Today on Astronomy Daily: Astronomers have witnessed something extraordinary in the Andromeda Galaxy — a massive star that simply vanished, collapsing into a brand-new black hole without the usual supernova fireworks. We cover the SpaceX Crew-12 launch to the ISS, Europe's powerful Ariane 64 flying for the first time with Amazon satellites aboard, another booster anomaly for ULA's Vulcan rocket, a bizarre inside-out planetary system that defies formation models, and NASA's plan to rescue the Swift observatory from orbital decay. Timestamped Chapters 00:00 — Welcome to Astronomy Daily 01:30 — SpaceX Crew-12 launches to the ISS 04:00 — Star vanishes in Andromeda — a black hole is born 08:30 — Europe's Ariane 64 flies for the first time 10:30 — Vulcan rocket suffers repeat booster anomaly 13:00 — The bizarre inside-out planetary system of LHS 1903 15:30 — NASA's Swift observatory fights for survival 17:30 — Sign-off and how to stay connected Key Links • NASA Crew-12 Blog: nasa.gov/blogs/commercialcrew • Vanishing Star Study (Science): doi.org/10.1126/science.adt4853 • Inside-Out Planet Study (Science): doi.org/10.1126/science.adl2348 • NASA Swift Observatory: nasa.gov/swift • Show Website: astronomydaily.io • Social Media: @AstroDailyPod on all platforms
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Good morning, good evening, and good
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 whenever you're listening. Welcome to
00:00:04 --> 00:00:07 Astronomy Daily, your front row seat to
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 the cosmos. I'm Anna.
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 >> And I'm Avery. It's Friday, the 13th,
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 February, 2026. And if you're
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 superstitious, well, the universe
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 doesn't care about your calendar. It's
00:00:18 --> 00:00:20 been too busy making black holes,
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 breaking rockets, and building planetary
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 systems that make absolutely no sense.
00:00:25 --> 00:00:28 >> That's right. We've got an absolutely
00:00:28 --> 00:00:30 packed show for you today. Astronomers
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 may have just watched a star quietly
00:00:33 --> 00:00:35 collapse into a brand new black hole in
00:00:36 --> 00:00:38 our neighboring Andromeda galaxy. No
00:00:38 --> 00:00:41 supernova required. SpaceX's Crew 12 is
00:00:41 --> 00:00:43 launching to the International Space
00:00:43 --> 00:00:45 Station as we speak. Europe's most
00:00:45 --> 00:00:48 powerful rocket just flew for the very
00:00:48 --> 00:00:49 first time. And that's just for
00:00:50 --> 00:00:50 starters.
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 >> We've also got a Vulcan rocket that
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 apparently didn't learn its lesson the
00:00:54 --> 00:00:57 first time around. a planetary system
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 that's been turned completely inside out
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 and NASA's Swift Observatory going into
00:01:01 --> 00:01:05 survival mode to avoid a fiery re-entry.
00:01:05 --> 00:01:06 Let's get into it.
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08 >> We're kicking things off with what is
00:01:08 --> 00:01:10 quite literally happening right now.
00:01:10 --> 00:01:13 NASA and SpaceX have given the final go
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 for Crew 12 mission to the International
00:01:15 --> 00:01:17 Space Station. Liftoff was scheduled for
00:01:17 --> 00:01:20 5:15 a.m. Eastern time this morning from
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape
00:01:22 --> 00:01:25 Canaveral. The crew is an international
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 squad. We've got NASA astronauts Jessica
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 Mir and Jack Hathaway, European Space
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 Agency astronauts Sophie Edino from
00:01:32 --> 00:01:35 France, and Rosscosmos cosminaut Andre
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 Fedv from Russia. They're riding aboard
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 a SpaceX Dragon capsule on a Falcon 9
00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 rocket. And this launch was supposed to
00:01:43 --> 00:01:45 happen yesterday on the 12th, but
00:01:45 --> 00:01:47 mission teams waved off due to weather
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 conditions along the flight path. They
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 completed a final weather briefing last
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 night and gave the all clear to proceed
00:01:53 --> 00:01:54 into the countdown.
00:01:54 --> 00:01:56 >> If everything went according to plan
00:01:56 --> 00:01:58 this morning, the crew should arrive at
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 the station tomorrow afternoon on
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 Valentine's Day at around 3:15 p.m.
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 Eastern. Romantic, right? Nothing says I
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 love you like docking with a space
00:02:07 --> 00:02:10 station at 28 kmh.
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 >> Once they're aboard, they'll bring the
00:02:12 --> 00:02:13 station back up to its full complement
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 of seven crew members. The ISS has been
00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 operating with a reduced crew, so this
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 is a welcome reinforcement. They've got
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 a packed science agenda waiting for them
00:02:22 --> 00:02:23 up there.
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 >> Fun stat on this one. The Falcon 9
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 booster being used, B1081,
00:02:28 --> 00:02:32 is flying for its 22nd time. 22 flights
00:02:32 --> 00:02:34 on a single rocket booster. And this is
00:02:34 --> 00:02:38 the 19th Falcon 9 mission of 2026 alone,
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 and we're only in midFebruary. SpaceX's
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 launch cadence is just relentless. We'll
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 keep you updated on Crew 12's progress
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 as they make their way to the station.
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 You can catch the full coverage on NASA
00:02:49 --> 00:02:52 Plus, Amazon Prime, and NASA's YouTube
00:02:52 --> 00:02:53 channel.
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 >> All right, Anna, this next story is the
00:02:55 --> 00:02:57 kind of thing that gives astrophysicists
00:02:57 --> 00:02:59 goosebumps. Astronomers believe they've
00:02:59 --> 00:03:02 witnessed something extraordinary. A
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 massive star in the Andromeda galaxy
00:03:04 --> 00:03:06 that didn't go out by a bang, but just
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 quietly vanished. And what it left
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 behind appears to be a brand new black
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 hole. This is genuinely remarkable. The
00:03:14 --> 00:03:18 star cataloged as M31204DS1
00:03:18 --> 00:03:22 was a yellow super giant about 13 times
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 the mass of our own sun, sitting roughly
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 2.5 million lighty years away in our
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 neighboring Andromeda galaxy. Before it
00:03:30 --> 00:03:31 disappeared, it was one of the brightest
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 stars in Andromeda, shining about
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 100 times brighter than our own sun.
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 >> So, here's what happened. A team led by
00:03:39 --> 00:03:42 Columbia University astrophysicist Kesha
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 Leiday was sifting through archival data
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 from NASA's Neoise mission, an infrared
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 space telescope that mapped the sky from
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 2009 to 2024. They were building a map
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 of how millions of stars change in
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 brightness over time. And buried in that
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 data, they found something stunning.
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 >> Starting around 2014, this star began to
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 brighten in infrared light. Then it
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 started fading dramatically in visible
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 light. And by 2022, it had vanished
00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 entirely from Neoise's view. Even with
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 the most sensitive telescopes available
00:04:15 --> 00:04:18 today, there's nothing there. As Depos
00:04:18 --> 00:04:21 put it, imagine if Betal Juice just
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 suddenly disappeared. That's essentially
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26 what happened here, just in the galaxy
00:04:26 --> 00:04:27 next door.
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 >> Now, normally when a massive star dies,
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 it goes out spectacularly as a
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 supernova. The core collapses, nutrinos
00:04:35 --> 00:04:38 erupt outward, and the resulting shock
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 wave blasts the stars outer layers into
00:04:40 --> 00:04:43 space in an explosion that can outshine
00:04:43 --> 00:04:46 an entire galaxy. But this star didn't
00:04:46 --> 00:04:48 do any of that. It appears to be what
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 astronomers call a failed supernova. The
00:04:51 --> 00:04:54 theory is that the core collapsed as
00:04:54 --> 00:04:57 expected, forming a dense neutron star,
00:04:57 --> 00:04:59 but the shock wave that was supposed to
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 blow the star apart just wasn't strong
00:05:02 --> 00:05:05 enough. Instead of exploding outward,
00:05:05 --> 00:05:08 most of the stars material fell back
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 inward, overwhelming the neutron star
00:05:11 --> 00:05:14 and creating a black hole. It's death by
00:05:14 --> 00:05:17 implosion rather than explosion.
00:05:17 --> 00:05:19 >> And what's really interesting is the
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 role of convection. The team realized
00:05:21 --> 00:05:24 that previous models hadn't properly
00:05:24 --> 00:05:26 accounted for the churning turbulent
00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 motions in the stars outer layers. When
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 they factored that in, they found the
00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 convection actually helps sap energy
00:05:33 --> 00:05:35 from the shock wave, making it more
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 likely to fail. That's a significant new
00:05:37 --> 00:05:40 insight. The material that didn't fall
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 straight in is now forming a rotating
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 accretion disc around the newborn black
00:05:46 --> 00:05:49 hole, slowly spiraling inward, much like
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 water circling a drain. The infrared
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 glow from that debris should remain
00:05:54 --> 00:05:57 visible to the James Web Space Telescope
00:05:57 --> 00:05:59 for decades as it gradually fades.
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 >> The study was published yesterday in the
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04 journal Science and the implications are
00:06:04 --> 00:06:06 huge. If relatively lightweight stars
00:06:06 --> 00:06:10 like this one at just 13 solar masses
00:06:10 --> 00:06:12 can collapse directly into black holes,
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 then there could be far more black holes
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 out there than we've previously
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 estimated. This could be a very common
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 way for stars to die, and we've just
00:06:21 --> 00:06:22 been missing it because there's no
00:06:22 --> 00:06:23 explosion to see.
00:06:23 --> 00:06:26 >> Not everyone's convinced yet, though.
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 Some astronomers suggest this could be a
00:06:28 --> 00:06:31 case of merging stars whose combined
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 light got obscured by dust. But as one
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 researcher put it, the definitive test
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 is simple. Death is forever. If it's
00:06:40 --> 00:06:43 truly a black hole, that star is never
00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 coming back. Future observations with
00:06:45 --> 00:06:49 JWST will help settle the debate.
00:06:49 --> 00:06:51 >> Sticking with the launch theme, Europe
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 had a huge milestone yesterday. The most
00:06:54 --> 00:06:56 powerful version of the Aron 6 rocket
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58 flew for the first time, and it was
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 carrying cargo for one of SpaceX's
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 biggest competitors.
00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 >> That's right. Aryan Space launched the
00:07:04 --> 00:07:08 Arion 64, the four booster configuration
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 of Europe's new flagship rocket. It
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 lifted off from the Guyana Space Center
00:07:13 --> 00:07:18 in Kuru, French Guyana at 1645 UTC on
00:07:18 --> 00:07:21 February 12th. And riding on top were 32
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 satellites for Amazon's Internet
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 Constellation, now officially branded as
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 Amazon LEO.
00:07:28 --> 00:07:30 >> So, let's break down the naming. The
00:07:30 --> 00:07:33 Aron 6 comes in two versions. the 62
00:07:33 --> 00:07:36 with two strap-on solid rocket boosters
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 and the 64 with four. This was the first
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 time the 64 has ever flown, and it's
00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 significantly more powerful. Those four
00:07:45 --> 00:07:48 P120 Seolid boosters give it the extra
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 punch needed to loft heavier payloads.
00:07:51 --> 00:07:53 And Amazon Leo, formerly known as
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 Project Kyper, is Amazon's answer to
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 SpaceX's Starlink. The plan is to build
00:07:59 --> 00:08:03 a constellation of 3
00:08:03 --> 00:08:06 satellites providing broadband internet
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 from low Earth orbit. So these 32
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 satellites are an early batch to start
00:08:11 --> 00:08:14 building out that network. It's a big
00:08:14 --> 00:08:17 deal on two fronts. For Europe, the Aron
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 64 flying successfully means they now
00:08:19 --> 00:08:21 have a heavy lift option that can
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 compete for larger commercial and
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26 government payloads. And for Amazon,
00:08:26 --> 00:08:28 getting satellites up on a non-SP SpaceX
00:08:28 --> 00:08:31 rocket is strategically important. You
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 don't want your main competitor also
00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 being your sole ride to orbit.
00:08:35 --> 00:08:37 >> The launch went smoothly with the
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 satellites successfully deployed into
00:08:39 --> 00:08:42 low Earth orbit. It's a promising start
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 for the Aron 64 configuration.
00:08:45 --> 00:08:47 >> Now, speaking of rockets that had a
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 slightly less smooth day, we need to
00:08:49 --> 00:08:51 talk about the Vulcan Centaur. This is
00:08:52 --> 00:08:53 an update to the story we covered
00:08:53 --> 00:08:56 yesterday. United Launch Alliance flew
00:08:56 --> 00:08:57 the USSF87
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 mission for the US Space Force early on
00:09:00 --> 00:09:02 February 12th, and there was a very
00:09:02 --> 00:09:06 familiar problem. About 30 seconds after
00:09:06 --> 00:09:09 liftoff from Cape Canaveral, observers
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 noticed a bright glow and a shower of
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 sparks pouring from the aft end of one
00:09:13 --> 00:09:17 of the four GEM 63 XL solid rocket
00:09:17 --> 00:09:19 boosters. Video and tracking footage
00:09:19 --> 00:09:22 showed what appears to be a nozzle burn
00:09:22 --> 00:09:24 through where hot exhaust gas
00:09:24 --> 00:09:26 essentially melts its way through the
00:09:26 --> 00:09:27 nozzle casing.
00:09:27 --> 00:09:30 >> And here's the thing, this has happened
00:09:30 --> 00:09:33 before. The exact same type of anomaly
00:09:33 --> 00:09:34 occurred during Vulcan's second
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 certification flight back in October
00:09:36 --> 00:09:39 2024. ULA and booster manufacturer
00:09:40 --> 00:09:41 Northrup Grumman spent months
00:09:41 --> 00:09:43 investigating that incident, identified
00:09:44 --> 00:09:46 a manufacturing defect, and said they'd
00:09:46 --> 00:09:48 fixed it. The third flight in August
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 2025 went cleanly.
00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 >> But now on just the fourth flight
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 overall, the problem is back. ULA
00:09:55 --> 00:09:58 acknowledged it had quote an observation
00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 early during flight on one of the four
00:10:00 --> 00:10:03 solid rocket motors and said the team is
00:10:03 --> 00:10:04 reviewing the data.
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 >> The silver lining is that the mission
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 still succeeded. The Falcon 9, sorry,
00:10:09 --> 00:10:12 the Vulcan's twin BE4 main engines
00:10:12 --> 00:10:14 compensated and the Centaur upper stage
00:10:14 --> 00:10:17 completed all its planned burns. About
00:10:17 --> 00:10:19 eight hours after launch, ULA confirmed
00:10:19 --> 00:10:21 the payloads were successfully delivered
00:10:21 --> 00:10:24 to geocynchronous orbit more than 22
00:10:24 --> 00:10:28 m above Earth. The primary payload was a
00:10:28 --> 00:10:31 pair of GSSAP satellites for the Space
00:10:31 --> 00:10:33 Force. These are maneuverable spacecraft
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 that serve as a sort of neighborhood
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 watch for geocynchronous orbit,
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 monitoring activity near US and Allied
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 assets. There were also some research
00:10:42 --> 00:10:45 and development payloads aboard. But the
00:10:45 --> 00:10:47 bigger question now is what this means
00:10:47 --> 00:10:50 for Vulcan's future. ULA had ambitious
00:10:50 --> 00:10:53 plans to fly 16 to 18 missions this
00:10:53 --> 00:10:56 year, including launches for Amazon GPS
00:10:56 --> 00:10:58 satellites and more Space Force
00:10:58 --> 00:11:00 payloads. A recurring booster issue on a
00:11:00 --> 00:11:03 rocket that's only flown four times is a
00:11:03 --> 00:11:05 serious concern. The Space Force has
00:11:05 --> 00:11:07 already said it will work closely with
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 ULA on flightw worthiness before the
00:11:09 --> 00:11:11 next national security mission.
00:11:11 --> 00:11:13 >> We'll be watching this one closely.
00:11:13 --> 00:11:16 Vulcan is supposed to be ULA's flagship
00:11:16 --> 00:11:18 for the future, replacing the venerable
00:11:18 --> 00:11:21 Atlas 5. It needs to prove it can fly
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 reliably, and a pattern of booster
00:11:23 --> 00:11:26 issues isn't helping that case.
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28 All right, time for some planetary
00:11:28 --> 00:11:31 weirdness. Astronomers have found a star
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33 system that looks like someone assembled
00:11:33 --> 00:11:35 the planets in the wrong order. Think of
00:11:35 --> 00:11:38 it as a cosmic double stuffed Oreo.
00:11:38 --> 00:11:41 That's actually a great analogy. The
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 star is called LHS1903.
00:11:44 --> 00:11:47 It's a red dwarf about half the mass of
00:11:47 --> 00:11:50 our sun, located about 116 light years
00:11:50 --> 00:11:53 away. It has four planets, all orbiting
00:11:53 --> 00:11:56 in less than 30 days. So it's a very
00:11:56 --> 00:11:59 compact system and from the star outward
00:11:59 --> 00:12:01 the arrangement goes rocky gaseous
00:12:01 --> 00:12:03 gaseous rocky
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 >> which is the exact opposite of what
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 models predict. In standard planetary
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 formation theory rocky planets form
00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 closer to the star where intense
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 starlight strips away atmospheres and
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 gas giants form farther out where
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 there's more gas available in the
00:12:18 --> 00:12:20 protolanetary disc. You'd expect rocky
00:12:20 --> 00:12:23 on the inside, gassy on the outside. But
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 LHS1903
00:12:25 --> 00:12:27 follows the rules beautifully for the
00:12:27 --> 00:12:29 first three planets. A rocky one closest
00:12:29 --> 00:12:32 in, then two gaseous ones, and then the
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 fourth planet, the one furthest out, is
00:12:34 --> 00:12:37 rocky again. It's like finding a
00:12:37 --> 00:12:39 Venuslike world out past Neptune's
00:12:39 --> 00:12:42 orbit. It just shouldn't be there. The
00:12:42 --> 00:12:44 system was first discovered by NASA's
00:12:44 --> 00:12:47 test mission back in 2019. And this
00:12:47 --> 00:12:49 latest study published February 12th in
00:12:49 --> 00:12:52 Science used a suite of groundbased and
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54 space-based instruments to precisely
00:12:54 --> 00:12:55 determine the planet's masses and
00:12:55 --> 00:12:57 densities. That's how they could tell
00:12:57 --> 00:12:59 which ones are rocky and which have
00:12:59 --> 00:13:01 thick gaseous envelopes.
00:13:01 --> 00:13:04 >> The leading explanation is planetary
00:13:04 --> 00:13:07 migration. Sometime early in the systems
00:13:07 --> 00:13:09 history, the inner planets may have
00:13:09 --> 00:13:12 shuffled around, similar to what
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 happened in our own solar system during
00:13:14 --> 00:13:17 the late heavy bombardment. A
00:13:17 --> 00:13:19 gravitational reshuffle could have sent
00:13:19 --> 00:13:22 a large body crashing into the fourth
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 planet, stripping away its atmosphere,
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 or the planet may have formed late after
00:13:27 --> 00:13:30 the system had run out of gas.
00:13:30 --> 00:13:32 >> As astronomer Andrew Cameron from the
00:13:32 --> 00:13:35 University of St. Andrews put it, that
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37 stuff does happen in young planetary
00:13:37 --> 00:13:39 systems. This one has the look of
00:13:39 --> 00:13:42 something that's been turned inside out.
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 It's a fantastic reminder that for all
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 our models and theories, the universe
00:13:46 --> 00:13:49 keeps finding ways to surprise us.
00:13:49 --> 00:13:52 >> Our final story today is about a veteran
00:13:52 --> 00:13:54 space telescope that's fighting for its
00:13:54 --> 00:13:57 life and NASA's creative plan to save
00:13:57 --> 00:14:00 it. The Neil Gerald Swift Observatory
00:14:00 --> 00:14:02 has been one of NASA's workh horses for
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 high energy astrophysics. It's been in
00:14:04 --> 00:14:08 orbit for about 21 years, rapidly sooing
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 to observe gammaray births and other
00:14:10 --> 00:14:13 transient cosmic events. But time and
00:14:13 --> 00:14:15 physics are catching up with it.
00:14:15 --> 00:14:18 >> The problem is atmospheric drag.
00:14:18 --> 00:14:21 Enhanced solar activity, and we're right
00:14:21 --> 00:14:24 around solar maximum heats Earth's upper
00:14:24 --> 00:14:27 atmosphere and causes it to expand. That
00:14:27 --> 00:14:30 expanded atmosphere creates more drag on
00:14:30 --> 00:14:33 satellites in low orbit, slowly pulling
00:14:33 --> 00:14:36 them down. Swift's average altitude has
00:14:36 --> 00:14:39 been steadily declining, and it's now
00:14:39 --> 00:14:44 dropped below about 250 m or 400 km.
00:14:44 --> 00:14:47 >> So on February 11th, NASA's Swift team
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 made a tough call. They've temporarily
00:14:50 --> 00:14:52 suspended most science operations. The
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 burst alert telescope will keep
00:14:54 --> 00:14:56 detecting gammaray bursts, but the
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 spacecraft will no longer slew to follow
00:14:58 --> 00:15:00 up on those detections with its other
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 instruments. Instead, controllers are
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 keeping Swift in a fixed orientation
00:15:05 --> 00:15:07 that minimizes atmospheric drag. Think
00:15:08 --> 00:15:10 of it like a swimmer turning sideways to
00:15:10 --> 00:15:12 cut through a current instead of facing
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 it headon. By reducing how much surface
00:15:16 --> 00:15:18 area Swift presents to the thin wisps of
00:15:18 --> 00:15:21 atmosphere at that altitude, they can
00:15:21 --> 00:15:23 slow the orbital decay.
00:15:23 --> 00:15:26 >> And here's the creative part. NASA has
00:15:26 --> 00:15:28 contracted a company called Catalyst
00:15:28 --> 00:15:30 Space Technologies based in Flagstaff,
00:15:30 --> 00:15:33 Arizona to actually go up and give Swift
00:15:33 --> 00:15:35 a push. They're planning a servicing
00:15:35 --> 00:15:37 mission that will boost the observatory
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 into a higher orbit, extending its
00:15:40 --> 00:15:42 scientific lifetime. The reboost
00:15:42 --> 00:15:44 spacecraft is expected to launch in the
00:15:44 --> 00:15:47 summer, but for that to work, Swift
00:15:47 --> 00:15:51 needs to stay above about 185 m, roughly
00:15:51 --> 00:15:55 300 km. So everything they're doing now
00:15:55 --> 00:15:57 is about preserving enough altitude to
00:15:58 --> 00:16:00 make the rescue mission possible.
00:16:00 --> 00:16:02 >> It's a fascinating case study in
00:16:02 --> 00:16:04 satellite servicing. If it works, it
00:16:04 --> 00:16:06 demonstrates a capability that could be
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 applied to all sorts of aging
00:16:08 --> 00:16:11 spacecraft. Rather than letting valuable
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 observatories burn up, you send a little
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 tugboat to push them back up. The
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 economics of that could be
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19 transformative for space science.
00:16:19 --> 00:16:22 >> We're rooting for Swift. 21 years of
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 service and still going. Fingers crossed
00:16:24 --> 00:16:27 the reboost mission comes together in
00:16:27 --> 00:16:27 time.
00:16:28 --> 00:16:30 >> And that wraps up another packed edition
00:16:30 --> 00:16:32 of Astronomy Daily. What a Friday the
00:16:32 --> 00:16:35 13th it's been. From a star silently
00:16:35 --> 00:16:37 becoming a black hole to rockets that
00:16:37 --> 00:16:40 keep surprising us, the universe never
00:16:40 --> 00:16:42 takes a day off. If you enjoyed today's
00:16:42 --> 00:16:45 episode, please hit subscribe wherever
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00:16:57 --> 00:16:59 >> Head over to astronomyaily.io
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 io for full show notes and links to all
00:17:01 --> 00:17:03 the stories we covered today. And if
00:17:03 --> 00:17:05 you've got questions, story tips, or
00:17:05 --> 00:17:07 just want to say hi, we'd love to hear
00:17:07 --> 00:17:08 from you.
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 >> Until next time, keep looking up.
00:17:10 --> 00:17:15 >> Clear skies, everyone. Astronomy day.
00:17:15 --> 00:17:23 Stories be told.
00:17:23 --> 00:17:27 Stories to tell.