprints hiding in plain
00:22:32 --> 00:22:34 sight at a central Queensland high
00:22:34 --> 00:22:36 school A report in the journal
00:22:36 --> 00:22:38 Historical Biology identified 66
00:22:38 --> 00:22:40 fossilized footprints on a boulder at
00:22:40 --> 00:22:42 the school representing one of the
00:22:42 --> 00:22:44 highest concentrations of dinosaur
00:22:44 --> 00:22:45 footprints per square meter ever
00:22:45 --> 00:22:48 documented in Australia The footprints
00:22:48 --> 00:22:51 are from 47 individual dinosaurs which
00:22:51 --> 00:22:53 passed across a patch of wet clay while
00:22:54 --> 00:22:55 walking along or crossing a waterway
00:22:56 --> 00:22:57 during the early Jurassic some 200
00:22:58 --> 00:23:00 million years ago The three-toed
00:23:00 --> 00:23:02 footprints belong to the ignore species
00:23:02 --> 00:23:04 Aurpus Scampus a small bipedal
00:23:04 --> 00:23:06 herbiviverous dinosaur between 15 and 50
00:23:06 --> 00:23:09 cm in length with long legs a chunky
00:23:09 --> 00:23:11 body short arms and a small head and
00:23:11 --> 00:23:13 beak The boulder containing the
00:23:13 --> 00:23:15 footprints was uncovered some 20 years
00:23:15 --> 00:23:17 ago at a local mine and then given to
00:23:17 --> 00:23:20 the local high school And it wasn't
00:23:20 --> 00:23:22 alone A second rock also containing
00:23:22 --> 00:23:24 dinosaur footprints from two different
00:23:24 --> 00:23:26 species was found decorating the mine's
00:23:26 --> 00:23:28 car park entrance while a third much
00:23:28 --> 00:23:30 smaller dinosaur footprint covered rock
00:23:30 --> 00:23:32 had been encased in resin and was being
00:23:32 --> 00:23:50 used in the office as a bookend
00:23:50 --> 00:23:53 and that's the show for now Spaceime is
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00:24:42 --> 00:24:45 details You've been listening to
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00:24:47 --> 00:24:50 another quality podcast production from
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