Astronomy Daily — S05E55 | 6 March 2026 Six stories today covering planetary defence, a cosmic laser record, a solar superstorm on Mars, space debris pollution, a mystery satellite launch, and the most charming farming experiment you'll hear about all year. Stories This Episode 1. Asteroid 2024 YR4 — Moon Impact Officially Ruled Out NASA has confirmed, using the James Webb Space Telescope, that infamous asteroid 2024 YR4 will not hit the Moon in 2032. The space rock — once the most dangerous asteroid identified in two decades — will instead pass the Moon at a distance of around 13,200 miles. It previously held a 4% lunar impact probability, now fully eliminated thanks to Webb's extraordinary sensitivity pushing it to the limits of what the telescope can observe. 2. MeerKAT Detects Cosmic 'Gigalaser' 8 Billion Light-Years Away South Africa's MeerKAT radio telescope has spotted the most distant hydroxyl megamaser ever detected — a natural 'space laser' in a galaxy undergoing a violent collision more than 8 billion light-years away. The signal is so powerful it qualifies as a gigamaser. Adding to the serendipity, the signal was further amplified by a foreground galaxy acting as a gravitational lens on its 8-billion-year journey to Earth. The discovery points toward the future capability of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). 3. ESA's Mars Orbiters Record Solar Superstorm Hitting Mars A new Nature Communications study reveals what happened when the record-breaking May 2024 solar superstorm hit Mars. ESA's Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter recorded unprecedented electron density spikes in the Martian upper atmosphere — up to 278% above normal — and both spacecraft experienced computer glitches from the energetic particles. The study uses a novel spacecraft-to-spacecraft radio occultation technique and highlights how Mars's lack of a global magnetic field leaves it vulnerable to solar events in ways that Earth is not. 4. SpaceX Falcon 9 Re-entry Directly Linked to Atmospheric Lithium Plume For the first time, scientists have directly tied a specific rocket re-entry to a measurable atmospheric pollution event. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Atmospheric Physics detected a tenfold spike in lithium vapour in the upper atmosphere — from 3 to 31 atoms per cubic centimetre — in the hours following the uncontrolled re-entry of a Falcon 9 upper stage off Ireland in February 2025. Eight thousand backward atmospheric simulations confirmed the connection. Published in Communications Earth & Environment, the paper raises important questions about the growing chemical footprint of the commercial space industry. 5. Rocket Lab Launches Mystery Satellite — 'Insight at Speed is a Friend Indeed' Rocket Lab completed its 83rd Electron launch from New Zealand, deploying a single satellite for a confidential commercial customer to an orbit 470 km above Earth. The company announced the mission just hours before liftoff, offering no further details on the customer or the payload's purpose. 6. Scientists Grow Chickpeas in Simulated Moon Dirt for First Time Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University have successfully grown and harvested chickpeas in simulated lunar regolith — the first time this has ever been achieved. Using a combination of vermicompost (worm castings) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to condition the otherwise toxic, sterile moon dirt, the team produced flowering, seed-bearing plants in soil mixtures of up to 75% regolith simulant. The chickpeas have not yet been cleared for eating pending metal accumulation testing — but the team's goal of 'moon hummus' is, apparently, very much alive. Find Us: astronomydaily.io | @AstroDailyPod on all platforms Subscribe & Review: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · YouTube · everywhere you listen
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Hey everyone, welcome back to Astronomy
00:00:02 --> 00:00:04 Daily. I'm Anna.
00:00:04 --> 00:00:07 >> And I'm Avery. Happy Friday, space fans.
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 We've got a great one for you today.
00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 >> We do. Six stories. And honestly, this
00:00:12 --> 00:00:14 is one of the more varied lineups we've
00:00:14 --> 00:00:17 had in a while. We've got planetary
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 defense, a cosmic laser from halfway
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 across the universe, a solar supertorrm
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 hitting Mars, a SpaceX rocket polluting
00:00:25 --> 00:00:28 the atmosphere on its way down. A
00:00:28 --> 00:00:30 mystery satellite launched from the
00:00:30 --> 00:00:32 other side of the world. And my personal
00:00:32 --> 00:00:35 favorite, scientists trying to grow
00:00:35 --> 00:00:38 chickpeas on the moon. Moon hummus.
00:00:38 --> 00:00:40 Avery, that's where we're headed.
00:00:40 --> 00:00:42 >> Moon hummus. Let's go.
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45 >> Okay, first up, great news for anyone
00:00:45 --> 00:00:47 who's been losing sleep over asteroid
00:00:47 --> 00:00:51 2024 YR4. NASA has now officially ruled
00:00:51 --> 00:00:54 out any chance of it hitting the moon in
00:00:54 --> 00:00:55 2032.
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57 >> Right. So, let's quickly recap the story
00:00:58 --> 00:01:00 for anyone who hasn't been following it.
00:01:00 --> 00:01:02 This asteroid was discovered back in
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 December 2024, and for a while, it was
00:01:05 --> 00:01:08 genuinely alarming. It briefly became
00:01:08 --> 00:01:10 the most dangerous asteroid identified
00:01:10 --> 00:01:13 in the last 20 years with a small but
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 very real chance it could hit Earth.
00:01:15 --> 00:01:18 >> That Earth impact risk was ruled out
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 fairly quickly. But when the asteroid
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 faded from view last year, astronomers
00:01:22 --> 00:01:24 were left with something almost as
00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 intriguing. a lingering 4% chance it
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 could strike the moon on December 22nd,
00:01:30 --> 00:01:31 2032.
00:01:32 --> 00:01:35 >> 4% sounds small, but in asteroid terms,
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 that's enormous. We're talking about a
00:01:37 --> 00:01:40 60 m rock, roughly the same size as what
00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 caused the Tangusa event in 1908, or
00:01:43 --> 00:01:46 what dug out Meteor Crater in Arizona.
00:01:46 --> 00:01:47 If it hit the near side of the moon, it
00:01:48 --> 00:01:49 would have created a crater about a
00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 kilometer wide and put on the most
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 spectacular light show humanity has ever
00:01:54 --> 00:01:55 seen from Earth.
00:01:56 --> 00:01:57 >> So, everyone's been watching very
00:01:57 --> 00:02:00 closely. The problem was by spring last
00:02:00 --> 00:02:03 year, the asteroid had drifted so far
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 away it was invisible to pretty much
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 every telescope on Earth and in space
00:02:08 --> 00:02:11 with one exception. The James Webb Space
00:02:11 --> 00:02:14 Telescope, which pushed itself to its
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 very limit to catch this thing. A team
00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 led by the John's Hopkins Applied
00:02:18 --> 00:02:21 Physics Laboratory use Web's near
00:02:21 --> 00:02:23 infrared camera in two observation
00:02:23 --> 00:02:26 windows in February the 18th and the
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 26th to track down this incredibly faint
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 speck against the background of stars.
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 >> And the result was clear. The new
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 measurements allowed scientists to map
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 2024 YR4 forest trajectory with enough
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 precision to rule out a lunar collision.
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 Instead of hitting the moon, it's going
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 to pass at a distance of about 13
00:02:47 --> 00:02:50 m from the lunar surface, which is yes,
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 closer than some satellites orbit Earth,
00:02:53 --> 00:02:54 but it's a miss.
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 >> 13 m is basically next door in
00:02:57 --> 00:03:00 astronomical terms, but next door is
00:03:00 --> 00:03:03 still a miss. The moon is safe. Earth is
00:03:03 --> 00:03:07 safe and 2024 YR4 is just going to keep
00:03:07 --> 00:03:07 trucking.
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 >> NASA says they'll observe it again when
00:03:09 --> 00:03:12 it swings back near Earth in 2028. So,
00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 the story isn't quite over, but for now,
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 the threat is officially off the table.
00:03:17 --> 00:03:19 >> Good news to kick off the show. What's
00:03:20 --> 00:03:20 next?
00:03:20 --> 00:03:23 >> Okay, story two. This one comes out of
00:03:23 --> 00:03:25 South Africa and it involves what
00:03:25 --> 00:03:28 scientists are describing as a cosmic
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 laser. And I mean that almost literally.
00:03:31 --> 00:03:33 Tell me more. Lasers in space sounds
00:03:33 --> 00:03:35 like something I need in my life.
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 >> So, astronomers using the Mircat radio
00:03:38 --> 00:03:41 telescope in the Ku Desert have detected
00:03:41 --> 00:03:44 the most distant hydroxal megaer ever
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 found. It's located in a violently
00:03:46 --> 00:03:49 merging galaxy more than 8 billion
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 lightyear away. And the signal is so
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 powerful that researchers are actually
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 calling it a gigamaser rather than a
00:03:56 --> 00:03:57 megaer.
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 >> Okay, let's break this down for people.
00:03:59 --> 00:04:03 What exactly is a hydroxal megamaser?
00:04:03 --> 00:04:06 >> Right. So on earth, a laser works by
00:04:06 --> 00:04:09 exciting atoms or molecules until they
00:04:09 --> 00:04:11 release light in a very tight amplified
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 beam. The same basic physics can happen
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 in space. But instead of visible light,
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 it happens at radio wavelengths.
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 Hydroxal molecules, that's one hydrogen,
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 one oxygen, in massive gas clouds, can
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 be excited by the energy of colliding
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 galaxies and amplify radio waves in
00:04:30 --> 00:04:33 exactly the same way. When the signal is
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 extraordinarily bright, it's called a
00:04:35 --> 00:04:36 megaer.
00:04:36 --> 00:04:39 >> So, it's a natural radio laser powered
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 by two galaxies smashing into each
00:04:41 --> 00:04:41 other.
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 >> Exactly. And the one Mircatound
00:04:44 --> 00:04:53 cataloged as H A T L A SJ142935.3-002836
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56 is the most distant and luminous example
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 ever detected. We're seeing it as it
00:04:58 --> 00:05:00 existed when the universe was less than
00:05:00 --> 00:05:02 half its current age.
00:05:02 --> 00:05:04 >> And you said there was a gravitational
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 lens involved as well.
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 >> Yes. This is the really lovely part of
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 the story. On its 8 billionyear journey
00:05:11 --> 00:05:13 to Earth, the radio signal happened to
00:05:13 --> 00:05:16 pass directly behind another completely
00:05:16 --> 00:05:19 unrelated galaxy sitting between us and
00:05:19 --> 00:05:22 the source. That foreground galaxy's
00:05:22 --> 00:05:25 gravity bent and warped space around it,
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 acting like a natural magnifying glass
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 and amplifying the signal even further
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 before it reached Mircat. So, we have a
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 natural space laser being focused by a
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 natural gravitational telescope.
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 >> That is genuinely delightful. The
00:05:39 --> 00:05:40 universe just handed astronomers a
00:05:40 --> 00:05:42 cosmic gift.
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 >> The lead researcher, Dr. Tho Monla from
00:05:45 --> 00:05:47 the University of Ptoria, described it
00:05:48 --> 00:05:49 beautifully. He said they were seeing
00:05:50 --> 00:05:52 the radio equivalent of a laser halfway
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 across the universe and that it was a
00:05:54 --> 00:05:57 wonderfully serendipitous discovery.
00:05:57 --> 00:05:58 >> And the bigger picture here is that
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 Mircat is a precursor to the square
00:06:00 --> 00:06:03 kilometer array, the SKA, which is going
00:06:03 --> 00:06:05 to be even more powerful. So this is
00:06:05 --> 00:06:07 just a start of what's possible.
00:06:07 --> 00:06:10 >> Exactly. Bonamela's team wants to find
00:06:10 --> 00:06:12 hundreds, even thousands of these
00:06:12 --> 00:06:15 objects. And when the SKA comes online,
00:06:15 --> 00:06:16 that's going to become a real
00:06:16 --> 00:06:17 possibility.
00:06:18 --> 00:06:20 >> Incredible. All right, story three.
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 >> And a bit of recent space history.
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 >> Story three takes us back to May 2024
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 and to Mars. You might remember that in
00:06:27 --> 00:06:30 May 2024, Earth was hit by the biggest
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 solar storm recorded in over 20 years.
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 Spectacular auroras were seen as far
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38 south as Mexico. I remember it well.
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 Half the world was posting aurora
00:06:40 --> 00:06:41 photos,
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 >> right? But that same storm also slammed
00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 into Mars. And thanks to ISA's two Mars
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 orbiters, Mars Express and ExoMars Trace
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 Gas Orbital, we now know in
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 unprecedented detail what that actually
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 looked like. A new paper published today
00:06:55 --> 00:06:56 in Nature Communications reveals the
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58 full picture.
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 >> So what happened to Mars?
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 >> In short, Mars got absolutely hammered.
00:07:02 --> 00:07:05 The storm sent fastmoving, energetic,
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07 magnetized plasma and X-rays flooding
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 towards the red planet. When this
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 barrage hit Mars' upper atmosphere, it
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 stripped electrons from neutral atoms,
00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 causing two distinct layers of the
00:07:15 --> 00:07:17 atmosphere to fill up with charged
00:07:17 --> 00:07:21 particles at altitudes of around 110 and
00:07:21 --> 00:07:22 130 km.
00:07:22 --> 00:07:25 >> How much of an effect are we talking?
00:07:25 --> 00:07:26 The electron density in those layers
00:07:26 --> 00:07:31 surged by 45% in one and a whopping 278%
00:07:31 --> 00:07:34 in the other. Lead author Jacob Parrot
00:07:34 --> 00:07:35 from issa described it as the biggest
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 response to a solar storm ever seen at
00:07:38 --> 00:07:39 Mars.
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41 >> And the orbiters themselves were
00:07:41 --> 00:07:42 affected too, right?
00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 >> They were. Both spacecraft suffered
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 computer errors from the energetic
00:07:47 --> 00:07:49 particles which is a known hazard of
00:07:49 --> 00:07:52 space weather. But crucially, both had
00:07:52 --> 00:07:54 been designed with radiation resistant
00:07:54 --> 00:07:57 components and error correction systems,
00:07:57 --> 00:08:00 so they recovered fast. And the timing
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 was incredibly fortunate. The
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 researchers were able to capture the
00:08:04 --> 00:08:06 aftermath of the storm using a technique
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 called radio occultation. Just 10
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 minutes after a large solar flare hit
00:08:11 --> 00:08:12 Mars.
00:08:12 --> 00:08:15 >> Radial occultation. For our listeners,
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 that's where one spacecraft beams a
00:08:17 --> 00:08:20 radio signal to another at precisely the
00:08:20 --> 00:08:22 moment it disappears over the planet's
00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 horizon. The signal gets bent by the
00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 atmosphere on the way, and scientists
00:08:27 --> 00:08:29 can read all sorts of information about
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 the atmospheric layers from the way it
00:08:31 --> 00:08:32 bends.
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 >> It's a technique that's been used for
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 decades here at Earth, but only recently
00:08:37 --> 00:08:38 has it been applied between two
00:08:38 --> 00:08:41 spacecraft at Mars. This was a perfect
00:08:41 --> 00:08:43 demonstration of how powerful it can be.
00:08:43 --> 00:08:45 And there's a broader significance here,
00:08:46 --> 00:08:48 isn't there? Mars has no global magnetic
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 field the way Earth does, which is why
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 the storm hits so much harder.
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 >> Exactly. On Earth, our magnetic field
00:08:56 --> 00:08:58 deflects a lot of the solar particles
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 and channels the rest toward the poles
00:09:00 --> 00:09:03 as auroras. Mars lost its magnetic field
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 billions of years ago, and that's almost
00:09:05 --> 00:09:08 certainly why it also lost most of its
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10 atmosphere and its liquid water over
00:09:10 --> 00:09:13 time. This study helps us understand
00:09:13 --> 00:09:15 that ongoing process and it has very
00:09:15 --> 00:09:17 practical implications for future crude
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 missions and radar operations on and
00:09:20 --> 00:09:21 around Mars.
00:09:22 --> 00:09:24 >> Really fascinating stuff.
00:09:24 --> 00:09:26 >> Okay, story four. And this one has a bit
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 more of an edge to it. So, this story
00:09:29 --> 00:09:31 starts with a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper
00:09:31 --> 00:09:35 stage that back in February 2025 failed
00:09:35 --> 00:09:38 to execute its planned de-orbit burn
00:09:38 --> 00:09:41 after delivering 22 Starlink satellites
00:09:41 --> 00:09:44 to orbit. It drifted uncontrolled for 18
00:09:44 --> 00:09:47 days before beginning an uncontrolled
00:09:47 --> 00:09:50 re-entry about 100 km off the west coast
00:09:50 --> 00:09:51 of Ireland.
00:09:51 --> 00:09:53 >> I remember this one. Some debris came
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56 down in Poland, which caused a fairly
00:09:56 --> 00:09:59 significant diplomatic incident. Poland
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 dismissed its head of space agency over
00:10:01 --> 00:10:03 the lack of communication about where
00:10:03 --> 00:10:05 the thing was going to land. Right. But
00:10:06 --> 00:10:07 now there's a new dimension to this
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 story. A paper just published in
00:10:10 --> 00:10:13 communications earth and environment by
00:10:13 --> 00:10:15 Robin Wing and her colleagues at the
00:10:15 --> 00:10:17 Libnitz Institute for Atmospheric
00:10:17 --> 00:10:20 Physics in Germany has for the first
00:10:20 --> 00:10:23 time ever directly tied a specific
00:10:23 --> 00:10:25 rocket re-entry to a measurable
00:10:25 --> 00:10:27 atmospheric pollution plume.
00:10:27 --> 00:10:29 >> How did they do that?
00:10:29 --> 00:10:31 >> They were operating a highly sensitive
00:10:31 --> 00:10:34 resonance fluoresence LAR system in
00:10:34 --> 00:10:37 Koulensbornne Germany. essentially a
00:10:37 --> 00:10:39 laserbased atmospheric monitoring
00:10:39 --> 00:10:41 instrument. They weren't specifically
00:10:41 --> 00:10:43 watching for the rocket. They were just
00:10:43 --> 00:10:45 doing their regular atmospheric
00:10:45 --> 00:10:47 observations. But right around midnight
00:10:47 --> 00:10:51 on the 20th of February 2025, just 20
00:10:51 --> 00:10:54 hours after the Falcon 9 came down, they
00:10:54 --> 00:10:57 detected a spike in lithium vapor levels
00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 in the upper atmosphere.
00:10:59 --> 00:11:01 >> Lithium, which is not something that
00:11:01 --> 00:11:03 should be up there in any quantity.
00:11:03 --> 00:11:05 Normally lithium in the upper atmosphere
00:11:05 --> 00:11:09 sits at about 3 atoms per cubic cm. They
00:11:09 --> 00:11:13 measured a spike to 31 atoms per cm at
00:11:13 --> 00:11:17 an altitude of between 94 and 97 km.
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 That's a tfold increase. And lithium is
00:11:20 --> 00:11:22 in the rocket because
00:11:22 --> 00:11:25 >> Falcon 9 upper stages carry an estimated
00:11:25 --> 00:11:28 30 kg of lithium in lithium ion
00:11:28 --> 00:11:31 batteries and in the aluminum lithium
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33 alloy that makes up the whole plating.
00:11:33 --> 00:11:36 Critically, that alloy starts melting at
00:11:36 --> 00:11:40 precisely 98.2 km altitude, which
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 matches exactly where the pollution
00:11:42 --> 00:11:44 cloud was detected.
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 >> That's a pretty compelling fingerprint.
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 But did they need to do more than just
00:11:48 --> 00:11:50 say, "Well, there's lithium up there and
00:11:50 --> 00:11:51 a rocket just fell down."
00:11:52 --> 00:11:55 >> They did. They ran 8 simulations of
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 backward wind trajectories from the LAR
00:11:57 --> 00:12:00 station in Germany all the way back to
00:12:00 --> 00:12:02 the re-entry point over Ireland. They
00:12:02 --> 00:12:05 checked every other possible source and
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07 everything pointed to the rocket. The
00:12:07 --> 00:12:08 case is solid.
00:12:08 --> 00:12:11 >> So, what are the implications? Is a
00:12:11 --> 00:12:13 lithium cloud in the upper atmosphere a
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 big deal? That's actually still an open
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 question and the researchers are honest
00:12:17 --> 00:12:19 about that. We don't yet fully
00:12:19 --> 00:12:22 understand the impact on atmospheric
00:12:22 --> 00:12:24 chemistry. But what this paper
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 represents is a first. It's the first
00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 time a specific re-entry event has been
00:12:29 --> 00:12:32 directly linked to a specific pollution
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 plume. And with the growth of mega
00:12:34 --> 00:12:37 constellations, hundreds and eventually
00:12:37 --> 00:12:39 thousands of satellites being launched
00:12:39 --> 00:12:41 and de-orbited, this is going to become
00:12:41 --> 00:12:44 an increasingly important area of study.
00:12:44 --> 00:12:45 >> And presumably, we need to start
00:12:46 --> 00:12:47 thinking about whether controlled
00:12:47 --> 00:12:50 re-entries can be designed to minimize
00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 this kind of chemical contamination.
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54 >> Exactly. That's the question the paper
00:12:54 --> 00:12:56 ends with. It's not alarmist. It's more
00:12:56 --> 00:12:59 of a we need to start measuring this
00:12:59 --> 00:13:01 properly moment, which this paper very
00:13:01 --> 00:13:04 much is. Good. Story five. Slightly
00:13:04 --> 00:13:05 lighter.
00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 >> It's mystery launch time.
00:13:07 --> 00:13:10 >> Okay. Story five. Rocket Lab launched an
00:13:10 --> 00:13:12 Electron rocket from its New Zealand
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 site yesterday evening local time,
00:13:14 --> 00:13:16 marking the company's 83rd launch to
00:13:16 --> 00:13:19 date. The mission is called Insight at
00:13:19 --> 00:13:21 Speed is a friend indeed, which is
00:13:22 --> 00:13:24 exactly the kind of cryptic mission name
00:13:24 --> 00:13:26 that drives people absolutely mad on the
00:13:26 --> 00:13:27 space forums.
00:13:27 --> 00:13:28 >> What do we know about it?
00:13:28 --> 00:13:30 >> Almost nothing, which is rather the
00:13:30 --> 00:13:33 point. Rocket Lab announced the launch
00:13:33 --> 00:13:35 just a few hours before liftoff, which
00:13:35 --> 00:13:38 is unusually short notice even for them.
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40 They confirmed it's a single satellite
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 for a confidential commercial customer
00:13:42 --> 00:13:46 deployed to an orbit about 470 km above
00:13:46 --> 00:13:47 Earth. That's it.
00:13:47 --> 00:13:50 >> The mission name is interesting though.
00:13:50 --> 00:13:52 Insight at Speed. That sounds like it
00:13:52 --> 00:13:54 could be an Earth observation or
00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 intelligence related payload. Fast
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 access to imagery. Maybe
00:13:58 --> 00:14:00 >> that's been the general speculation.
00:14:00 --> 00:14:03 Yes. small fast satellite for rapid
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 imaging. But Rocket Lab isn't saying
00:14:05 --> 00:14:07 anything beyond confidential commercial
00:14:07 --> 00:14:09 customer. And the customer isn't saying
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 anything either, which is of course
00:14:11 --> 00:14:12 they're right.
00:14:12 --> 00:14:14 >> Rocket Lab has carved out quite a niche
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 for exactly this kind of mission. Small
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 dedicated launches on relatively short
00:14:18 --> 00:14:20 notice for customers who want
00:14:20 --> 00:14:22 discretion. It's a good business to be
00:14:22 --> 00:14:23 in.
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 >> 83 launches in counting. They're doing
00:14:25 --> 00:14:27 just fine. Okay, last story. And I've
00:14:28 --> 00:14:29 been looking forward to this one all
00:14:29 --> 00:14:32 morning. That can only mean one thing.
00:14:32 --> 00:14:34 It's a food related story,
00:14:34 --> 00:14:36 >> right? Scientists at the University of
00:14:36 --> 00:14:39 Texas at Austin, working with Texas A&M
00:14:39 --> 00:14:41 have successfully grown and harvested
00:14:41 --> 00:14:44 chickpeas in simulated moon dirt
00:14:44 --> 00:14:46 published today in scientific reports.
00:14:46 --> 00:14:48 First time it's ever been done.
00:14:48 --> 00:14:50 >> Okay, tell me everything.
00:14:50 --> 00:14:53 >> So, the challenge with lunar regalith,
00:14:53 --> 00:14:54 which is the technical name for moon
00:14:54 --> 00:14:57 dirt, is that it is spectacularly
00:14:57 --> 00:14:59 hostile to plant life. It's fine as
00:14:59 --> 00:15:02 talcum powder. It's abrasive and clingy.
00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 It has no organic material whatsoever,
00:15:05 --> 00:15:07 no microbes, and it contains toxic heavy
00:15:08 --> 00:15:10 metals like aluminum, copper, and zinc.
00:15:10 --> 00:15:12 Previous attempts to grow plants in
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 actual Apollo lunar samples resulted in
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17 stressed, stunted plants that absorbed
00:15:18 --> 00:15:19 dangerous levels of metals.
00:15:19 --> 00:15:22 >> So, how did the Texas team crack it?
00:15:22 --> 00:15:25 >> Two ingredients. First, vermic compost,
00:15:25 --> 00:15:27 which is essentially worm castings. Red
00:15:27 --> 00:15:30 Wigler earthworms were fed food scraps
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 and cotton waste, the kind of organic
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 material that would naturally accumulate
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 on a long lunar mission anyway. And
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 their output provided a rich microbially
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 diverse soil amendment that could be
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 mixed with the regalith simulant.
00:15:43 --> 00:15:45 >> Okay, so worm poo. Got it
00:15:45 --> 00:15:48 >> precisely. Second ingredient are
00:15:48 --> 00:15:51 buscular microisal fungi AMF which were
00:15:51 --> 00:15:53 used to coat the chickpea seeds before
00:15:53 --> 00:15:56 planting. These fungi are remarkable.
00:15:56 --> 00:15:58 They extend into the soil like a
00:15:58 --> 00:16:00 secondary root system, improving
00:16:00 --> 00:16:02 nutrient uptake while simultaneously
00:16:02 --> 00:16:05 helping to sequester heavy metals away
00:16:05 --> 00:16:07 from the plant. They also produce
00:16:07 --> 00:16:09 proteins that bind loose regalith
00:16:09 --> 00:16:11 particles together, making the stuff
00:16:11 --> 00:16:13 behave more like actual soil.
00:16:13 --> 00:16:14 >> And it worked.
00:16:14 --> 00:16:18 >> It worked with caveats. Mixtures of up
00:16:18 --> 00:16:20 to 75% regulative simulant could
00:16:20 --> 00:16:22 successfully produce flowering
00:16:22 --> 00:16:26 seedbearing plants. go above 75% and the
00:16:26 --> 00:16:28 plants started showing serious stress
00:16:28 --> 00:16:31 and dying early. And across the board,
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 the regalith plants produced fewer seeds
00:16:33 --> 00:16:35 than the control plants grown in
00:16:35 --> 00:16:37 ordinary earth soil, though the
00:16:37 --> 00:16:40 individual seeds that did grow were
00:16:40 --> 00:16:42 comparable in size and weight.
00:16:42 --> 00:16:44 >> Can they eat them?
00:16:44 --> 00:16:46 >> Not yet. The chickpeas are currently
00:16:46 --> 00:16:49 being tested for metal accumulation.
00:16:49 --> 00:16:51 They need to make sure no dangerous
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53 levels of aluminum or other heavy metals
00:16:53 --> 00:16:55 made it into the seeds before anyone
00:16:55 --> 00:16:58 takes a bite. The lead researcher,
00:16:58 --> 00:17:01 Jessica Atkin, said, and I love this,
00:17:01 --> 00:17:04 "Before anyone makes moon hummus, we
00:17:04 --> 00:17:06 need to confirm they are safe and
00:17:06 --> 00:17:08 nutritious." She has also promised to be
00:17:08 --> 00:17:11 the first one to make moon hummus if
00:17:11 --> 00:17:12 they pass.
00:17:12 --> 00:17:15 >> That is a fantastic quote, and I love
00:17:15 --> 00:17:17 that she played Bad Moon Rising to
00:17:17 --> 00:17:19 encourage the plants in the lab. She
00:17:19 --> 00:17:21 hung a poster of chickpeas growing on
00:17:21 --> 00:17:22 the moon above the growth chamber as
00:17:22 --> 00:17:25 well. Kind of silly, but something to
00:17:25 --> 00:17:28 aim for. This is the energy we want in
00:17:28 --> 00:17:29 space science.
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 >> So, what's the bigger picture here? This
00:17:31 --> 00:17:34 isn't just about hummus, I assume.
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 >> No. Although the hummus angle is doing a
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 lot of heavy lifting for the press
00:17:38 --> 00:17:41 coverage, the real significance is this.
00:17:41 --> 00:17:43 As we plan for long-term human presence
00:17:44 --> 00:17:45 on the moon through the Aremis program
00:17:46 --> 00:17:48 and beyond, food sustainability is a
00:17:48 --> 00:17:51 genuine challenge. You cannot shuttle
00:17:51 --> 00:17:53 all the food you need from Earth to a
00:17:53 --> 00:17:55 lunar base indefinitely. The cost is
00:17:55 --> 00:17:58 prohibitive. So being able to grow crops
00:17:58 --> 00:18:01 from local resources, converting sterile
00:18:01 --> 00:18:04 regalith into living soil using biology
00:18:04 --> 00:18:06 that future astronauts could actually
00:18:06 --> 00:18:08 bring with them and maintain is a
00:18:08 --> 00:18:10 crucial piece of the puzzle. And
00:18:10 --> 00:18:12 chickpeas specifically are a great
00:18:12 --> 00:18:14 choice for this, right? High protein,
00:18:14 --> 00:18:16 resilient plant.
00:18:16 --> 00:18:19 >> Exactly. High protein, nitrogen fixing.
00:18:19 --> 00:18:21 They actually put nutrients back into
00:18:21 --> 00:18:24 the soil as they grow and relatively
00:18:24 --> 00:18:26 hardy. The team is now exploring whether
00:18:26 --> 00:18:28 seeds from the moon grown chickpeas can
00:18:28 --> 00:18:31 grow a second generation and what the
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 nutritional profile of the harvest looks
00:18:33 --> 00:18:36 like. It's early days, but Sarah Santos,
00:18:36 --> 00:18:38 the principal investigator, summed it up
00:18:38 --> 00:18:41 well. This is a small first step toward
00:18:41 --> 00:18:43 growing crops on the moon, but we have
00:18:43 --> 00:18:45 shown this is feasible and we are moving
00:18:46 --> 00:18:47 in the right direction.
00:18:47 --> 00:18:50 >> Moon hummus coming to a lunar outpost
00:18:50 --> 00:18:52 near you eventually.
00:18:52 --> 00:18:54 >> I will be first in line
00:18:54 --> 00:18:57 >> and that's your astronomy daily for
00:18:57 --> 00:19:01 Friday the 6th of March 2026. I'm Anna
00:19:01 --> 00:19:03 >> and I'm Avery. Thanks so much for
00:19:03 --> 00:19:05 listening, space fans. If you enjoyed
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00:19:24 --> 00:19:26 universe's greatest hits. Until then,
00:19:26 --> 00:19:28 keep looking up.
00:19:28 --> 00:19:32 >> Clear skies, everyone.
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