Celestial Progress: SpaceX's Starship Evolution, Dark Energy's Sign Switch, and China's Moon Mission Plans

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Avery: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily,

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the podcast that brings you the universe one

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story at a time. I'm your host, Avery.

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Anna: And I'm Anna. It's great to have you with us.

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We've got an information rich show for you today

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covering everything from record breaking rocket landings

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to new theories about the very fabric of the

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cosmos.

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Avery: That's right, Anna. Uh, we'll also be diving into the future

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of SpaceX's colossal Starship, exploring

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how a simple sign switch in dark energy

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might solve some of cosmology's biggest puzzles. And

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we'll also look at the incredible progress China's making in

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its race to the moon.

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Anna: So let's get right to it.

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Our first story takes us to Boca chica,

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Texas, where SpaceX just completed

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another successful test flight of its Starship

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Mars rocket. Avery, Flight 10

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was a success, but SpaceX is already

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looking past this vehicle, isn't it?

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Avery: They absolutely are. The flight on August

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27 was flawless, checking all the

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box. But in true SpaceX fashion,

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they're not resting on their laurels. This current

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version, version two, is essentially a

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stepping stone. The whole program is about rapid

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iteration to build the vehicle capable of getting

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humanity to Mars.

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Anna: And the next versions are going to be even

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more impressive. The current starship stands

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at about 121 meters tall, which is

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already staggering. But the next

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iteration, version three, is expected to

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be over 124 meters

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and beyond that. Version four is planned to fly

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in 2027 with a mind

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boggling 42 engines.

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Avery: That is some, um, serious thrust. Version three

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is a massive upgrade and is expected to be in

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testing by the end of this year, with a heavy

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flight schedule planned next year. This is all building

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towards a very ambitious timeline. SpaceX

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is targeting 2026 for its first uncrewed

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missions to the Red planet.

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Anna: A critical piece of that puzzle is orbital

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refueling. To get to Mars, Starship

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will need to be refueled in Earth orbit

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by other starship tankers. It's a

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complex maneuver that's never been done on this

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scale. And SpaceX aims to demonstrate that

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capability next year. It's the key

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that unlocks the whole interplanetary vision.

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Avery: And it's not just about Mars. This massive lift

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capacity is going to revolutionize other areas

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too. Think about the next generation of StarLink

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satellites, Star V3. They're so large

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that they can only be launched by starship.

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It's a step change in capability.

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Anna: That's a great point. And there's also the

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long term vision of point to point travel on

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Earth. Imagine Traveling from New York to

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London in under an hour. It sounds

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like science fiction, but Starship is the vehicle

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designed to make that a reality. The

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infrastructure build out at their Starbase facility in

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Texas is staggering, with a new launch

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tower and production facilities working around the clock

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to support this incredible pace.

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Avery: Absolutely, Anna. Uh, and that rapid pace is

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key. The philosophy of build, fly,

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test, repeat is what sets this program

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apart. They accept that some tests will fail,

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but each failure provides invaluable data

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that feeds into the next iteration. It's a

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high risk, high reward strategy that is clearly

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paying off, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in

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rocket engineering. It's an incredible pace.

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Now, from engineering the future of spaceflight,

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let's turn to the fundamental nature of the

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universe itself. Anna? Uh, there's a

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fascinating new theory that might shake up our

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understanding of dark energy.

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Anna: That's right. For decades, our standard

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model of cosmology, known as lambda cold

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dark matter, has been our best guide to the

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universe. But it's not perfect. It

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has a couple of persistent problems. The

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Hubble tension and the Sigma 8

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tension. Essentially, our measurements of the

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universe's expansion rate and its clumpiness

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don't quite match what the model predicts.

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Avery: So what's the new idea? It sounds like something

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straight out of science fiction. A new study is

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proposing that dark energy, the mysterious

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force driving the universe's accelerated

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expansion, didn't always push things

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apart. It may have once pulled things

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inward.

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Anna: Exactly. The theory suggests the

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universe may have undergone a phase

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transition, shifting from what's called

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an anti de sitter phase, where vacuum

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energy caused contraction, to the de

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sitter phase we see today, where it

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causes expansion. If this sign

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switch happened in the early universe, it

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could elegantly resolve both the Hubble

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and Sigma 8 tensions at the same time.

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Wow.

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Avery: So a simple flip from a, uh, minus to a

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plus sign in the nature of dark energy could

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fix two of the biggest nagging problems in

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cosmology. It's a powerful reminder that there's

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still so much we have to learn about the cosmos.

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Anna: We certainly do.

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Now let's come back down to Earth orbit for

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another major achievement from SpaceX.

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While Starship represents the future, the their

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workhorse Falcon 9 rocket just hit an

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incredible milestone for reusability.

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Avery: Absolutely historic one. On a recent

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Starlink mission, SpaceX completed its

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400th successful landing of a Falcon

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booster on a drone ship. The first stage,

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designated B1095,

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touched down perfectly on the drone ship. Just

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read the Instructions. After launching 28

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more Starlink satellites,

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400.

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Anna: That number is just amazing. When you think about where

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we were less than a decade ago, it's

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easy to forget that the first successful recovery of

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a Falcon 9 booster was on land back in

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December 2015. Landing on a

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tiny drone ship at sea was an even

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bigger challenge, which they first cracked in April

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2016.

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Avery: And now it's routine. Those drone ships

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are the key to their high flight rate. By catching the

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boosters at sea, they can fly more efficient

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trajectories and recover boosters from almost any

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mission. It's a testament to the relentless focus

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on reusability.

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Anna: Speaking of ambitious national space programs,

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SpaceX isn't the only player making big

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moves. Our final story today

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focuses on China's accelerating effort

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to land its own astronauts on the moon.

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Avery: That's right, Anna. Uh, they are making serious,

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visible progress towards their goal of a crewed lunar

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landing by 2030. A major piece of

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evidence was a ground Test on August 15 for

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the first stage of their new rocket, the Long March

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10th.

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Anna: And this wasn't just any test. They

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clustered seven of their powerful

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YF100K engines together

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and fired them, reaching a thrust of nearly

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1,000 tons. That's a new

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record for China's space program and a clear

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demonstration of the power they're developing for

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their lunar ambitions.

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Avery: And it's not happening in a vacuum. This

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engine test follows a string of other successful

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milestones. They've performed a pad outboard test

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for their Mengzhou crew spacecraft, simulated

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a takeoff and landing with their Langyue lunar

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lander, and even unveiled their new lunar

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spacesuits.

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Anna: All the pieces are coming together. It's clear

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that China is methodically and successfully

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building the hardware and expertise needed

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to create a new chapter in human lunar

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exploration. The race back to the moon is

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definitely heating up.

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Avery: And that's a wrap for this episode of Astronomy Daily.

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From the next generation starship and China lunar

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rocket to a 400th booster landing and a new

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twist in cosmic history, it's been a busy day in space

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news.

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Anna: Thank you all so much for tuning in. If you

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enjoyed the show, please subscribe wherever you get your

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podcasts and feel free to leave us a review.

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It helps others discover the wonders of the universe

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with us.

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Avery: We'll be back soon with more of the latest news from across

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the cosmos. Until then, on behalf of

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Anna and myself, keep looking up.

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Anna: The story.