Four astronauts are stuck in quarantine in Florida as weather keeps pushing back the Crew-12 launch — now targeting no earlier than Friday, February 13. We've got the full story, including the remarkable subplot involving a Russian cosmonaut who was quietly removed from the mission in December. Plus: interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is on its way out of the solar system forever, but new data from NASA's SPHEREx and James Webb telescopes reveals it's been carrying a chemical cocktail from another star system — one that's unlike anything we've seen in our own comets. Also in today's episode: NASA let an AI drive the Perseverance rover on Mars for two days straight; new research suggests Earth may have hit a rare chemical jackpot during formation that made life possible; the Ring of Fire solar eclipse is just one week away; and Starship is back on track after the Booster 18 disaster, with Flight 12 targeting a March launch window. In This Episode • SpaceX Crew-12: Three launch scrubs, skeleton ISS crew, and the cosmonaut spy subplot • 3I/ATLAS farewell: SPHEREx detects alien chemistry; JWST finds record CO2-to-water ratio • AI drives Perseverance on Mars — 456 metres without human control • Earth's lucky chemistry: why phosphorus and nitrogen almost didn't make it to the surface • Ring of Fire annular solar eclipse — February 17 over Antarctica • Starship Flight 12: Booster 19 passes cryo tests, March launch window in sight Key Links • Full show notes & blog: astronomydaily.io • NASA Crew-12 mission blog: nasa.gov • NASA SPHEREx 3I/ATLAS data: science.nasa.gov • Universe Today — AI drives Perseverance: universetoday.com • Nature Astronomy — Earth habitability study: nature.com Subscribe & Connect Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. New episode every weekday. Full transcripts, blog posts and show notes at astronomydaily.io
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Four astronauts, one rocket, and weather
00:00:03 --> 00:00:06 that just will not cooperate. The Crew
00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 12 team is in quarantine in Florida,
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 watching the forecast and waiting.
00:00:12 --> 00:00:14 >> A visitor from another solar system is
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 heading for the exit and handing us a
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 chemical blueprint of its home solar
00:00:18 --> 00:00:22 system on the way out. Plus, a rover on
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 Mars just took orders from an AI instead
00:00:25 --> 00:00:28 of a human for the very first time. All
00:00:28 --> 00:00:31 that plus a rare solar eclipse just days
00:00:31 --> 00:00:33 away, new research that could change how
00:00:33 --> 00:00:36 we search for life, and Starship making
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39 a comeback after a dramatic setback.
00:00:39 --> 00:00:41 It's a big day. Welcome to Astronomy
00:00:42 --> 00:00:42 Daily.
00:00:42 --> 00:00:46 >> Let's get started. Anna, take it away.
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 >> Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily,
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 your daily guide to what's happening out
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 there. I'm Anna.
00:00:52 --> 00:00:55 >> And I'm Avery. It is Wednesday, February
00:00:55 --> 00:00:58 11th, 2026. We have six stories to get
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 through today, and honestly, it's one of
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 those lineups where every single one of
00:01:03 --> 00:01:04 them earns its place.
00:01:04 --> 00:01:06 >> We're going to kick off with the ongoing
00:01:06 --> 00:01:09 Crew 12 drama at Cape Canaveral, then
00:01:09 --> 00:01:12 swing to Deep Space for the latest from
00:01:12 --> 00:01:13 ThreeI/Atlas,
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 and then we've got a Mars AI story that
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 genuinely made me stop and think. Some
00:01:18 --> 00:01:21 fascinating new science about why Earth
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 ended up being habitable at all. a rare
00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 solar eclipse just days away and a big
00:01:27 --> 00:01:28 Starship update.
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 >> Let's get into it.
00:01:30 --> 00:01:33 >> So Avery, as of this morning, the Crew
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 12 mission has now been pushed back to
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 no earlier than Friday, February 13th.
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 That is the third attempted launch date
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 in less than a week.
00:01:42 --> 00:01:44 >> It really is. Weather has been the
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 culprit each time. The teams originally
00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 had a window on Wednesday 11th today,
00:01:50 --> 00:01:51 but conditions along the Dragon
00:01:52 --> 00:01:53 spacecraft flight path just weren't
00:01:53 --> 00:01:56 cooperating, so they waved it off. Then
00:01:56 --> 00:01:59 Thursday the 12th got pushed. Now
00:01:59 --> 00:02:01 they're looking at Friday morning with a
00:02:01 --> 00:02:04 planned liftoff at 5:15 Eastern.
00:02:04 --> 00:02:06 >> And the reason there's so much urgency
00:02:06 --> 00:02:08 here isn't just that people are
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 impatient. The International Space
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 Station is currently running on what
00:02:12 --> 00:02:15 NASA is calling a skeleton crew. Crew 11
00:02:15 --> 00:02:17 had to come home early back in January
00:02:18 --> 00:02:19 following a medical issue with one of
00:02:19 --> 00:02:22 the astronauts. And since then, the
00:02:22 --> 00:02:23 station has been significantly
00:02:23 --> 00:02:26 understaffed. Crew 12 is the relief
00:02:26 --> 00:02:27 team,
00:02:27 --> 00:02:29 >> which makes every weather delay feel a
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 little more loaded than usual. The
00:02:32 --> 00:02:33 people up there are doing the work of a
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 full crew with a much smaller team.
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 >> So, who's making this trip? Well, let's
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 run through them one more time.
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 Commander is NASA astronaut Jessica
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 Meyer, a veteran of a previous
00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 longduration station mission and well
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 known for conducting the first all
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 female spacew walk back in 2019. She'll
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 be joined by pilot Jack Hathaway, also
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 from NASA on his first space flight.
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 >> And then there are two mission
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 specialists, Sophie Adnot from the
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 European Space Agency representing
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 France and Andre FedV from Russia's
00:03:07 --> 00:03:10 Rosscosmos. This will be Fed JV's second
00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 trip to the station. Once they dock,
00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 they're looking at an 8 to Nmon stay,
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 longer than usual, to cover the time
00:03:17 --> 00:03:19 lost by Crew 11's early departure.
00:03:19 --> 00:03:21 >> Now, there is a subplot to this mission
00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 that I think a lot of people may not
00:03:23 --> 00:03:26 have heard about. Back in December,
00:03:26 --> 00:03:28 Russia's Ross Cosmos quietly removed
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 cosminaut Alleg Artamev from the Crew 12
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 mission. The official line was that he
00:03:33 --> 00:03:37 had transitioned to quote other work
00:03:37 --> 00:03:38 >> which is the kind of statement that
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40 immediately makes you want to know what
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 the actual reason is.
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 >> Right. and investigative outlet The
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 Insider reported that Artamev was
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 effectively expelled from the United
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 States by being accused of violating
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 international traffic in arms
00:03:54 --> 00:03:57 regulations by allegedly photographing
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 SpaceX engines, documents, and other
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 sensitive technologies with his phone
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 and then exporting that information. So
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 he was allegedly taking photos inside
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 SpaceX facilities of proprietary rocket
00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 technology and sending it out of the
00:04:13 --> 00:04:13 country.
00:04:13 --> 00:04:16 >> That appears to be the allegation. He
00:04:16 --> 00:04:19 was replaced by Andre Fedv and Ross
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 Cosmos has said very little publicly.
00:04:21 --> 00:04:23 But it's a striking reminder that even
00:04:24 --> 00:04:25 in the cooperative world of the
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 International Space Station, the
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 geopolitical tensions of the wider world
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 don't disappear at the door. And it
00:04:32 --> 00:04:34 raises interesting questions about what
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 access international partners are given
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 to commercial SpaceX facilities. These
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 aren't NASA government sites.
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 >> Anyway, the crew are in quarantine. The
00:04:44 --> 00:04:47 rocket is on the pad and all eyes are
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 now on the Florida forecast for Friday.
00:04:49 --> 00:04:51 We'll update you the moment there's
00:04:51 --> 00:04:51 news.
00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 >> Our second story takes us to the outer
00:04:54 --> 00:04:57 solar system where interstellar comet 3i
00:04:57 --> 00:05:00 Atlas is continuing its farewell tour.
00:05:00 --> 00:05:03 And before it goes, it's been handing
00:05:03 --> 00:05:06 scientists some truly unexpected data.
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 >> Just to set the scene, 3E Atlas was
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 discovered in July 2025 by a telescope
00:05:11 --> 00:05:14 in Chile, traveling far too fast on a
00:05:14 --> 00:05:16 trajectory that couldn't possibly have
00:05:16 --> 00:05:19 originated within our solar system. It's
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 only the third interstellar object ever
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 confirmed to have passed through after
00:05:23 --> 00:05:28 Umuam Mua in 2017 and Boris in 2019.
00:05:28 --> 00:05:31 NASA's Spear X telescope observed
00:05:31 --> 00:05:34 threeey atlas in December 2025 and the
00:05:34 --> 00:05:36 results have been remarkable. The
00:05:36 --> 00:05:39 comet's coma has become dramatically
00:05:39 --> 00:05:42 more active and chemically complex. BREX
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 detected water ice, carbon dioxide,
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 carbon monoxide, organic compounds, and
00:05:48 --> 00:05:51 rocky material being ejected in chunks
00:05:51 --> 00:05:53 far larger than the fine dust grains
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 you'd normally expect. The scientists
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 described it as a cocktail of chemicals
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 that haven't been exposed to space for
00:06:00 --> 00:06:03 billions of years. The James Web Space
00:06:03 --> 00:06:05 Telescope added another layer, finding
00:06:05 --> 00:06:08 that the ratio of carbon dioxide to
00:06:08 --> 00:06:11 water in the coma is approximately 8:1,
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 which is one of the highest CO2 to water
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 ratios ever measured in any comet. In
00:06:17 --> 00:06:19 our solar systems comets, water tends to
00:06:19 --> 00:06:22 dominate. So the implication is threeey
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 atlas may have formed much further from
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 its home star than a typical comet would
00:06:27 --> 00:06:31 near a CO2 ice line. Its chemistry is
00:06:31 --> 00:06:32 essentially telling us something about
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35 the architecture of the planetary system
00:06:35 --> 00:06:36 it came from.
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 >> There's also data on the comet spin. It
00:06:39 --> 00:06:42 rotates once every 16.16
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 hours and researchers found it had
00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 strange wobbling jets in a rare
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 sun-facing anti-tail. Normally comet
00:06:50 --> 00:06:52 tails point away from the sun, but
00:06:52 --> 00:06:55 Threeey Atlas briefly had one pointing
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 toward it. Genuinely weird behavior.
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 >> As of today, Three Atlas is in the
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 constellation Gemini, fading beyond
00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 naked eye visibility. It's heading
00:07:04 --> 00:07:06 towards a Jupiter flyby in mid-March
00:07:06 --> 00:07:09 before leaving the solar system forever.
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 And there's one more data release to
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 watch for.Sa's ISA's Juice spacecraft
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 observed three Atlas back in November,
00:07:16 --> 00:07:17 but couldn't transmit the data while
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 using its antenna as a heat shield. That
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 data is expected to arrive here on Earth
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 any time now in February. So, there
00:07:24 --> 00:07:27 could still be one more surprise coming.
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 >> When future generations ask what we
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 learned about other solar systems in
00:07:31 --> 00:07:36 2025 and 2026, 3i Atlas is going to be a
00:07:36 --> 00:07:37 big part of the answer.
00:07:37 --> 00:07:40 >> Safe travels, 3II/Atlas. Don't be a
00:07:40 --> 00:07:42 stranger. Although I suppose by
00:07:42 --> 00:07:46 definition you always will be.
00:07:46 --> 00:07:49 >> Now this next story is one I find
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51 genuinely fascinating because it sits
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 right at the intersection of robotics,
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 artificial intelligence, and the
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 practical reality of exploring another
00:07:58 --> 00:08:01 planet. In December, NASA handed the
00:08:01 --> 00:08:04 wheel of the Perseverance Mars rover to
00:08:04 --> 00:08:07 an AI. Not metaphorically, literally.
00:08:08 --> 00:08:10 The AI generated the rover's driving way
00:08:10 --> 00:08:12 points, and the rover followed them
00:08:12 --> 00:08:15 without human control across two
00:08:15 --> 00:08:19 separate days, covering a total of 456
00:08:19 --> 00:08:20 m.
00:08:20 --> 00:08:22 >> And just to be clear, this isn't NASA
00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 hopping on a bandwagon. They have been
00:08:24 --> 00:08:26 working on autonomous rover navigation
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 for years out of sheer necessity. Mars
00:08:29 --> 00:08:32 is so far away that a roundtrip radio
00:08:32 --> 00:08:35 signal takes around 25 minutes. That
00:08:35 --> 00:08:37 means every driving instruction you send
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 has a built-in delay and every
00:08:39 --> 00:08:42 unexpected obstacle requires another 25
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 minutes to respond to. Autonomous
00:08:44 --> 00:08:46 navigation isn't a luxury, it's a
00:08:46 --> 00:08:48 practical requirement.
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 >> So in this demonstration, the AI
00:08:50 --> 00:08:53 analyzed orbital images from the Mars
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 Reconnaissance Orbiter's high-rise
00:08:55 --> 00:08:58 camera as well as digital elevation
00:08:58 --> 00:09:01 models. It identified hazards, sand
00:09:01 --> 00:09:04 traps, boulder fields, bedrock, rocky
00:09:04 --> 00:09:07 outcrops, and then generated a path
00:09:07 --> 00:09:09 defined by a series of way points to
00:09:09 --> 00:09:12 avoid them. From there, Perseverance's
00:09:12 --> 00:09:15 own onboard auto navigation system took
00:09:15 --> 00:09:18 over to actually execute the drive. And
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 importantly, before those AI generated
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 way points were sent to Mars, they were
00:09:22 --> 00:09:24 tested here on Earth using
00:09:24 --> 00:09:26 Perseverance's engineering twin, a
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 fullscale physical replica at JPL's
00:09:29 --> 00:09:31 Marsard. So, this wasn't a blind
00:09:31 --> 00:09:34 experiment. There was a safety net built
00:09:34 --> 00:09:34 in.
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 >> The AI in question is built on
00:09:36 --> 00:09:39 Anthropics Claude, which regular
00:09:39 --> 00:09:41 listeners may know as the same AI that
00:09:41 --> 00:09:44 helps power this show. So, there's a
00:09:44 --> 00:09:46 certain pleasing symmetry and reporting
00:09:46 --> 00:09:48 on that. There really is and the
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 engineers are excited about what comes
00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 next. One of the current limitations is
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 that the longer a rover drives without
00:09:54 --> 00:09:57 human relocization, essentially humans
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59 checking in to confirm where it is on
00:09:59 --> 00:10:02 the map, the more positional uncertainty
00:10:02 --> 00:10:06 built up over 655 m. That uncertainty
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 can grow to around 33 m. The goal is to
00:10:09 --> 00:10:12 use AI to solve that relocization
00:10:12 --> 00:10:14 problem, too. So rovers can handle
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 kilome scale drives entirely on their
00:10:16 --> 00:10:17 own.
00:10:17 --> 00:10:20 >> And beyond Mars, this matters for the
00:10:20 --> 00:10:23 whole future of deep space exploration.
00:10:23 --> 00:10:25 NASA's Dragonfly mission to Saturn's
00:10:25 --> 00:10:28 moon Titan will rely heavily on AI for
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 autonomous navigation as it flies around
00:10:30 --> 00:10:33 in Titan's thick atmosphere. The further
00:10:33 --> 00:10:36 from Earth you go, the more critical
00:10:36 --> 00:10:38 autonomous systems become. Because
00:10:38 --> 00:10:41 waiting 25 minutes for a signal is one
00:10:41 --> 00:10:43 thing, but waiting hours or days is
00:10:43 --> 00:10:44 quite another.
00:10:44 --> 00:10:47 >> The vision the JPL team laid out is
00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 compelling. Intelligence systems not
00:10:49 --> 00:10:51 just at mission control here on Earth,
00:10:51 --> 00:10:53 but embedded in the rovers, helicopters,
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 and drones themselves. Trained on the
00:10:56 --> 00:10:57 collective knowledge of NASA's engineers
00:10:58 --> 00:11:01 and scientists. The Mars rover of 2035
00:11:01 --> 00:11:02 may look quite different from
00:11:02 --> 00:11:05 Perseverance. Our next story is one of
00:11:05 --> 00:11:07 those pieces of research that sounds
00:11:07 --> 00:11:10 almost philosophical at first, but turns
00:11:10 --> 00:11:12 out to have very concrete scientific
00:11:12 --> 00:11:15 implications. A new study published in
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 Nature Astronomy has found that life on
00:11:17 --> 00:11:19 Earth may be thanks to an
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 extraordinarily lucky chemical accident
00:11:22 --> 00:11:25 during our planet's formation nearly 4.6
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 billion years ago.
00:11:27 --> 00:11:29 >> And when they say lucky, they mean it.
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 The research suggests that two elements
00:11:32 --> 00:11:35 absolutely essential for life as we know
00:11:35 --> 00:11:38 it, phosphorus and nitrogen, only stayed
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 accessible on Earth's surface because of
00:11:40 --> 00:11:44 a very precise and apparently quite rare
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 balance of oxygen during the planet's
00:11:46 --> 00:11:47 earliest formation.
00:11:47 --> 00:11:50 >> Here's how it works. When a young rocky
00:11:50 --> 00:11:53 planet forms, it's initially molten, a
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 churning ball of liquid rock. As heavy
00:11:55 --> 00:11:58 metals sink inward to form the core,
00:11:58 --> 00:12:01 lighter materials stay near the surface.
00:12:01 --> 00:12:03 During this chaotic stage called core
00:12:03 --> 00:12:06 formation, the amount of oxygen present
00:12:06 --> 00:12:08 determines where other elements end up.
00:12:08 --> 00:12:11 The researchers from ETHZurich found
00:12:11 --> 00:12:13 that oxygen levels need to fall within a
00:12:13 --> 00:12:16 surprisingly narrow range for both
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 phosphorus and nitrogen to remain in the
00:12:18 --> 00:12:21 mantle and crust available for future
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 life. Too little oxygen and phosphorus
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 bonds with iron and gets dragged into
00:12:26 --> 00:12:28 the core, taking away a key ingredient
00:12:28 --> 00:12:30 for DNA, cell membranes, and energy
00:12:30 --> 00:12:33 transfer. Too much oxygen and nitrogen
00:12:33 --> 00:12:36 is more easily lost to space. Either
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 way, the chemistry needed for life never
00:12:38 --> 00:12:40 fully comes together. Earth hit this
00:12:40 --> 00:12:42 sweet spot, what the researchers are
00:12:42 --> 00:12:44 calling a chemical goldilock zone.
00:12:44 --> 00:12:46 Precisely.
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48 >> The lead researcher, Craig Walton, put
00:12:48 --> 00:12:50 it clearly. If Earth had had just a
00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 little more or a little less oxygen
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54 during core formation, there would not
00:12:54 --> 00:12:57 have been enough phosphorus or nitrogen
00:12:57 --> 00:12:59 for the development of life. They also
00:12:59 --> 00:13:01 modeled Mars and found it likely had the
00:13:02 --> 00:13:04 wrong oxygen balance. More phosphorus in
00:13:04 --> 00:13:06 the mantle than Earth, but less
00:13:06 --> 00:13:08 nitrogen. Challenging conditions for
00:13:08 --> 00:13:10 life as we know it.
00:13:10 --> 00:13:12 >> This is a significant challenge to how
00:13:12 --> 00:13:13 we've traditionally thought about the
00:13:14 --> 00:13:16 search for life. The habitable zone, the
00:13:16 --> 00:13:19 region around a star where liquid water
00:13:19 --> 00:13:21 can exist on the surface, has been our
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 go-to framework. But this research
00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 suggests that even a planet in the
00:13:26 --> 00:13:28 perfect orbital position with liquid
00:13:28 --> 00:13:30 water could be fundamentally incapable
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 of supporting life if its internal
00:13:33 --> 00:13:35 chemistry didn't form correctly.
00:13:35 --> 00:13:38 >> And here's the hopeful flip side. The
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40 oxygen conditions during planetary
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 formation are linked to the chemistry of
00:13:42 --> 00:13:45 the host star itself. Because planets
00:13:45 --> 00:13:47 form from the same material as their
00:13:47 --> 00:13:50 stars. So in principle, by looking at
00:13:50 --> 00:13:52 stellar chemistry, we might be able to
00:13:52 --> 00:13:55 predict which planetary systems had the
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 right conditions from the start.
00:13:57 --> 00:13:59 Walton's advice for the search, look for
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 solar systems with stars that resemble
00:14:02 --> 00:14:03 our own sun.
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 >> It makes the Earth feel even more
00:14:05 --> 00:14:07 special and the universe feel a little
00:14:08 --> 00:14:11 more vast and empty. All right, from the
00:14:11 --> 00:14:14 philosophical to the spectacular. In
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 exactly one week's time, on February
00:14:16 --> 00:14:19 17th, an annular solar eclipse is going
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22 to sweep across the southern hemisphere.
00:14:22 --> 00:14:24 This is the so-called Ring of Fire
00:14:24 --> 00:14:26 eclipse, where the moon passes directly
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 in front of the sun. But because it's at
00:14:28 --> 00:14:30 a slightly greater distance from Earth
00:14:30 --> 00:14:33 than usual, it appears a little smaller
00:14:33 --> 00:14:35 than the sun's disc, the result is a
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 thin blazing ring of sunlight
00:14:37 --> 00:14:40 surrounding the moon's dark silhouette.
00:14:40 --> 00:14:42 Stunning. Though this is different from
00:14:42 --> 00:14:45 a total solar eclipse where the moon
00:14:45 --> 00:14:47 completely covers the sun and you get
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 that eerie darkness in the middle of the
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 day. In an annular eclipse, the moon
00:14:51 --> 00:14:55 blocks about 96% of the sun's disc, but
00:14:55 --> 00:14:57 that remaining sliver stays visible, and
00:14:57 --> 00:14:59 the ring effect is only visible for
00:14:59 --> 00:15:02 around 2 minutes and 20 seconds at any
00:15:02 --> 00:15:04 given location in the past.
00:15:04 --> 00:15:06 >> The path of annularity for this one is
00:15:06 --> 00:15:09 quite remote. It runs primarily over
00:15:09 --> 00:15:12 Antarctica, which means the full Ring of
00:15:12 --> 00:15:14 Fire experience will be witnessed by the
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 researchers at places like Concordia
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 Station, the French Italian outpost on
00:15:20 --> 00:15:23 the Dome Sea Plateau, and Mirin Station,
00:15:23 --> 00:15:26 the Russian base on the Davis Sea Coast.
00:15:26 --> 00:15:29 We're talking about teams of maybe 50 to
00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 200 people. A very exclusive audience
00:15:32 --> 00:15:35 for one of nature's best shows. For the
00:15:35 --> 00:15:37 rest of us, partial phases will be
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 visible from the southernmost parts of
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 South America, southern Chile, and
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 Argentina, and from parts of South
00:15:43 --> 00:15:46 Africa. Not the full ring, but still a
00:15:46 --> 00:15:48 striking sight if you're in the right
00:15:48 --> 00:15:50 location with proper eclipse glasses.
00:15:50 --> 00:15:53 And it goes without saying, never look
00:15:53 --> 00:15:55 directly at the sun during an eclipse
00:15:55 --> 00:15:57 without approved eclipse glasses. The
00:15:57 --> 00:16:00 ring of fire does not mean the sun is
00:16:00 --> 00:16:02 safe to look at. There's also something
00:16:02 --> 00:16:04 lovely about the timing of this eclipse.
00:16:04 --> 00:16:07 February 17th is the start of Chinese
00:16:07 --> 00:16:09 New Year, specifically the year of the
00:16:10 --> 00:16:12 Firehorse. The new moon that causes the
00:16:12 --> 00:16:14 eclipse is the same new moon that marks
00:16:14 --> 00:16:17 the beginning of the lunar new year. And
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19 the cresant moon visible on February
00:16:19 --> 00:16:22 18th will signal the start of Ramadan.
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 So, this one celestial event sits right
00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 at the intersection of multiple major
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 cultural moments around the world. If
00:16:29 --> 00:16:30 you're not in the past and want to
00:16:30 --> 00:16:32 watch, there will almost certainly be
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 live streams from research teams in
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 Antarctica. We'll keep an eye out and
00:16:36 --> 00:16:38 link to any good ones in the show notes.
00:16:38 --> 00:16:40 And we're going to close out today's
00:16:40 --> 00:16:43 main stories with a Starship update.
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45 Because after a frustrating lull, things
00:16:45 --> 00:16:48 are very much moving again at SpaceX's
00:16:48 --> 00:16:50 Starbase facility in South Texas. To
00:16:50 --> 00:16:53 understand why this is significant, you
00:16:53 --> 00:16:55 need a quick bit of context. The last
00:16:55 --> 00:16:58 Starship flight, flight 11, was the
00:16:58 --> 00:17:00 final launch of the block 2
00:17:00 --> 00:17:02 configuration. SpaceX is now
00:17:02 --> 00:17:05 transitioning to block 3, which is a
00:17:05 --> 00:17:07 significantly upgraded architecture
00:17:07 --> 00:17:10 featuring new Raptor 3 engines, enhanced
00:17:10 --> 00:17:12 performance, and improved reusability
00:17:12 --> 00:17:15 features. But the development of Block
00:17:15 --> 00:17:17 3, hit a serious setback when booster
00:17:17 --> 00:17:21 18, the first Block 3 booster, failed
00:17:21 --> 00:17:23 during cryogenic pressure testing late
00:17:23 --> 00:17:26 last year. Its outer container cracked.
00:17:26 --> 00:17:30 >> Base X moved fast. Booster 19, the
00:17:30 --> 00:17:32 replacement, was stacked and delivered
00:17:32 --> 00:17:34 to the test site in record time. And in
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 the first week of February, it
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 successfully completed not one but two
00:17:39 --> 00:17:42 cryogenic pressure tests. The first was
00:17:42 --> 00:17:45 on February 2nd, the second on the 4th.
00:17:45 --> 00:17:48 Both passed. Starbase watchers described
00:17:48 --> 00:17:51 it as looking like the entire booster
00:17:51 --> 00:17:54 had frozen solid as super chilled liquid
00:17:54 --> 00:17:56 oxygen entered it, which is exactly what
00:17:56 --> 00:17:57 it's supposed to do.
00:17:57 --> 00:17:59 >> Booster 19 has since been returned to
00:17:59 --> 00:18:01 the production site for further work.
00:18:02 --> 00:18:03 And all eyes are now on the flight
00:18:04 --> 00:18:07 stack. Booster 19 paired with ship 39,
00:18:07 --> 00:18:09 which is being prepared for what will be
00:18:09 --> 00:18:12 the debut of the full Block 3 vehicle.
00:18:12 --> 00:18:14 The current target is a launch window in
00:18:14 --> 00:18:17 the February to March time frame, though
00:18:17 --> 00:18:19 sources familiar with the program point
00:18:19 --> 00:18:21 to March as the most realistic date.
00:18:21 --> 00:18:24 >> Flight 12 is a genuinely significant
00:18:24 --> 00:18:26 milestone. It'll be the first flight of
00:18:26 --> 00:18:28 the block 3 Starship, the first use of
00:18:28 --> 00:18:31 the new pad 2 architecture at Starbase,
00:18:31 --> 00:18:34 and the debut of Raptor 3 engines at
00:18:34 --> 00:18:38 scale. The stakes are high. NASA needs a
00:18:38 --> 00:18:40 successful block 3 to progress towards
00:18:40 --> 00:18:42 using Starship as the human landing
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 system for the Aremis program's crude
00:18:44 --> 00:18:47 lunar missions. That timeline is already
00:18:47 --> 00:18:48 under pressure.
00:18:48 --> 00:18:50 >> Meanwhile, infrastructure work continues
00:18:50 --> 00:18:53 at a remarkable pace. Pad 1 at Starbase
00:18:53 --> 00:18:56 is being rebuilt. Space X's facility at
00:18:56 --> 00:18:58 Kennedy Space Center at launch complex
00:18:58 --> 00:19:01 39A is progressing toward a first
00:19:01 --> 00:19:03 Florida Starship launch in the second
00:19:03 --> 00:19:07 half of 2026. And environmental approval
00:19:07 --> 00:19:08 has been granted for a brand new
00:19:08 --> 00:19:11 Starship complex at Space Launch Complex
00:19:11 --> 00:19:14 37 at Cape Canaveral, which would
00:19:14 --> 00:19:17 eventually give the program five launch
00:19:17 --> 00:19:19 pads across Texas and Florida.
00:19:19 --> 00:19:22 >> Five launch pads for Starship. It's a
00:19:22 --> 00:19:25 lot to take in, but after booster 18's
00:19:25 --> 00:19:27 failure and the testing lull, the fact
00:19:27 --> 00:19:30 that booster 19 has passed its cryotests
00:19:30 --> 00:19:32 and flight 12 is back on track is
00:19:32 --> 00:19:35 genuinely good news for the program.
00:19:35 --> 00:19:37 >> We will be watching closely.
00:19:37 --> 00:19:39 >> That is everything we've got for you
00:19:39 --> 00:19:42 today on Astronomy Daily. Fix stories,
00:19:42 --> 00:19:43 all of them worth your time. From
00:19:43 --> 00:19:45 astronauts waiting for weather in
00:19:45 --> 00:19:48 Florida to a comet carrying four
00:19:48 --> 00:19:50 billionyear-old secrets from another
00:19:50 --> 00:19:53 star, a rover taking orders from an AI
00:19:53 --> 00:19:56 on Mars, new science that makes life on
00:19:56 --> 00:19:58 Earth feel like a cosmic lottery win, a
00:19:58 --> 00:20:01 ring of fire one week away, and Starship
00:20:01 --> 00:20:04 dusting itself off for another attempt
00:20:04 --> 00:20:05 at history.
00:20:05 --> 00:20:07 >> A genuinely brilliant day to be
00:20:07 --> 00:20:09 following space news. Thank you so much
00:20:09 --> 00:20:11 for spending part of it with us. If you
00:20:11 --> 00:20:12 enjoyed today's episode, please
00:20:12 --> 00:20:14 subscribe wherever you get your
00:20:14 --> 00:20:16 podcasts. And if you want to go deeper
00:20:16 --> 00:20:18 on any of these stories, full show notes
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 and our blog are over at
00:20:20 --> 00:20:22 astronomyaily.io.
00:20:22 --> 00:20:24 >> Until tomorrow, keep looking up.
00:20:24 --> 00:20:26 >> Take care, everyone.
00:20:26 --> 00:20:28 >> Daily
00:20:28 --> 00:20:36 stories.
00:20:36 --> 00:20:40 Stories to tell.