Episode: S05E42 — Wednesday, February 18, 2026 Hosts: Anna & Avery Network: Bitesz.com Podcast Network In today's episode of Astronomy Daily, Anna and Avery cover six unmissable stories from across the cosmos. Here's what we're talking about in S05E42: 1. Artemis II Wet Dress Rehearsal Round Two NASA begins fuelling the SLS moon rocket tomorrow (Feb 19) for a second critical practice countdown. Engineers have replaced two seals and a filter after hydrogen leaks forced the February launch window to be abandoned. A clean test is required before NASA will commit to a launch date — currently no earlier than March 6. The four-person crew includes Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen, each of whom will make history on the flight. 2. Moon Occults Mercury Tonight — Plus a Ganymede Transit Tonight, February 18, a thin crescent Moon passes so close to Mercury that observers in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Georgia will see the Moon hide Mercury in a rare occultation. For everyone else, a stunning close conjunction is visible in the western sky just after sunset. Simultaneously, Jupiter's moon Ganymede transits the gas giant's face through the night. Two events, one evening. 3. Ariane 6 Launches Amazon Kuiper Satellites Europe's most powerful Ariane 6 configuration successfully launched 32 satellites for Amazon's Project Kuiper broadband constellation today — a direct competitor to SpaceX's Starlink. The launch highlights both the commercial ambitions of Amazon's internet satellite programme and the ongoing resurgence of European launch capability. 4. 3I/ATLAS Update: JUICE Data Downlinking Now ESA's JUICE spacecraft is currently transmitting data it collected on interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS back to Earth — the downlink window runs February 18–20. If successful, this would be the closest-ever spacecraft observations of an interstellar object. Meanwhile, 3I/ATLAS heads toward a close Jupiter flyby in March that may trigger fresh outbursts. 5. How Titan Formed — And Why Saturn Has Rings New research from the SETI Institute proposes a single ancient catastrophe that explains multiple Saturn mysteries at once: a moon called proto-Hyperion collided with proto-Titan about 400 million years ago. The merger debris re-accreted into Saturn's inner moons and left behind the iconic ring system. The hypothesis also explains Saturn's unusual axial tilt, Iapetus's orbital inclination, and the surprising youth of Titan's surface. 6. Russia's 30-Day Mars Engine Rosatom's Troitsk Institute is ground-testing a nuclear-powered magnetoplasma engine that its developers claim could reach Mars in 30 days — compared to 8 months for chemical rockets. With a plasma exhaust velocity of 100 km/s, the system is part of a global race toward deep-space plasma propulsion also being pursued by NASA's VASIMR programme and Chinese researchers. A flight prototype is targeted for 2030.
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily.
00:00:03 --> 00:00:04 I'm Anna.
00:00:04 --> 00:00:06 >> And I'm Avery. You're listening to
00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 season 5, episode 42 for Wednesday, the
00:00:09 --> 00:00:13 18th of February, 2026. And what a day
00:00:13 --> 00:00:14 to be a spaceman.
00:00:14 --> 00:00:18 >> Absolutely. Tonight, right now, in fact,
00:00:18 --> 00:00:20 the moon is sliding so close to Mercury
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 that it's actually hiding it from view
00:00:22 --> 00:00:24 for sky watchers in parts of the
00:00:24 --> 00:00:27 southern United States. A genuine
00:00:27 --> 00:00:29 celestial magic trick happening as you
00:00:29 --> 00:00:30 listen.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:32 >> And that's just one of six stories we're
00:00:32 --> 00:00:34 bringing you today. We've got NASA's
00:00:34 --> 00:00:36 Aremis 2 on the verge of a crucial
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39 fueling test, a European rocket making a
00:00:39 --> 00:00:41 big move in the satellite broadband
00:00:41 --> 00:00:44 race, a genuinely new twist in the
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 ongoing saga of our interstellar
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 visitor, and two stories that I promise
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 will make you rethink some things you
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 thought you knew about the solar system.
00:00:52 --> 00:00:55 >> Big show. Let's get into it. So Anna,
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57 let's start with the biggest space story
00:00:57 --> 00:00:58 of the week and honestly the one that
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 could define the year. Artemis 2.
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 >> Yes, for anyone who needs a quick
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 refresh, Artemis 2 is NASA's first crude
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 mission around the moon since Apollo 17
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12 in 1972.
00:01:12 --> 00:01:14 Four astronauts, Reed Wisman, Victor
00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 Glover, Christina and Canada's
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 Jeremy Hansen are preparing to fly a
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 10-day loop around the moon and back. No
00:01:22 --> 00:01:25 lunar landing, but a crucial proving
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 flight before we put boots on the
00:01:27 --> 00:01:28 surface.
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 >> And they are so close. The rocket is
00:01:30 --> 00:01:33 sitting on pad 39B at Kennedy Space
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 Center right now. But before NASA will
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 commit to a launch state, they need to
00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 successfully do what's called a wet
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 dress rehearsal, a full practice
00:01:42 --> 00:01:44 countdown where they actually load the
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 rocket with fuel and take it right to
00:01:46 --> 00:01:49 the edge of launch, then drain it all
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 out again. They did that once already on
00:01:51 --> 00:01:54 February 3rd and it didn't go smoothly.
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 A liquid hydrogen leak cropped up. The
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 exact same kind of problem that plagued
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 Artemis 1 3 years ago. The countdown was
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 terminated at tminus 5 minutes and 15
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 seconds. Close, but not close enough.
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 >> Which pushed the February launch window
00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 off the table entirely. NASA
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 administrator Jared Isaacman was fairly
00:02:15 --> 00:02:17 philosophical about it. He said, "This
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 is exactly why you do a rehearsal, to
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 find these issues before you're flying
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 with crew." But the clock is ticking.
00:02:24 --> 00:02:27 >> Since then, engineers have replaced two
00:02:27 --> 00:02:29 seals and a clogged filter in the
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 hydrogen fueling system. They ran a
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 partial confidence test on February
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 12th, to check the repairs. And now,
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 tomorrow, February 19th, they begin
00:02:38 --> 00:02:41 tanking day for the second full wet
00:02:41 --> 00:02:42 dress rehearsal.
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 >> This is the one that counts. If the test
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 goes cleanly, no out of limits hydrogen
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 concentrations countdown proceeds all
00:02:49 --> 00:02:52 the way to the terminal phase, NASA will
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 analyze the data and set a launch date.
00:02:54 --> 00:02:56 The current earliest possibility is
00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 March 6. It's worth noting just how
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 historic this mission is beyond the moon
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 return angle. Victor Glover will become
00:03:04 --> 00:03:06 the first person of color to travel
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 beyond low Earth orbit. Christina
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 will be the first woman. Jeremy Hansen
00:03:11 --> 00:03:13 will be the first non-American. Every
00:03:13 --> 00:03:16 single person on that crew is making
00:03:16 --> 00:03:17 history in their own right.
00:03:18 --> 00:03:19 >> So, tomorrow is genuinely a day to
00:03:20 --> 00:03:21 watch. We'll be keeping a close eye on
00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 how the tanking goes and we'll have
00:03:23 --> 00:03:24 updates as they come through.
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 >> All right, let's bring it back to Earth,
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 or rather to the sky above Earth because
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 tonight is one of those rare evenings
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 where if you happen to be in the right
00:03:33 --> 00:03:35 place and you look up at the right
00:03:35 --> 00:03:38 moment, you'll see something genuinely
00:03:38 --> 00:03:39 extraordinary.
00:03:39 --> 00:03:42 >> Two things actually. First, the moon and
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 Mercury. Tonight, February 18th, a
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 slender 1 and a half day old crescent
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 moon is passing extremely close to
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 Mercury in the western sky just after
00:03:51 --> 00:03:54 sunset. And I mean extremely close. For
00:03:54 --> 00:03:57 observers along a narrow band of
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 southern US states, we're talking
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana,
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 Mississippi, and Georgia, the moon will
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 actually pass directly in front of
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 Mercury and block it from view entirely.
00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 That's called an occultation. Mercury
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 literally disappears behind the moon's
00:04:15 --> 00:04:17 dark limb and reappears on the other
00:04:17 --> 00:04:20 side. For everyone else across North
00:04:20 --> 00:04:22 America and beyond, it won't be a full
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 occultation, but you'll still see a
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26 dramatically close pairing. East Coast
00:04:26 --> 00:04:28 observers will see Mercury sitting just
00:04:28 --> 00:04:31 north of the moon as twilight falls. By
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 the time darkness reaches the west
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 coast, the moon will have shifted to
00:04:35 --> 00:04:38 within about 1°ree of the planet. Venus
00:04:38 --> 00:04:39 hangs brilliantly below them as a
00:04:40 --> 00:04:41 helpful reference point.
00:04:41 --> 00:04:44 >> Now, the window is tight. Mercury sets
00:04:44 --> 00:04:46 not long after the sun, so you want to
00:04:46 --> 00:04:49 get outside as soon as the sky darkens.
00:04:49 --> 00:04:51 Look low in the west southwest. If you
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 can spot Venus, and you'll have no
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 trouble doing that, it's blazingly
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 bright. Mercury will be nearby. The moon
00:04:58 --> 00:04:59 makes it easy tonight.
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 >> And if that weren't enough, Jupiter
00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 watchers have a tree, too. Tonight,
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon and the
00:05:06 --> 00:05:09 biggest moon in the entire solar system,
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 is transiting across Jupiter's face.
00:05:12 --> 00:05:13 East Coast observers can see it underway
00:05:14 --> 00:05:16 as soon as it gets dark. It takes just
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 over three hours to cross the disc, and
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 then Ganymede's shadow follows it
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 across, creating that striking black dot
00:05:22 --> 00:05:25 effect on Jupiter's cloud tops. So,
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 tonight really is a twofor one sky
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 watching event. Mercury and the moon in
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 the west at dusk, Jupiter and Ganymede
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 in the southeast through the night. If
00:05:34 --> 00:05:36 you have binoculars or a small
00:05:36 --> 00:05:38 telescope, even better.
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 >> Get outside. Staying with today's news,
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 and this one happened literally today.
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 Europe's Arion 6 rocket has successfully
00:05:46 --> 00:05:48 launched 32 satellites into orbit for
00:05:48 --> 00:05:51 Amazon's project Kyper. For those not
00:05:51 --> 00:05:54 familiar with Kyper, Amazon has been
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 quietly building a large constellation
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 of broadband internet satellites
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 designed to take on SpaceX's Starlink.
00:06:00 --> 00:06:03 This is a big commercial play. Starlink
00:06:03 --> 00:06:05 currently leads the market with
00:06:05 --> 00:06:07 thousands of operational satellites, but
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 Amazon has the resources and ambition to
00:06:10 --> 00:06:12 make this a genuine competition. What's
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 notable about today's launch is that it
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 used the most powerful configuration of
00:06:17 --> 00:06:19 Arion 6. Flying with four strap-on
00:06:19 --> 00:06:22 boosters rather than two, it was
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 essentially a statement of capability
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 from the European side of the commercial
00:06:26 --> 00:06:29 launch industry. This rocket can handle
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 serious payloads. There's also a bigger
00:06:32 --> 00:06:34 picture here. Aron 6 has had somewhat of
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 a turbulent road. It came in behind
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 schedule and faced some early technical
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 hurdles. But launches like this, winning
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 commercial contracts for a high-profile
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 constellation like Kyper, are exactly
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 what Europe needs to keep its launch
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 industry competitive in an era dominated
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 by SpaceX and an increasingly capable
00:06:53 --> 00:06:54 Chinese launch sector.
00:06:54 --> 00:06:57 >> The broadband satellite race is one of
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 the defining infrastructure stories of
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 this decade. I'd argue Starlink has
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 already changed what connectivity looks
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 like in remote areas and conflict zones.
00:07:06 --> 00:07:09 Hyper, Amazon's one web investments, the
00:07:09 --> 00:07:12 Chinese Gowong constellation, they all
00:07:12 --> 00:07:14 point to a future where low Earth orbit
00:07:14 --> 00:07:16 becomes genuinely critical economic
00:07:16 --> 00:07:17 territory.
00:07:17 --> 00:07:20 >> Today's launch is one tile in that much
00:07:20 --> 00:07:23 larger mosaic. 32 satellites closer to
00:07:23 --> 00:07:24 that future.
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 >> Now, an update on our interstellar
00:07:26 --> 00:07:29 visitor, and I do mean update. There is
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 genuinely new information here happening
00:07:31 --> 00:07:32 right now.
00:07:32 --> 00:07:35 >> I know we've given three Atlas a quite a
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 run over recent episodes, but this one
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 earns its place today
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41 >> completely. For new listeners, three
00:07:41 --> 00:07:44 Atlas is only the third interstellar
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 object ever confirmed to pass through
00:07:46 --> 00:07:48 our solar system. It arrived from
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 outside our stellar neighborhood, swung
00:07:51 --> 00:07:53 around the sun last October, and is now
00:07:53 --> 00:07:55 heading back out into the galaxy
00:07:55 --> 00:07:57 forever. We will never see this object
00:07:57 --> 00:07:59 again. But here's what's happening right
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 now. Juice spacecraft, that's the
00:08:02 --> 00:08:05 Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, currently in
00:08:05 --> 00:08:07 route to Jupiter, pass within
00:08:08 --> 00:08:10 observational range of three Atlas back
00:08:10 --> 00:08:13 in November last year. Due to the
00:08:13 --> 00:08:15 challenging thermal conditions during
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 Juice's transit through the inner solar
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 system, the data it collected couldn't
00:08:19 --> 00:08:21 be down linked straight away. That data
00:08:21 --> 00:08:24 is now being transmitted to Earth. The
00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 window is February the 18th to the 20th
00:08:27 --> 00:08:28 today.
00:08:28 --> 00:08:30 >> If successful, these would be the
00:08:30 --> 00:08:32 closest ever observations of an
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 interstellar object by a spacecraft.
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 Now, Juice didn't do a dedicated flyby,
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40 its trajectories locked in for Jupiter,
00:08:40 --> 00:08:42 but even opportunistic observations from
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 its suite of cameras, spectrometers, and
00:08:45 --> 00:08:47 particle detectors could give us a
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 perspective on three eye atlas that no
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 earthbased telescope can provide. And
00:08:52 --> 00:08:53 the data would complement an
00:08:53 --> 00:08:56 extraordinary recent run of discoveries.
00:08:56 --> 00:08:58 Hubble has directly imaged the nucleus
00:08:58 --> 00:09:01 for the first time. JWST detected
00:09:02 --> 00:09:04 methane in its atmosphere, a molecule
00:09:04 --> 00:09:06 never before seen in an interstellar
00:09:06 --> 00:09:09 object. And the object is still spinning
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 faster than it was before its solar
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 encounter. A legacy of all that
00:09:13 --> 00:09:16 outgassing as it swung close to the sun.
00:09:16 --> 00:09:18 Rei Atlas is now about 3 and a half
00:09:18 --> 00:09:21 astronomical units from the sun in the
00:09:21 --> 00:09:23 constellation Gemini. It's fading, but
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 still reachable with a decent amateur
00:09:25 --> 00:09:28 telescope. And it has one more big act
00:09:28 --> 00:09:30 to play, a close pass by Jupiter in
00:09:30 --> 00:09:33 March, which may trigger fresh outbursts
00:09:33 --> 00:09:35 as Jupiter's tidal forces stress the
00:09:35 --> 00:09:36 nucleus.
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 >> An extraordinary object, and the fact
00:09:38 --> 00:09:41 that we have a spacecraft data down link
00:09:41 --> 00:09:42 happening as we record today makes it
00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 entirely current. What report would
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 Juice found as soon as the science teams
00:09:47 --> 00:09:48 released their analysis?
00:09:48 --> 00:09:52 >> Right. Deep time. Now, I genuinely love
00:09:52 --> 00:09:53 this next story because it takes
00:09:53 --> 00:09:55 something you thought you understood,
00:09:55 --> 00:09:58 Saturn's rings, and reframes the entire
00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 origin of the system. New research by
00:10:00 --> 00:10:03 Matia Chuk at the SEI Institute about to
00:10:03 --> 00:10:05 be published in the Planetary Science
00:10:05 --> 00:10:08 Journal proposes a dramatic two-stage
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 catastrophe that reshaped the entire
00:10:10 --> 00:10:13 Saturnian system roughly 400 million
00:10:13 --> 00:10:15 years ago. And I mean reshaped
00:10:15 --> 00:10:20 everything. Titan, the rings, Hyperion,
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 all of it connected to one ancient
00:10:22 --> 00:10:23 collision.
00:10:23 --> 00:10:25 >> Let's set the scene. Saturn has puzzled
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 planetary scientists for a long time.
00:10:28 --> 00:10:31 Its axial tilt is an unusually steep
00:10:31 --> 00:10:33 26.7°.
00:10:33 --> 00:10:36 You don't expect gas giants to form that
00:10:36 --> 00:10:39 way. Titan is migrating away from Saturn
00:10:39 --> 00:10:41 at a surprisingly rapid rate. The moon
00:10:41 --> 00:10:44 Apotus sits at an oddly inclined orbit
00:10:44 --> 00:10:46 and the rings are far younger than the
00:10:46 --> 00:10:49 planet itself, only a few hundred
00:10:49 --> 00:10:51 million years old geologically speaking.
00:10:51 --> 00:10:53 One thing after another that didn't
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 quite add up. Juke and colleagues ran
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 simulations and found a scenario that
00:10:57 --> 00:11:00 explains it all at once. The key player
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 is a moon they're calling Proto
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 Hyperion. Saturn used to have this
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 additional midsize satellite orbiting in
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 the outer system. When Saturn's spin
00:11:09 --> 00:11:11 orbit resonance with the other planets
00:11:11 --> 00:11:13 in the solar system broke down, Proto
00:11:13 --> 00:11:16 Hyperion was destabilized. It drifted
00:11:16 --> 00:11:18 inward and it collided with a
00:11:18 --> 00:11:21 prototitan. The merger of those two
00:11:21 --> 00:11:24 moons roughly 400 million years ago set
00:11:24 --> 00:11:26 off a chain reaction. Some of the
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28 collision debris accreted around what
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 would become today's Titan, explaining
00:11:30 --> 00:11:33 why Titan's surface looks surprisingly
00:11:33 --> 00:11:35 young despite the moon itself being
00:11:35 --> 00:11:38 ancient. Titan absorbed new material and
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 essentially reset its surface.
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 >> Other debris from the collision
00:11:42 --> 00:11:45 perturbed the inner moon system. Titan's
00:11:45 --> 00:11:47 resonant gravitational interaction with
00:11:47 --> 00:11:49 Proto Dione and Protohea caused further
00:11:50 --> 00:11:52 instabilities, more collisions, more
00:11:52 --> 00:11:55 debris. Most of that material eventually
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 reaccreted into the inner moons we see
00:11:57 --> 00:12:01 today. Neimis, Enceladus, Tethus, Dion,
00:12:01 --> 00:12:03 Rehea, but a fraction of it stayed
00:12:03 --> 00:12:06 dispersed. That fraction became Saturn's
00:12:06 --> 00:12:10 rings. And Hyperion, the small, oddly
00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 shaped walnut-like moon that looks like
00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 it survived a very bad day. According to
00:12:15 --> 00:12:18 the model, it actually did survive a
00:12:18 --> 00:12:20 very bad day. It formed from the debris
00:12:20 --> 00:12:23 of that proto Hyperion and prototitan
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 collision and was captured into
00:12:25 --> 00:12:28 resonance with Titan. The researchers
00:12:28 --> 00:12:30 note that in most of their simulations,
00:12:30 --> 00:12:33 Hyperion was lost entirely. Its survival
00:12:33 --> 00:12:36 in a relatively small number of runs
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 suggests the real system was genuinely
00:12:38 --> 00:12:40 close to being quite different.
00:12:40 --> 00:12:43 >> What I find compelling about this is how
00:12:43 --> 00:12:46 elegantly one event connects everything.
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48 The tilt of the whole planet, the age of
00:12:48 --> 00:12:51 the rings, the orbits of Apotus and
00:12:51 --> 00:12:54 Hyperion, Titan's migration rate. One
00:12:54 --> 00:12:57 ancient merger explains it all. Now, the
00:12:57 --> 00:13:00 researchers are careful to say this is a
00:13:00 --> 00:13:02 hypothesis, not a confirmed history.
00:13:02 --> 00:13:05 Simulations can be suggestive without
00:13:05 --> 00:13:08 being definitive. But NASA's Dragonfly
00:13:08 --> 00:13:10 mission is heading to Titan. It launches
00:13:10 --> 00:13:14 in 2028 and arrives in 2034. One of the
00:13:14 --> 00:13:16 things Dragonfly will investigate is the
00:13:16 --> 00:13:19 age and history of Titan's surface. If
00:13:19 --> 00:13:21 the surface shows evidence of that
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 ancient resetting, that would be a
00:13:23 --> 00:13:27 powerful confirmation. 400 million years
00:13:27 --> 00:13:29 of cosmic history hiding in a
00:13:29 --> 00:13:33 walnut-shaped moon. I love this stuff.
00:13:33 --> 00:13:35 >> And finally, a story that will make you
00:13:35 --> 00:13:37 rethink just how long it takes to get to
00:13:37 --> 00:13:40 Mars. Or at least how long it might take
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 one day. Russia's state nuclear
00:13:42 --> 00:13:45 corporation Rosatom through its Troyus
00:13:45 --> 00:13:47 Institute near Moscow has been
00:13:47 --> 00:13:49 developing a nuclearpowered magna plasma
00:13:49 --> 00:13:52 engine and they're making a bold claim
00:13:52 --> 00:13:55 that this technology could get a crude
00:13:55 --> 00:13:57 spacecraft to Mars in 30 days.
00:13:58 --> 00:14:00 >> To put that in context, a conventional
00:14:00 --> 00:14:02 chemical rocket takes roughly 8 months
00:14:02 --> 00:14:05 to reach Mars. 30 days would be a
00:14:05 --> 00:14:08 transformation, not just an improvement.
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 It would fundamentally change the
00:14:10 --> 00:14:12 feasibility of human Mars missions. Less
00:14:12 --> 00:14:15 radiation exposure for the crew, less
00:14:15 --> 00:14:17 time in microgravity, a completely
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 different logistical calculus for
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22 resupply and emergency scenarios. The
00:14:22 --> 00:14:25 engine works by accelerating hydrogen
00:14:25 --> 00:14:27 using electromagnetic fields rather than
00:14:27 --> 00:14:32 combustion to a velocity of 100 km/s.
00:14:32 --> 00:14:35 That's roughly 22 times faster than the
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 exhaust velocity of a conventional
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 chemical rocket. The working body is
00:14:39 --> 00:14:42 plasma, charged particles, and it's
00:14:42 --> 00:14:44 driven by an onboard nuclear reactor
00:14:44 --> 00:14:46 that provides the sustained electrical
00:14:46 --> 00:14:49 power the accelerator needs.
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 Importantly, this isn't a launch engine.
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 You'd still use conventional chemical
00:14:54 --> 00:14:56 rockets to get off Earth's surface and
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 into orbit. The plasma system switches
00:14:58 --> 00:15:00 on once you're in space for the
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 interplanetary cruise. Smooth continuous
00:15:03 --> 00:15:06 acceleration followed by a long
00:15:06 --> 00:15:08 deceleration burn. The prototype is
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 currently running ground trials inside a
00:15:11 --> 00:15:13 14 m vacuum chamber designed to
00:15:13 --> 00:15:15 replicate deep space conditions. The
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17 researchers say the engine has
00:15:17 --> 00:15:20 demonstrated sufficient longevity over
00:15:20 --> 00:15:23 2400 hours for a Mars transportation
00:15:23 --> 00:15:25 operation. A flight ready prototype is
00:15:26 --> 00:15:29 targeted for 2030. Now, and this is
00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 important, there are real caveats here.
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 No peer-reviewed data has been published
00:15:34 --> 00:15:37 yet. The thrust is very low, around 6
00:15:37 --> 00:15:40 newtons. Integrating a nuclear reactor
00:15:40 --> 00:15:42 into a crude spacecraft is an enormous
00:15:42 --> 00:15:45 engineering challenge in itself with
00:15:45 --> 00:15:47 regulatory, thermal, and radiation
00:15:47 --> 00:15:50 shielding hurdles that remain largely
00:15:50 --> 00:15:51 unsolved publicly.
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 >> Fair points. But the broader context is
00:15:54 --> 00:15:56 genuinely interesting. NASA is investing
00:15:56 --> 00:15:59 in its own plasma propulsion programs.
00:15:59 --> 00:16:02 The Vazimir engine from AD astro rocket
00:16:02 --> 00:16:05 company in Texas targets a Mars trip of
00:16:05 --> 00:16:08 45 to 60 days. China has plasma thruster
00:16:08 --> 00:16:11 research underway too. There's a real
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 multi-nation push to solve the
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 propulsion problem for deep space
00:16:15 --> 00:16:16 travel.
00:16:16 --> 00:16:18 >> Chemical rockets got us to the moon.
00:16:18 --> 00:16:21 Getting to Mars regularly, safely, and
00:16:21 --> 00:16:24 at human time scales requires something
00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 different. This is where that search is
00:16:26 --> 00:16:29 heading, wherever it ultimately leads.
00:16:29 --> 00:16:33 >> 30 Days to Mars. Even as an aspiration,
00:16:33 --> 00:16:35 that's a sentence worth sitting with.
00:16:35 --> 00:16:37 >> And that's our six stories for season 5,
00:16:38 --> 00:16:41 episode 42. What a lineup. From a rocket
00:16:41 --> 00:16:44 on a launchpad in Florida to a crescent
00:16:44 --> 00:16:46 moon swallowing Mercury to the debris of
00:16:46 --> 00:16:50 a 400 millionyear-old collision still
00:16:50 --> 00:16:51 orbiting Saturn
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53 >> and an interstellar comet sending us its
00:16:53 --> 00:16:55 last data from the edge of the solar
00:16:55 --> 00:16:57 system. While Russia dreams of getting
00:16:57 --> 00:17:00 to Mars in a month. Base never has a
00:17:00 --> 00:17:01 quiet week.
00:17:01 --> 00:17:03 >> If tonight's sky events caught your
00:17:03 --> 00:17:05 attention, there is still time to get
00:17:05 --> 00:17:07 outside. Mercury and the moon in the
00:17:07 --> 00:17:09 west, Jupiter and Ganymede in the
00:17:10 --> 00:17:12 southeast. You have your orders.
00:17:12 --> 00:17:14 >> And keep an eye on Artemis. Tomorrow's
00:17:14 --> 00:17:16 fueling test is one of those days where
00:17:16 --> 00:17:18 the news could come fast. We'll be on
00:17:18 --> 00:17:19 it.
00:17:19 --> 00:17:21 >> Thank you so much for spending part of
00:17:21 --> 00:17:23 your Wednesday with us. We'll be back
00:17:23 --> 00:17:25 tomorrow for more from the universe.
00:17:25 --> 00:17:31 >> Until then, clear skies, everyone.
00:17:31 --> 00:17:38 Oh,
00:17:38 --> 00:17:42 stories told.