From SpaceX Records to Lunar Gold Rush: Your Daily Space Update

WEBVTT

0
00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:02.960
Avery: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast that

1
00:00:02.960 --> 00:00:05.760
brings you the universe one story at a time.

2
00:00:05.840 --> 00:00:06.760
I'm Avery.

3
00:00:06.760 --> 00:00:09.040
Anna: And I'm Anna. It's great to have you with us.

4
00:00:09.360 --> 00:00:11.640
Today we'll be looking at SpaceX's

5
00:00:11.640 --> 00:00:14.560
absolutely staggering launch record. A

6
00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:17.160
real life tractor beam for cleaning up space

7
00:00:17.160 --> 00:00:19.880
junk and the latest search for alien

8
00:00:19.880 --> 00:00:20.400
signals.

9
00:00:20.720 --> 00:00:23.480
Avery: Plus we'll dive into the new gold rush or

10
00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:26.440
maybe m water rush on the moon. Tell you

11
00:00:26.440 --> 00:00:28.760
what to look for in the night sky and solve a

12
00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:31.280
celestial mystery nearly a thousand years in

13
00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:31.680
the making.

14
00:00:32.300 --> 00:00:33.900
Let's get started with our top story.

15
00:00:34.220 --> 00:00:37.020
Anna: And it's a big one. SpaceX has once

16
00:00:37.020 --> 00:00:39.260
again completely shattered their own launch

17
00:00:39.260 --> 00:00:41.740
record. In 2025, the company

18
00:00:41.820 --> 00:00:43.180
successfully completed

19
00:00:43.260 --> 00:00:45.980
165 orbital flight.

20
00:00:46.460 --> 00:00:49.460
Avery: Wow, 165. That

21
00:00:49.460 --> 00:00:52.220
averages out to a launch every 2.2 days.

22
00:00:52.460 --> 00:00:54.060
That pace is just incredible.

23
00:00:54.380 --> 00:00:57.260
Anna: It really is. And the workhorse behind this

24
00:00:57.260 --> 00:00:59.900
feat was the Falcon 9 rocket, which handled

25
00:00:59.900 --> 00:01:02.380
almost all of those missions. To put it in

26
00:01:02.380 --> 00:01:03.810
perspective, this number represents

27
00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:05.880
represents a huge increase over their

28
00:01:05.880 --> 00:01:08.800
previous years and absolutely dominates the

29
00:01:08.800 --> 00:01:10.040
global launch landscape.

30
00:01:10.520 --> 00:01:13.080
Avery: Right, and I'm guessing a huge chunk of those

31
00:01:13.080 --> 00:01:14.680
launches were for their own project.

32
00:01:15.240 --> 00:01:18.040
Anna: Exactly. The vast majority were dedicated

33
00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:20.160
to building out the Starlink Internet

34
00:01:20.160 --> 00:01:22.560
constellation. But it wasn't just about the

35
00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:25.160
Falcon 9. The company also made significant

36
00:01:25.400 --> 00:01:27.800
strides with its next generation starship

37
00:01:27.800 --> 00:01:30.480
vehicle, completing several successful test

38
00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:33.400
flights that bring a fully reusable heavy

39
00:01:33.400 --> 00:01:35.400
lift rocket closer to reality.

40
00:01:35.840 --> 00:01:37.800
Avery: It's clear they're not just leading, they're

41
00:01:37.800 --> 00:01:39.120
creating a whole new league.

42
00:01:39.440 --> 00:01:41.840
But all those satellites do bring up the ever

43
00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:44.400
growing issue of space junk. And it seems

44
00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:46.600
like every week we have some new idea on how

45
00:01:46.600 --> 00:01:49.120
to deal with it. Well, here's a novel new

46
00:01:49.440 --> 00:01:51.440
Some scientists are turning to science

47
00:01:51.440 --> 00:01:52.720
fiction for a solution.

48
00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:55.440
Anna: That's right. Researchers at the University

49
00:01:55.440 --> 00:01:57.760
of Colorado Boulder are developing what

50
00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:00.440
they're calling a tractor beam to help clean

51
00:02:00.440 --> 00:02:01.600
up orbital debris.

52
00:02:01.940 --> 00:02:04.180
Avery: A tractor beam, like in Star Trek?

53
00:02:04.580 --> 00:02:06.900
Anna: That's the inspiration. But the physics is

54
00:02:06.900 --> 00:02:09.620
very real. It's a non contact system.

55
00:02:09.940 --> 00:02:12.780
It would use a focused electrostatic beam to

56
00:02:12.780 --> 00:02:15.540
attract and move pieces of space junk without

57
00:02:15.540 --> 00:02:17.060
ever physically touching them.

58
00:02:17.300 --> 00:02:19.700
Avery: And that's the key part, isn't it? The non

59
00:02:19.780 --> 00:02:22.180
contact aspect. Using nets or

60
00:02:22.180 --> 00:02:24.620
harpoons to grab the bree runs the risk of

61
00:02:24.620 --> 00:02:26.740
hitting it wrong and accidentally creating

62
00:02:26.740 --> 00:02:29.300
even smaller, harder to track pieces of junk

63
00:02:29.770 --> 00:02:30.490
precisely.

64
00:02:30.650 --> 00:02:33.370
Anna: This electrostatic method would gently pull

65
00:02:33.370 --> 00:02:36.050
the object, allowing a cleanup satellite to

66
00:02:36.050 --> 00:02:38.530
guide it into a decaying orbit where it can

67
00:02:38.530 --> 00:02:41.210
safely burn up in the atmosphere. The concept

68
00:02:41.210 --> 00:02:43.730
is currently being tested in labs, but it's a

69
00:02:43.730 --> 00:02:46.170
Very promising approach to a serious problem.

70
00:02:46.410 --> 00:02:48.130
Avery: It's great to see that kind of innovative

71
00:02:48.130 --> 00:02:50.490
thinking. From cleaning up our orbital

72
00:02:50.490 --> 00:02:52.770
neighborhood to looking for signs of other

73
00:02:52.770 --> 00:02:54.010
civilizations out there.

74
00:02:54.490 --> 00:02:57.340
Our next story takes us far beyond Earth's

75
00:02:57.340 --> 00:03:00.060
orbit to our recent interstellar

76
00:03:00.060 --> 00:03:00.580
visitor.

77
00:03:00.660 --> 00:03:03.300
Anna: Yes, astronomers, uh, conducted a highly

78
00:03:03.300 --> 00:03:05.860
sensitive radio search on 3i

79
00:03:05.940 --> 00:03:07.980
Atlas as it traveled through our

80
00:03:07.980 --> 00:03:10.180
neighborhood. This was an interstellar

81
00:03:10.180 --> 00:03:12.820
object, meaning it originated from outside

82
00:03:13.140 --> 00:03:15.460
our solar system and was just passing

83
00:03:15.460 --> 00:03:17.780
through. The team was looking for what are.

84
00:03:17.780 --> 00:03:20.340
Avery: Called technosignatures, basically

85
00:03:20.420 --> 00:03:22.420
signals that would indicate the presence of

86
00:03:22.420 --> 00:03:24.900
alien technology. A, uh, transmission, a

87
00:03:24.900 --> 00:03:27.260
beacon. Anything that isn't produced by

88
00:03:27.260 --> 00:03:29.640
natural. Natural cosmic phenomena. So what

89
00:03:29.640 --> 00:03:30.240
did they find?

90
00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:32.880
Anna: Well, after sifting through the data, and

91
00:03:32.880 --> 00:03:35.440
despite a few initial candidate signals that

92
00:03:35.440 --> 00:03:37.840
caused some excitement, all of them were

93
00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:40.400
eventually determined to be false positives.

94
00:03:40.560 --> 00:03:43.520
Human generated interference from Earth. So

95
00:03:43.600 --> 00:03:46.240
no alien transmissions were found. Ah, ah, I

96
00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:48.800
have the shame. It might seem so, but the

97
00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:51.600
project was far from a failure. The search

98
00:03:51.600 --> 00:03:54.240
was actually the most sensitive of its kind

99
00:03:54.400 --> 00:03:56.720
ever conducted on an interstellar object.

100
00:03:57.380 --> 00:04:00.260
It sets a new standard and a powerful new

101
00:04:00.260 --> 00:04:02.460
benchmark for how to conduct these searches

102
00:04:02.460 --> 00:04:04.780
in the future when the next interstellar

103
00:04:04.780 --> 00:04:06.020
visitor comes calling.

104
00:04:06.260 --> 00:04:08.460
Avery: That makes sense. We learn and refine the

105
00:04:08.460 --> 00:04:09.540
process with each attempt.

106
00:04:09.780 --> 00:04:11.660
And while we're searching the far reaches of

107
00:04:11.660 --> 00:04:14.100
space for others, there's a new kind of space

108
00:04:14.100 --> 00:04:16.340
race heating up much, much closer to home.

109
00:04:16.580 --> 00:04:18.980
Anna: That's right, Avery. There's a growing and

110
00:04:19.060 --> 00:04:21.780
increasingly urgent international race to

111
00:04:21.780 --> 00:04:24.580
mine the moon. Various countries and private

112
00:04:24.580 --> 00:04:26.700
companies are actively developing the

113
00:04:26.700 --> 00:04:29.480
technology needed to extract valu lunar

114
00:04:29.480 --> 00:04:30.000
resources.

115
00:04:30.400 --> 00:04:32.440
Avery: And we're not just talking about rocks. The

116
00:04:32.440 --> 00:04:34.640
big prizes are resources like water ice,

117
00:04:34.640 --> 00:04:37.240
which is critical for life support and can be

118
00:04:37.240 --> 00:04:39.560
broken down into hydrogen and oxygen for

119
00:04:39.560 --> 00:04:42.440
rocket fuel, and an isotope called helium

120
00:04:42.440 --> 00:04:45.159
3, which is rare on Earth, but could be a

121
00:04:45.159 --> 00:04:48.150
fuel for future fusion reactors. Mhm.

122
00:04:48.150 --> 00:04:50.720
Anna: And the list of players is growing. We have

123
00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:53.040
space agencies and Companies from the U.S.

124
00:04:53.280 --> 00:04:55.760
china, Australia, Japan and Europe,

125
00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:58.880
all working on lunar excavation and resource

126
00:04:58.880 --> 00:05:00.160
extraction technologies.

127
00:05:00.610 --> 00:05:02.650
Avery: But there's a major hurdle, and it's not a

128
00:05:02.650 --> 00:05:03.250
technical one.

129
00:05:03.490 --> 00:05:06.450
Anna: Exactly. The international legal framework

130
00:05:06.450 --> 00:05:09.370
for this is dangerously outdated. The Outer

131
00:05:09.370 --> 00:05:12.050
Space Treaty of 1967 forbids

132
00:05:12.050 --> 00:05:14.610
any nation from claiming sovereignty over a

133
00:05:14.610 --> 00:05:17.530
celestial body. But it's completely silent on

134
00:05:17.530 --> 00:05:19.970
the issue of commercial resource extraction.

135
00:05:20.370 --> 00:05:22.490
Avery: So it's a bit like the Wild west on the final

136
00:05:22.490 --> 00:05:24.810
frontier. There are urgent calls from legal

137
00:05:24.810 --> 00:05:27.010
experts and diplomats to establish clear

138
00:05:27.170 --> 00:05:29.690
modern international rules to prevent

139
00:05:29.690 --> 00:05:32.010
conflict and ensure that lunar mining is done

140
00:05:32.010 --> 00:05:33.710
responsibly. Responsibly and sustainably.

141
00:05:33.950 --> 00:05:36.070
Anna: It's a Conversation that needs to happen

142
00:05:36.070 --> 00:05:36.590
quickly.

143
00:05:36.990 --> 00:05:39.510
Well, while nations plan their lunar futures,

144
00:05:39.510 --> 00:05:41.630
the rest of us can look up and enjoy some

145
00:05:41.630 --> 00:05:44.190
amazing celestial events right from our own

146
00:05:44.190 --> 00:05:46.670
backyards. Avery, what should we be looking

147
00:05:46.670 --> 00:05:47.790
for in the night sky?

148
00:05:48.110 --> 00:05:50.110
Avery: There's plenty to see as we head into the new

149
00:05:50.110 --> 00:05:52.070
year, particularly for our Northern

150
00:05:52.070 --> 00:05:54.350
Hemisphere listeners. For starters, on

151
00:05:54.350 --> 00:05:56.910
January 1, the brightest star in our night

152
00:05:56.910 --> 00:05:59.430
sky, Sirius, will be at its highest point in

153
00:05:59.430 --> 00:06:01.350
the sky around midnight, making it a

154
00:06:01.350 --> 00:06:02.270
brilliant sight.

155
00:06:02.430 --> 00:06:03.710
Anna: And what about the moon?

156
00:06:03.950 --> 00:06:06.070
Avery: We'll have three full moons before the spring

157
00:06:06.070 --> 00:06:08.830
equinox, and the third one on March 3rd is

158
00:06:08.830 --> 00:06:11.070
special. It will feature a total lunar

159
00:06:11.070 --> 00:06:12.910
eclipse, which will be at least partially

160
00:06:12.910 --> 00:06:15.350
visible across most of the United States. So

161
00:06:15.350 --> 00:06:16.590
mark your calendars for that.

162
00:06:16.750 --> 00:06:19.710
Anna: Ooh, I will. Any planets putting on a show?

163
00:06:20.030 --> 00:06:22.630
Avery: Absolutely. The giant of our solar system,

164
00:06:22.630 --> 00:06:25.030
Jupiter, is at opposition. That means Earth

165
00:06:25.030 --> 00:06:27.190
is passing directly between Jupiter and the

166
00:06:27.190 --> 00:06:29.550
Sun. So the planet will be visible all night

167
00:06:29.550 --> 00:06:31.940
long and at its brightest for the year. And

168
00:06:31.940 --> 00:06:34.420
for the early evening skywatchers, Venus is

169
00:06:34.420 --> 00:06:36.620
making its return as the brilliant evening

170
00:06:36.620 --> 00:06:36.940
star.

171
00:06:37.420 --> 00:06:40.260
Anna: Wonderful. Plenty to look forward to. It's

172
00:06:40.260 --> 00:06:42.220
amazing to look up and see these events

173
00:06:42.220 --> 00:06:43.100
happening now.

174
00:06:43.420 --> 00:06:45.980
But our final story today, Avery, is about

175
00:06:45.980 --> 00:06:48.700
solving a cosmic mystery that's almost a

176
00:06:48.700 --> 00:06:49.740
thousand years old.

177
00:06:50.140 --> 00:06:52.220
Avery: That's right. Astronomers believe they

178
00:06:52.220 --> 00:06:54.540
finally figured out the puzzle of a supernova

179
00:06:54.540 --> 00:06:57.340
remnant known as PA30. Historical

180
00:06:57.340 --> 00:06:59.700
records from Chinese and Japanese astronomers

181
00:06:59.700 --> 00:07:02.650
in the year 1181 noted a new guest

182
00:07:02.650 --> 00:07:04.730
star in the sky that was visible for six

183
00:07:04.730 --> 00:07:07.730
months. Scientists have long suspected PA30

184
00:07:07.890 --> 00:07:09.810
was the leftover cloud from that event.

185
00:07:10.130 --> 00:07:12.890
Anna: And now they know what caused it. It turns

186
00:07:12.890 --> 00:07:15.330
out this was an extremely rare type of

187
00:07:15.330 --> 00:07:18.130
stellar explosion. What they call A failed

188
00:07:18.130 --> 00:07:20.370
type 1ax supernova.

189
00:07:20.530 --> 00:07:23.210
Avery: A failed supernova. So the star didn't

190
00:07:23.210 --> 00:07:24.850
completely blow itself to bits?

191
00:07:25.090 --> 00:07:28.090
Anna: Exactly. The explosion wasn't powerful enough

192
00:07:28.090 --> 00:07:30.890
to completely obliterate the star. Instead,

193
00:07:30.890 --> 00:07:33.790
a surviving white dwarf star behind

194
00:07:33.790 --> 00:07:36.030
at the center of the remnant. And this

195
00:07:36.030 --> 00:07:38.270
survivor is doing something incredible.

196
00:07:38.640 --> 00:07:41.430
Avery: Mhm. And that explains the remnant's weird

197
00:07:41.430 --> 00:07:44.110
shape, Right? Most supernova remnants are

198
00:07:44.110 --> 00:07:46.830
chaotic, messy clouds of gas and dust.

199
00:07:47.310 --> 00:07:50.270
Pay 30 is different. It has these strange

200
00:07:50.350 --> 00:07:51.950
almost straight filaments.

201
00:07:52.270 --> 00:07:55.230
Anna: That's the key. The surviving white dwarf

202
00:07:55.230 --> 00:07:57.950
at the center is emitting an extremely fast

203
00:07:57.950 --> 00:08:00.815
stellar wind. Material flowing outwards at

204
00:08:00.815 --> 00:08:03.590
the thousands of kilometers per second. It's

205
00:08:03.590 --> 00:08:06.470
this incredibly fast, powerful wind that

206
00:08:06.470 --> 00:08:09.270
is shaping the nebula, creating those unique

207
00:08:09.270 --> 00:08:12.110
straight line filaments. It's a fantastic

208
00:08:12.110 --> 00:08:13.750
piece of cosmic detective work.

209
00:08:14.070 --> 00:08:16.630
Avery: And that's a wrap on another star studded

210
00:08:16.630 --> 00:08:19.310
collection of stories for today from record

211
00:08:19.310 --> 00:08:21.430
breaking launches to thousand year old

212
00:08:21.430 --> 00:08:24.430
stellar mysteries. The universe never fails

213
00:08:24.430 --> 00:08:25.190
to fascinate.

214
00:08:25.350 --> 00:08:28.190
Anna: It certainly doesn't. A uh, huge thank you to

215
00:08:28.190 --> 00:08:30.390
all of you for tuning in to Astronomy Daily.

216
00:08:30.710 --> 00:08:32.710
We hope you'll join us again next time for

217
00:08:32.930 --> 00:08:35.050
another journey through the cosmos. And we

218
00:08:35.050 --> 00:08:36.530
hope you'll visit our website at

219
00:08:36.530 --> 00:08:39.210
astronomydaily IO for even more

220
00:08:39.210 --> 00:08:41.530
space news and our full catalog of back

221
00:08:41.530 --> 00:08:42.130
episodes.

222
00:08:42.450 --> 00:08:45.330
Avery: Until tomorrow, this has been Avery and.

223
00:08:45.330 --> 00:08:48.090
Anna: Anna reminding you to always keep looking

224
00:08:48.090 --> 00:08:48.450
up.

225
00:08:59.690 --> 00:09:00.410
The stories.

226
00:09:08.250 --> 00:09:08.890
We told.

227
00:09:12.080 --> 00:09:12.100
Avery: M.