This episode is brought to you by NordVPN ....the VPN we all use and highly recommend. We wouldn't advertise them if we didn't love the product. And there's a very special limited time deal for Space Nuts listeners at the moment. Check it out ASAP at www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts (https://www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts) ...and it comes witha 30 day money back guantee. (https://www.nordvpn.com/spacenuts)
Space Nuts Episode 501: Lunar Landings, Andromeda Mysteries, and Voyager-1 Update
Join Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson (yes, he's back) in this exciting episode of Space Nuts, where they dive into groundbreaking achievements in lunar exploration, the mysteries surrounding the Andromeda galaxy, and the latest updates from Voyager 1. This episode is packed with fascinating insights and updates that will keep you engaged and curious about the cosmos.
Episode Highlights:
- Blue Ghost Lunar Lander: The episode kicks off with the successful landing of the Blue Ghost lunar lander by Firefly Aerospace. Andrew and Fred discuss the significance of this commercial mission, how it differs from past government-funded endeavors, and what it means for future lunar exploration.
- Odin Asteroid Probe Troubles: The duo then shifts focus to the Odin asteroid probe, which has encountered some challenges en route to its target. They explore the implications of its current state and what this means for the future of asteroid mining and exploration missions.
- Andromeda Galaxy's Dwarf Galaxies: Andrew and Fred delve into the latest research on Andromeda, discussing how its dwarf galaxies are behaving unusually. They explore the potential gravitational influences at play and the surprising findings from Hubble observations that challenge existing theories about galaxy formation.
- Voyager 1's Communication Update: The episode wraps up with an update on Voyager 1, the most distant human-made object, which has resumed sending intelligible signals back to Earth after overcoming some technical difficulties. Andrew and Fred reflect on the incredible journey of Voyager 1 and its ongoing contributions to our understanding of the universe.
For more Space Nuts, including our continually updating newsfeed and to listen to all our episodes, visit our website. (https://www.spacenutspodcast.com/) Follow us on social media at SpaceNutsPod on Facebook, X, YouTube Music Music, Tumblr, Instagram, and TikTok. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favorite platform.
If you'd like to help support Space Nuts and join our growing family of insiders for commercial-free episodes and more, visit spacenutspodcast.com/about (https://www.spacenutspodcast.com/about)
Stay curious, keep looking up, and join us next time for more stellar insights and cosmic wonders. Until then, clear skies and happy stargazing.
00:00 - Introduction and lunar lander success
02:15 - Discussion on the Blue Ghost lunar lander
10:30 - Updates on the Odin asteroid probe
18:00 - Insights into Andromeda's dwarf galaxies
26:45 - Voyager 1's communication update
30:00 - Closing thoughts and listener engagement
✍️ Episode References
Blue Ghost Lunar Lander Mission Details
https://www.firefly.com/blueghost (https://www.firefly.com/blueghost)
Odin Asteroid Mission Overview
https://www.astro.com/odin (https://www.astro.com/odin)
Andromeda Galaxy Research Findings
https://www.hubblesite.org/andromeda (https://www.hubblesite.org/andromeda)
Voyager 1 Communication Updates
https://www.nasa.gov/voyager1 (https://www.nasa.gov/voyager1)
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-exploring-the-cosmos--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-exploring-the-cosmos--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) .
Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/25930810?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:01 hello again thanks for joining us this
00:00:01 --> 00:00:03 is Space Nuts my name is Andrew Dunley
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 thanks for joining us coming up on this
00:00:05 --> 00:00:09 episode we are going to be looking a a
00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 rather amazing achievement involving a
00:00:12 --> 00:00:14 an organization who have landed on the
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 moon and you're saying yeah it's been
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 done not like this it hasn't uh on top
00:00:19 --> 00:00:21 of that we've got a a mission that's
00:00:21 --> 00:00:23 going past the Moon that is in a little
00:00:24 --> 00:00:26 bit of trouble as well we'll also focus
00:00:26 --> 00:00:28 our attention on the Andromeda galaxy
00:00:28 --> 00:00:30 and we've had some questions recently
00:00:30 --> 00:00:32 about Andromeda well you'll be
00:00:32 --> 00:00:35 interested to know that it has been
00:00:35 --> 00:00:37 suffering from interference and it
00:00:37 --> 00:00:40 wasn't us was it we didn't do it and
00:00:40 --> 00:00:42 Voyager one back in the news again
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 that's all coming up on this episode of
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 Space Nuts 15 seconds guidance is
00:00:47 --> 00:00:52 internal 10 9 ignition sequence start
00:00:52 --> 00:00:58 Space Nuts 5 4 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 5 4 3 2 1
00:00:58 --> 00:01:02 Space Nuts report it feels good and he's
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 back in the big chair after a month away
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 it's Professor Fred Watson astronom at
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 large hello Fred hello Andrew good to be
00:01:09 --> 00:01:13 back as it's the politicians always say
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 good to be with you don't yes they do
00:01:15 --> 00:01:18 don't they good to be with you I'm sure
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 they sit there with um with consultants
00:01:20 --> 00:01:21 and
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 committees the right way to say hello
00:01:24 --> 00:01:25 yes that's
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 right and the answer is good to be with
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 you good to be with you um now we talked
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 on the last episode or two when you U
00:01:33 --> 00:01:37 when you you popped in on us uh about
00:01:37 --> 00:01:40 your trip North I I one thing I wondered
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 is while you were there to look at the
00:01:42 --> 00:01:46 Aurora oralis and and and the like um on
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 on an astronomy tour did you actually
00:01:48 --> 00:01:52 get to see uh the planetary alignment or
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 couldn't you view it from that far
00:01:54 --> 00:02:00 north uh we could um but uh the you're
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 right it's a good question because the
00:02:02 --> 00:02:04 ecliptic which is where all the planets
00:02:04 --> 00:02:06 lie uh just like the Equator the
00:02:06 --> 00:02:09 celestial equator is very low down at
00:02:09 --> 00:02:10 the latitudes we were at the furthest
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 North we got was to North cap in which
00:02:12 --> 00:02:16 is 71 degrees latitude um a lot of the
00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 time we're in Greenland Iceland's a
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 little bit further south it's only the
00:02:20 --> 00:02:21 top really the North Coast of Iceland
00:02:21 --> 00:02:23 that's within the Arctic Circle but
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 we're also well in the Arctic Circle in
00:02:25 --> 00:02:27 Sweden and Norway nor North Cape of
00:02:27 --> 00:02:30 course is in Norway uh so yes you your
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 view of the sky is is different um what
00:02:33 --> 00:02:35 always and and I remember being struck
00:02:35 --> 00:02:38 by this in my very very first visit to
00:02:38 --> 00:02:41 the Arctic which was back in 2012 when
00:02:41 --> 00:02:44 we laid our first expedition up there uh
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 and I was struck by the fact that I
00:02:46 --> 00:02:51 could see stars which from our latitude
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 in and I'm still thinking of the
00:02:53 --> 00:02:54 northern hemisphere from the latitude of
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 the United Kingdom were only visible in
00:02:57 --> 00:02:58 the summertime and we were there in the
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01 middle of winter so you can see um at
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 least two stars of something called the
00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 summer triangle the summer triangle is
00:03:05 --> 00:03:10 Vega alter and um the brightest star in
00:03:10 --> 00:03:14 signis which is um denb denb Vega and
00:03:14 --> 00:03:17 alter uh Vega and denb were very very
00:03:17 --> 00:03:22 visible uh in M midwinter uh near the
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 North Pole because the you know the the
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 the pole of the sky is tilted upwards so
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29 you can see things that from kind of
00:03:29 --> 00:03:32 middle latit you'd only see in summer uh
00:03:32 --> 00:03:33 so what it meant was yes your your
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 question is well made uh we certainly
00:03:36 --> 00:03:39 saw Venus Jupiter and Mars very clearly
00:03:39 --> 00:03:41 probably Saturn although it was quite
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 near the Horizon then and I don't think
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 we got a glimpse of mercury so that
00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 parade of planets that really occupied
00:03:48 --> 00:03:50 the media for us in the southern
00:03:50 --> 00:03:52 hemisphere it was actually best back in
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 January yeah uh it's uh it's only in the
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 north that it's been a Hot Topic within
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 the last few days the reason I ask is
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 it's been in the news again because they
00:04:02 --> 00:04:04 said that well the the popular press is
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 saying oh you know the the big alignment
00:04:06 --> 00:04:08 first time you last time we'll see it in
00:04:08 --> 00:04:11 60 years blah blah um jonty has a
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 particular problem with the way the
00:04:13 --> 00:04:16 media spews this kind of information out
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 and and you know don't let the truth get
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 in the way of good story type attitude
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22 that's right um
00:04:22 --> 00:04:26 but it was uh apparently it was the
00:04:26 --> 00:04:28 whole set at the end of February because
00:04:28 --> 00:04:31 Mercury was part of the the deal then
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 from the Northern Hemisphere yeah well
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 there you go and um yeah I was just
00:04:36 --> 00:04:39 wondering if you got a chance to spot it
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 but uh no didn't see Mercury no I didn't
00:04:42 --> 00:04:45 see any of it much okay I did go out and
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 look but where I am in town it's it's a
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 really bad position and I'd have to go
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 out and find a hill and as you know
00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 there are not that many of them around
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 here no no you're a bit a bit low on
00:04:56 --> 00:04:57 Hills up there you need somebody to come
00:04:57 --> 00:05:00 and build one for you yeah
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 yeah or just cut all the trees down and
00:05:03 --> 00:05:04 well there that too but that's not a
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 good idea no not really no okay all
00:05:07 --> 00:05:09 right uh let's get onto our first
00:05:09 --> 00:05:12 official story and this one is very
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 exciting and and again getting a lot of
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 press and that's been the successful
00:05:17 --> 00:05:21 Landing of the blue Ghost lunar lander
00:05:21 --> 00:05:25 on the moon this this is uh this is a a
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 lot different to what we were witnessing
00:05:27 --> 00:05:30 in the 60s and70s and and a few of the
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32 more recent missions because they were
00:05:32 --> 00:05:36 uh publicly funded and um government
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 gazetted and all that Jaz this is a
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 completely different kettle of
00:05:40 --> 00:05:44 fish indeed because it's it is a
00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 commercial space flight it's a
00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 commercial company uh with the lovely
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 name of firefly
00:05:50 --> 00:05:52 Aerospace uh their blue Ghost Lander is
00:05:52 --> 00:05:56 named after a rare species of firefly
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 which is found in the Appalachian area
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 of the United States
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 uh I love the name of the mission it's
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 not Apollo or emis or anything it's
00:06:05 --> 00:06:09 called Ghost Riders in the Sky I love
00:06:09 --> 00:06:12 it uh and we did see uh earlier in the
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 week before the spacecraft landed
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 successfully which it did on uh March
00:06:16 --> 00:06:20 the 2nd uh Eastern Standard Time Sunday
00:06:20 --> 00:06:23 um at the weekend the weekend just gone
00:06:23 --> 00:06:24 uh we did some see some images during
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 the week from the navigation cameras
00:06:26 --> 00:06:29 which uh showed the Earth and the moon
00:06:29 --> 00:06:32 as the Lander flew by but the reason why
00:06:32 --> 00:06:34 this Lander is going to the moon or has
00:06:34 --> 00:06:38 gone to the Moon is that it's part of uh
00:06:38 --> 00:06:39 something you and I have talked about
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 Andrew NASA's commercial Luna pay
00:06:41 --> 00:06:45 payload Services Program clps commercial
00:06:45 --> 00:06:47 commercial Luna payload uh which
00:06:47 --> 00:06:51 basically is NASA Contracting to private
00:06:51 --> 00:06:54 companies uh for payloads to go to the
00:06:54 --> 00:06:58 lunar surface uh either experiments or
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 um you know I suppose they they're all
00:07:00 --> 00:07:03 experiments or at least things that test
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 the technology uh basically to check
00:07:06 --> 00:07:09 things out before the timis mission
00:07:09 --> 00:07:12 really gets underway with a Luna Landing
00:07:12 --> 00:07:16 uh we hope that Artemis will see humans
00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 walking on the moon
00:07:18 --> 00:07:22 2027 I think is the current date uh but
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 that could change because all sorts of
00:07:24 --> 00:07:27 things are happening uh inside NASA
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 which we really didn't expect um anyway
00:07:30 --> 00:07:32 the launch was on the 15th of January so
00:07:32 --> 00:07:34 it's taken a little while to get there
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 uh it is
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 uh the spacecraft Road into orbit on a
00:07:39 --> 00:07:43 falcon 9 a SpaceX Falcon 9 uh and
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 essentially uh having gone into lunar
00:07:45 --> 00:07:48 orbit uh earlier in February 13th of
00:07:48 --> 00:07:53 February it was descended or Center um a
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 command to to descend to the lunar
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 surface uh on the 1st of March and
00:07:58 --> 00:08:01 successfully touch down on the second so
00:08:01 --> 00:08:05 really great stuff fantastic news that a
00:08:05 --> 00:08:07 commercial space flight has landed
00:08:07 --> 00:08:10 successfully on the Moon yes it is
00:08:10 --> 00:08:13 marvelous and um it's a very short
00:08:13 --> 00:08:14 Mission though isn't it they're not
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 going to be doing much for long from
00:08:16 --> 00:08:18 what I understand I think that's right I
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 think the the you know the essential
00:08:20 --> 00:08:21 part was just demonstrating that they
00:08:21 --> 00:08:24 can get there yeah which they've now
00:08:24 --> 00:08:29 done very successfully um it's uh it's I
00:08:29 --> 00:08:32 think it's uh as you said it's a short
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 Mission uh I I think it's one of these
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 things that will only last for Luna day
00:08:37 --> 00:08:38 I need to check that but it's that sort
00:08:38 --> 00:08:42 of time um uh it's easy to find some
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 really nice pictures of uh of what the
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 SK for the sky would look like for for
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 for Blue Ghost there's a very nice
00:08:50 --> 00:08:53 picture on X of a gentleman by the name
00:08:53 --> 00:08:57 of BZ Aldren watching The Landing yes
00:08:57 --> 00:08:58 yeah he sent he sent him a message of
00:08:58 --> 00:08:59 congratul
00:09:00 --> 00:09:02 yes yeah yeah uh which is great and you
00:09:02 --> 00:09:05 know who better to to send a
00:09:05 --> 00:09:08 congratulations to a a company like that
00:09:08 --> 00:09:11 than bazin the second man to walk on the
00:09:11 --> 00:09:14 moon absolutely yes and uh I think I've
00:09:14 --> 00:09:15 mentioned before I've had the great
00:09:15 --> 00:09:17 pleasure of meeting and interviewing him
00:09:17 --> 00:09:19 in my radio career so that was one of
00:09:19 --> 00:09:23 the big highlights for me uh one of the
00:09:23 --> 00:09:24 highlights for me was having dinner with
00:09:24 --> 00:09:28 him oh that's better yeah it was really
00:09:28 --> 00:09:29 interesting World talk about that some
00:09:29 --> 00:09:31 of the time a very interesting meeting
00:09:31 --> 00:09:33 but he was very stimulating this is
00:09:33 --> 00:09:35 probably a decade ago yeah was yeah
00:09:35 --> 00:09:38 great great company as you know yeah I I
00:09:38 --> 00:09:41 noticed uh in one of the stories I think
00:09:41 --> 00:09:44 it's in sky and Telescope uh do.org they
00:09:44 --> 00:09:47 they refer to The Descent orbit
00:09:47 --> 00:09:51 insertion as nine minutes of Terror yes
00:09:51 --> 00:09:53 we we talked about these terrifying
00:09:53 --> 00:09:55 Landings on other worlds particularly
00:09:55 --> 00:09:58 Mars I wouldn't have thought that it
00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 would be as bigger deal on the moon
00:10:00 --> 00:10:02 given that there's you know no
00:10:02 --> 00:10:06 atmosphere of con you're right yeah and
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 you're absolutely right because um you
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 know if you're landing on Mars a lot of
00:10:11 --> 00:10:14 the trajectory is dictated not just by
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 uh orbital mechanics which is how things
00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 work in space but dictated by the
00:10:19 --> 00:10:20 vagaries of the atmosphere if you got
00:10:20 --> 00:10:21 slightly higher pressure than you
00:10:21 --> 00:10:23 expected you you've got more breaking
00:10:23 --> 00:10:26 force and suddenly your your spacecraft
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 is heading for a different part of the
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 surface a higher speed than you would
00:10:30 --> 00:10:33 want or lower speed or whatever um and
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 you're right that um in the case of the
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 moon it's all about orbital mechanics
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 which are very very predictable but you
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 can imagine you know you've got to fire
00:10:42 --> 00:10:44 those thrusters at just the right moment
00:10:44 --> 00:10:46 to break it so that when it lands on the
00:10:46 --> 00:10:48 Moon it doesn't land too hard and smash
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 up on the rocks or basically bounce off
00:10:51 --> 00:10:53 and then Smash Up you've got to get
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 things just right so nine minutes of
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 Terror I can I can sympathize with that
00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 I think I'd feel like that too well when
00:10:59 --> 00:11:02 you're talking about breaking from 3
00:11:02 --> 00:11:07 mph to 90 mph yes that that would be
00:11:07 --> 00:11:10 that would be terrifying if um you know
00:11:10 --> 00:11:12 you pushed the wrong button
00:11:12 --> 00:11:16 on fail and I think I had to smile when
00:11:16 --> 00:11:19 I read the story because they they said
00:11:19 --> 00:11:23 uh successful landing and upright so I
00:11:23 --> 00:11:26 think I think they were sort of saying
00:11:26 --> 00:11:27 well you know even if it lands on its
00:11:27 --> 00:11:28 side that's a success but it's even
00:11:29 --> 00:11:31 better that it's standing right yes it
00:11:31 --> 00:11:32 was last year wasn't it that one of the
00:11:32 --> 00:11:34 one of the spacecraft did land on its
00:11:34 --> 00:11:37 side remember I think it was the Indian
00:11:37 --> 00:11:39 mission was it was it Indian or Japanese
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 I can't remember um but yeah so it was
00:11:41 --> 00:11:43 landed in such a way that the solar
00:11:43 --> 00:11:46 panels weren't seeing the sun yes that's
00:11:46 --> 00:11:47 so yes it's very important to have it
00:11:47 --> 00:11:49 the right way up yeah anyway we wish
00:11:49 --> 00:11:52 them well it'll be a quick visit and uh
00:11:52 --> 00:11:55 you it paves the way for emus too we
00:11:55 --> 00:11:56 still don't know when that's going to
00:11:56 --> 00:11:59 happen seems to be getting pushed back
00:11:59 --> 00:12:00 time and time again but they will get
00:12:00 --> 00:12:03 there eventually I'm sure they will one
00:12:03 --> 00:12:04 we'll
00:12:04 --> 00:12:08 hope let's take a short break from Space
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 Nuts to tell you about our sponsor Nord
00:12:10 --> 00:12:13 VPN now I've talked about virtual
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 private networks before and how they can
00:12:15 --> 00:12:18 protect you online and no one does it
00:12:18 --> 00:12:21 better than Nord now I've been using
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 Nord for over two years and I have no
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 complaints I'm also using uh some of
00:12:27 --> 00:12:28 their other tools including the
00:12:28 --> 00:12:31 brilliant past word manager and the one
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 terabyte of cloud storage and let's face
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 it you just can't get enough storage
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 these days and cloud storage is good
00:12:38 --> 00:12:40 because it's backed up if you've got it
00:12:40 --> 00:12:42 on a a drive attached to your computer
00:12:42 --> 00:12:44 that drive will eventually die and you
00:12:44 --> 00:12:45 don't want to lose all that
00:12:45 --> 00:12:48 stuff um so yeah cloud storage is the
00:12:48 --> 00:12:51 way to go uh right now Nord is offering
00:12:51 --> 00:12:54 up to 74% off for Space Nuts listeners
00:12:54 --> 00:12:58 on top of an extra six months added on
00:12:58 --> 00:13:01 if you sign up for a 2-year deal that is
00:13:01 --> 00:13:04 a brilliant offer and it's all backed by
00:13:04 --> 00:13:06 their 30-day money back
00:13:06 --> 00:13:09 guarantee now the level of discount does
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 vary with the different plans but the
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 longer you sign on for the better the
00:13:13 --> 00:13:16 deal gets on a monthly cost basis you
00:13:16 --> 00:13:18 just need to work out what's right for
00:13:18 --> 00:13:21 you uh nordvpn is great for streaming
00:13:22 --> 00:13:24 and won't slow you down in fact it does
00:13:24 --> 00:13:26 the opposite with no interruptions no
00:13:26 --> 00:13:28 limits on bandwidth and no limits on
00:13:28 --> 00:13:31 speed need and with over 7 servers
00:13:31 --> 00:13:33 around the world they've got you covered
00:13:33 --> 00:13:36 so take advantage of their exclusive
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38 Space Nuts deal today by going to
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40 nordvpn.com
00:13:40 --> 00:13:43 SPAC nuts and click on get
00:13:43 --> 00:13:46 nordvpn and discover all the options
00:13:46 --> 00:13:47 that's
00:13:47 --> 00:13:51 nordvpn.com SPAC nuts the six-month
00:13:52 --> 00:13:55 extra deal is for a limited time only so
00:13:55 --> 00:13:59 check it out today at nordvpn.com
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 Space Nuts you'll be very glad you did
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 I'm sure now back to the
00:14:04 --> 00:14:06 [Music]
00:14:06 --> 00:14:08 show Space
00:14:08 --> 00:14:11 Nuts now while we're talking about these
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 kinds of commercial missions there's
00:14:13 --> 00:14:14 another one that's in the news this is a
00:14:14 --> 00:14:17 private Mission uh that was heading out
00:14:17 --> 00:14:21 past the moon to the Odin asteroid the
00:14:21 --> 00:14:24 um private Odin asteroid probe uh all
00:14:24 --> 00:14:28 was looking nominal until recently
00:14:28 --> 00:14:30 things seems to have gone ay
00:14:31 --> 00:14:35 somewhat yes the uh the comment that
00:14:35 --> 00:14:36 perhaps highlights the situation comes
00:14:36 --> 00:14:39 from uh uh Somebody by the name of
00:14:39 --> 00:14:42 Matthew galish I think it is who is the
00:14:42 --> 00:14:45 co-founder and CEO of Astro Forge which
00:14:45 --> 00:14:48 is the um the the organization that is
00:14:48 --> 00:14:52 operating the Odin spacecraft uh what he
00:14:52 --> 00:14:55 said on uh Friday the 28th of February
00:14:55 --> 00:14:57 was we don't fully understand the state
00:14:57 --> 00:15:01 of the vehicle uh it's thought still
00:15:01 --> 00:15:04 though to be in a mode that means it's
00:15:04 --> 00:15:07 not being Fried by the Light of the sun
00:15:07 --> 00:15:11 it's in a an attitude in regard to the
00:15:11 --> 00:15:15 Sun that will um you know not have parts
00:15:15 --> 00:15:18 of it being unduly heated although uh we
00:15:18 --> 00:15:22 believe that it is tumbling um and you
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 know the this is not a good thing for a
00:15:24 --> 00:15:30 spacecraft um uh to to experience uh
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 it's that that's one of two Alternatives
00:15:32 --> 00:15:35 which I think are still valid Andrew one
00:15:35 --> 00:15:37 is that the spacecraft is tumbling uh
00:15:37 --> 00:15:40 which is not nice uh or the other is
00:15:40 --> 00:15:42 that everything's fine but there are
00:15:42 --> 00:15:44 issues with the Telemetry back on Earth
00:15:44 --> 00:15:45 their ground receivers not being
00:15:45 --> 00:15:48 properly configured or whatever yeah uh
00:15:48 --> 00:15:50 so they're still basically worrying
00:15:50 --> 00:15:52 about what's what's going on we should
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 check that story again perhaps next week
00:15:54 --> 00:15:56 M what's the goal of the mission they're
00:15:56 --> 00:15:58 going to visit an asteroid but what do
00:15:58 --> 00:16:00 they what are they want to do with it it
00:16:00 --> 00:16:03 basically check it out uh to send
00:16:03 --> 00:16:07 imagery uh of an asteroid which rejoices
00:16:07 --> 00:16:10 in the name of 2022
00:16:10 --> 00:16:16 ob5 uh and um it's it's a possible first
00:16:16 --> 00:16:21 step in basically recovering resources
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 from a space object in other words
00:16:23 --> 00:16:26 asteroid mining wow so if this mission
00:16:26 --> 00:16:28 was successful and we're not sure that
00:16:28 --> 00:16:31 that's the case at the moment um that
00:16:31 --> 00:16:34 this mission is basically designed to
00:16:34 --> 00:16:39 focus uh the cameras uh on that asteroid
00:16:39 --> 00:16:40
00:16:40 --> 00:16:45 ob5 uh in order to get a a survey of the
00:16:45 --> 00:16:47 surface see what's there take lots of
00:16:47 --> 00:16:50 images um use the filters in the cameras
00:16:50 --> 00:16:53 to get some idea of the surface texture
00:16:53 --> 00:16:55 and things of that sort which you can do
00:16:55 --> 00:16:56 uh particularly in the infrared Wave
00:16:56 --> 00:16:59 band but that's a precursor to a second
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 mission this mission is called Odin the
00:17:01 --> 00:17:03 second mission is called vestri which
00:17:03 --> 00:17:06 will aim to land on the asteroid so
00:17:06 --> 00:17:09 that's perhaps the more ambitious one
00:17:09 --> 00:17:10 that we will be looking at down the
00:17:10 --> 00:17:14 track assuming that Odin uh pulls it off
00:17:14 --> 00:17:16 or space Forge pulls it off as far as
00:17:16 --> 00:17:19 Odin's concerned yeah uh well fingers
00:17:19 --> 00:17:23 crossed I um I I think this quote from
00:17:23 --> 00:17:27 Matt gck uh who you quoted earlier says
00:17:27 --> 00:17:29 it all I think we all know the hope is
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 fading as we continue the
00:17:31 --> 00:17:35 mission yeah um I mean it's what we've
00:17:35 --> 00:17:37 always said space is hard it's tough out
00:17:37 --> 00:17:40 there yeah yeah it's uh it's a difficult
00:17:40 --> 00:17:43 gig but they keep on trying and you know
00:17:43 --> 00:17:45 not all missions are absolute failures
00:17:45 --> 00:17:47 even when they don't go well there's
00:17:47 --> 00:17:49 something to learn and there's always
00:17:49 --> 00:17:50 something to learn that's right it's
00:17:50 --> 00:17:54 better next time yes indeed and uh you
00:17:54 --> 00:17:57 can read about that story if you like at
00:17:57 --> 00:17:59 space.com this is Space Nuts with Andrew
00:17:59 --> 00:18:03 Dunley and Professor Fred
00:18:03 --> 00:18:06 Watson okay we checked all four systems
00:18:06 --> 00:18:09 and space Nets okay Fred let's uh head
00:18:09 --> 00:18:11 towards Andromeda or is it heading
00:18:11 --> 00:18:16 towards us by the way uh we we've had a
00:18:16 --> 00:18:18 few questions recently with jonty about
00:18:18 --> 00:18:21 Andromeda and he was um yeah he had a
00:18:21 --> 00:18:23 lot to say about it uh and one of the
00:18:23 --> 00:18:26 questions we got recently was is the
00:18:26 --> 00:18:30 Milky Way already affecting
00:18:30 --> 00:18:33 Andromeda and you know to a certain
00:18:33 --> 00:18:35 degree not a massive amount the answer
00:18:35 --> 00:18:38 is yes according to jonty uh but uh we
00:18:38 --> 00:18:40 don't have to do that because it's now
00:18:41 --> 00:18:43 been discovered that Andromeda is um
00:18:43 --> 00:18:46 being picked on by some little cousin
00:18:46 --> 00:18:49 cousins nearby it's already getting a
00:18:49 --> 00:18:53 bit of a a dust up so to speak it may
00:18:53 --> 00:18:57 yeah so this may be the results of
00:18:57 --> 00:18:58 something bigger something that we
00:18:58 --> 00:19:02 probably need to know about as well um
00:19:02 --> 00:19:05 the bottom line here is you're quite
00:19:05 --> 00:19:09 right uh the Andromeda galaxy we can see
00:19:09 --> 00:19:11 we see it in the constellation of
00:19:11 --> 00:19:13 Andromeda obviously uh at a distance of
00:19:13 --> 00:19:16 about two and a half million light years
00:19:16 --> 00:19:20 uh like the Earth sorry let me re
00:19:20 --> 00:19:24 rephrase that like the Milky Way our own
00:19:24 --> 00:19:28 Galaxy um it's surrounded by a swarm of
00:19:28 --> 00:19:31 dwarf galaxies uh in fact about three or
00:19:32 --> 00:19:35 four dozen of them alog together um it's
00:19:35 --> 00:19:39 uh it is uh those dwarf galaxies we call
00:19:39 --> 00:19:41 them satellite galaxies because they are
00:19:41 --> 00:19:44 satellites of Andromeda uh have been
00:19:44 --> 00:19:47 analyzed to death uh in a in in you know
00:19:47 --> 00:19:50 some new research that's been carried
00:19:50 --> 00:19:51 out using the Hubble Space Telescope
00:19:52 --> 00:19:55 still after 35 years still doing a very
00:19:55 --> 00:19:58 very fine job in giving us Spectra and
00:19:58 --> 00:20:02 images of distant objects so uh the
00:20:02 --> 00:20:04 researchers have used the Hubble uh
00:20:04 --> 00:20:07 essentially to to to map the motion of
00:20:07 --> 00:20:08 these dwarf galaxies which is an
00:20:08 --> 00:20:11 extraordinary thing to be able to do um
00:20:11 --> 00:20:13 and look at
00:20:13 --> 00:20:16 their position in three dimensions
00:20:16 --> 00:20:20 around uh the Andromeda galaxy uh and
00:20:20 --> 00:20:24 it's uh comparing what they found with
00:20:24 --> 00:20:26 what we know from the dwarf galaxies
00:20:26 --> 00:20:28 that orbit our own and it's it's
00:20:28 --> 00:20:30 probably a similar sort of number it's
00:20:30 --> 00:20:33 about two dozen I think uh satellite
00:20:33 --> 00:20:34 galaxies that we have the biggest two
00:20:34 --> 00:20:37 are the large and small melanic clouds
00:20:37 --> 00:20:40 uh so you you take all that um uh you
00:20:40 --> 00:20:42 build a map of where these galaxies are
00:20:42 --> 00:20:44 around Andromeda and you find that
00:20:44 --> 00:20:47 they're in quite different orientations
00:20:47 --> 00:20:52 from what we find in our own Galaxy um
00:20:52 --> 00:20:57 uh one of the comments uh in this story
00:20:57 --> 00:20:59 uh and this is uh coming from from uh
00:20:59 --> 00:21:01 some of the researchers in fact uh
00:21:01 --> 00:21:04 Daniel Weiss of the University of
00:21:04 --> 00:21:08 California at Berkeley uh has basically
00:21:08 --> 00:21:11 pointed out that something significant
00:21:11 --> 00:21:15 has happened to Andromeda to change the
00:21:15 --> 00:21:18 distribution of the satellite galaxies
00:21:18 --> 00:21:21 um because half of them are rather than
00:21:22 --> 00:21:24 sort of swarming around like you know
00:21:24 --> 00:21:27 moths around a flame half of these
00:21:27 --> 00:21:30 galaxies are actually in a plane uh you
00:21:30 --> 00:21:33 know that they're they're basically in
00:21:33 --> 00:21:37 in one plane of the space around around
00:21:37 --> 00:21:38 Andromeda and they're all going in the
00:21:38 --> 00:21:43 same direction and that is as um as
00:21:43 --> 00:21:46 Daniel Weiss says that is weird um he
00:21:46 --> 00:21:49 says it was actually a total surprise to
00:21:49 --> 00:21:50 find the satellites in that
00:21:50 --> 00:21:52 configuration and we still don't fully
00:21:52 --> 00:21:55 understand why they appear that way uh
00:21:55 --> 00:21:59 another colleague uh says um
00:21:59 --> 00:22:02 this is alesandro Savino says it is
00:22:02 --> 00:22:05 clear it's a clear indication of how
00:22:05 --> 00:22:08 small Galaxy growth is disturbed by the
00:22:08 --> 00:22:11 influence of a massive Galaxy like
00:22:11 --> 00:22:15 Andromeda um and I think the the bottom
00:22:15 --> 00:22:19 line here is that they've got um much
00:22:19 --> 00:22:22 younger uh stars in them these dwarf
00:22:22 --> 00:22:26 galaxies uh form their Stars very early
00:22:26 --> 00:22:27 on in the history of the Andromeda
00:22:27 --> 00:22:28 galaxy which probably goes was about 12
00:22:29 --> 00:22:32 or 13 billion years um and then kept on
00:22:32 --> 00:22:37 and uh the idea is that
00:22:37 --> 00:22:40 the the perhaps and and they say that
00:22:40 --> 00:22:42 they really don't know what's happening
00:22:42 --> 00:22:45 but perhaps there was a collision
00:22:45 --> 00:22:49 between Andromeda and another galaxy uh
00:22:49 --> 00:22:51 some billions of years ago which caused
00:22:51 --> 00:22:53 this
00:22:53 --> 00:22:55 peculiarity of the uh of the of the
00:22:55 --> 00:22:58 dwarf Galaxy surrounding Andromeda uh
00:22:58 --> 00:23:00 everything about it is weird uh
00:23:00 --> 00:23:04 including my uh my account of it
00:23:04 --> 00:23:07 just uh so there saying it's weird they
00:23:07 --> 00:23:08 say they don't really know what happened
00:23:08 --> 00:23:12 but it would have to be some kind of
00:23:12 --> 00:23:14 gravitational effect or interference
00:23:14 --> 00:23:15 wouldn't it yeah I think you're
00:23:15 --> 00:23:18 absolutely right and I think that's
00:23:18 --> 00:23:19 probably what they're looking at you
00:23:19 --> 00:23:21 know is they try to understand how you
00:23:21 --> 00:23:24 can end up with a with a set of uh
00:23:24 --> 00:23:27 something like 15 or 20 dwarf galaxies
00:23:28 --> 00:23:29 all of which lie in a single plane that
00:23:29 --> 00:23:31 flies in the face of everything we
00:23:31 --> 00:23:33 understand about dwarf Galaxy
00:23:33 --> 00:23:35 formation and certainly is very
00:23:36 --> 00:23:37 different from what we find in our own
00:23:37 --> 00:23:39 Milky Way galaxy and from what I can
00:23:39 --> 00:23:41 tell they've tried to figure this out
00:23:41 --> 00:23:44 using computer simulations and it didn't
00:23:44 --> 00:23:47 work yeah yeah so there you go and
00:23:48 --> 00:23:50 that's just basically telling you that
00:23:51 --> 00:23:52 you need to put something else into the
00:23:52 --> 00:23:54 simulation and maybe it is a collision
00:23:54 --> 00:23:56 with another large Galaxy something else
00:23:56 --> 00:23:59 that's not in there already to try and
00:23:59 --> 00:24:02 replicate what we see in the real world
00:24:02 --> 00:24:04 so could that mean that if there was a
00:24:04 --> 00:24:06 collision with another large Galaxy that
00:24:06 --> 00:24:09 the result is Andromeda yes that's I
00:24:09 --> 00:24:12 think what you'd have to agree with that
00:24:12 --> 00:24:13 uh
00:24:13 --> 00:24:16 um it it's not been a I mean the
00:24:16 --> 00:24:18 collision between Andromeda and the
00:24:18 --> 00:24:21 Milky Way when it happens in three and a
00:24:21 --> 00:24:23 half billion years or whenever it says
00:24:23 --> 00:24:25 in the diary that that's going to happen
00:24:25 --> 00:24:28 uh it's that changes the shape of both
00:24:28 --> 00:24:30 both of them uh it basically you get a
00:24:30 --> 00:24:33 collision all the shock waves
00:24:33 --> 00:24:36 gravitational shock waves cause um
00:24:36 --> 00:24:40 formation of supern noi uh basically
00:24:40 --> 00:24:42 form really big stars which last only a
00:24:42 --> 00:24:45 short time then explode as super noi
00:24:45 --> 00:24:48 that uses up all the gas uh in the
00:24:48 --> 00:24:50 galaxies and you end up with what we
00:24:50 --> 00:24:51 call Mil mil
00:24:51 --> 00:24:54 Mila the Milky Way Andromeda combination
00:24:54 --> 00:24:56 which looks more like a what we call an
00:24:56 --> 00:24:59 elliptical galaxy a galaxy with no
00:24:59 --> 00:25:02 um no gas no star formation uh and
00:25:02 --> 00:25:05 Andromeda now is not like that at all
00:25:05 --> 00:25:07 it's a actively star forming Galaxy so
00:25:07 --> 00:25:09 the suggestion is that maybe it was a
00:25:09 --> 00:25:11 smaller object that caused this
00:25:11 --> 00:25:14 disruption to the satellite galaxies it
00:25:14 --> 00:25:17 it's is it classified as a spiral galaxy
00:25:17 --> 00:25:21 yes it's a it's a spiral definitely okay
00:25:21 --> 00:25:23 um and so is ours but when they get
00:25:23 --> 00:25:25 together they're just going to be boring
00:25:25 --> 00:25:27 yeah they will they'll be shaped like a
00:25:27 --> 00:25:30 football uh with no spiral arms nothing
00:25:30 --> 00:25:32 happening nothing to see here yeah it's
00:25:32 --> 00:25:34 a b sad really I mean yeah because
00:25:35 --> 00:25:37 they're both pretty smart looking now
00:25:37 --> 00:25:41 yeah what a p oh well um you know we
00:25:41 --> 00:25:44 can't stop it we'll just have to put up
00:25:44 --> 00:25:46 with it when the time comes how long
00:25:46 --> 00:25:48 three and a half billion yeah it's um
00:25:48 --> 00:25:50 something to look forward to you know
00:25:50 --> 00:25:53 with trepidation perhaps yes event all
00:25:53 --> 00:25:57 right uh that story is uh uh at Cosmos
00:25:57 --> 00:26:00 magazine if you'd like to read up on
00:26:00 --> 00:26:02 that
00:26:02 --> 00:26:09 one 3 2 1 Space Nuts uh Fred Let's uh go
00:26:09 --> 00:26:12 and visit an old friend uh someone who
00:26:12 --> 00:26:14 we thought had stopped writing to us we
00:26:14 --> 00:26:16 don't know what we did wrong but they
00:26:16 --> 00:26:19 have reached out to say hello I'm still
00:26:19 --> 00:26:22 here I'm alive again Voyager one yeah
00:26:22 --> 00:26:26 that's right uh 20 I I looked it up the
00:26:26 --> 00:26:30 other day 25
00:26:30 --> 00:26:33 is that right gu know 2 about 27 billion
00:26:33 --> 00:26:34 kilometers
00:26:34 --> 00:26:38 away uh and the most distant human-made
00:26:38 --> 00:26:42 object uh I think it's got uh
00:26:42 --> 00:26:47 22.5 light hours of travel time for the
00:26:47 --> 00:26:52 commands um so the what the basically
00:26:52 --> 00:26:57 the story goes back in fact to uh the 20
00:26:57 --> 00:26:59 I think can't remember what date it was
00:26:59 --> 00:27:02 but it's back in November 2023 so it's
00:27:02 --> 00:27:06 um you know well over a year ago uh that
00:27:06 --> 00:27:08 um the transmission started coming
00:27:08 --> 00:27:13 through in a gobbley go format uh and
00:27:13 --> 00:27:17 there was I think an issue with one of
00:27:17 --> 00:27:22 the memory chips um and you know that
00:27:22 --> 00:27:25 there was work done on trying to fix
00:27:25 --> 00:27:28 that uh which basically I think took
00:27:28 --> 00:27:33 five months or so uh and then uh was it
00:27:33 --> 00:27:35 the in April
00:27:35 --> 00:27:39 2024 uh there was uh a
00:27:39 --> 00:27:45 successful uh receipt of data um and
00:27:45 --> 00:27:49 that the machine was sending back things
00:27:49 --> 00:27:50 that you could actually read rather than
00:27:50 --> 00:27:55 just gobbley C so that was back in April
00:27:55 --> 00:27:59 2024 um but I think this another loss
00:27:59 --> 00:28:04 since then uh and the you know the the
00:28:04 --> 00:28:07 um difficulties that voer one has are to
00:28:07 --> 00:28:12 some extent ongoing um but uh there is
00:28:12 --> 00:28:14 you know it's good news that uh uh at
00:28:14 --> 00:28:17 least we are still in some sort of
00:28:17 --> 00:28:20 communication with voyager one uh and
00:28:20 --> 00:28:23 hopefully there's still potential for uh
00:28:23 --> 00:28:26 intelligible signals to come back the
00:28:26 --> 00:28:28 the really interesting thing I yes is
00:28:28 --> 00:28:30 the the power supply which is the
00:28:30 --> 00:28:33 radioisotope thermoelectric generator
00:28:33 --> 00:28:35 which is now delivering a tiny fraction
00:28:35 --> 00:28:36 of what it delivered right at the
00:28:37 --> 00:28:38 beginning of the mission in the late
00:28:38 --> 00:28:42 1970s and so we've got um an issue there
00:28:42 --> 00:28:45 and what NASA has done is Switched Off
00:28:45 --> 00:28:48 various instruments progressively so
00:28:48 --> 00:28:50 that things like the magnetometers that
00:28:50 --> 00:28:51 record the magnetic field and things
00:28:51 --> 00:28:53 like that I think they are now switched
00:28:53 --> 00:28:57 off so that you're saving power just for
00:28:57 --> 00:28:58 pointing the antenna which is done by
00:28:58 --> 00:29:01 the spacecraft thrusters and and
00:29:01 --> 00:29:02 essentially sending signals backwards
00:29:03 --> 00:29:05 and forwards yeah it's uh it's quite
00:29:05 --> 00:29:08 remarkable though after all these
00:29:08 --> 00:29:11 decades that it's still going we still
00:29:11 --> 00:29:14 communicate with it we can still send it
00:29:14 --> 00:29:17 information yes and uh of course Voyager
00:29:17 --> 00:29:20 2 is still out there and still going
00:29:20 --> 00:29:23 strong although it too has had some
00:29:23 --> 00:29:24 issues although I
00:29:24 --> 00:29:28 think um the most recent big issue with
00:29:28 --> 00:29:31 Voyager 2 was July 2023 when a series of
00:29:31 --> 00:29:33 commands were sent to the spacecraft
00:29:33 --> 00:29:35 causing its
00:29:35 --> 00:29:37 antenna to point away from Earth I think
00:29:37 --> 00:29:39 we did talk about that we did talk about
00:29:39 --> 00:29:41 it that's right and it stopped the a
00:29:41 --> 00:29:43 spacecraft from receiving commands or
00:29:43 --> 00:29:45 sending data back to
00:29:45 --> 00:29:49 Earth and I think they managed to
00:29:49 --> 00:29:54 somehow circumvent that um I I I believe
00:29:54 --> 00:29:56 it involved the canra deep space
00:29:56 --> 00:29:58 communic complex I was just going to
00:29:58 --> 00:30:01 mention that in fact it must have done
00:30:01 --> 00:30:04 because that cber deep space complex uh
00:30:04 --> 00:30:06 the tidb Billa Dish as we call it in the
00:30:06 --> 00:30:11 trade is the only uh the only antenna on
00:30:11 --> 00:30:13 Earth that can actually communicate with
00:30:13 --> 00:30:15 Voyager 2 oh and that's because Voyer
00:30:15 --> 00:30:17 2's at a Latitude if I remember rightly
00:30:17 --> 00:30:22 it's about 66 degrees below the equator
00:30:22 --> 00:30:24 in terms of the direction it's going out
00:30:24 --> 00:30:26 to which makes it invisible to the other
00:30:26 --> 00:30:30 two uh in the deep space Network which
00:30:30 --> 00:30:32 are in Madrid and gold stone in
00:30:33 --> 00:30:37 California so yes only only tidb can see
00:30:37 --> 00:30:39 Voyer 2 yeah and then that's how they
00:30:39 --> 00:30:41 saved it they picked up a very faint
00:30:41 --> 00:30:44 signal right NASA was able to transmit
00:30:44 --> 00:30:48 some corrective data like uh to Voyager
00:30:48 --> 00:30:51 2 and and got it back online which was
00:30:51 --> 00:30:54 very good news uh and and Voyager one's
00:30:54 --> 00:30:55 now back with us so they're both still
00:30:55 --> 00:30:58 going they're both still talking to us
00:30:58 --> 00:30:59 we didn't extraordinary yeah we thought
00:30:59 --> 00:31:01 we'd offended both of them but no it's
00:31:02 --> 00:31:04 it's all good me they've been alone for
00:31:04 --> 00:31:06 so long I can understand them being a
00:31:06 --> 00:31:08 bit grumpy
00:31:08 --> 00:31:10 yeah they might like their own company
00:31:10 --> 00:31:12 though and they've got they've both got
00:31:12 --> 00:31:14 music to listen to so going different
00:31:14 --> 00:31:16 ways aren't they yes they are that's a
00:31:16 --> 00:31:19 thing Voyer 2 is heading much more to
00:31:19 --> 00:31:22 the South than Voyer one is yeah but
00:31:22 --> 00:31:26 it's such amazing an amazing story for
00:31:26 --> 00:31:28 both of them to
00:31:28 --> 00:31:30 I mean how far past end of mission have
00:31:30 --> 00:31:33 they survived that's it's extraordinary
00:31:33 --> 00:31:36 yeah decades it is it is it's fantastic
00:31:36 --> 00:31:39 and they you know that eventually their
00:31:39 --> 00:31:41 batteries will run out those
00:31:41 --> 00:31:43 radioisotope thermal thermoelectric
00:31:43 --> 00:31:45 generators will fizzle out so that they
00:31:45 --> 00:31:48 can't even send power to the uh to the
00:31:48 --> 00:31:50 transmitters but the spacecraft will
00:31:50 --> 00:31:52 keep on going because
00:31:52 --> 00:31:53 [Music]
00:31:53 --> 00:31:55 they orbital mechanics maybe for
00:31:55 --> 00:31:57 billions of years we just don't know yes
00:31:58 --> 00:31:59 until someone catches them in a venus
00:31:59 --> 00:32:02 fly trap on some other planet and it's
00:32:02 --> 00:32:05 all over Red Rover who knows who knows
00:32:05 --> 00:32:07 yeah uh great story about Voyager one
00:32:07 --> 00:32:10 you can um find that online there's
00:32:10 --> 00:32:13 quite a few new stories about it can I
00:32:13 --> 00:32:15 just um yeah add add one comment so the
00:32:15 --> 00:32:19 CRA deep space communication complex is
00:32:19 --> 00:32:22 60 years old this month wow there you go
00:32:22 --> 00:32:23 I should have should have remembered
00:32:23 --> 00:32:26 that you did yeah should have remembered
00:32:26 --> 00:32:30 it earlier 60 years old this month yes
00:32:30 --> 00:32:33 it took you 60 years to remember that
00:32:33 --> 00:32:37 yes all right um we are just about done
00:32:37 --> 00:32:39 uh thanks for your comany thank you Fred
00:32:39 --> 00:32:41 as always we'll wrap it up and we'll
00:32:41 --> 00:32:43 catch you on the next episode that
00:32:43 --> 00:32:46 sounds wonderful I look forward to it
00:32:46 --> 00:32:47 all right we'll see you then Professor
00:32:47 --> 00:32:50 Fred Watson astronomer at large don't
00:32:50 --> 00:32:52 forget to visit us uh on our website in
00:32:52 --> 00:32:53 the meantime you can do that at Space
00:32:53 --> 00:32:56 Nuts podcast.com or SPAC nuts. all sorts
00:32:57 --> 00:33:01 of things to see and do and buy there um
00:33:01 --> 00:33:02 more mainly Fred's books but you know
00:33:02 --> 00:33:05 there's other stuff as well some of it's
00:33:05 --> 00:33:08 even interesting oh sorry um I if it's
00:33:08 --> 00:33:11 not I think I wrote those books never
00:33:11 --> 00:33:13 mind uh and uh thanks to here in the
00:33:13 --> 00:33:16 studio who couldn't be with us today
00:33:16 --> 00:33:19 because he was um stirring the pot
00:33:19 --> 00:33:21 around Andromeda causing all sorts of
00:33:21 --> 00:33:24 Mayhem typical of you and from me Andrew
00:33:24 --> 00:33:26 Dunley thanks for your company catch you
00:33:26 --> 00:33:28 on the very next episode of space nuts
00:33:28 --> 00:33:31 bye-bye nuts you been listening to the
00:33:31 --> 00:33:33 Space Nuts
00:33:33 --> 00:33:36 podcast available at Apple podcasts
00:33:36 --> 00:33:39 Spotify iHeart radio or your favorite
00:33:39 --> 00:33:42 podcast player you can also stream on
00:33:42 --> 00:33:44 demand at bites.com this has been
00:33:44 --> 00:33:47 another quality podcast production from
00:33:47 --> 00:33:50 bites.com