SpaceTime with Stuart Gary - Series 28 Episode 154
In this episode of SpaceTime , we explore significant milestones in lunar exploration and the latest challenges in space technology.
Accelerated Launch for Artemis 2
NASA has moved up the launch date for the historic Artemis 2 manned moon mission to early February, marking the first human journey to the moon in over 50 years since Apollo 17. The Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, will embark on a 10-day mission, completing a free return trajectory around the moon. This episode discusses the mission's objectives, including in-space demonstrations and the deployment of five cubesats, as well as the importance of this mission for future lunar exploration and potential Mars missions.
New Insights from Lunar Rock Samples
Recent studies of lunar rock samples have revealed a new timeline for lunar impacts, pushing back the history of Earth's nearest celestial neighbour by 300 million years. The Apollo 17 rock sample, known as 76535, has provided crucial insights into the moon's formation and its geological history. Advanced computer simulations suggest that the impact that formed the Serenitatis Basin may have brought this rock to the surface, reshaping our understanding of the moon's bombardment history and its implications for Earth.
Japan's H3 Rocket Failure
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has faced a setback with the failure of its new H3 rocket during a satellite launch. This follows a previous failure during its maiden flight. The H3 rocket, designed to replace the H2, aims to enhance Japan's capabilities in the global space market but has encountered significant technical challenges.
www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com (https://www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com/)
✍️ Episode References
Geophysical Research Letters
NASA Reports
JAXA Updates
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(00:00:00) This is Space Time Series 28, Episode 154 for broadcast on 31 December 2025
(00:00:47) NASA accelerates Artemis 2 moon mission launch
(00:12:30) New lunar rock samples shift timeline of impacts
(00:20:10) Japan's H3 rocket fails to deploy satellite
(00:25:00) Study reveals links between social media use and cognitive performance in children
(00:27:30) Coffee and tea's effects on bone health in older women
Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/30899647?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 This is Spacetime series 28 episode 154
00:00:03 --> 00:00:06 for broadcast on the 31st of December
00:00:06 --> 00:00:07 2025.
00:00:07 --> 00:00:10 Coming up on Spaceime, the Aremis 2 man
00:00:10 --> 00:00:12 moon mission now slated for launch in
00:00:12 --> 00:00:15 February instead of April. Rewriting a
00:00:15 --> 00:00:17 chapter of the moon's early history and
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 consequently that of the Earth as well.
00:00:20 --> 00:00:23 And failure for Japan's new flagship H3
00:00:23 --> 00:00:26 rocket. All that and more coming up on
00:00:26 --> 00:00:28 Spaceime.
00:00:28 --> 00:00:33 Welcome to Space Time with Stuart Garry.
00:00:33 --> 00:00:40 [Music]
00:00:48 --> 00:00:49 NASA has accelerated the launch of the
00:00:49 --> 00:00:52 historic Artemis 2 man moon mission from
00:00:52 --> 00:00:55 midappril to early February. The agency
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57 has tentatively slated the week of
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 February the 6th with a 2-hour launch
00:00:59 --> 00:01:02 window. This will be an historic mission
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 because it will be the first time humans
00:01:04 --> 00:01:05 have traveled to the moon in more than
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 half a century ever since the days of
00:01:07 --> 00:01:11 Apollo 17 back in 1972.
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 The 10-day mission aboard the Orion
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 spacecraft Integrity will launch aboard
00:01:15 --> 00:01:18 NASA's 98 m tall three-stage SLS
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 Superheavy lift rocket from Space Launch
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in
00:01:25 --> 00:01:28 Florida. The crew will complete one
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 swing around the moon on what's known as
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 a free return trajectory. The mission
00:01:32 --> 00:01:35 profile calls for a multi-trans lunar
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 injection with multiple departure burns.
00:01:37 --> 00:01:40 Orion will initially be sent on a highly
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 eccentric Earth orbit with a period of
00:01:42 --> 00:01:45 roughly 24 hours. By comparison, the
00:01:45 --> 00:01:46 International Space Station orbits much
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 closer to the planet, taking just on 90
00:01:48 --> 00:01:51 minutes to complete each orbit. During
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 Orion's highly eccentric orbit, the
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 spacecraft's crew will perform various
00:01:55 --> 00:01:57 checkouts of the vehicle, its life
00:01:57 --> 00:01:58 support systems, its ancillary
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 components, and it will undertake an
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 inspace rendevous and proximity
00:02:02 --> 00:02:04 operation demonstration using the spent
00:02:04 --> 00:02:06 intram cryogenic propulsion or upper
00:02:06 --> 00:02:09 stage as a target. The mission will also
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 carry five cube sats which will be
00:02:11 --> 00:02:13 attached to the inside of the stage
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 adapted between the SLS upper stage and
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 the Orion spacecraft. These will be
00:02:18 --> 00:02:21 deployed during Earth orbit. And once
00:02:21 --> 00:02:23 Orion reaches perigee after completing
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 its orbit, it'll fire its main engines
00:02:25 --> 00:02:27 for its trans lunar injection burn.
00:02:27 --> 00:02:29 That'll send the spacecraft on a lunar
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 free return or gravity assist
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 trajectory, swinging around the moon
00:02:33 --> 00:02:35 with a closest approach to the lunar
00:02:35 --> 00:02:39 surface of approximately 7 kilm.
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 Another burn maneuver will then send the
00:02:41 --> 00:02:43 spacecraft returning to Earth and
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 ultimately splashing down in the Pacific
00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 Ocean. this report on Artemis 2 from
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 NASA TV.
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 >> So, the most exciting thing to me about
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 Artemis 2 is just the return to the
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 moon. We haven't been there in 50 years.
00:02:57 --> 00:02:58 Human eyes are going to see parts of the
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01 moon that haven't been seen by anyone
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 before. It also recommits us to
00:03:04 --> 00:03:05 exploring the solar system in a way that
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 we haven't in a long time. And I think
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 it provides an opportunity for younger
00:03:09 --> 00:03:12 generations to understand the excitement
00:03:12 --> 00:03:17 of doing that kind of exploration.
00:03:17 --> 00:03:19 The moon is this great sort of
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 Cherroscurro subject because the most
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 recognizable thing about it is the
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 changing sun angles and how that brings
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 out the shape of craters near the
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 terminator which is the dayight line
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 because there aren't, you know, oceans
00:03:33 --> 00:03:35 and clouds and and all the things that
00:03:35 --> 00:03:38 you see on Earth. Um, the moon is really
00:03:38 --> 00:03:41 all about its shape and the shape is
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 telling you something about its long
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 history and the history of the entire
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 solar system. All the things that have
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 happened to the earth have been erased
00:03:49 --> 00:03:52 by geological processes and weather and
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 climate. And that doesn't happen on the
00:03:54 --> 00:03:57 moon. The moon has recorded everything
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 that's happened since its formation
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 almost 4 and a half billion years ago.
00:04:01 --> 00:04:03 That tells us a lot about where we came
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 from, where the solar system came from.
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 It also reveals something about the
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 composition of the Earth that we can't
00:04:10 --> 00:04:11 see because it's buried beneath the
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 crust. Some of that is on the surface of
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 the moon because it's been excavated by
00:04:16 --> 00:04:19 all the impacts. Artemis is our return
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 to the moon after 50 years. The emphasis
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 of Artemis is going to be first of all
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 science, but second of all learning to
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29 sustain a presence on another world.
00:04:29 --> 00:04:31 first on the moon, but we're hoping that
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 that's a stepping stone to Mars and
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 other destinations in the solar system
00:04:35 --> 00:04:37 eventually.
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 Artemis 2 will be a flyby mission. It's
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 not going to land. We're testing all of
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 the technology that we've created for
00:04:44 --> 00:04:47 flying to the moon since Apollo. A lot
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 of systems have been modernized, and we
00:04:49 --> 00:04:50 need to make sure that all of those
00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 work. The astronauts will be looking out
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 the window at parts of the moon that
00:04:55 --> 00:04:56 have never been seen by human eyes
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 before. They will be flying by the moon
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 at an altitude that's much higher than
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 Apollo's orbits. And so they will see
00:05:03 --> 00:05:06 the entire disc of the moon, including
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 areas that are closer to both the north
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 and south pole that astronauts from
00:05:11 --> 00:05:14 Apollo never saw. All of that depends on
00:05:14 --> 00:05:16 the lighting, which we really won't know
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 until launch day. But we can practice
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 with different lighting scenarios. It's
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 hard for people to sort of picture that
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 in their mind. If you can make a
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 visualization of it, show them a movie
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 that helps everybody choose the targets
00:05:30 --> 00:05:32 and also practice aiming at those
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 targets. The astronauts have actually
00:05:34 --> 00:05:36 been looking at these visualizations
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 through the lens of the camera and
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 practicing aiming at the various
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 targets. All of the Apollo flights
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 orbited the moon at a distance of about
00:05:46 --> 00:05:49 110 km. Because the astronauts were
00:05:50 --> 00:05:52 flying at such a low altitude, their
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 horizon was actually quite close and
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 they couldn't see the north and south
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 poles and it includes this amazing
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 impact feature called Oriental. Oriental
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 is a very large impact feature. It's
00:06:05 --> 00:06:09 about 650 km wide. It's got multiple
00:06:09 --> 00:06:12 rings. These are rings that form like
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 ripples in a pond from the impact. But
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 of course, it's on a huge scale. The
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 middle of Oriental has that sort of dark
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 basaltt lava covering it like the dark
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 spots that we see on the near side. It's
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 one of the biggest ones that's more on
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 the far side than near. So seeing it
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 with human eyes and sort of picking out
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33 features that maybe you don't even see
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 in robotic cameras is an important goal
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38 for the mission. One of the photographic
00:06:38 --> 00:06:41 targets that is on everybody's list is
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 pictures of the Earth beyond the limb of
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 the moon. During Apollo 8 on their
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 fourth orbit, they finally turned their
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 spacecraft around so that they could see
00:06:50 --> 00:06:52 in the direction of the Earth.
00:06:52 --> 00:06:53 >> Oh my god, look at that picture over
00:06:54 --> 00:06:56 there. There's the Earth coming up. Wow,
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58 that's pretty. Hey, don't take that off
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 schedule.
00:07:00 --> 00:07:01 You got a color film, Jim.
00:07:01 --> 00:07:04 >> I think it surprised all of them how
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 beautiful and how human it was to see
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 the entire planet Earth from behind the
00:07:09 --> 00:07:12 horizon of another celestial body. That
00:07:12 --> 00:07:14 photograph called Earthrise had a huge
00:07:14 --> 00:07:17 impact on the public because from space
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 you don't see country boundaries. You
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 don't see some of the human problems
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 that we deal with on the surface. And
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 you also recognize that the Earth is a
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 finite place. It's not infinite. It's
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 not everything. It is a pale blue dot in
00:07:30 --> 00:07:33 the vastness of space. Artemis is going
00:07:33 --> 00:07:37 to have that opportunity once again. I
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 anticipate that the astronauts will have
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41 the same feeling that the Apollo 8
00:07:41 --> 00:07:43 astronauts did and I think it will have
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 a similar effect on a new generation of
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 people who are watching this mission
00:07:47 --> 00:07:50 unfold.
00:07:50 --> 00:07:52 And in that report on Artemis 2 from
00:07:52 --> 00:07:54 NASA TV, we heard from Ernie Wright from
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 NASA's Godard Space Flight Center in
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 Green Belt, Maryland. And this is
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 spacetime. Still to come, a new study of
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 lunar rock samples paints a different
00:08:04 --> 00:08:06 picture of the tortured history of
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 Earth's nearest celestial companion. And
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 it's a big fail for Japan's new flagship
00:08:11 --> 00:08:13 H3 rocket. All that and more still to
00:08:14 --> 00:08:26 come on Spaceime.
00:08:26 --> 00:08:31 [Music]
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 A new study of lunar rock samples is
00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 painting a very different picture of the
00:08:35 --> 00:08:37 tortured history of Earth's nearest
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 celestial companion. The findings
00:08:40 --> 00:08:41 reported in the journal Geophysical
00:08:41 --> 00:08:43 Research Letters pushes back the
00:08:43 --> 00:08:45 timeline of lunar and consequently Earth
00:08:45 --> 00:08:49 impacts by some 300 million years. When
00:08:49 --> 00:08:51 the Apollo 17 astronauts collected a
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 small rock from the moon more than 50
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 years ago, they had no way of knowing
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 that it would still be challenging
00:08:57 --> 00:08:59 science's understanding of lunar history
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 today. The fragment simply known as
00:09:01 --> 00:09:05 sample 76535 formed nearly 50 kilometers
00:09:05 --> 00:09:08 under the lunar surface, but it shows no
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10 signs of the violent shocks usually
00:09:10 --> 00:09:12 expected when deep rocks are blasted up
00:09:12 --> 00:09:15 to the surface. And that puzzle has been
00:09:15 --> 00:09:17 intriguing scientists for decades. Many
00:09:17 --> 00:09:19 believe the rock was blasted to the
00:09:19 --> 00:09:21 surface by the same massive impact that
00:09:21 --> 00:09:23 formed the moon's largest crater, the
00:09:23 --> 00:09:26 giant south pole achen basin. But new
00:09:26 --> 00:09:28 research is now offering a simpler
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 explanation, but one with very broad
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 implications.
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 By running advanced computer simulations
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 of giant lunar impacts, the authors has
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 shown that the asteroid impact, which
00:09:38 --> 00:09:40 from the Sereni Tart basin, a massive
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 impact crater on the moon's near side,
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 could have lifted our rock sample to the
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 surface during the latest stages of its
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 formation. The findings suggested the
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 impact occurred about 4.25 billion years
00:09:52 --> 00:09:54 ago. That's roughly 3 million years
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56 earlier than previously thought. In the
00:09:56 --> 00:09:58 process, pushing the timeline of lunar
00:09:58 --> 00:10:01 impacts further back in history. Of
00:10:01 --> 00:10:03 course, that shift reported in the
00:10:03 --> 00:10:05 journal Geophysical Research Letters
00:10:05 --> 00:10:07 also reshapes how scientists estimate
00:10:07 --> 00:10:09 the bombardment history of Earth and
00:10:09 --> 00:10:11 other inner solar system planets. The
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13 studies lead author Evan Johns from the
00:10:13 --> 00:10:15 Lawrence Liverour National Laboratory
00:10:15 --> 00:10:18 says this rock may be small, but it
00:10:18 --> 00:10:20 carries a huge story about the moon's
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 early history. He says it's sort of like
00:10:22 --> 00:10:26 a time capsule dating back 4.25 billion
00:10:26 --> 00:10:29 years. Now, scientists have long agreed
00:10:29 --> 00:10:31 on two key aspects about the Apollo
00:10:31 --> 00:10:34 sample. Its chemistry and its texture
00:10:34 --> 00:10:36 show that it formed deep inside the
00:10:36 --> 00:10:38 lunar crust, and it lacks the strong
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 shock features that typically accompany
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 a violent trip to the surface. Earlier
00:10:43 --> 00:10:45 studies proposed that only an enormous
00:10:45 --> 00:10:47 impact like the one which created the
00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 South Pole akin basin could have
00:10:49 --> 00:10:52 excavated rock from such depths. But
00:10:52 --> 00:10:54 there's a catch. Carrying the rock from
00:10:54 --> 00:10:56 that farside basin to the Apollo 17
00:10:56 --> 00:10:58 landing site would likely require an
00:10:58 --> 00:11:00 additional impact, all while avoiding
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 shocks strong enough to leave telltale
00:11:02 --> 00:11:05 scars. Jones and colleagues found a more
00:11:06 --> 00:11:08 direct path. Using their computer
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 simulations of large lunar impacts
00:11:10 --> 00:11:11 together with models of the moon's
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 crust, they showed that during the later
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 collapse stage of forming a giant
00:11:16 --> 00:11:18 crater, material from tens of kilometers
00:11:18 --> 00:11:21 down can be drawn upwards gently enough
00:11:21 --> 00:11:25 to preserve rock samples like 76535.
00:11:25 --> 00:11:28 In those simulations, a certain talis
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 type impact can move deep material to
00:11:30 --> 00:11:31 within just a few kilometers of the
00:11:32 --> 00:11:34 surface. precisely the kind of process
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 that could place the sample where Apollo
00:11:36 --> 00:11:39 17 could find it. The author's models
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 kept showing the same thing. Big impacts
00:11:41 --> 00:11:43 can lift rocks to the surface without
00:11:44 --> 00:11:47 overshocking them. And if sample 76535
00:11:47 --> 00:11:50 dates the Serenitus impact at 4.25
00:11:50 --> 00:11:52 billion years ago, other major lunar
00:11:52 --> 00:11:54 basins may also be far older than
00:11:54 --> 00:11:56 currently dated. And that moves
00:11:56 --> 00:11:58 scientists to rethink how quickly the
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 moon cooled and how frequently large
00:12:00 --> 00:12:03 impacts struck the inner solar system.
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 Because Earth's earliest surface record
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07 has been largely erased by erosion,
00:12:07 --> 00:12:09 plate tectonics, and geology, scientists
00:12:09 --> 00:12:12 often calibrate Earth's impact history
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 using the moon. And redating a
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 cornerstone of lunar impact would
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 recalibrate our picture of the early
00:12:18 --> 00:12:20 Earth as well and also how other inner
00:12:20 --> 00:12:23 solar system planets may have evolved.
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 By pushing serenotus back in time,
00:12:25 --> 00:12:27 astronomers are shifting the entire
00:12:27 --> 00:12:29 timeline of when big impacts happened
00:12:29 --> 00:12:32 right across the solar system. So it has
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 ripple effects for understanding not
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 just Earth's early environment, but that
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 of our entire place in the universe.
00:12:39 --> 00:12:42 This is spacetime. Still to come,
00:12:42 --> 00:12:45 failure for Japan's new flagship H3
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 rocket. And later in the science report,
00:12:47 --> 00:12:48 how two of the world's most popular
00:12:48 --> 00:12:51 beverages, coffee and tea, influence
00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 burn health in older women. All that and
00:12:53 --> 00:13:11 more still to come on Spaceime.
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency,
00:13:14 --> 00:13:16 JAXA, has suffered a major setback with
00:13:16 --> 00:13:19 its new flagship H3 rocket failing to
00:13:19 --> 00:13:21 place its satellite payload into orbit.
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 The launch had already been delayed due
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 to technical issues with the rocket and
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 an abort just 17 seconds before liftoff
00:13:27 --> 00:13:29 due to an anomaly with the water sound
00:13:29 --> 00:13:31 suppression system on the launch pad.
00:13:31 --> 00:13:34 The H3 was carrying the Mikabiki 5
00:13:34 --> 00:13:36 satellite navigation system spacecraft
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38 from the Tanagashima Space Center
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40 southwest of Tokyo. However, as the
00:13:40 --> 00:13:43 rocket launched into the sky, its second
00:13:43 --> 00:13:45 stage engine burn suddenly cut off
00:13:45 --> 00:13:48 unexpectedly far earlier than planned,
00:13:48 --> 00:13:50 and that resulted in the failure of the
00:13:50 --> 00:13:53 satellites deployment. This is the
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 second failure for the new H3 launch
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 vehicle. It also failed on its maiden
00:13:58 --> 00:14:00 flight back in March 2023 when the
00:14:00 --> 00:14:03 second stage engine failed to ignite.
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 But in between, there have been six
00:14:05 --> 00:14:07 successful launch missions. The H3
00:14:07 --> 00:14:09 rocket is designed to replace the
00:14:09 --> 00:14:12 earlier H2A workhorse of Japan's growing
00:14:12 --> 00:14:13 space industry, which has had a near
00:14:14 --> 00:14:17 perfect success record. The new H3 is
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 meant to be more modular and more cost
00:14:19 --> 00:14:21 effective in the global space market.
00:14:21 --> 00:14:39 This is spacetime.
00:14:39 --> 00:14:41 And time now to take another brief look
00:14:41 --> 00:14:42 at some of the other stories making news
00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 in science this week with a science
00:14:44 --> 00:14:47 report. Researchers say both small and
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 big increases in social media use
00:14:49 --> 00:14:52 between the ages of 9 and 13 are linked
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 with a lower overall performance in
00:14:54 --> 00:14:57 tests of cognitive abilities. Findings
00:14:57 --> 00:14:58 reported in the Journal of the American
00:14:58 --> 00:15:01 Medical Association tracked increases in
00:15:01 --> 00:15:04 social media use of some 6
00:15:04 --> 00:15:06 kids over four years, categorizing them
00:15:06 --> 00:15:09 into three groups. No or very low social
00:15:09 --> 00:15:12 use, low increasing social use, and high
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 increasing social use. The kids
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17 completed a range of cognitive tests,
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 including tests in reading, memory, and
00:15:19 --> 00:15:22 vocabulary. The authors found that both
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 small and big increases in social media
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 use were linked to lower scores in all
00:15:26 --> 00:15:29 these tests. They speculate that it
00:15:29 --> 00:15:30 could simply be because kids are
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 spending more time on social media, they
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 end up spending less time on their
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 schoolwork.
00:15:36 --> 00:15:38 A new study is offering fresh insights
00:15:38 --> 00:15:40 into how two of the world's most popular
00:15:40 --> 00:15:42 beverages, coffee and tea, influence
00:15:42 --> 00:15:45 bone health in older women. The research
00:15:45 --> 00:15:47 reported in the journal Nutrients,
00:15:47 --> 00:15:50 followed nearly 10 women aed 65 and
00:15:50 --> 00:15:52 older over a decade to explore whether
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 their daily habits of sipping coffee or
00:15:54 --> 00:15:56 tea were in any way linked to changes in
00:15:56 --> 00:15:58 bone mineral density, a key indicator of
00:15:58 --> 00:16:01 osteoporosis risk. They found that tea
00:16:01 --> 00:16:03 drinkers had a slightly higher hipbone
00:16:03 --> 00:16:05 mineral density, suggesting modest
00:16:05 --> 00:16:08 benefits for bone health.
00:16:08 --> 00:16:11 A new study has shown that artificial
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 intelligence systems huge massive
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 amounts of energy to operate, in fact,
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 more energy than it takes to light up
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19 New York City. A report of the journal
00:16:19 --> 00:16:22 Patterns claims AI chatbots like Chat
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 GTP are environmentally quite
00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 destructive with a carbon footprint
00:16:26 --> 00:16:30 between 32.6 six and 79.7 million tons
00:16:30 --> 00:16:32 of carbon dioxide over a single 12-month
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 period. And it's not just pollution and
00:16:34 --> 00:16:37 greenhouse gases. The findings also show
00:16:37 --> 00:16:41 AIS consume between 312.5
00:16:41 --> 00:16:43 and 764.6
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45 billion L of water every year just for
00:16:45 --> 00:16:47 cooling.
00:16:47 --> 00:16:49 Androids and robots will be dominating
00:16:49 --> 00:16:51 news at the world's biggest consumer and
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53 electronic show, CES, which will be held
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 in Las Vegas next week. With the
00:16:56 --> 00:16:57 details, we're joined by technology
00:16:57 --> 00:17:00 editor Alex Harro from Tech Advice
00:17:00 --> 00:17:01 Startlife.
00:17:01 --> 00:17:03 >> The past couple of years, of course, has
00:17:03 --> 00:17:07 been AI, AI, AI. And the thing that has
00:17:07 --> 00:17:09 always stopped home robots from being
00:17:09 --> 00:17:11 real, besides the fact that it's
00:17:11 --> 00:17:13 difficult to make a humanoid robot that
00:17:13 --> 00:17:15 can, you know, easily glide around, walk
00:17:15 --> 00:17:17 around, deal with stairs, and have the
00:17:17 --> 00:17:19 dexterity needed to, you know, handle
00:17:19 --> 00:17:22 plates or help your seniors or handle
00:17:22 --> 00:17:24 babies is the fact that you need a robot
00:17:24 --> 00:17:27 with an AI brain to be able to talk to
00:17:27 --> 00:17:30 you like a human could, reason, ask
00:17:30 --> 00:17:32 questions, decide to do things
00:17:32 --> 00:17:34 autonomously. And so we finally live in
00:17:34 --> 00:17:37 an era where we have at least LLM AI
00:17:37 --> 00:17:39 systems that can pretend to think. I
00:17:39 --> 00:17:40 mean I don't really think they can think
00:17:40 --> 00:17:42 the way that humans think as yet, but
00:17:42 --> 00:17:43 you know they show
00:17:43 --> 00:17:45 >> large language models, right?
00:17:45 --> 00:17:46 >> Large language model which is a way of
00:17:46 --> 00:17:48 predicting what the next word will be in
00:17:48 --> 00:17:49 the answer that it gives you to a
00:17:49 --> 00:17:51 question you've posed by comparing the
00:17:51 --> 00:17:54 the words that appear in other answers
00:17:54 --> 00:17:56 across the entire corpus of the internet
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 that it's been able to ingest. And so
00:17:58 --> 00:17:59 that's not really thinking that's just
00:17:59 --> 00:18:01 predicting what the next word would be.
00:18:01 --> 00:18:03 And of course we've seen AI systems get
00:18:03 --> 00:18:05 things completely wrong very confidently
00:18:05 --> 00:18:06 giving us incorrect answer and
00:18:06 --> 00:18:08 hallucinating. And you know if robots
00:18:08 --> 00:18:09 trying to think whether to put an
00:18:09 --> 00:18:11 ingredient or use a particular mushroom
00:18:11 --> 00:18:13 that it may have foraged in your back
00:18:13 --> 00:18:15 garden that may or may not be uh you
00:18:15 --> 00:18:16 know poisonous. I mean you'd have to
00:18:16 --> 00:18:19 really be sure to trust the um AI brain
00:18:20 --> 00:18:22 that it's doing the right thing recipes
00:18:22 --> 00:18:23 again. Haven't you?
00:18:23 --> 00:18:25 Well, the long and the short is that we
00:18:25 --> 00:18:27 now live in an era where you can have
00:18:27 --> 00:18:29 robots that have this manual dexterity
00:18:29 --> 00:18:31 and can look like robots and can handle
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 things. I've seen a humanoid style robot
00:18:33 --> 00:18:35 driving a car, for example. Anything
00:18:35 --> 00:18:37 that can be handled by a human, if the
00:18:37 --> 00:18:39 robot looks and acts like a human, then
00:18:39 --> 00:18:41 it can be handled by that robot. And we
00:18:41 --> 00:18:44 did see earlier this year the 1x.te
00:18:44 --> 00:18:46 robot called Neo. And it was a humanoid
00:18:46 --> 00:18:48 robot of the sort you would expect from
00:18:48 --> 00:18:50 all the sci-fi dreams. I mean, it looked
00:18:50 --> 00:18:52 like a human. It could load the washing
00:18:52 --> 00:18:54 machine full of dishes or clothes. It
00:18:54 --> 00:18:56 could put clothes into the dryer. Could
00:18:56 --> 00:18:58 water your plants outside. It could help
00:18:58 --> 00:19:00 you bring things in from the car. I
00:19:00 --> 00:19:02 mean, it was a robot of the sort you
00:19:02 --> 00:19:04 would expect from Sci-Fi. And that robot
00:19:04 --> 00:19:07 goes on sale for $20 or you can
00:19:07 --> 00:19:10 lease it for $499 a month. Now, CES is
00:19:10 --> 00:19:12 meant to be all about robots. And I have
00:19:12 --> 00:19:14 read a number of companies already
00:19:14 --> 00:19:15 emailing me news saying, "We're going to
00:19:15 --> 00:19:17 have humanoid robots on display." But
00:19:17 --> 00:19:20 where is someone like a Samsung or an
00:19:20 --> 00:19:23 LG? Now, back in I think 2021, we did
00:19:23 --> 00:19:25 see Samsung had a what looked like a
00:19:25 --> 00:19:27 tower fan with this arm coming out of
00:19:27 --> 00:19:30 the top. It was kind of a comical robot
00:19:30 --> 00:19:31 that looked nothing like the robot you
00:19:31 --> 00:19:33 would expect, but at least it could move
00:19:33 --> 00:19:34 around and it had the arm that could do
00:19:34 --> 00:19:36 things like pack the dishwasher, but it
00:19:36 --> 00:19:38 was definitely not humanoid. Then we
00:19:38 --> 00:19:40 have Samsung with its balling, which is
00:19:40 --> 00:19:42 a bit like the BB-8 from Star Wars,
00:19:42 --> 00:19:44 except it only had the ball. didn't have
00:19:44 --> 00:19:46 the top section which was the the head
00:19:46 --> 00:19:48 with the with the camera as the eye and
00:19:48 --> 00:19:50 you know that can run roll around and it
00:19:50 --> 00:19:51 can project things on walls and it can
00:19:52 --> 00:19:53 help you do things but I mean it's very
00:19:53 --> 00:19:56 much a nonhumanoid robot. So LG has come
00:19:56 --> 00:19:58 out just on Christmas day with a press
00:19:58 --> 00:20:00 release saying that their robot will be
00:20:00 --> 00:20:04 called LG Cloy C L O I D with I in lower
00:20:04 --> 00:20:06 case and the rest of the characters in
00:20:06 --> 00:20:08 uppercase. And so far they've just shown
00:20:08 --> 00:20:09 a hand. They haven't shown the full
00:20:09 --> 00:20:11 robot in any of the images they've
00:20:11 --> 00:20:12 shared. And the hand looks one of like
00:20:12 --> 00:20:14 one of the hands you'd see on those
00:20:14 --> 00:20:16 robots from Boston Dynamics or from Elon
00:20:16 --> 00:20:18 Musk, the the Optimus robots. It's
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 obviously a robotic hand. And they're
00:20:20 --> 00:20:21 saying that this robot is designed to
00:20:22 --> 00:20:24 perform indoor household tasks. And
00:20:24 --> 00:20:26 they're calling their vision the zero
00:20:26 --> 00:20:29 labor home makes quality time. Now this
00:20:29 --> 00:20:31 is a future where technology helps
00:20:31 --> 00:20:33 reduce the burden of daily chores of
00:20:33 --> 00:20:35 housework. And look, we have seen AI
00:20:36 --> 00:20:38 powered or intelligent washing machines.
00:20:38 --> 00:20:39 I remember the Fisher and Parkle washing
00:20:39 --> 00:20:41 machine had some sort of fuzzy logic in
00:20:42 --> 00:20:43 it systems to know whether it should
00:20:43 --> 00:20:45 apply more force or less when it's
00:20:45 --> 00:20:46 washing certain types of clothes. And
00:20:46 --> 00:20:48 that was around long before AI. I
00:20:48 --> 00:20:50 remember the Japanese talking about
00:20:50 --> 00:20:51 fuzzy logic a couple of decades ago,
00:20:51 --> 00:20:54 which again is an AI kind of move. But
00:20:54 --> 00:20:56 now we have devices that you can talk
00:20:56 --> 00:20:58 to. You can talk to your fridge. If you
00:20:58 --> 00:20:59 have a Samsung fridge, you can say,
00:20:59 --> 00:21:01 "Hey, Bixby." And ask it to look at the
00:21:01 --> 00:21:03 ingredients you have in the fridge and
00:21:03 --> 00:21:05 suggest recipes. And this natural
00:21:05 --> 00:21:07 language user interface with our
00:21:07 --> 00:21:08 appliances is going to become more
00:21:08 --> 00:21:10 common. But the other end of that scale
00:21:10 --> 00:21:12 is to have humanoid robots that can just
00:21:12 --> 00:21:14 use the appliances that we use. And
00:21:14 --> 00:21:16 instead of, you know, having to talk to
00:21:16 --> 00:21:17 the appliance, you talk to the robot and
00:21:17 --> 00:21:19 get it to do things. So, you know, this
00:21:19 --> 00:21:21 robot is built to perform a variety of
00:21:21 --> 00:21:23 tasks within the home. And look, we will
00:21:23 --> 00:21:24 talk more about this when I've had a
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 chance to see it. And we get to see the
00:21:26 --> 00:21:28 uh exact image of what it looks like. It
00:21:28 --> 00:21:30 talks about two articulated arms powered
00:21:30 --> 00:21:32 by motors and with seven degrees of
00:21:32 --> 00:21:34 freedom providing motion similar to
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 natural mo movements which by natural it
00:21:36 --> 00:21:37 obviously means human movements and
00:21:37 --> 00:21:39 there are five individually actuated
00:21:39 --> 00:21:41 fingers on each hand to provide
00:21:41 --> 00:21:43 dexterity so that can perform delicate
00:21:43 --> 00:21:45 and precise tasks that require fine
00:21:45 --> 00:21:47 motor control. So you can imagine that
00:21:47 --> 00:21:50 by 2030 these sorts of robots will be on
00:21:50 --> 00:21:51 sale in the Best Buy and the Harvey
00:21:51 --> 00:21:54 Normans and JB Highfi and Boots in the
00:21:54 --> 00:21:56 UK and you know the traditional
00:21:56 --> 00:21:58 electronics big box department type
00:21:58 --> 00:22:00 store. They'll be selling these robot
00:22:00 --> 00:22:02 butlers for your home. I mean they'll
00:22:02 --> 00:22:04 come with different names. Android Cloyd
00:22:04 --> 00:22:06 I mean the problem with the word droids
00:22:06 --> 00:22:08 is that that is actually a term that's
00:22:08 --> 00:22:10 licensed to Lucasfilm because of the
00:22:10 --> 00:22:13 droids that are in Star Wars. So, we're
00:22:13 --> 00:22:14 yet to see what's going to happen there,
00:22:14 --> 00:22:16 but I'm sure people will have real life
00:22:16 --> 00:22:19 R2-D2 style robots, except much less
00:22:19 --> 00:22:21 clumsier and much less dense than uh
00:22:21 --> 00:22:23 C3PO appear to be at times, much less
00:22:23 --> 00:22:26 annoying. But this should be common
00:22:26 --> 00:22:26 place.
00:22:26 --> 00:22:28 >> Well, that's right. You want C3PO
00:22:28 --> 00:22:30 because he is a humanoid robot. But if
00:22:30 --> 00:22:33 you had an R2-D2 that could move around,
00:22:33 --> 00:22:35 sort of glide around that, but then
00:22:35 --> 00:22:37 could grow arms as needed to be able to
00:22:37 --> 00:22:39 help you with things and even lift
00:22:39 --> 00:22:41 itself up, couldn't have a robot that
00:22:41 --> 00:22:42 >> they couldn't walk downstairs.
00:22:42 --> 00:22:44 >> Well, that is one of the problems. And
00:22:44 --> 00:22:46 in fact, I have heard on the quiet from
00:22:46 --> 00:22:48 one of the vacuum cleaner makers, they
00:22:48 --> 00:22:50 have a robot that can go up and
00:22:50 --> 00:22:52 downstairs properly. So, I'm being told
00:22:52 --> 00:22:55 and yes, the Daleks and also R2-D2, they
00:22:55 --> 00:22:57 couldn't go upstairs. And there was an
00:22:57 --> 00:22:59 episode of Doctor Who where the Dalek
00:22:59 --> 00:23:01 did have jets and could fly up the
00:23:01 --> 00:23:04 stairs. And in the original u prequel
00:23:04 --> 00:23:05 trilogy, not the original trilogy, but
00:23:06 --> 00:23:07 in the prequel trilogy, I think in the
00:23:07 --> 00:23:09 middle movie, there was a moment where
00:23:09 --> 00:23:11 Archer Dichu did indeed fly to
00:23:11 --> 00:23:12 >> here. Little jets. Yeah,
00:23:12 --> 00:23:13 >> little jets. But those sorts of jets
00:23:13 --> 00:23:15 won't be appearing in robots anytime
00:23:15 --> 00:23:16 soon for the home because you can
00:23:16 --> 00:23:18 imagine those jets are going to blow air
00:23:18 --> 00:23:20 everywhere or if they are jets that have
00:23:20 --> 00:23:23 uh you know the won't be happy. I mean,
00:23:23 --> 00:23:25 not with dust. Well, Roomba's actually
00:23:25 --> 00:23:27 gone out of I think Roomba's gone out of
00:23:27 --> 00:23:28 business. Um, I mean, they've been
00:23:28 --> 00:23:30 bought by by somebody else, but they're
00:23:30 --> 00:23:31 one of the original robot vacuum cleaner
00:23:31 --> 00:23:33 companies that no longer exist. So,
00:23:33 --> 00:23:34 we've seen cons consolidation all over
00:23:34 --> 00:23:36 the place, but having a robot, which is
00:23:36 --> 00:23:38 something Apple has spoken of as well,
00:23:38 --> 00:23:41 but this next 5 years is going to see
00:23:41 --> 00:23:43 robots and AI, which is basically a
00:23:43 --> 00:23:45 computer on either legs or wheels,
00:23:45 --> 00:23:47 become autonomous and mobile and a true
00:23:47 --> 00:23:49 robot sidekick. It's going to be
00:23:49 --> 00:23:50 something we'll see over the next 5
00:23:50 --> 00:23:52 years that's going to change the world.
00:23:52 --> 00:23:55 That's Alex Aarovit from techadvice.life
00:23:55 --> 00:23:58 and this is spacetime
00:23:58 --> 00:24:11 [Music]
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