Today on Astronomy Daily: NASA's Artemis II mission is rolling back to the Vehicle Assembly Building today after a helium flow issue dashed hopes of a March launch. We cover the latest on what went wrong, what it means for the April window, and what happens next. We also have five more stories to get through: Perseverance just gained the ability to locate itself on Mars with GPS-like precision — no Earth assistance required. Scientists have published a daring plan to intercept interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS using a solar slingshot manoeuvre, with a launch in 2035 and a 50-year journey to follow. China's mysterious Shenlong space plane is back in orbit on its fourth mission, and we still know almost nothing about it. We run through this week's packed launch schedule — including Rocket Lab's hypersonic scramjet test flight happening today, and Firefly Aerospace's return to flight on Friday. And we close with a genuinely beautiful piece of science: researchers have used supercomputers to solve a 50-year-old mystery about how elements move inside red giant stars. In This Episode 00:00 — Introduction 01:30 — Story 1: Artemis II rollback — the latest 05:30 — Story 2: Perseverance gets GPS on Mars 09:00 — Story 3: The 50-year mission to chase 3I/ATLAS 12:30 — Story 4: China's Shenlong space plane — Mission 4 15:00 — Story 5: This week's launch schedule 17:30 — Story 6: Supercomputers solve the red giant mystery 19:30 — Outro Find Us Website: astronomydaily.io Social: @AstroDailyPod Network: Bitesz.com Podcast Network
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily,
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 your daily guide to what's happening in
00:00:05 --> 00:00:07 space. I'm Anna.
00:00:07 --> 00:00:10 >> And I'm Avery. It is Tuesday, February
00:00:10 --> 00:00:14 24th, 2026, and we have a busy show for
00:00:14 --> 00:00:15 you today.
00:00:15 --> 00:00:17 >> We do. The big headline, the one
00:00:17 --> 00:00:19 everyone in the space community is
00:00:19 --> 00:00:22 talking about right now, is Artemis. And
00:00:22 --> 00:00:24 specifically, what is happening to that
00:00:24 --> 00:00:27 rocket at this very moment? Quite
00:00:27 --> 00:00:29 literally as we record this, the SLS
00:00:29 --> 00:00:32 rocket is making a very slow journey
00:00:32 --> 00:00:36 about 1 mph back to its garage. We have
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39 all the details on that. We also have a
00:00:39 --> 00:00:41 genuinely exciting story from Mars, a
00:00:42 --> 00:00:43 wild mission concept to chase an
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 interstellar comet. China's mystery
00:00:46 --> 00:00:49 space plane is back in orbit. And we
00:00:49 --> 00:00:51 wrap up with some beautiful red giant
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 science that solves a mystery that's
00:00:53 --> 00:00:55 been bugging astronomers since the
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57 1970s.
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 >> Plus, we run through this week's launch
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 schedule, and it is surprisingly busy
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 despite all the Aremis drama. Let's get
00:01:04 --> 00:01:05 into it.
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 >> So, Avery, let's start with Artemis
00:01:07 --> 00:01:09 because this is a story that has taken
00:01:09 --> 00:01:12 yet another dramatic turn. Honestly,
00:01:12 --> 00:01:14 Anna, this one stings a little because
00:01:14 --> 00:01:16 just last week we were watching a really
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 successful second wet dress rehearsal
00:01:18 --> 00:01:21 and NASA was talking about March 6th as
00:01:21 --> 00:01:23 a real launch date. Things were looking
00:01:23 --> 00:01:24 good.
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 >> And then Saturday happened
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 >> and then Saturday happened. Overnight on
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 February 21st, engineers noticed
00:01:30 --> 00:01:33 something concerning, an interruption in
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 the flow of helium to the rocket's upper
00:01:35 --> 00:01:37 stage, specifically the interim
00:01:37 --> 00:01:41 cryogenic propulsion stage or ICPS.
00:01:41 --> 00:01:43 And just to be clear for listeners who
00:01:43 --> 00:01:45 might be newer to the show, what does
00:01:45 --> 00:01:47 the ICPS actually do?
00:01:47 --> 00:01:50 >> Great question. The ICPS is the upper
00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 stage of the SLS rocket. It sits above
00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 the core stage and it's what fires to
00:01:55 --> 00:01:57 push Orion and the crew on their trans
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 lunar trajectory toward the moon. It
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 uses helium internally to do two
00:02:02 --> 00:02:04 critical jobs. It maintains
00:02:04 --> 00:02:06 environmental conditions around its
00:02:06 --> 00:02:09 engine and it pressurizes the liquid
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant
00:02:11 --> 00:02:15 tanks. So helium is not optional. Helium
00:02:15 --> 00:02:16 is fundamental.
00:02:16 --> 00:02:18 >> And this helium flow issue appeared
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 after the wet dress rehearsal had
00:02:20 --> 00:02:23 completed, not during it, which makes it
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 particularly tricky to pin down.
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 >> Exactly. The WDR itself went smoothly.
00:02:28 --> 00:02:31 It was during reconfiguration afterward
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 that data showed the interruption. NASA
00:02:33 --> 00:02:35 administrator Jared Isaacman posted
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 about it on Saturday, saying the team
00:02:37 --> 00:02:40 was investigating three possible causes.
00:02:40 --> 00:02:42 A blocked filter between the vehicle and
00:02:42 --> 00:02:45 ground support equipment, a failed quick
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 disconnect umbilical interface, or a
00:02:47 --> 00:02:50 failed check valve on the vehicle,
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 similar to what caused delays on Artemis
00:02:52 --> 00:02:53 1.
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 >> And regardless of which of those three
00:02:55 --> 00:02:57 it turns out to be, the answer is the
00:02:57 --> 00:02:58 same.
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01 >> The answer is always the same. They have
00:03:01 --> 00:03:02 to go back to the vehicle assembly
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 building. You can't fix any of those
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 things on the launchpad. So NASA
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 confirmed a roll back and that roll back
00:03:09 --> 00:03:12 is happening today, February 24th. The
00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 SLS, Orion, and the whole stack are
00:03:15 --> 00:03:18 being loaded onto the crawler and making
00:03:18 --> 00:03:22 that 4.2 mile journey back to the VAB at
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 roughly 1 mph,
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 >> which takes several hours. It is not a
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 fast vehicle. It's not. The crawler
00:03:29 --> 00:03:32 itself weighs about 6 12 million pounds
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 unloaded and it's burning around 165
00:03:35 --> 00:03:38 gall of diesel per mile. It is an
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40 extraordinary piece of engineering in
00:03:40 --> 00:03:41 its own right.
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 >> So where does this leave the mission
00:03:43 --> 00:03:44 timeline?
00:03:44 --> 00:03:46 >> March is definitively off the table.
00:03:46 --> 00:03:49 Isaac man was very clear about that.
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 April is now the earliest possible
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 window and NASA has said that quick
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 action to get back to the VAB could
00:03:55 --> 00:03:57 still preserve April. A full media
00:03:57 --> 00:04:00 briefing is expected this week. The
00:04:00 --> 00:04:02 crew, commander Reed Weisman, pilot
00:04:02 --> 00:04:04 Victor Glover, mission specialist
00:04:04 --> 00:04:06 Christina Ko, and Canadian astronaut
00:04:06 --> 00:04:09 Jeremy Hansen had just entered
00:04:09 --> 00:04:10 quarantine and have now been released
00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 again. This would be their second exit
00:04:13 --> 00:04:14 from quarantine,
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 >> which tells you something about how hard
00:04:16 --> 00:04:19 this process has been. And this is still
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 the first crude mission beyond low Earth
00:04:21 --> 00:04:25 orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 The stakes are enormous.
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 >> They really are. NASA's under pressure
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 both from the public and from the White
00:04:32 --> 00:04:34 House to get this done. IsaacMen has
00:04:34 --> 00:04:36 been quite transparent about the
00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 challenges, which is appreciated. We'll
00:04:38 --> 00:04:39 keep you updated as the investigation
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 progresses. A media briefing is expected
00:04:42 --> 00:04:43 this week.
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 >> Okay, let's lift the mood a little
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 because our next story is genuinely
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 brilliant and it comes from Mars.
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 >> This is one of my favorites of the week.
00:04:52 --> 00:04:54 NASA's Perseverance rover has just been
00:04:54 --> 00:04:56 given something that effectively
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 functions as GPS on a planet that has no
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 GPS satellites whatsoever.
00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 >> So, how do you navigate on Mars? Walk us
00:05:04 --> 00:05:05 through how it used to work.
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 >> So, historically, Perseverance used a
00:05:08 --> 00:05:11 system called visual odometry. Every few
00:05:11 --> 00:05:13 feet, it takes camera images of the
00:05:13 --> 00:05:14 surrounding rocks and geological
00:05:14 --> 00:05:16 features, and it tracks how those
00:05:16 --> 00:05:19 features shift in frame to estimate how
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 far it's moved. It's clever, but the
00:05:21 --> 00:05:24 problem is that tiny errors add up. On a
00:05:24 --> 00:05:26 long drive, the rover's internal sense
00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 of where it is could be off by more than
00:05:28 --> 00:05:32 35 m. That's over 100 ft. When it hit
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 that threshold of uncertainty, its
00:05:34 --> 00:05:35 safety systems would kick in and it
00:05:36 --> 00:05:37 would just stop and wait for
00:05:37 --> 00:05:38 instructions from Earth.
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 >> And with communication delays of up to
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 24 hours, that could mean an entire day
00:05:43 --> 00:05:45 of lost exploration time.
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 >> Exactly. So NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 developed a new system called Mars
00:05:50 --> 00:05:52 Global Localization. Here's how it
00:05:52 --> 00:05:55 works. Perseverance takes a full 360°
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 panorama with its navigation cameras.
00:05:58 --> 00:06:00 Then an algorithm compares that ground
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 level view with highresolution orbital
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 maps captured by the Mars Reconnaissance
00:06:04 --> 00:06:06 Orbiter far above. It matches the
00:06:06 --> 00:06:09 terrain, the ridges, rocks, slopes, and
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 triangulates an exact position. The
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 whole process takes about 2 minutes. 2
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 minutes to know where you are with 25 cm
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 accuracy. That is remarkable.
00:06:20 --> 00:06:22 >> What makes it even clever is where the
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 computing power comes from. It runs on
00:06:25 --> 00:06:26 the helicopter base station, the
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 processor that Perseverance used to
00:06:28 --> 00:06:31 communicate with Ingenuity. Ingenuity
00:06:31 --> 00:06:34 fluid's 72nd and final flight last year.
00:06:34 --> 00:06:36 So that processor was sitting idle. It
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 runs more than 100 times faster than the
00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 rover's main computers. The team
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 essentially repurposed it. So ingenuity
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 keeps giving even in retirement.
00:06:46 --> 00:06:49 >> It really does. Bars global localization
00:06:49 --> 00:06:51 was used successfully for the first time
00:06:51 --> 00:06:53 in regular mission operations on
00:06:53 --> 00:06:56 February 2nd and again on February 16th.
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58 JPL's chief engineer of robotics
00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 operations, Vandy Verma, described it as
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 giving the rover GPS, saying it can now
00:07:03 --> 00:07:05 drive for potentially unlimited
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07 distances without calling home.
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 >> And this has implications beyond just
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 Mars, doesn't it?
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 >> Big implications. NASA's already looking
00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 at adapting this for future lunar
00:07:15 --> 00:07:17 missions where you have difficult
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 lighting conditions and long cold nights
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 that make precise location data even
00:07:21 --> 00:07:23 more critical. And if we ever have
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 astronauts driving pressurized rovers on
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 Mars, they won't be able to wait for
00:07:27 --> 00:07:29 Houston to tell them where they are.
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 This is exactly the kind of technology
00:07:31 --> 00:07:32 they'll need.
00:07:32 --> 00:07:35 >> What a story. 5 years on Mars and
00:07:35 --> 00:07:38 Perseverance just keeps getting smarter.
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 >> And hopefully so are we. Now, this next
00:07:40 --> 00:07:43 story, I love this one because it is
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 genuinely audacious. We're talking about
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 a mission concept that was published
00:07:47 --> 00:07:49 this week for chasing down an
00:07:49 --> 00:07:53 interstellar comet. Avery set the scene.
00:07:53 --> 00:07:54 >> Right. So, our audience will remember
00:07:54 --> 00:07:57 comet 3i/ATLS,
00:07:57 --> 00:07:59 the third confirmed interstellar object
00:07:59 --> 00:08:01 ever detected in our solar system,
00:08:01 --> 00:08:04 discovered in July 2025. It came
00:08:04 --> 00:08:06 screaming through from outside the solar
00:08:06 --> 00:08:08 system, made its closest approach to the
00:08:08 --> 00:08:11 sun last October, swung past Venus in
00:08:11 --> 00:08:14 November, and came closest to Earth in
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 December. It is now racing away from us
00:08:16 --> 00:08:19 at over 60 km/s,
00:08:19 --> 00:08:22 >> which is extraordinarily fast. For
00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 context, that's faster than any
00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 spacecraft humanity has ever launched.
00:08:27 --> 00:08:29 >> Much faster. And that speed is the whole
00:08:29 --> 00:08:32 problem. Researchers from the Initiative
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 for Interstellar Studies published new
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 work this week exploring how you could
00:08:37 --> 00:08:39 actually send a spacecraft to intercept
00:08:39 --> 00:08:42 it. The short answer is you need to do
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 something genuinely extreme. They call
00:08:45 --> 00:08:47 it a solar oirth maneuver.
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 >> Explain that to us.
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 >> So the oirth effect is actually a
00:08:52 --> 00:08:54 principle used in basically every rocket
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 launch. It says that if you fire your
00:08:56 --> 00:08:59 engines when you're moving fast, you get
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 a bigger boost than if you fire them
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 when you're going slowly. Normally, it's
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 applied when a spacecraft is at the
00:09:05 --> 00:09:07 closest point of its orbit around the
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 planet. What this mission proposes is
00:09:10 --> 00:09:13 doing it at the closest point of a solar
00:09:13 --> 00:09:16 orbit, a literal close flyby of the sun
00:09:16 --> 00:09:19 itself. We're talking 3.2 solar radi
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 from the sun's surface. That is
00:09:22 --> 00:09:25 extremely close. How close is that?
00:09:25 --> 00:09:26 Actually,
00:09:26 --> 00:09:28 >> to put it in perspective, the Parker
00:09:28 --> 00:09:31 Solar Probe goes closer, but even that
00:09:31 --> 00:09:33 is an extraordinary engineering
00:09:33 --> 00:09:35 challenge. At that distance, the heat
00:09:35 --> 00:09:38 and radiation are intense. The
00:09:38 --> 00:09:41 spacecraft would need serious shielding.
00:09:41 --> 00:09:43 But the gravitational kick from firing
00:09:43 --> 00:09:46 your engines that close to the sun is so
00:09:46 --> 00:09:48 powerful that you could theoretically
00:09:48 --> 00:09:50 reach speeds never achieved by
00:09:50 --> 00:09:53 human-made objects. And then you'd still
00:09:53 --> 00:09:57 need how long to actually reach 3i-atls?
00:09:57 --> 00:10:00 >> If launched in 2025, which the
00:10:00 --> 00:10:02 researchers identify as the optimal
00:10:02 --> 00:10:04 window based on the alignment of Earth,
00:10:04 --> 00:10:07 Jupiter, the sun, and the comet, the
00:10:07 --> 00:10:10 spacecraft would reach 3-TLS
00:10:10 --> 00:10:13 by around 2085
00:10:13 --> 00:10:16 at a distance of approximately 732
00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 astronomical units from the sun. For
00:10:19 --> 00:10:21 comparison, Voyager 1 has been traveling
00:10:21 --> 00:10:25 for nearly 50 years and is only at about
00:10:25 --> 00:10:27 170 AU.
00:10:27 --> 00:10:30 >> So this would be the most distant rende
00:10:30 --> 00:10:32 view in human history
00:10:32 --> 00:10:35 >> by a massive margin. And only a flyby
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 would be possible, not orbit insertion
00:10:37 --> 00:10:39 because both the spacecraft and the
00:10:39 --> 00:10:42 comet would be moving so fast. But even
00:10:42 --> 00:10:45 a flyby would be extraordinary because
00:10:45 --> 00:10:47 3II-TLS
00:10:47 --> 00:10:50 didn't form in our solar system. It
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 formed around the different star,
00:10:52 --> 00:10:55 possibly one that no longer exists. Its
00:10:55 --> 00:10:57 chemical fingerprints could tell us
00:10:57 --> 00:10:59 things about planetary formation
00:10:59 --> 00:11:01 elsewhere in the galaxy that we simply
00:11:01 --> 00:11:03 cannot learn any other way.
00:11:03 --> 00:11:05 >> It's one of those stories where the
00:11:05 --> 00:11:08 scale of ambition just takes your breath
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 away. Is there any serious movement
00:11:10 --> 00:11:12 toward actually doing this?
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 >> The researchers are clear this is a
00:11:14 --> 00:11:17 proposal, not a funded mission. But 2035
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 is only 9 years away. Decisions would
00:11:20 --> 00:11:23 need to start being made soon. And three
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 Atlas won't be the last interstellar
00:11:25 --> 00:11:28 visitor. The more of these we find, the
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 more valuable the case for chasing one
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 becomes. Staying in the realm of things
00:11:32 --> 00:11:35 we don't know much about, let's talk
00:11:35 --> 00:11:37 about China's Shenlong spacecraft, which
00:11:37 --> 00:11:39 launched on its fourth mission earlier
00:11:39 --> 00:11:42 this month. Shenl Long, which means
00:11:42 --> 00:11:44 divine dragon in Chinese, is one of
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 those topics that generates a lot of
00:11:46 --> 00:11:49 fascination precisely because so little
00:11:49 --> 00:11:51 is officially confirmed. This is China's
00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 reusable robotic space plane. Broadly
00:11:54 --> 00:11:58 analogist to the US Air Force's X37B,
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 it launched from the Ju Kuan satellite
00:12:00 --> 00:12:03 launch center on February 6th or 7th
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 aboard a Long March 2F rocket.
00:12:05 --> 00:12:09 >> And as usual, China hasn't said much.
00:12:09 --> 00:12:11 >> Extremely little. The official line via
00:12:11 --> 00:12:14 state media Shin Wa is that the mission
00:12:14 --> 00:12:16 will conduct quote technology
00:12:16 --> 00:12:18 verification and will provide technical
00:12:18 --> 00:12:21 support for the peaceful use of space.
00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 No launch time was given, no
00:12:23 --> 00:12:26 photographs, no mission duration,
00:12:26 --> 00:12:27 nothing.
00:12:27 --> 00:12:28 >> But we can look at what the previous
00:12:28 --> 00:12:30 missions have done and draw some
00:12:30 --> 00:12:31 inferences.
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 >> We can The first mission in September
00:12:34 --> 00:12:38 2020 lasted 2 days. The second in 2022
00:12:38 --> 00:12:42 lasted 276 days. The third launched
00:12:42 --> 00:12:47 December 2023 lasted 268 days. So recent
00:12:47 --> 00:12:49 missions have been around 9 months in
00:12:49 --> 00:12:52 orbit. If this one follows the pattern,
00:12:52 --> 00:12:54 we might expect it to return around
00:12:54 --> 00:12:56 November or December.
00:12:56 --> 00:12:58 >> And what have analysts pieced together
00:12:58 --> 00:13:00 about what it does up there?
00:13:00 --> 00:13:03 >> This is where it gets interesting.
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 Western space tracking organizations,
00:13:05 --> 00:13:07 including the US space force and private
00:13:07 --> 00:13:10 space situational awareness companies,
00:13:10 --> 00:13:12 have observed that Shenlong conducts
00:13:12 --> 00:13:14 what are called rendevous and proximity
00:13:14 --> 00:13:17 operations. It maneuvers close to other
00:13:17 --> 00:13:20 objects in orbit. It has deployed small
00:13:20 --> 00:13:23 objects, possible subsatellites, during
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 at least two previous missions. One of
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 those objects was observed transmitting
00:13:28 --> 00:13:30 signals over North America, leading some
00:13:30 --> 00:13:32 analysts to describe it as a potential
00:13:32 --> 00:13:35 mobile signals intelligence platform
00:13:35 --> 00:13:38 >> and the anti-satellite angle.
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40 >> Analysts are cautious. Some experts
00:13:40 --> 00:13:43 point out that Shenlong's small payload
00:13:43 --> 00:13:45 bay and limited power generation make it
00:13:45 --> 00:13:48 an unlikely direct space weapon. But the
00:13:48 --> 00:13:50 ability to approach other satellites at
00:13:50 --> 00:13:54 close range is inherently dual use. It
00:13:54 --> 00:13:55 could be inspection. It could be
00:13:55 --> 00:13:58 servicing. It could be something else.
00:13:58 --> 00:14:01 We genuinely don't know. What we do know
00:14:01 --> 00:14:04 is that the US X37B's eighth mission is
00:14:04 --> 00:14:07 also currently in orbit. Launched last
00:14:07 --> 00:14:09 August to test quantum inertial sensors
00:14:09 --> 00:14:12 and high bandwidth laser links. These
00:14:12 --> 00:14:14 are the only two countries flying
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 reusable space planes right now. and
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 they're both being quite secretive about
00:14:18 --> 00:14:19 it.
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22 >> The new space race conducted largely in
00:14:22 --> 00:14:23 silence.
00:14:23 --> 00:14:24 >> Perfectly put.
00:14:24 --> 00:14:26 >> Now, let's do a quick run through of
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 what else is happening on the launch
00:14:28 --> 00:14:30 front this week. Because despite all the
00:14:30 --> 00:14:33 Aremis drama, the commercial sector does
00:14:33 --> 00:14:34 not stop.
00:14:34 --> 00:14:38 >> It really doesn't. Today, February 24th,
00:14:38 --> 00:14:40 we actually have a launch scheduled from
00:14:40 --> 00:14:43 Wallup's flight facility in Virginia.
00:14:43 --> 00:14:45 Rocket Lab's Haste rocket hypersonic
00:14:45 --> 00:14:49 accelerator suborbital test electron is
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 carrying a fascinating payload called
00:14:51 --> 00:14:54 Dart AE. It's a scamjet powered
00:14:54 --> 00:14:56 hypersonic vehicle built by Brisbane
00:14:56 --> 00:14:59 based company hypersonics launch systems
00:14:59 --> 00:15:01 and this will be its first ever flight.
00:15:01 --> 00:15:03 The mission is nicknamed that's not a
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 knife which we appreciate.
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 >> Australian hypersonics delivered with
00:15:08 --> 00:15:09 Australian humor.
00:15:10 --> 00:15:13 >> Exactly. SpaceX also has a Falcon 9
00:15:13 --> 00:15:14 Starlink launch out of Cape Canaveral
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 today. Wednesday brings another Starlink
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 from Vandenberg, but the standout launch
00:15:19 --> 00:15:21 of the week is Friday. Firefly
00:15:21 --> 00:15:23 Aerospace's Alpha rocket is returning to
00:15:23 --> 00:15:26 flight on the Stairway to 7 mission.
00:15:26 --> 00:15:27 >> Tell us about that one.
00:15:28 --> 00:15:30 >> So Fireflyy's last alpha launch was in
00:15:30 --> 00:15:33 April 2025 and it ended in failure. The
00:15:33 --> 00:15:35 rocket had an anomaly and the mission
00:15:35 --> 00:15:38 was lost. This is their return to flight
00:15:38 --> 00:15:41 and it's significant for another reason.
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 This will be the last flight of Alpha in
00:15:43 --> 00:15:45 its current block one configuration.
00:15:45 --> 00:15:47 They're upgrading to block 2 for flight
00:15:47 --> 00:15:50 8 which introduces in-house avionics and
00:15:50 --> 00:15:53 thermal improvements. So flight 7 is
00:15:53 --> 00:15:55 essentially a test bed for some of those
00:15:55 --> 00:15:57 new systems ahead of the full upgrade.
00:15:57 --> 00:15:59 >> A lot riding on it.
00:15:59 --> 00:16:02 >> Quite a lot. Then the week closes out on
00:16:02 --> 00:16:05 Sunday, March 1st with two more SpaceX
00:16:05 --> 00:16:08 Starlink missions, one from Vandenberg
00:16:08 --> 00:16:10 and one from Cape Canaveral. By the end
00:16:10 --> 00:16:13 of this week, SpaceX will have surpassed
00:16:13 --> 00:16:18 27 Falcon 9 launches for 2026 alone. The
00:16:18 --> 00:16:20 cadence is extraordinary.
00:16:20 --> 00:16:22 >> And all of this happening while the SLS
00:16:22 --> 00:16:25 is making its 1m hour journey back to
00:16:25 --> 00:16:28 the VAB. Quite the contrast. The
00:16:28 --> 00:16:31 juxaposition pretty much writes itself.
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 >> And we close today with some beautiful
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 deep science. A new study published this
00:16:36 --> 00:16:39 week in the journal Nature Astronomy has
00:16:39 --> 00:16:41 solved a mystery about red giant stars
00:16:41 --> 00:16:43 that have had astronomers puzzled since
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45 the 1970s.
00:16:45 --> 00:16:47 >> I love this one. So, a bit of
00:16:47 --> 00:16:49 background. Red giants are what stars
00:16:49 --> 00:16:52 like our sun become when they exhaust
00:16:52 --> 00:16:54 their hydrogen fuel. They expand
00:16:54 --> 00:16:56 dramatically and undergo chemical
00:16:56 --> 00:16:58 changes. One of the most striking
00:16:58 --> 00:17:00 observations has been a consistent
00:17:00 --> 00:17:03 decline in the ratio of carbon 12 to
00:17:03 --> 00:17:06 carbon 13 in their outer layers.
00:17:06 --> 00:17:08 Scientists knew this had to be caused by
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 material rising up from the nuclear
00:17:10 --> 00:17:12 furnace in the core. But they could not
00:17:12 --> 00:17:15 figure out how that material crossed the
00:17:15 --> 00:17:17 stable barrier layer separating the core
00:17:17 --> 00:17:19 from the outer envelope
00:17:19 --> 00:17:20 >> until now.
00:17:20 --> 00:17:23 >> Until now. A team led by Simon Bluen at
00:17:23 --> 00:17:25 the University of Victoria's Astronomy
00:17:25 --> 00:17:27 Research Center working with colleagues
00:17:27 --> 00:17:30 at the University of Minnesota used
00:17:30 --> 00:17:31 cuttingedge three-dimensional
00:17:31 --> 00:17:34 hydrodnamic simulations to model the
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 actual fluid dynamics inside a red
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 giant. And they found the answer. It's
00:17:39 --> 00:17:40 rotation.
00:17:40 --> 00:17:43 >> Stellar rotation drives the mixing
00:17:43 --> 00:17:45 >> in a really dramatic way. Their
00:17:46 --> 00:17:48 simulations showed that in non-rotating
00:17:48 --> 00:17:50 stars, waves passing through the barrier
00:17:50 --> 00:17:52 layer transport very little material,
00:17:52 --> 00:17:55 which is what previous models predicted.
00:17:55 --> 00:17:58 But once you add rotation, it amplifies
00:17:58 --> 00:18:00 those waves enormously. Mixing rates
00:18:00 --> 00:18:03 exceed non-rotating stars by over 100
00:18:03 --> 00:18:06 times, and they increase with faster
00:18:06 --> 00:18:08 rotation rates. That matches exactly
00:18:08 --> 00:18:10 what we observe on real red giant
00:18:10 --> 00:18:11 surfaces.
00:18:11 --> 00:18:13 >> And these weren't small simulations.
00:18:13 --> 00:18:15 They used some serious computing power.
00:18:15 --> 00:18:18 >> Two supercomputers, the Texas Advanced
00:18:18 --> 00:18:20 Computing Center at UT Austin and the
00:18:20 --> 00:18:22 brand new Trillium Supercomputing
00:18:22 --> 00:18:24 Cluster at the University of Toronto's
00:18:24 --> 00:18:26 CINET facility. The principal
00:18:26 --> 00:18:29 investigator, Faulk Herurwig, described
00:18:29 --> 00:18:31 these as the most computationally
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 intensive stellar convection simulations
00:18:33 --> 00:18:36 ever performed. They were only possible
00:18:36 --> 00:18:38 because of very recent advances in
00:18:38 --> 00:18:38 supercomputing.
00:18:38 --> 00:18:40 >> And what does this mean for us? For our
00:18:40 --> 00:18:43 son? In about five billion years, our
00:18:43 --> 00:18:46 sun will enter its red giant phase.
00:18:46 --> 00:18:49 It'll expand and likely swallow Mercury,
00:18:49 --> 00:18:51 Venus, and probably Earth. Beyond the
00:18:51 --> 00:18:55 frost line, Jupiter, Saturn, and beyond,
00:18:55 --> 00:18:56 those worlds will move into the new
00:18:56 --> 00:18:59 habitable zone. This research gives us
00:18:59 --> 00:19:01 much better predictions of exactly how
00:19:01 --> 00:19:03 our sun's chemistry will evolve during
00:19:03 --> 00:19:05 that transition. What elements will
00:19:05 --> 00:19:08 appear on its surface, how fast changes
00:19:08 --> 00:19:08 will occur,
00:19:08 --> 00:19:10 >> which sounds like a very long-term
00:19:10 --> 00:19:12 concern. But understanding how our star
00:19:12 --> 00:19:14 will die is genuinely important science.
00:19:14 --> 00:19:17 >> It is, and the techniques developed here
00:19:17 --> 00:19:19 have applications far beyond astronomy.
00:19:19 --> 00:19:21 The same simulation methods apply to
00:19:21 --> 00:19:24 ocean currents, atmospheric dynamics,
00:19:24 --> 00:19:27 even blood flow. Balkerwig is already
00:19:27 --> 00:19:28 working with researchers in those fields
00:19:28 --> 00:19:31 to develop new largecale simulation
00:19:31 --> 00:19:31 tools.
00:19:31 --> 00:19:33 >> The universe teaching us about the
00:19:33 --> 00:19:35 ocean. I love it. And that is your
00:19:35 --> 00:19:38 astronomy daily for Tuesday, February
00:19:38 --> 00:19:40 24th. Big day for Artemis and not in any
00:19:40 --> 00:19:43 way anyone hoped. But as we've seen
00:19:43 --> 00:19:45 today, space science never stops.
00:19:45 --> 00:19:47 Whether it's a rover finding its feet on
00:19:47 --> 00:19:49 Mars or scientists finally understanding
00:19:49 --> 00:19:52 why red giant stars change the way they
00:19:52 --> 00:19:53 do. If you want to keep up with the
00:19:53 --> 00:19:56 Aremis roll back developments, we'll
00:19:56 --> 00:19:58 have updates in tomorrow's show once
00:19:58 --> 00:20:01 NASA has held that media briefing. In
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03 the meantime, you can find us at
00:20:03 --> 00:20:05 astronomyaily.io
00:20:05 --> 00:20:08 and at astrodaily pod across all your
00:20:08 --> 00:20:09 social platforms.
00:20:09 --> 00:20:11 >> Subscribe if you haven't already. Leave
00:20:11 --> 00:20:13 us a review if you have a moment. It
00:20:13 --> 00:20:14 really does help. And we will see you
00:20:14 --> 00:20:15 tomorrow.
00:20:15 --> 00:20:16 >> Clear skies everyone.
00:20:16 --> 00:20:20 >> Clear skies.
00:20:20 --> 00:20:28 Stories told
00:20:28 --> 00:20:36 stories told
00:20:36 --> 00:20:39 stories