Mars' Ozone Revelation, Russia's Satellite Challenge, and Exoplanet Milestones

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Avery: Hey, everyone, and welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm

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Avery.

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Anna: And I'm Anna. We're here to bring you the most

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exciting space news and discoveries from

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around the universe.

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Avery: And wow, do we have some incredible stories for

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you today. We're talking about surprising discoveries on

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Mars that could reshape our understanding of the

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Red Planet's past. Dramatic developments in

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the new space race, with Russia announcing ambitious

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plans to challenge SpaceX, a, uh, major

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exoplanet milestone that brings us closer than

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ever to finding Earth's twin. Groundbreaking

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research on how ancient asteroid impacts might have

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actually helped life flourish on Earth. And some

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exciting updates on upcoming Mars missions. Plus,

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we'll dive into what all of this means for the future of

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space exploration and our search for life beyond

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Earth.

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Anna: That's right, Avery. It's been an

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absolutely fascinating week in space

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science news. So let's dive right in with our

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first story. And this one's coming from Mars with

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a discovery that has scientists rethinking

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the Red Planet's atmospheric history.

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Avery: Scientists have just discovered an unexpected ozone

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surge in Mars's polar vortex during winter.

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And this is honestly mind blowing when you think about the

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implications.

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Anna: It really is. So here's what's happening.

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During Mars's polar winter,

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temperatures plummet to a bone chilling

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-148 degrees Celsius.

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That's colder than the surface of Titan,

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Saturn's Moon. At these extreme temperatures,

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there's virtually no ultraviolet light from

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the sun to break down water vapor. Because

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Mars is tilted at 25 degrees,

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very similar to Earth's 23.5 degree

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tilt, this allows ozone to accumulate in

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ways we've never seen before. What makes

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this discovery even more remarkable is that

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researchers used data from the European Space

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Agency's Trace Gas Orbiter, which has been

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studying Mars's atmosphere since 2016.

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The readings showed ozone concentrations that were

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completely unexpected.

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Avery: And the big story here is what this tells us about Mars

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past. Dr. Kevin Olson from Oxford University

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presented this research at the europlanet Science

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Congress. And he's suggesting that Mars might have once had

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a protective ozone layer similar to Earth's.

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Anna: Exactly. And if Mars had a substantial

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ozone layer in its ancient past, that would have

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shielded the planet from harmful radiation, making it

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much more suitable for life as we know it. Think

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about this. Earth's ozone layer blocks about

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97 to 99% of, uh, the

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Sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation.

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Without it, life on our planet's surface would be

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impossible. So if ancient Mars had similar

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protection, we're talking about a fundamentally

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different world than the radiation blasted desert

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we see today. It's another piece of the puzzle

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in understanding whether Mars could have supported life

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billions of years ago. And here's something

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fascinating. This discovery also helps

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explain some of the chemical signatures we've been finding

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in Martian rocks and soil samples.

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Avery: You know, this ozone discovery becomes even more exciting

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when we consider what's happening with Mars exploration right now.

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NASA's Perseverance rover is still collecting samples

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in Jacero Crater, samples that could contain evidence

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of, uh, ancient microbial life. And with this

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new understanding of Mars's potential protective ozone

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layer, those samples become even more valuable.

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We might be looking at rocks that formed during a time when Mars

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was much more habitable than we previously thought.

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Speaking of space developments, our next story takes us from

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scientific discovery to geopolitics.

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Russia is making a major move to challenge

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SpaceX's dominance in satellite Internet.

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Anna: That's right. Dmitry Bakhanov from

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Roscosmos has confirmed that Russia is

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developing its own satellite Internet

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constellation called Sphere, to compete

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directly with Starlink. They're planning to launch the

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first batch of satellites later this year using their

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Soyuz 2 rockets. What's

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particularly interesting is that Russia is

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partnering with several countries, including Iran

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and North Korea, to develop this system.

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The project has been in development since 2018,

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but the Ukraine conflict has really accelerated

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their timeline.

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Avery: The scale is ambitious. We're talking about over

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900 satellites planned by 2035,

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with commercial services expected to begin in

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2027. To put this in perspective,

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SpaceX currently has over 5,000

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Starlink satellites in orbit and is planning for up to

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42,000 eventually. But here's the

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thing that makes this particularly interesting. This

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isn't just about market competition. Russia's

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Sphere constellation will operate in different orbital

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shells, including some in higher elliptical orbits

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that could provide coverage to polar regions better than

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Starlink's current configuration. The technical approach

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is actually quite clever, even if the scale is

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smaller.

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Anna: Right. There's definitely a geopolitical element here.

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Ukraine's successful use of Starlink during the

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ongoing conflict has clearly demonstrated the strategic

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importance of satellite Internet capabilities.

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Russia wants its own independent system.

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And it's worth noting that Russia isn't the only country

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developing alternative satellite Internet systems.

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China has its own ambitious plans with the, uh, Guang

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constellation, potentially 13,000

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satellites. The European Union is working on its

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IRIS2S constellation, and even

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Amazon is still pushing forward with Project Cooper despite

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delays. We're really seeing the emergence of

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multiple sovereign satellite Internet capabilities,

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which could fundamentally change how Internet access works

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globally.

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Avery: It'll be fascinating to See how this plays out in the

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increasingly competitive satellite Internet market.

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But let's move on to a really exciting milestone that has

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me genuinely excited about the future of astronomy.

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NASA has officially confirmed 6,000

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exoplanets. Actually, it's

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6,007 as of right now, which is just

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incredible when you think about how far we've come.

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Anna: I remember when the first exoplanet around a Sun like

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Star51 Pegasi B was discovered back in

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1995 by Michelle Mayer and Didier

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Quelhos, who won the Nobel Prize for that

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discovery. To go from one to over

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6,000 in less than 30 years, that,

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that's exponential progress. And the methods have

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evolved dramatically, too. We went from radial

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velocity detection to transit photometry

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with Kepler. And now we have tests continuing the

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search. There are still over 8,000 more

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candidates awaiting confirmation. And with the James

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Webb Space Telescope now operational, we're starting to

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actually analyze the atmospheres of these worlds.

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Avery: The diversity is what really strikes me. We've got

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2035 Neptune like worlds,

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1984 gas giants,

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1761 super earths and

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700 terrestrial planets. NASA is

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calling this the next great chapter of exploration. And

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I couldn't agree more. Speaking of James Webb,

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the telescope has already started revolutionizing

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our understanding of exoplanet atmospheres.

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Just recently, it detected water vapor

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clouds and even weather patterns on, um, planets

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hundreds of light years away. We're not just finding

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planets anymore. We're actually studying their climates

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in real time. Wasp 96B, for

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instance, shows clear signatures of sodium and water

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in its atmosphere m along with evidence of cloud formation.

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It's like having a weather report from another star system.

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Anna: But here's the thing that keeps us searching. Despite

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all these discoveries, we still haven't found that

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perfect Earth twin. Every new world teaches us

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something different about planetary formation and the

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incredible variety of worlds that exist in our

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galaxy.

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And speaking of life in unexpected places, our final

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story today is absolutely fascinating. It

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involves an ancient asteroid impact in Finland and

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how catastrophic events might actually foster

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life rather than destroy it.

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Avery: This story completely flips our understanding of asteroid

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impacts on its head. So, 78 million

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years ago, a, uh, 1.6 kilometer asteroid

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slammed into what is now Finland, creating the

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Lupuyarvi Crater.

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Anna: Now, here's where it gets really interesting. New research

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led by scientists from the University of Helsinki

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shows that microbial life colonized the crater's

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hydrothermal system within 4.4 million

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years of the impact, which in geological terms

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is incredibly fast. They found

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fossilized biofilms and chemical signatures

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that are Unmistakably biological in origin,

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this is the first direct evidence linking

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microbial activity to asteroid impacts.

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What's remarkable is that they used advanced microscopy and

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geochemical analysis to identify these

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ancient microbes preserved in the rock record.

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These organisms were likely chemosynthetic,

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meaning they got their energy from chemical reactions rather

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than sunlight.

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Avery: What this tells us is profound. While asteroid

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impacts can certainly be destructive, we all know what

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happened to the dinosaurs. They can also create

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unique environments where life can actually thrive. The

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impact creates hydrothermal systems that become

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perfect habitats for certain microorganisms organisms.

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Anna: This has huge implications for astrobiology,

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especially when we think about planets like Mars or even

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moons like Europa and Enceladus. Impact

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craters aren't just scars from cosmic violence.

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They might be cradles for life.

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Before we wrap up today, I want to quickly mention that

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Rocket Lab is proposing something really cool.

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They want to build a, uh, Mars telecommunications

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orbiter that would provide high speed

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Internet between Mars and Earth. Imagine

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streaming data from the Red planet. Currently, Mars

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missions have to rely on NASA's aging deep space

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Network, which creates bottlenecks and delays.

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Rocket Lab's proposal would create dedicated high

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bandwidth communication links that could handle the

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massive data requirements of future Mars missions,

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including eventual human settlements. We're

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talking about gigabit speeds across

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interplanetary distances. It's science

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fiction becoming reality. And

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SpaceX has moved their next starship to the launch pad for

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flight testing. The pace of development

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is just breathtaking. Each test flight

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incorporates lessons learned from the previous ones.

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They've made remarkable progress with the Raptor engines,

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heat shield technology and landing systems.

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Flight 10 successfully demonstrated controlled

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re entry and landing burns, bringing us closer to

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fully reusable interplanetary transportation.

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When you consider that just a few years ago,

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landing a rocket was considered impossible,

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and now SpaceX is preparing vehicles for Mars

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missions. It's genuinely awe

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inspiring.

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Avery: What an incredible time to be alive and watching these

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developments unfold. From ancient ozone on

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Mars that suggests a more habitable past. To

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asteroid impacts fostering life in the most unexpected

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ways. From intense competition and satellite

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Internet that will reshape global communications, to

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thousands of new worlds being discovered and analyzed in

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unprecedented detail, the universe continues

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to surprise and inspire us. Each discovery

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builds upon the others, creating a more complete picture of our

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cosmic neighborhood and our place within it. We're not

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just passive observers anymore. We're active participants

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in a truly interplanetary civilization

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that's taking its first steps.

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Anna: Thanks for joining us on this cosmic journey today. Remember

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to visit our website at ah, astronomydaily, IO

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where you'll find more space and astronomy news. And

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you can drop us a line, too, if you wish. I'm Anna.

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Avery: And I'm Avery. Keep looking up, and we'll see you tomorrow on

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Astronomy Daily.