S27E28: Lunar Lander's Moonlight Slumber: Odysseus in Schomberger Crater

[00:00:00] This is SpaceTime Series 27 Episode 28, coming up on SpaceTime.

[00:00:05] The Odysseus Lunalander placed into sleeping mode on the moon.

[00:00:09] A new study warns the Atlantic Ocean could start to disappear in the next 20 million

[00:00:14] years and three new moons discovered orbiting around Neptune and Uranus.

[00:00:20] All that and more coming up on SpaceTime.

[00:00:25] Welcome to SpaceTime with Stuart Gary.

[00:00:44] And Joridh's machines say they'll place their Odysseus Nova Sea lunar lander into sleeping

[00:00:49] mode in the hope of waiting out the 15 Earth Day long lunar night following the spacecraft

[00:00:55] sideways touchdown last week near the lunar south pole.

[00:00:59] The historic mission has been labelled a success by both the company and NASA, that's despite

[00:01:04] multiple communications and navigations problems which ultimately saw the spacecraft

[00:01:09] flip over onto its side during its landing sequence.

[00:01:12] It turns out Odysseus was descending three times faster than expected and it was moving

[00:01:17] slightly to one side at the moment of touchdown.

[00:01:20] And that was enough to cause one of its six legs to catch onto the lunar surface just

[00:01:24] as it was about to make contact with the ground resulting in the spacecraft tipping

[00:01:29] over onto its side by about 30 degrees.

[00:01:32] Odysseus wound up landing in the moon Schomburger crater, that's some 200km

[00:01:38] up range from its intended landing site in Malaport A crater, 300km from the lunar south

[00:01:43] pole.

[00:01:45] Still it was the first lunar touchdown by any commercially manufactured and operated spacecraft

[00:01:50] and the first moon landing by an American spacecraft in 52 years.

[00:01:55] Only four other countries have successfully landed on the moon, the former Soviet Union,

[00:02:00] China, India and most recently Japan in January, although that also landed on its side

[00:02:06] following a propulsion system malfunction during touchdown.

[00:02:10] Mission managers say while Odysseus' solar panels were able to keep batteries running successfully

[00:02:15] they weren't in an ideal position due to the way the spacecraft tipped over during

[00:02:19] the landing and they're not sure if the spacecraft's batteries will survive the

[00:02:23] freezing lunar nighttime temperatures.

[00:02:26] Odysseus is carrying a suite of seven NASA science and technology demonstrator payloads.

[00:02:32] They're designed to improve operations around the lunar south pole in preparations for manned

[00:02:36] Artemis missions which will see humans returning to the moon for the first time since Apollo

[00:02:41] 17 back in 1972.

[00:02:44] But unlike Apollo which only saw lunar visits lasting a matter of hours or days at most,

[00:02:50] Artemis marks the commencement of a long term human presence on the lunar surface

[00:02:54] more like scientists overwintering in Antarctica and they'll eventually use the moon as

[00:03:00] a jumping off point for longer manned missions to Mars and beyond.

[00:03:04] The various payloads aboard Odysseus include collecting data on space weather interactions

[00:03:08] with the lunar surface, a radio astronomy test, laser retro reflectors for range fighting

[00:03:14] and identification, the use of microgravity fuel tank gauges, monitoring radio wave

[00:03:19] interference on the moon, checking out the amount of damage caused to the lunar

[00:03:22] surface during landing and developing a lunar navigation network.

[00:03:27] That involves the navigation Doppler LiDAR, an innovative new type of guidance system.

[00:03:34] Navigation Doppler LiDAR chief engineer Glenn Hines from NASA's Langley Research

[00:03:37] Centre in Hampton, Virginia says the system's been under development for some 20 years

[00:03:42] now and it can potentially revolutionise landing spacecraft on extraterrestrial worlds.

[00:03:47] See, the problem is previous attempts using radar are inherently imprecise.

[00:03:53] That's because radio waves cover a large area of the ground at once.

[00:03:57] That means smaller obstacles like craters and boulders can be missed and that can cause

[00:04:02] unexpected hazards for a landing craft.

[00:04:05] Hines says the landers needed the radar sensor to tell them how far they were off the

[00:04:10] ground and how fast they were moving towards it so they could time their landing accurately.

[00:04:15] The problem is, radio waves can't measure velocity and range independently of one another.

[00:04:20] On the other hand LiDAR, which stands for light detection and ranging, is a technology

[00:04:24] that uses visible or infrared light in the same way that radar uses radio waves.

[00:04:30] LiDAR works by sending laser pulses to a target which then reflects some of that light back

[00:04:35] to a detector.

[00:04:36] As the instrument moves in relation to its target, the change in the Doppler effect

[00:04:40] frequency of the returning signal allows LiDAR to measure velocity directly and precisely

[00:04:46] and distance is measured based on the travel time of the light to the target and back.

[00:04:51] So overall LiDAR offers a more precise and accurate measurement than radar.

[00:04:56] As well as navigation Doppler LiDAR, the team have also developed a companion sensor known

[00:05:01] as a multifunctional Flash LiDAR camera.

[00:05:05] Flash LiDAR basically uses 3D camera technology which surveys the surrounding terrain, even

[00:05:10] in complete darkness, thereby providing a complete picture of what lies ahead.

[00:05:15] This report from NASA TV.

[00:05:46] NDL is a LiDAR instrument that is used to enable that capability.

[00:05:50] It uses light in the same way that sonar uses sound.

[00:05:53] For NDL we have three telescopes where light would come out of the telescope, hit the

[00:05:58] moon's surface and some of that light would be reflected back.

[00:06:01] These telescopes are mounted on the outside of a vehicle so you get a clear view of

[00:06:05] the ground as it's coming in for a landing.

[00:06:08] In the Apollo era, large radars or astronauts using their eyes looking out of a viewport

[00:06:14] were used to help land the vehicles.

[00:06:17] NDL is going to have to take the burden off of the crew with a much smaller, lower power

[00:06:22] and more accurate instrument.

[00:06:24] And in that report from NASA TV, we heard from navigation Doppler LiDAR chief engineer

[00:06:29] Glenn Hines from NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

[00:06:34] This space time.

[00:06:37] Still to come, a new study claims the Atlantic Ocean could start to disappear in as little

[00:06:42] as 20 million years from now and three new moons have been discovered orbiting Neptune

[00:06:47] and Uranus.

[00:06:48] All that and more still to come on space time.

[00:06:52] A new study suggests the Atlantic Ocean may soon be entering its declining phase.

[00:07:14] The findings reported in the journal Geology are based on new computational models which

[00:07:18] predict that a subduction zone currently below the Straits of Gibraltar will ultimately

[00:07:23] propagate further inside the Atlantic Ocean, contributing to the ultimate formation of an

[00:07:28] Atlantic subduction system, basically an Atlantic Ocean version of the Pacific's Ring of Fire.

[00:07:34] And the study also suggests that based on what scientists are now seeing, this will

[00:07:38] happen soon in geological terms, in just 20 million years or so.

[00:07:43] The oceans seem eternal in human lifespans.

[00:07:47] But on the overall geological time scale of planet Earth, they're not really around

[00:07:52] for very long.

[00:07:53] They're born, they grow and they eventually close up again.

[00:07:57] This process which on average takes a few hundred million years is known as the Wilson Cycle.

[00:08:02] The Atlantic Ocean, for example, was born when Pangaea broke up 180 million years ago

[00:08:07] and it will one day close.

[00:08:10] For example what we now call the Mediterranean Sea is all that remains of what was once

[00:08:15] a huge ocean to Tethys.

[00:08:17] It existed between Africa and Eurasia, but now the meds all have got.

[00:08:22] For an ocean like the Atlantic to stop growing and start closing, new subduction zones, places

[00:08:28] where one tectonic plate sinks below another, have to form.

[00:08:32] But subduction zones are actually quite hard to form and they require plates to break

[00:08:36] and bend and tectonic plates are very strong.

[00:08:40] A way out of this paradox is to consider that subduction zones can migrate from one

[00:08:45] dying ocean in which they already exist, in this case the Mediterranean, moving into a

[00:08:49] pristine ocean like the Atlantic.

[00:08:52] And this study shows for the first time how such an event can happen.

[00:08:56] A computational gravity driven 3D model predicts that a subduction zone currently

[00:09:00] below the strategy brolter will propagate further inside the Atlantic and contribute

[00:09:05] to the ultimate formation of an Atlantic subduction zone.

[00:09:09] The study's lead author, Wade Rattay from the University of Lisbon says he was

[00:09:13] able to simulate the formation of a Gibraltar arc with great detail and also how it may

[00:09:19] evolve in the deep future.

[00:09:21] These findings shed new light on the Gibraltar subduction zone as few scientists considered

[00:09:26] it to still be active because it significantly slowed down over the past million years.

[00:09:32] According to these new results, this slow phase will last for another 20 million years

[00:09:36] or so and after that it will invade the Atlantic Ocean and accelerate.

[00:09:41] This will be the beginning of a recycling of the crust on the eastern side of the Atlantic

[00:09:45] and it might be the start of the Atlantic Ocean itself beginning to close.

[00:09:50] And our story doesn't end there, it seems there are two other subduction zones on the

[00:09:55] other side of the Atlantic, the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean and the Scotia Arc near

[00:10:00] Antarctica and both of these invaded the Atlantic several million years ago.

[00:10:06] Studying Gibraltar therefore provides an invaluable opportunity for scientists

[00:10:09] because it allows them to observe the process during its early stages when it's all just

[00:10:14] beginning.

[00:10:15] Rattay says the study shows that subduction invasion is likely a common mechanism for

[00:10:20] subduction initiation in the Atlantic type oceans and it plays a fundamental role in

[00:10:25] the geological evolution of the entire planet.

[00:10:29] Finding that the Gibraltar subduction is still currently active also has important

[00:10:33] implications for seismic activity in the area.

[00:10:37] Subduction zones are known for producing very strong earthquakes.

[00:10:41] A repeat of events such as the 1755 Great Lisbon earthquake pros a real threat and so they

[00:10:47] require civil preparedness.

[00:10:50] This is space time.

[00:10:52] Still to come, three new moons discovered orbiting around Uranus and Neptune and later

[00:10:57] in the science report marine archaeologists have solved the 120 year old mystery of

[00:11:02] the S.S. Nemesis.

[00:11:04] All that and more still to come on space time.

[00:11:23] Astronomers have discovered three tiny moons orbiting around the ice giants Uranus and Neptune.

[00:11:28] The trio include two new bodies orbiting Neptune bringing its total moon population to 16.

[00:11:35] The new Neptunian moons have been provisionally named S2002N5 and S2021N1.

[00:11:42] N5 is some 23km across and appears to be on a 9 earth year orbit around Neptune.

[00:11:49] The phantom moon N1 is around 14km across and it circles Neptune once every 27 earth

[00:11:55] years.

[00:11:56] Both Neptunian moons will eventually be assigned permanent names based on seagods and nymphs

[00:12:02] out of Greek mythology.

[00:12:03] Meanwhile the third moon which was discovered orbiting Uranus is just 8km across and

[00:12:09] takes some 680 earth days to complete each orbit.

[00:12:13] It brings the total number of known moons orbiting around Uranus to 28.

[00:12:18] These three new moons are the faintest ever found orbiting around the two ice giants

[00:12:22] using ground based telescopes.

[00:12:25] This space time.

[00:12:43] And time that to take a brief look at some of the other stories making news and science

[00:12:46] this week with the science report.

[00:12:49] A new study claims zinc could help some people with cystic fibrosis.

[00:12:53] Researchers found that in people with CF, amiens cells called macrophages are defective

[00:12:58] in the zinc pathway that the body uses to kill bacteria.

[00:13:02] A report in the Journal of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says this

[00:13:06] may partially explain why these people are more susceptible to bacterial infections.

[00:13:12] The authors also identified a zinc transport protein that can restore the macrophages

[00:13:16] ability to kill bacteria.

[00:13:19] The goal now is to deliver the zinc transport protein to macrophages in people with CF with

[00:13:24] the expectation that this might reactivate their immune response and therefore reduce infections.

[00:13:31] An investigation by the CSIRO for Heritage New South Wales has solved the 120 year old

[00:13:37] maritime mystery of the SS Nemesis.

[00:13:41] The 73 meter iron hold steamship was lost off Australia's specific east coast in 1904.

[00:13:48] This had been on the voyage from Newcastle to Melbourne carrying coal and coke when it

[00:13:52] disappeared in a storm with a loss of all 32 souls on board.

[00:13:56] Its location was unknown until Marine Survey company Subsea discovered an uncharted wreck

[00:14:02] off the coast of Woollongong back in May 2022.

[00:14:06] An initial inspection by Subsea using a remotely operated subsurface vehicle suggested that

[00:14:11] it might be Nemesis.

[00:14:14] And so Australia's National Science Agency, the CSIRO, was petitioned by Heritage New South

[00:14:19] Wales to investigate the wreck and garner further information in order to aid in its identification.

[00:14:26] The agency's research vessel investigator undertook a detailed seafloor mapping and camera investigation

[00:14:32] of the wreck using advanced multi-beam echo sounders to first map the wreck site

[00:14:36] surrounding seafloor in high resolution.

[00:14:39] They then conducted a systematic visual inspection of the entire wreck using a special underwater

[00:14:44] drop camera system.

[00:14:46] The seafloor mapping shows the wrecks lying in 160 meters of water, approximately 28 kilometers

[00:14:52] off the Woollongong coast.

[00:14:54] The wreck is sitting upright on the seafloor and it's located right near the edge of

[00:14:58] the continental shelf.

[00:15:00] The images show that Nemesis has suffered significant damage over the years and deterioration

[00:15:05] at both the bow and stern is quite extensive.

[00:15:08] But some key features were still intact and identifiable, including two of the ship's anchors

[00:15:13] lying on the seafloor.

[00:15:16] A new study has failed to find any clear link between the weather and back, knee or hip

[00:15:22] pain.

[00:15:23] The findings reported in the journal seminars in arthritis and rheumatism contradict

[00:15:27] the longstanding belief that changes in weather conditions such as impending rain,

[00:15:32] humidity or temperature change can trigger or worsen muscle and joint pain or arthritis.

[00:15:38] However, an extensive study by scientists at the University of Sydney have failed to find

[00:15:44] any clear pattern between these two events.

[00:15:47] Researchers did find that high temperatures and low humidity may double the risk of

[00:15:51] gout flare with the findings showing that warm weather could lead to dehydration and

[00:15:56] increased uric acid concentration in people with gout.

[00:16:00] Authors pooled the data from existing international studies on weather and musculoskeletal pain,

[00:16:05] involving over 15,000 participants reporting over 28,000 new episodes or worsening of muscle

[00:16:11] or joint pain.

[00:16:13] Knee or hip osteoarthritis were the most common conditions reported followed by lower

[00:16:17] back pain and rheumatoid arthritis.

[00:16:20] The study found that changes in air temperature, air humidity, pressure and rainfall do not

[00:16:25] seem to increase the risk of knee, hip or lower back pain symptoms and are not associated

[00:16:31] with any new care seeking events for arthritis.

[00:16:35] The village of Amityville on Long Island has a rich and robust history.

[00:16:40] But unless you're a local, you probably only know the town because of its more

[00:16:45] sinister claim to fame, the Amityville horror.

[00:16:48] A brutal murder followed by claims of a haunting that was ultimately made into a Hollywood

[00:16:52] movie that would forever immortalise the town as the home of an infamous haunted house.

[00:16:59] But as Tim Mendham from A Strange Skeptics points out, virtually none of it other than

[00:17:03] the initial murders was true.

[00:17:52] The film that created the whole genre, which is still around, is The Demon Possession and

[00:18:14] that's The Exorcist of course, which came out shortly after he was put in jail.

[00:18:18] Also my favourite horror movie because of just the mood it gave you as you watched it.

[00:18:31] That scene where the priest is on the mound and he's looking across at the statue, this

[00:18:35] is in Iraqi desert, and he's looking across at the statue depicting an evil spirit and

[00:18:40] the dogs are fighting in the background.

[00:18:42] At that stage William Freakon was got an interesting director shortly after French connection

[00:18:48] is still used as a training film by the FBI for how to follow people without being seen.

[00:19:01] The exorcist set the pattern for a demonic possession scenario and the seo president of

[00:19:07] the family picked it up very quickly and said, ah that's the reason why I killed them not

[00:19:11] because I was influenced by this couple keeps film but because I was actually possessed.

[00:19:16] It became a handy excuse for a lot of people to do bad things.

[00:19:19] I was possessed and The Exorcist was a very influential film from that point of view.

[00:19:22] Someone said it's the best advertisement for the Catholic Church.

[00:19:25] There were a lot of people who were very scared by the film and therefore that was influential

[00:19:30] and what happened was that there was a fellow who was making those little documentaries,

[00:19:33] you know the making of that you see on DVDs as an extra.

[00:19:36] This fellow did the making of The Exorcist and he wrote a book, heard about this

[00:19:42] seo character and heard about a family that bought the house.

[00:19:45] They couldn't afford it apparently but they bought the house for looks and they left again

[00:19:49] pretty quickly.

[00:19:50] So he got on to them, talked with them and said this is a really good story.

[00:19:53] Let's write a book about it and he did.

[00:19:54] There's Jay Anson wrote this book called The Amityville Horror and in it he makes

[00:19:58] a lot of statements about what the situation was all the flies and the priest visiting

[00:20:02] and all the horror.

[00:20:03] He makes a lot of claims.

[00:20:04] Most of which are not true either exaggerated or they're not true totally.

[00:20:07] The looks were interesting in this because they were a bit harder for money and they

[00:20:10] were probably a way to make some money, probably a bit rough to accuse them of that.

[00:20:13] But anyway, they were working on another book with Anson and they eventually split.

[00:20:17] They disagreed about financial matters etc.

[00:20:19] The Anson book became the source of the film, The Amityville Horror, which again

[00:20:23] took it even further in the horror fictional genre.

[00:20:26] And one of the things that Anson had put in his book which was totally untrue is

[00:20:29] that the house was built on a Native American cemetery.

[00:20:32] Yeah, great.

[00:20:33] Very off-league, highly sacred site as he wasn't.

[00:20:35] In fact the tribe of Native Americans he quoted was there, the different tribe

[00:20:39] that was around there, but they say there's no indication that there was

[00:20:42] cemetery or funeral place here.

[00:20:43] Come on, we all know that's the theme of the poltergeist as well.

[00:20:46] Well, Spanish is not mentioned in poltergeist.

[00:20:49] I thought it was!

[00:20:50] It becomes this trope, this idea that everything is built on a cemetery

[00:20:55] but not an Indian cemetery.

[00:20:56] Ah, right, right.

[00:20:57] Big difference you see.

[00:20:58] Big difference.

[00:20:59] But this idea of a Native American ancient burial ground as the source of

[00:21:04] demons and ghosts and possessions and things starts off with this Amityville Horror

[00:21:08] book in a popular way and has now become just a commonplace belief.

[00:21:11] And the things are skeptics fighting against it.

[00:21:13] So they say well go back to the original source and see if it was actually true.

[00:21:16] And it's not.

[00:21:17] The failure who died a number of years ago was quoting all these different

[00:21:20] things from different films as a source of his explanation for what he did.

[00:21:24] So these three films, Castle Keep, Exorcism and the eventual Amityville

[00:21:27] Horror film, it was being keyed to the Amityville myth, to their

[00:21:30] associations with the story.

[00:21:32] And the people of Amityville hate the idea of this house because

[00:21:35] they say it's like that.

[00:21:36] First they had the shark to deal with or that was just Amity, wasn't it?

[00:21:39] That's Amity, yes.

[00:21:40] Because Martha's Vineyard in America.

[00:21:42] So Amityville has become famous as this haunted house.

[00:21:46] The famous psychic haunting investigators, the Warrens,

[00:21:50] investigators and of course...

[00:21:51] They've got their own record of flimflam, haven't they?

[00:21:53] Totally.

[00:21:54] There wasn't a haunted house they found that wasn't haunted.

[00:21:57] They made a lot of money and a lot of fame out of what they did.

[00:22:00] Not necessarily other people who were haunted but all the

[00:22:02] associated stuff they were doing.

[00:22:03] And they're still highly regarded by psychics.

[00:22:06] Well, the films The Conjuring and the whole series are based on them.

[00:22:09] The Warrens, right?

[00:22:10] There's a number of things about an infield haunting in the UK

[00:22:13] which involves the Warrens and the infields.

[00:22:14] And there's an Australian haunting that involves the Warrens

[00:22:17] who are hardly there and the same for the infield things.

[00:22:19] They turn up and then left again.

[00:22:20] No one here is involved as the films make an effort to do.

[00:22:23] And funny enough, like the Amityville Horror film

[00:22:25] and the Conjuring films, there's a lot of stuff that's made up

[00:22:28] and not true.

[00:22:29] So this whole meme of being buried on a Native American burial site

[00:22:32] largely comes not entirely, but it's certainly made popular

[00:22:35] by the Amityville Horror and has become an accepted fact

[00:22:38] about many other places.

[00:22:39] And it's really not true.

[00:22:40] And the Montauket Nation people who was the actual Native Americans

[00:22:44] who lived around the area said they are pretty displeased

[00:22:47] with this notion all the time.

[00:22:49] There are real burial grounds for Native American people

[00:22:52] but they're known and not built upon.

[00:22:54] Their mark suggests that the Amityville House

[00:22:57] was built on one is totally made up along with a lot of other stuff

[00:23:00] in the Amityville Horror.

[00:23:01] That's Tim Endham from Australian Skeptics.

[00:23:04] And that's the show for now.

[00:23:21] Spacetime is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday

[00:23:25] through Apple Podcasts iTunes, Stitcher, Google Podcasts,

[00:23:29] Pocket Casts, Spotify, A-Cast, Amazon Music, Bites.com,

[00:23:33] SoundCloud, YouTube, your favorite podcast download provider

[00:23:38] and from spacetimewithstewittgarry.com.

[00:23:41] Spacetime's also broadcast through the National Science Foundation

[00:23:44] on Science Zone Radio and on both iHeart Radio and TuneIn Radio.

[00:23:49] And you can help to support our show by visiting the spacetime store

[00:23:53] for a range of promotional merchandising goodies

[00:23:55] or by becoming a spacetime patron

[00:23:58] which gives you access to triple episode

[00:24:00] commercial free versions of the show

[00:24:02] as well as lots of bonus audio content

[00:24:04] which doesn't go to air,

[00:24:05] access to our exclusive Facebook group and other rewards.

[00:24:09] Just go to spacetimewithstewittgarry.com for full details.

[00:24:13] And if you want more spacetime, please check out our blog

[00:24:16] where you'll find all the stuff we couldn't fit in the show

[00:24:18] as well as heaps of images, news stories, loads of videos

[00:24:22] and things on the web I find interesting or amusing.

[00:24:25] Just go to spacetimewithstewittgarry.tumblr.com.

[00:24:29] That's all one word and that's Tumblr without the E.

[00:24:32] You can also follow us through atstewittgarry on Twitter,

[00:24:36] at spacetimewithstewittgarry on Instagram,

[00:24:39] through our spacetime YouTube channel

[00:24:41] and on Facebook just go to facebook.com forward slash spacetimewithstewittgarry.

[00:24:47] You've been listening to spacetimewithstewittgarry.

[00:24:50] This has been another quality podcast production from Bytes.com.