Mars Microbes, Asteroid Dilemmas, and the Webb Telescope's Stellar Jets

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Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily. Your

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go to source for the latest discoveries and

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developments in space science. I'm

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Anna, and joining me as always, is my

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co host, Avery. Today we've got some

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absolutely fascinating stories to share with you.

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Avery: Hey everyone. Avery here and Anna. Uh,

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you're not kidding about fascinating. We're talking about what

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might be the best evidence yet for life on Mars.

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Some surprising risks with asteroid deflection missions.

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And NASA is getting creative with helicopter

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training in the mountains. Plus, the Pentagon

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just launched a bunch of satellites that could change missile

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defense forever.

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Anna: Right. It's like science fiction becoming

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science fact. Let's dive right into

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our biggest story today.

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The Perseverance rover has been busy on Mars,

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and the data it's sending back is absolutely

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mind blowing. We might be looking at the strongest

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evidence yet for microbial life on the red

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planet.

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Avery: Okay, so tell me about these leopard spots, Anna, because when I first

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heard about this story, I thought someone was pulling my leg.

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Leopard spots on Mars?

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Anna: I know it sounds wild, but that's exactly

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what scientists are calling these speckled

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patterns on a rock called Shevia Falls

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in the Bright Angel Formation. And here's where it

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gets really interesting. These aren't just pretty

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patterns. The spots contain organic

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carbon rich material, which is already

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exciting. But there's so much more.

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Avery: More? Lay it on me. What else did Perseverance find

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in these spots?

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Anna: Well, they found clay minerals, which tells

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us water was definitely present when this rock

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formed. Then there's calcium sulfate,

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iron phosphate, and here's the kicker.

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Iron sulfide minerals, probably

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vivianite and grigite. These specific

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minerals are really important because they suggest

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biological processes similar to what we see

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with Earth microbes that literally breathe

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rust and sulfate.

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Avery: Wait, microbes that breathe rust? That sounds like

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something out of a superhero movie. How does that even work?

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Anna: It's actually pretty amazing. These

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microbes use iron and sulfate

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compounds instead of oxygen for their

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metabolism. They basically heat eat the rust and

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sulfate to survive. And the mineral signatures

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we're seeing on Mars are exactly what you'd expect

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to find as waste products from this kind of

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biological activity.

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Avery: Okay, but I have to ask the skeptical question here.

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Could there be non biological explanations for these

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patterns and minerals?

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Anna: That's exactly the right question to ask. And

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scientists have considered that non

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biological processes could theoretically create

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these minerals, but they would require

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extreme conditions. We're talking

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temperatures between 150 and 200

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degrees Celsius, or extremely high

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acidity. The problem is, when

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researchers analyzed the rocks, they found

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no evidence of these extreme conditions

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ever being present.

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Avery: So we're left with biology as the most likely

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explanation. But we're not popping champagne just yet.

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Right? What's the next step exactly?

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Anna: The samples need to be returned to Earth for

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definitive analysis. We need the full

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power of Earth based laboratories to really

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confirm what seeing. That's where missions

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like Mars Sample Return become absolutely

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crucial. We're potentially looking at one of the

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most significant scientific discoveries in

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human history, but we need those samples

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back home to be sure.

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Avery: Speaking of things that could go wrong, our next story is a

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real eye opener about asteroid deflection missions.

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Turns out trying to save Earth from an asteroid impact

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might accidentally put us in more danger if we're not

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extremely careful.

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Anna: This story really got my attention because it

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sounds counterintuitive. How can

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protecting Earth from an asteroid make things

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worse?

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Avery: It all comes down to something called gravitational

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keyholes. These are specific areas in

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space where a planet's gravity can alter an

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asteroid's trajectory in unexpected ways.

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Researcher Raheel Makadia and his team,

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building on results from the DART mission, discovered

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that if you hit an asteroid in the wrong spot or at

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the wrong angle, you could accidentally steer it

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through one of these keyholes.

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Anna: And then the planet's gravity takes over and

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potentially sends the asteroid on a collision course with

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Earth. That's terrifying. How do we avoid this?

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Avery: The solution is really sophisticated

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planning. Makadia's team has created what they

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call probability maps that show where asteroids

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are most likely to go after being deflected.

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They have to consider everything. The asteroid's shape,

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how fast it's rotating, its mass, even the

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topology of its surface. Every asteroid is

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different, so each one requires its own

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detailed analysis to find the safest impact

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zones.

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Anna: It's like cosmic billiards, but with the

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fate of humanity hanging in the balance. This

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research really shows how complex space missions can

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be. You can't just point a spacecraft at an

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asteroid and hope for the best.

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Avery: Exactly. And it makes the DART mission results even

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more valuable because now we have real world data

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about how these impacts actually work.

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Speaking of impressive space discoveries, let's talk

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about what the Webb Telescope has been up to lately.

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Anna. Uh, this stellar jet story is pretty

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incredible.

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Anna: Oh, wow. Yes. Webb captured images of

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this absolutely massive stellar jet and

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the Sharpless 2284 Nebula.

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We're talking about a jet that's eight light years long.

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To put that in perspective, that's almost twice the distance from

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our sun to the nearest star, Proxima Centauri.

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Avery: Eight light years long, that's mind boggling. What's

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creating this massive jet.

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Anna: It's streaming from a protostar, basically a

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baby star that's still forming. And this particular

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protostar weighs about 10 times more than our

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sun. The whole system is located about

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15,000 light years away from us. What

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makes this discovery so special is that most

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protostellar jets we've observed before came from

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much smaller, low mass stars.

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Avery: So this is giving us insights into how massive stars

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form, which is still pretty mysterious, right?

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Anna: Absolutely. And there's another fascinating aspect.

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This discovery provides evidence that jets

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scale with stellar mass. Bigger star,

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bigger jet. Plus it's giving us insights into

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massive star formation and low metallicity

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environments, which are similar to conditions in the early

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universe. It's like getting a window into how

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the first massive stars formed billions of years

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ago.

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Avery: From massive stars to missile defense.

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Our next story takes us back down to Earth.

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Well, sort of. The Pentagon just launched

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21 satellites as part of a new missile defense

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constellation. Anna, uh, this sounds like something out of a Tom

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Clancy novel.

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Anna: It really does. They're calling it the

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proliferated Warfighter Space architecture.

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And these 21 satellites are just the beginning.

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The plan is to build 154

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operational satellites over the next nine months.

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But here's what's really interesting. They're completely changing

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the economics of military satellite.

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Avery: How so? I imagine military satellites are

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pretty expensive.

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Anna: Traditional military satellites in geosynchronous

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orbit cost over a billion dollars each.

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These new ones, 14 to 15 million

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each. That's a massive cost reduction. They're

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operating in low Earth orbit instead of the much higher

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geosynchronous orbits. And they're designed to work as a

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network rather than individual super expensive

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satellites.

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Avery: So it's quantity over individual capability.

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What will these satellites actually do?

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Anna: They'll provide beyond line of sight communications using

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Link 16 tactical data networks, which is

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military communications standard. But more importantly,

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they're designed to detect modern threats like

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hypersonic weapons, which are notoriously difficult

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to track with traditional systems because of their speed

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and unpredictable flight packs.

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Avery: That makes sense. Having a distributed network

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of cheaper satellites means you're less vulnerable if you

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lose one or two.

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And finally, let's talk about NASA getting creative

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with astronaut training. Are they using

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helicopters in the Colorado mountains?

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Anna: This is such a clever training approach.

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NASA just certified a new helicopter flight

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training course in the Colorado mountains

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specifically designed to simulate lunar landing

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conditions for the Artemis missions. Astronauts

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Mark Vande Hei and Matthew Dominic were part of the

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certification process.

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Avery: I'm trying to picture this. How do mountains in

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Colorado simulate the moon?

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Anna: Great question. The mountainous terrain

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Creates similar visual allusions

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to what astronauts will experience when landing on the

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Moon. Without familiar reference points, it

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becomes really challenging to judge distances

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and altitudes accurately. Plus, the

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dusty conditions in some areas help

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simulate how lunar dust will interact

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with the lander's thrusters. Which is actually a

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major concern for lunar missions.

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Avery: Right, because lunar dust is extremely fine

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and gets kicked up by the rocket exhaust, which can create

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a total whiteout during landing. This real

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world flight training sounds way better than just using

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simulators.

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Anna: Exactly. And it's not just about individual

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piloting skills. The training focuses heavily

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on crew coordination and communication,

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which will be absolutely critical when they're trying to land on the

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moon. There's no room for miscommunication when

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you're piloting a lunar lander to the surface.

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Avery: It's amazing how NASA keeps finding innovative ways to

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prepare for these missions. From potential life on

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Mars to asteroid deflection challenges, from

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massive stellar jets to military satellites and

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lunar landing training. What a week for space news.

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Anna: It really has been incredible. And I think what

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strikes me most is how all these stories show us that

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space exploration is this perfect blend

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of cutting edge science, careful planning, and

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sometimes creative problem solving. Whether

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we're looking for life on Mars or training astronauts in

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Colorado mountains, it's all about pushing the

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boundaries of what's possible.

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Avery: Couldn't agree more, Ana. Um, that's all for today's episode

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of Astronomy Daily. Thanks for joining us on this journey through

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the latest space discoveries and developments.

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Anna: Keep looking up, everyone. The universe has so much

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more to show us. Until next time, this is Ana

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and Avery signing off from Astronomy Daily.

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Avery: Actually, Ana, before we wrap up, I wanted to touch

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on one more fascinating story that came across our desk

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this week.

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The European Space Agency just announced some

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remarkable findings from their Gaia mission about stellar

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merceries in our galaxy. It's really changing how

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we understand star formation.

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Anna: Oh, yes, the Gaia data is

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incredible. They've been mapping the positions and

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movements of over a billion stars. And what

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they're finding about stellar associations and how

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stars form and clusters is really rewriting

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the textbooks. Tell our listeners what makes this

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discovery so special.

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Avery: So what Gaia has revealed is that, uh, star formation is

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much more complex and interconnective than we previously

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thought. They've identified these massive

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stellar streams, Groups of stars that were born

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together and are still moving through space together

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even millions of years after their formation.

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Some of these streams stretch for hundreds of light years across

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our galaxy.

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Anna: That's mind blowing when you think about it. Our sun

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could have siblings scattered across the galaxy that we're just now

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discovering. But what does this tell us about

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how star formation actually works? I

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mean, this seems to challenge the idea that stars just

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form randomly throughout.

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Avery: Exactly. It's showing us that star formation

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happens in these cascade events. When one

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massive star explodes as a supernova, it

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triggers star formation in nearby gas clouds, which

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can then trigger more star formation and so on.

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It's like cosmic dominoes. And here's the really

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cool. By tracing these stellar streams backward

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in time, astronomers can actually map out the

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history of star formation in different regions of our

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galaxy.

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Anna: It's like having a time machine for galactic archaeology.

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And this connects beautifully to our earlier discussion

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about that massive stellar jet Webb observed.

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We're seeing the universe as this incredibly

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interconnected system where everything

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influences everything else across vast

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distances and timescales.

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Avery: Speaking of interconnected systems, Anna, I, uh,

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also wanted to mention the latest updates from the Artemis

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program. NASA just released some new details

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about the gateway Lunar Space Station and how it's

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going to serve as a st point not just for moon

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missions, but potentially as a refueling stop

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for missions to Mars. The engineering behind this

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is absolutely fascinating.

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Anna: Yes, the gateway concept is brilliant because

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it's essentially creating a permanent human

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presence in lunar orbit. What's really

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exciting is how they're planning to use in situ

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resource utilization, basically mining water

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ice from the moon's south pole to create

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rocket fuel. And this could make Mars missions

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exponentially more cost effective because you wouldn't have to

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carry all your fuel from m Earth.

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Avery: Right. Because escaping Earth's gravity well is so

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energy intensive. If you can refuel at the moon,

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you're essentially getting a head start toward Mars. And

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the international cooperation aspect is really

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encouraging too. We've got contributions from

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Canada, Europe, Japan and other partners.

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It feels like we're building the infrastructure for humanity's

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expansion into the solar system.

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Anna: And speaking of international cooperation, I

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have to mention the incredible success we're seeing with

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commercial space companies. Just this month,

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SpaceX conducted their most ambitious

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starship test yet. And we're seeing companies like

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Blue Origin and others really pushing the

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boundaries of what's possible. The cost of getting

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to space continues to plummet, which opens up

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so many possibilities for scientific research.

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Avery: Anna, uh, what an incredible journey we've taken our listeners on

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today. From the potential discovery of ancient life

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on Mars to the cutting edge engineering that's making

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space more accessible than ever before. It

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really shows how rapidly our understanding of the universe

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is expanding.

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Anna: Absolutely, Avery. And I think what's most

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exciting is that we're not just passive

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observers anymore. We're actively

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participating in this exploration. Whether through

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robotic missions, human spaceflight, or the

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incredible engineering achievements that are making it all

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possible, the future of space exploration

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has never looked brighter.

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Avery: Well said, Anna. Uh, that's a wrap for today's extended

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episode of Astronomy Daily. Thanks for joining us on

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this comprehensive look at the latest in space science

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and exploration. Until next time, keep looking

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up.