Barnard’s Star and Beyond : Exploring Hellish Worlds and Australia’s Space Partnerships

[00:00:00] This is Space Time Series 29 Episode 88, for broadcast on the 24th of July 2026. Coming up on Space Time, the hellish worlds orbiting a nearby star, Australia's role in India's manned space program, and the latest mission to the International Space Station. All that and more coming up on Space Time. Welcome to Space Time with Stuart Gary.

[00:00:42] Astronomers have painted the most detailed portrait yet of the planetary system orbiting Barnard's star, the Sun's closest stellar neighbor after the Alpha Centauri star system. Barnard's star is located just under six light years away. In 2025, astronomers discovered four planets orbiting the star. All are smaller than the Earth, but larger than Mars, and therefore represent a type of planet not found in our own solar system.

[00:01:07] A report in the Journal of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society says that by analyzing the chemical makeup of the star, the authors are able to determine that these planets are rich in a rare mineral called pericles, which on Earth is only found hundreds of kilometers below the surface. The study's lead author, Xander Byrne from Cambridge University, says Barnard's star has an enormous amount of the element magnesium compared to other stars, so its planets are also likely to be rich in magnesium.

[00:01:36] Byrne says that here on Earth, magnesium goes into making minerals called olivines, which are really important for storing water within the planet. On the planets orbiting Barnard's star, however, the authors found that the abundance of magnesium creates huge quantities of pericles, which doesn't readily store water.

[00:01:53] The other point is that these planets all orbit really close in to their host star, a red dwarf, and so they're constantly being blasted by stellar winds and the occasional stellar flare, making them highly unlikely to retain any atmosphere. Byrne says that even the outermost of these planets orbits ten times closer to Barnard's star than Mercury orbits to the Sun. He says that most, the planets could have held onto their atmospheres for maybe two billion years, much shorter than the system's ten billion year age.

[00:02:24] And being so close to their host star has another consequence. The planets are all tidally locked. Just like the same side of the Moon always faces the Earth, the planets orbiting Barnard's star always only ever showed the one face to their star. And as a result, each planet has one hemisphere locked in eternal daylight while the other is in everlasting night.

[00:02:44] Planetary systems as compact as the one around Barnard's star are often unstable, with gravitational interactions between planets sometimes leading to them colliding, falling onto the star, or being ejected from the system completely. However, the authors found that the phenomena known as orbital resonance might be helping to stabilize the planets in the Barnard's star system. It seems the length of the years for the inner three planets in this system are in a 9 to 12 to 16 ratio.

[00:03:11] And these are the same orbital harmonies that are responsible for stabilizing the orbits of the moons of Jupiter, and so may also be protecting the Barnard's star system from gravitational disarray. This is space-time. Still to come, Australia's role in India's manned space program, and a new mission to the International Space Station. All that and more still to come, on Space Time.

[00:03:50] India's manned space program is moving ahead with the commissioning of a new space tracking station on Australia's Cocos Keeling Islands. Coordinated by the Australian Space Agency, ASA for the Indian Space Research Organisation, the facility will support the nation's Gaganyan human spaceflight program. The commissioning was a key feature of Indian Prime Minister Modi's visit to Melbourne for the third Australia-India annual summit. The new dish will provide mission-critical tracking support for four planned Gaganyan missions.

[00:04:19] The flights will all launch aboard a human-rated version of the GSLV Mark III rocket, and carry a crew capsule fitted with a service module. The first of the unmanned test flights is expected to launch soon from India's Satish Dhawan Space Centre on the Bay of Bengal coast. Eventually, a manned mission will launch a crew of three astronauts into a 400-kilometre high orbit, on what will initially be a three-day mission splashing down in the Indian Ocean.

[00:04:45] ASA worked with other government agencies, as well as Australian defence and space company Nova Systems, to establish telemetry terminals in the remote islands in order to track the four missions. The Cocos Keeling Islands are a remote Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean, comprising 27 coral islands across two atolls located roughly 3,000 kilometres northwest of Perth. The territory has a population of around 600 and is a haven for wildlife. This is Space Time.

[00:05:14] Still to come, the latest mission to the International Space Station, and later in the science report, a new study has shown that five decades of pop music has slowly shifted towards becoming more self-focused. All that and more still to come, on Space Time.

[00:05:44] A Russian Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft has successfully docked with the International Space Station three hours into orbit after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan. We are in the final moments of the launch countdown for the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft, which is encapsulated on top of the Soyuz 2.1A booster. This rocket is preparing to launch NASA Astra Anil Menon and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikana

[00:06:11] on a two-orbit, three-hour journey to the International Space Station, where they will remain for an eight-month mission. The booster's fuel tanks are now being pressurized for flight, which helps to optimize the flow of fuel and add structural support to the rocket. That liftoff is scheduled to take place at 9.47 and 43 seconds a.m. Central Time, 10.47 and 43 seconds a.m. Eastern Time, which is 7.43 and 43 seconds in Baikonur.

[00:06:39] Just under T-minus one and a half minutes away from today's liftoff, it is a 10-second window. So now that we are inside that mark, the ground propellant feed has now been terminated to the Soyuz booster. In about 15 seconds, the Soyuz will officially be on internal power. And then once we get to the T-minus 35-second mark, the first umbilical tower will separate from the booster and we will have auto sequence start, which will be followed by the ground umbilical to the third stage disconnecting.

[00:07:07] And then around T-minus 15 seconds, the second umbilical tower will separate, which will initiate engine sequence start. We are less than a minute away from today's liftoff of the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft, which means the Soyuz is now on internal power. This vehicle to internal power, separation of first umbilical tower from booster. The separation of the first umbilical tower has now separated from the booster, so we have auto sequence start. And the second umbilical tower will separate momentarily,

[00:07:36] which will initiate engine sequence start. We are under 20 seconds away from today's launch. Tower off. Launch command issued for ignition. The launch command has been issued. Second umbilical tower separates. Engine tank pumps at flight speed. Booster ignition now at full throttle and liftoff. Menin, Dubrov and Kikaneh now on their way to the International Space Station as part of a two-orbit journey.

[00:08:04] We have good roll pitch and yaw as we head downrange. Engines of the first and second stage are functioning normally. We have confirmation that the first and second stage engines have good performance. We have good structural parameter performance, and the Soyuz is delivering 930,000 pounds of thrust from its four boosters and single engine. The first stage of the Soyuz measures 68 feet in length and 24 feet in diameter,

[00:08:34] burning liquid fuel for the first two minutes and six seconds of flight. We're now a minute into today's flight. Everything continuing to proceed as planned, and the velocity is currently 1,100 miles per hour. The flight is nominal. We're now a minute and 20 seconds into today's flight of the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft on top that Soyuz 2.1A booster. We still have good first stage performance. The escape tower has been jettisoned, and momentarily before they receive there,

[00:09:01] the four strap-on boosters have been jettisoned, and these have completed their job and have dropped away at an altitude of 28 statute miles. The Soyuz is now traveling at about 3,350 miles an hour, and that launch shroud has now been jettisoned, and the rocket's altitude is now about 48 miles high. Everything continuing to proceed as planned and receiving good reports from the blockhouse in Baikonur. The Soyuz is now traveling at a speed of about 4,700 miles per hour.

[00:09:31] The Soyuz core stage is performing as expected, and the core stage of the Soyuz is 56 feet in length, 13 1⁄2 feet in diameter, with a single engine with four fuel chambers providing between 178,000 and 220,000 pounds of thrust for its 3 minutes and 28 seconds of operation. Control system parameters nominal copy on board. The Soyuz says it continues its flight uphill. It is about an 8 minute and 50 second total ride to orbit

[00:09:59] before we have that third stage separation, and the Soyuz spacecraft will be on its way to chase the International Space Station. The core stage, once it was ignited, continues to burn until the 4 minute 43 second mark, which is coming up in about 30 seconds from now. And the Soyuz uses what's called a hot stage technique, and the third stage will then ignite while the second is still burning. And this is why the Soyuz has an open area in between the second and third stages. So the third stage did begin igniting at that 4 minute 45 second mark,

[00:10:29] which means the second stage is now shutting down. And we do have confirmation of second stage separation. Copy separation of second stage. And that separation taking place at an altitude of 105 miles. So the Soyuz is now being propelled by the single engine of the Soyuz third stage. And this engine is providing 67,000 pounds of thrust and will burn for a total of 4 minutes and 2 seconds. That third stage shutdown taking place about 8 minutes and 46 seconds into today's launch,

[00:10:59] about 3 minutes from now, shortly followed by that third stage separation. 360 seconds. Pitch fuel roll nominal. Copy onboard, everything is fine. We are continuing to receive good reports of good pitch and yaw of the spacecraft as it continues its journey uphill. And about a minute from now, the velocity of the spacecraft will reach about 13,500 miles an hour.

[00:11:28] Again, all of those performance call outs that you're hearing, those are being reported by the engineers at the blockhouse in Baikonur. After orbital insertion, the command will officially be transitioned to the Russian mission control center in Koryov, right outside of Moscow. Okay. Com has gotten worse. Copy everything is fine onboard. We are feeling great. Still, com is not ideal. I don't hear you well now. Once the third stage delivers the Soyuz to orbit and the module is separated,

[00:11:57] a series of preprogrammed commands will be executed to prepare these Soyuz for orbital operations. Everything is fine. These stored commands called time-tagged commands allow many of the Soyuz's systems to be automatically activated by onboard computers at precise times stored in those computers. We are about 15 seconds away from that third stage cutoff and separation. Get ready for separation. And we have confirmation of preliminary separation of that third stage.

[00:12:25] So again, that third stage cutoff and separation taking place about 8 minutes and 50 seconds into today's flight. And we have confirmation that the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft has been officially inserted into orbit. So the Soyuz capsule and its crew are now safely in orbit and the spacecraft is automatically executing its preprogrammed commands, which then deployed those solar arrays. Those preprogrammed controls also deploy the antennas.

[00:12:52] So now that the Soyuz spacecraft and its crew are safely in orbit, control of the spacecraft from here on out will be overseen from the Russian Mission Control Center outside of Moscow in Koryov. The Soyuz docked onto the Nadea port of Russia's Prakow module as the two spacecraft were flying at some 418 kilometers above the Mediterranean Sea. Target is in the center of the periscope. Target crosses are aligned. 8 meters.

[00:13:21] Just 8 meters now separating Soyuz and Prichal. Yeah, the center. Copy. Perfect alignment reported by the flight controllers in Korolyov as we stand by for contact and capture of the International Space Station. 5 meters. Waiting for contact. Target is in the center. Contact confirmed. We have contact docking ring. Capture confirmed.

[00:13:49] At 12.52 p.m. Central Time, 1.52 p.m. Eastern Time, Soyuz has reached the International Space Station after a flight of three hours and four minutes in duration. Let's switch to SSVP. Docking occurring over the Mediterranean at an altitude of 260 statute miles.

[00:14:09] The new arrivals will form part of the Expedition 7475 crew, spending the next eight months in orbit and replacing the current MS-28 crew who have been on station since last November and will leave on Sunday for a return to Earth parachuting down under the Kazakhstan steppe. While in orbit, the new crew will undertake a wide range of experiments along with the four NASA SpaceX Crew-12 members who are currently there and who launched aboard a Falcon Dragon spacecraft from Cape Canaveral back in February.

[00:14:37] Among the more than 250 research experiments currently underway aboard the orbiting outpost are projects to refine in-space production of semiconductor crystals, enabling large-scale manufacture of components needed for high-performance computers, artificial intelligence and improved medical devices. They'll also perform ultrasound studies measuring how blood flow is impacted by space flight.

[00:14:58] And they'll use augmented reality and artificial intelligence programs that could eliminate the need for medical support from Earth on future space missions, issues that will become more and more important as humans travel further into space on eventual missions to Mars and beyond. The team will also test bioprinting vascular constructs in microgravity to improve our understanding of the aging process in order to help advance new therapeutic treatments.

[00:15:23] The crew's arrival follows the departure of the SpaceX Dragon 34 cargo ship mission, which was loaded with six and a half tons of completed experiments and equipment for return to Earth, splashing down in the North Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. It was carrying bioprinted organ and cartilage tissue, data on improving cryogenic fuel storage for future space missions and DNA-inspired materials to help with new cancer treatments.

[00:15:47] Also on board was an ocular imaging device which was used to monitor crew members eye health, an absorbent bed that filters trace contaminants from cabin air and a separator pump from the waste and hygiene compartment, NASA speak for the cosmic commode or orbital outhouse. This is Space Time.

[00:16:19] And time now to take another brief look at some of the other stories making news and science this week with a science report. For years, people have been told not to worry about the health risks of electromagnetic radiation fields used for communications for things like cell towers or radio or television broadcasting. But now a new report in the New Zealand Medical Journal has examined evidence from 13 major studies and it has found links with some animal studies.

[00:16:44] But the authors say the findings may not be relevant to humans, which is yet another good reason for not using sentient animals in scientific experiments. The study, sponsored by the World Health Organization, also included experiments on volunteers and on brain cancer. The authors claim the links that were identified in human studies had a very low level of confidence. And they claim the information was too limited on some topics to allow for firm conclusions, pointing out that no science can prove the absence of any risk.

[00:17:14] In a first-of-its-kind trial, a wild koala has been given a chlamydia vaccine implant to help it survive the ever-spreading disease. The 18-month-old female koala named Burmese, which is Norwegian for teddy bear, was captured in Burley and taken to the Corumbent Wildlife Hospital. There, she was given an initial vaccination injection and had a biodegradable implant inserted, which will gradually break down and supply at the second dose in about a month's time.

[00:17:41] Burmese was also fitted with a GPS collar and will be monitored for at least the next six months to assess the implant's effectiveness. Five other koalas from Burley have now also received the implant. The Worldwide Fund for Nature in Australia is backing the research, with funding support from furniture brand koala to help recover koala populations. A quadriplegic patient has been able to feed himself and drink from a cup using his own hand thanks to microchips implanted in his brain.

[00:18:08] A report in the journal Nature Medicine claims the implants helped relink his brain to his body and spinal cord. The system, called a double neuro-bypass, combines implants with non-invasive wearable stimulation patches on the skin that electrically stimulate the spinal cord and muscles, forming an electronic bridge between the man's paralyzed body and his brain. The system has been able to help the man move and feel his previously paralyzed hand.

[00:18:33] And it seems some of those effects have remained even when the implant was turned off, suggesting the system may help longer-term recovery as well as helping movement in real time. Well, they say today's music isn't as good as what it was back in the day. And now a new study has found that over the last five decades, heart music, at least in the United States and Germany, has slowly shifted towards becoming more self-focused. But this same trend wasn't found in music coming from Japan or Hong Kong.

[00:19:02] To work all this out, scientists analyzed the top ten popular music songs in the United States, Germany, Japan and Hong Kong for each year between 1970 and 2019. Looking for usage pronouns such as I, me and mine. The findings reported in the journal PLOS ONE, claims this upward trend was only seen in the US and Germany, which is likely because both countries are considered more individualistic,

[00:19:26] prioritizing autonomy, personal goals, self-reliance and independent decision-making over collective group cohesion compared to the other two. The United States War Department has released its fourth batch of UFO files. The material was released thanks to an executive order by President Donald Trump. This latest package includes 40 files, 14 documents, 19 videos, 4 audio files and 3 images.

[00:19:50] They came from a variety of agencies including the Pentagon, NASA, the CIA, the FBI and the Department of Energy. One file from the Department of Energy describes an unidentified flying object intruding into the restricted airspace over the Pantex nuclear weapons facility near Amarillo in Texas. That was back in September 2015 and it forced the facility to be placed in lockdown.

[00:20:13] Following the first release of files back on May 8th, which included the now famous FAA-18 gun camera vision of the so-called Tic Tac UFOs, additional releases were made on May 22nd and June 12th, highlighting sightings near foreign submarines, objects moving at seemingly impossible speeds and other reports of so-called silent hovering orbs. The skeptics Tim Mendham says this latest release includes a 1996 Columbia space shuttle photo of a rotating triangular object

[00:20:40] and a 2025 5-minute infrared military video tracking an erratic object over the East China Sea. Yeah, this is sort of part of the US administration's transparency, trying to prove how transparent they are. So they released the US Department of Defense slash war, let's call it the Pentagon, released a bunch of documents, few problems with it, most of them weren't secret, a lot of them were already known about and a lot of those have been explained anyway and there's a few others that need to be explained.

[00:21:07] One of the problems with the stuff that they've released recently in the Pentagon is they're often redacted. There's often a lot of the films from aircraft and things have all those little doodads and whatnots around the screen showing how fast they're going, direction, etc. They've been blacked out. The Tic Tac one is, Tic Tac was the classic thing. Let's look at a recent article that cropped up in The Conversation, which is an international online publication of short articles by academics on a whole wide range of topics. But there's one that came out about the UFO files recently and quite frankly it's very disappointing

[00:21:35] because it goes towards the thing, yes, there are a lot of cases that have been explained, yes, there are a lot of cases that have come out before and not particularly new. But he said there's a lot of unresolved cases and one of the ones he refers to is the Tic Tac one. Now, the Tic Tac one came out a few years from the Pentagon, great revelation, despite the fact that it had actually come out years before and everyone knew about it in the UFO community. But this article says that the object in the Tic Tac videos, with a little sort of round, overly shaped blob in the screen taken from a US fighter jet,

[00:22:02] that the video doesn't seem to behave how any kind of aircraft should, showing no signs of propulsion. Well, the trouble is it has been investigated and all you're seeing is the sign of propulsion. Think of thermal blooming which comes from the jet engine. If you're looking from behind another plane, a jet plane, a fighter, whatever, and all you're picking up is the glow from the engine. You don't see any detail of the shape of the craft just sort of blurring out because of this thermal blooming. The heat from the aircraft is creating this white glow and that's where the Tic Tac is.

[00:22:29] And so it has been explained quite simply, quite quickly too as a matter of fact, despite the fact the Pentagon said we can't find an explanation for them, which means the Pentagon is appallingly inept at trying to find explanations when other researchers and things can find an explanation within minutes literally. So anyway, there's a whole range of these videos that have come out. Sadly, even a lot of the pro UFO community admit that they're not very impressive and they need more or they don't have context or they're not clear enough as to what they show. Therefore, they're really hard to investigate.

[00:22:56] So some of them will have to remain unidentified because no one knows what they are. That's the skeptics Tim Mendham and this is Space Time. And that's the show for now. Space Time is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through Bytes.com,

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