Honda's Rocket Revolution, European Aerospace Alliances, and Celebrating Sally Ride's Legacy

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Anna: Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm Anna.

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Today we're going to be diving headfirst into the latest

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and greatest news from across the cosmos. We've

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got a really exciting lineup for you from Honda's.

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Yes, Honda's surprising foray into rocket

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tests all the way to an exploration of the legacy,

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a very important legacy of Sally Ride.

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So buckle up, space enthusiasts. Get ready for your daily dose of

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cosmic updates. Let's get started.

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Alright, let's kick things off with some news that might surprise you.

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Honda, you know the car company has successfully

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launched and landed an experimental reusable rocket.

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That's right. They're not just making Civics anymore. They're

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also testing the waters in space tech. The

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company's R and D division conducted a test flight in

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Hokkaido, Japan, reaching almost

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900ft. The aim, to

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demonstrate crucial technologies for rocket reusability,

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like flight stability during ascent and descent, as well

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as landing capabilities. Now,

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Honda's rocket, dubbed the Reusable launch vehicle, or

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RLV, is pretty small compared to SpaceX's

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Falcon 9. We're talking about 20.6ft

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tall versus Falcon 9's impressive

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230ft. But Honda is hopeful that

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this emerging rocket technology will one day be able to launch

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satellites. They're aiming to achieve a

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suborbital launch by 2029. It's

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clear that Honda's got its sights set on the stars. And who

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knows? Maybe one day we'll see Honda competing with the likes of

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SpaceX.

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In other news today, some major players in the European

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aerospace industry are in talks to consolidate their space

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divisions. Airbus Defence and Space.

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Leonardo and Thalus Alenia Space are considering a

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merger to create a larger, more competitive European space

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venture. This move aims to create a European champion

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in space better equipped to compete globally.

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The CEOs of these companies expect to make a final go,

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no go decision by the end of July. They're currently

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assessing antitrust concerns, conducting due

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diligence on finances and evaluating the

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potential value creation of such a combination.

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Now, if they decide to move forward, don't expect to see changes

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overnight. Securing the necessary

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European antitrust approvals could take up to two years

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before the combined venture can formally begin operations.

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The goal is to gain scale and speed by consolidating

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the business, positioning themselves to better compete with

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companies like SpaceX and the satellite market.

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Now let's turn our attention to the ambitious plans of the

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exploration company, yet another new European

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space player. While they're currently focused on

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developing the Nyx spacecraft for cargo missions,

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they have their sights Set on something even bigger.

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Human spaceflight. The exploration company

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envisions a crewed version of Nyx capable of

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carrying four or five astronauts. This isn't just

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a distant dream. They've already begun preliminary studies and

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are designing the interior to include features like windows and

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touchscreen displays, much like SpaceX's Crew

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Dragon. However, transforming Nyx into

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a crew rated spacecraft is a significant undertaking.

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The company estimates that it would take about 10 years and

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cost around 1.15 billion

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euros to develop a fully crewed version.

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They're actively seeking European government support,

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particularly from the European Space Agency, to

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make this vision a reality, as the costs are beyond the

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reach of private financing alone.

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Now, let's look at something here on Earth. For a long

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time, scientists have wondered if passing stars,

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stellar flybys, could have altered Earth's

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climate in the past. It's a pretty interesting idea,

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right? Could a star zooming past our solar

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system actually mess with our planet's climate?

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Well, new research is disputing the idea that

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stellar flybys have significantly altered

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Earth's climate in the past 56 million years,

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including during a climate event called the Paleocene

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Eocene Thermal Maximum, or petm.

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The PETM was a period of rapid warming

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with global temperatures rising by 5 to 8 degrees

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Celsius. It also saw a massive influx of

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carbon into the atmosphere and oceans. And scientists

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have been trying to figure out what caused it for years.

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Some researchers thought that stellar flybys could be the

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culprit. The idea is that a passing star could

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disrupt the orbits of the giant planets like Jupiter

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and Saturn, which could then affect Earth's orbit and

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climate. But using a, uh, comprehensive solar

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system model, scientists found no significant

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influence from passing stars. They considered all

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sorts of factors, including the positions of the planets,

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the gravitational effects of the sun and moon, and even

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the properties of the passing stars themselves.

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The researchers found that even when they simulated

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extremely close flybys, there was no significant

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impact on Earth's climate. So it seems like we

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can rule out stellar flybys as a major driver of

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climate change on Earth, at least for the past

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56 million years.

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Okay, shifting gears now, National Geographic's new

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documentary, Sally takes a deep dive into the life of Sally

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Ride. You know, the first American woman in space. But

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it's not just about her time at NASA. The film also

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explores the private side of her life, which a lot of

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people didn't know about. The

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documentary reveals her nearly 30 year relationship

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with Tam O' Shaughnessy, which she kept secret for

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most of her life. It also touches upon her

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disillusionment with NASA after the Challenger disaster.

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You see, Ride was the only NASA employee to serve

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on the Rogers Commission investigation following

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the Challenger explosion. The documentary

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highlights how she wasn't afraid to challenge the status

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quo and she even secretly passed along information

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about the O rings to physicist Richard Feynman.

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What's really interesting is hearing from o' Shaughnessy herself.

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She talks about the challenges of being in a same sex

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relationship during that time and the pressures that Ride

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faced to keep their relationship a secret.

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It really gives you a sense of the personal sacrifices

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that she made. Ride and o'

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Shaughnessy eventually co founded an education and outreach

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programme together called Sally Ride Science and

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even co wrote several children's books about space science.

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It's a pretty inspiring story about breaking barriers

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both in space and in life. It's also a

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reminder of the importance of being true to yourself, even

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when it's difficult. The documentary is

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streaming on Hulu and Disney. Well worth

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a look.

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And that's all the space and astronomy news we have for you today on

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Astronomy Daily. This has been your host Anna uh.

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For the latest updates, a constantly updating

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or wherever you get your podcasts so you never miss an

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episode. Time for me to sign off and remind you

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to keep looking up at this wonderful universe we are a part of.

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Bye.