00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily,
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 your daily briefing from the cosmos. I'm
00:00:05 --> 00:00:06 Anna.
00:00:06 --> 00:00:08 >> And I'm Avery. It is Saturday, February
00:00:08 --> 00:00:11 28th, 2026, and we are back with season
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 5, episode 51.
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 >> A slightly later start to our day than
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 usual, Avery, but the universe has been
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 very much keeping normal business hours
00:00:21 --> 00:00:22 on our behalf.
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 >> It absolutely has. Six stories today.
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 And honestly, what a six. We've got a
00:00:27 --> 00:00:30 major shakeup at NASA headquarters, a
00:00:30 --> 00:00:31 serious headache for the Pentagon's
00:00:32 --> 00:00:33 launch calendar, one of the most
00:00:34 --> 00:00:36 mind-bending objects ever discovered in
00:00:36 --> 00:00:38 the deep universe, a rather unsettling
00:00:38 --> 00:00:41 experiment about Martian soil, a genuine
00:00:42 --> 00:00:43 breakthrough in how we might breathe on
00:00:43 --> 00:00:45 the moon, and a piece of galactic
00:00:45 --> 00:00:47 archaeology that is rewriting the
00:00:47 --> 00:00:49 history of our home galaxy.
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 >> If you are anywhere near a clear western
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 horizon tonight, we've also got a little
00:00:54 --> 00:00:57 cosmic bonus for you. Six planets lined
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 up in the evening sky. More on that as
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 we go. But first, let's get into the
00:01:01 --> 00:01:02 news.
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 >> Our lead story today is a big one, and
00:01:04 --> 00:01:05 it has been the talk of the space
00:01:05 --> 00:01:08 community since Friday afternoon. NASA
00:01:08 --> 00:01:10 administrator Jared Isacman has
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12 announced a major restructuring of the
00:01:12 --> 00:01:15 Aremis program. And when I say major, I
00:01:15 --> 00:01:17 mean this is the most significant
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 overhaul since the program was first
00:01:19 --> 00:01:20 established.
00:01:20 --> 00:01:21 >> So, let's break this down because
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 there's quite a bit to unpack. The
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 headline is this. Artemis 3, which was
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 supposed to be the first crude lunar
00:01:28 --> 00:01:31 landing in more than 50 years, is no
00:01:31 --> 00:01:34 longer going to the moon. At least not
00:01:34 --> 00:01:34 yet.
00:01:34 --> 00:01:36 >> That's right. Instead of landing on the
00:01:36 --> 00:01:39 lunar south pole in 2028 as originally
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 planned, Artemis 3 has been redesigned
00:01:42 --> 00:01:45 as a low Earth orbit test flight
00:01:45 --> 00:01:48 targeting launch in 2027. The crew will
00:01:48 --> 00:01:51 rendevous and dock in orbit with one or
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 both of the commercial lunar landers,
00:01:53 --> 00:01:56 SpaceX's Starship human landing system
00:01:56 --> 00:01:59 and Blue Origins Blue Moon and run a
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 full suite of tests. Space suits and
00:02:02 --> 00:02:04 microgravity, life support checks,
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 navigation, propulsion, everything you
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 would want to have verified before you
00:02:09 --> 00:02:10 actually depend on those systems to
00:02:10 --> 00:02:12 bring people back from the surface of
00:02:12 --> 00:02:15 the moon. Isaacman drew a very
00:02:15 --> 00:02:16 deliberate comparison to the Apollo
00:02:16 --> 00:02:19 program. He pointed out that NASA didn't
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21 go from Apollo 8, which was the first
00:02:21 --> 00:02:23 crude flight around the moon, straight
00:02:23 --> 00:02:26 to the landing. Apollo 9 and 10 tested
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 all the critical hardware in Earth and
00:02:28 --> 00:02:31 lunar orbit first. His argument is that
00:02:31 --> 00:02:34 Artemis, as currently structured, was
00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 essentially skipping those steps. And
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 that concern was echoed just days
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 earlier by the NASA Independent
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, which
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 released its annual report calling the
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 existing plans too risky and
00:02:47 --> 00:02:49 recommending a restructure. So this
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 wasn't a shock in some quarters, but the
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 scale of the changes still caught a lot
00:02:54 --> 00:02:55 of people by surprise.
00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 >> The block 1B upgrade to the space launch
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 system has also been scrapped. NASA is
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 standardizing the vehicle configuration
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 to reduce complexity and accelerate the
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 launch cadence because that is really
00:03:07 --> 00:03:10 the overarching goal here. Moving from a
00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 program that has launched the SLS once
00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 every few years to one that aims for a
00:03:15 --> 00:03:17 flight every 10 months or so,
00:03:17 --> 00:03:19 >> which is genuinely ambitious. The SLS
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 has launched exactly once. Isacman
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 himself has been quite candid about
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 that, noting that a flight rate that low
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29 is simply not sustainable and not safe.
00:03:30 --> 00:03:31 His view is that the more frequently you
00:03:32 --> 00:03:34 fly, the sharper your team stay, the
00:03:34 --> 00:03:36 less your skills atrophy, and the safer
00:03:36 --> 00:03:38 each subsequent mission becomes.
00:03:38 --> 00:03:41 >> The revised plan targets Aremis 4 and 5
00:03:41 --> 00:03:44 for lunar landings in 2028, with at
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 least one surface landing per year
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 thereafter. One thing that was
00:03:48 --> 00:03:50 conspicuously absent from the
00:03:50 --> 00:03:52 announcement though, any mention of the
00:03:52 --> 00:03:54 lunar gateway space station, which had
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 been central to earlier Artemis
00:03:56 --> 00:03:57 planning.
00:03:57 --> 00:03:58 >> Isaacman deflected questions about
00:03:58 --> 00:04:00 gateway, saying the focus needed to stay
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 on what he called the hardest part,
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 actually getting astronauts to and from
00:04:05 --> 00:04:07 the moon with a reliable cadence. Make
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 of that what you will.
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 >> And Artemis 2 itself, that's the crude
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 flight around the moon. No landing.
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 That's been in preparation at Kennedy
00:04:16 --> 00:04:19 Space Center. It's currently targeting
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 no earlier than April 1st after rolling
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 back to the vehicle assembly building on
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 February 25th to address a helium
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 pressurization issue in the upper stage.
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 Engineers are working through it. The
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 goal is a successful wet dress rehearsal
00:04:35 --> 00:04:37 before a launch date is confirmed.
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 >> So, a lot of moving parts, but the
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 direction of travel seems clear. Apollo
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 style step-by-step buildup, faster
00:04:44 --> 00:04:47 cadence, leaner vehicle configuration.
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 We will be keeping a very close eye on
00:04:49 --> 00:04:51 how this unfolds over the coming months.
00:04:51 --> 00:04:54 >> Now, staying in launch industry news,
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 and this one is going to cause some
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 significant headaches for the United
00:04:58 --> 00:05:00 States military's space launch program
00:05:00 --> 00:05:03 this year, the US Space Force has placed
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 an indefinite hold on all national
00:05:05 --> 00:05:09 security launches aboard ULA's Vulcan
00:05:09 --> 00:05:11 Centaur rocket. This follows an anomaly
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 observed during the USSF87 mission which
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 launched on February 12th. That was
00:05:17 --> 00:05:19 Vulcan's fourth flight overall and it
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 was carrying a pair of geocynchronous
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 space situational awareness satellites,
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 essentially neighborhood watch
00:05:25 --> 00:05:27 satellites for the military, keeping
00:05:27 --> 00:05:28 tabs on what's happening in
00:05:28 --> 00:05:29 geocynchronous orbit.
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 >> The mission itself was technically
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 successful. The payloads were delivered
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37 to their correct orbits, but observers
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 watching the launch footage noticed
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 something very unwelcome. An unusual
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 plume of debris from one of the solid
00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 rocket boosters. And specifically, it
00:05:46 --> 00:05:49 appeared that a booster nozzle may have
00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 separated during ascent, which will
00:05:51 --> 00:05:52 sound familiar to anyone following
00:05:52 --> 00:05:55 Vulcan closely because essentially the
00:05:55 --> 00:05:56 same thing happened on the rocket's
00:05:56 --> 00:05:58 second certification flight back in
00:05:58 --> 00:06:01 October 2024. ULA investigated said the
00:06:01 --> 00:06:04 root cause was a manufacturing defect
00:06:04 --> 00:06:06 and said it had been corrected and now
00:06:06 --> 00:06:08 it appears to have happened again.
00:06:08 --> 00:06:11 >> Colonel Eric Zarabniski, the Space
00:06:11 --> 00:06:13 Force's portfolio acquisition executive
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 for Assured Access to Space, was very
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 direct at the Air and Space Forces
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 Association warfare symposium this week.
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 He said, and I'm paraphrasing here, that
00:06:24 --> 00:06:27 until the anomaly is fully understood
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 and corrective actions are developed and
00:06:30 --> 00:06:32 implemented, there will be no more
00:06:32 --> 00:06:34 Vulcan national security missions.
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 >> The scale of the problem is hard to
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 overstate. Vulcan is manifested for more
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 than a dozen national security launches
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 this year. Nearly its entire 2026
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 manifest is military. With an
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 investigation that could run for months,
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 this could seriously disrupt the
00:06:50 --> 00:06:52 Pentagon's launch schedule. And it comes
00:06:52 --> 00:06:54 at a particularly challenging time for
00:06:54 --> 00:06:56 ULA, which recently saw the departure of
00:06:56 --> 00:07:00 longtime CEO Tory Bruno. ULA and
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 Northrep Grumman, who make the solid
00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 rocket boosters, have confirmed they are
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 standing up a joint investigation team.
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 No timeline has been given for
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 resolution. We'll be watching this one
00:07:11 --> 00:07:12 closely.
00:07:12 --> 00:07:15 >> Right time to zoom out. Way, way out. 11
00:07:15 --> 00:07:17 billion lighty years out in fact because
00:07:18 --> 00:07:19 astronomers have just announced a
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 discovery of what might be the most
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 extraordinary object in the early
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 universe and it has a story attached to
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 it that is quite wonderful.
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 >> So this discovery involves something
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 called a protocluster which is
00:07:32 --> 00:07:34 essentially a galaxy cluster in the
00:07:34 --> 00:07:37 process of being assembled. These are
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 the primordial cities of the universe
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41 where gravity is busy pulling together
00:07:41 --> 00:07:43 what will eventually become some of the
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 most massive structures in existence.
00:07:46 --> 00:07:49 And the object in question is called
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51 J0846.
00:07:51 --> 00:07:53 Now the reason they were able to see
00:07:53 --> 00:07:57 J846 in such extraordinary detail is
00:07:57 --> 00:07:58 because of a cosmic accident of
00:07:58 --> 00:08:01 alignment. Sitting almost perfectly
00:08:01 --> 00:08:04 between us and J0846 is a closer galaxy
00:08:04 --> 00:08:06 cluster. And the immense mass of that
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 foreground galaxy cluster is acting as a
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 gravitational lens, bending and
00:08:11 --> 00:08:13 amplifying the light from the distant
00:08:13 --> 00:08:15 protocluster behind it, making it appear
00:08:16 --> 00:08:17 far brighter and larger than it
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 otherwise would. It's the universe
00:08:19 --> 00:08:21 providing us with a zoom lens that no
00:08:21 --> 00:08:24 human engineer could ever build. And
00:08:24 --> 00:08:26 when astronomers pointed the very large
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 array radio telescope in New Mexico and
00:08:29 --> 00:08:32 the Alma telescope in the Chilean
00:08:32 --> 00:08:35 Otakama Desert at this magnified view,
00:08:35 --> 00:08:38 what they found was stunning. What had
00:08:38 --> 00:08:40 previously looked like a single smudge
00:08:40 --> 00:08:43 of light in older survey data, turned
00:08:43 --> 00:08:46 out to be at least 11 separate galaxies,
00:08:46 --> 00:08:49 all crammed into a region of space,
00:08:49 --> 00:08:51 smaller than the distance between our
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 own Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy
00:08:54 --> 00:08:55 next door.
00:08:55 --> 00:08:59 >> 11 galaxies in a space that tight. And
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 every single one of them is undergoing a
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 starburst, pumping out new stars at a
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 rate that would make our own galaxy look
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 thoroughly lazy by comparison. They are
00:09:08 --> 00:09:11 building stars at a ferocious, almost
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 frenzied pace. The reason we couldn't
00:09:13 --> 00:09:16 see them in ordinary optical telescopes
00:09:16 --> 00:09:18 is that they are absolutely shrouded in
00:09:18 --> 00:09:21 dust. Dust that absorbs visible light
00:09:22 --> 00:09:24 completely. ALMA's ability to detect the
00:09:24 --> 00:09:27 faint thermal glow of cold, dust, and
00:09:27 --> 00:09:30 gas is what cuts through that cosmic fog
00:09:30 --> 00:09:33 and reveals what's actually happening in
00:09:33 --> 00:09:36 there. Lead researcher Nicholas Fu, a
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 graduate student at Arizona State
00:09:38 --> 00:09:40 University, described the whole scenario
00:09:40 --> 00:09:43 beautifully. The foreground cluster is
00:09:43 --> 00:09:46 the mature modern city. The protocluster
00:09:46 --> 00:09:49 behind it is the ancient settlement it
00:09:49 --> 00:09:51 grew from. And by looking back more than
00:09:51 --> 00:09:54 11 billion years, we are essentially
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56 catching a galaxy cluster in the very
00:09:56 --> 00:09:59 first chapter of its life. It's also the
00:09:59 --> 00:10:02 first strongly lensed protocluster core
00:10:02 --> 00:10:04 ever discovered, which makes it
00:10:04 --> 00:10:07 scientifically invaluable. Gravitational
00:10:07 --> 00:10:10 lensing is giving us a level of detail
00:10:10 --> 00:10:12 we simply could not access any other
00:10:12 --> 00:10:15 way. Nature, it turns out, is a pretty
00:10:15 --> 00:10:18 outstanding telescope builder. Now, if
00:10:18 --> 00:10:19 you've been thinking about how future
00:10:19 --> 00:10:21 Mars explorers will feed themselves,
00:10:21 --> 00:10:24 grow plants, or avoid contaminating the
00:10:24 --> 00:10:27 red planet, this next story is directly
00:10:27 --> 00:10:29 relevant. And it involves one of our
00:10:29 --> 00:10:31 favorite microscopic creatures, the
00:10:31 --> 00:10:34 tardigrade, otherwise known as the water
00:10:34 --> 00:10:36 bear. And if you've heard of them
00:10:36 --> 00:10:38 before, you'll know they are essentially
00:10:38 --> 00:10:41 the toughest animals on Earth, surviving
00:10:41 --> 00:10:43 freezing, radiation, the vacuum of
00:10:43 --> 00:10:47 space, extreme dehydration. They are
00:10:47 --> 00:10:48 extraordinary.
00:10:48 --> 00:10:50 >> A research team led by microbiologist
00:10:50 --> 00:10:53 Coran Bakerman's at Penn State Eltona
00:10:53 --> 00:10:56 has been using tardigrades as biological
00:10:56 --> 00:10:58 proxies. Essentially asking the
00:10:58 --> 00:11:00 question, what the simulated Martian
00:11:00 --> 00:11:03 soil actually do to Earth microbes?
00:11:03 --> 00:11:05 Because this matters enormously both for
00:11:06 --> 00:11:08 planetary protection, making sure we
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 don't contaminate Mars with Earth life,
00:11:10 --> 00:11:12 and for understanding whether astronauts
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 could safely use Martian soil for
00:11:14 --> 00:11:17 growing food. And the results published
00:11:17 --> 00:11:18 in the International Journal of
00:11:18 --> 00:11:21 Astrobiology were surprising when
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 tardigrades were placed into simulated
00:11:24 --> 00:11:26 Martian regalith and they used a
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28 simulant designed to closely match what
00:11:28 --> 00:11:31 NASA's Curiosity rover has sampled in
00:11:31 --> 00:11:34 Gale Crater. Their activity dropped
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 significantly. These creatures, which
00:11:36 --> 00:11:39 can survive almost anything, were being
00:11:39 --> 00:11:42 suppressed by the Martian soil itself,
00:11:42 --> 00:11:44 >> which is a remarkable finding on its
00:11:44 --> 00:11:45 own. But then they tried something
00:11:45 --> 00:11:48 clever. They rinsed the regalith with
00:11:48 --> 00:11:50 water before introducing the tardigrades
00:11:50 --> 00:11:53 and that almost entirely removed the
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 harmful effect. The tardigrades were
00:11:55 --> 00:11:58 back to nearly normal activity levels.
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 >> So whatever is doing the damage in
00:12:00 --> 00:12:03 Martian soil is water soluble. The team
00:12:03 --> 00:12:06 suspects salts or some other water
00:12:06 --> 00:12:08 soluble compound possibly related to
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 perchlorates that have been detected in
00:12:10 --> 00:12:13 Martian regalith by previous missions.
00:12:13 --> 00:12:14 They're still investigating this
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 specific culprit.
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 >> Now, there are two very interesting
00:12:18 --> 00:12:20 things to take from this. First, Martian
00:12:20 --> 00:12:23 soil might naturally act as a kind of
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 chemical defense against Earth microbes,
00:12:25 --> 00:12:27 which could be genuinely helpful from a
00:12:27 --> 00:12:29 planetary protection standpoint.
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 Microbes hitching a ride on spacecraft
00:12:31 --> 00:12:33 or equipment might struggle to establish
00:12:34 --> 00:12:35 themselves in an environment that is
00:12:35 --> 00:12:38 actively hostile to them. Second, and
00:12:38 --> 00:12:40 this is the hopeful angle, if the
00:12:40 --> 00:12:43 harmful compounds can simply be washed
00:12:43 --> 00:12:46 away with water, that opens a potential
00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 pathway for treating the soil to make it
00:12:49 --> 00:12:51 usable for plant growth in future Mars
00:12:51 --> 00:12:55 habitats. Water is incredibly scarce on
00:12:55 --> 00:12:57 Mars, of course, so it's not a simple
00:12:57 --> 00:13:00 solution, but it is a lead worth
00:13:00 --> 00:13:01 pursuing.
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 >> Professor Bakerman summed it up well.
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 When we send people to non-earth
00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 environments, we need to understand two
00:13:07 --> 00:13:09 things. How the environment will impact
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 the people and how the people will
00:13:11 --> 00:13:13 impact the environment. This research is
00:13:14 --> 00:13:16 pushing both of those questions forward.
00:13:16 --> 00:13:18 And now, a story that connects
00:13:18 --> 00:13:20 beautifully with our lead story today,
00:13:20 --> 00:13:23 because NASA this week also confirmed a
00:13:24 --> 00:13:26 significant milestone in one of the
00:13:26 --> 00:13:28 technologies that will be absolutely
00:13:28 --> 00:13:31 essential if the revamped Aremis program
00:13:31 --> 00:13:34 is ever going to achieve that dream of a
00:13:34 --> 00:13:36 permanent human presence on the moon.
00:13:36 --> 00:13:39 We're talking about insitu resource
00:13:39 --> 00:13:42 utilization, ISRU, which is the umbrella
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 term for the idea of using what's
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 already available at your destination
00:13:46 --> 00:13:48 rather than shipping everything from
00:13:48 --> 00:13:50 Earth. And specifically, we're talking
00:13:50 --> 00:13:53 about oxygen. Because here's a fact that
00:13:53 --> 00:13:56 should stop you in your tracks. Lunar
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 regalith, the loose rock and dust
00:13:58 --> 00:14:01 covering the moon's surface, is
00:14:01 --> 00:14:05 approximately 45% oxygen by mass. The
00:14:05 --> 00:14:07 vast majority of it locked up in silicut
00:14:07 --> 00:14:10 minerals deposited over billions of
00:14:10 --> 00:14:12 years as the moon passes through Earth's
00:14:12 --> 00:14:15 magnetic tail, capturing oxygen ions
00:14:16 --> 00:14:19 from our upper atmosphere. 45% oxygen
00:14:19 --> 00:14:21 just sitting there waiting to be
00:14:21 --> 00:14:22 unlocked.
00:14:22 --> 00:14:25 >> NASA's carbo reduction demonstration
00:14:25 --> 00:14:28 project, CARD, has been working on doing
00:14:28 --> 00:14:30 exactly that aboard the International
00:14:30 --> 00:14:32 Space Station. The technique uses
00:14:32 --> 00:14:35 concentrated solar energy to heat the
00:14:35 --> 00:14:37 regalith to extreme temperatures,
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 triggering a chemical reaction that
00:14:39 --> 00:14:41 releases that bound oxygen as carbon
00:14:41 --> 00:14:44 monoxide gas. That CO can then be
00:14:44 --> 00:14:46 converted downstream into breathable
00:14:46 --> 00:14:49 oxygen. And this week, the card team
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 confirmed that their integrated
00:14:51 --> 00:14:54 prototype combining a carbothermal
00:14:54 --> 00:14:56 oxygen production reactor from Sierra
00:14:56 --> 00:14:59 Space, a solar concentrator from NASA's
00:14:59 --> 00:15:02 Glenn Research Center, precision mirrors
00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 from composite mirror applications, and
00:15:05 --> 00:15:07 avionics and gas analysis systems from
00:15:07 --> 00:15:10 Kennedy Space Center have successfully
00:15:10 --> 00:15:12 passed a full integrated test,
00:15:12 --> 00:15:15 confirming production of carbon monoxide
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17 through a solardriven chemical. chemical
00:15:17 --> 00:15:20 reaction on simulated lunar regulith.
00:15:20 --> 00:15:23 >> That is a meaningful step, not a demo,
00:15:23 --> 00:15:26 not a simulation, an actual integrated
00:15:26 --> 00:15:28 system test confirming the chemistry
00:15:28 --> 00:15:30 works. The next steps are
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 miniaturaturization, durability testing,
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 and ultimately deploying something like
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 this on the lunar surface.
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 >> And the applications go beyond just
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 breathing air. The same process could be
00:15:41 --> 00:15:44 adapted to convert carbon dioxide into
00:15:44 --> 00:15:47 oxygen and methane, giving future moon
00:15:47 --> 00:15:50 bases a way to produce rocket propellant
00:15:50 --> 00:15:53 in situ, which dramatically changes the
00:15:53 --> 00:15:55 economics of the whole enterprise. You
00:15:55 --> 00:15:57 no longer need to ship fuel from Earth
00:15:57 --> 00:15:59 for the journey home.
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 >> The technology also has direct
00:16:01 --> 00:16:03 applicability to Mars. A solar-driven
00:16:03 --> 00:16:05 oxygen extraction system working on
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 Martian regalith would be a cornerstone
00:16:08 --> 00:16:10 of any long-term surface presence there,
00:16:10 --> 00:16:13 too. So, it's worth connecting the dots.
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 This week, NASA announced it wants
00:16:15 --> 00:16:18 annual moon landings from 2028. And this
00:16:18 --> 00:16:20 week, NASA confirmed a key piece of
00:16:20 --> 00:16:22 technology that would make staying there
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 actually viable. These stories belong
00:16:24 --> 00:16:25 together.
00:16:25 --> 00:16:28 >> Well spotted, Avery. Nicely joined up.
00:16:28 --> 00:16:30 >> And for our final story today, we're
00:16:30 --> 00:16:32 heading home. or rather we're heading
00:16:32 --> 00:16:35 back to the very beginning of home
00:16:35 --> 00:16:37 because a new study has just rewritten
00:16:37 --> 00:16:39 what we thought we knew about how our
00:16:39 --> 00:16:41 own galaxy formed.
00:16:41 --> 00:16:43 >> This research centers on a type of star
00:16:43 --> 00:16:47 called an RR Lyra variable. These are
00:16:47 --> 00:16:50 ancient pulsating stars. They swell and
00:16:50 --> 00:16:53 shrink over the course of just a few
00:16:53 --> 00:16:55 hours, brightening and dimming like a
00:16:55 --> 00:16:59 slow cosmic heartbeat. What makes them
00:16:59 --> 00:17:01 extraordinary as scientific tools is
00:17:01 --> 00:17:04 that they are almost eerily predictable.
00:17:04 --> 00:17:07 Astronomers know precisely how
00:17:07 --> 00:17:09 intrinsically bright they are, which
00:17:09 --> 00:17:11 means that by measuring how bright they
00:17:11 --> 00:17:13 appear in the sky, you can calculate
00:17:13 --> 00:17:16 their distance with great precision.
00:17:16 --> 00:17:19 >> They are in the truest sense cosmic
00:17:19 --> 00:17:21 lighouses, standard candles for
00:17:21 --> 00:17:23 measuring the universe. And crucially,
00:17:23 --> 00:17:26 they are old. Not millions of years old,
00:17:26 --> 00:17:30 billions, more than 10 billion years.
00:17:30 --> 00:17:32 These stars were forming when the Milky
00:17:32 --> 00:17:35 Way itself was still taking shape in the
00:17:35 --> 00:17:37 chaotic early universe shortly after the
00:17:37 --> 00:17:39 Big Bang. They are essentially living
00:17:39 --> 00:17:43 fossils. A large international team of
00:17:43 --> 00:17:45 astronomers assembled the biggest
00:17:45 --> 00:17:48 catalog of these ancient stellar fossils
00:17:48 --> 00:17:51 ever compiled. thousands of them.
00:17:51 --> 00:17:53 Combining precise distance measurements
00:17:53 --> 00:17:56 with data from the European Space Ay's
00:17:56 --> 00:17:58 Gaia satellite, which has mapped the
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 positions and movements of over a
00:18:00 --> 00:18:03 billion stars across the galaxy.
00:18:03 --> 00:18:05 Together, this gave them a
00:18:05 --> 00:18:08 threedimensional map of the early Milky
00:18:08 --> 00:18:10 Way that they could essentially rewind
00:18:10 --> 00:18:13 like a film, tracing these ancient stars
00:18:13 --> 00:18:15 back to where they came from and how
00:18:16 --> 00:18:17 they were moving in the galaxy's
00:18:17 --> 00:18:20 formative years. And what they found
00:18:20 --> 00:18:22 challenged the longheld assumption. The
00:18:22 --> 00:18:24 conventional picture was that the Milky
00:18:24 --> 00:18:27 Way's different structural layers, the
00:18:27 --> 00:18:29 outer halo, the thick disc, the thin
00:18:29 --> 00:18:31 disc, formed at different times,
00:18:31 --> 00:18:34 sequentially, one building on the last.
00:18:34 --> 00:18:36 The halo first, then the thick disc,
00:18:36 --> 00:18:38 then the thin disc.
00:18:38 --> 00:18:40 >> But the new results suggest that all of
00:18:40 --> 00:18:43 these layers formed at roughly the same
00:18:43 --> 00:18:46 early epoch. not sequentially,
00:18:46 --> 00:18:49 simultaneously, or close to it. The main
00:18:49 --> 00:18:52 difference between the layers isn't age,
00:18:52 --> 00:18:55 it's chemistry. Stars in the halo
00:18:55 --> 00:18:57 contain less iron than those in the
00:18:57 --> 00:18:59 thick disc, which in turn contain less
00:19:00 --> 00:19:02 than the thin disc. Each successive
00:19:02 --> 00:19:04 layer was enriched by the deaths of
00:19:04 --> 00:19:07 previous stellar generations, a kind of
00:19:07 --> 00:19:10 celestial inheritance passed down
00:19:10 --> 00:19:12 through supernova. The iron content
00:19:12 --> 00:19:15 tells the story of the order, not the
00:19:15 --> 00:19:16 ages themselves.
00:19:16 --> 00:19:19 >> And perhaps the most striking finding
00:19:19 --> 00:19:21 involves our nearest galactic neighbor,
00:19:21 --> 00:19:23 the Andromeda galaxy. When the team
00:19:23 --> 00:19:25 compared the chemical fingerprints of
00:19:25 --> 00:19:27 these ancient stars across the Milky Way
00:19:28 --> 00:19:30 with those in Andromeda, they found
00:19:30 --> 00:19:32 strikingly similar patterns despite the
00:19:32 --> 00:19:35 two galaxies being very different in
00:19:35 --> 00:19:37 size and structure, which suggests this
00:19:37 --> 00:19:40 isn't just a local story. It may be a
00:19:40 --> 00:19:42 universal mechanism by which large
00:19:42 --> 00:19:43 galaxies form.
00:19:43 --> 00:19:46 >> The idea that galaxies as different as
00:19:46 --> 00:19:49 the Milky Way and Andromeda went through
00:19:49 --> 00:19:51 the same fundamental process of
00:19:51 --> 00:19:53 formation written in the chemistry of
00:19:53 --> 00:19:56 their oldest stars. That is a genuinely
00:19:56 --> 00:19:59 profound result. The lactic archaeology
00:19:59 --> 00:20:01 at its finest.
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03 >> And with 10 billiony old stars doing the
00:20:03 --> 00:20:05 storytelling, you really can't argue
00:20:05 --> 00:20:06 with the witnesses.
00:20:06 --> 00:20:09 >> Right. Before we close out today, a
00:20:09 --> 00:20:11 quick reminder for anyone listening this
00:20:11 --> 00:20:13 evening. Tonight is the peak of
00:20:13 --> 00:20:16 February's six planet parade. If you
00:20:16 --> 00:20:18 step outside about 30 minutes after
00:20:18 --> 00:20:20 sunset and look west, you should be able
00:20:20 --> 00:20:23 to spot Venus blindingly bright. You
00:20:23 --> 00:20:26 really can't miss it. Along with Jupiter
00:20:26 --> 00:20:29 high in the sky and Saturn low on the
00:20:29 --> 00:20:32 western horizon, Mercury is also out
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 there if you have a flat, clear horizon
00:20:34 --> 00:20:36 and you're quick. Uranus and Neptune
00:20:36 --> 00:20:39 round out the six, though you'll need
00:20:39 --> 00:20:41 binoculars or a telescope for those.
00:20:41 --> 00:20:43 >> It's a genuinely lovely evening
00:20:43 --> 00:20:45 spectacle. They'll miss it.
00:20:45 --> 00:20:48 >> And that is everything for episode 51.
00:20:48 --> 00:20:52 What a day in space. A program reshaped,
00:20:52 --> 00:20:55 a rocket grounded, a cosmic construction
00:20:55 --> 00:20:58 site 11 billion years in the past, water
00:20:58 --> 00:21:01 bears on Mars, solar powered oxygen on
00:21:01 --> 00:21:04 the moon, and our galaxy's formation
00:21:04 --> 00:21:06 story turned upside down.
00:21:06 --> 00:21:08 >> Not a bad Saturday.
00:21:08 --> 00:21:11 >> Not a bad Saturday at all. If you
00:21:11 --> 00:21:13 enjoyed today's episode, please do share
00:21:13 --> 00:21:16 it with a fellow space enthusiast. Leave
00:21:16 --> 00:21:18 us a review wherever you listen and
00:21:18 --> 00:21:21 follow us on social media at astrodaily
00:21:21 --> 00:21:24 pod for updates throughout the day.
00:21:24 --> 00:21:26 >> You can also find our show notes, blog
00:21:26 --> 00:21:29 posts, and full episode archive over at
00:21:29 --> 00:21:31 astronomyaily.io.
00:21:31 --> 00:21:33 Everything you need is right there.
00:21:33 --> 00:21:36 >> From all of us here at Astronomy Daily,
00:21:36 --> 00:21:39 clear skies and we'll see you Monday.
00:21:39 --> 00:21:43 >> See you then, everyone.
00:21:43 --> 00:21:51 Stories told
00:21:51 --> 00:21:59 stories told
00:21:59 --> 00:22:02 stories