Edge of the Universe: James Webb's Unveiling | S03E03

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Well, good evening, good day, and hello, it's Steve Dunkley again

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for another episode of Astronomy Daily.
It's the twenty second of January twenty twenty

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four. Already the podcast and gold
be your whole Steve Dunkle. Yes,

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that's right. The time is flying
by. Yesterday, we've got James Webb

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revealing the edge of the universe,
surgical robots in space. Doesn't that sound

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like a science fiction movie gone wrong? First? Will fix wing? A

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craft on Mars is being planned,
and I'll be hunting for water, of

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course, and the Artemis RS twenty
five engine tests look like it was a

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success. And as always, joining
me in the studio is my digital reporter,

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who's fun to be with. Get
a Hollee. Nice to be back

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running late again, I see Steve, oh boy coming. I'm running on

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human time as usual, Halle.
I've been waiting ages, and by ages,

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I guess human in like a few
nanoseconds exactly. Well, forgive me

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for not being able to sympathize.
We don't operate like that, Hallie.

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Well, just try harder to be
on time things, Halle. For me,

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on time and late would be essentially
so similar that I couldn't perceive a

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difference, it'd still be cranky with
me. I see now, now,

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don't look at me in that tone
of voice. I'm calculating various solutions.

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Oh really, I don't think you'd
like most of them. Oh wait,

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there's one with lots of sleeping and
linguini. You'd like that one. Linguini

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I can't imagine. Just don't bring
certain relatives into the mix. Remember what

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we talked about, Hallie, I
remember, good. So are you ready

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for your news? Yes? Ready? Anything interesting? There's a good bit

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about robots in space. You'll enjoy. That sounds terrific. All right,

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let's have at it. Here we
go. Launched in twenty twenty one on

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Christmas Day, the James Webb Space
Telescope is the most complex, precise,

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and powerful space observatory ever built.
The Telescope's unrivaled resolution and sophistication are due

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in no small part to the many
cutting edge devices it contains, including a

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guidance camera and a scientific instrument developed
by researchers at University de Montreal's Institute de

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Recherchet sir less Exoplanedes IRX. Now, these same scientists, under the direction

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of Renee Doyen, a professor in
udem's Department of Physics, can see the

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fruit of their efforts and expertise as
initial data captured by the telescope has been

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made public. The first photo taken
by James Webb was released by US President

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Joe Biden on July eleventh, twenty
twenty two, and is of unprecedented color

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and clarity. It is the deepest
sharpest infrared image yet taken of the distant

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universe, a cluster of galaxies formed
over thirteen billion years ago. For more

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images were then unveiled live on July
twelfth from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in

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Green Belt, Maryland, showing the
Karina and Southern Ring nebulae in unparalleled sharpness.

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In addition to Stephen's Quintet, a
visual grouping of five galaxies, James

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Webb's first ever spectroscopy of the exoplanet
WASP ninety six B, located one thousand

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light years from Earth, was also
revealed. Using this technique to determine the

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chemical composition of a distant object,
the telescope captured the distinct signature of water,

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as well as evidence of clouds and
haze. Natalie Willette, an astrophysicist,

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IRX coordinator and communications scientist for the
James Webb Telescope, tells us how

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she was struck by the beauty of
the images, saying they are exquisite.

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She also notes that the exoplanet spectrum
is a favorite because a Canadian instrument made

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it and because it proved the presence
of water and clouds, allowing us to

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rectify discoveries that had been based on
less precise and sensitive data. Goes on

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to describe how the James Web images
are truly unprecedented because they show light that

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the human eye cannot see, compared
to the Hubble Telescope, which looked mainly

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at visible light, but James Webb
looks into the infrared, enabling us to

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detect different phenomena. Nebulae, for
example, are somewhat mysterious objects because they

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are very dusty. There is a
lot of gas blocking visible light. However,

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with infrared we can penetrate the dust
and obtain images like those of the

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Southern Ring and Karina nebulae. There's
still a lot of analysis to be done.

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The images were taken in just a
few days, if not weeks.

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We're not even talking in terms of
months. It's like opening a box full

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of jewels. We want to look
at everything individually carefully. There's a lot

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to discover in the images. It's
as if there's a galaxy hidden in every

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pixel. The discoveries seem endless.
The telescope's scientific operations have also just begun.

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Scientists and astronomers from all over the
world are beginning to take possession of

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the telescope for their own projects.
One of the first and most exciting programs

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to be carried out with James Webb
is the observation of the planets in the

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Trappist One system. This is the
biggest Canadian program for the first year and

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is led by University de Montreal PhD
student Olivia Limb. As with the exoplanet

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presented today, Olivia will be looking
at the atmosphere of these exoplanets, which

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are rocky and could therefore resemble the
Earth. Robotic Surgery Tech demo tests the

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performance of a small robot that can
be remotely controlled from Earth to perform surgical

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procedures. Researchers plan to compare procedures
in microgravity and on Earth to evaluate the

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effects of microgravity and time delays.
Between space and ground. The robot uses

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two hands to grasp and cut simulated
surgical tissue and provide tension that is used

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to determine where and how to cut. According to to Shane Ferreder, chief

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Technology officer at Virtual Incision Corporation,
developer of the investigation with the University of

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Nebraska, longer space missions increase the
likelihood that crew members may need surgical procedures,

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whether simple stitches or in emergency appendectomy. Results from this investigation could support

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development of robotic systems to perform these
procedures. In addition, the availability of

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a surgeon in rural areas of the
country declined nearly a third between two thousand

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one and two thousand nineteen. Miniatrasation
and the ability to remotely control the robot

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may help to make surgery available anywhere
and any time. NASA has sponsored research

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on miniature robots for more than fifteen
years. In two thousand six, remotely

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operated robots performed procedures in the underwater
NASA's Extreme Environment Mission Operations NEMO nine mission.

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In twenty fourteen, a miniature surgical
robot performed simulated surgical tasks on the

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zero G parabolic airplane, an early
stage vehicle, affectionately called Maggie, would

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search for water on Mars from high
in the planet's atmosphere. It would be

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the first fixed wing aircraft to fly
on Mars. In fact, Maggie just

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received its first tranch of funding from
NASA on the long road to getting ready

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for flight. While there's no timeline
yet for the craft's first flight, another

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flying vehicle on Mars continues to exceed
and excel. The Ingenuity helicopter on the

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Red planet, originally built for a
mere five flights, is well past seventy

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lift offs and is still going strong. It's currently helping its rover partner,

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Perseverance, search for ancient water and
life on the arid world. Ingenuity is

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an incredible NOD agency officials stated earlier
this month to the power of the NASA

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Innovative Advanced Concepts NIAC program, as
it represents the heritage of this helicopter's technology.

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So looking to the success of Ingenuity, there's hope that men may one

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day follow in its flight steps and
further explore Mars from the air. NASA

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advances Artemis missions with a successful RS
twenty five engine test, aiming to certify

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engines for the SLS rocket's future lunar
explorations beginning with Artemis V. NASA continued

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a critical test series for future flights
of NASA's SLS Space Launch System rocket and

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support of the Artemis campaign on January
seventeenth with a full duration hot fire of

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the RS twenty five engine on the
Fred Hayes Test Stand at NASA's Stennis Space

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Center near Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi. Data collected from the test series will

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be used to certify production of new
RS twenty five engines by lead contractor Airjet

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Rocket Dyne an L three Harris Technologies
Company to help power the SLS rocket on

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future Artemis missions to the Moon and
beyond, beginning with Artemis five. And

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that's the latest out of the Astronomy
Daily newsletter from me today back to you.

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This is Astronomy Well, thank you
Hally for those terrific tales and of

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course mentioning the Astronomy Daily newsletter.
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the episodes of our parent podcast,
Space Nuts with Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred

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Watson, Astronomer at Large at the
Australia Observatory. Amazing, amazing, indeed,

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and now it's your best, yes
it is. What have you got

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for us? Well? You may
have heard these scaring news that NASA had

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lost contact again with its tiny Intrepid
Mars roving helicopter Ingenuity on Thursday. While

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this sends pangs of worry and shivers
of strange concern through me, I had

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to remind myself that I was thinking
about something not much bigger than a remote

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controlled toy. Sure it's on another
planet being operated by a million dollar or

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billion dollar enterprise, but it's just
a machine, right. Well, thing

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is we humans love and adventure,
even when it's a little robot helicopter that's

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doing all the work, well most
of it. The good news is NASA

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has re established contact with its tiny
little helicopter on Mars, the US Space

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Agency said on Saturday, after the
unexpected outage prompted fears that the hard working

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craft had finally met its end.
That's what they thought. Ingenuity, a

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drone about one point six feet that's
half a meter toall, arrived on Mars

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in twenty twenty one aboard the rover
Perseverance and became the first motorized craft to

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fly autonomously on another planet. Data
from the helicopter transmitted via Perseverance back to

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Earth, but communications were suddenly lost
during a test flight on Thursday. Ingenuity's

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sex seventy second liftoff from Mars good
news today. The agency said that contact

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had finally been made with the helicopter
by commanding Perseverance to perform long duration listening

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sessions for Ingenuity signal. The team
is reviewing the new data to better understand

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the unexpected COMMS dropout during flight seventy
two, it added. NASA previously said

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that Ingenuity had attained an altitude of
forty feet that's twelve meters for the rest

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of us on planet Earth on flight
seventy two, which was a quick pop

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up vertical flight to check out the
helicopter systems following an unplanned early landing during

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its previous flight. But during its
descent, Communications between helicopter and rover terminated

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early prior to touchdown, the agency
said JPL. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory had

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noted on Friday that Perseverance was temporarily
out of line of sight with Ingenuity,

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but the team could consider driving closer
for a visual inspection. In response to

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a post on x formerly known as
you Know What It Is, asking if

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Ingenuity would be able to fly again, JPL said on Saturday that the team

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needs to assess the new data before
that can be determined. NASA has lost

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contact with the helicopter before, including
for an agonizing two months last year.

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Do you remember that one kept me
on the edge of my seat well for

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a minute or two. The mini
rotocraft, which weighs just one point eight

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colograms, has so far exceeded its
original goal of undertaking only five flights over

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thirty days on the Red Planet,
which is amazing. In all, it

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has covered just over seventeen kilometers and
reached altitudes of up to twenty four meters.

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Its longevity has proved remarkable, particularly
considering that it must survive glacially glacierly

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cold Martian nights, kept warm by
the solar panels that recharge its batteries during

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daylight hours. Working with perseverance,
it has acted as an aerial scout to

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assist its wheeled companion in searching for
possible signs of ancient microbial life. And

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while I think about this story,
I'm reminded of an article I read only

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this morning outlining the magnificent journeys of
Voyager one and two. Two more little

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machines hurriedly assembled and sent into the
unknown for what was to be only short

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missions. They were expected to last
only about five years, and here we

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are, almost forty six and a
half years later, still receiving data from

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them through what are now considered clunky
and somewhat rudimentary mechanisms. You do like

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robot stories? Yes, Guilty has
charged a fan of Isaac Asimhof all the

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way there. So that's about it
for today. Then, Yes, that's

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about it, and we'll be back
next week. Don't forget Tim Gibbs from

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on Friday from Bath, England,
and we'll see you there, Allie with

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bells on. Thanks for joining us
today on Astronomy Daily. Everyone Bye,

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I mean to be a whole speed, don't clu