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NASA's Lucy Mission, Neutrino Mass Breakthrough, and Martian Rock Discoveries
In this episode of SpaceTime, we dive into NASA's Lucy spacecraft as it prepares for a close flyby of the asteroid Donald Johanson, located in the main asteroid belt. The spacecraft will autonomously track and observe this 3km wide space rock, gathering crucial data that could shed light on its peculiar formation and geological history. This encounter serves as a vital rehearsal for Lucy's upcoming mission to explore Jupiter's Trojan asteroids, promising insights into the early solar system.
A New Upper Limit for Neutrino Mass
Next, we discuss a groundbreaking study that has established a new upper limit for the mass of the elusive neutrino, now determined to be less than 0.45 electron volts. This significant finding not only narrows the particle's mass range but also challenges existing theories in particle physics, pushing the boundaries of our understanding of the universe's fundamental forces.
Intriguing Martian Richie Outcrops
Additionally, we explore the fascinating discoveries made by NASA's Mars Perseverance rover on the rim of Jezero Crater. The rover has uncovered a diverse array of rock types, providing a unique glimpse into Martian history and the planet's potential for past habitability. With multiple rock samples collected and analyzed, Perseverance continues to unveil the geological secrets of the Red Planet.
00:00 Space Time Series 28 Episode 49 for broadcast on 23 April 2025
00:49 Lucy spacecraft's close encounter with asteroid Donald Johanson
06:30 Insights into the asteroid's formation and geology
12:15 New upper limit established for neutrino mass
18:00 Implications for particle physics and the standard model
22:45 Mars Perseverance rover's discoveries on Jezero Crater
27:00 Summary of recent planetary exploration findings
30:15 Science report: Weather extremes and lab-grown chicken nuggets
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✍️ Episode References
Science Journal
https://www.science.org (https://www.science.org/)
Planetary Science Journal
https://www.planetarysciencereview.com (https://www.planetarysciencereview.com/)
NASA
https://www.nasa.gov (https://www.nasa.gov/)
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Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/26747997?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 This is Spaceime Series 28, episode 49
00:00:03 --> 00:00:06 for broadcast to the 23rd of April,
00:00:06 --> 00:00:10 2025. Coming up on Spaceime, NASA's Lucy
00:00:10 --> 00:00:11 spacecraft takes a closer look at the
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 asteroid Donald Johansson, the discovery
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 of a new upper limit for the mass of the
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 neutrino, and intriguing Martian rocky
00:00:19 --> 00:00:21 outcrops discovered on the rim of Jezro
00:00:21 --> 00:00:24 Crater. All that and more coming up on
00:00:24 --> 00:00:26 Spaceime.
00:00:26 --> 00:00:30 Welcome to SpaceTime with Stuart
00:00:30 --> 00:00:38 [Music]
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 Garry. NASA's Lucy mission to explore
00:00:47 --> 00:00:49 Jupiter's Trojan asteroids is about to
00:00:49 --> 00:00:52 undertake a close flyby of the main belt
00:00:52 --> 00:00:55 asteroid Hansen. Lucy is passing within
00:00:55 --> 00:00:58 960 kilometers of the 3 km wide space
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 rock located between Mars and Jupiter.
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 About 30 minutes before closest
00:01:03 --> 00:01:05 approach, Lucy will orient itself to
00:01:05 --> 00:01:06 track the asteroid, during which time
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08 its high gain antenna will turn away
00:01:08 --> 00:01:10 from the Earth, suspending
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12 communication. Guided by its terminal
00:01:12 --> 00:01:14 tracking system, Lucy will autonomously
00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 rotate to keep Donald Johansson in view.
00:01:17 --> 00:01:19 As it does this, Lucy will carry out a
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 complicated observing sequence. All
00:01:22 --> 00:01:24 three of its science instruments, the
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 high gain resolution grayscale imager
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 called Lori, the color imager and
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 infrared spectrometer called El Ralph,
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 and the far infrared spectrometer called
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 Latess will all carry out observation
00:01:34 --> 00:01:36 sequences very similar to that which
00:01:36 --> 00:01:38 will take place when it encounters the
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 Trojan asteroids. One of the weird
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 things about these deep space missions
00:01:42 --> 00:01:44 is that it teaches scientists just how
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 slow the speed of light seems. Well, I
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 guess it's all relative. Lucy will be
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 some 12 1/2 light minutes away from the
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 Earth during the close flyby, meaning it
00:01:53 --> 00:01:54 will take that long from the signals
00:01:54 --> 00:01:56 from Lucy to reach the Earth and another
00:01:56 --> 00:01:59 12 1/2 minutes before a response from
00:01:59 --> 00:02:01 the Earth gets back to Lucy. This will
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 be the second asteroid close encounter
00:02:03 --> 00:02:05 for Lucy and will serve as a dress
00:02:05 --> 00:02:06 rehearsal for the spacecraft's main
00:02:06 --> 00:02:08 targets, the never-before explored
00:02:08 --> 00:02:11 Jovian Trojan asteroids. Back in
00:02:11 --> 00:02:13 November 2023, Lucy successfully
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 observed the tiny main belt asteroid
00:02:15 --> 00:02:17 Dinkanesh and its small contact binary
00:02:17 --> 00:02:20 moon Salm. A report in the Planetary
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 Science Journal claims new modeling
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 indicates that Donald Johansson may have
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 formed about 150 million years ago when
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 a large parent asteroid broke apart.
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 When Lucy flies past the space rock, the
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 data collected will provide additional
00:02:33 --> 00:02:35 independent insights into the asteroid
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 shape, surface geology, and cratering
00:02:37 --> 00:02:40 history. Lucy's deputy principal
00:02:40 --> 00:02:41 investigator, Simone Marchie from the
00:02:42 --> 00:02:43 Southwest Research Institute in Boulder,
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 Colorado, says based on groundbased
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 observations, Donald Johansson appears
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 to be a peculiar object and
00:02:50 --> 00:02:51 understanding the formation of this
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 asteroid could help explain some of
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 those peculiarities. Data indicates that
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 it could be quite elongated and a slow
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 rotator, possibly due to thermal torqus
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 which have slowed down its spin over
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 time. It's a common type of asteroid
00:03:04 --> 00:03:06 composed of silicut rocks and perhaps
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 containing clays and organic matter. The
00:03:09 --> 00:03:10 new study also indicates that Donald
00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 Johansson is likely to be a member of
00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 the Aragon collisional asteroid family.
00:03:15 --> 00:03:16 That's a group of asteroids all on
00:03:16 --> 00:03:18 similar orbits that were created when
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 the larger parent body broke apart. The
00:03:21 --> 00:03:22 family originated from the inner main
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 asteroid belt not very far from the
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 source regions of the nearear asteroids
00:03:26 --> 00:03:28 Bonu and Ryugu. They were recently
00:03:28 --> 00:03:31 visited respectively by NASA's Osiris
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 Rex and Jax's Hayabusa 2 missions. As
00:03:34 --> 00:03:35 for the asteroid's name, Donald
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 Johansson, well, it's the name of the
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 paleontologist who discovered Lucy, a
00:03:39 --> 00:03:42 fossilized astralcus homminid skeleton
00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 found in Ethiopia in 1974, which by the
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 way is how the Lucy mission got its
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 name. Just as Lucy the Fossil provided
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 unique insights in the origins of
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 humanity, Lucy the mission promises to
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 revolutionize science's understanding of
00:03:55 --> 00:03:58 the origins of humanity's home world.
00:03:58 --> 00:04:00 Don Hansen's also the only named
00:04:00 --> 00:04:02 asteroid yet to be visited while its
00:04:02 --> 00:04:04 namesake is still living. The Lucy
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 mission's principal investigator, Hal
00:04:06 --> 00:04:07 Leverson, also from the Southwest
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 Research Institute, says the mission
00:04:09 --> 00:04:11 plans to visit 11 asteroids during its
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 12-year tour. The Trojan asteroids are
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 located in two swarms, one about 60°
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 ahead, the other 60° behind the giant
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 gas planet Jupiter. The asteroids are
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 kept in these orbital positions ahead of
00:04:24 --> 00:04:26 and behind Jupiter thanks to the areas
00:04:26 --> 00:04:28 being gravitational wells known as the
00:04:28 --> 00:04:31 Lrangee L4 and L5 positions. These
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 Trojans are considered relics,
00:04:33 --> 00:04:34 effectively fossils of the planetary
00:04:34 --> 00:04:37 formation process. Therefore, they hold
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 vital clues to deciphering the history
00:04:39 --> 00:04:41 of our solar system. Leverson says,
00:04:41 --> 00:04:43 "Encounters with main belt asteroids not
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 only provide a close-up view of these
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 bodies themselves, but also allow
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 scientists perform engineering tests on
00:04:49 --> 00:04:50 the spacecraft's navigation systems
00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 before the main event to study the
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 Trojans. This report on the Lucy mission
00:04:56 --> 00:04:57 from NASA
00:04:57 --> 00:05:01 TV. About 150 million years ago, Earth's
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 most recent superc continent was in the
00:05:03 --> 00:05:06 process of breaking up. Soraods
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 dominated the lush, slowly separating
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 landmass that would become today's
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 familiar continents. Meanwhile, in the
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 asteroid belt, a breakup of a different
00:05:15 --> 00:05:17 sort was taking place. The large
00:05:17 --> 00:05:20 asteroid 163 was pummeled in a
00:05:20 --> 00:05:23 collision, shedding debris to form a new
00:05:23 --> 00:05:24 family of
00:05:24 --> 00:05:27 asteroids. Fast forward to 3.2 million
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 years ago, long after the fall of the
00:05:29 --> 00:05:31 dinosaurs, when an early hominin walked
00:05:31 --> 00:05:33 upright through an Ethiopian river
00:05:33 --> 00:05:37 valley. Now, a robotic explorer named
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 for our most famous human ancestor is
00:05:39 --> 00:05:40 heading to a member of the origin
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 asteroid family on route to the fossils
00:05:43 --> 00:05:47 of planetary formation.
00:05:47 --> 00:05:50 Liftoff. Atlas 5 takes flight. NASA's
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53 Lucy mission launched in October 2021
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 and flew past Earth in 2022 and 2024 for
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 a pair of gravity assists. In early
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 2025, Lucy entered the main asteroid
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 belt on course for humanity's first
00:06:04 --> 00:06:08 encounter with 52246 Donald Johansson.
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 The asteroid was named in honor of the
00:06:10 --> 00:06:12 paleoanthropologist who discovered the
00:06:12 --> 00:06:15 Lucy fossil in 1974, rewriting the
00:06:15 --> 00:06:18 textbooks on human origins. While
00:06:18 --> 00:06:20 asteroid Donald Johansson has never been
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 seen up close, its brightness varies
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 greatly as it rotates, suggesting an
00:06:24 --> 00:06:27 elongated shape. It is a member of the
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 origami family of asteroids made from
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 fragments of the collision that took
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 place about 150 million years ago.
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 Earth-based observations suggest that
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 Donald Johansson is carbonri, has an
00:06:39 --> 00:06:42 average diameter of about 4 km, and
00:06:42 --> 00:06:45 spins on its axis extremely slowly,
00:06:45 --> 00:06:46 giving it a
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 251-hour
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 day. Lucy will approach Donald Johansson
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 from the direction of the sun, traveling
00:06:53 --> 00:06:58 13.4 4 km/s relative to the asteroid. As
00:06:58 --> 00:07:00 its target grows near, the spacecraft
00:07:00 --> 00:07:02 will slowly rotate, keeping the asteroid
00:07:02 --> 00:07:05 in view. Over the course of a few hours,
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07 Donald Johansson will transform from a
00:07:07 --> 00:07:11 point of light into a detailed world.
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 Lucy's long range reconnaissance imager
00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 will capture highresolution pictures
00:07:15 --> 00:07:17 throughout the flyby, providing our best
00:07:17 --> 00:07:20 look yet at the asteroid. Just before
00:07:20 --> 00:07:23 closest approach, when Lucy is about 900
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 km from its target, it will abruptly
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 turn its instrument pointing platform
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 away from the sun to protect its
00:07:29 --> 00:07:30 sensitive
00:07:30 --> 00:07:32 electronics. Shortly after the flyby,
00:07:32 --> 00:07:34 Lucy will perform a pitchback maneuver,
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 changing the direction of its rotation
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 to turn its high gain antenna toward
00:07:38 --> 00:07:41 Earth. 2 hours later, data from Lucy
00:07:41 --> 00:07:43 will deliver the first close-up views of
00:07:43 --> 00:07:46 Donald Johansson, a surviving remnant of
00:07:46 --> 00:07:50 the solar systems chaotic past.
00:07:50 --> 00:07:52 Following the flyby, Lucy will continue
00:07:52 --> 00:07:55 to pass through the main asteroid belt.
00:07:55 --> 00:07:58 In August 2027, it will reach Uripides,
00:07:58 --> 00:08:00 an asteroid more than 10 times larger
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 than Donald Johansson and a member of
00:08:02 --> 00:08:05 the Jupiter Trojans. These primordial
00:08:05 --> 00:08:07 and primitive objects are trapped in
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 Jupiter's orbit and are considered the
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 fossils of planetary formation. Between
00:08:11 --> 00:08:15 2027 and 2033, Lucy will make five
00:08:15 --> 00:08:16 separate encounters with Trojan
00:08:16 --> 00:08:19 asteroids and their moons. It will
00:08:19 --> 00:08:21 become the first spacecraft to explore
00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 this ancient population. Asteroids more
00:08:24 --> 00:08:26 than 1 times older than our most
00:08:26 --> 00:08:28 famous human ancestor, formed at the
00:08:28 --> 00:08:31 dawn of the solar system, long before
00:08:31 --> 00:08:35 dinosaurs ruled the
00:08:35 --> 00:08:39 Earth. This is spaceime. Still to come,
00:08:39 --> 00:08:40 discovery of a new upper limit for the
00:08:40 --> 00:08:43 massive neutrinos and intriguing Martian
00:08:43 --> 00:08:45 rock outcrops discovered on the rim of
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 Jezro crater. All that and more still to
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 come on
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 Spaceime. This episode of Spacetime is
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 brought to you by our official virtual
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00:10:23 --> 00:10:25 A new study has discovered the mass of
00:10:25 --> 00:10:27 one of the most enigmatic particles in
00:10:27 --> 00:10:29 the universe, the neutrino. The results
00:10:29 --> 00:10:31 show that the nutrino's mass is less
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 than 0.45 electron volts. In other
00:10:35 --> 00:10:36 words, less than a millionth the mass of
00:10:36 --> 00:10:39 an electron. The findings reported in
00:10:39 --> 00:10:40 the journal Science reduces the
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 particles known mass range by a factor
00:10:42 --> 00:10:45 of two. It tightens the constraints on
00:10:45 --> 00:10:47 one of the universe's most elusive
00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 fundamental particles and pushes the
00:10:49 --> 00:10:50 boundaries of science beyond the
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 standard model of particle physics. The
00:10:52 --> 00:10:54 cornerstone of science's understanding
00:10:54 --> 00:10:55 of the
00:10:55 --> 00:10:58 universe. Nutrinos are elemental
00:10:58 --> 00:11:00 subatomic particles. They're generated
00:11:00 --> 00:11:03 through radioactive decay in stars, in
00:11:03 --> 00:11:05 supernova, in nuclear explosions, in
00:11:05 --> 00:11:07 particle accelerators, and in atomic
00:11:07 --> 00:11:10 reactors. The nutrina is shown named
00:11:10 --> 00:11:11 because it's electrically neutral and
00:11:11 --> 00:11:14 because its rest mass is so small, it
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 was once thought to be zero. They are
00:11:16 --> 00:11:17 the most common form of matter in the
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 universe, having almost no mass and
00:11:20 --> 00:11:21 capable of being accelerated to almost
00:11:21 --> 00:11:24 the speed of light. Nutrinos come in
00:11:24 --> 00:11:27 three known types or flavors. Electron
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 neutrinos, neon neutrinos, and town
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 neutrinos. Each with their own specific
00:11:32 --> 00:11:35 properties. Now, confusingly, the three
00:11:35 --> 00:11:37 flavors of nutrinos don't line up with
00:11:37 --> 00:11:40 the three suspected mass species. It
00:11:40 --> 00:11:42 seems that each of the three flavors is
00:11:42 --> 00:11:43 made up of a quantum mixture of the
00:11:43 --> 00:11:46 three mass species. So, for example, a
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 particular town neutrino has bits of all
00:11:48 --> 00:11:50 three mass species in it. And those
00:11:50 --> 00:11:52 different mass species seem to oscillate
00:11:52 --> 00:11:55 between the three flavors. For example,
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 an electron neutrino produced in say a
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59 beta decay reaction could interact in
00:11:59 --> 00:12:01 distant detector as a muon or tow
00:12:01 --> 00:12:03 nutrino. Now although they don't have
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 any electric charge, neutrinos do have
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07 their own corresponding antimatter
00:12:07 --> 00:12:09 counterparts identified by their
00:12:09 --> 00:12:11 opposite kirality or handedness.
00:12:11 --> 00:12:13 Neutrinas interact with other matter
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 only through gravity and the weak
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 nuclear force. In fact, they're so
00:12:17 --> 00:12:18 weakly interactive that right now
00:12:18 --> 00:12:20 several trillion are passing through you
00:12:20 --> 00:12:22 every second and you don't even notice
00:12:22 --> 00:12:25 them. Precisely measuring the nutrino
00:12:25 --> 00:12:26 mass is therefore essential for a
00:12:26 --> 00:12:28 complete understanding of the
00:12:28 --> 00:12:30 fundamental laws of physics.
00:12:30 --> 00:12:32 Now the other key term in this research
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 is the electron volt. That's a basic
00:12:34 --> 00:12:36 unit of particle energy. The amount of
00:12:36 --> 00:12:38 energy lost or gained by a single
00:12:38 --> 00:12:40 electron accelerating from rest through
00:12:40 --> 00:12:42 an electric potential difference of 1
00:12:42 --> 00:12:44 volt in a vacuum. And thanks to
00:12:44 --> 00:12:46 professor Albert Einstein's famous mass
00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 energy equivalence equation= mc^² energy
00:12:49 --> 00:12:51 equals mass times the speed of light
00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 squared. It's also used as a unit of
00:12:53 --> 00:12:56 particle mass in physics and astronomy.
00:12:56 --> 00:12:58 The new findings by the KL through
00:12:58 --> 00:13:00 tritium neutrino experiment Katron
00:13:00 --> 00:13:02 utilizes the beta decay of tritium an
00:13:02 --> 00:13:04 unstable hydrogen isotope to assess
00:13:04 --> 00:13:07 neutrino mass. The energy distribution
00:13:07 --> 00:13:08 of the electrons resulting from the
00:13:08 --> 00:13:10 decay enables a direct chyntatic
00:13:10 --> 00:13:13 determination of the nutrino's mass.
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 Katrin uses a 70 m long beam line
00:13:15 --> 00:13:17 equipped with an intense tritium source
00:13:17 --> 00:13:19 and a highresolution spectrometer with a
00:13:19 --> 00:13:22 diameter of 10 m. This allows extremely
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 precise nutrino mass determinations. The
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 latest findings indicate neutrinos are
00:13:27 --> 00:13:28 at least a million times lighter than
00:13:28 --> 00:13:30 electrons, which are the lightest
00:13:30 --> 00:13:32 electrically charged elementary
00:13:32 --> 00:13:34 particles. But explaining this enormous
00:13:34 --> 00:13:36 mass difference remains a fundamental
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38 challenge for theoretical particle
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40 physics. Starting next year, a new
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 detector system Tristan will be
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 installed. This upgrade to the
00:13:44 --> 00:13:46 experiment will allow scientists to
00:13:46 --> 00:13:48 search for a hypothetical sterile
00:13:48 --> 00:13:49 particle which interacts even more
00:13:49 --> 00:13:52 favorably than no neutrinos. In fact,
00:13:52 --> 00:13:54 with the mass expected to be in the kilo
00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 electron volt range, a sterile neutrino
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 is potentially a candidate for dark
00:13:58 --> 00:14:02 matter. This is spacetime. Still to
00:14:02 --> 00:14:05 come, intriguing Martian rocky outcrops
00:14:05 --> 00:14:07 discovered on the rim of Jezro crater.
00:14:07 --> 00:14:09 And later in the science report, it
00:14:09 --> 00:14:10 seems the weather really does now
00:14:10 --> 00:14:13 suddenly go from boiling to freezing a
00:14:13 --> 00:14:15 lot more than it used to. All that and
00:14:15 --> 00:14:32 more still to come on
00:14:32 --> 00:14:34 Spaceime. NASA's Mars Perseverance
00:14:34 --> 00:14:36 rovers discovered a cornucopia full of
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 intriguing rocky outcrops on the rim of
00:14:38 --> 00:14:41 Jezro Crater. Mission managers said the
00:14:41 --> 00:14:43 diversity of the rock types along the
00:14:43 --> 00:14:45 crater's edge are offering scientists a
00:14:45 --> 00:14:47 wide glimpse of Martian history. See,
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 studying rocks, boulders, and outcrops
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 help scientists understand the planet's
00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 evolution history and the potential for
00:14:53 --> 00:14:56 past or even present habitability. Since
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 January, the rover's ced five rock
00:14:58 --> 00:15:00 samples on the crater rim, sealing
00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 samples from three of them in its sample
00:15:02 --> 00:15:04 tubes. It's also performed close-up
00:15:04 --> 00:15:06 analysis of seven rocks and analyzed
00:15:06 --> 00:15:09 another 83 from afar by zapping them
00:15:09 --> 00:15:10 with a laser and monitoring the spectral
00:15:10 --> 00:15:13 emissions of the vapor being released.
00:15:13 --> 00:15:14 In fact, this has been the mission's
00:15:14 --> 00:15:16 fastest science collection tempo since
00:15:16 --> 00:15:18 the six world mobile laboratory first
00:15:18 --> 00:15:21 landed on the red planet 4 years ago.
00:15:21 --> 00:15:22 Perseverance spent 3 and 1/2 months
00:15:22 --> 00:15:24 climbing the western wall of Jezro
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 crater, eventually reaching the rim on
00:15:26 --> 00:15:29 December the 12th last year. It's
00:15:29 --> 00:15:31 currently exploring a roughly 135 m tall
00:15:32 --> 00:15:33 slope which the science team calls witch
00:15:33 --> 00:15:36 hazel hill. The diversity of the rocks
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 found there has gone far beyond
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 expectations. Perseverance project
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 scientist Katie Stack Morgan from NASA's
00:15:43 --> 00:15:45 Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
00:15:45 --> 00:15:46 California says that during previous
00:15:46 --> 00:15:48 science campaigns in Jezro, it would
00:15:48 --> 00:15:50 take several months to find a rock that
00:15:50 --> 00:15:52 was significantly different from the
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 last rock sampled and scientifically
00:15:54 --> 00:15:56 unique enough for sampling. But up there
00:15:56 --> 00:15:58 on the rim, there are new and intriguing
00:15:58 --> 00:16:00 rocks everywhere. The overturns. That's
00:16:00 --> 00:16:02 because Jezro Crater's western rim
00:16:02 --> 00:16:05 contains tons of fragmented, once molten
00:16:05 --> 00:16:06 rocks that were knocked out of their
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 subterranean home billions of years ago
00:16:08 --> 00:16:11 by one or more meteor impacts, including
00:16:11 --> 00:16:12 possibly the one that produced Jezro
00:16:12 --> 00:16:15 Crater in the first place. Perseverance
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 is finding these formerly underground
00:16:17 --> 00:16:18 boulders just to position with
00:16:18 --> 00:16:20 wellpreserved layered rocks that were
00:16:20 --> 00:16:22 born billions of years ago on what would
00:16:22 --> 00:16:24 become the crater's rim. Perseverance
00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 collected its first crater rim rock
00:16:26 --> 00:16:28 sample named Silver Mountain back on
00:16:28 --> 00:16:31 January the 28th. NASA scientists
00:16:31 --> 00:16:32 informally named Martian features
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 including rocks and separate rock
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 samples in order to help keep track of
00:16:36 --> 00:16:38 them. The rock it came from called
00:16:38 --> 00:16:40 Shallow Bay most likely formed at least
00:16:40 --> 00:16:42 3.9 billion years ago during Mars's
00:16:42 --> 00:16:44 earliest geological period known as the
00:16:44 --> 00:16:46 Noin. And it may have been broken up and
00:16:46 --> 00:16:48 then recristallized during an ancient
00:16:48 --> 00:16:51 meteor impact. About 110 meters away
00:16:51 --> 00:16:52 from that sampling site is a rock
00:16:52 --> 00:16:54 outcrop that caught the science team's
00:16:54 --> 00:16:56 eye because it contains ignous minerals
00:16:56 --> 00:16:58 crystallized from magma from deep within
00:16:58 --> 00:17:01 the Martian crust. Ignous rocks can form
00:17:01 --> 00:17:02 deep underground from magma or from
00:17:02 --> 00:17:04 volcanic activity on the surface and
00:17:04 --> 00:17:07 they're excellent record keepers. That's
00:17:07 --> 00:17:08 because the mineral crystals within them
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 preserve details about the precise
00:17:10 --> 00:17:13 moment they were formed. But after two
00:17:13 --> 00:17:15 cing attempts in early February fizzled
00:17:15 --> 00:17:16 due to the rock being so crumbly, the
00:17:16 --> 00:17:19 rover drove about 160 m northwest to
00:17:19 --> 00:17:21 another scientifically intriguing rock
00:17:21 --> 00:17:24 named Tablelands. Data from the rover's
00:17:24 --> 00:17:25 instruments indicate that Tablelands is
00:17:26 --> 00:17:27 made of almost entirely serpentine
00:17:27 --> 00:17:29 minerals. They were formed when large
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 amounts of water reacted with iron and
00:17:31 --> 00:17:33 magnesium bearing minerals in ignous
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 rock. During this process, the rock's
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 original structure is minologically
00:17:38 --> 00:17:40 changed, often causing it to expand and
00:17:40 --> 00:17:42 fracture. Byproducts of this process
00:17:42 --> 00:17:44 sometimes include hydrogen gas which can
00:17:44 --> 00:17:46 lead to the generation of methane in the
00:17:46 --> 00:17:49 presence of carbon dioxide and on Earth
00:17:49 --> 00:17:50 these sorts of rocks are known to
00:17:50 --> 00:17:53 support microbial colonies. Corig
00:17:53 --> 00:17:55 tablelands went smoothly but selling it
00:17:55 --> 00:17:57 in the canister became an engineering
00:17:57 --> 00:18:01 challenge. Over 13 souls or Martian days
00:18:01 --> 00:18:02 mission managers used the tool to brush
00:18:02 --> 00:18:05 out the top of the tube 33 times making
00:18:05 --> 00:18:08 eight sealing attempts. Finally, at the
00:18:08 --> 00:18:10 start of March, a combination of flicks
00:18:10 --> 00:18:12 and brushings cleaned the tubes top
00:18:12 --> 00:18:14 enough for Perseverance to seal and
00:18:14 --> 00:18:17 store the serpentine laden rock sample.
00:18:17 --> 00:18:19 8 days later, the rover had no issues
00:18:19 --> 00:18:21 sealing a third sample rock, this one
00:18:21 --> 00:18:23 called Main River. The alternating
00:18:23 --> 00:18:25 bright and dark bands of this rock were
00:18:25 --> 00:18:27 like nothing seen before by the science
00:18:27 --> 00:18:29 team. Following the collection of the
00:18:29 --> 00:18:31 main river sample, the rovers continued
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 exploring Witch Hazel Hill, analyzing
00:18:34 --> 00:18:35 three more rocky outcrops, Sally's
00:18:36 --> 00:18:39 Grove, Dennis Pond, and Mount Pearl.
00:18:39 --> 00:18:42 This is
00:18:42 --> 00:18:44 Spacetime. This episode of Spacetime is
00:18:44 --> 00:18:46 brought to you by Incogn. Just because
00:18:46 --> 00:18:48 we're exploring the vastness of space
00:18:48 --> 00:18:50 doesn't mean there's not a lot happening
00:18:50 --> 00:18:52 here on Earth as well. Especially when
00:18:52 --> 00:18:55 it comes to your personal data. See,
00:18:55 --> 00:18:56 every time you sign up for something
00:18:56 --> 00:18:58 online, every time you search for a
00:18:58 --> 00:19:00 product on the net, or even just browse
00:19:00 --> 00:19:02 the web, your data is being scooped up
00:19:02 --> 00:19:05 by companies called data brokers. Now,
00:19:05 --> 00:19:06 these are folks who collect, buy, and
00:19:06 --> 00:19:08 sell your personal information, often
00:19:08 --> 00:19:10 without you ever knowing. And that's
00:19:10 --> 00:19:13 where Incogn comes in. It's a powerful
00:19:13 --> 00:19:15 hands-off service that helps you take
00:19:15 --> 00:19:16 back control by getting your data
00:19:16 --> 00:19:18 removed from the databases of those
00:19:18 --> 00:19:21 brokers. and they do all the leg work,
00:19:21 --> 00:19:23 sending out official removal requests,
00:19:23 --> 00:19:24 following up, and making sure your
00:19:24 --> 00:19:26 information actually does get deleted.
00:19:26 --> 00:19:29 It's simple, it's effective, and it's a
00:19:29 --> 00:19:31 big step towards reclaiming your digital
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00:19:33 --> 00:19:36 listeners can get an exclusive 55% off
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00:19:48 --> 00:19:51 inci.com/spacetime
00:19:51 --> 00:20:01 [Music]
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03 incogn. And time now to take another
00:20:03 --> 00:20:05 brief look at some of the other stories
00:20:05 --> 00:20:07 making news in science this week with a
00:20:07 --> 00:20:09 science report. Well, if you feel like
00:20:09 --> 00:20:11 the weather's suddenly going from
00:20:11 --> 00:20:12 boiling hot to freezing cold more than
00:20:12 --> 00:20:15 it used to, you may well be right. A new
00:20:15 --> 00:20:17 study reported in the journal Nature
00:20:17 --> 00:20:19 Communications shows that Australia is
00:20:19 --> 00:20:20 one of the regions in the world where
00:20:20 --> 00:20:22 rapid temperature flips from hot to cold
00:20:22 --> 00:20:24 or vice versa are occurring most
00:20:24 --> 00:20:27 frequently. Researchers found that these
00:20:27 --> 00:20:29 flips have increased in frequency,
00:20:29 --> 00:20:31 intensity, and transition speed since
00:20:31 --> 00:20:33 1961.
00:20:33 --> 00:20:34 In fact, the studies found that
00:20:34 --> 00:20:36 Australia seen some of the largest
00:20:36 --> 00:20:37 increases in frequency of these
00:20:37 --> 00:20:40 temperature flips over the past 60
00:20:40 --> 00:20:43 years. A new study claims that lab grown
00:20:43 --> 00:20:45 chicken nuggets could be a reality in
00:20:45 --> 00:20:47 the near future. A report in the journal
00:20:47 --> 00:20:49 Trends in Biotechnology claims the
00:20:49 --> 00:20:51 prediction comes after researchers
00:20:51 --> 00:20:53 produced over 10 g of cultured chicken
00:20:53 --> 00:20:55 muscle. The authors used a holo fiber
00:20:55 --> 00:20:58 bioreactor which mimics the circulatory
00:20:58 --> 00:21:00 system to deliver nutrients and oxygen
00:21:00 --> 00:21:02 to artificial tissue and a robot
00:21:02 --> 00:21:04 assisted assembly system then produces
00:21:04 --> 00:21:07 bite-sized pieces of whole cut chicken
00:21:07 --> 00:21:09 meat using chicken fiberblast cells
00:21:09 --> 00:21:11 which make up connective tissue. While
00:21:11 --> 00:21:13 researchers say they're still working to
00:21:13 --> 00:21:15 improve the taste and texture, the
00:21:15 --> 00:21:17 technology could one day provide a
00:21:17 --> 00:21:18 sustainable, ethical alternative to
00:21:18 --> 00:21:20 conventional meat, as well as a platform
00:21:20 --> 00:21:22 for regenerative medicine like growing
00:21:22 --> 00:21:25 organs and for soft
00:21:25 --> 00:21:27 robots. Psychologists are now warning
00:21:27 --> 00:21:29 about the potential dangers of having a
00:21:29 --> 00:21:32 relationship with your AI chatbot. In an
00:21:32 --> 00:21:34 opinion piece in the journal Trends in
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 Cognitive Sciences, the authors say that
00:21:36 --> 00:21:38 because AI human relationships can seem
00:21:38 --> 00:21:40 easier than human human relationships,
00:21:40 --> 00:21:43 AIs could interfere with normal human
00:21:43 --> 00:21:45 social dynamics. But the authors are
00:21:45 --> 00:21:47 also concerned that AIs can offer
00:21:47 --> 00:21:50 harmful advice. They note at least two
00:21:50 --> 00:21:51 people are known to have killed
00:21:51 --> 00:21:54 themselves following AI chatbot advice.
00:21:54 --> 00:21:56 And while these suicides are an extreme
00:21:56 --> 00:21:58 example of this negative influence, the
00:21:58 --> 00:22:00 researchers say that these close human
00:22:00 --> 00:22:02 AI relationships could open up people to
00:22:02 --> 00:22:06 manipulation, exploitation, and
00:22:06 --> 00:22:08 fraud. Tech giant Google has lost a
00:22:08 --> 00:22:11 major antitrust case in the United
00:22:11 --> 00:22:13 States. The US Justice Department
00:22:13 --> 00:22:15 together with 17 American states sued
00:22:15 --> 00:22:17 Google, arguing the tech giant was
00:22:17 --> 00:22:19 illegally dominating the technology
00:22:19 --> 00:22:21 which determines which advert should be
00:22:21 --> 00:22:23 placed online and where. This is the
00:22:23 --> 00:22:25 second antitrust case Google has lost in
00:22:26 --> 00:22:27 a year after it ruled the company also
00:22:27 --> 00:22:30 had monopoly on online search. With the
00:22:30 --> 00:22:32 details, we're joined by technology
00:22:32 --> 00:22:34 editor Alex Sahara from
00:22:34 --> 00:22:37 techadvice.life. Well, a federal judge
00:22:37 --> 00:22:39 has ruled that Google has violated US
00:22:39 --> 00:22:41 antitrust laws and he says that they've
00:22:41 --> 00:22:44 done that by willfully acquiring and
00:22:44 --> 00:22:47 maintaining monopoly power in the ad
00:22:47 --> 00:22:49 market. Now, the actual advertising
00:22:49 --> 00:22:52 business itself was not seen to be a
00:22:52 --> 00:22:56 monopoly, but the publisher side ad tech
00:22:56 --> 00:22:58 did constitute illegal monopolization.
00:22:58 --> 00:23:00 Now, there's fines of potentially up to
00:23:00 --> 00:23:02 $100 million for corporations and a
00:23:02 --> 00:23:04 million dollars for individuals. And
00:23:04 --> 00:23:07 look, a judgment is yet to be made on
00:23:07 --> 00:23:08 what's going to happen. You could see
00:23:08 --> 00:23:10 Google forced to divest some of its ad
00:23:10 --> 00:23:12 business. And really, Google is not a
00:23:12 --> 00:23:13 search engine. It's really an
00:23:13 --> 00:23:14 advertising business. It's more than
00:23:14 --> 00:23:17 just the divestment. It could see the
00:23:17 --> 00:23:19 the entire conglomerate broken up,
00:23:19 --> 00:23:20 couldn't it? Well, anything is possible.
00:23:20 --> 00:23:22 And that would put into question how
00:23:22 --> 00:23:24 strong Google's AI systems will be
00:23:24 --> 00:23:26 because I mean, I'm sure it relies upon
00:23:26 --> 00:23:28 lots of different information from all
00:23:28 --> 00:23:30 these different sources. One of the
00:23:30 --> 00:23:32 things we saw with Elon Musk is that his
00:23:32 --> 00:23:35 XAI business, which produces Grock and
00:23:35 --> 00:23:38 has 200 of those special Nvidia
00:23:38 --> 00:23:39 chips in a in a massive computing
00:23:39 --> 00:23:41 system. I mean, it purchased the X
00:23:41 --> 00:23:44 platform for US $33 billion. And that
00:23:44 --> 00:23:47 gives Brock the ability to mine
00:23:47 --> 00:23:49 trillions of exposts for the most
00:23:49 --> 00:23:51 upto-date information. So this battle is
00:23:51 --> 00:23:53 being fought across several fronts. And
00:23:53 --> 00:23:55 look, it is true that Google does have a
00:23:55 --> 00:23:57 very strong a massively strong position
00:23:58 --> 00:23:59 in advertising and that's why the
00:24:00 --> 00:24:01 Sherman antitrust laws were put in
00:24:01 --> 00:24:03 place. Now judges ruled that Google is
00:24:03 --> 00:24:05 in violation. And 2025 is going to be a
00:24:05 --> 00:24:07 very interesting year. New update for
00:24:07 --> 00:24:09 iPhones. Yeah.
00:24:09 --> 00:24:11 18.4.1. I mean, it's also available for
00:24:11 --> 00:24:13 the iPads. There's updates for your Macs
00:24:13 --> 00:24:14 and Apple TVs and you know other
00:24:14 --> 00:24:17 devices. But this particular one besides
00:24:17 --> 00:24:19 the usual security bug fixes, it also
00:24:19 --> 00:24:21 fixes a problem where sometimes your
00:24:21 --> 00:24:23 phone, your iPhone is not connecting to
00:24:23 --> 00:24:24 your CarPlay. I haven't particularly
00:24:24 --> 00:24:26 seen that one myself, but that is
00:24:26 --> 00:24:28 definitely a reason to upgrade. And
00:24:28 --> 00:24:30 Apple is also saying that we should
00:24:30 --> 00:24:32 expect to see more Apple intelligence
00:24:32 --> 00:24:34 features in the US fall, which is the
00:24:34 --> 00:24:35 Australian spring. It's a little bit
00:24:35 --> 00:24:37 behind on its AI features, but it's
00:24:37 --> 00:24:39 trying obviously as hard as possible to
00:24:39 --> 00:24:41 catch up because this is the new
00:24:41 --> 00:24:46 reality. That's Alex Aaravo from
00:24:46 --> 00:24:59 [Music]
00:24:59 --> 00:25:01 techadvice.live and that's the show for
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