Cosmic Tug-of-War: The Small Magellanic Cloud's Demise, Lunar Base Blueprint

This is Spacetime Series twenty nine, Episode seventy, for broadcast on the twurth of June twenty twenty six. Coming up on space Time, A small Magellanic Cloud being ripped apart, a blueprint for building a base on the Moon, and a meteor rocks New England. All that and more coming up on space Time. Welcome to space Time with Stuart Gary. A new study is confirmed that the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy orbiting our own Milky Way Galaxy, is being slowly ripped apart. The findings, reported in the journal Astronomy in Astrophysics showed that the dwarf galaxy is being torn apart by the immense gravitational title forces being exerted on it by its neighboring companion Gale. See the Large Magellanic Cloud. Astronomers used more than a decade of observations from the Vista Survey of the Magellanic Clouds to measure the motion of millions of stars across the Small Magellanic Cloud with unprecedented precision. Rather than showing coherent rotation typical of stable galaxies, stars across the Small Magellanic Cloud show large scale outward motion, indicating the system is dynamically disturbed even in the inner regions. The results a large scale title expansion throughout the galaxy, and they challenge the long standing assumption that the small Magellanic cloud behaves like a rotating disk. The study shows that the internal motions of the stars in the small Machelinic cloud are dominated not by orderly rotation, but by gravitational disturbances caused by repeated encounters with the large Magellanic cloud over billions of years. The small Magellanic cloud it's one of the Milky Way's closes scalectic neighbors. Okay, they're just two hundred thousand light years away. Together with a large Magellanic cloud, it forms a pair of interaction acting satellite galaxies visible from the Southern Hemisphere. Because of their proximity, the Matylenic clouds provide astronomers with a unique opportunity to study how galaxies evolve under the influence of gravity. Over time, interactions between the two galaxies have distorted their shapes. That's triggered bursts of star formation and pulled streams of gas and stars into intergalactic space. In fact, there's now a constant flow of gas and stars between the two galaxies, even extending to our own galaxy, showing that the Milky Way is also playing a role. The motions of stars preserve a record of these interactions. By tracking how stars move across the sky, known as proper motion, astronomers can reconstruct the dynamical history of the galaxy. The studies lead author, Maria Rosacierni from the Leibniz Institute Rastra Physics in Potsdam, says the new data release extends the observational time baseline for the study to eleven years, enabling much more precise measurements of stellar motions and earlier observations. By combining observations that have now been taken over a base timeline of more than a decade, astronomers have been able to map the internal kindematics of the small machele Ani Cloud with a threefold improvement in proper motion precision compared to previous measurements. The resulting motion maps reveal that stars across the small machel Any cloud are moving outwards along a southeast and northwest axis, a signature consistent with tidal stretching caused by the gravitational pull of the large magile Ani cloud. In fact, the authors found that the stars in the small machell Ainic cloud are moving outwards at an average speed of about seventeen kilometres per second. At this rate, the stars can be displaced by several thousand light years over a few hundred million years, enough to significantly distort the galaxy structure. Remarkably, this expansion wasn't visible only in the galaxy's outskirts, but also deep within its central regions. If Vaccianian colleagues found no evidence of coherent rotation motion once tidal effects were properly accounted for. Instead, the observed still emotions are predominantly radial, indicating that the small Magellinic cloud is in a strongly disturbed dynamical state. The finding suggests they're commonly used to rotating disc models oversimplify the true complexity of the galaxy's internal dynamics. According to the study, such models can mistakenly interpret tidal streaming motions as rotation. The study also uncovered a distinct northward stellar motions seen only among the older red giant stars in the galaxy, and this feature may preserve the imprint of an interaction that occurred more than two billion years ago. Younger and intermediate age stars respond differently to the tidal forces, showing stronger and more coherent outward motions. This population dependent behavior indicates that the small magillinic cloud stellar populations are retaining memory of the different stages of the galaxy's interaction history. This is space time still to come, a blueprint for building a base on the Moon and a meteor rocks Americas, New England. All that and more still to come on space time, that is, Confirmation of establishing a base on the lunar South Pole over the next few years has triggered a flurry of proposals looking at how to build it. While the initial habitat modules will be built here on Earth and then transported to the Moon, longer term plans call for the use of local lunar materials which are already there, in other words, the Moon's rocks and soil. But the sol blanketing the Moon isn't actually soil. It's a fine, lethal, abrasive talcum like powder of shattered rocks and jagged glass, sharp enough to shred gaskets, chew through seals, and hang in the airless environment lasted by unfiltered radiation. And temperature swings that can warp steel. Scientists call it lunar regolith. To engineers and space scientists, lunar regolith is one of the most hostile construction materials in the human story. Working out how to use it to build a habitat for humans to live in has been occupying the minds of engineers and scientists for years, and now with NASA's announcement of a lunar base, crunch time is approaching. A facility developed by Texas A and M University next to NASAs Johnson's Space Center in Houston will be one of the hubs of research simulating the brutal realities of extraterrestrial construction, ushering in a new generation of robotics, autonomous systems, and space rovers. Included in the complex are two special testing areas, one replicating the surface of the Moon, the other Mars and which, when combined with virtual reality, will be used for research and testing. Doctor Robert Ambrose from Texas A and M says the facility will allow researchers to develop mixed reality situations where humans and machines work together as partners rather than simple remote control tools. He says future lunar construction sites may look like scenes from science fiction movies, with rovers hauling regular across the Moon's surface, robotic arms printing walls layer by layer, and engineers back on Earth overseeing operations through virtual reality headsets. The universitys Doctor Patrick's Sermon says construction options on the Moon will be dependent on semi autonomous robotic systems. The retired Air Force lieutenant colonel was deployed to isolated regions from the deserts of Afghanistan that the frozen Arctic of Greenland in order to build sustainable infrastructure and bases to support military operations in remote areas. Sermons says significant research will focus on how humans machines can work together in environments where humans can't safely do everything themselves. He says there's no natural shielding from radiation. Temperatures swing violently between lunar night and day, dust can permeate equipment, and even simple repairs will become high risk operations. This report from the Texas AMMS Space Institute. Y Ury five a good quote to it. It's almost like a powder looks like you're about on the bottom step. I'm a fireball for where it's in human nature to be explored. But it's even become more than that because the first time in a long time, we are seriously leaving lower. Thorbit ignition sequence start three two one zero lunch come in liptop. We have and M has a storied legacy in space. Long before I came to Texas, A and M we've had faculty doing research in space related topics for decades. In fact, the latest search shows about three hundred faculty at Texas and who are doing space related research. And a M is the only one that I know of that employs four former astronauts on their campus. And so really I think a set legacy of being a land grant, CE grant, space grant institution, which again is very unique, and it's not about the few people like myself that have the privilege of actually going on a space mission. It's the tens of thousands, one hundreds of thousands of people that it takes to make those missions happen and make it a reality, to produce the systems, to engineer the systems of tomorrow. All the challenges that we face livying on Earth are extremely amplified trying to live on the Lennar surface you know, being able to find water is going to be very important, and the communication and power and energy, all of our. Tough challenges for the future are multidisciplinary. And so what the Space Institute can do and what I can do personally is drawing expertise from our Health Science Center, drawing expertise from Agrilife, drawing expertise from our College of Arts and Sciences, our program of visualization, and clearly from an engineering college that is, you know, second to nine in terms of size. That's what personally drew me here. And now what I'm able to leverage the Texas A and M Space Institute, and I know that it's going to be a marvelous, marvelous facility that's going to have a moonscape and a capability for us to be able. To have rovers, are, astronauts, everything working together in one place. And so when we get that very large facility that's going to be right outside of the gates here and we can have our astronauts go over, our engineers, our scientists and work with students and with others from industry in one place. It is going to be magnificent. This new facility is going to be the world's largest indoor moonscape two and a half acres of Moon, and that'll lock in the next generation of work in the civilian space sector. And while we're at it, we went ahead through in two and a half acre marscape too, so that locks in the next generation after that. So Texas is going to be at the forefront of the next two generations a space exploration because of this investment in. A multitude of garages will be private industry of all sizes. Some of the very well known companies that are out there developing space suits, developing rovers, some of the small startup companies in the next garage, perhaps US Space Force working on some of their projects in the next garage. Some of the NASA Johnson Space Center research is going on in the next garage, academic research to include students, and so everybody's working in this very collaborative environment, leverage, doing these very unique scape environments that are inside and so all of this and this roughly four hundred thousand square foot facility we're going to be able to offer to the State of Texas, whether they be industry, military, government, or academic. When they called me in roughly about a year ago and describe this vision for the text A and M Space Institute and the incredible funding supported by the state for a physical facility co located at the Johnson Space Center. How can you say no to that? I was super excited. Never did I envision that my two kind of careers would intersect like this. Personally, it's very rewarded. Space obviously today touches almost every part of our economy, agriculture, transportation, medicine, shipping. A construction now uses space and it goes right. You don't even know that space is an important part of your life, but if it were to stop working, you notice it really quickly. And now think about the future. With the investments and the faculty and the students and the infrastructure that we've got, A and M is going to be the number one space university in the world. And in that report from Texas A and M, we heard from Space Institute Director doctor Nancy carry Gregg, the Space Institute's lead profession of Mechanical Engineering Rob Ambrose, and NASA Johnson Spaceset of Director Vanessa Whitch this is space time still to come. A media rocks in New England and later in the science report, iceman Utsi's microbiome still showing signs of activity even though he's been dead for more than five three hundred years. All that and more still to come of space Time. This episode of space Time is brought to you by nord VPN space Time Official VPN service. Let's face it, these days, your online privacy is more important than ever. Whether you're streaming science documentaries, reading the latest research, or exploring deep space images, you don't want your data to be tracked or your location exposed. With NordVPN, one click is all it takes to secure your Internet connection. It encrypts your data, hires your IP address, and keeps your activity safe from prying eyes, whether you're at home, work, or connected to a public Wi Fi. And here's where it gets really good. As a Spacetime listener, we have an exclusive offer for you seventy four percent off a NordVPN plant plus four extra months for free. That's right, a huge seventy four percent discount plus four bonus months just for being a Spacetime listener. All you need do is head over to NordVPN dot com slash stewart Gary. That's NordVPN dot com slash stewart, Gary, Not only does NordVPN protect your data, but it gives you access to content from right around the world. If you want to watch a science series that's only available in another country, no problem, just switch your virtual location and unlock it instantly. And of course the whole thing is risk free with a thirty day money back guarantee, so you've got nothing to lose and your online freedom to gain. So protect your digital life, support space time and grab our exclusive offer now at NordVPN dot com slash Stewart Garry. That's NordVPN dot com slash stewart Gary. New Illin residents have reported a large explosion, sending emergency services scrambling try and understand what caused the event, which took buildings across Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It turns out the explosion was the double sonic boom of a meteor about a meter wide as it entered the Earth's atmosphere the skies above the New Hampshire border with Massachusetts, north of Boston. The American Meteor Society says it received dozens of reports from Delaware to on Treal from people either hearing the bang, feeling the ground shake, or seeing the fireball, which looked like a shooting star in the daytime sky. NASA confirmed the event was a meteor rather than a satellite or space debris. NASA spokesperson Allibutel says the object was traveling at about one hundred and twenty one thousand kilometres prour and likely fragmented in the atmosphere at a height of about sixty kilometers, with any surviving fragments falling to the North Atlantic Ocean. The agency says the energy released during the blast would have been the equivalent of some three hundred tons of T and T. This is Space Time and Time Out Tech another brief look at some of the other stories making news and science this week. With a science report, the Australian Fire at Emergency Services Authorities Council is predicting an increased risk of wildfires across the northern parts of the Great Sandy Desert in Western Australia and parts of central and northern New South Wales over the next three months. The council also warns the potentially dryer and warmer than normal conditions across the nation's southeast. It says without significant rainfall, there's the potential for increased fire activity. Later this year, a new study says video captured when you unlock your phone with your face might also be able to monitor your heart rate. A report in the journal Nature examined over one hundred and ninety thousand ID videos in order to develop a new way of measuring blood flow. The authors say the resting heart measurements observed met industry accuracy standards and had an error rate of less than five beats per minute compared with a wearable heart rate tracker. A new study has found that the iceman Utzi's microbiome is still showing signs of activity even though he's been dead for some five three hundred years. Iceman Uzzi was discovered in the Utzial Alps on the Austrian Italian border back in nineteen ninety one and has since been preserved for study at some minus six degrees celsius. Using a variety of methods and samples from skin squabs, tissue fragments, in internally thawed water samples, the authors were able to differentiate which microorganisms were already present in the body during his lifetime and which only colonized it after his death. Both during the time of the glacier and over the last three decades of preservation. Their report in the journal Microbiome found several yeast species were well adapted for cold weather temperatures, probably originating from the glacial environment, and which may ultimately hold potential for industrial applications such as low temperature fermentation. One of America's most famous mediums is now visiting down Under, and she's claiming to be here to help cop solve cold cases. The skeptics timendum says these people are nothing in Greek vampires, turning tragedy into bad taste entertainment. She's supposed to be someone who can find you, can talk to the dead, and solves particular crimes for the missing person cases. He's been around a while, she hasn't found anybody. She might claim she helped police. A lot of psychas claims they help police solve a crime. What they mean by helping polices They wrote them a letter and said I know where the body is, and the police say thank you very much, and they're all waste no time in considering it. The history goes that all the examples of psychics popping up left, right, and center saying I can solve this crime they never have, and the police get so tired of them coming in that they say, please don't. And there are examples. Back to nineteen thirty five, we found an example of someone in the magazine is Rang of Women's Weekly, which is hardly a journal of scientific note, but they had a detective sergeant saying then that the psychics are not encouraged and in no single instance known to me, has anything of them you come from them. And that was nine in thirty five, and that ninety years later, they're still saying the same thing. But psychics still keep putting it forward. The morning TV shows give her a lot of covery touring Australia and in her Cold Case tour, and she's supposedly going to solve some big mysteries of disappearing people. Now this is sad. This is really sad. Yeah, we didn't feel the bone one kids, all these sort of things. These are sad cases of little kids disappearing. Obviously, families are totally destroyed, and here is someone coming in making a lot of money saying I can solve the case. And they're disappearing again. And we've had this before, especially with the dome Ont children and with the material psychists popping up saying I know where the body is or I know where they've been kidnapped through it, and they only end up hurting people and then they say I help police. Nadan, you actually annoyed the police. The police don't want to hear from you. Stop doing it. You're hurting the families. You're approaching the families and saying I can give you hope, and that that's the currency breathing families have. And they're basically referred to as grief vampires, people who take advantage of destroy upset people for money. They pretend that they can sort of make contact with a dead person or they can find it missing purpose. We would suggest that on past experience, she won't find anything. She might say she has, and then some point or deluded person will have to go and dig up a building to see if if someone buried underneath, and they'll do after soon and they've made their money and they've gone and the local TV shows, et cetera have gave a good coverage because they're just desperate for content anyway, so they'll do anything to promote These people. Totally irresponsible. Remember a great case of one psychic predicting a tsunami would hit Adelaide that for some reason, these things often happen in South Australia. Everyone we had the thing to wait for. The tsunami to come because they wanted to see it. Nothing happened. It was a great day for a picnic, it was, and and the Premier of South Australia went down to the gold to say, here we are. Nothing happened. The same thing was predicted for Perth, same things being predicted for Sydney. I mean it's it's nothing new. And as far as I know, Sydney and Person and Adelaide have not been destroyed by ways. These feeble predictors are just they're not so bad. They're just silly because when people go and leach off greeting people where it stops being fun. And this is where where the skeptics go. Stop joking about this stuff. These are hurting people, and the TV programs that cover them are hurting people. And they're almost as bad as the claimants as the psyche. That's the skeptics, Timindum and this is Spacetime, and that's the show for now. Spacetime is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through at bytes dot com, SoundCloud, YouTube, your favorite podcast download provider, and from space Time with Stuart Gary dot com. Space Time's also broadcast through the National Science Foundation, on Science Own Radio and on both iHeartRadio and tune In Radio. 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