Google's Galactic Data Centres, Near Misses in Orbit, and Mars' Hidden Influence

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Avery: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast

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bringing you the biggest news from across the

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cosmos. I'm Avery.

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

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Today we'll be looking at Google's ambitious

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plan to build data centers in space. A

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dangerously close encounter between two

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satellites in orbit, and a new theory that a

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rogue planet may have reshaped our entire

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solar system.

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Avery: Plus, we'll explore how Mars might be

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secretly influencing Earth's climate. And

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celebrate an incredible new milestone for the

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legendary V Voyager 1 spacecraft.

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Let's get right into it.

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Anna: Ready when you are.

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Avery: So, Anna, our first story sounds like it's

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straight out of science fiction. Google wants

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to put data centers in space. It's

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called Project Suncatcher.

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Anna: It does have that futuristic feel, but the

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reasoning behind it is actually very

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practical. On Earth, data centers consume

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an immense amount of electricity, and a huge

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portion of that just goes to keeping them

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cool.

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Avery: Right. So the idea is, in space, you've got

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unlimited solar power, and the cold vacuum is

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a perfect and free cooling system.

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Anna: That's the core concept. They envision a

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constellation of satellites, each equipped

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with powerful TPU chips, forming a

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distributed data center in orbit. They're

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planning to launch the first two prototype

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satellites in early 2027 to test the

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idea.

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Avery: But it can't be that simple. I imagine space

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throws a few curveballs at sensitive

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electronics.

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Anna: Mm, Several big ones. Cosmic radiation

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is a constant threat that can corrupt data

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and damage hardware. Thermal management is

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also more complex than you think. You have to

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actively radiate heat away from the sun

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facing side.

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Avery: And I'm guessing the launch costs aren't

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cheap.

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Anna: They're astronomical. So Even if the

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2027 demonstration is a success,

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Google is very clear that this is just the

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first step in a project that could take time,

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decades to realize. It's a bold long term

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vision.

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Avery: This is a developing story, so we'll be sure

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to keep an eye out for updates.

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Anna: Speaking of crowded skies, our next story

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is a bit of a cautionary tale. A recently

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launched Chinese spacecraft from a Kinetica

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1 rocket had a very close pass with one of

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SpaceX's Starlink satellites.

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Avery: Okay, how close is very close when you're in

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orbit?

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Anna: The two came within 200 meters of each

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other at orbital speeds of thousands of

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miles per hour. That is incredibly small

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margin for error. A collision would have been

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catastrophic.

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Avery: Wow. So what went wrong?

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Anna: SpaceX used the incident to highlight a

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growing problem. A fundamental lack of

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coordination and communication between

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different satellite operators. Low Earth

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orbit is becoming dangerously congested.

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Avery: I believe it. The number of satellites has

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just exploded in the last few years.

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Anna: It has. We're now at about

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13,000 functional satellites, which is

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a huge jump from just hundred back

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in 2020. Most of that increase is from

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Starlink.

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Avery: And don't the Starlink satellites have an

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autonomous collision avoidance system?

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Anna: They do, and it performs thousands of

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maneuvers. But the system is only as good as

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the tracking data it has. When new

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uncoordinated objects appear, it makes the

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situation far more dangerous for everyone.

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This is the exact scenario that could lead to

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the Kessler Syndrome, where one.

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Avery: Collision creates a cloud of debris which

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causes more collisions, creating a feedback

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loop until orbit is unusable.

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Anna: Precisely. This near miss serves as

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a stark warning. Better international space

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traffic management isn't a luxury anymore.

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It's a necessity.

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Avery: All right, let's journey from the chaos of

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the near future back to the chaos of the

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distant past. I love these stories. A

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new study proposes that a rogue planet may

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have completely rearranged our early solar

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system.

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Anna: Mm It's a really compelling idea that tries

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to solve a long standing puzzle called the

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giant planet Instability.

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Avery: Okay, what's that?

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Anna: Well, evidence suggests that the giant

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planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and

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Neptune didn't form in their current

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stable orbits billions of years ago. They

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went through a violent reshuffling with their

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orbits shifting dramatically.

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Avery: Right, and this instability event explains a

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lot of weird things about our solar system.

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Like the structure of the Kuiper Belt and the

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existence of Jupiter's Trojan asteroids.

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Anna: Exactly. But the big question has always

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been what kicked it all off? This

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new research ran simulations and found that

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a close flyby from a wandering substellar

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object could have been the trigger.

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Avery: So you mean a rogue planet or something even

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bigger just drifted through our cosmic

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neighborhood and stirred the potential?

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Anna: Essentially, yes. The simulations show

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an object between three and 30 times the

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mass of Jupiter. So a super Jupiter or a

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small brown dwarf passing through the outer

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solar system could have provided just the

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right gravitational nudge to send the giant

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planets into that chaotic dance that

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ultimately shaped the solar system we see

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today.

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Avery: That is amazing. To think that the layout of

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our home is potentially the result of a

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chance encounter with a cosmic wanderer

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billions of years ago.

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Anna: And speaking of cosmic connections, our next

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story suggests that one of our neighbors has

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had a much bigger influence on us than we

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thought. It turns out Mars may have

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been secretly pulling the strings on Earth's

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climate for eons.

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Avery: Mars? But it's so much smaller than Earth.

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How could it have such a big impact?

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Anna: Through the subtle Persistent tug of

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gravity. A new study analyzed deep

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sea sediment cores which hold a record of

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Earth's past climate. They found that the

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gravitational interactions between Earth and

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Mars appear to amplify long term

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climate rhythms here on Earth.

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Avery: What kind of rhythms are we talking about?

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Like seasons?

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Anna: Much, much longer. The study focused on

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the 100,000 year cycles that are

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strongly linked to the coming and going of

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our ice ages. These are primarily driven by

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predictable changes in Earth's orbit and tilt

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known as Milinkovitch cycles.

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Avery: Okay, so where does Mars fit in?

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Anna: The combined gravity of Earth and Mars

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creates a sort of resonance in the solar

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system. A grand cycle that repeats every

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2.4 million years. This resonance

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amplifies the effects of the Milinkovitch

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cycles, making the swings between glacial and

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interglacial periods more pronounced.

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Avery: So the red Planet is helping to dictate our

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ice ages. I always think of the sun and Moon

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as the big players, but I never would have

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guessed Mars had a say. The solar system is

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more interconnected than I thought. Thought.

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Anna: It's a beautiful reminder that no planet is

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an island.

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Avery: For our final story today, we're heading out

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of the solar system and into the vastness of

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interstellar space. The legendary

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spacecraft Voyager 1 is about to hit an

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absolutely staggering milestone.

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Anna: This one is truly mind bending. In

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November of 2026, Voyager 1

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will be one light day from Earth.

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Avery: One light day. Lets put that in perspective.

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That means a radio signal traveling at the

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absolute fastest speed possible. The speed of

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light will take a full 24 hours to

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travel from Earth to the spacecraft.

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Anna: And Then another 24 hours for a reply

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to get back to us. That's a 48 hour

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round trip just to send a command and confirm

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it was received. The distance is almost

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incomprehensible.

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Avery: It really is. And to think it launched in

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1977, it's the most distant

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human made object still operating on

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1970s technology.

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Anna: It's an absolute marvel of engineering. It

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has overcome so many challenges over the

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decades, including a very serious memory

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failure just recently that the team at ah,

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NASA managed to diagnose and fix from

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nearly 24 billion kilometers away.

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Avery: That's like performing remote surgery from

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across the solar system. Unbelievable.

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And it's still sending useful data.

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Anna: It is, it's our only direct source of

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information about the interstellar medium,

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the space between the stars.

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Unfortunately its nuclear power source

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is slowly fading. It's expected to go

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silent for good sometime in the2030s.

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Avery: But even then its journey isn't over. It will

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just keep drifting through the Milky Way

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forever.

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Anna: Exactly. A silent ambassador

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carrying its golden record. With the sights

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and sounds of humanity, it will likely

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outlast Earth itself. A true legend

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of exploration.

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Avery: And what a perfect, humbling note to end on.

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From data centers in our own backyard to a

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lonely probe tasting the space between stars,

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what a day for astronomy.

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Anna: News it certainly was. To

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recap, we discussed Google's orbital

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ambitions, a traffic jam in space, a

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a rogue planet shaking up our past,

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Mars's surprising influence on our climate,

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and Voyager 1's incredible,

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lonely journey.

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Avery: Thanks so much for joining us on Astronomy

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Daily. We'll be back tomorrow with more news

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from across the universe. Until then, keep

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looking up clear skies.

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Anna: Astronomy Day

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stories.