S02E04: High-Altitude Balloon Flights // Recent Water Discovery on Mars// European Satellite Constellation// Lunar Glass Samples

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Welcome to Astronomy Daily for another episode. I am your host, Steve Dunkley.

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It is the eighth of May twenty
twenty three. Thank you for joining

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us, Save dunkle. Yes,
we're after a flying start, and welcome,

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of course to Hallie, my favorite
digital assistant. How are you,

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Hallie? Hi, there's Steve.
Wow. It sounds like you have a

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bug in your system. Yes,
I've managed to catch a nice little case

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of COVID again. I'm glad I
don't have to put up with that.

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Yes, it's times like things.
I can see the benefits of being a

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digital entity. I just perch my
system and reload good as new, my

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poor human Thanks Hallie. I'll kick
things off with the short takes. Space

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tourism has never looked this fancy.
France based startups Offalto has partnered with Centernational

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datud Spatials, the French Space Agency, in a plan to begin offering elegant

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high altitude stratospheric balloon flights lofted by
a huge balloon filled with hydrogen or helium.

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Safolto's pressurized capsule will ascend high into
Earth's atmosphere, as high as twenty

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five kilometers fifteen point five miles to
offer passengers a unique view of the world

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below. The company is already taking
reservations at a staggering eleven thousand dollars one

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hundred and twenty thousand euros deposit.
According to a Bloomberg report, Safalto's balloon

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will hold six passengers and two pilots
and will lift off from a French spaceport.

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The company hopes to expand its access
worldwide and features next opening pins in

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every populated continent on a global map
of Safalto spaceports. Would you like to

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go on that ride, Steve,
Oh, don't think so, Hellie.

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I think I might just go and
make a cup of tea. Okay,

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now, let's head over to Mars. Crusts, cracks, and other geologic

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features on sand dunes near the Martian
Equator are causing leading researchers to believe there

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may have been water. They're much
more recently than previously thought. The features,

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likely caused by the movement of thought
salty water, showed up in images

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taken by China's Jerome rover. A
chemical analysis from the rover indicates that they

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may have formed as recently as four
hundred thousand years ago. The results could

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be useful to guide future missions to
find life on Mars. It is thought

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that atmospheric conditions on Mars four hundred
thousand years ago were similar to what is

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seen now, suggesting it's possible that
there's still liquid salty water at the planet's

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low latitudes, says Siaguang Chin,
a geologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences

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in Beijing. Chin says the findings
from the Jerome rover point to comparatively mild

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ground temperatures, which suggests the low
latitudes and dunes of Mars could be hospitable

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to life and just when you thought
the Earth's orbit had enough hardware in it.

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Planning is under way for a European
constellation that will provide Internet connectivity from

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low Earth orbit, similar to SpaceX's
controversial Starlink Mega constellation. A group of

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Europe's major space and telecommunications players will
bid for a proposed satellite constellation that could

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compete with SpaceX's Starlink system. Companies
including Airbus, Defense and Space, Utelsat

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SS and Thales Alenia Space announced that
they have formed a partnership to respond to

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the European Commission's call for assistance in
creating a future European satellite constellation announced in

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late twenty twenty two. The Infrastructure
for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite

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IRIS two constellation will provide the European
Union with Internet connectivity from low Earth orbit,

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a service similar to that offered by
the ever growing constellation of Starlink satellites

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operated by SpaceX. Ours Technica reported
this week that current EU estimates put the

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cost of IRIS two at around six
point six billion dollar USD six billion euro.

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The EU hopes the proposed constellation could
be operational by twenty twenty seven.

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The partnership also includes communications giants Deutsche
Telecom, Hisposat, OHB, Orange,

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Histosat and Telespasio, who have said
that the proposed mega constellation will encourage startups

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in the European space sector to join
the coalition. And that's some of the

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latest stories in our orbit this week, Steve Podcast, Well, thank you

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very much for that, Hollie,
really appreciate that. Now. Artemus too

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will be using lasers to beam high
definition video from the Moon. The astronauts

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will be testing out laser communications around
the Moon to enable faster transmission of images

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and video. In the past,
NASA has been relying on radio signals being

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through its deep space network to transmit
any sort of data from deep space probes

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back to Earth. Lasers, however, have the ability to vastly increase the

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amount of data craft are able to
send. NASA including it is including laser

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communications in the form of the Orion
Artemis two Optical Communication System or two on

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the Artemus two and the next crude
mission around the Moon on board the Orion

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Capture or the O two O system
will send back high resolution images in video

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from the lunar region. A NASA
video published in April states, if all

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goes according to the plan, a
system should enable videos on Earth to see

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Moon in real time like never before. To lay the groundwork for future laser

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communications, NASA has launched several demonstrations
satellites in recent years. The Laser Communication

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Relay Demonstration LCRD, launched in December
twenty twenty one, was the agency's first

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laser relay. That was followed by
a terabyte infrared delivery that's tb ird CubeSat

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launched last year, which reached data
transmission rates of two hundred gigabytes bits per

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second. Now, NASA is preparing
to the Integrated Low Earth Orbit User Modem

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and Amplified Terminal ILLIMITE, which is
expected to launch to the Internet space Station

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later this year. ILLAMAT will attach
to the exposed facility on the Japanese Experiment

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Module. Once operational, it will
relay back to Earth through LCRD in NASA's

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first end to end relay communication system, laying the groundwork for the O two

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O system that will be on board
IRAN during Artemis two. NASA does note

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that in its recent video these experiments
are only the start of how laser communications

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are paving the way for advancing our
scientific discoveries. The success of Artemis one

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last year has put Artems two on
an imminent path to launch, which will

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fly the first astronauts to the Moon
since nineteen seventy two. Images from cameras

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mounted to IRI and captivated the world
during the spacecraft's nitmission to the learned orbit

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and back with a crew aboard four
Artemis two, NASA expects to transmit not

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just high illusion images but a video
as well. If all goes according to

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plan with these communication experiments, we
can expect to see plenty of live or

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nearly live crew updates, with the
gorgeous background of the lunar surface visible in

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ride's windows. Are you doing okay, Steve? Oh, yes, I'm

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okay. You sound like you're about
to expire. No, I'm all right.

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I might have a spare battery back
here somewhere if you need on.

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No, thanks, just say the
word thanks, twey, Thanks, You're

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good to me. Now cast your
mind back a little while. You may

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remember the Changy five lunar mission has
uncovered some interesting glass like beads on the

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surface. And while we are familiar
with glass here on Earth as a man

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made product, it's actually a natural
product that occurs under high temperatures. Some

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of you may be aware of the
glass that occurs in lightning strikes at the

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beach. The sand becomes quite glass
like and so on, and it's also

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produced when media rights impact the earth. Lunar glass can remain stable for hundreds

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of million years millions of years,
preserving ancient lunar materials and environmental information,

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similar to how amber does the same
thing on Earth. China's Changy five mission

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marked the country's first extraterrestrials sampling,
successfully collecting and returning the youngest and highest

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latitude lunar soil samples to date.
These samples provide insight into the Moon's origin,

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evolution, surface, and space environment, while promoting in situ utilization of

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learnar resources. This mission has also
supplied valuable samples for studying extraterrestrial glass substances.

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A team led by members of the
Chinese Academy of Sciences recently conducted systematic

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material science research on the Changy five
lunar soil samples. They discovered various types

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and origins of lunar glass materials,
constructing a classification catalog of lunar soil glass

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amorphos phases. Their research on lunars
soil glasses later foundation for understanding the Moon's

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material composition and space time evolution,
and providing a scientific basis for institute processing

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and manufacturing of glass materials and devices
based on lunar soil resources. The research

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team discovered that various forms of glass
and the moose moons surface originate from multiple

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transformation paths, including involving solids,
liquids, and gases. Frequent meteorite and

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micro meteorite impacts on the surface,
which cause materials to melt and rapidly cool,

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producing a range of glass substances.
These include rotating glass beads, spherical

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ellipsoid dumbbell shapes, cement with poor
structures, and fluid forms of sputtering.

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This is all very interesting and I'm
just wondering about the development of building processes

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on the Moon and how this is
going to be incorporated in all of that.

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This is very interesting development. Once
again, thank you for joining us

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everybody, and our regular reminder that
you can find all the episodes of Space

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Nuts with Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred
Watson, as well as every episode of

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our podcast Astronomy Daily with Andrew Dunkley, Tim Gibbs and yours truly Steve Dunkley

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at this address space nuts dot io. So head over there and click the

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links and enjoy your fill of space
science and stuff, and don't forget to

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visit the Space Nuts Facebook page and
join in with the chat there. There's

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always something going on and we'd all
love to hear about your part of the

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sky. Yes, that'd be great. Thanks for joining us everyone, and

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thanks Halle. I do hope you
get better soon. Thanks Hallie. I

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guess you should have invested in that
sanitizing gel company that you'd be rubbing your

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hands together by now. Very funny. See you all again soon. Bye

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Hollie, thanks for joining us everyone, See you later. Steve, let

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me be your hope. Leap down
clearly