Roman Telescope Update, China's Shenlong Mystery Deepens, and Quantum Breakthroughs in Space

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Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm

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Anna.

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Avery: And I'm avery. It's Wednesday, the

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25th of June, 2026, and you are

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tuned in for season five, episode

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123.

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Anna: We have a varied and secretive show today.

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A, uh, beloved space telescope has finally

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arrived at its launch site. A secretive

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Chinese space plane is doing mysterious

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things in orbit. And we have a, uh, genuinely

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exciting quantum physics story from right up

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on the International Space Station.

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Avery: Plus an update on a story we rang.

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SpaceX's brand new secret

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Starfall capsule is still up there in orbit

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and we are watching and waiting for that

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Pacific splashdown. More on that shortly.

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Anna: But first, let's get straight into the

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headlines. A, uh, Further update

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on NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space

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Telescope, the agency's next great

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observatory. And it has arrived at Kennedy

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Space center in Florida. And the countdown to

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launch is well and truly on.

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Avery: This is a big moment. Roman touched down at

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Kennedy on 21 June, arriving via

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NASA's Pegasus barge after completing its

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full assembly and testing phase at Goddard

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Space Flight center in Maryland. The

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telescope was sealed inside a specialized

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shipping container. NASA has nicknamed it,

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uh, the Chariot, keeping with the Roman

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theme, and made the journey by sea down the

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Atlantic coast to Florida.

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Anna: And now it's inside the Payload Hazardous

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Servicing Facility at Kennedy, where

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engineers will spend the next 70 days

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preparing it for liftoff. That work includes

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checking the solar panels, inspecting the

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thermal blankets and crucially, loading the

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telescope's propellant tanks with around

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290 gallons of hydrazine

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fuel.

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Avery: Now that fuel load is worth highlighting.

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NASA has sized it to support at least twice

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the planned five year primary mission

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lifetime, meaning Roman could in principle

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operate well into the 1940s if the hardware

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holds up.

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Anna: The launch target is no earlier than Sunday

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30 August on SpaceX Falcon

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Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A,

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the same pad used for the Apollo Saturn V

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rockets. And this puts Roman eight full

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months ahead of its previous schedule. The

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team has really delivered.

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Avery: Once it reaches its destination at the second

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Sun, Earth Lagrange Point, the same

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neighborhood as the James Webb Telescope,

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Roman will survey the cosmos in infrared

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light. Its 300 megapixel camera covers

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a field of view 100 times wider than

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Hubble's per single exposure. That means it

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can map billions of Galax galaxies, hunt for

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hundreds of thousands of new exoplanets, and

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probe dark matter and dark energy at a scale

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and speed no telescope has managed before.

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Anna: Webb goes deep, Roman goes wide.

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And together they will give us a picture of

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the universe that Neither could achieve

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alone. Keep your eye on the skies and

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on Kennedy Space center as we head into

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August.

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Avery: Story two and, um, this one has a Southern

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Hemisphere connection. China's mysterious

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Shenlong reusable spaceplane, currently on

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its fourth mission in orb orbit, appears to

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have released an unknown object into space.

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And the first radar system to spot it was

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right here in our part of the world. The Kiwi

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Space Radar in New Zealand, operated by

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commercial space surveillance company

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LeoLabs.

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Anna: At 2:30am UM UTC on

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22 June, LeoLabs detected

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something in the vicinity of the Shenlong

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spaceplane that didn't match anything in

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their catalog. They followed it across their

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global radar network and confirmed with

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high confidence that it was released,

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released directly from the Chinese space

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plane.

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Avery: Now, this isn't entirely unprecedented.

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Shenlong has released objects on each of its

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three previous missions, though what those

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objects actually are, China has never

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officially confirmed. On its first mission, a

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deployed object appeared to transmit

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broadcast signals. On its second, it seemed

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to conduct close approach maneuvers near

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other objects in orbit. Each time, China

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state media gives the same vague line. The

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program provides technical support for

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peaceful use of space.

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Anna: The Shenlong, its name means divine

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Dragon. Launched on its fourth mission back

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in February on a long March 2F rocket from

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the Jiquan Satellite launch Center in the

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Gobi Desert. Analysts believe it's

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broadly similar in size and function to the

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United States Space Force's own

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X-37B spaceplane, which is also

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currently in orbit on its eighth mission.

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Avery: The key capability being demonstrated here,

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whether for peaceful or strategic purposes,

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is what's called rendezvous and proxim

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operations. That's the ability to maneuver

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close to other objects in space. It can be

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used for satellite servicing and refueling,

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but it can equally be used for inspection

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or interference.

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Anna: We'll continue to watch this one closely. The

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radar network that first spotted this new

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object is based in Aotearoa, New Zealand,

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a reminder of just how important Southern

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Hemisphere space infrastructure has become in

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monitoring what's happening in low Earth

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orbit above all of our heads.

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Story three today, and we're heading up to

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the International Space Station for a quantum

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physics story that genuinely made us stop

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and stare. NASA's Cold Atom

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Lab, a fridge sized facility aboard the ISS,

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has just received its fourth and final

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hardware upgrade, and the results are

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remarkable.

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Avery: Let's set the scene. The Cold Atom Lab has

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been operating in orbit since 2018.

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Its job is to cool atoms down to

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temperatures just above absolute zero.

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We're Talking below, below minus

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459 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Colder than anything that occurs naturally in

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space. And then study what happens to matter

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at those extremes.

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Anna: At those temperatures, atoms can merge into

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something called a, uh, Bose Einstein

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condensate. A fifth state of matter

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beyond your solids, liquids, gases and

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plasma. In this state, instead of

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behaving like tiny billiard balls, atoms

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behave like waves. And they can exist in two

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places simultaneously. They can pass through

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one another. The normal rules go out the

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window.

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Avery: Now. Here's why doing this in space matters.

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On Earth, gravity pulls these quantum gas

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clouds downward Almost immediately you get a

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very short observation window. In the

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microgravity of low Earth orbit, those

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clouds can float and be observed for far

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longer. And with the new SM M3X

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science module installed by astronaut Jessica

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Mair back in May and activated the this week,

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the lab can now create Bose Einstein

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condensates that are five times larger than

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anything it has produced before.

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Anna: That's a significant leap. Larger

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condensates mean longer observation windows,

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finer measurements and the ability to probe

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questions at the very frontier of physics,

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including the nature of dark matter and the

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long unresolved tension between quantum

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mechanics and general relativity.

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Avery: And there's a policy angle here too. On

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22 June, President Trump signed an

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executive order directing NASA to submit a

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five year plan within 120 days

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for developing quantum sensing and networking

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for civilian space applications. The

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Coldatom lab sits right at the heart of that

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ambition.

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Anna: Scientists at AH JPL describe this as

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quantum 2.0, the direct

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manipulation of large quantum states in

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space. It took a century for the first

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quantum revolution, which gave us lasers,

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MRI machines and mobile phones to fully

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materialize. The second one is now being

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written in orbit in a fridge the size of a

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mini fridge.

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Avery: Story four brings us an update on Boeing's

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Starliner program. And while there's

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commitment on the surface, the details are

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sobering. During a public meeting of the

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Aerospace Safety advisory panel on June

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23, NASA confirmed it is still working

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toward the Starliner 1 uncrewed cargo

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mission, but acknowledged the launch timeline

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remains under review and could be as far as a

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year away.

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Anna: Let's recap. Boeing's Starliner

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spacecraft completed its first crewed test

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flight back in June of 2024,

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carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and

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Suni Williams to the International Space

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Station. What was meant to be a brief

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week long mission became an eight month

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stay because of persistent thruster failures

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and helium leaks that NASA and Boeing

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spent trying to understand.

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Wilmore and Williams ultimately came home on

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a SpaceX dragon.

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Avery: A post mission investigation report released

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in February of this year classified that

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mission as a Type A mishap, NASA's

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most severe failure category, normally

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reserved for missions involving loss of

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vehicle or life. It cited hardware

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failures, qualification deficiencies and

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leadership shortcomings. Uh, at both NASA and

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Boeing, the

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Anna: core technical problem centers on what

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engineers call the doghouse, the

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structures that house Starliner's reaction

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control system. Thrusters. Heat generated

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by thruster firings causes the nitrogen

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tetroxide oxidizer to partially

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vaporize before combustion, creating

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gas bubbles and reducing thrust.

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Closing out those issues is what stands

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between now and the Starliner 1 flight

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Avery: panel member Kent Rominger, himself a former

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NASA astronaut, noted that 22 of the

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28 implied anomalies from the crew. Flight

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tests have now been resolved, but the

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remaining six, including the overheating

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thruster issue, still need to be closed

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before flight can be approved.

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Anna: In May, NASA confirmed Starliner 1

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will fly uncrewed as a resupply mission

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rather than a crew rotation, and the agency

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remains committed to the program. But as the

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panel made clear this week, there is no

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launch date and their may not be one for some

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time yet.

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Avery: It's a long road back for a spacecraft that

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was meant to be a cornerstone of NASA's

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Commercial Crew Program alongside SpaceX's

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Dragon. We'll keep you updated as this story

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develops.

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Anna: Story 5 is an update on yesterday's

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big launch story. SpaceX's brand new

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Starfall reentry capsule, which lifted off on

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a Falcon mine from Cape Canaveral yesterday

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morning, is still in low Earth orbit and

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a Pacific Ocean splashdown is imminent.

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Avery: Just to recap for listeners who missed

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yesterday's episode, Starfall is a disk

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shaped uncrewed Cargo Return capsule,

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3.1 meters across and only 75

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centimeters tall that SpaceX has been

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developing in remarkable secrecy. We only

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know as much as we do because the US Federal

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Aviation Administration published an

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environmental assessment back in May.

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SpaceX itself has said very little.

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Anna: What we know is the capsule confirmed

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orbital deployment at approximately 10:01 in

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the morning Eastern time yesterday. It's

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capable of carrying up to 1,000 kilograms

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of cargo. That's about 2,200 pounds,

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making it roughly 30 times the cargo return

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capacity of current commercial rivals.

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Avery: SpaceX has not announced a re entry date,

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which is very on brand for this mission,

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given they cut off their own webcast about 10

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minutes after launch. But the FAA

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environmental approval covers two re entry

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demonstrations, both targeting a recovery

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zone in the Pacific Ocean about 1300

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kilometers off the US West coast, with a

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recovery team standing by to retrieve the

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capsule by boat after splashdown.

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Anna: The bigger picture here is the market

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Starfall is targeting in space.

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Manufacturing. Growing pharmaceuticals,

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fiber optics, and exotic alloys in

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microgravity has been a, uh, theoretical

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commercial opportunity for decades. The

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barrier has always been getting finished

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products back to Earth affordably.

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Starfall, backed by Falcon 9's reusability

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economics, could be the vehicle that finally

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cracks that open.

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Avery: It's also worth noting that SpaceX

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simultaneously launched a $20 billion public

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bond offering on the same day as a Starfall

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demo. The company is clearly signaling that

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low Earth orbit manufacturing logistics is

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not a side project. It is a serious

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commercial business line.

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Anna: We'll bring you the splashdown news as, uh,

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soon as it comes in. Fingers crossed for a

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clean recovery.

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Avery: And for our final story today, we're

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traveling back in time, about 13 billion

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years, to be precise, to visit a galaxy

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that's in the process of building itself.

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Anna: Astronomers led from Leiden University in the

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Netherlands have discovered a vast reservoir

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of cold molecular gas in a galaxy

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called Rebels 25. And this

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gas is the direct raw material for star

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formation. We're seeing it as it appeared

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when the universe was only about 700 million

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years old. That's roughly 5% of the

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universe's current age.

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Avery: Now, to understand why this matters, here's a

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quick primer. Stars don't just appear from

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nothing. They form when enormous clouds of

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cold molecular gas, primarily hydrogen,

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become dense enough to collapse under their

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own gravity. The more cold gas a galaxy

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has, the more fuel it has to make new

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stars. Finding it is finding the engine.

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Anna: What makes the Rebels 25 discovery

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particularly exciting is its scale and its

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timing. The the researchers found not just a

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little cold gas, but a genuinely

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massive reservoir, far more than would have

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been expected in such a young galaxy. This

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tells us that even in the infant universe,

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some galaxies were accumulating the raw

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ingredients for star formation on a grand

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scale.

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Avery: The team used what's called redshift

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measurements to find and study Rebels 25,

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essentially measuring how much the universe's

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expansion has stretched the light from the

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galaxy to redder wavelengths over its long

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journey to us. Higher redshift means further

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away, and further away means further back in

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time.

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Anna: It's one of those stories that puts the scale

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of things into perspective. The light we're

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studying from Rebels 25 left that

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galaxy about 13 billion years ago.

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The stars that formed from that cold gas

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reservoir, if any of them still exist, would

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be among the oldest in the universe. And

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somewhere in that distant galaxy, right

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now, in its own reference frame, a, ah, star

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formation event is either happening or

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already long done.

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Avery: Cosmology never gets old.

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And on that beautifully mind bending note,

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it's time to wrap up today's show.

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Anna: That's Astronomy Daily for Wednesday, 25

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June 2026. We're season five,

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episode 123 and we are so glad

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you're here.

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Avery: You'll find today's show notes, source links,

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and our blog post over at astronomydaily

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IO. You can also follow us on social media.

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We're astrodaily, pod across x,

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Instagram, TikTok, and Tumblr.

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Anna: If you're enjoying the show, please take a

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moment to leave us a review. Wherever you

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listen, it genuinely helps new listeners find

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us. And we read every single one.

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Avery: Until tomorrow. Keep looking up.

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Anna: Clear skies everyone.

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Mhm.

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The.

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Story.