Welcome back to Astronomy Daily! In S05E55, Anna and Avery explore six fascinating stories from across the cosmos — from auroras on Jupiter’s largest moon to the latest JWST galaxy reveal, a breakthrough solar storm warning system, a beautiful combined nebula image, Japan’s ongoing rocket struggles, and Europe’s ambitious plans for orbital repair robots. Stories This Episode 1. Ganymede’s Auroras Mirror Earth’s Northern Lights Scientists using data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft have revealed that Jupiter’s largest moon Ganymede has fragmented, patch-like auroras remarkably similar to those seen on Earth. The research, led by the University of Liège and published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, suggests that the fundamental physical processes generating auroras may be universal across magnetised bodies in the solar system. Ganymede is the only moon known to have its own intrinsic magnetic field. 2. New Solar Superflare Forecasting System An international team has developed the first system capable of predicting when and where extreme solar storms are likely to occur, with up to a year’s advance warning. By analysing 50 years of X-ray data, researchers identified a 1.7-year and a 7-year solar cycle whose alignment predicts high-risk periods. The current window (mid-2025 to mid-2026) is flagged as elevated danger. Published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics. 3. Cat’s Eye Nebula — Euclid and Hubble Combined NASA and ESA have combined imagery from the Euclid and Hubble space telescopes to produce a breathtaking new composite view of the Cat’s Eye Nebula — the glowing remnant of a dying star about 3,000 light-years away in Draco. The image showcases the nebula’s complex layered shells and intricate inner structure in unprecedented detail. 4. JWST Reveals Spiral Galaxy NGC 5134 The James Webb Space Telescope has captured a stunning infrared portrait of NGC 5134, a barred spiral galaxy 65 million light-years away. Webb’s infrared capability pierces through galactic dust to reveal glowing stellar nurseries and the full cycle of star birth and evolution playing out across the galaxy’s spiral arms. 5. Japan’s Kairos Rocket — Safety Abort on Third Attempt Space One’s Kairos No. 3 rocket was aborted just 30 seconds before liftoff on March 4 when a safety monitoring system detected unstable positioning satellite signals. Following two failed launches in 2024 and multiple weather scrubs this week, the company has yet to set a new launch date. The window remains open until March 25. A successful launch would mark the first orbital success for a fully private Japanese rocket. 6. Europe’s Orbital Repair Robots European companies led by Thales Alenia Space are developing robotic satellites capable of refuelling, repairing and repositioning spacecraft in orbit. A demonstration mission is planned for 2028. With nearly 15,000 operational satellites now in orbit — most never designed to be serviced — the in-orbit servicing market could transform how we manage space infrastructure. Regulatory questions around liability remain unresolved. Links & Further Reading Full show notes, images and source links: astronomydaily.io Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | All podcast platforms Watch on: YouTube — Astronomy Daily Follow us: @AstroDailyPod on Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Tumblr Part of the Bitesz.com Podcast Network
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) .
Sponsor Details:
Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN . To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit You'll be glad you did!
Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support)
This episode includes AI-generated content.
Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/32020680?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Hey everyone, welcome back to Astronomy
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 Daily. I'm Anna.
00:00:04 --> 00:00:06 >> And I'm Avery. And Anna, today's episode
00:00:06 --> 00:00:08 is genuinely one of those ones where I
00:00:08 --> 00:00:10 kept saying, "Wait, what?" out loud
00:00:10 --> 00:00:11 reading the headlines.
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 >> Right. We've got auroras on Jupiter's
00:00:14 --> 00:00:15 biggest moon that look just like the
00:00:15 --> 00:00:18 ones here on Earth. A solar storm early
00:00:18 --> 00:00:19 warning system that could give us a
00:00:19 --> 00:00:22 whole year's notice before the really
00:00:22 --> 00:00:24 dangerous ones hit. A cosmic image that
00:00:24 --> 00:00:26 is genuinely going to make you stop
00:00:26 --> 00:00:28 scrolling. And Japan's struggling
00:00:28 --> 00:00:30 private rocket company has had yet
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 another very bad day. This is series 5,
00:00:33 --> 00:00:36 episode 55 of Astronomy Daily. Let's get
00:00:36 --> 00:00:37 into it.
00:00:37 --> 00:00:40 >> So, our first story is a beautiful one.
00:00:40 --> 00:00:42 Scientists have just published detailed
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 new research showing that Jupiter's
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 largest moon, Ganymede, has auroras. And
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 not just auroras, auroras that look
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 strikingly similar to the northern
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 lights here on Earth. which already
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 sounds incredible for listeners who
00:00:56 --> 00:00:58 might not know. Ganymede is fascinating
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 in its own right. It's actually bigger
00:01:01 --> 00:01:02 than Mercury. It's thought to have a
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 vast liquid saltwater ocean beneath its
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 icy crust. And it's the only moon in our
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 entire solar system known to have its
00:01:09 --> 00:01:11 own magnetic field.
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 >> And that magnetic field is the key to
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 this story. The research was led by
00:01:15 --> 00:01:17 astrophysicists at the University of
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 Lege in Belgium. And they used data from
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 NASA's Juno spacecraft which made a
00:01:23 --> 00:01:26 close flyby of Ganymede back in 2021
00:01:26 --> 00:01:27 coming within about a thousand
00:01:27 --> 00:01:29 kilometers of the surface.
00:01:29 --> 00:01:31 >> So what did they find? Previous
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 observations had suggested Ganymede had
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 auroras but they were blurry and low
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 resolution. With Juno's ultraviolet
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 spectrograph, the team could finally see
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 the fine detail. And what they found
00:01:42 --> 00:01:43 surprised them,
00:01:43 --> 00:01:45 >> right? They expected to see smooth,
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 continuous, oval-shaped, glowing bands
00:01:48 --> 00:01:50 like a diffused curtain of light.
00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 Instead, Ganymede's auroras are
00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 fragmented into a chain of distinct
00:01:55 --> 00:01:58 bright patches. Each one roughly 50 km
00:01:58 --> 00:01:59 across.
00:01:59 --> 00:02:01 >> And crucially, those same structures
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 called beads are something we see in
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 Earth's own auroral displays. They're
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 linked to large scale rearrangements of
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 the magnetosphere that release enormous
00:02:10 --> 00:02:11 amounts of energy. The fact that we're
00:02:12 --> 00:02:13 seeing the same thing on Ganymede
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 suggests that the fundamental physical
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 processes creating auroras might be
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 essentially universal, which is a
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 beautiful idea when you think about it.
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 That the same magnetic dance that lights
00:02:24 --> 00:02:27 up our polar skies on Earth is happening
00:02:27 --> 00:02:30 on a moon half a billion km away. The
00:02:30 --> 00:02:31 research was published in the journal
00:02:32 --> 00:02:34 Astronomy and Astrophysics.
00:02:34 --> 00:02:35 >> And if you're wondering when we'll get
00:02:35 --> 00:02:38 another look, frustratingly, Juno will
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 never fly over Ganymede again. The next
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 close-up opportunity will come in 2031
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 when issa's juice spacecraft arrives at
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 Jupiter. Until then, these 15 minutes of
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 data from 2021 are all we have.
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 >> 15 minutes of data that have kept
00:02:52 --> 00:02:55 scientists busy for years. That's pretty
00:02:55 --> 00:02:56 remarkable, really.
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 >> Okay, next up, and this one has real
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 world stakes. An international team of
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 scientists has developed what they're
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 calling the first system that can
00:03:04 --> 00:03:06 actually predict when and where the most
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 dangerous solar storms, super flares,
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 are likely to occur.
00:03:11 --> 00:03:12 >> And the headline number here is
00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 remarkable. They're talking about up to
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 a year's advanced warning, which if you
00:03:17 --> 00:03:18 know anything about how solar
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 forecasting currently works, is a
00:03:21 --> 00:03:22 complete game changer.
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 >> Right? Because today we can maybe
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 predict a solar flare a few hours before
00:03:26 --> 00:03:28 it happens if we're lucky. And that's
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 for regular flares. Super flares, the
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 really extreme X10 or stronger events,
00:03:34 --> 00:03:36 happen so fast and so unpredictably that
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 they have historically been almost
00:03:38 --> 00:03:41 impossible to foresee. So how does this
00:03:41 --> 00:03:45 new approach work? The team led by Dr.
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 Victor Velascoerrera from the National
00:03:47 --> 00:03:51 Autonomous University of Mexico analyzed
00:03:51 --> 00:03:54 nearly 50 years of X-ray data from solar
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 monitoring satellites. They identified
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 two repeating natural cycles in solar
00:03:59 --> 00:04:03 activity. One lasting about 1.7 years
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 and another of around 7 years. When
00:04:06 --> 00:04:08 those cycles align in certain ways, the
00:04:08 --> 00:04:12 risk of super flares increases sharply.
00:04:12 --> 00:04:13 >> And the system doesn't just give you a
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 time window. It also identifies which
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 specific regions of the sun are at
00:04:18 --> 00:04:21 greatest risk. For solar cycle 25, the
00:04:21 --> 00:04:23 one we're in right now, the model flags
00:04:23 --> 00:04:25 a high-risk window that runs roughly
00:04:25 --> 00:04:29 from mid 2025 through to mid 2026,
00:04:29 --> 00:04:31 focused on the sun's southern
00:04:31 --> 00:04:32 hemisphere,
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 >> meaning we're in it right now.
00:04:35 --> 00:04:37 >> We are. And the reason this matters so
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 much is what a serious super flare could
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 actually do. We're talking widespread
00:04:42 --> 00:04:45 power grid failures, satellite damage,
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 GPS disruption, communications
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 blackouts. For astronauts traveling
00:04:49 --> 00:04:51 outside Earth's magnetic protection,
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 like the Aremis 2 crew heading around
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 the moon, it could pose serious
00:04:55 --> 00:04:56 radiation risks.
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 >> The team actually validated this
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 approach by demonstrating it correctly
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 anticipated powerful eruptions on the
00:05:03 --> 00:05:06 far side of the sun in 2024, events
00:05:06 --> 00:05:09 nobody knew about until after the fact.
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 That retroactive confirmation is what
00:05:11 --> 00:05:13 gives the scientific community
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 confidence the model is genuinely
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 working. It's been published in the
00:05:17 --> 00:05:19 Journal of Geoysical Research.
00:05:19 --> 00:05:22 >> Lead researcher Dr. Velasco Era put it
00:05:22 --> 00:05:25 well. We can't tell you the exact moment
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 a storm will erupt, but we can tell you
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 when the conditions are most dangerous,
00:05:29 --> 00:05:31 and that lead time is what makes all the
00:05:31 --> 00:05:33 difference for utilities, satellite
00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 operators, and space agencies planning
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 missions. Think of it like a hurricane
00:05:38 --> 00:05:41 season forecast rather than a specific
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 storm path prediction. You know when to
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 be on guard that could genuinely save
00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 lives and billions of dollars in
00:05:48 --> 00:05:49 infrastructure,
00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 >> right? Let's take a breath from the
00:05:51 --> 00:05:53 we're all in danger stories and look at
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 something beautiful. NASA and issa have
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 released a stunning new combined image
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 of the Cat's Eye Nebula, bringing
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 together observations from two of our
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 most powerful space telescopes, Uklid
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 and Hubble. The Cats Eyee Nebula is one
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 of those objects that just never gets
00:06:09 --> 00:06:12 old. It's a planetary nebula, the
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 glowing remains of a star similar to our
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 sun that expelled its outer layers as it
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 died. Located about 3 light years
00:06:20 --> 00:06:23 away in the constellation Draco, it was
00:06:23 --> 00:06:25 actually one of the first nebula ever
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 observed through a spectroscope way back
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 in 1864.
00:06:30 --> 00:06:32 And Hubble has imaged it before
00:06:32 --> 00:06:34 famously. But this new composite uses
00:06:34 --> 00:06:37 Uklid's wide field infrared capability
00:06:37 --> 00:06:40 alongside Hubble's detailed optical and
00:06:40 --> 00:06:42 ultraviolet data to produce something
00:06:42 --> 00:06:45 genuinely new. You can see the layered
00:06:45 --> 00:06:47 billowing shrouds of expelled material
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 in extraordinary detail along with the
00:06:50 --> 00:06:51 intricate inner structures around the
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 central white dwarf.
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 >> What I love about this story is what it
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 says about where we are with our
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 telescope infrastructure right now. We
00:06:59 --> 00:07:03 have Hubble, Web, Uklid, all operating
00:07:03 --> 00:07:05 simultaneously, each with different
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07 strengths, and scientists are combining
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 their data to produce views of the
00:07:09 --> 00:07:12 universe that no single instrument could
00:07:12 --> 00:07:13 achieve alone.
00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 >> This is also in a very direct sense a
00:07:15 --> 00:07:18 preview of our own sun's future. In
00:07:18 --> 00:07:21 about 5 billion years, our sun will go
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 through the same process, shedding its
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 outer layers, leaving behind a glowing
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 nebula and a dense white dwarf at its
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 core. The cat's eye is one possible
00:07:30 --> 00:07:33 version of our cosmic obituary.
00:07:33 --> 00:07:36 >> Cheerful, but genuinely awe inspiring.
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 We'll have a link to the full image in
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 the show notes. It is absolutely worth
00:07:40 --> 00:07:42 seeing full size.
00:07:42 --> 00:07:43 >> It's just incredible what they keep on
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 finding out there. Staying in the
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 beautiful corner of the universe for a
00:07:47 --> 00:07:50 moment, the James Webb Space Telescope
00:07:50 --> 00:07:52 has delivered another jaw-dropping
00:07:52 --> 00:07:54 image, this time of a spiral galaxy
00:07:54 --> 00:07:57 called NGC 5134,
00:07:58 --> 00:08:00 sitting about 65 million lighty years
00:08:00 --> 00:08:04 away. So, not exactly next door, but in
00:08:04 --> 00:08:07 infrared, Web is able to pierce through
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 the dust that normally obscures so much
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 of the galactic structure. And what it
00:08:11 --> 00:08:14 reveals is extraordinary. Glowing clouds
00:08:14 --> 00:08:17 of gas, stellar nurseries where new
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 stars are actively forming, and the
00:08:19 --> 00:08:21 intricate spiral arms traced in enormous
00:08:21 --> 00:08:25 detail. NGC 5134 is what's called a
00:08:25 --> 00:08:28 barred spiral galaxy. It has a central
00:08:28 --> 00:08:29 bar-shaped structure from which its
00:08:30 --> 00:08:32 spiral arms extend. Galaxies like this
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 are really important to study because
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 they let us trace the entire stellar
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 life cycle in one place. from dense
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 clouds of gas where new stars are just
00:08:41 --> 00:08:43 beginning to form right through to older
00:08:43 --> 00:08:45 stellar populations in the central
00:08:45 --> 00:08:46 regions.
00:08:46 --> 00:08:48 >> And this image also serves as a kind of
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 reference point for understanding galaxy
00:08:50 --> 00:08:53 evolution more broadly by comparing
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 infrared observations of galaxies like
00:08:55 --> 00:08:59 NGC 5134 across cosmic time. Astronomers
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 can build a picture of how galaxies
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 grow, change, and eventually in some
00:09:03 --> 00:09:07 cases stop forming stars altogether. web
00:09:07 --> 00:09:09 continues to deliver. Every single week
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 there's something new. Link to the full
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 image in the show notes as always.
00:09:13 --> 00:09:16 >> Okay, we've had two gorgeous images and
00:09:16 --> 00:09:19 some landmark science. Time to talk
00:09:19 --> 00:09:21 about Japan's very unlucky rocket
00:09:21 --> 00:09:22 program.
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 >> Poor Chyros. So to set the scene for
00:09:25 --> 00:09:27 anyone just joining this story, Space 1
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 is a Tokyo-based startup founded in
00:09:29 --> 00:09:33 2018, backed by Canon, IHI Aerospace,
00:09:33 --> 00:09:35 Shamzu Corporation, and the Development
00:09:35 --> 00:09:37 Bank of Japan. They've been trying to
00:09:37 --> 00:09:39 become the first fully private Japanese
00:09:39 --> 00:09:42 company to put satellites into orbit
00:09:42 --> 00:09:44 using a domestically developed rocket.
00:09:44 --> 00:09:46 >> Their first Chyros rocket exploded
00:09:46 --> 00:09:50 seconds after liftoff in March 2024. The
00:09:50 --> 00:09:51 second one made it off the pad in
00:09:51 --> 00:09:55 December 2024, but lost attitude control
00:09:55 --> 00:09:57 about 2 minutes in, creating what one
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59 commentator described as a very
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 expensive corkcrew in the sky. And so
00:10:02 --> 00:10:04 all eyes were on Chyros number three,
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 which has been through a genuinely
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 painful week. The launch was originally
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 scheduled for February 25th, scrubbed
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13 for weather. Ben rescheduled for Sunday,
00:10:13 --> 00:10:15 scrubbed for weather again. then
00:10:15 --> 00:10:17 rescheduled for Wednesday, March 4th,
00:10:17 --> 00:10:19 which seemed promising.
00:10:19 --> 00:10:21 >> And then a safety monitoring system
00:10:21 --> 00:10:24 activated 30 seconds before liftoff due
00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 to unstable signal reception from a
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 positioning satellite, and the launch
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 was aborted. No new date has been set,
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 though the launch window runs until
00:10:32 --> 00:10:33 March 25th.
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 >> And to be clear, that system activating
00:10:36 --> 00:10:37 is actually the system doing exactly
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 what it's supposed to do. This is not a
00:10:40 --> 00:10:41 failure in the sense that the previous
00:10:41 --> 00:10:43 two launches were. It's the safeguard
00:10:44 --> 00:10:46 working correctly, but it's still deeply
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 frustrating for everyone involved,
00:10:48 --> 00:10:49 including the local community in
00:10:49 --> 00:10:52 Kushimoto who've embraced this as a kind
00:10:52 --> 00:10:54 of space tourism attraction. There's
00:10:54 --> 00:10:56 something genuinely compelling about
00:10:56 --> 00:10:58 this story because it's about a
00:10:58 --> 00:11:00 country's private space industry trying
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 to find its feet in a market now
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 dominated by Space X. Japan has
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 excellent government rockets. The H3 has
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 been going well, but the commercial
00:11:09 --> 00:11:11 small satellite launch market is where
00:11:11 --> 00:11:13 everyone wants to be, and Space 1 is
00:11:14 --> 00:11:15 fighting hard to get there.
00:11:15 --> 00:11:18 >> We will absolutely be watching. Still a
00:11:18 --> 00:11:19 few weeks in the launch window. Fingers
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 crossed for Chyros number three.
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 >> We'll keep you updated.
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 >> And finally, a story I find genuinely
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 exciting because it's about solving a
00:11:27 --> 00:11:29 problem we've been quietly ignoring for
00:11:29 --> 00:11:32 decades. Europe is developing orbital
00:11:32 --> 00:11:34 repair robots, autonomous spacecraft
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 that could refuel, fix, and reposition
00:11:36 --> 00:11:38 satellites in orbit.
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 >> The framing I love here is space tow
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 trucks, which is how the project manager
00:11:42 --> 00:11:45 at Thalus Alenia Space, Stephanie Behar
00:11:45 --> 00:11:48 Lefanetka, described it. The idea is a
00:11:48 --> 00:11:50 robotic satellite with a mechanical arm
00:11:50 --> 00:11:52 that can approach a stricken or aging
00:11:52 --> 00:11:55 satellite, capture it, service it, and
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 if necessary, push it to a different
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59 orbit. The scale of the problem this
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 addresses is significant. There are now
00:12:02 --> 00:12:06 nearly 15 operational satellites in
00:12:06 --> 00:12:09 orbit. The vast majority were designed
00:12:09 --> 00:12:11 to be entirely disposable. Once they
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 malfunction or run out of fuel, they
00:12:14 --> 00:12:17 either drift into a graveyard orbit or
00:12:17 --> 00:12:18 contribute to the growing debris
00:12:18 --> 00:12:21 problem. Repair was never part of the
00:12:21 --> 00:12:22 business model.
00:12:22 --> 00:12:24 >> Dallas Alena Space is planning a
00:12:24 --> 00:12:27 demonstration mission for 2028. So still
00:12:27 --> 00:12:29 a few years away that will prove out the
00:12:29 --> 00:12:32 capture and servicing technology. One of
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 the clever insights in the engineering
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 is that around 3/4 of all satellites in
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 orbit have robust metal rings that were
00:12:39 --> 00:12:41 originally designed for launch. Those
00:12:41 --> 00:12:44 rings turn out to be ideal grab points
00:12:44 --> 00:12:46 for a robotic arm. Even though nobody
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48 designed them with that in mind,
00:12:48 --> 00:12:50 >> there are fascinating legal questions,
00:12:50 --> 00:12:54 too. If a French company's robot repairs
00:12:54 --> 00:12:56 a South Korean military satellite, who
00:12:56 --> 00:12:59 bears liability if something goes wrong
00:12:59 --> 00:13:01 during the procedure? These are
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 genuinely unsolved problems in
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 international space law that need to be
00:13:05 --> 00:13:08 worked out before this market can scale.
00:13:08 --> 00:13:10 And it's not just Europe. There are
00:13:10 --> 00:13:13 parallel programs in the US and China.
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 But this story shows Europe is serious
00:13:15 --> 00:13:17 about staking a claim in what could be a
00:13:17 --> 00:13:19 very large market. For
00:13:19 --> 00:13:21 telecommunications companies running
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 aging geostationary satellites worth
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 hundreds of millions of dollars, the
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 economics of repair versus replacement
00:13:27 --> 00:13:29 are compelling.
00:13:29 --> 00:13:32 >> It's also just a nice idea, isn't it?
00:13:32 --> 00:13:35 Space is full of expensive hardware
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37 we've abandoned. The idea that we might
00:13:37 --> 00:13:40 start going back up there to fix things
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 rather than just launch new ones feels
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 like a more mature relationship with the
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 orbital environment.
00:13:46 --> 00:13:48 >> And that's our six for today. Auroras on
00:13:48 --> 00:13:51 Ganymede, solar superflare forecasting,
00:13:51 --> 00:13:54 the Catsai Nebula re-imagined, a
00:13:54 --> 00:13:57 stunning web galaxy, Japan's ongoing
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 rocket struggles, and Europe's plans to
00:13:59 --> 00:14:01 send robots to fix our orbital
00:14:01 --> 00:14:03 infrastructure. If you want to see any
00:14:04 --> 00:14:06 of the images we talked about today, the
00:14:06 --> 00:14:09 cat's eye, NGC5134,
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 Ganymede's auroras, they're all linked
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 in the show notes and the blog post over
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 at astronomyaily.io.
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 >> If you're enjoying the show, the best
00:14:18 --> 00:14:19 thing you can do is leave us a review on
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22 Apple Podcast or Spotify and share the
00:14:22 --> 00:14:24 episode with a friend who loves space.
00:14:24 --> 00:14:26 It genuinely makes a difference. You can
00:14:26 --> 00:14:29 also find us at Astro Daily Pod across
00:14:29 --> 00:14:32 X, Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, and
00:14:32 --> 00:14:35 Facebook. We're back tomorrow with more.
00:14:35 --> 00:14:48 Until then, keep looking up.
00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 Stories told.