Extended Volcanism on the Moon's Far Side
Recent findings reveal that the Moon's far side has experienced extended volcanism for at least 1.4 billion years, with two significant volcanic phases occurring around 4.2 and 2.8 billion years ago. This research, stemming from samples collected by China's Chang' E6 mission, provides insights into the Moon's geological history and the asymmetry between its near and far sides. The study highlights the role of colossal impacts in shaping the Moon's interior and suggests uneven distribution of volatile elements.
Discovery of the Sun's Helicity Barrier
A groundbreaking study has identified a region of the Sun known as the helicity barrier, which plays a crucial role in heating and accelerating the solar wind. Observations from NASA's Parker Solar Probe have confirmed the existence of this barrier, providing insights into the mechanisms of turbulent dissipation and coronal heating. This discovery helps explain temperature anomalies in the solar atmosphere and enhances our understanding of space weather events that impact Earth.
European Space Agency's Launch Vehicle Developments
The European Space Agency has narrowed its list of potential candidates for future orbital launch vehicles. The selected companies will receive funding to develop their systems, aiming to increase competition and choice in European launch services. This initiative mirrors efforts by NASA in the U.S. to foster a diverse range of commercial launch providers, enhancing capabilities for future space missions.
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✍️ Episode References
Nature Journal
https://www.nature.com/nature
Physical Review
https://journals.aps.org/pr/
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00:00:00
This is Space Time, Series 28, Episode 85, for broadcast on the
00:00:04
16th of July, 2025. Coming up on Space Time, unlocking the
00:00:09
secrets of the Moon's mysterious far side, discovery of the Sun's
00:00:13
Helicity Barrier shedding new light on the solar wind, and the
00:00:17
European Space Agency move another step forward in
00:00:20
developing their next generation of orbital launch vehicles. All
00:00:25
that and more coming up on Space Time.
00:00:29
Welcome. To Space Time with Stuart Gary.
00:00:48
Scientists have discovered extended Volcanism spewing
00:00:51
across the ancient lunar far side South Pole region for at
00:00:54
least 1.4 billion years. The findings, reported in the
00:00:59
journal Nature, identified two very distinct volcanic phases on
00:01:03
the lunar far side, reaching their peaks at 4.2 and 2.8
00:01:07
billion years ago.
00:01:08
The Moon's near and far sides exhibit striking asymmetry, from
00:01:12
topography and crustal thicknesses through to volcanic
00:01:15
activity. Yet the origins of these differences have long
00:01:18
puzzled scientists. China's Chang'E 6 mission, which
00:01:22
launched back in May 2024, challenged this enigma. By
00:01:25
returning 1.3 grams of material from the lunar far side
00:01:30
's South Pole Achen Basin.
00:01:32
The South Pole Achen Basin is the Moon's largest, deepest and
00:01:36
oldest known impact structure, measuring some 2 kilometers
00:01:40
in diameter. The samples returned by Chang'E 6 arrived
00:01:44
back on Earth in June 2024. Previous studies had already
00:01:48
indicated that the Achen Basin was formed by colossal impact
00:01:52
some 4.25 billion years ago.
00:01:54
And that would have released energy greater than a trillion
00:01:57
atomic bombs. But the effects of this massive impact on lunar
00:02:01
geology and thermal evolution was one of planetary science's
00:02:04
greatest unsolved mysteries, until recently. The new analysis
00:02:09
of the samples shows Volcanism erupting across the basin in two
00:02:12
distinct volcanic phases, at 4.2 and at 2.8 billion years ago.
00:02:17
And that suggests that volcanic activity must have persisted for
00:02:21
at least 1.4 billion years, which is far longer than
00:02:23
previously thought. And the new findings don't end there.
00:02:28
Measurements of paleomagnetic intensity in basalt clasts
00:02:31
revealed a rebound in the Moon's magnetic field roughly 2.8
00:02:35
billion years ago.
00:02:37
And that suggests that the lunar dynamo which generates the Moon
00:02:40
's magnetic fields fluctuated episodically rather than fading
00:02:44
steadily away. The studies have also shown that the lunar far
00:02:47
side mantle has significantly lower water content than the
00:02:50
near side mantle and that indicates that volatile elements
00:02:54
are unevenly distributed within the lunar interior, adding yet
00:02:57
another aspect to the Moon's asymmetry.
00:03:00
Finally, a geochemical analysis of lunar basalts indicated an
00:03:04
ultra depleted mantle source, likely resulting from either a
00:03:07
primordial depleted mantle or massive melt extraction
00:03:11
triggered by large impacts. These findings from Beijing's
00:03:14
Chang'E 6 mission are fascinating, and they highlight
00:03:17
the role that major impacts have played in shaping the Moon's
00:03:20
deep interior.
00:03:22
This is Space Time. Still to come, discovery of the Sun's
00:03:26
Helicity Barrier shedding new light on the solar wind, and
00:03:29
Europe moves another step forward in choosing its next
00:03:32
generation of orbital launch vehicles. All that and more
00:03:35
still to come on Space Time.
00:03:53
A new study has confirmed the existence of a region of the Sun
00:03:57
which astronomers are calling the Helicity Barrier. The
00:04:00
findings, reported in the journal Physical Review, helps
00:04:03
explain how plasma streaming out of the Sun is heated and
00:04:06
accelerated in the outer solar atmosphere, known as the corona.
00:04:09
Alright, let's go back to first principles here.
00:04:11
The Sun's core is a temperature of about 15 million degrees
00:04:14
Celsius. By the time photons created in the core reach the
00:04:18
Sun's visible surface, the photosphere, temperatures have
00:04:21
dropped. To around 6 degrees. But interestingly,
00:04:25
further out in the Sun's corona, temperatures increase again to
00:04:28
over a million degrees.
00:04:30
Now that's a feat which seems to defy the laws of physics, which
00:04:33
suggests that things should be getting cooler the further away
00:04:36
they are from a heat source. So that means something out there
00:04:40
must be causing things to heat up again. It's a paradox we've
00:04:44
often talked about on this program, and it's one which has
00:04:46
been puzzling scientists for decades.
00:04:48
Furthermore, the constant outflow of plasma and magnetic
00:04:51
field from the Sun, which is known as the solar wind, is
00:04:53
accelerated to supersonic speeds in this same region. Now
00:04:57
something called turbulent dissipation, the process by
00:05:00
which mechanical energy is converted into heat, is believed
00:05:03
to play a crucial role in both these phenomena.
00:05:06
However, in the near-Sun environment, where plasma is
00:05:08
largely collisionless, the exact mechanisms of this dissipation
00:05:12
remain elusive. Now, new observations gathered by NASA's
00:05:15
Parker Solar Probe during its ultra-close encounters with the
00:05:18
Sun have allowed scientists to directly explore this extreme
00:05:21
environment for the first time, in the process providing crucial
00:05:25
data which is helping to unravel some of these mysteries.
00:05:29
Now, during its latest flybys, Parker swooped down to within
00:05:31
6.2 million kilometres of the Sun's surface, and that's closer
00:05:35
than any other spacecraft ever. Its records set in close
00:05:39
encounters have also seen the spacecraft reach speeds of over
00:05:41
687 kilometres per hour.
00:05:44
That's faster than any other vehicle ever, all while enduring
00:05:47
scorching temperatures of more than 930 degrees Celsius. And
00:05:52
this spectacular endeavour has allowed scientists to gather
00:05:55
enough evidence to suggest that a long-hypothesized Helicity
00:05:58
Barrier really does exist, and it's actively altering the
00:06:01
nature of turbulent dissipation.
00:06:04
This previously theorized effect creates a barrier to the
00:06:06
turbulent cascade of energy at small scales, fundamentally
00:06:10
changing how fluctuations dissipate and thus how plasma is
00:06:13
heated.
00:06:14
The study's lead author, Jack McIntyre from Queen Mary
00:06:17
University, says the results confirm the presence of the
00:06:19
Helicity Barrier, and they allow scientists to account for
00:06:22
properties in the solar wind that were previously
00:06:25
unexplained. These include the discovery of protons, which are
00:06:29
typically hotter than electrons in this region. And the authors
00:06:32
also identified the specific conditions under which this
00:06:35
barrier occurs.
00:06:36
They found that the Helicity Barrier becomes fully developed
00:06:39
when the magnetic field strength becomes large compared to the
00:06:42
pressure in the plasma and becomes increasingly prominent
00:06:45
when the imbalance between the oppositely propagating plasma
00:06:48
waves that make up the turbulence is greater.
00:06:51
And critically, these conditions are frequently met in the solar
00:06:54
wind close to the Sun, and that 's exactly where Parker Solar
00:06:57
Probe's been exploring. That means the effect should be
00:07:00
fairly widespread. And that answers some long-standing
00:07:04
questions about coronal heating and solar wind acceleration,
00:07:07
such as the temperature signatures seen in the solar
00:07:09
atmosphere and the variability of different solar wind streams.
00:07:13
This allows scientists to better understand the fundamental
00:07:16
physics of turbulent dissipation, the connection
00:07:18
between small-scale physics and the global properties of the
00:07:21
heliosphere, and it will allow scientists to make better
00:07:24
predictions about space weather events, which can affect life
00:07:27
here on Earth.
00:07:29
This is Space Time. Still to come, the European Space Agency
00:07:33
narrows down its list of potential candidates for its
00:07:36
future orbital launch vehicle requirements. Later in the
00:07:39
science report, researchers discover how to use lightning to
00:07:43
produce ammonia gas out of thin air. All that and more still to
00:07:46
come on Space Time.
00:08:03
The European Space Agency has narrowed down to five its list
00:08:07
of potential candidates for future launch vehicle service
00:08:10
providers. The five were pre-selected to move forward
00:08:14
following the completion of the first stage of the ESA
00:08:16
invitation to tender for the European Launcher Challenge.
00:08:20
The successful companies include ISA Aerospace, Maya Space,
00:08:24
Orbital Express Launch, Payload Aerospace and Rocket Factory
00:08:28
Augsburg. The European Launcher Challenge is part of ESA's plan
00:08:32
for future European Space Transportation Services, with
00:08:35
the aim of promoting a greater choice of European launch
00:08:38
services and, as a result, increased competition.
00:08:41
It's similar to what NASA's been doing in the United States,
00:08:44
using different commercial launch service providers like
00:08:46
SpaceX, the United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin, Northrop
00:08:50
Grumman, Sierra Space and Rocket Lab. The European Launcher
00:08:54
Challenge selection process is a two-stage competitive tender.
00:08:58
Successful companies will need to be able to prove that they
00:09:00
can provide launch services between 2026 and 2030 and also
00:09:05
demonstrate an ability to further upgrade their launch
00:09:07
vehicles to achieve high capacities. ESA will provide
00:09:11
each of the five selected companies with up to €169
00:09:13
million in seed funding in order to further develop their launch
00:09:17
systems.
00:09:18
ESA's Director General Josef Aschenbacher and the Director of
00:09:21
Space Transportation Tolke Nielsen told a PAC media
00:09:24
conference after the announcement. That the agency
00:09:26
will now consolidate the proposals for its
00:09:28
ministerial-level meeting, which is slated for November.
00:09:31
The ITT, as I mentioned, will go out next week. Then, of course,
00:09:36
after that, the companies will respond. But we plan to have an
00:09:41
evaluation this year of identifying who are, within the
00:09:46
frame of the ELC, the ones selected. And then, of course,
00:09:49
this will be brought towards the ministerial for funding. But I'd
00:09:52
like Tony to...
00:09:54
To provide a few more details i'll just add that to ask the
00:10:00
precise question when will the contract be And that will only
00:10:04
be after the ministerial when we have the subscriptions according
00:10:08
to a fair contribution scheme. So we have no
00:10:11
give-gave-no-return constraints on this undertaking.
00:10:16
This is Space Time.
00:10:33
And time now to take another brief look at some of the other
00:10:35
stories making news in science this week with a science report.
00:10:39
A new study warns that extended drought and warm weather is
00:10:42
changing South Australia's marine ecosystem.
00:10:45
A significant flood in the Murray-Darling Basin in 2022 and
00:10:49
23 gave Flinders University researchers a rare opportunity
00:10:52
to analyse conditions that damaged biodiversity and water
00:10:55
quality for both marine species as well as local ecosystems.
00:11:00
Their findings reported in the journal Remote Sensing also
00:11:03
showed that periodic flooding of the Murray River provided a
00:11:05
major risk.
00:11:08
Scientists have developed a way to use lightning to produce
00:11:10
ammonia gas out of thin air. A report in the journal Ungevaten
00:11:15
Chemie International claims this new, more efficient method
00:11:18
brings researchers closer to the sustainable production of
00:11:20
ammonia and also a transition to a hydrogen-based economy.
00:11:24
Ammonia is one of the world's most important chemicals and it
00:11:27
's the main ingredient of fertilisers which account for
00:11:30
almost half of all global food. Production.
00:11:34
Well, it turns out that people feel more comforted by
00:11:37
AI-generated words of emotional support if they believe that
00:11:40
these words are actually coming from a human rather than a
00:11:43
program. The findings reported in the journal Nature followed a
00:11:47
study designed to explore the limits of AI chatbots as a
00:11:50
source of emotional support.
00:11:52
Scientists from Israel and the United States conducted a series
00:11:55
of experiments in which more than 6 people were either
00:11:58
told they were interacting with an AI chatbot or with a human.
00:12:02
But they were all given AI-generated responses either
00:12:04
way. Researchers found that responses which participants
00:12:08
thought were human elicited more positive feelings, and
00:12:11
participants rated these as being more empathetic.
00:12:15
Samsung have finally released their new super-slim
00:12:18
fold-and-flip Z7S in the glittering New York ceremony in
00:12:21
Brooklyn, just across the East River from Manhattan. But while
00:12:25
these phones are true technological marvels, it turns
00:12:28
out they're not cheap. With the details, we're joined by
00:12:31
technology editor Alex Saharov-Reut from
00:12:34
TechAdvice.life.
00:12:35
Well, this is the annual Galaxy Unpacked Event. They actually
00:12:38
have more than one because they have the regular bar phones and
00:12:41
then they have the folding phones often six months later
00:12:43
usually. And this time we have the Galaxy Z or Zed as we would
00:12:47
call it, Fold 7, the Zed Flip 7, the Flip 7 FE, which is the fan
00:12:52
edition, a cheaper version of the...
00:12:54
Phone that turns into the smaller pocketable phone and
00:12:56
also their new watch 8 and watch 8 flashing devices which is
00:12:59
their answer to Apple watch pixel watch and all the other
00:13:02
smart watches out there now Samsung has spared no expense in
00:13:05
making these the most spectacular devices that they
00:13:08
have the fall 7 is the hero but the latest snapdragon 8 elite
00:13:13
for galaxy chips have a better chip than the regular snapdragon
00:13:17
8 elite used in competing phones it's got a 6.5 inch screen on
00:13:21
the outside so it feels like a normal phone.
00:13:24
With a large green, the correct width when you're holding it
00:13:27
closed. But when it's open, it's this gorgeous eight-inch
00:13:31
display. The thing is a square, so it's not even a rectangle. So
00:13:34
it's like the sleekest little book you ever saw. And it's 4.2
00:13:37
millimeters thin when it's open. And when it's closed, it's 8.9
00:13:42
millimeters. So I held that next to my iPhone 16 Pro Max, and it
00:13:46
feels like it's exactly the same width.
00:13:48
But of course, you can open it up. Now, even though they have
00:13:51
made the phone a lot cleaner than the previous generation,
00:13:55
the battery life is the same. In fact, there's one hour extra
00:13:57
video playback, but it's the same capacity, 4 milliamp
00:14:01
hours. And so they did alchemy to do that. They had to make
00:14:04
everything slimmer and smaller inside.
00:14:06
They had to shrink the coatings on the screens, but they still
00:14:08
have Corning Gorilla Glass that 's the latest and greatest. And
00:14:11
one thing they had to take away though was the digitizer. So
00:14:14
this large tablet phone is the first one that isn't compatible
00:14:18
with the S Pen. We also have prices now in Australia, it
00:14:21
starts at $2 for the 256 gig model with 8 gigabytes of RAM.
00:14:27
And then we have the 512 gigabyte model. Now this is for
00:14:30
$3, also with 12 gig of RAM. And the one terabyte model comes
00:14:36
with 16 gig of RAM and that's $3. So, I mean, that's a big
00:14:41
jump over what used to be the most expensive phone, the
00:14:44
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra or the iPhone Pro Max range. But I'm
00:14:49
holding this phone in my hands right now. I mean, it is a
00:14:51
stunning, stunning phone.
00:14:53
And it really, this is, I mean, if this is what the Galaxy Z
00:14:57
Fold was like originally, it would have just blown people
00:14:59
away. It has taken seven generations to get to this
00:15:02
point, but it is quite... Stunning. And they'll be
00:15:04
available in Australia in early August. Of course, there are a
00:15:07
whole range of pre-order offers. We do have the Flip 7, one that
00:15:10
is a phone that folds in half.
00:15:12
That's also thinner. The front screen is now 4.1 inches. It
00:15:16
goes all the way to the edges. You do have cutouts, obviously,
00:15:18
for the cameras. And inside, it 's a 6.9-inch screen. So this is
00:15:22
also a beautiful phone that has plenty of space. The Flip 7
00:15:25
sanity from the SE, that's $1499 as opposed to $1799 for the
00:15:30
actual Flip 7 itself. That one's based on the Flip 6.
00:15:33
The one from last year. So it's got the same outer screen. It's
00:15:36
basically the same phone as last year, but with the upgraded
00:15:38
processor and the new One UI 8 and Android 16. So that's the
00:15:42
quickest that Samsung has ever launched a new operating system.
00:15:45
And there are various multitasking capabilities that
00:15:47
are designed for foldables, which they've designed in
00:15:50
conjunction with Google.
00:15:51
And also Gemini is all the way through this device. I mean,
00:15:54
they're calling it a multimodal device. Not only is it able to
00:15:57
help you with all of the things in your digital world, but the
00:16:00
camera can see and help you with anything in your... Physical
00:16:02
world. Are you unsure about what outfit you want to wear for
00:16:05
going on a hike? You can show the various clothes you have and
00:16:08
it can give you advice.
00:16:09
Do you need help fixing a broken motor or pump or something else?
00:16:13
I mean, you can sell it anything. There was a video of a
00:16:15
young skateboarder and one of the colleagues was asking the
00:16:18
phone about what's the good sort of skateboarding tricks to do in
00:16:21
the area that they were on. And the phone, Gemini was giving
00:16:24
really useful advice. So it's quite amazing how far...
00:16:27
How are you doing, Ollie? Let's be honest.
00:16:29
Well, the phone itself can't, but if you're holding it, you
00:16:32
can do it, Ollie, and just make sure you buy a case where it
00:16:34
doesn't go flying out of your hands. But look, they've done an
00:16:36
incredible job. Their AI is very advanced. It actually shows how
00:16:40
far behind Apple is at the moment, despite the fact they
00:16:44
talked up AI to some degree at Their Worldwide Developer
00:16:46
Conference.
00:16:47
And of course, there's the talk that Apple's going to be buying
00:16:49
Perplexity, which is one of the big AI companies out there,
00:16:52
currently valued at about $14 billion US. The talk is they're
00:16:56
going to buy it for $30 billion. And if they do that. And it
00:16:58
works beautifully in conjunction with AI from Gemini and OpenAI
00:17:02
and others. That'll sort of put Apple back in the game. But at
00:17:05
the moment, the new watches are fantastic as well.
00:17:07
I mean, we haven't got time to go into them all, but the number
00:17:10
one ecosystem around the world is Samsung. I mean, Apple's up
00:17:13
there too, but Apple just makes smartphones, smartwatches,
00:17:16
tablets, computers, laptops, professional machines. Samsung
00:17:20
makes all of that too, but they also make everything for the
00:17:22
connected home, your robotic vacuum, your giant fridge with,
00:17:26
you know. A giant huge tablet on show.
00:17:29
Everything's for AI to keep an eye on you no matter where you
00:17:32
are and what you're doing.
00:17:32
Well, that's true. But Samsung also made a very strong, they
00:17:35
started off by talking about how secure their platform was. I
00:17:39
mean, you can actually run a lot of these AI things on the device
00:17:42
by itself. I mean, they do say in the settings, look, if you
00:17:45
want the most advanced AI, yes, you'll have to go to the cloud.
00:17:48
But just like Apple made promises about how the
00:17:50
information going to the cloud is safe and secure, Samsung's
00:17:53
made the same. Promises too. And obviously we're yet to see how
00:17:56
they're lived up to, but companies know that consumers
00:17:59
are fickle and that privacy is becoming more of an issue. The
00:18:02
more the companies try and pry into our private lives, the more
00:18:06
people really want, once they know they want privacy.
00:18:08
I saw a graphic on X today about how when you pay for something
00:18:11
through Google Pay, when you're Android smartphone, Google knows
00:18:14
what you're buying, where and when, and they're keeping
00:18:16
records of it all. With Apple Pay, according to this
00:18:19
infographic that I saw, Apple has set it up. So it does not
00:18:21
know. It doesn't know.
00:18:23
What it is you purchase or where you purchase it from. I mean,
00:18:26
obviously the transaction has to go through, but it's effectively
00:18:28
being anonymized. Whereas Google is capturing all that
00:18:31
information like the credit card companies were and probably
00:18:33
still are to this day. So there 's definitely differences of the
00:18:38
way companies are working and treating our data.
00:18:40
But certainly when it comes to Android smartphones, the market
00:18:43
leader is unquestionably Samsung. I mean, Google comes up
00:18:46
as a very close second, and then you have all the other players
00:18:49
who are trying to give you extra features. For mid-range money as
00:18:54
opposed to the higher prices that Samsung can command by
00:18:57
being the market leader.
00:18:58
That's Alex Saharov-Reut from TechAdvice.life.
00:19:17
And that's the show for now. Space Time is available every
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