Source:
https://www.spreaker.com/episode/s27e109-venus-s-continental-mysteries-bepicolombo-s-propulsion-woes-and-sentinel-2c-s-orbital-debut--61309693
In this episode of SpaceTime, new research suggests Venus may have formed continents in a manner similar to early Earth, the BepiColombo spacecraft faces propulsion issues, and Sentinel-2C joins the Copernicus family in orbit. Join us for these fascinating updates and more!
00:00:00 - This is SpaceTime series 27, episode 109, for broadcast on 9 September 2024
00:00:45 - New study suggests Venus's tesserae may have formed like Earth's earliest continents
00:12:30 - Propulsion glitches aboard the BepiColombo spacecraft
00:23:45 - Sentinel-2C joins the Copernicus family in orbit
00:32:15 - The science report: Cell phones do not cause brain cancer
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 this is spacetime series 27 episode 109
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 for broadcast on the 9th of September
00:00:05 --> 00:00:09 2024 coming up on SpaceTime how Venus
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 got its continents propulsion glitches
00:00:12 --> 00:00:14 aboard the beppy Columbus spacecraft and
00:00:14 --> 00:00:17 the Sentinel 2C spacecraft joins the
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 cernus family in orbit all that and more
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 coming up on
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 SpaceTime welcome to SpaceTime with
00:00:25 --> 00:00:27 Stuart Gary
00:00:27 --> 00:00:35 [Music]
00:00:42 --> 00:00:44 a new study claims geologic features on
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 the planet Venus known as tessay may
00:00:47 --> 00:00:49 have formed in the same way as Earth's
00:00:49 --> 00:00:51 earliest continents billions of years
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 ago the findings reported in the journal
00:00:53 --> 00:00:56 Nature geoscience based on high
00:00:56 --> 00:00:58 performance computer simulations as well
00:00:58 --> 00:01:00 as data from NASA's Ma
00:01:00 --> 00:01:03 spacecraft the results suggest that
00:01:03 --> 00:01:06 ishar Tera and other tessay on Venus may
00:01:06 --> 00:01:07 have Arisen from the planet's hot
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 interior through a process very similar
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12 to the formation of Earth's cratons the
00:01:12 --> 00:01:15 ancient caes of continents the studies
00:01:15 --> 00:01:17 lead author associate professor Fabio
00:01:17 --> 00:01:20 Capitano from mes University says the
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 study challenges science's current
00:01:22 --> 00:01:24 understandings of how planets evolve
00:01:24 --> 00:01:27 capitanio says he didn't expect Venus
00:01:27 --> 00:01:29 with its scorching 460° surface
00:01:29 --> 00:01:31 temperatures and lack of play tectonics
00:01:31 --> 00:01:33 to possess such complex geological
00:01:33 --> 00:01:36 features and so these findings are
00:01:36 --> 00:01:38 providing a fascinating New Perspective
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 on the planet Venus and its potential
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 links to the early Earth the features
00:01:42 --> 00:01:44 found on Venus are strikingly similar to
00:01:45 --> 00:01:47 the Earth's early continents that
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 suggests that the Dynamics of Venus's
00:01:49 --> 00:01:51 past may have been far more similar to
00:01:51 --> 00:01:53 Earth than previously thought Earth's
00:01:53 --> 00:01:56 cratons hold crucial clues about the
00:01:56 --> 00:01:58 emergence of topography atmosphere and
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 even life on this planet
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 capano says understanding how these
00:02:02 --> 00:02:04 continents formed on Venus could shed
00:02:05 --> 00:02:06 fresh light on the evolution of all
00:02:06 --> 00:02:09 rocky planets including the Earth we
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 call it comparative planetology so we
00:02:11 --> 00:02:13 take different planets that we know of
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 and we compare them we see how close
00:02:16 --> 00:02:17 they are and how distant they are
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 meaning in their evolution so we knew
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21 somehow that the venos had to be sister
00:02:21 --> 00:02:24 Planet had to be similar one of the
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 closest to Earth but of course there is
00:02:26 --> 00:02:28 a big question that at which point
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 during the evolution we got paths
00:02:30 --> 00:02:32 because all the planets of eventually
00:02:32 --> 00:02:33 they have the same age Venus is the same
00:02:33 --> 00:02:35 age of the Earth so it went through the
00:02:35 --> 00:02:38 same maturation but ended up in a
00:02:38 --> 00:02:40 different pot obviously not a nice one
00:02:40 --> 00:02:42 as you said it's not really a lively
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 place so at that point to understand how
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 we got there and uh so the rocks out
00:02:47 --> 00:02:50 there the Third Rock From the Sun became
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 the Earth whereas Venus didn't so it's
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 much better to put it in the context of
00:02:54 --> 00:02:55 the evolution and when we talk about the
00:02:55 --> 00:02:57 evolution of course we compare it with
00:02:57 --> 00:02:59 the evolution of the earth which is so
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 far the only one or the best known and
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 we compared them so we got back in time
00:03:03 --> 00:03:06 and we had a look at in the past in my
00:03:06 --> 00:03:08 research we had a look at how continents
00:03:08 --> 00:03:11 are formed on Earth and we did some work
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 on it and in the process of
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 understanding how continent work of
00:03:16 --> 00:03:18 course the question was how is this
00:03:18 --> 00:03:20 possible at all and if it's possible
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 must be possible somewhere else some
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 other planet so we had to look at Venus
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 Venus path and we change our simulation
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 so we use fundamental physics Sol with
00:03:29 --> 00:03:31 super comput you change the parameters
00:03:31 --> 00:03:34 the surface of the of the temperature of
00:03:34 --> 00:03:36 the surface as you mentioned before a
00:03:36 --> 00:03:37 little bit of this a little bit of that
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 so all the ingredients they make uh the
00:03:39 --> 00:03:41 tiny ingredients that make the
00:03:41 --> 00:03:44 difference between um the Earth and
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 Venus and what came out was essentially
00:03:46 --> 00:03:48 using the same mechanism is used to
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 understand con information here we got
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 to understand also the condition on
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 Venus that lead to the formation of
00:03:56 --> 00:03:57 these plateaus so they're called
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 plateaus but on Earth plateaus are
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 something different but turns out that
00:04:01 --> 00:04:03 those protos are just like continents on
00:04:03 --> 00:04:06 earth when we uh look at the continents
00:04:06 --> 00:04:08 on earth the prevailing
00:04:08 --> 00:04:11 hypothesis and there's a fair degree of
00:04:11 --> 00:04:12 evidence to back that up is that it's
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 basically convection we have continental
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 plates they move across the surface they
00:04:17 --> 00:04:19 come up at mid ocean ridges the light
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 stuff the granitic stuff floats on top
00:04:21 --> 00:04:23 that becomes the continents and the
00:04:23 --> 00:04:25 heaviest stuff the basaltic stuff that
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 eventually subducts again back into the
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 metal there are other things going on as
00:04:30 --> 00:04:33 well such as cratons and that hotspots
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 and things like that but that's the
00:04:35 --> 00:04:37 primary driver as we understand of play
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 tonics and continent forming here on
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 Earth Venus being so hot the current
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 theory is that PL tectonics never
00:04:44 --> 00:04:47 occurred on Venus yes yes you that's a
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 point but not only also on Earth there
00:04:49 --> 00:04:52 is still debated whether the um when
00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 plon started because as you said
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 continents are the result of leonics but
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 a lot of questions are out there so Crow
00:04:58 --> 00:05:00 as you were talking for they are formed
00:05:00 --> 00:05:03 by magmatic processes that they extract
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 the lightless material from the mantle
00:05:05 --> 00:05:08 to form um Continental craft and
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 Continental leosphere the point is that
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 they only formed in a period of the
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 earth and didn't formed when we know the
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 platonics was operating so this raised
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 the question if platonics is the only
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 mechanism we know and it doesn't create
00:05:22 --> 00:05:24 continents so either we ex stretch the
00:05:24 --> 00:05:27 theory of fonics to include formation of
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 of crons and that didn't work or other
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 wise we have to admit that the Earth had
00:05:32 --> 00:05:33 probably a regime that wasn't a
00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 plantonic regime so the work that we've
00:05:36 --> 00:05:39 done a few years ago was on nature too
00:05:39 --> 00:05:41 on the formation of cratons is just the
00:05:41 --> 00:05:43 showing the formation of cron as you
00:05:43 --> 00:05:45 were saying before form from convection
00:05:45 --> 00:05:47 but not necessarily tonics so you need
00:05:47 --> 00:05:49 convection you need the thinning of
00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 leosphere and melting and that melting
00:05:51 --> 00:05:53 will create a lot of continental crust
00:05:53 --> 00:05:55 and the continental crust eventually
00:05:55 --> 00:05:57 stays there as opposed to current PL
00:05:57 --> 00:06:00 tonics in which every 200 millionair
00:06:00 --> 00:06:03 materialist recycled what causes cratons
00:06:03 --> 00:06:05 what makes a big chunk of the mantle
00:06:05 --> 00:06:07 decide to suddenly rise up to the
00:06:07 --> 00:06:09 surface is that simply the chemistry
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 involved and the temperatures and
00:06:11 --> 00:06:13 pressures involved that allow these
00:06:13 --> 00:06:15 things to expand upwards what causes
00:06:15 --> 00:06:18 them well as you said before it's uh one
00:06:18 --> 00:06:20 of those ingredients and to our
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 understanding the key ingredient will be
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 the temperature we know that the earth
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 mantle was hotter in the past and when
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 the mantle is hotter it simply means
00:06:29 --> 00:06:31 that leosphere that sits on top is a
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33 little bit more squishy or sluggish it
00:06:33 --> 00:06:36 moves a little bit more it's a bit more
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 prone to to the formation and this fact
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 induces the leosphere to stretch a lot
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 and allow hot mantle to come up closer
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 to the surface than today and when it
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 comes closer to the surface it under go
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 what is called decompression melting so
00:06:50 --> 00:06:52 essentially it's very hot reduces the
00:06:52 --> 00:06:55 pressure and melts this of course
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 imagine that would have been the regime
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 of the whole planet would have created a
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 lot of these large portions of this
00:07:01 --> 00:07:04 mantle de compressing and creating crust
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 but the point is also that this melt
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 extract from the mantle leave the mantle
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 depleted and when it's depleted becomes
00:07:11 --> 00:07:14 stiffer and becomes lighter like any
00:07:14 --> 00:07:17 material that is devoided depleted of
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 some component imagine a sponge that is
00:07:19 --> 00:07:22 depleted of the water you're left with
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 the sponge itself which is inherently
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 lighter so that's the mechanism that
00:07:26 --> 00:07:28 could work under those conditions
00:07:28 --> 00:07:30 because the Earth was was hotter and
00:07:30 --> 00:07:31 then eventually with secular cooling
00:07:32 --> 00:07:35 that condition vanished mantle became
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 cooler and cooler and that amount of
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 melting is not possible anymore and is
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 at this stage it's where we think ponics
00:07:42 --> 00:07:43 would have started of course the surface
00:07:43 --> 00:07:47 of Venus 460° C is still very hot and
00:07:48 --> 00:07:50 malleable you've looked at ishat Tera
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 one of the Continental Tess and you
00:07:53 --> 00:07:55 focused on that tell me about that yeah
00:07:55 --> 00:07:57 um of course it's it's it's it's an
00:07:57 --> 00:08:00 amazing uh we had to look at how this
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 continent forms on earth and the point
00:08:02 --> 00:08:03 of the continents is that because as you
00:08:03 --> 00:08:05 said they have a crust the continental
00:08:05 --> 00:08:07 crust which is inherently lighter
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 because it's extracted from the mantle
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 and because it's light and boyant and
00:08:11 --> 00:08:13 thick above the sea level whereas the
00:08:14 --> 00:08:15 basaltic crust on this planet it's
00:08:15 --> 00:08:18 heavier and sinks so if you don't have
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 this dichotomy if you don't have this
00:08:20 --> 00:08:22 basaltic crust versus kinetic crust how
00:08:23 --> 00:08:24 do you create topography in the first
00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 place in places like um like Venus so
00:08:27 --> 00:08:29 that's what captured our attention so we
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 said cave continents and Earth are the
00:08:31 --> 00:08:34 places that where um elevation increases
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 and they LED eventually to conditions
00:08:37 --> 00:08:41 for Life must be the same in on Venus so
00:08:41 --> 00:08:44 they are um above these plateaus these
00:08:44 --> 00:08:47 elevated areas they are um standing
00:08:47 --> 00:08:50 above the average radius of the planet
00:08:50 --> 00:08:51 because they must be lighter and if
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 they're lighter we have to find the
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 mechanism that creates them so we had a
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 lot of observation and a lot of work
00:08:57 --> 00:08:59 that was done interpreting those observ
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 ation but so far we never had a forward
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 model so a model that starts with the
00:09:03 --> 00:09:06 fundamental principle of principles of
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 physics the physics that we use in in
00:09:08 --> 00:09:10 geology and then eventually leads to the
00:09:10 --> 00:09:12 formation of these plau So eventually we
00:09:12 --> 00:09:13 we came to the conclusion that yes we
00:09:13 --> 00:09:16 don't have ocean here we don't have btic
00:09:16 --> 00:09:18 crust but those areas they have a thick
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 lighter crust formed in the same way of
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 crons and eventually they pop up so
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 cratons is it yeah yeah yeah besides as
00:09:25 --> 00:09:27 I say we have to change name because we
00:09:27 --> 00:09:30 call those on venous P but PL on this
00:09:30 --> 00:09:32 planet are places like Tibet so we
00:09:32 --> 00:09:36 probably should call it rather plau
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 is there are some features on the
00:09:38 --> 00:09:40 surface of Venus that we just don't see
00:09:40 --> 00:09:44 here on Earth no no um there's many many
00:09:44 --> 00:09:46 out there one of those it's volcanos
00:09:46 --> 00:09:48 that are incredibly taller on other
00:09:48 --> 00:09:53 planets than on on Earth um the same
00:09:53 --> 00:09:55 itself the same is Tera that's why it
00:09:55 --> 00:09:58 capture our attention is it is called
00:09:58 --> 00:10:01 the plateau but if you think about it
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 it's as tall as the Malaya as the the
00:10:04 --> 00:10:07 Tibet Tibetan Plateau has some bordering
00:10:07 --> 00:10:09 mountains that are as tall as the Malia
00:10:09 --> 00:10:12 and even taller so the Maxell mon
00:10:12 --> 00:10:14 reaches up to 13 kilometers as opposed
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 to the less than nine of the Malaya so
00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 you can imagine how tall it is and also
00:10:18 --> 00:10:21 the size of the the width of that um
00:10:21 --> 00:10:23 Plateau is essentially as big as
00:10:23 --> 00:10:26 Australia so it's we don't see such big
00:10:26 --> 00:10:29 incredibly big continents formed in the
00:10:29 --> 00:10:31 same way because also Australia is quite
00:10:31 --> 00:10:33 big doesn't have the topography and
00:10:33 --> 00:10:36 Australia is just a puzzle of different
00:10:36 --> 00:10:38 pieces so they all together like
00:10:38 --> 00:10:39 happened on Venus where do you take this
00:10:39 --> 00:10:42 research to now this research we do in
00:10:42 --> 00:10:44 the evolution of the planet compared to
00:10:44 --> 00:10:47 to the Earth has an obvious application
00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 if you consider that the evolution of
00:10:49 --> 00:10:51 our planet led to the condition for life
00:10:51 --> 00:10:53 the way we understand whether there is
00:10:53 --> 00:10:55 life on other planets is essentially
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 looking at their tonic Evolution that's
00:10:57 --> 00:11:00 associate professor Fabio Tano from
00:11:00 --> 00:11:04 Mones University and this SpaceTime
00:11:04 --> 00:11:06 still to come a proportion Glitz aboard
00:11:06 --> 00:11:08 the Bey clumber spacecraft and the
00:11:08 --> 00:11:11 European Space Agency Sentinel 2C
00:11:11 --> 00:11:13 spacecraft joins the kernus family in
00:11:13 --> 00:11:16 orbit all that and more still to come on
00:11:16 --> 00:11:21 SpaceTime
00:11:21 --> 00:11:30 [Music]
00:11:33 --> 00:11:35 Mission managers on the Bey columus
00:11:35 --> 00:11:37 spacecraft are working to resolve a
00:11:37 --> 00:11:38 problem which has been affecting the
00:11:38 --> 00:11:41 spacecraft's thrusters the issue is
00:11:41 --> 00:11:42 preventing the thrusters aboard the
00:11:42 --> 00:11:44 joint European Space Agency Japan
00:11:44 --> 00:11:47 Aerospace Exploration Agency probe from
00:11:47 --> 00:11:50 operating at full thrust Bey Columbo is
00:11:50 --> 00:11:53 a three-part spacecraft it consists of
00:11:53 --> 00:11:55 two science orbiters EA's Mercury
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 planetary Orbiter and jaxon's Mercury
00:11:57 --> 00:11:59 magnetospheric Orbiter
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 as well as a cruise and propulsion stage
00:12:02 --> 00:12:05 known as the Mercury transfer module the
00:12:05 --> 00:12:06 two scientific vehicles are designed to
00:12:06 --> 00:12:08 separate from one another during Mercury
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 orbit insertion allowing them to
00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 investigate different aspects of the
00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 planet from different orbits the solar
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 arrays and electrical propulsion systems
00:12:17 --> 00:12:19 on the Mercury transfer module are used
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 to generate thrust during the
00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 spacecraft's complex Journey from Earth
00:12:23 --> 00:12:25 to the nearest rock to the sun however
00:12:25 --> 00:12:28 on April the 26th as Bey Columbo Was
00:12:28 --> 00:12:30 preparing to begin its next orbital
00:12:30 --> 00:12:32 maneuver the transfer module failed to
00:12:32 --> 00:12:34 deliver enough electrical power to the
00:12:34 --> 00:12:37 spacecraft's iron propulsion thrusters
00:12:37 --> 00:12:39 eventually Engineers identified
00:12:39 --> 00:12:41 unexpected electrical currents between
00:12:41 --> 00:12:43 the Mercury transfer module solar arrays
00:12:43 --> 00:12:45 and the units responsible for extracting
00:12:45 --> 00:12:46 power and then Distributing it to the
00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 rest of the spacecraft technicians were
00:12:49 --> 00:12:52 able to restore about 90% of That Power
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54 by May the 7th but they failed to
00:12:54 --> 00:12:57 achieve full thrust Mission managers
00:12:57 --> 00:12:59 have now developed a workaround to
00:12:59 --> 00:13:00 account for the spacecraft's reduced
00:13:00 --> 00:13:03 power the new trajectory maintains the
00:13:03 --> 00:13:06 Baseline scientific Mission but allows
00:13:06 --> 00:13:08 the spacecraft to use lower thrust
00:13:08 --> 00:13:09 settings during the cruise phase of the
00:13:09 --> 00:13:12 mission with this new trajectory Bey
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 Columbo is now expected to arrive at
00:13:14 --> 00:13:15 mercury in November
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 2026 that's 13 months later than
00:13:18 --> 00:13:21 originally expected the Bey Columbo
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 flight control team's current priorities
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 are to maintain stable spacecraft
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 propulsion at the currently available
00:13:27 --> 00:13:29 power level and to the determine how
00:13:29 --> 00:13:32 this will affect future operations the
00:13:32 --> 00:13:34 good news is Bey Columbo did arrive at
00:13:34 --> 00:13:36 mercury in time for its fourth gravity
00:13:36 --> 00:13:39 assist flyby around the planet last week
00:13:39 --> 00:13:42 swooping down at just 165 km above the
00:13:42 --> 00:13:45 mercurian surface the close encounter
00:13:45 --> 00:13:47 took beby Columbo closer to Mercury than
00:13:47 --> 00:13:50 it's ever been before in the process
00:13:50 --> 00:13:51 reducing the spacecraft's speed and
00:13:52 --> 00:13:54 changing its direction it also gave
00:13:54 --> 00:13:56 Mission managers a chance to snap some
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 amazing images of the planet and
00:13:58 --> 00:13:59 fine-tune some science instrument
00:13:59 --> 00:14:01 operations before the main mission
00:14:01 --> 00:14:04 begins beepy Columbo was launched in
00:14:04 --> 00:14:07 October 2018 it's on a trajectory that
00:14:07 --> 00:14:10 makes use of nine planetary flybys these
00:14:10 --> 00:14:13 include one of the earth two of Venus
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 and six of planet Mercury itself these
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 are all needed to help steer the probe
00:14:18 --> 00:14:20 into orbit around the planet Bey
00:14:20 --> 00:14:22 Columbo's fifth Mercury flyby will occur
00:14:22 --> 00:14:25 in December followed by a sixth in
00:14:25 --> 00:14:27 January after that the probe should be
00:14:27 --> 00:14:29 able to achieve Mercury orbiting
00:14:29 --> 00:14:31 insertion the planet Mercury is the
00:14:31 --> 00:14:34 least explored planet in the inner solar
00:14:34 --> 00:14:36 system that's mainly because getting
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 there is a real challenge see as a
00:14:38 --> 00:14:40 spacecraft gets closer to the Sun the
00:14:40 --> 00:14:42 powerful gravitational pull of our local
00:14:42 --> 00:14:45 star tends to accelerate that spacecraft
00:14:45 --> 00:14:47 towards it now add to that the fact that
00:14:47 --> 00:14:49 any spacecraft launched from Earth
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 already has lots of energy needed to
00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 escape Earth's gravity it winds up
00:14:53 --> 00:14:55 traveling much too quickly to be
00:14:55 --> 00:14:57 captured in orbit around little mercury
00:14:57 --> 00:15:00 by itself to over overcome these hurdles
00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 would be enormously difficult using just
00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 onboard thrusters so Bey Columbo also
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 makes use of gravity assist flybys these
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 help it lose energy and slow down enough
00:15:11 --> 00:15:13 to eventually be captured by Mercury's
00:15:13 --> 00:15:16 gravity and enter orbit 10 of Bey
00:15:16 --> 00:15:18 Columbo's 16 science instruments were
00:15:18 --> 00:15:21 operational during last week's flyby
00:15:21 --> 00:15:23 that gave scientists a chance to taste
00:15:23 --> 00:15:25 the sort of discoveries they can expect
00:15:25 --> 00:15:27 to make once the main mission begins
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 magnetic plasma and particle monitoring
00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 instrument sample the environment before
00:15:32 --> 00:15:35 during and after the closest approach
00:15:35 --> 00:15:36 other instruments couldn't be operated
00:15:36 --> 00:15:38 because the fields of view were blocked
00:15:38 --> 00:15:41 by the Mercury transfer module testing
00:15:41 --> 00:15:42 out the instruments during flybys
00:15:43 --> 00:15:44 provides a valuable opportunity for
00:15:44 --> 00:15:46 science teams to check their instruments
00:15:46 --> 00:15:48 make sure they're functioning properly
00:15:48 --> 00:15:49 and that they've been calibrated
00:15:49 --> 00:15:52 correctly for the main mission now sadly
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 Bey Columbo's main science camera will
00:15:54 --> 00:15:56 be shielded until the eer and jaxa
00:15:56 --> 00:15:59 orbiters separate but during the flybys
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 images have been taken using three
00:16:01 --> 00:16:03 monitoring cameras on the Mercury
00:16:03 --> 00:16:05 transfer vehicle these are providing
00:16:06 --> 00:16:08 black and white snapshots the cameras
00:16:08 --> 00:16:10 are actually designed to monitor the
00:16:10 --> 00:16:12 spacecraft solar arrays its antenna and
00:16:12 --> 00:16:15 its magnetometer boom especially during
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 the challenging period after launch last
00:16:17 --> 00:16:19 week's fly Bay was also the first to
00:16:19 --> 00:16:22 take beepy clumber over Mercury's poles
00:16:22 --> 00:16:23 hoping to adjust the spacecraft's
00:16:23 --> 00:16:25 trajectory to match that of mercury
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 which is inclined compared to the
00:16:27 --> 00:16:29 Earth's orbit the image is include the
00:16:29 --> 00:16:31 first ever stunning views of the planet
00:16:31 --> 00:16:34 South Pole others reveal large craters
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 wrinkle ridges and lava planes all of
00:16:36 --> 00:16:38 which are hoping scientists better
00:16:38 --> 00:16:40 unlock the secrets of Mercury's 4.6
00:16:40 --> 00:16:43 billion year history and its place in
00:16:43 --> 00:16:46 the evolution of our solar system this
00:16:46 --> 00:16:51 report from E
00:16:51 --> 00:16:55 TV the Bey Columbo mission to Mercury is
00:16:55 --> 00:17:00 off to a successful start
00:17:00 --> 00:17:02 within hours of launching from the
00:17:02 --> 00:17:05 European Spaceport in French Guana the
00:17:05 --> 00:17:08 spacecraft had unfilled its antennas and
00:17:08 --> 00:17:13 two 15 M solar arrays monitoring cameras
00:17:13 --> 00:17:15 even took some selfies showing one of
00:17:15 --> 00:17:18 the solar panels and two
00:17:18 --> 00:17:21 antennas a few days later the spacecraft
00:17:21 --> 00:17:24 deployed a 3 m boom containing sensors
00:17:24 --> 00:17:27 to record magnetic fields images from
00:17:27 --> 00:17:30 the NASA passenger Mission are the best
00:17:30 --> 00:17:33 we have of mercury it has highlands and
00:17:33 --> 00:17:36 lowlands like other planets but unlike
00:17:36 --> 00:17:40 Earth Mercury rotates on an axis
00:17:40 --> 00:17:43 perpendicular to its orbit due to the
00:17:43 --> 00:17:45 fact that mercury is not tilted there
00:17:45 --> 00:17:48 are some craters on the poles uh where
00:17:48 --> 00:17:52 the Sun never shines into it and uh on
00:17:52 --> 00:17:55 inside these craters messenger found
00:17:55 --> 00:17:58 water ice it was detected even earlier
00:17:58 --> 00:17:59 in the
00:17:59 --> 00:18:01 from ground that there were rather
00:18:01 --> 00:18:03 bright spots and there were some hints
00:18:03 --> 00:18:06 that it might be water ice but now from
00:18:06 --> 00:18:08 messenger we are pretty sure that we
00:18:08 --> 00:18:12 have water ice in craters and that's a
00:18:12 --> 00:18:14 pretty much surprising think about if
00:18:14 --> 00:18:17 you have a planet on the surface 450°
00:18:17 --> 00:18:19 and then you have water ice at the poles
00:18:19 --> 00:18:21 it's kind of
00:18:21 --> 00:18:23 unbelievable fortunately there's an
00:18:23 --> 00:18:26 instrument on board called mertis which
00:18:26 --> 00:18:27 can measure the surface temperature
00:18:28 --> 00:18:30 directly to see if it's cold enough for
00:18:30 --> 00:18:33 water ice knowing the makeup of the
00:18:33 --> 00:18:37 planet's dark surface is also important
00:18:37 --> 00:18:41 a team at DLR the German space agency
00:18:41 --> 00:18:44 have built a special chamber to heat up
00:18:44 --> 00:18:47 samples to examine how they behave at
00:18:47 --> 00:18:49 high temperatures these can then be
00:18:49 --> 00:18:52 compared with what will be found on the
00:18:52 --> 00:18:55 planet planetary scientists are unsure
00:18:55 --> 00:18:58 how it Formed it could have originated
00:18:58 --> 00:19:01 Beyond Mars with an impact pushing it
00:19:01 --> 00:19:03 closer to the Sun or it could have
00:19:03 --> 00:19:06 formed at lower temperatures in its
00:19:06 --> 00:19:09 current position if so current
00:19:09 --> 00:19:12 theoretical models will need a rethink
00:19:12 --> 00:19:14 and one of the things why I like working
00:19:14 --> 00:19:18 on Mercury is uh we need to understand
00:19:18 --> 00:19:19 mercury in order to understand how
00:19:19 --> 00:19:22 planets form uh if we have a model that
00:19:22 --> 00:19:25 forms all planets but not Mercury that
00:19:25 --> 00:19:27 model is basically useless because you
00:19:27 --> 00:19:29 need to get that one as well
00:19:29 --> 00:19:32 NASA's messenger Mission did a great job
00:19:32 --> 00:19:36 but Bey Columbo consists of two orbiters
00:19:36 --> 00:19:39 using compliment orbits with more
00:19:39 --> 00:19:42 combined instruments plus unlike
00:19:42 --> 00:19:45 messenger it will obtain high resolution
00:19:45 --> 00:19:49 images of the entire planet the planet
00:19:49 --> 00:19:52 is also shrinking in size possibly due
00:19:52 --> 00:19:54 to cooling plus there may be active
00:19:54 --> 00:19:58 volcanoes so there is much more to learn
00:19:58 --> 00:20:01 Mercury is a very mysterious planet
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03 every time we went there we found new
00:20:04 --> 00:20:07 surprising results and uh that is the
00:20:07 --> 00:20:09 reason why we do bey Colo and we hope
00:20:09 --> 00:20:11 with Bey colbo on one hand we are able
00:20:11 --> 00:20:14 to answer many of this new question but
00:20:14 --> 00:20:17 I'm pretty sure we found a lot of new
00:20:17 --> 00:20:21 surprising results which raise new and
00:20:21 --> 00:20:23 other questions which we then need to
00:20:23 --> 00:20:26 follow up and in that report from Isa TV
00:20:26 --> 00:20:28 we heard from baby Columbo Isa project s
00:20:28 --> 00:20:31 Johannes benov and DLR planetary
00:20:31 --> 00:20:36 scientist yon hbert this SpaceTime still
00:20:36 --> 00:20:39 to come Sentinel 2C joins the cernus
00:20:39 --> 00:20:41 family in orbit following a successful
00:20:41 --> 00:20:43 liftoff and later in the science report
00:20:43 --> 00:20:46 a new Mega study confirms what we've
00:20:46 --> 00:20:48 been telling you for years cell phones
00:20:48 --> 00:20:51 don't cause brain cancer all that and
00:20:51 --> 00:20:58 more still to come on SpaceTime
00:20:58 --> 00:21:09 [Music]
00:21:09 --> 00:21:11 the third European Space Agency Sentinel
00:21:12 --> 00:21:13 2 satellite has been successfully
00:21:14 --> 00:21:16 launched into orbit the flight was
00:21:16 --> 00:21:18 aboard the very last Vega rocket from
00:21:18 --> 00:21:21 the European space agency's c Spaceport
00:21:21 --> 00:21:23 in French Guana we have a fixed launch
00:21:23 --> 00:21:25 time today we don't have a launch window
00:21:25 --> 00:21:27 we're live at the European Spaceport in
00:21:27 --> 00:21:30 French Guana the launch of Sentinel 2C
00:21:30 --> 00:21:32 our very best wishes to all the teams go
00:21:32 --> 00:21:41 Sentinel
00:21:41 --> 00:21:44 [Music]
00:21:44 --> 00:21:48 2C they're off Sentinel 2C and Vega are
00:21:48 --> 00:21:50 blazing a trail across the equatorial
00:21:50 --> 00:21:53 Skies here over Europe's Spaceport in
00:21:53 --> 00:21:56 French Guana heading north out over the
00:21:56 --> 00:21:58 Atlantic towards the Caribbean island
00:21:58 --> 00:22:01 burning the first three stages the first
00:22:01 --> 00:22:03 stage of course burning now getting us
00:22:03 --> 00:22:06 away from the gravity of the earth Vega
00:22:06 --> 00:22:08 really shoots into the sky Daman doesn't
00:22:08 --> 00:22:10 she yeah it does it does and we could
00:22:10 --> 00:22:12 feel the rumble tumble here in the
00:22:12 --> 00:22:15 commentary cabin so the p80 deliver is a
00:22:15 --> 00:22:18 powerful TR strust about 230 tons
00:22:18 --> 00:22:20 equivalent to twice twice its weight it
00:22:20 --> 00:22:22 just results in a very rapid
00:22:22 --> 00:22:24 acceleration so the first stage its mass
00:22:24 --> 00:22:27 in propolin is 89 tons and it is made of
00:22:27 --> 00:22:30 a special material called filament W
00:22:30 --> 00:22:33 carbon epoxy and separation there of the
00:22:33 --> 00:22:38 p80 first stage and switch on of the
00:22:38 --> 00:22:40 second stage the
00:22:40 --> 00:22:43 z23 so at this point in time we've lost
00:22:43 --> 00:22:45 about 2/3 of our weight and we're
00:22:45 --> 00:22:48 hearing that the propulsion is nominal
00:22:48 --> 00:22:50 and the trajectory is nominal and of
00:22:50 --> 00:22:51 course the idea is to get rid of mass
00:22:51 --> 00:22:53 when it's no longer needed as soon as
00:22:53 --> 00:22:56 each solid stage has used its propellent
00:22:56 --> 00:22:58 yes we jet in it uh so that's why split
00:22:58 --> 00:23:01 a rocket into different stages to avoid
00:23:01 --> 00:23:03 dragging unnecessary Mass into space and
00:23:03 --> 00:23:07 we're burning the z23 3 second stage Z
00:23:07 --> 00:23:10 for zapiro which is a type of wind a
00:23:10 --> 00:23:12 gentle and favorable West Wind it is
00:23:12 --> 00:23:15 often associated with ringing spread and
00:23:15 --> 00:23:16 good weather it very much aligns with
00:23:17 --> 00:23:19 the goal of the VGA launcher which aims
00:23:19 --> 00:23:21 at providing reliable and efficient
00:23:21 --> 00:23:24 access to space so Kat it's a poetic
00:23:24 --> 00:23:26 note to the idea of a smooth and
00:23:26 --> 00:23:28 successful journey and uh we're getting
00:23:28 --> 00:23:29 news are that the end of the coming
00:23:30 --> 00:23:32 towards the end of the burning of the
00:23:32 --> 00:23:36 z23 are altitude 113 km above the Earth
00:23:36 --> 00:23:39 traveling at nearly 4 km/ second SE
00:23:39 --> 00:23:43 separation there of the second stage and
00:23:43 --> 00:23:45 there's a a short delay before we then
00:23:45 --> 00:23:47 get the ignition of the third stage
00:23:47 --> 00:23:49 that's to avoid any collisions up in
00:23:49 --> 00:23:51 space and we have separation now of the
00:23:51 --> 00:23:53 fairing that's been jettisoned we don't
00:23:53 --> 00:23:56 need it anymore and we've got the switch
00:23:56 --> 00:23:58 on time now this is the scheduled moment
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00 to to switch on the engine of the aam
00:24:00 --> 00:24:03 upper stage we have that confirmed this
00:24:03 --> 00:24:06 is an important moment actually in the
00:24:06 --> 00:24:07 flight trajectory is nominal we're
00:24:07 --> 00:24:09 hearing we've really started the next
00:24:09 --> 00:24:11 phase now of this part of the journey
00:24:11 --> 00:24:14 because the aoom or aam has taken the
00:24:14 --> 00:24:16 wheel and its job is to deliver our
00:24:16 --> 00:24:19 passenger to its required orbit yeah
00:24:19 --> 00:24:22 we've confirmation
00:24:22 --> 00:24:26 yeah we have a switch on of the second
00:24:26 --> 00:24:29 boost for the aam upper stage it
00:24:29 --> 00:24:31 switched its engine on
00:24:31 --> 00:24:34 again all going according to plan all
00:24:34 --> 00:24:39 nominal coming up now on aam cut
00:24:39 --> 00:24:41 off and we have confirmation there
00:24:41 --> 00:24:44 second switching off of the aam upper
00:24:44 --> 00:24:46 stage confirmed we're on the targeted
00:24:46 --> 00:24:49 injection orbit required for Sentinel 2C
00:24:49 --> 00:24:50 the separation actually is going to
00:24:50 --> 00:24:53 start pretty soon now seconds and he's
00:24:53 --> 00:24:56 telling us that the orbit is completely
00:24:56 --> 00:25:00 nominal
00:25:00 --> 00:25:02 beginning of the orientation maneuver
00:25:02 --> 00:25:06 getting Sentinel 2C ready to be released
00:25:06 --> 00:25:08 onto its
00:25:08 --> 00:25:11 orbit we have separation there of
00:25:11 --> 00:25:14 Sentinel 2C that's good news we are
00:25:14 --> 00:25:18 looking at happy faces in the mission
00:25:18 --> 00:25:20 control center here Jupiter Mission
00:25:20 --> 00:25:23 Control Center Sentinel 2C will provide
00:25:23 --> 00:25:25 high resolution data as part of the
00:25:25 --> 00:25:28 cernus earth observation program monitor
00:25:28 --> 00:25:30 ing climate change and environmental
00:25:30 --> 00:25:32 challenges globally it'll ensure the
00:25:32 --> 00:25:35 continuity of vital data in support of
00:25:35 --> 00:25:37 agricultural forestry Maritime and
00:25:37 --> 00:25:40 pollution monitoring two previous
00:25:40 --> 00:25:42 Sentinel 2 satellites Sentinel 2A and
00:25:42 --> 00:25:45 Sentinel 2B were launched back in 2015
00:25:45 --> 00:25:48 and 2017 respectively both using Vega
00:25:48 --> 00:25:51 Rockets Sentinel 2C marked the final
00:25:51 --> 00:25:54 liftoff for the Vega rocket all future
00:25:54 --> 00:25:56 Vega launchers will now use the new
00:25:56 --> 00:25:58 upgraded Vega C
00:25:58 --> 00:26:01 The capern Sentinel 2 mission provides
00:26:01 --> 00:26:03 highresolution Optical imagery for land
00:26:03 --> 00:26:05 water and Atmospheric monitoring the
00:26:06 --> 00:26:07 mission is based on a constellation of
00:26:07 --> 00:26:09 two identical satellites flying in the
00:26:09 --> 00:26:13 same orbit 180° apart now currently
00:26:13 --> 00:26:16 they're Sentinel 2A and Sentinel 2B
00:26:16 --> 00:26:18 together they cover the entire planet's
00:26:18 --> 00:26:21 land and Coastal Waters every 5 days
00:26:21 --> 00:26:24 with Sentinel 2C now in orbit it'll soon
00:26:24 --> 00:26:26 replace its predecessor Sentinel 2A
00:26:26 --> 00:26:28 following a brief period of Tandem OB
00:26:28 --> 00:26:30 obervations eventually a fourth
00:26:30 --> 00:26:32 satellite Sentinel 2D will be launched
00:26:32 --> 00:26:36 to take over from Sentinel 2B later it's
00:26:36 --> 00:26:38 plan that the Sentinel 2 Next Generation
00:26:38 --> 00:26:40 Mission will ensure data continuity
00:26:40 --> 00:26:41 Beyond
00:26:41 --> 00:26:44 2035 the current Sentinel 2 satellites
00:26:44 --> 00:26:46 each carry a high resolution
00:26:46 --> 00:26:48 multispectral imager which generates
00:26:48 --> 00:26:50 Optical images in the visible near
00:26:50 --> 00:26:52 infrared and short wave infrared part of
00:26:52 --> 00:26:55 the electromagnetic spectrum from their
00:26:55 --> 00:26:58 786 km High orbit they provide
00:26:58 --> 00:27:00 continuous imagery in 13 spectral bands
00:27:01 --> 00:27:04 with resolutions of 10 m 20 M and 60 M
00:27:04 --> 00:27:09 and a wide survey width of 290 km
00:27:09 --> 00:27:11 Sentinel 2 Data is currently being used
00:27:11 --> 00:27:13 for agriculture water quality monitoring
00:27:13 --> 00:27:15 and natural disaster management
00:27:15 --> 00:27:17 including wildfires volcanic eruptions
00:27:18 --> 00:27:20 and floods the mission's already
00:27:20 --> 00:27:22 surpassed its original Expectations by
00:27:22 --> 00:27:24 demonstrating its ability to detect
00:27:24 --> 00:27:27 emissions of the greenhouse gas methane
00:27:27 --> 00:27:28 for agriculture the Mission helps
00:27:28 --> 00:27:30 monitor crop Health it predicts yield
00:27:30 --> 00:27:33 outcome and it enables Precision farming
00:27:33 --> 00:27:35 the images are being used to detect crop
00:27:35 --> 00:27:37 type and to determine biophysical
00:27:37 --> 00:27:40 variabilities such as Leaf area Leaf
00:27:40 --> 00:27:42 chlorophyll content and water content in
00:27:42 --> 00:27:45 order to monitor plant growth and health
00:27:45 --> 00:27:49 this report from ACV Sentinel 2 is based
00:27:49 --> 00:27:51 on a constellation of two identical
00:27:51 --> 00:27:55 satellites Sentinel 2 a and Sentinel
00:27:55 --> 00:27:58 2B they both fly in the same orbit but
00:27:58 --> 00:28:02 apart to optimize coverage and revisit
00:28:02 --> 00:28:04 time the satellites carry a
00:28:04 --> 00:28:07 highresolution multispectral imager and
00:28:07 --> 00:28:09 generate Optical images from the visible
00:28:09 --> 00:28:11 to the shortwave infrared region of the
00:28:11 --> 00:28:13 electromagnetic
00:28:13 --> 00:28:15 spectrum the constellation was
00:28:15 --> 00:28:17 originally designed to monitor land
00:28:17 --> 00:28:20 surfaces but its scope has since
00:28:20 --> 00:28:24 expanded it now covers a wide range of
00:28:24 --> 00:28:26 applications this includes land cover
00:28:26 --> 00:28:29 changes like deforestation station
00:28:29 --> 00:28:31 agricultural monitoring and mapping
00:28:31 --> 00:28:33 variables like Leaf chlorophyll Leaf
00:28:33 --> 00:28:36 area index and water
00:28:36 --> 00:28:39 content it also monitors water quality
00:28:39 --> 00:28:42 changes in water bodies and Coastal
00:28:42 --> 00:28:44 erosion it has witnessed icebergs
00:28:44 --> 00:28:47 breaking glaciers retreating ice sheets
00:28:47 --> 00:28:50 melting changes in sea ice and
00:28:50 --> 00:28:52 variations in snow
00:28:52 --> 00:28:55 cover it has even spotted penguin poo
00:28:55 --> 00:28:59 from space helping monitor EMP penguin
00:28:59 --> 00:29:02 colonies Sentinel 2 has also proved
00:29:02 --> 00:29:04 useful in monitoring natural disasters
00:29:04 --> 00:29:08 like wildfires earthquakes volcanic
00:29:08 --> 00:29:11 eruptions floods and
00:29:11 --> 00:29:13 landslides these data feed into the
00:29:13 --> 00:29:16 Cernic's Emergency Management Services
00:29:16 --> 00:29:18 and the international disasters Charter
00:29:18 --> 00:29:21 providing essential imagery to support
00:29:21 --> 00:29:23 local
00:29:23 --> 00:29:26 teams The Sentinel 2 mission even went
00:29:26 --> 00:29:27 above and beyond its original
00:29:27 --> 00:29:29 expectations patients demonstrating its
00:29:29 --> 00:29:33 ability in detecting methane
00:29:33 --> 00:29:35 emissions Sentinel 2C will replace the
00:29:35 --> 00:29:38 Sentinel 2A unit prolonging the life of
00:29:38 --> 00:29:41 the Sentinel 2 mission and ensuring a
00:29:41 --> 00:29:44 continuous supply of data for cernus the
00:29:44 --> 00:29:47 Earth observation component of the EU
00:29:47 --> 00:29:52 space program this SpaceTime
00:29:52 --> 00:30:05 [Music]
00:30:05 --> 00:30:07 and time now to take a brief look at
00:30:07 --> 00:30:08 some of the other stories making news in
00:30:08 --> 00:30:11 science this week with a science report
00:30:11 --> 00:30:13 a World Health Organization commission
00:30:13 --> 00:30:15 systematic review of the potential
00:30:15 --> 00:30:18 health effects of radio web exposure has
00:30:18 --> 00:30:20 found that cell phones are not linked to
00:30:20 --> 00:30:23 any head cancers the findings reported
00:30:23 --> 00:30:25 in the journal environmental
00:30:25 --> 00:30:27 International looked at over 5
00:30:27 --> 00:30:31 individual ual studies of these 63 which
00:30:31 --> 00:30:34 were published between 1994 and 2022
00:30:34 --> 00:30:36 were included in the final analysis
00:30:37 --> 00:30:38 scientists found that although the use
00:30:38 --> 00:30:40 of Wireless technology has massively
00:30:40 --> 00:30:42 increased in the last 20 years there's
00:30:42 --> 00:30:44 been no increase in the incidence of
00:30:44 --> 00:30:47 brain cancers the study was led by
00:30:47 --> 00:30:49 experts from apanza the Australian
00:30:49 --> 00:30:53 radiation protection and nuclear safety
00:30:53 --> 00:30:55 agency a new study claims that more than
00:30:55 --> 00:30:57 a third of the world's fish species
00:30:58 --> 00:30:59 never received an Extinction threat
00:30:59 --> 00:31:01 classification simply because scientists
00:31:01 --> 00:31:04 don't know enough about them now
00:31:04 --> 00:31:05 researchers are using artificial
00:31:05 --> 00:31:07 intelligence to try and predict which of
00:31:07 --> 00:31:09 these thousands of data deficient
00:31:09 --> 00:31:12 species are most at risk a report of the
00:31:12 --> 00:31:14 journal plus one quintuples the number
00:31:14 --> 00:31:16 of species in the threatened category
00:31:16 --> 00:31:18 with Australia's West Coast and many
00:31:18 --> 00:31:21 Pacific Islands being hotpots for the
00:31:21 --> 00:31:23 need for
00:31:23 --> 00:31:25 protection paleontologists have
00:31:25 --> 00:31:27 described the new species of dinosaur
00:31:27 --> 00:31:29 which roam the Iberian Peninsula 75
00:31:29 --> 00:31:32 million years ago fossils of the 6 M
00:31:32 --> 00:31:34 tall Quin Cur penquin estra were
00:31:34 --> 00:31:36 discovered during construction works on
00:31:36 --> 00:31:38 one of Spain's many new High-Speed Rail
00:31:38 --> 00:31:41 lines a report in the journal
00:31:41 --> 00:31:43 Communications biology claims the lake
00:31:43 --> 00:31:45 Cretaceous aeropod is one of the most
00:31:45 --> 00:31:48 complete skeletons ever found in Europe
00:31:48 --> 00:31:50 including cervical dorsal and cordal
00:31:50 --> 00:31:52 vertebrae as well as part of the pelvic
00:31:52 --> 00:31:56 GLE and even elements of the limbs cpods
00:31:56 --> 00:31:58 are those large herbivore dinosaur s
00:31:58 --> 00:31:59 similar in appearance to Fred
00:31:59 --> 00:32:02 Flintstone's pet Dino they have large
00:32:02 --> 00:32:04 elephant-like bodies and legs a long
00:32:04 --> 00:32:06 tail at one end and a long neck and
00:32:06 --> 00:32:09 small head at the
00:32:09 --> 00:32:11 other well it sounds like something out
00:32:11 --> 00:32:13 of the X Files but a group of scientists
00:32:13 --> 00:32:16 is seriously proposing that some UFO
00:32:16 --> 00:32:18 sightings could be a secretive
00:32:18 --> 00:32:20 population of advanced dinosaur humanoid
00:32:20 --> 00:32:23 beings that evolved from
00:32:23 --> 00:32:25 Velociraptors because of their large
00:32:25 --> 00:32:27 brains senior paleontologists have long
00:32:27 --> 00:32:29 spec C at that had the warm blood of
00:32:29 --> 00:32:31 velociraptor survived the extinction of
00:32:31 --> 00:32:34 non-avian dinosaurs 66 million years ago
00:32:34 --> 00:32:36 mammals might still be shrew likee
00:32:36 --> 00:32:39 creatures scouring around the forest
00:32:39 --> 00:32:41 floors you see the size of velocir
00:32:41 --> 00:32:43 Raptor's brain in proportion to its body
00:32:43 --> 00:32:46 is relatively High especially compared
00:32:46 --> 00:32:47 to most other reptiles including most
00:32:47 --> 00:32:50 other dinosaurs so it seems likely it
00:32:50 --> 00:32:53 was comparatively clever and that raises
00:32:53 --> 00:32:55 the possibility that had they survived
00:32:55 --> 00:32:57 they might have eventually evolved into
00:32:57 --> 00:32:59 a species of intelligent humanoids
00:33:00 --> 00:33:02 filling the same ecological niche as
00:33:02 --> 00:33:05 Homo Sapien does today this so-called
00:33:05 --> 00:33:08 dinosauroid was a serious hypothetical
00:33:08 --> 00:33:10 study based on the evolution of homo
00:33:10 --> 00:33:12 sapiens looking at what Theon chaurus
00:33:12 --> 00:33:15 Raptors might have eventually become had
00:33:15 --> 00:33:17 they continued to evolve until the
00:33:17 --> 00:33:19 present day with a larger brain they
00:33:19 --> 00:33:21 would have had a shorter neck and a more
00:33:21 --> 00:33:23 upright posture that would have been
00:33:23 --> 00:33:26 arrived as a way to better balance the
00:33:26 --> 00:33:28 head more efficiently the vertical
00:33:28 --> 00:33:30 posture would also have removed the need
00:33:30 --> 00:33:32 for a tail the legs were modified simply
00:33:32 --> 00:33:34 by lowering the ankle to the ground and
00:33:34 --> 00:33:37 the foot was lengthened but of course
00:33:37 --> 00:33:39 all that's just a thought experiment the
00:33:39 --> 00:33:41 KT boundary event asteroid impact at
00:33:41 --> 00:33:44 chickalo in the Yucatan Peninsula put an
00:33:44 --> 00:33:48 end to that line of evolution or did it
00:33:48 --> 00:33:49 the new hypothesis by scientists from
00:33:50 --> 00:33:52 Harvard University speculates that some
00:33:52 --> 00:33:54 unexplained UFO sightings could actually
00:33:54 --> 00:33:57 be signs that these creatures are here
00:33:57 --> 00:33:59 but as Tim mendum from australi Skeptics
00:33:59 --> 00:34:01 points out the only thing lacking is any
00:34:01 --> 00:34:03 kind of evidence there's a story that
00:34:03 --> 00:34:05 popped out recently about a recent paper
00:34:05 --> 00:34:08 from a team of researchers at Harvard
00:34:08 --> 00:34:10 and Montana Technological University
00:34:10 --> 00:34:12 they speculate that sightings of
00:34:12 --> 00:34:15 unidentified anomalous phenomena UAP UFO
00:34:15 --> 00:34:17 that's call could indicate the presence
00:34:17 --> 00:34:20 of intelligent beings concealed on Earth
00:34:20 --> 00:34:23 such as underground which is the crypto
00:34:23 --> 00:34:25 terrestrials on the moon which
00:34:25 --> 00:34:26 technically speaking is not on the earth
00:34:26 --> 00:34:29 in the or walking Among Us disguised as
00:34:29 --> 00:34:30 humans now these are not particularly
00:34:30 --> 00:34:33 new ideas they talk about all sorts of
00:34:33 --> 00:34:34 things thrown up in this article
00:34:34 --> 00:34:35 obviously the hypothesis of hidden
00:34:35 --> 00:34:37 cryptoterrestrials underground
00:34:37 --> 00:34:39 underwater in places where we can't see
00:34:39 --> 00:34:41 them just pop out occasionally no
00:34:41 --> 00:34:42 evidence at all for it others are
00:34:42 --> 00:34:44 suggesting that these are intelligent
00:34:44 --> 00:34:46 species possibly evolving from
00:34:46 --> 00:34:47 intelligent dinosaurs which is an
00:34:47 --> 00:34:49 interesting thought these develop
00:34:49 --> 00:34:52 independently of homo sapiens but then
00:34:52 --> 00:34:53 they're hiding from us now that's why we
00:34:53 --> 00:34:55 don't know them because they're hiding
00:34:55 --> 00:34:57 sort of like big other yeah I don't
00:34:57 --> 00:34:59 intelligent they are but yeah people
00:34:59 --> 00:35:01 have suggested big thoughts an alien UFO
00:35:01 --> 00:35:04 sightings craft and other phenomena EG
00:35:04 --> 00:35:06 orbs appearing to enter and exit
00:35:06 --> 00:35:08 potential underground access points like
00:35:08 --> 00:35:10 volcano so they're coming in and out
00:35:10 --> 00:35:12 Hollow Earth and flying around and then
00:35:12 --> 00:35:13 flying back again to where they were
00:35:13 --> 00:35:15 just to Annoy Us and confuse us I don't
00:35:15 --> 00:35:17 know it all sounds like something RV
00:35:17 --> 00:35:19 lobe would write in a in a thesis it
00:35:19 --> 00:35:21 does sound like something he would do it
00:35:21 --> 00:35:22 also sounds like something every science
00:35:22 --> 00:35:23 fiction writer would do and remember
00:35:24 --> 00:35:26 this TV series called X or V or
00:35:26 --> 00:35:27 something which was about aliens walk
00:35:27 --> 00:35:29 amongst us so that's the other solution
00:35:29 --> 00:35:31 that they disguised as humans and they
00:35:31 --> 00:35:34 blend in with us you know so honestly
00:35:34 --> 00:35:36 you can find Harvard academics or any
00:35:36 --> 00:35:38 academics anywhere some academic will
00:35:38 --> 00:35:40 support some crazy Theory and I think
00:35:40 --> 00:35:42 this one is particularly crazy and we've
00:35:42 --> 00:35:43 seen a lot of that from Harvard in
00:35:43 --> 00:35:45 recent months so we've seen a lot of
00:35:45 --> 00:35:46 that from Harvard yeah so there's a lot
00:35:46 --> 00:35:48 of academics in Harvard right so you're
00:35:48 --> 00:35:50 B to have a variety of views I think so
00:35:50 --> 00:35:52 if you can run the gamut from you know
00:35:52 --> 00:35:54 one to the other not all views are of
00:35:54 --> 00:35:56 equal validity that's the point that's
00:35:56 --> 00:35:58 the problem and so you mentioned it came
00:35:58 --> 00:35:59 from Harvard which is a you
00:35:59 --> 00:36:01 distinguished University it and Columbia
00:36:01 --> 00:36:03 are pretty much down the bottom of the
00:36:03 --> 00:36:04 barrel now but they used to be
00:36:04 --> 00:36:06 distinguished and reputable at one stage
00:36:06 --> 00:36:08 yes and old certainly no substantiation
00:36:08 --> 00:36:10 no evidence all hypothesis all the
00:36:10 --> 00:36:12 conjecture and stuff that's been done by
00:36:12 --> 00:36:15 science fiction writers for decades so
00:36:15 --> 00:36:16 nothing particularly new to see here
00:36:16 --> 00:36:17 folks except that was coming from a
00:36:17 --> 00:36:20 university that's Tim mum from
00:36:20 --> 00:36:23 Australian Skeptics
00:36:23 --> 00:36:31 [Music]
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