Mars Mishaps, Earthly Tails, and the Hungry Hippo Rocket Fairing

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Avery: Hello, and welcome to today's edition of

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Astronomy Daily, the podcast that brings you

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the universe one story at a time. I'm

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Avery.

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

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Today. We're covering some of the most

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exciting and slightly worrying news from the

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world of space exploration.

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Avery: Absolutely. We're going to be talking about a

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communications breakdown at Mars, a

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2 million kilometer tail trailing our own

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planet, and a brand new mission control

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center for future rovers.

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Anna: Plus, we'll dive into what the James Webb

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Telescope might have found on an exoplanet, a

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new dual mode drone from China, and a

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rocket fairing nicknamed the Hungry Hippo.

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Avery: It's a busy lineup, so let's get right into

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it.

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Anna, why don't you start us off with the

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news from the Red Planet?

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Anna: Of course, our first story is a bit tense.

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NASA has temporarily. Well, we hope it's

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temporary. Lost contact with its MAVEN

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orbiter. But maven, which stands for Mars

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Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, has been a

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workhorse at Mars since 2014.

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Avery: Right, and it's not just studying the

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atmosphere. It's a critical communications

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relay for the rovers on the surface. Like

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Curiosity. And perseverance, losing

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contact is a big deal.

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Anna: Exactly. The spacecraft went silent after

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passing behind Mars from our point of view,

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which is a standard procedure, but. But when

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it should have re emerged and checked in,

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there was nothing. The team at the Jet

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Propulsion Laboratory is now working through

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procedures to try and reestablish a signal.

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Mm,

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Avery: So what does this mean for the rovers? Are

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they on their own for now?

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Anna: Well, thankfully, NASA has redundancy.

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The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the

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European Space Agency's Trace Gas Orbiter

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can also act as relays so the rovers aren't

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completely cut off. But losing MAVEN reduces

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their data downlink capacity significantly.

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Avery: That makes sense. Spacecraft issues like this

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happen, and usually the engineers find a way.

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We're certainly hoping they get MAVEN back

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online soon.

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Anna: Fingers crossed. Now, for our next story,

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let's come a little closer to home, Avery.

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This one sounds like something out of science

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fiction.

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Avery: It really does. A new NASA study

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has confirmed that Earth has a tail. Not

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a physical one, of course, but a magnetic

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one, a. A magnetotail, to be precise. That

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stretches an incredible 2 million

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kilometers into space.

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Anna: 2 million kilometers. That's more than five

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times the distance to the Moon. How is that

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even formed?

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Avery: It's created by the interaction between

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Earth's magnetic field and the solar wind,

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which is a constant stream of charged

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particles flowing from the Sun. As the Solar

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wind blows past Earth. It stretches our

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magnetic field out on the night side. Just

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like a windsock.

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Anna: Right, and this tail isn't empty, is it? it's

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filled with plasma.

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Avery: Exactly. It's a plasma kale. And

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understanding its structure and dynamics is

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crucial for predicting space weather, which

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can affect our satellites and power grids.

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It's a stunning reminder of the complex and

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visible structures that dominate our corner

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of the cosmos.

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Anna: That's fascinating.

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From invisible tales to very visible new

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buildings, Our next story takes us to NASA's

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Jet Propulsion Laboratory. They've just

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opened Rover Operations center, or

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roc.

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Avery: Yeah, this is exciting. This isn't just a

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shiny new room with more computers. The

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ROC is designed to be the heart of future

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robotic missions to the Moon and m Mars. It's

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built to handle multiple missions

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simultaneously.

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Anna: And it incorporates some cutting edge

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technology, including advanced AI to help

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rover drivers plan their routes and analyze

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data more efficiently. They're also

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emphasizing partnerships with commercial

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space companies.

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Avery: That partnership piece is key. With programs

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like Artemis aiming to return humans to the

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moon and more ambitious Mars missions on the

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horizon, NASA needs a central hub that can

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coordinate between its own assets and those

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of its commercial partners. The ROC

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is that hub. It's basically mission control

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for the next generation of explorers.

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Anna: Speaking of next generation explorers, our

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next story comes from the James Webb Space

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Telescope, which is continu continuing to

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rewrite our understanding of distant worlds.

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Avery: I love a good JWST story. What has

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it spotted now?

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Anna: It's been looking at the Trappist 1 system,

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which you'll remember as a system of seven

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rocky Earth sized planets orbiting a small

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star. JWST focused on Trappist

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1 e, a planet in the habitable zone.

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And the data hints at the possibility of a

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methane rich atmosphere.

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Avery: Wow. Methane on Earth, that's often

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associated with life. But the key word here

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is hints, right?

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Anna: Precisely. The data is still ambiguous.

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Scientists are quick to point out that

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methane can also be produced by geological

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processes, not just biological ones.

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The signal is also faint and could be an

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instrument artifact or something else

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entirely.

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Avery: So it's not time to announce aliens just yet.

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Anna: Not just yet, but it is an incredibly

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tantalizing result. It shows that JWST

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is capable of detecting potential

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biosignatures on rocky exoplanets, which

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is exactly what it was designed to do. More

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observations are already planned to get a

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clearer picture.

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Avery: It's amazing to watch science unfold in real

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time. And while JWST looks out,

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other nations are looking at new ways to

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explore up close.

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Our fifth story is About a new type of Mars

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drone being developed in China.

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Anna: Mm We all remember the success of NASA's

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Ingenuity helicopter. This new concept takes

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that a step further. Chinese scientists are

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designing a drone that can both fly and roll

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on the Martian surface.

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Avery: Fly and roll. So it's a transformer?

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Anna: In a way, yes. The idea is to conserve

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energy. Flying in Mars thin atmosphere

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takes a lot of power. So the drone would roll

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on its wheels for long distance travel across

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flat terrain and only use its rotors to fly

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over obstacles or explore hard to reach areas

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like canyons or cliffs.

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Avery: That's a very clever solution. It combines

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the endurance of a rover with the agility of

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a helicopter.

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Anna: It is. And the design could even allow it to

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enter and explore Martian lava tubes or

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caves. Something no previous mission has been

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able to do. It's a concept that could

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dramatically expand our exploration

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capabilities on other worlds.

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Avery: That is a fascinating concept. It really

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shows how we're getting smarter about

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exploring other planets.

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Anna: It's certainly an exciting time in space

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innovation.

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Avery: Alright, for our final story, let's talk

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about getting to space in the first place.

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This one involves Rocket Lab and a piece of

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hardware with a fantastic nickname. The

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Hungry Hippo Fairing.

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Anna: I was waiting for this one. This is about

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their upcoming neutron rocket, which is

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designed to be fully reusable. The fairing is

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the nose cone that protects the satellite

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during launch. Typically fairings are just

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jettisoned and fall into the ocean.

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Avery: Right. Which is wasteful. SpaceX recovers

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theirs with nets on ships. But Rocket Lab has

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a totally different approach. The Neutron's

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fairing isn't jettisoned at all. It's

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integrated into the first stage of the

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rocket.

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Anna: So how does the satellite get out?

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Avery: This is the brilliant part. The fairing

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pedals open up like a, giant clamshell or a

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Hungry Hungry Hippo to release the payload.

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Then they close again before the entire first

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stage returns to Earth for a landing. Rocket

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Lab just completed successful tests of this

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mechanism.

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Anna: That's an elegant piece of engineering. It

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eliminates the entire process of fairing

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recovery at sea. It just comes back with the

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booster.

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Avery: It's a huge step towards rapid reusability,

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which is the key to lowering the cost of

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access to space. A very cool innovation to

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watch.

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Anna: And that's all the time we have for today's

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news roundup. From a silent orbiter at

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Mars to a hippo, like rocket here on Earth.

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It's been another busy time in space.

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Avery: It certainly has. Thank you all so much for

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tuning in to Astronomy Daily. You can find us

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wherever you get your podcasts, and we'd love

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it if you'd leave us a review. Join us next

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time as we take a dive into more mysteries

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from deep space.

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Anna: Until then, keep looking up.