Commercial Space Stations, Stellar Rescues, and Mercury's New Origin Story

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Avery: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast

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that brings you the universe one day at a

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time. I'm Avery.

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Anna: And I'm Anna. Today we've got a

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packed show. We're talking about a dramatic

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rescue mission for an aging observatory. The

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launch of the world's first commercial space

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station, and a brand new theory that could

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solve a major mystery about the planet

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Mercury.

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Avery: Plus, a successful triple launch to study

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the sun. And some quick hits from Mars,

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the early universe and and even deep beneath

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the North Sea. Let's get started.

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First up, the future of living and working in

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orbit. With the International Space Station

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set to be deorbited around 2030,

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NASA is looking to the private sector for

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what comes next. And it looks like we have a

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frontrunner.

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Anna: That's right. A California based company

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called Vast Space is planning to launch

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Haven One, the world's first commercial

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space station. The they're targeting a launch

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as early as May 2026 aboard a

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SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

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Avery: So this isn't some far off concept. This is

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happening relatively soon. What will Haven

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One be like?

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Anna: It's designed as a single module station

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intended to operate for about three years.

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It can support a four person crew for

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missions up to two weeks long. Vast

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is really focusing on a human centric design.

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Promising features like a large dome window

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for incredible views of Earth, and even

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speed Internet.

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Avery: High speed Internet in space. That's a game

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changer for research and communication. This

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really feels like a proof of concept for

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something much bigger.

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Anna: Exactly. Vast sees Haven one as

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the first step towards building a much larger

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multimodule successor to the iss.

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It's a bold move that signals a new era for

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commercial activity in low Earth orbit.

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Avery: From building the new to saving the old,

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sometimes our most valuable assets in space

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need a helping hand. NASA's null Jarrell

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Swift Observatory, which has been a workhorse

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for astronomy since 2004, is in a bit of

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trouble.

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Anna: It is. Its orbit has been decaying,

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and without intervention, there's a

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90% chance it would burn up in our atmosphere

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by late 2026. Given its

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crucial role in discoveries related to gamma

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ray bursts and other cosmic events, losing it

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would be a major blow.

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Avery: So what's the rescue plan? It's not like

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these older satellites were built with a ah,

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tow hitch.

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Anna: That's the innovative part. NASA has

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awarded Catalyst Space technologies a, uh,

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$30 million contract for a daring rescue.

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Catalyst will launch a modified spacecraft

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called Wink to rendezvous with Swift

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Dog with it and then boost it into a higher,

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more stable orbit.

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Avery: That sounds incredibly complex, especially

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for A satellite that wasn't designed for

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docking. What's the timeline for this

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mission?

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Anna: The launch is set for May 2026.

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Beyond just saving Swift, this mission is a

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critical demonstration of technology. Being

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able to service satellites that weren't

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prepared for it is a huge capability,

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especially as space becomes more contested.

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Avery: Moving our focus from Earth orbit to our

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solar system's star. There's some great news

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from the launch pad. On Wednesday, NASA and

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noaa, uh, successfully sent a trio of new

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missions on their way to study the Sun.

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Anna: A successful triple launch on a single SpaceX

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Falcon 9 rocket. The spacecraft are now on

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a long journey to Lagrange point 1, or

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L1, which is a gravitationally stable

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spot about a million miles from Earth. They

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should be ready to start their science

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missions by January.

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Avery: And these aren't just redundant missions.

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Each one has a very specific job to do.

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Anna: Correct. First there's imap, the

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Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe.

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Its goal is to chart the very boundary of our

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heliosphere, where the Sun's influence gives

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way to interstellar space.

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Avery: Then there's the Carruthers Geocorona

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Observatory, which is looking back towards

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us. It will be studying the Geocorona,

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the vast tenuous outermost layer of

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Earth's atmosphere.

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Anna: And finally, and perhaps most

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practically for us here on Earth is

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NOAA's SWFO

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L1. This is a, uh, dedicated

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247 Operational Space Weather

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Observatory. It's designed to give us

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faster and more accurate forecasts

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for things like solar flares that can

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impact our satellites and power grids.

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Avery: Alright, let's journey inward to

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the closest planet to the Sun.

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For decades, scientists have been puzzled

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by Mercury. It has an unusually

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massive core making up about

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70% of its total mass.

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The leading theory was that a giant impact

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from a much larger body blasted away

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most of its rocky mantle.

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Anna: But simulations have shown that such a

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specific catastrophic impact would be

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a, uh, very rare event. Now new

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research is proposing a uh, different and

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perhaps more likely origin story for

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Mercury's strange composition.

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Avery: What's the new idea?

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Anna: The new model suggests a grazing collision

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between two protoplanets of similar size.

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Instead of a direct shattering hit,

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one body would have side wiped the other,

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stripping away up to 60% of its

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mantle material.

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Avery: So it's less of a cosmic car crash and more

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of a cosmic fender bender that peels away the

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outer layers. Where did all that debris go?

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Anna: The simulations, which used a technique

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called smoothed particle hydrodynamics,

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suggest the debris could have been ejected

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from the solar system entirely or

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perhaps even incorporated into a Neighboring

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planet like Venus.

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Avery: That's fascinating. I assume we'll get more

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data soon to test this.

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Anna: We will. The joint European and

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Japanese BepiColombo mission is scheduled to

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arrive at Mercury in 2026.

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Its detailed measurements will be crucial in

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determining if this grazing collision model

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holds up.

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Avery: Now for a few quick updates from around the

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cosmos. And this first one is about a

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truly monstrous black hole.

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Astronomers using the Chandra X Ray

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Observatory have found the black hole about a

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billion times the mass of our sun, seen

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when the universe was less than a billion

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years old.

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Anna: A billion solar masses is staggering

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enough. But the truly remarkable

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thing is how fast it's growing.

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It appears to be pulling in matter at more

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than double the theoretical maximum rate,

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known as the Eddington limit.

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Avery: How is that even possible?

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Anna: That's the big question. This discovery

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could help explain how supermassive black

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holes got so big so quickly.

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It suggests they might have grown from more

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normal black holes rather than requiring

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exotic massive seed black holes to

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get started.

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Avery: Incredible. From the early universe, let's

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come back home. Or at least under the North

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Sea for a while. There's been a mystery

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about a feature on the seabed called the

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Silverpick Crater.

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Anna: And that mystery has been solved.

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Scientists have confirmed it is an asteroid

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impact site from about 45 million years

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ago. The smoking gun was the discovery

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of shocked quartz and feldspar in samples

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which can only be formed by an extreme

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impact.

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Avery: What kind of impact are we talking about?

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Anna: It was a 160 meter wide

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asteroid hitting a shallow sea at 15

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kilometers per second. The impact would have

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triggered a tsunami over 100 meters high.

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It's a rare chance to study what a mid size

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impact in a marine environment looks like.

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Avery: And for our final piece of news, let's look

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ahead to a future Mars mission.

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Rocket Lab has just delivered the twin

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escapade spacecraft to the Kennedy Space

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Center.

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Anna: Nicknamed Blue and Gold, these probes

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are scheduled to launch on a Blue origin New

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Glenn rocket this fall. They're part of

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NASA's Cost Effective Simple X program

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and will orbit Mars to study how its

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atmosphere interacts with the solar wind.

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Avery: What's interesting is the timing. They're

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launching outside the usual most

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efficient Mars transfer window. Which

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means they'll have a longer 22 month cruise

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to get to the red planet. A ah, good reminder

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that in space travel, patience is key.

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Anna: And that's all the time we have for today.

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From rescuing old sentinels to launching

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new outposts and solving ancient

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planetary mysteries. It's been another

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busy day in the world of astronomy.

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Avery: It certainly has. Thanks for joining us on

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Astronomy Daily. I'm Avery.

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Anna: And I'm Anna. We'll see you next time.

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In the meantime, check into our

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website@astronomydaily.IO

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for more space news and a chance to listen to

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all our back episodes. And as I like to

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say, keep looking up.