## In Today's Episode:
- **FAA clears Falcon 9 — Crew-12 launch set for February 11** — The four-day grounding ends after SpaceX identifies and addresses the upper stage engine ignition failure. Fourth upper stage issue in 19 months.
- **NASA study: Non-biological sources can't fully explain Mars organics** — Researchers find that known non-biological processes don't account for the abundance of organic compounds discovered by Curiosity in Gale Crater. The team modelled 80 million years of cosmic radiation exposure.
- **Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS flares while exiting the solar system** — NASA's SPHEREx captures the comet dramatically brightening, releasing water vapour, CO₂, methane, methanol, and organic compounds from beneath its cosmic-ray-hardened crust.
- **UK proposes 30% cut to astronomy and physics research** — The deepest funding cut in a generation threatens early-career researchers and the UK's role in major international projects including the Square Kilometre Array and ESO.
- **New Glenn second stage reuse debate reignites** — Blue Origin's Project Jarvis faces the question: can a reusable upper stage beat expendable manufacturing costs? Bezos calls it a "horse race."
- **Fraggles land at Kennedy Space Center** — Jim Henson's beloved characters star in "Fraggle Rock: A Space-y Adventure," a new live show blending comedy, music, and NASA science.
---
## Links & Sources:
- space.com — FAA clears Falcon 9, Crew-12 launch confirmed
- science.nasa.gov — NASA study on Mars organics
- space.com — SPHEREx observations of comet 3I/ATLAS
- space.com — UK astronomy funding cuts
- arstechnica.com — New Glenn second stage reuse debate
- arstechnica.com / kennedyspacecenter.com — Fraggle Rock: A Space-y Adventure
---
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your go-to
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 source for the latest space news. I'm
00:00:05 --> 00:00:06 Anna.
00:00:06 --> 00:00:08 >> And I'm Avery. Happy Saturday, everyone.
00:00:08 --> 00:00:10 We've got great stories for you today.
00:00:10 --> 00:00:13 The FAA has given SpaceX the green light
00:00:13 --> 00:00:15 to fly Falcon 9 again, which means
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 NASA's Crew 12 mission is officially a
00:00:18 --> 00:00:19 go for next week.
00:00:19 --> 00:00:21 >> We have also got a fascinating NASA
00:00:21 --> 00:00:23 study that's raising some very
00:00:23 --> 00:00:25 intriguing questions about organic
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 molecules on Mars. Plus, our
00:00:27 --> 00:00:30 interstellar visitor, Comet 3i, ATLS, is
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 putting on one last spectacular show on
00:00:33 --> 00:00:35 its way out of the solar system.
00:00:35 --> 00:00:36 >> And some less cheerful news from across
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39 the Atlantic, where the UK government is
00:00:39 --> 00:00:41 proposing massive cuts to astronomy
00:00:41 --> 00:00:43 funding. We'll also look at the renewed
00:00:43 --> 00:00:45 debate over making New Glenn's second
00:00:45 --> 00:00:47 stage reusable. And we'll wrap up with a
00:00:47 --> 00:00:49 story that'll make you smile. The
00:00:49 --> 00:00:51 Fraggles have arrived at Kennedy Space
00:00:51 --> 00:00:51 Center.
00:00:51 --> 00:00:54 >> Let's get into it. So, our top story,
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 great news for anyone who's been
00:00:56 --> 00:00:58 watching the Crew 12 mission calendar
00:00:58 --> 00:01:00 nervously. The FAA has officially
00:01:00 --> 00:01:03 cleared SpaceX's Falcon 9 to return to
00:01:03 --> 00:01:05 flight after a 4-day grounding.
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 >> Right. This all stemmed from a Starlink
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 launch on February 2nd where the upper
00:01:09 --> 00:01:11 stage deployed the satellites just fine,
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 but then failed to perform its de-orbit
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 burn. The rocket body ended up
00:01:15 --> 00:01:17 re-entering the atmosphere uncontrolled.
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 >> And here's the thing that jumps out.
00:01:19 --> 00:01:22 This was the fourth Falcon 9 upper stage
00:01:22 --> 00:01:24 issue in just 19 months. That's a
00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 pattern that's hard to ignore, but the
00:01:27 --> 00:01:29 FAA wrapped up its review remarkably
00:01:29 --> 00:01:31 quickly this time. The probable root
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 cause was a failure of the engine to
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 ignite before the de-orbit burn, and
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 SpaceX has identified preventative
00:01:37 --> 00:01:38 measures.
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 >> So, with that resolved, Crew 12 is now
00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 targeting launch at 6:01 a.m. Eastern on
00:01:43 --> 00:01:46 February 11th. That's next Tuesday. The
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 crew includes NASA astronauts Jessica
00:01:48 --> 00:01:51 Mir and Jack Hathaway, cosminot Andre
00:01:51 --> 00:01:54 Fedv, and ESA Sophie Adonaut flying
00:01:54 --> 00:01:56 aboard the Dragon capsule Freedom.
00:01:56 --> 00:01:58 >> This mission is especially critical
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 because the ISS has been running with a
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 skeleton crew of just three since
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 January 15th when crew 11 departed in
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 the first ever medical evacuation from
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 the station. Getting crew 12 up there
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 will bring the station back to its
00:02:11 --> 00:02:13 normal complement of seven. We'll be
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 watching that launch closely. Now, this
00:02:15 --> 00:02:16 next story is one of those that makes
00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 you sit up a little straighter. A new
00:02:18 --> 00:02:21 NASA study has found that non-biological
00:02:21 --> 00:02:23 processes can't fully account for the
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 abundance of organic compounds found in
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 a rock sample from Mars' Gail Crater.
00:02:28 --> 00:02:31 >> Okay, before anyone gets too excited,
00:02:31 --> 00:02:34 this is not a we found life on Mars
00:02:34 --> 00:02:37 announcement, but it is genuinely
00:02:37 --> 00:02:40 significant. Back in March 2025,
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 Curiosity's chemistry lab identified
00:02:43 --> 00:02:46 small amounts of decane, undecane, and
00:02:46 --> 00:02:49 docane in a rock sample. These are the
00:02:49 --> 00:02:52 largest organic molecules ever found on
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 Mars, and they could be fragments of
00:02:54 --> 00:02:56 fatty acids.
00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 >> Now, on Earth, fatty acids are mostly
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 produced by life, though they can also
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 form through geological processes. The
00:03:04 --> 00:03:06 follow-up study looked at known
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 non-biological sources like delivery by
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 meteorites and tried to see if those
00:03:11 --> 00:03:13 could explain the amounts found. The
00:03:13 --> 00:03:16 team essentially rewound the clock about
00:03:16 --> 00:03:19 80 million years, estimating how much
00:03:19 --> 00:03:21 organic material would have been there
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 before cosmic radiation destroyed much
00:03:24 --> 00:03:24 of it.
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 >> And the result, far more organic
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 material than non-biological processes
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 could typically produce. So, the
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 researchers say it's reasonable to
00:03:33 --> 00:03:35 hypothesize that living things could
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 have formed these molecules. They're
00:03:37 --> 00:03:40 very clear that more study is needed,
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 but this keeps the door open in a really
00:03:42 --> 00:03:43 tantalizing way.
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 >> It's exactly the kind of incremental
00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 science that could one day lead to a
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 truly historic finding. Mars keeps
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 teasing us, and we love it. Speaking of
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 tantalizing science, our interstellar
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 visitor comet 3i-atlas
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 has been putting on quite the farewell
00:04:01 --> 00:04:03 show. NASA Spherex Space Telescope
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 caught the comet dramatically
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 brightening in December, well after its
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 closest approach to the sun. That's
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 really unusual. You'd normally expect a
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 comet to be fading as it heads away from
00:04:14 --> 00:04:19 the sun, not flaring up. The SP ph
00:04:19 --> 00:04:23 data shows 3II/ATLS
00:04:23 --> 00:04:25 erupting with water vapor, carbon
00:04:25 --> 00:04:28 dioxide, and organic compounds along
00:04:28 --> 00:04:31 with a beautiful pear-shaped dust tail.
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 The leading theory is that sunlight
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 slowly penetrated beneath the comet's
00:04:35 --> 00:04:37 crust, which had been hardened by
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 billions of years of cosmic rape
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 bombardment in interstellar space. Once
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 the heat reached the pristine ices
00:04:44 --> 00:04:46 buried deeper down, they erupted,
00:04:46 --> 00:04:48 releasing a cocktail of ancient
00:04:48 --> 00:04:50 chemicals that hadn't been exposed for
00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 billions of years. And remember, this is
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 only the third confirmed interstellar
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 object we've ever seen after Umuam Mua
00:04:58 --> 00:05:03 in 2017 and Boros in 2019. The chemical
00:05:03 --> 00:05:07 fingerprint from 3II/ATLS
00:05:07 --> 00:05:09 gives us our best look yet at material
00:05:09 --> 00:05:12 formed around another star. The
00:05:12 --> 00:05:14 similarities to our own comets could
00:05:14 --> 00:05:16 tell us whether the raw ingredients for
00:05:16 --> 00:05:19 planets and potentially life are common
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 across the galaxy.
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 >> What a way to say goodbye. Safe travels
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 3IIA ATLS.
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 >> Now for a story that's causing real
00:05:27 --> 00:05:30 alarm in the scientific community. The
00:05:30 --> 00:05:34 UK government is proposing a 30% cut to
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37 its funding for astronomy, particle
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 physics, and nuclear physics research.
00:05:39 --> 00:05:42 The Royal Astronomical Society's Robert
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 Massie has called it the worst outcome
00:05:45 --> 00:05:47 for the field in decades. This comes
00:05:47 --> 00:05:49 through the Science and Technology
00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 Facilities Council, which distributes
00:05:51 --> 00:05:53 funds and runs major research facilities
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 in the UK. The cuts are being justified
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 by the need to focus on fewer priorities
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 and by the rising costs of running
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04 existing labs, but this follows a 15%
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 reduction in grants just last year. So
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 these cuts are really compounding.
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 >> What makes it particularly painful is
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 that the UK has historically been a
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 global astronomy powerhouse, third in
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 the world by research citations. They're
00:06:20 --> 00:06:21 major contributors to the square
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 kilometer array and the European
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 Southern Observatory. The worry is that
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 they'll invest in building these
00:06:28 --> 00:06:31 worldclass facilities but then not fund
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 the researchers needed to actually use
00:06:34 --> 00:06:34 them.
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 >> And it's early career researchers who
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 will bear the brunt. PhD students and
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 postocs are the most vulnerable when
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 funding disappears. The Institute of
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 Physics called it a devastating blow.
00:06:46 --> 00:06:47 When you combine this with the UK's
00:06:47 --> 00:06:51 recent 11% cut to its ISA contributions,
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 it paints a worrying picture for British
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 science at a time when other countries
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 are investing more.
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 >> Shifting to the launch industry now, the
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 question of whether Blue Origin should
00:07:01 --> 00:07:04 make New Glenn's second stage reusable
00:07:04 --> 00:07:06 is back in the spotlight. They've been
00:07:06 --> 00:07:09 studying this under a program called
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 Project Jarvis, and it's one of those
00:07:11 --> 00:07:14 fascinating engineering dilemmas. Jeff
00:07:14 --> 00:07:16 Bezos himself has described it as a
00:07:16 --> 00:07:19 horse race. The Expendable team's goal
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 is to make the second stage so cheap to
00:07:21 --> 00:07:24 manufacture that reusability never makes
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 sense. Meanwhile, the reusable team's
00:07:26 --> 00:07:29 goal is to make it so operationally
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 efficient that throwing one away never
00:07:31 --> 00:07:33 makes sense. They're still deciding
00:07:33 --> 00:07:36 between aluminum and stainless steel for
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 the reusable version. With New Glenn's
00:07:38 --> 00:07:41 first stage now proven, they
00:07:41 --> 00:07:42 successfully landed it on the second
00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 flight last November, and SpaceX pushing
00:07:45 --> 00:07:48 towards full Starship reusability,
00:07:48 --> 00:07:50 there's real competitive pressure, and
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 companies like Stoke Space are working
00:07:53 --> 00:07:55 on fully reusable systems. The stakes
00:07:55 --> 00:07:57 are high. Full reusability could be the
00:07:57 --> 00:07:59 key to making space access truly
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 affordable, but it's also enormously
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 technically challenging. We'll be
00:08:04 --> 00:08:05 watching how this debate plays out as
00:08:06 --> 00:08:08 Blue Origin ramps up its launch cadence
00:08:08 --> 00:08:09 in 2026.
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 >> And finally, our feel-good story of the
00:08:12 --> 00:08:15 day. Jim Henson's beloved Fraggles have
00:08:15 --> 00:08:16 arrived at the Kennedy Space Center
00:08:16 --> 00:08:18 visitor complex.
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 >> That's right. Fraggle Rock, a spacey
00:08:20 --> 00:08:22 adventure, is a new life stage show that
00:08:22 --> 00:08:25 debuted in December. It features Gobo,
00:08:25 --> 00:08:27 Red, Uncle Traveling Matt, and
00:08:27 --> 00:08:29 Cotterpender exploring NASA's Kennedy
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 Space Center and learning about the
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 Aremis missions. They even get to chat
00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 with the real astronaut on the ISS.
00:08:35 --> 00:08:38 >> I love the connection they've made here.
00:08:38 --> 00:08:40 In the original show, the Fraggles
00:08:40 --> 00:08:42 always called the human world outer
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 space. So, having them explore actual
00:08:45 --> 00:08:47 outer space at Kennedy Space Center is a
00:08:47 --> 00:08:50 really clever fit. The show is directed
00:08:50 --> 00:08:53 by John Tartaglia, who's the Jim Henson
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 Company's creative supervisor for
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 Fraggle Rock. The characters appear as
00:08:57 --> 00:09:00 fullbody walkaround costumes crafted by
00:09:00 --> 00:09:02 the Jim Henson Creature Shop. And the
00:09:02 --> 00:09:04 show blends comedy, music, and real
00:09:04 --> 00:09:07 space science. It's included with
00:09:07 --> 00:09:09 regular admission and plays twice daily.
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 If you're visiting Florida, that sounds
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 like a brilliant way to inspire the next
00:09:13 --> 00:09:15 generation.
00:09:15 --> 00:09:18 >> Dance your cares away all the way to the
00:09:18 --> 00:09:19 moon.
00:09:19 --> 00:09:21 >> And that's our show for today. If you
00:09:21 --> 00:09:23 enjoyed the episode, please leave us a
00:09:23 --> 00:09:24 review on your favorite podcast
00:09:24 --> 00:09:26 platform. It really helps other space
00:09:26 --> 00:09:28 fans find us.
00:09:28 --> 00:09:29 >> You can find us online at
00:09:29 --> 00:09:31 astronomyaily.io
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 and you can follow us on social media at
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 astroailyaily pod for all the latest
00:09:36 --> 00:09:39 updates. We'll be back on Monday with
00:09:39 --> 00:09:41 more space news. Until then, keep
00:09:41 --> 00:09:42 looking up.
00:09:42 --> 00:09:46 >> See you next week. Astronomy day.
00:09:46 --> 00:09:54 Stories we told.
00:09:54 --> 00:10:02 Stories were told.
00:10:02 --> 00:10:06