SpaceTime Series 27 Episode 41
*The Scandinavian Connection: Born from Greenland's Ancient Crust
In a groundbreaking geological study, scientists have traced the oldest Scandinavian bedrock back to its origins in Greenland, revealing a continental connection dating back 3.75 billion years. Published in the journal Geology, this research uncovers a hidden chapter of Earth's crust beneath Denmark and Scandinavia, suggesting a tectonic detachment from Greenland that predates previous estimates by a quarter of a billion years. The discovery, locked within zircon minerals, not only reshapes our understanding of continental drift but also underscores Earth's uniqueness in the solar system as a cradle for life.
*Blue Origin's Orbital Reef: A Leap Towards Commercial Space Habitats
Blue Origin, in collaboration with Sierra Space, has achieved a significant milestone in the development of the Orbital Reef commercial space station. Under NASA's watchful eye, the project has successfully tested key life support systems essential for sustaining human presence in orbit. With a potential operational date as early as 2027, Orbital Reef aims to provide a voluminous habitat for ten occupants, marking a new era in space exploration and research as the International Space Station approaches retirement.
*Space's Role in Climate Change Monitoring Intensifies
The World Meteorological Organization's latest report delivers a stark reality check, with 2023 witnessing unprecedented levels of greenhouse gases, rising seas, and melting ice. In response, the fleet of Copernicus Sentinel satellites operated by the European Union plays an increasingly vital role in monitoring our changing planet. These eyes in the sky offer critical data, from sea ice dynamics to deforestation, aiding policymakers in crafting strategies to combat the escalating climate crisis.
*Dragon's Bounty: A Resupply Mission Brimming with Scientific Promise
SpaceX's CRS-30 mission, aboard the upgraded Dragon spacecraft, has successfully docked with the International Space Station, delivering over 2.7 tonnes of vital supplies and novel experiments. This cache of scientific endeavors includes a joint CSIRO-Boeing 3D mapping project, the Burst Cube satellite for studying cosmic gamma-ray bursts, and the GEARS initiative for identifying antibiotic-resistant microbes in space. With over 250 experiments in progress, the orbiting laboratory continues to be a beacon of discovery and innovation.
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This is Space Time Series 27 Episode 41, for broadcast on the
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3rd of April 2024. Coming up on Space Time, a new study that
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shows how Scandinavia was actually born in Greenland, Blue
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Origin's planned Orbital Reef space station passes an
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important milestone, and the growing role of space in
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monitoring climate change. All that and more coming up on Space
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Time.
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Welcome to Space Time with Stuart Gary.
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You A new study looking at the oldest Scandinavian bedrock has
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found that it actually originated in Greenland. The
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findings reported in the journal Geology help scientists
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understand the origins of continents and why the Earth is
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the only planet in our solar system to harbour life.
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The key was uncovered in a Finnish outcrop nestled between
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some of northern Europe's oldest mountains. There, geologists
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found traces of a previously hidden part of Earth's crust
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that points back more than 3 billion years in time and west
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towards Greenland.
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The evidence was actually found locked in the mineral called
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zircon, which after chemical analysis showed that the
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formation upon which Denmark and Scandinavia rest was probably
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born from Greenland some 3.75 billion years ago.
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One of the study's authors, Todd Wright from the University Of
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Copenhagen, says the data suggests that the oldest parts
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of Earth's crust beneath Scandinavia originate in
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Greenland and is about 250 million years older than
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previously thought.
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The author's study of the zircon showed that in several ways its
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chemical fingerprints matched those of some of the oldest
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rocks on the planet which were found in West Greenland's North
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Atlantic Craton.
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Wright and colleagues say that the zircon crystals, which were
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found in river sand and rocks from Finland, have signatures
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that point towards them being much older than anything else
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ever found in Scandinavia, while at the same time matching the
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age of Greenlandic rock samples. And the results of three
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independent isotope analyses confirms that Scandinavia's
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bedrock was most likely linked to Greenland.
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Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland rest on top of a part of
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the Earth's crust known as the Fenner Scandian or Baltic
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Shield. The authors believe that it broke away and shifted for
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hundreds of millions of years until it eventually took root
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where Finland is today.
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Here, the plate grew as new geological material accumulated
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around it until it eventually became Scandinavia. Now at the
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time of this tectonic plate's detachment from Greenland, the
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planet looked very different to what it does today.
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Wright says the Earth was probably a watery planet but
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without any oxygen in the atmosphere and without any
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emergent crust. The fact that the Earth even had a continental
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crust composed of granite is quite special when you look into
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space and compare our planet with other planets.
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Having a tectonic plate system with continental granitic crust
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is unique in the solar system. And evidence of liquid water, as
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well as a granite crust, are key factors when trying to identify
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habitable worlds and the possibility of life beyond
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Earth.
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This new study adds fresh pieces to a primordial continental
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puzzle that began long before life on Earth truly blossomed,
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but which largely paved the way. Understanding how continents
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formed helps scientists understand why Earth's the only
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planet in the solar system with life on it.
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That's because without fixed continents and water in between
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them, life couldn't have evolved. Indeed, continents
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influence both ocean currents and climate, which are both
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crucial for life on Earth.
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The authors say their findings contribute to a growing number
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of studies which have rejected the means used so far to
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calculate how continents have grown, especially during the
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first billion years of Earth's history. The most commonly used
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models assume that Earth's continental crust began to form
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when the planet was formed 4.6 billion years ago.
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But instead, several recent studies have suggested that the
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chemical signatures showing the growth of continental crust can
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really only be identified about a billion years later.
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Wright says the new results add to previous research that found
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similar seeds from ancient crusts in other parts of the
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world. It provides another important clue in the mystery of
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how continents formed and spread across the planet, especially in
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the case of the Phenos-Scandinavian shield. But
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of course there's still plenty science doesn't know.
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In Australia, South Africa and India, for example, similar
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seeds have been found, but the authors are unsure as to whether
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or not they come from the same birthplace, or whether they
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originated independently of one another in several different
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places on Earth.
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This is Space Time. Still to come, engineers working on Blue
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Origin's proposed orbital space station pass a major milestone,
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and we look at the growing role of space in monitoring climate
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change. All that and more still to come on Space Time.
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You Thank Scientists and engineers working on Blue Origin
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's Orbital Reef Commercial Space Station project have completed a
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major testing milestone for the future orbital outpost's crucial
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life support systems. It's one of four milestones needed to be
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met under NASA's Space Act agreement, which is funding the
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project.
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The objective this time focused on the materials and designs for
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systems to clean, reclaim and store the air and water crucial
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for human spaceflight. The Joint Blue Origin Sierra Space Project
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is being designed to support 10 people in modules totaling some
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830 cubic metres of volume, which could be operational as
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soon as 2027.
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The current International Space Station has modules totaling
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just over 1 cubic metres of living space. The milestones
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being set by NASA are crucial for ensuring that any future
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commercial space station can support human life.
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NASA wants these commercial space stations to be operational
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so they can continue having access to low-Earth orbit space
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for conducting important scientific research once the
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existing International Space Station reaches the end of its
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operational life sometime around 2030. Each completed milestone
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allows NASA to gain insight progress on the new station's
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design and development.
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On the current International Space Station, components for
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the environmental control and life support systems maintain
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clean air and water for astronauts. The regenerative
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system recycles and reclaims most of the water and oxygen
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produced by normal human activities. And yes, that really
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does include drinking water recycled from urine and sweat.
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Of course, it is all purified and disinfected before it
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reaches your lips. And importantly, it significantly
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reduces the amount of additional payload that needs to be flown
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up to the space station on supply missions. The new Orbital
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Reef space station will have a similar system in place.
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All four milestones are testing different parts of the system,
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including a trace contaminant control test, a water
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contamination oxidation test, a urine water recovery test, and a
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water tank test. The trace contamination control test
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screens materials to remove harmful impurities from the air.
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NASA is currently supporting the design and development of
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multiple commercial space stations, including Blue Origin
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's Orbital Reef. This is Space Time. Still to come, the growing
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role of space in monitoring climate change. And Dragon
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delivers more supplies to the International Space Station. All
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that and more still to come on Space Time.
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A new report from the World Meteorological Organization has
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confirmed that climate change has smashed all previous records
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for greenhouse gas levels, surface temperatures, ocean heat
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and acidification, sea level rise, Antarctic sea ice
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coverage, and glacier melting and retreating. The study shows
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that 2023 was on average some 1.45 degrees Celsius above
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pre-industrial baseline levels.
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Scientists found that glaciers suffered the largest loss of ice
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on record, and Antarctic sea ice was some 1 million square
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kilometres below the previous record lows for summer. While
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much of the data supporting this new study was based on direct
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observations taken at weather stations around the planet, an
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increasing amount is being gathered by weather and
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environmental satellites orbiting the Earth.
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And the European Union's constellation of Copernicus
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Sentinel satellites makes up the largest single fleet of climate
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change monitoring spacecraft in existence. The Sentinels provide
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systematic data for environmental services that'll
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help people adapt to the worsening change. This report
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from ESA TV.
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All over Europe, climate change is a growing concern. With
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global sea levels rising between 16 and 20 centimetres since
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1900, climate change is undeniably having an effect on
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oceans, land surfaces, ice caps and weather patterns across the
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globe.
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It is well understood that climate change is caused by
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atmospheric gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane. When
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we look at these trace gases, there is an obvious correlation
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between human activity and climate change.
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Co2 concentrations of the atmosphere over the last 800
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years, these values are going up and down in different phases.
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Over the last 800 years, the value was always below 300 parts
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per million, and suddenly...
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Since the last century it goes up very steep towards 400 parts
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per million or even beyond. And this is what we have today. This
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is the increase of carbon dioxide, drastically increasing
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over the last 100 years caused by human beings.
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In order to tackle climate change, scientists and
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governments need reliable data to understand how our planet is
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changing. This can be provided by ESA, which monitors our
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planet from space.
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With EU Copernicus Sentinel missions and Earth Explorer
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missions in orbit, ice thickness and coverage, deforestation,
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soil moisture, sea level and ocean surface temperature, as
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well as other essential climate variables can be measured.
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These satellites have global coverage, revisiting the same
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region every few days, therefore providing a good understanding
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of the health and behavior of our planet and how it's affected
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by climate change.
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In turn, this offers decision-makers key information
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for mitigating strategies and policies.
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Frequency and consistent observations of our environment
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are very important if we want to give decision-makers the key
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into their hand on where humankind has to change
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practices, where we have to be mitigating for encroaching
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impacts on our environment.
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Satellites can show us how the world has changed. Like in the
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Camargue, France, where the coastline has retreated more
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than 200 metres in the last 20 years. In the 1980s, sea walls
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were constructed here in a failed attempt to stop the
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rising water.
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Back then, sea level was rising, but more slowly than it is now.
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Over the last five years, records show that the rise in
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sea level is accelerating. Soon part of this delta will be lost
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to the sea.
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And what is happening here is happening in many parts of the
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globe.
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Worldwide, more than 370 million people live less than 5 meters
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above sea level.
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Over a hundred megacities such as New York or Tokyo are near
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the water. All are at risk. Satellite data gives us the
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facts so that we can prepare ourselves for the rising tide
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and protect coastline populations. This data is also
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used in ESA's Climate Change Initiative. Where ESA scientists
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preserve and work with long-term datasets going back to 30 years
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and more to get an even better understanding of climate change.
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Thanks to satellites, we have evidence that the planet is in
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danger. Now it is up to people on Earth to take the necessary
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measures in time.
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The key for sustaining life on Earth might come from space.
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And in that report from ESA TV, we heard from Yusuf Ashbaka, the
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director of ESA's Earth Observation Programmes, and
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Michael Rass, ESA's Earth Observation Senior Advisor. This
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is Space Time.
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Still to come, SpaceX's Dragon delivers more supplies and
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scientific equipment to the International Space Station. And
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later in the Science Report... The new implantable battery that
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uses the body's oxygen to deliver a stable electrical
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supply. All that and more still to come on Space Time.
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Thanks Critical new scientific experiments and technology have
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arrived aboard the International Space Station as part of NASA's
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latest commercial resupply mission. The SpaceX CRS-30
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mission docked to the Harmony Zenith port aboard the orbiting
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outpost two days after launching from the newly reconfigured
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Space Launch Complex-40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Base
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in Florida.
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It was the first flight to use the upgraded launch pad, which
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has been equipped with a new crew access tower and arm,
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allowing it to be used for manned space missions.
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For our growing launch manifest, we've made new upgrades to Space
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Launch Complex 40, including a brand new tower and access arm,
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which enables more efficient late load operations as well as
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human spaceflight missions.
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With these updates, we are on our way to having two launch
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pads capable of supporting flying humans to space.
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Stage 2 LOX load complete.
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With Stage 2 LOX load complete, that gets us inside the 2 minute
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marker to countdown. Checkouts on the second stage thrust
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vector control have passed. We'll get to engine gibbling and
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wiggle test on the first stage much closer before ignition. At
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the time of launch, the International Space Station will
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be flying 260 statute miles over the border of Mexico and
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Guatemala.
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Falcon 9 is in startup.
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We are now in startup.
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Dragon is in countdown.
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And Dragon is in countdown. Range remains go for launch,
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waiting for that final go from the SpaceX launch director.
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SpaceX launch director.
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Go for launch. You heard that call out. The launch director
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has given that final go. All systems are go for launch of
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Falcon 9 in the CRS-30 mission.
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10 Minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ignition and liftoff at
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a drag concern at 819.40 cargo take flight on NASA's SpaceX
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30th commercial resupply services mission Falcon 9 at 1.7
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million pounds of thrust pitching downrange hearing good
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calls of performance nominal trajectory as Falcon 9 and
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Dragon arc out to the northeast Falcon 9 has successfully lifted
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off from slick 40 at cape canaveral space force station
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during ascent we will tilt or gimbal our engines guiding the
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rocket into what we call a gravity turn through this turn
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the vehicle is flying both up and horizontally nominal
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horizontally Away from the launch pad.
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Now, this rocket typically needs to go about 17 miles per
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hour horizontally in order to make it to orbit and avoid being
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pulled back down to Earth. Some moments ago, we did throttle the
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engines down in preparation for MAX-Q, or maximum aerodynamic
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pressure, in just a couple seconds.
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MAX-Q. There was that call out for MAX-Q. And coming up, we
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have a few events in quick succession, starting with main
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engine cutoff, followed by stage separation, second engine
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startup one. And the start of the boost back burn for the
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first stage.
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MBAC is chilling.
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There's the call out. The MBAC engine on the second stage is
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chilling in, getting ready for startup. Now, the first of these
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events is main engine cutoff or MECO, where the nine Merlin 1D
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engines on the first stage will shut down in preparation for
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stage separation, which is where stage one and two will separate
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from each other with the first stage making its way back down
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to Earth and the second stage.
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Performing second engine start one, which is where we ignite
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that single Merlin vacuum engine on board the second stage.
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The boost back burn will then start on the first stage. This
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burn helps assist the vehicle flip back around and reorient
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itself back to land. Miko. Stage separation confirmed. Stand by,
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condition.
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Stage one boost back startup.
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There you heard those events happening back to back. Again,
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we had main engine cut off of the first stage, stage
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separation, second engine start on the second stage, and that
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first stage doing the awesome flip as it starts its boost back
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burn.
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Now this burn is a little under a minute, so we have about 20
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seconds left in this burn. In about three minutes after that,
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we will have two additional burns on the first stage to
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prepare to land back at landing zone one. Kate Canaveral. We are
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at T plus three minutes and 30 seconds here in today's mission.
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CRS-30 is SpaceX's...
00:18:06
Stage one boost back shutdown.
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There is that confirmation for the boost back shutdown of the
00:18:12
first stage. Both stages nominal trajectory. And a nominal
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trajectory. Again, CRS-30 is SpaceX's 27th launch this year.
00:18:20
And we are coming up on the entry burn of the first stage as
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well as second engine cutoff. And around T plus six minutes...
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In 30 seconds, you should see the first stage's entry burn.
00:18:31
And for the entry burn, we relight three of the M1D engines
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on the first stage, starting with the center engine nine,
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followed shortly by engines one and five, which slows the
00:18:41
vehicle down as it passes back into the Earth's atmosphere.
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We need to slow down to reduce re-entry forces, which helps us
00:18:48
to recover and reuse the first stage. The second stage, and
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that Merlin vacuum engine heating up as it performs its
00:18:55
burn. For hypersonics. Grid fins deployed, helping steer that
00:18:59
first stage down as it makes its way back home to Earth. Just
00:19:02
about 20 seconds from the start of our first stage entry burn.
00:19:06
Stage one entry burn startup.
00:19:08
There is the start of the stage one entry burn. Entry burn, and
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this is a three-engine burn on the first stage of Falcon 9.
00:19:15
Stage one entry burn shut down.
00:19:17
TSA safe. Both stages nominal trajectory. And the callouts for
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nominal trajectory and the flight termination system being
00:19:24
safe. Now the first stage that is supporting today's mission
00:19:27
has just performed this entry burn for the sixth time.
00:19:31
Falcon 9 is the world's first orbital class reusable rocket,
00:19:35
and this allows SpaceX to reflight the most expensive
00:19:38
parts of the rocket, which in turn... And drives down the cost
00:19:43
of access to space. Now coming up, we have that landing burn
00:19:46
starting in just a few moments. There's the start of that
00:19:51
landing burn.
00:19:52
Stage one landing lake deploy.
00:19:53
Wow, that first stage landing.
00:19:57
Back at landing zone one, that landing marks SpaceX's 286th
00:20:03
recovery of an orbital class rocket, including the first
00:20:07
stage landings for Falcon 9. Stage 2 FTS has saved. And
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heavy. You heard that call out that stage 2 FTS is saved,
00:20:14
getting ready for second engine cutoff.
00:20:16
And back shutdown.
00:20:17
There is that second engine cutoff with the MVAC shutdown
00:20:21
callout waiting for confirmation of a good orbital insertion.
00:20:25
There is that confirmation of good orbit. It looks like we are
00:20:29
on track for Dragon separation in just a few minutes, just
00:20:32
before the T plus 12 minute Mark.
00:20:35
It has been a great launch so far. As I mentioned earlier,
00:20:38
today's launch was the first for our upgraded Dragon to be flying
00:20:42
from Slug 40 after we stopped flying the older version of
00:20:47
Dragon. Dragon back in 2020.
00:20:49
And in addition to flying cargo to support crew on board the
00:20:53
space station, SpaceX also enables researchers the
00:20:56
opportunity to fly critical science to orbit on Dragon,
00:21:00
which has carried over 1 research experiments to and from
00:21:04
low Earth orbit and the International Space Station
00:21:07
since 2012.
00:21:09
Enabling research in space paves the way for us to explore beyond
00:21:12
Earth and make life multi-planetary. And now we are
00:21:16
waiting for Dragon to separate. Separate from Falcon 9'S second
00:21:19
stage.
00:21:20
And for those of you following along, this Dragon capsule has
00:21:23
also supported CRS-22, CRS-24, and CRS-27, which were three
00:21:29
additional cargo resupply missions to the International
00:21:33
Space Station. At about T plus eight and a half minutes, we had
00:21:36
a successful second engine cutoff, followed by confirmation
00:21:40
of a good orbital insertion.
00:21:42
The vehicle is now coasting with Dragon attached and we are just
00:21:47
about 30 seconds away from spacecraft separation. Dragon
00:21:51
floating away there. Dragon is drifting away from Falcon 9
00:21:55
second stage there confirming good spacecraft separation.
00:21:58
The Dragon capsule fitted aboard the Falcon 9 rocket was loaded
00:22:02
with more than 2.7 tons of supplies and cargo. The payload
00:22:06
included advancing studies crucial for understanding sea
00:22:09
ice dynamics and for facilitating plant growth in
00:22:12
microgravity.
00:22:14
Also included in the manifest was the joint CSIRO-Boeing
00:22:17
project to test the ability of a multi-resolution scanner to
00:22:21
create three-dimensional maps of the space station. This new
00:22:25
technology will be used by the Astra B robots to enhance their
00:22:28
own three-dimensional sensing and mapping capabilities for
00:22:31
autonomous operations.
00:22:33
And not just aboard the International Space Station, but
00:22:36
also for use on future Artemis lunar missions and for the
00:22:39
soon-to-be-built Lunar Gateway Space Station as well. Also
00:22:43
aboard the CRS-30 mission was the new Burst Cube Compact
00:22:47
Satellite. It's designed to observe gamma-ray bursts, the
00:22:51
universe's most powerful and energetic explosions.
00:22:54
These blasts, which are the most powerful since the Big Bang
00:22:57
itself, typically occur during neutron star collisions.
00:23:01
BurstCube will be launched from the space station and expand
00:23:04
science's observational capabilities to study these
00:23:06
extreme events, improving detection through both
00:23:09
electromagnetic and gravitational wave signals.
00:23:13
Dragon also carried equipment for the Genomic Enumeration Of
00:23:16
Antibiotic Resistance In Space, or GEARS initiative, which is
00:23:20
aimed at identifying antibiotic-resistant microbes
00:23:23
aboard the space station. Through in-flight gene
00:23:25
sequencing, this project will explore bacterial adaption to
00:23:29
space conditions, yielding insights which will be crucial
00:23:31
for astronaut health on extended missions and for developing
00:23:35
preventative strategies.
00:23:36
Also aboard was RedWise's pharmaceutical in-space
00:23:39
laboratory platform. It's designed to crystallize organic
00:23:43
molecules in microgravity, which could lead to improved
00:23:46
therapeutics to treat an array of illnesses and conditions.
00:23:50
Other equipment was supplied by the National Stem Cell
00:23:52
Foundation to continue to examine mechanisms behind
00:23:55
neuroinflammation, a common feature of neurodegenerative
00:23:59
diseases using three-dimensional brain models derived from
00:24:02
induced pluripotent stem cells of patients with Alzheimer's and
00:24:05
Parkinson's disease, as well as primary progressive multiple
00:24:08
sclerosis.
00:24:10
Meanwhile, Airbus, US Defence And Space have supplied an
00:24:13
enhancement for the space station's Bartolomeo external
00:24:16
platform called Argus. Argus will host multiple payloads,
00:24:20
including Space TV-1, an optical video system designed to live
00:24:24
stream high-definition views of the Earth and the space station.
00:24:28
There's also a project from the University Of Connecticut
00:24:30
designed to examine producing nanomaterials in microgravity
00:24:34
which could help repair cartilage and reduce joint
00:24:36
inflammation, significantly improving patient care for
00:24:39
orthopedic injuries and degenerative joint diseases like
00:24:42
arthritis.
00:24:44
Another experiment will test novel gene therapy proposals
00:24:47
designed to prevent and possibly even reverse vision loss from
00:24:50
age-related macular degeneration.
00:24:53
And there's also a project to leverage the microgravity
00:24:56
environment to validate an automated tumor-on-chip system
00:24:59
that grows patient-derived cancer cells to test
00:25:02
chemotherapy drugs. And they're just some of the 250 experiments
00:25:07
currently being carried out aboard the International Space
00:25:10
Station. This is Space Time.
00:25:29
It's time now to take another brief look at some of the other
00:25:31
stories making use in science this week with the Science
00:25:34
Report. Implanted medical devices all rely on batteries
00:25:38
which eventually run low and require invasive surgeries to
00:25:42
replace.
00:25:43
To solve this problem, scientists have just
00:25:45
successfully tested a new type of battery which uses the body's
00:25:48
oxygen to deliver a stable power supply. The findings, reported
00:25:53
in the journal Chem, claim the current design can produce
00:25:56
enough power to run a device like a pacemaker, but the
00:25:59
authors hope that this will soon follow on now that they've shown
00:26:02
it's possible.
00:26:04
A two-legged biohybrid robot which uses muscle tissue to
00:26:08
improve movement has been developed by Japanese
00:26:10
scientists. A report in the journal Matter claims the new
00:26:14
robot is designed to mimic human walking. It operates in water
00:26:18
with a foam buoy on top and weighted legs to help it stand
00:26:22
upright.
00:26:23
Made mostly from silicon rubber that can bend and flex, the
00:26:26
robot also has lab-grown skeletal muscle tissue which is
00:26:29
attached to the rubber on each leg. By zapping the muscle
00:26:33
tissue with electricity, the researchers were able to make
00:26:35
the robot walk, turn, stop and even make fine-tuning motions.
00:26:41
A new report warns that Google has interfered with elections in
00:26:45
the United States on at least 41 occasions since 2008. The
00:26:50
findings by the Media Research Center also claim Google's new
00:26:53
AI tool Gemini won't answer negative questions about
00:26:57
Democrat President Joe Biden. The study claims Google's
00:27:01
algorithms likely shifted at least 2.6 million votes to
00:27:04
Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election.
00:27:08
The authors claim the tech giants admitted publicly that it
00:27:11
uses its great strength, resources and reach to advance
00:27:14
its own values. The report also cited research by Allsights
00:27:19
researcher Robert Epstein, showing that Google's results in
00:27:22
get-out-to-vote reminders favoured Democrats and shifted
00:27:25
the 2020 presidential election results by at least 6 million
00:27:29
votes. Google has strongly denied the claims.
00:27:34
Samsung have started rolling out updates to allow some older cell
00:27:38
phones to provide some of the features available through AI
00:27:41
compatibility. With the details, we're joined by technology
00:27:44
editor Alex Saharov-Royd from TechAdvice.live.
00:27:48
The Samsung Galaxy S23 Range is now starting to get the One UI
00:27:53
6.1. And this is the version of the Samsung operating system
00:27:57
that will give the Samsung Galaxy S23 Range. As well as the
00:28:00
Fold 5 and the Flip 5, a number of the same AI-enhanced features
00:28:05
that the Galaxy S24 Range came with astounded.
00:28:09
Things like translating languages in phone calls, being
00:28:12
able to use the voice recorder to convert voice to text and
00:28:16
automatically summarize things, and a number of the AI features
00:28:20
inside of the photo editing, photo viewing gallery. So this
00:28:23
was announced.
00:28:24
Those features would be coming to some of the older Samsung
00:28:28
devices, but it's taken a few months since the launch, and it
00:28:32
won't be available for everyone around the world at the Samsung.
00:28:35
It'll sort of be a staggered rollout.
00:28:36
But if you've got a Samsung Galaxy S23, one of the models or
00:28:39
one of the recent Fold 5 or Flip 5 models, then you should start
00:28:43
to see some of those AI features being rolled out, and I'm sure
00:28:46
the operating system will want to tell you about it when the
00:28:49
update's done, and you can... Try them and see what they're
00:28:51
like for yourself.
00:28:51
The other big news, I guess, is how many Aussies are hoarding
00:28:54
old phones.
00:28:55
Yeah, well, according to the Australian Mobile
00:28:58
Telecommunications Association, which runs the Mobile...
00:29:01
Mobilemaster.com.au website. They're saying that there are
00:29:04
approximately 22 million phones sitting in drawers, of which 14
00:29:09
million of those are not able to be turned on or updated anymore
00:29:12
because they're just too old.
00:29:13
And apparently a lot of men are worried that phones cannot be
00:29:17
wiped anymore, even though there are instructions at the Mobile
00:29:19
Master website on how to wipe your iPhone or Android. But the
00:29:23
Mobile Master people are saying that, look, even if you can't
00:29:25
turn your device on anymore, we will make sure that the data is
00:29:28
wiped, especially when it gets recycled.
00:29:29
It's not going to be switched on and off. All that information
00:29:32
pilfered. So you can recycle the older phones, the precious
00:29:35
metals in there can be recovered. And if you have an
00:29:37
older phone that's sort of three or four years old, you're not
00:29:39
using anymore and you're sort of keeping it as a spare.
00:29:41
I mean, you can actually still sell those as a refurbished
00:29:45
device. They can still be used by somebody else in your family
00:29:48
or you can sell it on Gumtree or somewhere, as long as you've
00:29:51
wiped it of all your personal data. So the problem is that
00:29:54
people have, you know, three or four different phones in their
00:29:57
drawers, no longer useful.
00:29:59
And those... Phones are hoarding precious metals that can go into
00:30:02
new phones. So definitely you can go to mobilemaster.com.au in
00:30:06
Australia, find where you can drop them off at any phone
00:30:08
store. We'll take your older phones and even things like old
00:30:11
routers and make sure that they're recycled.
00:30:13
That's Alex Zaharov-Royd from TechAdvice.live.
00:30:33
That's the show for now. Space Time is available every Monday,
00:30:36
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