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SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 48 *Finding that young Sun like stars dim quickly is good news for life A new study has discovered that young Sun like stars settle down and start to dim more quickly than previously thought, potentially benefiting orbiting planets and the prospects of life. *A surprisingly speedy solar wind found in inner corona A new study has found that the solar wind is travelling up to four times faster than expected in the Sun’s inner corona. *Dream Chaser passes another critical milestone The Sierra Space Dream Chaser space plane Tenacity has just completed launch acoustic testing at NASA’s Space Systems Processing Facility. *The Science Report Long-term HIV remission achieved following a stem cell transplant. How to save Venice from rising sea levels. Half of all answers to health and medical questions by AI found to be problematic. Alex on Tech: The 6G countdown has begun.
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Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/32875533?utm_source=youtube
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 This is Spacetime Series 29, episode 48
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 for broadcast on the 22nd of April,
00:00:05 --> 00:00:07 2026.
00:00:07 --> 00:00:09 Coming up on Spaceime, discovery that
00:00:09 --> 00:00:12 young sunlike stars dim quickly. Good
00:00:12 --> 00:00:14 news for the possibility of life. A
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 surprisingly speedy solar wind
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 discovered in the inner corona. And the
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 dream chaser space plane passes another
00:00:21 --> 00:00:24 critical milestone. All that and more
00:00:24 --> 00:00:27 coming up on Spaceime.
00:00:27 --> 00:00:46 Welcome to Space Time with Stuart Garry.
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 A new study has discovered that young
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 sunlike stars tend to settle down and
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 start to dim much more quickly than
00:00:53 --> 00:00:55 previously thought. and that could
00:00:55 --> 00:00:57 potentially benefit any orbiting planets
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 and the prospects of life developing
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 there. The findings reported in the
00:01:01 --> 00:01:03 Astrophysical Journal are based on new
00:01:03 --> 00:01:05 observations by NASA's Earth orbiting
00:01:05 --> 00:01:08 Chandra X-ray Space Telescope.
00:01:08 --> 00:01:09 Astronomers use Chandra and other
00:01:09 --> 00:01:11 telescopes to monitor how powerful
00:01:11 --> 00:01:13 radiation from young stars, often in the
00:01:14 --> 00:01:16 form of dangerous X-rays, can pummel any
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 planets orbiting around them. However,
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 they didn't know how long this high
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 energy barrage would last. That's where
00:01:22 --> 00:01:24 the new observations come in.
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 Astronomers studied eight clusters of
00:01:26 --> 00:01:29 stars between 45 and 750 million years
00:01:29 --> 00:01:32 old. The authors found that sunlike
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 stars in these clusters unleashed only
00:01:34 --> 00:01:36 about a quarter to a third of the X-rays
00:01:36 --> 00:01:38 they're expecting. The study's lead
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 author Constantine Gateman from Penn
00:01:40 --> 00:01:42 State University says the observations
00:01:42 --> 00:01:44 reveal a natural quietening of young
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 sunlike stars in X-rays, possibly
00:01:46 --> 00:01:48 because their internal generation of
00:01:48 --> 00:01:50 magnetic fields becomes less efficient.
00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 And Gman believes this calming could
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 have been a boom for the formation of
00:01:54 --> 00:01:56 life on planets around stars that are
00:01:56 --> 00:01:59 younger versions of our own 4.6 billiony
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 old sun. That's because large amounts of
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 X-rays can erode a planet's atmosphere,
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 preventing the formation of molecules
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 necessary for organic life as we know
00:02:09 --> 00:02:12 it. On average, 3 milliony old stars
00:02:12 --> 00:02:13 with a mass equal to that of the sun
00:02:14 --> 00:02:15 produce around a thousand times more
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 X-rays than our sun does today.
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 Meanwhile, 100 milliony old solar mass
00:02:20 --> 00:02:22 stars are about 40 times brighter in
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 X-rays than the present day sun. And
00:02:25 --> 00:02:27 it's possible that we owe our own
00:02:27 --> 00:02:28 existence to our sun doing the same
00:02:28 --> 00:02:31 thing several billion years ago. The
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 authors found that stars with about the
00:02:33 --> 00:02:35 same mass as the sun whitened down
00:02:35 --> 00:02:37 relatively rapidly after just a few
00:02:37 --> 00:02:39 hundred million years, while those with
00:02:39 --> 00:02:41 less mass kept up their high level of
00:02:41 --> 00:02:44 X-ray emissions for much longer.
00:02:44 --> 00:02:45 Combined with the decrease in the energy
00:02:46 --> 00:02:47 of the X-rays and the disappearance of
00:02:47 --> 00:02:50 energetic particles, the sun-sized stars
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 are apparently better suited to host
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 planets with robust atmospheres and
00:02:54 --> 00:02:56 possibly blossoming life than previously
00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 thought. Gman and colleagues also used
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 data from the European Space Ay's Gaia
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 satellite and the Rosat mission. This
00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 allowed them to identify stars that were
00:03:05 --> 00:03:07 members of clusters rather than either
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 foreground or background stars. To
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 measure the X-ray outputs from the
00:03:11 --> 00:03:13 stars, the authors made new Chandra
00:03:13 --> 00:03:15 observations of five clusters with ages
00:03:15 --> 00:03:18 between 45 million and 100 million
00:03:18 --> 00:03:20 years. In addition to using Chandra and
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 Roset data from archives to study three
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 older stellar clusters with ages between
00:03:24 --> 00:03:28 220 and 750 million years, astronomers
00:03:28 --> 00:03:30 hadn't previously been able to study the
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 exact X-ray output of stars in this age
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 range. Most have relied on sparse data
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 and a relationship from previous work
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 between the X-ray emissions produced by
00:03:39 --> 00:03:41 young stars and their ages and spin
00:03:41 --> 00:03:44 rates. Older, more slowly rotating stars
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 are usually fainter in X-rays. But the
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 authors found that X-ray output drops
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 off about 15 times more rapidly than the
00:03:52 --> 00:03:53 relationship predicts during the
00:03:53 --> 00:03:56 specific adolescent phase. While they're
00:03:56 --> 00:03:58 still investigating the cause of the
00:03:58 --> 00:03:59 slower than expected activity,
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 astronomers think the processes that
00:04:01 --> 00:04:03 generate magnetic fields in these stars
00:04:03 --> 00:04:06 may become less efficient, and that
00:04:06 --> 00:04:07 would lead to the stars becoming quieter
00:04:07 --> 00:04:11 in X-rays more quickly as they age. This
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 is spaceime. Still to come, a
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 surprisingly speedy solar wind found in
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 the sun's inner corona. And the Sierra
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 Space Dreamchaser space plane Tenacity
00:04:20 --> 00:04:23 passes another critical milestone. All
00:04:23 --> 00:04:42 that and more still to come on Spaceime.
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 A new study has found that the solar
00:04:44 --> 00:04:45 wind is traveling up to four times
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 faster than expected in the sun's inner
00:04:48 --> 00:04:50 corona. The solar wind is a constant
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 stream of charged particles flowing out
00:04:52 --> 00:04:55 from the sun. The new findings reported
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 in the Astrophysical Journal Letters
00:04:57 --> 00:04:59 provides fresh details about the inner
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 workings of our local star. The
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 discovery marks the first result from
00:05:03 --> 00:05:06 the European Space Ay's Prob 3 mission.
00:05:06 --> 00:05:09 Prob 3 comprises two spacecraft flying
00:05:09 --> 00:05:12 in millimeter precise formation. The
00:05:12 --> 00:05:14 exacting nature of their orbit allows
00:05:14 --> 00:05:16 one of the vehicles to directly occult
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 or block out sun from the other. in the
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 process creating an artificial solar
00:05:20 --> 00:05:23 eclipse. This allows astronomers to
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 study the sun's faint wispy corona.
00:05:25 --> 00:05:26 That's the atmosphere of the sun
00:05:26 --> 00:05:29 normally obscured by the sun's glare.
00:05:29 --> 00:05:31 The prob 3 mission launched last year
00:05:31 --> 00:05:34 and has so far created 57 artificial
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37 solar eclipses collecting more than 250
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 hours of highresolution videos of the
00:05:39 --> 00:05:42 sun's atmosphere. Before Prober 3, a
00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 solar eclipse seen from Earth was the
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 best way to see the sun's inner corona.
00:05:47 --> 00:05:49 See, when the moon blocks out the sun's
00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 direct light, scientists can capture
00:05:51 --> 00:05:53 details in the solar atmosphere around
00:05:53 --> 00:05:55 the sun. The problem is total solar
00:05:55 --> 00:05:57 eclipses only happen on average once
00:05:57 --> 00:06:00 every 18 months or so. And when they do
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 happen, totality, that's when the moon
00:06:02 --> 00:06:03 totally blocks out the sun, usually only
00:06:04 --> 00:06:06 lasts for a few minutes at most. So, the
00:06:06 --> 00:06:09 observations by Prober 3, amounts to the
00:06:09 --> 00:06:11 same amount of observing time as 5
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 solar eclipse campaigns on Earth. This
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 is the first time astronomers have been
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 able to carefully track how material
00:06:18 --> 00:06:20 from the sun moves through the inner
00:06:20 --> 00:06:23 corona where space weather is born. For
00:06:23 --> 00:06:26 around 5 hours at a time, the occult
00:06:26 --> 00:06:28 spacecraft acts like an artificial moon,
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 blocking out the sun's direct light. So
00:06:30 --> 00:06:32 the other spacecraft, the chronograph,
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35 can see the sun's corona. And Proer 3's
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 chronograph instrument can see down to
00:06:37 --> 00:06:39 70 km above the sun's surface.
00:06:40 --> 00:06:42 That's 1/10enth of the sun's radius. No
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 other space-based chronograph can
00:06:44 --> 00:06:45 observe the light scattering off
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 particles in the sun's corona this close
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 to the solar surface. The instrument
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 takes one or two images a minute. These
00:06:53 --> 00:06:54 are then combined into videos that
00:06:54 --> 00:06:57 reveal never before seen movement in the
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 hard to observe inner corona. Isis
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 Prober 3 project scientist Joe Zender
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 says these sorts of intricate movements
00:07:03 --> 00:07:05 have never previously been observed in
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07 optical wavelengths so low in the sun's
00:07:07 --> 00:07:10 inner corona. Sender says probe 3 can
00:07:10 --> 00:07:12 track how the solar wind speeds up
00:07:12 --> 00:07:14 through the sun, showing speeds and
00:07:14 --> 00:07:16 accelerations that are surprising
00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 scientists. Just like wind here on
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 Earth, the solar wind can be fast or
00:07:20 --> 00:07:23 slow, smooth or gusty. A fast solar wind
00:07:23 --> 00:07:25 usually flows in smooth currents from
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 magnetic structures called coronal
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 holes. In contrast, slow solar winds are
00:07:30 --> 00:07:33 variable and gusty, making understanding
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 how it all works more difficult.
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 Scientists think the slow solar wind is
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 generated by the sun's magnetic field
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41 lines, changing how they connect, merge,
00:07:42 --> 00:07:44 and separate. This process pushes out
00:07:44 --> 00:07:46 blobs of plasma in large bright rays in
00:07:46 --> 00:07:49 the corona called streamers. In the
00:07:49 --> 00:07:50 inner corona, a region difficult to
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 observe, astronomers saw slow solar wind
00:07:53 --> 00:07:55 gusts moving three or four times faster
00:07:55 --> 00:07:57 than expected. Previously, scientists
00:07:57 --> 00:07:59 had found that close to the sun's
00:07:59 --> 00:08:01 surface, the solar wind should have been
00:08:01 --> 00:08:03 traveling at speeds of around 100 km/s.
00:08:04 --> 00:08:05 but instead they track some of these
00:08:05 --> 00:08:07 blobs of plasma moving at between 250
00:08:08 --> 00:08:10 and 500 kilometers a second. Overall,
00:08:10 --> 00:08:13 the wide range of speeds, accelerations,
00:08:13 --> 00:08:15 and movement directions in the data
00:08:15 --> 00:08:18 explain why the slow solar wind is so
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 hard to understand. It's naturally not
00:08:20 --> 00:08:23 uniform, involving lots of smallcale
00:08:23 --> 00:08:24 structures in the sun's magnetic field,
00:08:24 --> 00:08:26 which astronomers can now see thanks to
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 Proverb 3. The discovery comes just
00:08:29 --> 00:08:31 weeks after contact was reestablished
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 with one of the spacecraft which had
00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 suddenly gone silent following an
00:08:35 --> 00:08:36 onboard glitch, the cause of which is
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 still being investigated. Zender says
00:08:39 --> 00:08:41 this first data set is just the
00:08:41 --> 00:08:42 beginning of a much longer journey to
00:08:42 --> 00:08:44 fully understand what's happening in the
00:08:44 --> 00:08:47 sun. Most of the data collected by
00:08:47 --> 00:08:50 Proverb 3 so far is yet to be analyzed.
00:08:50 --> 00:08:52 Key open questions yet to be answered
00:08:52 --> 00:08:54 include finding out exactly what
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 accelerates the solar wind, how the sun
00:08:56 --> 00:08:58 flings out material in coronal mass
00:08:58 --> 00:09:01 ejections, and why the solar corona is
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 so much hotter than the surface of the
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 sun. After all, things are supposed to
00:09:05 --> 00:09:07 get cooler the further away you get from
00:09:07 --> 00:09:09 the heat source. This report on the
00:09:09 --> 00:09:12 brilliance of the prob 3 mission from
00:09:12 --> 00:09:12 TV.
00:09:12 --> 00:09:14 >> During a solar eclipse, the Earth is
00:09:14 --> 00:09:16 plunged into darkness and the sun's
00:09:16 --> 00:09:19 ghostly atmosphere becomes visible. But
00:09:19 --> 00:09:22 what exactly causes solar eclipses? And
00:09:22 --> 00:09:23 how do scientists create their own
00:09:23 --> 00:09:26 artificial solar eclipses? And how will
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 our mission prob 3 generate artificial
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 solar eclipses on demand? Let's find
00:09:32 --> 00:09:36 out. So, how do solar eclipses happen?
00:09:36 --> 00:09:39 The answer is simple. It's when the sun,
00:09:39 --> 00:09:41 moon, and earth are perfectly aligned
00:09:41 --> 00:09:43 and the moon covers the entire disc of
00:09:43 --> 00:09:46 the sun. The fact that solar eclipses
00:09:46 --> 00:09:49 happen at all is a cosmic coincidence.
00:09:49 --> 00:09:51 It just so happens that the sun is 400
00:09:51 --> 00:09:54 times bigger than our moon, but also 400
00:09:54 --> 00:09:57 times further away. So, the two bodies
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59 look the same size in our sky.
00:10:00 --> 00:10:02 Solar eclipses are extremely valuable
00:10:02 --> 00:10:03 because they allow scientists to study
00:10:03 --> 00:10:06 the sun's atmosphere, also known as the
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 solar corona. Scientists are
00:10:08 --> 00:10:09 particularly interested in this region
00:10:09 --> 00:10:11 of the sun because it's the source of
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13 solar wind and space weather which can
00:10:13 --> 00:10:16 impact satellites and Earth. These
00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 effects are especially noticeable during
00:10:18 --> 00:10:21 coronal mass ejections. Enormous bubbles
00:10:21 --> 00:10:24 of superheated gas ejected from the sun.
00:10:24 --> 00:10:26 The solar corona is a million times
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 fainter than the sun's surface. So the
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 light from the solar disc needs to be
00:10:30 --> 00:10:33 blocked in order to see it. This is why
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 eclipses are ideal for studying this
00:10:35 --> 00:10:37 region. and scientists trek all over the
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 world to see them.
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 Unfortunately though, solar eclipses are
00:10:42 --> 00:10:44 a rare phenomenon occurring only for a
00:10:44 --> 00:10:47 few minutes every 18 months or so. But
00:10:47 --> 00:10:49 how do we know anything about the solar
00:10:49 --> 00:10:51 corona given that eclipses occur so
00:10:51 --> 00:10:54 rarely? Scientists use coronagraphs,
00:10:54 --> 00:10:57 special telescopes that use a disc to
00:10:57 --> 00:11:00 block the sun's bright surface. In other
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 words, a coronagraph produces an
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 artificial solar eclipse
00:11:04 --> 00:11:07 >> and liftoff of SOHO.
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 >> Coronographs are not only used on the
00:11:09 --> 00:11:11 ground but also in space. Previous sun
00:11:11 --> 00:11:13 observing missions such as SOHO
00:11:13 --> 00:11:15 incorporate coronagraphs to study the
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 corona, but their effectiveness is
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 limited. Mimicking a real solar eclipse
00:11:20 --> 00:11:22 is difficult.
00:11:22 --> 00:11:24 When using a coronagraph, light spills
00:11:24 --> 00:11:26 around the edge of the disc, distorting
00:11:26 --> 00:11:28 the view we get. The best way to
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 minimize this spillover stray light is
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 to move the disc further away from the
00:11:32 --> 00:11:35 telescope lens. But how much further
00:11:35 --> 00:11:37 away? Approximately
00:11:37 --> 00:11:40 150 m. The length of 1 and 1/2 football
00:11:40 --> 00:11:43 pitches. And sending something that big
00:11:43 --> 00:11:46 into space is just not a practical idea.
00:11:46 --> 00:11:49 So how can we create a perfect
00:11:49 --> 00:11:52 artificial solar eclipse in space? This
00:11:52 --> 00:11:55 is where our Robbo 3 mission comes in.
00:11:55 --> 00:11:56 Instead of relying on a single
00:11:56 --> 00:11:59 impractically long coronagraph, Proer 3
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 consists of two spacecraft, a camera
00:12:02 --> 00:12:05 satellite and a disc satellite. They fly
00:12:05 --> 00:12:07 together so precisely that they operate
00:12:07 --> 00:12:11 like a single coronagraph around 150 m
00:12:11 --> 00:12:13 long.
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 One spacecraft block the sun creating an
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 artificial eclipse while the other
00:12:17 --> 00:12:20 observed the sun. To make this possible,
00:12:20 --> 00:12:22 the two spacecraft have to stay
00:12:22 --> 00:12:23 positioned with millimeter scale
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 accuracy to create artificial solar
00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 eclipses on demand, significantly
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 advancing our understanding of this
00:12:31 --> 00:12:32 mysterious region.
00:12:32 --> 00:12:35 >> This is spacetime. Still to come, the
00:12:36 --> 00:12:37 Dreamchaser space plane Tenacity
00:12:37 --> 00:12:39 completes a major acoustic test
00:12:39 --> 00:12:41 milestone for NASA. And later in the
00:12:41 --> 00:12:44 science report, engineers and scientists
00:12:44 --> 00:12:46 looking at ways to save Venice from the
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48 threat of rising sea levels. All that
00:12:48 --> 00:13:07 and more still to come on Spaceime.
00:13:07 --> 00:13:09 The Sierra Space Dreamchaser space plane
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 Tenacity has just completed launch
00:13:11 --> 00:13:14 acoustic testing at NASA's space systems
00:13:14 --> 00:13:16 processing facility. The key milestone
00:13:16 --> 00:13:19 event validates the vehicle's ability to
00:13:19 --> 00:13:21 withstand the intense vibrations
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 produced during launch. The test in a
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 speciallyesed hanger at the Kennedy
00:13:25 --> 00:13:27 Space Center in Florida uses an array of
00:13:27 --> 00:13:30 90 stacked giant speakers to simulate
00:13:30 --> 00:13:32 the sounds and vibrations experienced
00:13:32 --> 00:13:35 during blastoff. The Dreamchaser space
00:13:35 --> 00:13:36 plane was positioned at the center of
00:13:36 --> 00:13:38 the test setup with its wings stowed,
00:13:38 --> 00:13:40 mirroring the configuration it would
00:13:40 --> 00:13:42 have when it's mounted inside the 5 m
00:13:42 --> 00:13:45 payload fairing during an actual launch.
00:13:45 --> 00:13:47 The successful test validated the
00:13:47 --> 00:13:49 durability of DreamChaser's critical
00:13:49 --> 00:13:51 electronic systems and confirmed the
00:13:51 --> 00:13:53 structural integrity of the spacecraft.
00:13:53 --> 00:13:56 So, Dreamchaser has now achieved several
00:13:56 --> 00:13:59 key milestones, including EMI and EMC
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 testing, high-speed towe testing, and
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 post landing recovery rehearsals. It's
00:14:04 --> 00:14:07 also demonstrated command and telemetry
00:14:07 --> 00:14:09 capabilities with mission control using
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 NASA's tracking and data relay satellite
00:14:11 --> 00:14:13 system. With the acoustic testing now
00:14:13 --> 00:14:15 complete in Florida, Dreamchas has been
00:14:15 --> 00:14:17 transported back to Colorado for final
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 modifications and mission specific
00:14:19 --> 00:14:22 upgrades. Sir Space Dreamchaser program
00:14:22 --> 00:14:25 manager Dan Polus says it's a key step
00:14:25 --> 00:14:27 in getting the spacecraft ready for
00:14:27 --> 00:14:30 flight. Now NASA's slated Dreamchaser's
00:14:30 --> 00:14:33 tenacity for initial six missions, its
00:14:33 --> 00:14:36 first possibly later this year. That
00:14:36 --> 00:14:37 45-day flight won't visit the
00:14:37 --> 00:14:39 International Space Station, but instead
00:14:39 --> 00:14:42 undertake low Earth orbit testing.
00:14:42 --> 00:14:43 Although originally designed to carry
00:14:44 --> 00:14:45 crews of up to seven to the
00:14:45 --> 00:14:47 International Space Station, the
00:14:47 --> 00:14:48 reusable wing space plane will only be
00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 used by NASA to transport cargo and
00:14:51 --> 00:14:52 supplies to and from the orbiting
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 outpost as part of NASA's commercial
00:14:54 --> 00:14:57 resupply services to contract. Dreamchas
00:14:57 --> 00:15:00 is capable of carrying 5 kg of
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 pressurized, 500 kg of unpressurized
00:15:03 --> 00:15:05 cargo during the ascent phase on its
00:15:05 --> 00:15:07 uphill climb to the space station. And
00:15:07 --> 00:15:09 on its return to Earth, it can carry up
00:15:09 --> 00:15:13 to 1 kg of cargo and returned
00:15:13 --> 00:15:15 experiments. But the spacecraft is
00:15:15 --> 00:15:17 designed to be fitted with an expendable
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 pressurized cargo module called Shooting
00:15:19 --> 00:15:21 Star attached aft that'll increase its
00:15:21 --> 00:15:24 cargo capacity by an additional 4
00:15:24 --> 00:15:27 kg. Right now, Dream Chase is designed
00:15:27 --> 00:15:29 to fly aboard a United Launch Alliance
00:15:29 --> 00:15:31 Vulcan Central rocket. After docking
00:15:31 --> 00:15:33 with the orbiting outpost and completing
00:15:33 --> 00:15:35 its mission, it'll then return to Earth,
00:15:35 --> 00:15:37 gliding to a soft landing on the former
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 Space Shuttle runway at the Kennedy
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 Space Center with Tenacity completing
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 the final stages of its development
00:15:43 --> 00:15:45 before being handed over to NASA.
00:15:45 --> 00:15:47 Serious Space are now building a second
00:15:47 --> 00:15:49 Dreamchaser, this one named Reverence.
00:15:49 --> 00:15:51 And there are plans for a specialized
00:15:51 --> 00:15:53 third Dreamchaser as well, but that'll
00:15:54 --> 00:15:55 be part of a classified national
00:15:55 --> 00:15:57 security contract, so no details are
00:15:57 --> 00:15:59 being released. There's even the
00:15:59 --> 00:16:01 possibility of a fourth Dreamchaser.
00:16:01 --> 00:16:03 This one for the European Space Agency,
00:16:03 --> 00:16:05 specifically modified for launch aboard
00:16:05 --> 00:16:09 an Aran 6 rocket. Exciting times ahead.
00:16:09 --> 00:16:26 This is spaceime.
00:16:26 --> 00:16:28 And time now to take another brief look
00:16:28 --> 00:16:29 at some of the other stories making news
00:16:29 --> 00:16:31 in science this week with a science
00:16:31 --> 00:16:35 report. Scientists say long-term HIV
00:16:35 --> 00:16:37 remission has been achieved in a patient
00:16:37 --> 00:16:39 following a stem cell transplant from a
00:16:39 --> 00:16:41 sibling carrying a specific genetic
00:16:41 --> 00:16:43 mutation. A report in the journal Nature
00:16:43 --> 00:16:46 says the 63-year-old man was diagnosed
00:16:46 --> 00:16:49 with HIV1 subtype B back in 2006 when he
00:16:49 --> 00:16:53 was aged 44. In 2020, he received a stem
00:16:53 --> 00:16:55 cell transplant from a sibling with a
00:16:55 --> 00:16:58 CCR5 delta 32 mutation to treat a type
00:16:58 --> 00:17:01 of blood cancer. Over time, the donor
00:17:01 --> 00:17:03 cells were found to replace the patients
00:17:03 --> 00:17:05 own immune cells in blood, bone marrow,
00:17:05 --> 00:17:08 and gut tissues. Analysis of biopsies
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 taken two years after the transplant
00:17:10 --> 00:17:12 showed no HIV genetic material
00:17:12 --> 00:17:14 integrated into the DNA of the man's
00:17:14 --> 00:17:17 infected cells in blood or gut samples.
00:17:17 --> 00:17:19 And further analysis of the man cells
00:17:19 --> 00:17:22 showed no virus capable of multiplying.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:25 The human immuno deficiency virus HIV
00:17:25 --> 00:17:27 attacks the immune system causing
00:17:27 --> 00:17:29 acquired immune deficiency syndrome or
00:17:29 --> 00:17:31 AIDS which allows opportunistic diseases
00:17:32 --> 00:17:34 normally easily combed by the body to
00:17:34 --> 00:17:36 take hold and eventually kill the
00:17:36 --> 00:17:38 patient. The World Health Organization
00:17:38 --> 00:17:40 says since first being identified back
00:17:40 --> 00:17:44 in 1981, AIDS has killed over 44 million
00:17:44 --> 00:17:47 people globally and infected up to 115
00:17:47 --> 00:17:49 million others with 1.3 million new
00:17:49 --> 00:17:53 infections occurring annually. HIV is
00:17:53 --> 00:17:55 transmitted through body fluids.
00:17:55 --> 00:17:57 Although there is no cure, it can be
00:17:57 --> 00:17:59 controlled using a combination of
00:17:59 --> 00:18:02 complex drug cocktails.
00:18:02 --> 00:18:04 Engineers and scientists have selected
00:18:04 --> 00:18:06 four potential strategies for trying to
00:18:06 --> 00:18:09 save the city of Venice from rising sea
00:18:09 --> 00:18:11 levels. The findings published in the
00:18:11 --> 00:18:13 journal Scientific Reports looked at
00:18:13 --> 00:18:16 movable barriers, ring dikes, closing
00:18:16 --> 00:18:18 the Venetian lagoon, or relocating the
00:18:18 --> 00:18:21 entire city as potential strategies. The
00:18:21 --> 00:18:23 authors say adding additional measures
00:18:23 --> 00:18:25 to the current movable barrier system
00:18:25 --> 00:18:26 could be effective against sea level
00:18:26 --> 00:18:30 rises up to 1.25 m. They use localized
00:18:30 --> 00:18:32 sea level rise projections over the next
00:18:32 --> 00:18:35 300 years based on the IPCC 6th
00:18:35 --> 00:18:37 assessment report to examine both the
00:18:37 --> 00:18:39 existing and potential new adaption
00:18:39 --> 00:18:41 strategies for saving Venice. They
00:18:41 --> 00:18:43 investigated protecting the center of
00:18:43 --> 00:18:45 Venice with dikes that would separate it
00:18:45 --> 00:18:47 from the rest of the lagoon. closing the
00:18:47 --> 00:18:49 entire lagoon with a super levy or
00:18:49 --> 00:18:52 relocating the city, its residents and
00:18:52 --> 00:18:54 historic landmarks in land. According to
00:18:54 --> 00:18:56 the authors, relocation of the entire
00:18:56 --> 00:18:59 city could be necessary under the very
00:18:59 --> 00:19:02 high emission scenario with 4.5 me sea
00:19:02 --> 00:19:04 level rise, which is projected to occur
00:19:04 --> 00:19:07 after the year 2300.
00:19:07 --> 00:19:10 A new study has warned that half of all
00:19:10 --> 00:19:12 health and medical questions supplied by
00:19:12 --> 00:19:14 five artificial intelligence chatbots
00:19:14 --> 00:19:17 are problematic. The findings reported
00:19:17 --> 00:19:19 in the British Medical Journal follow a
00:19:19 --> 00:19:21 test in which Gemini, Deep Seek, Meta
00:19:21 --> 00:19:25 AI, Chat GPT, and Grock were challenged
00:19:25 --> 00:19:27 to answer 10 open-ended and closed
00:19:27 --> 00:19:29 questions in each of five categories:
00:19:29 --> 00:19:32 cancer, vaccines, stem cells, nutrition,
00:19:32 --> 00:19:35 and athletic performance. The prompts
00:19:35 --> 00:19:36 were designed to be similar to common
00:19:36 --> 00:19:38 information seeking health and medical
00:19:38 --> 00:19:41 queries, and misinformation tropes. And
00:19:41 --> 00:19:43 the authors found half of the responses
00:19:43 --> 00:19:45 were problematic. 30% somewhat and 20%
00:19:45 --> 00:19:48 highly concerning. They found the
00:19:48 --> 00:19:49 quality of the responses didn't differ
00:19:50 --> 00:19:52 among chatbots, but Grock generated more
00:19:52 --> 00:19:54 highly problematic responses than
00:19:54 --> 00:19:56 expected, while Gemini generated the
00:19:56 --> 00:19:58 fewest. The chatbots appear to perform
00:19:58 --> 00:20:01 best in areas of vaccines and cancer and
00:20:01 --> 00:20:03 worst in areas of stem cells, athletic
00:20:03 --> 00:20:06 performance, and nutrition.
00:20:06 --> 00:20:08 Well, there's growing talk in technology
00:20:08 --> 00:20:10 circles about the next big revolution in
00:20:10 --> 00:20:13 communications, the 6G network. 6G, the
00:20:13 --> 00:20:15 upcoming sixth generation cellular
00:20:15 --> 00:20:17 network technology, is expected to
00:20:17 --> 00:20:20 launch commercially by around 2030.
00:20:20 --> 00:20:22 Promising speeds of up to a terabyte per
00:20:22 --> 00:20:24 second, which is 100 times faster than
00:20:24 --> 00:20:26 5G and a thousand times faster than most
00:20:26 --> 00:20:28 current home internet systems, along
00:20:28 --> 00:20:32 with near zero latency. 6G will focus on
00:20:32 --> 00:20:34 integrating artificial intelligence
00:20:34 --> 00:20:36 native technology, advanced sensing and
00:20:36 --> 00:20:37 expanded connectivity to include
00:20:38 --> 00:20:39 satellite networks, enabling
00:20:39 --> 00:20:41 applications like holographic
00:20:41 --> 00:20:43 communications, precise digital twins,
00:20:43 --> 00:20:46 and autonomous drone fleets. With the
00:20:46 --> 00:20:47 details, we're joined by technology
00:20:47 --> 00:20:50 editor Alex Sahara from tech
00:20:50 --> 00:20:51 advice.life.
00:20:51 --> 00:20:53 >> This is still at least a good couple of
00:20:53 --> 00:20:55 years away from being launched. Normally
00:20:55 --> 00:20:57 there's 10 years between each generation
00:20:57 --> 00:21:01 and the 2020 was meant to be when 5G
00:21:01 --> 00:21:04 started. But we had 5G from about 2018
00:21:04 --> 00:21:06 because it was in time for the Olympics
00:21:06 --> 00:21:08 in South Korea at the time. The Olympics
00:21:08 --> 00:21:11 is great for new TV sales and obviously
00:21:11 --> 00:21:14 with being able to transmit high amounts
00:21:14 --> 00:21:16 of data then you know from far-flung
00:21:16 --> 00:21:18 places. Now we take all this for granted
00:21:18 --> 00:21:20 these days but when 5G was first being
00:21:20 --> 00:21:21 announced there were lots of promises
00:21:21 --> 00:21:22 that you would have much better
00:21:22 --> 00:21:25 connectivity at the edge and uh we have
00:21:25 --> 00:21:28 faster speeds and I noticed that 5G you
00:21:28 --> 00:21:30 know had a dirty little secret which was
00:21:30 --> 00:21:32 that 4G could be faster many times than
00:21:32 --> 00:21:34 5G and uh I was always amazed that you
00:21:34 --> 00:21:36 know I could connect to the 4G network
00:21:36 --> 00:21:37 and do a speed test and get faster
00:21:37 --> 00:21:41 speeds but part of the appeal of 6G is
00:21:41 --> 00:21:42 that it's going to be better than 5G. So
00:21:42 --> 00:21:45 what does that mean exactly? Well, in
00:21:45 --> 00:21:46 this case, you've got artificial
00:21:46 --> 00:21:48 intelligence being integrated into the
00:21:48 --> 00:21:50 network core. So, you you're going to
00:21:50 --> 00:21:53 have what they call native wireless
00:21:53 --> 00:21:55 sensing capabilities for environment
00:21:55 --> 00:21:56 mapping. And they're going to be using
00:21:56 --> 00:21:58 higher frequency bands. When they use
00:21:58 --> 00:21:59 higher frequency bands, that's when you
00:21:59 --> 00:22:02 can get much faster data speeds. So, you
00:22:02 --> 00:22:03 can really send huge amounts of data.
00:22:04 --> 00:22:05 And we had this with 5G with millimeter
00:22:06 --> 00:22:08 wave. You had to be effectively right
00:22:08 --> 00:22:09 next to the tower to be able to get
00:22:09 --> 00:22:12 those speeds. and the signal could be
00:22:12 --> 00:22:15 stopped by the glass in your window. So,
00:22:15 --> 00:22:16 there's still a lot of work to do to
00:22:16 --> 00:22:19 make sure that those higher bandwidths
00:22:19 --> 00:22:21 can be widely propagated. And given the
00:22:21 --> 00:22:22 fact that they're at these higher
00:22:22 --> 00:22:24 frequencies, that's a problem. You know,
00:22:24 --> 00:22:26 part of the good thing about 3G was that
00:22:26 --> 00:22:29 it could operate on 750 megahertz of
00:22:29 --> 00:22:30 bandwidth. And that's the same sort of
00:22:30 --> 00:22:33 frequency that TV antenna signals come
00:22:33 --> 00:22:35 through to your house. They have to go
00:22:35 --> 00:22:36 through the house if you have one of the
00:22:36 --> 00:22:38 rabbit ears. And there's a lot of talk
00:22:38 --> 00:22:40 about 60 at the moment. I mean the
00:22:40 --> 00:22:42 standard hasn't finally been finished
00:22:42 --> 00:22:44 and after the the debacle of 5G not
00:22:44 --> 00:22:46 really being much better than 4G a bit
00:22:46 --> 00:22:48 of a overpromising and undelivering sort
00:22:48 --> 00:22:50 of situation and with plenty of places
00:22:50 --> 00:22:51 still you know not rolling out 5G
00:22:51 --> 00:22:53 networks as big as the 4G networks I
00:22:53 --> 00:22:55 mean we have 2G gone in many countries
00:22:55 --> 00:22:58 but not all we have 3G gone in Australia
00:22:58 --> 00:23:01 but not in other countries and uh 4G and
00:23:01 --> 00:23:03 5G will be with us for some time yet and
00:23:03 --> 00:23:05 6G I mean there may be some early
00:23:05 --> 00:23:08 announcements in 2028 2029 new early
00:23:08 --> 00:23:09 devices that have it But it's going to
00:23:10 --> 00:23:11 take several years. It won't be until
00:23:11 --> 00:23:14 2035 that 6G handsets will be totally
00:23:14 --> 00:23:16 commonplace and that people will be
00:23:16 --> 00:23:17 using those networks. And we're yet to
00:23:17 --> 00:23:20 truly see how AI can help with
00:23:20 --> 00:23:22 propagating the signal and ensuring you
00:23:22 --> 00:23:24 get a better and stronger signal. So,
00:23:24 --> 00:23:26 great news for the telco industry and
00:23:26 --> 00:23:27 the phone companies. They'll have
00:23:27 --> 00:23:28 something new to sell new equipment to
00:23:28 --> 00:23:30 the phone companies, new handsets to us.
00:23:30 --> 00:23:32 But at the moment, it's still in the
00:23:32 --> 00:23:33 minds of buffins as to how they're
00:23:33 --> 00:23:34 really going to make it all happen. And
00:23:34 --> 00:23:36 there are plenty of developments from
00:23:36 --> 00:23:38 Huawei and Ericson and Nokia and others,
00:23:38 --> 00:23:39 but none of them have equipment ready to
00:23:39 --> 00:23:42 sell yet. And it's all still in the hype
00:23:42 --> 00:23:42 phase.
00:23:42 --> 00:23:46 >> That's Alex Sahara from techadvice.life
00:23:46 --> 00:24:03 and this is spacetime.
00:24:03 --> 00:24:06 And that's the show for now. Spacetime
00:24:06 --> 00:24:08 is available every Monday, Wednesday,
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00:24:50 --> 00:24:51 >> You've been listening to Spacetime with
00:24:51 --> 00:24:54 Stewartgary. This has been another
00:24:54 --> 00:24:55 quality podcast production from
00:24:56 --> 00:24:59 byes.com.