Rocket Lab's New Heights, Webb's Water Mystery, and the Legacy of STS-107

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Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast

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where.

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Avery: We break down the biggest news in space and astronomy.

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I'm Avery.

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Anna: And I'm Anna. We've got a great show for you today.

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We'll be looking at a major milestone for Rocket

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Lab's new reusable rocket taking shape in

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Virginia. And get this. The James Webb Space

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Telescope has found a truly bizarre

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planet forming disc that could rewrite our

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understanding of how rocky worlds are born.

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Avery: And plus, we'll dive into the explosive solution

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to the mystery of hypervelocity. White dwarfs,

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stellar cannonballs getting ejected from our galaxy.

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Anna: And finally, a poignant story about a

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piece of space history recovered from

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tragedy, now being auctioned for a very

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good cause. So stick around.

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Alright, let's kick things off on the east coast of the U.S.

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it sounds like Rocket Lab is making some serious

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moves.

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Avery: That's right. They just held a ceremony to inaugurate their

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new Launch Complex 3 at Wallops Island,

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Virginia. And this isn't just another pad for their

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trusty little elect. This is the new

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home for their much bigger next generation

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Neutron rocket. Neutron is a significant step

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up for them, isn't it? It moves them squarely into the

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medium lift launch category.

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Anna: Exactly. While Electron is a

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fantastic vehicle for small satellites,

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Neutron is an absolute beast in

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comparison. It's designed to lift Serious

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payloads about 13,000 kilogrammes

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to low Earth orbit. The that puts it in competition

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with some of the real workhorse rockets flying today.

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Avery: And the whole facility is built for speed too.

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I read that the pad is specifically designed to support

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a high launch cadence.

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Anna: It is, but the rocket itself is where the

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innovation really shines. It stands

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141ft tall, but its most

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unique feature has to be what they've nicknamed the

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Hungry Hippo Fairing.

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Avery: That's a fantastic name. Let me guess.

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Instead of the payload fairing just jettisoning and falling

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into the ocean, it's actually part of the first

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stage and is reusable.

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Anna: You nailed it. The fairing opens up like a

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giant mouth to release the second stage and the

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payload. And then it closes right back up before

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the entire first stage returns to Earth for a

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landing. It's a really clever approach to

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making the whole system rapidly reusable.

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Avery: That really streamlines the whole process. So when

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can we expect to see Neutron take flight?

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Anna: They're targeting the maiden flight for the end of

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2025. It's certainly an

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ambitious timeline, but Rocket Lab has a habit

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of meeting its goals. And this isn't just good

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news for space enthusiasts. The project is

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also Expected to create over

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250 jobs in the region.

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Avery: It's a fantastic development for the commercial space

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industry. It's very exciting to see another major

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player making such big strides in the reusable

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rocket game.

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Anna: Well, from new rockets getting ready to fly,

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let's turn to new discoveries from orbit.

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The James Webb Space Telescope has once

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again delivered some truly mind

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bending science. This next story

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challenges some of the core ideas we have

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about how planets like our own are formed.

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Avery: It really does. JWST was pointed

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at a protoplanetary disc. That's the

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vast swirling cloud of gas and dust around a

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young star where planets are born. This

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particular one surrounds an infant star named

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Xue 10, which is located about

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5,500 light years away.

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Anna: And what did it find that was so out of the

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ordinary?

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Avery: It found that the inner part of the disc, the exact region

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where we'd expect to see rocky Earth like

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planets forming, has a very high concentration of

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carbon dioxide. But what's really striking

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is what seems to be missing. Water. The

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telescope found a surprisingly low amount of water

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vapour in this critical zone.

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Anna: That seems completely backward, doesn't it? Our,

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uh, current models of planet formation suggest that

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this inner region should be rich in water, which

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we consider a key ingredient for the development of life.

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It throws a bit of a wrench in the works.

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Scientists are now scrambling to figure out why

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this particular disc is so water poor

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and carbon rich. One of the leading

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hypotheses is that the entire star system

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is being blasted by intense

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ultraviolet radiation from massive

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hot stars nearby.

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Avery: So that intense radiation could

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literally be changing the disk's chemistry,

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perhaps breaking down the water molecules or

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preventing them from settling in that inner planet

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forming region.

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Anna: It could be altering it completely.

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And this discovery isn't just about a strange

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distant star system. It might also

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help explain some unusual isotope

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signatures that have been found in meteorites

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right here in our own solar system.

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It suggests that the chemical makeup of our

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cosmic neighbourhood during its formation might

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have been very different than we previously thought.

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Avery: Incredible. So the recipe for making an

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Earth might be much more varied than we

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assumed. It's just amazing how a

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single observation from Webb can open up so many

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profound new questions.

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Anna: From making planets to, well,

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breaking stars. For years,

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astronomers have tracked these truly

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bizarre objects called

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hypervelocity white dwarfs.

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Now a white dwarf is the super dense

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remnant of a, uh, sun like star. But these

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ones are moving so fast that they're on

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a trajectory to completely escape the

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Milky Way G galaxy, right?

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Avery: They're like stellar cannonballs. The

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fundamental Question has always been what kind

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of cosmic event could possibly launch an

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entire star with that much force?

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Anna: Well, a new study using some powerful

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computer simulations believes it has the

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answer. And it is incredibly

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violent. The leading model is being called

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the D6 scenario. And it all

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starts with a binary system of two white

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dwarfs orbiting each other in a tight

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embrace.

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Avery: A, uh, stellar dance of death, I imagine.

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What happens next?

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Anna: The lighter of the two stars gets

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gravitationally shredded by its heavier

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companion. Material from that

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disrupted star then forms a layer of

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helium on the surface of the more massive one.

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This accretion is what triggers a

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cataclysmic two stage explosion.

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Avery: Two stages? How does that work?

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Anna: First, that outer shell of helium

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ignites in a massive detonation.

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This explosion sends a powerful

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shockwave inwards, compressing the

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carbon oxygen core of the primary star.

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And that shockwave is so

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unbelievably intense that it triggers

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a second even more powerful

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explosion. A full blown type

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1a supernova.

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Avery: And that supernova completely obliterates the

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primary star.

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Anna: It's utterly destroyed. But the companion

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star, the one that was initially torn apart,

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actually survives the blast. The

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sheer asymmetric force of its partner's

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demise is what acts like a cannon,

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flinging it outwards at these incredible

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galaxy escaping speeds.

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Avery: Wow. So one star is annihilated

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just to launch its partner across the cosmos.

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The simulations must have been phenomenally detailed

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to pinpoint that mechanism.

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Anna: They were. The D6 model

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successfully recreated the incredible speeds

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and physical properties we observe in these

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hypervelocity white dwarfs. It's a major

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breakthrough that not only solves the stellar cannonball

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mystery, but but also gives us a clearer

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picture of one of the ways type 1A

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supernovae can happen. And those explosions

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are crucial cosmic yardsticks for measuring the

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expansion of the universe.

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Avery: For our final story today, we come back to Earth

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to remember a tragic but incredibly important

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moment in spaceflight history. A very

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unique set of artefacts is going up for auction.

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A dozen Sacagawea dollar coins that flew on

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the final mission of the space shuttle Columbia

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STS107.

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Anna: This is such a powerful and moving

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story. These coins were originally part

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of the US Mint's Coins in Space programme.

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They were meant to be put on display at places like the

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Smithsonian after the mission. But of course,

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the Columbia tragedy occurred during re

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entry in February of 2003.

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Avery: The shuttle was lost along with its seven member

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crew. It's honestly hard to believe that

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anything, especially something as small as a coin,

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could have survived that event.

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Anna: It is. But during the massive debris

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recovery effort across East Texas.

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These coins were found. They were charred and

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damaged from the intense heat of re entry,

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but they were recovered.

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Avery: That's amazing. But how could they be

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absolutely certain that these were the authentic coins

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that actually flew on the mission?

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Anna: This is the incredible part of the story. The

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US Mint had kept control coins from

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the exact same batch that never left the ground.

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Forensic, forensic investigators were able to compare the

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unique metallurgical properties of the

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recovered damaged coins to the pristine

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control set. And they confirmed they

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were the genuine articles.

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Avery: And um, now after all these years, they're being auctioned by

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Heritage Auctions.

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Anna: Yes, and for a wonderful cause. The

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proceeds from the auction are going to benefit the

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Astronaut Memorial foundation and other

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space related charities, all dedicated to

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honouring the memory of fallen astronauts.

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Avery: It's a, uh, truly powerful way to remember the

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crew of STS107. These coins

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aren't just currency, they're uh, a testament to

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survival, to the memory of the crew, and to the

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enduring spirit of exploration. A truly

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poignant piece of space history.

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

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Daily. From new rockets preparing for flight

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to deep mysteries of planet formation and

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violent stellar explosion.

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Avery: And a humbling reminder of the human side of our

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journey into space. It's been another

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fascinating day in the cosmos.

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Anna: Thanks so much for tuning in. We'll be back next time

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with another roundup of the latest space and

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astronomy news.

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Avery: Until then, keep looking up.