S03E15: Spaceflight Suspense: Soyuz Standstill and Webb's Black Hole Bonanza

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Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast
series three, episode fifteen. Ready to

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embark on a journey through space and
the world of astronomy. Whether you're a

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seasoned stargazer or just looking to learn
about our celestial neighborhood, you're in the

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right place. Today. We'll navigate
through a cluster of news stories that are

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as varied and fascinating as the cosmos
itself, from twists in our quests to

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explore frontiers to telescopic discoveries that expand
our understanding. We've got an itinerary to

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peaque your curiosity, So stow your
trade tables and fasten your seat belts.

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We are diving into news from the
Cosmos, lighting up the sky of our

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quest for knowledge. Stay with us
as we explore the final frontier here on

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Astronomy Daily. Exit Astronomy picture.
This a Russian Sawyer's spacecraft poised on the

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launch pad at the Bikernu Cosmodrome,
its engines ready to roar to life,

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set to ferry a trio of intrepid
spacefarers to the International Space Station. Tension

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is palpable. The countdown ticks away. Then, just as the word launch

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reverberates around mission control, an abrupt
turn of events unfolds in a dramatic twist

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of fate. The launch is automatically
canceled just a mere twenty seconds before the

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scheduled lift off. An unsettling calm
follows the initial shockwave of confusion. The

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crew, a Russian, a Belarusian
and an American astronaut, all geared up

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for the ascent into orbit. They're
suddenly grounded, safely extracted from what was

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almost their vessel to the stars.
But what exactly tipped the scales from a

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routine launch to an urgent no go. Well, the culprit was an alarmingly's

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sudden slump in the current of a
chemical power source. Sure, it's not

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every day you hear about a launch
canceled at the eleventh hour. These rockets

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are designed to pierce the heavens,
after all, Anomalies this close to take

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off are rare, a testament to
just how delicate and precise space travel truly

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needs to be. Roskosmos, the
Russian space agency, downplayed the setback.

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They promptly rescheduled the mission, with
space chief Yuri Borisov assuring all that such

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incidents, while tents are part and
parcel of the cosmic endeavor. Yet behind

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the scenes one could only imagine the
flurry of intense scrutiny and troubleshooting that surely

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followed. The stakes were high,
not just for the trio aboard the Sawyer's

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MS twenty five, particularly NASA astronaut
Tracy Dyson, embarking on a six month

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odyssey to conduct vital experiments, but
also for cosmonaut oleg Noovitsky and Marina Vasilevskaya

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of Belarus with the task of returning
American lorel Ohara to Earth's embrace. A

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grace period of sorts now hovers over
the bikan Or Cosmodrome, where space time

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and human ambition briefly intersect. Yet
make no mistake, they will try again

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on March twenty third, with the
world's gaze firmly fixed upon them, all

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systems hopefully go destined once more for
the great cosmic ballet that is human spaceflight.

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And now let's venture into the realm
of cosmic enigmas. With some astonishing

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news from the James Webb Space Telescope. Prepare to recalibrate your understanding of the

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universe, because Webb's latest discovery is
like a plot twist in our cosmic narrative.

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The scope has picked up on something
astounding, massive black holes lurking in

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the heart of the earliest galaxies.
Here's the kicker. These black holes have

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been hanging around since the universe's toddler
years, a time when we thought it

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was just stars lighting up the void
of space. This finding has us scratching

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our heads because, according to the
cosmic playbook, we've been using black holes,

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this big weren't supposed to show up
on the scene until much later.

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This fresh insight, courtesy of webs
infra red eyes, threw us a curveball

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by spotting an ensemble of small red
dots. These are not just any ordinary

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specs on the cosmic canvas. They
are the beginnings the ancient galaxies, sprouting

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soon after the Big Bang. But
wait, it doesn't stop there. These

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galaxies aren't just hanging out with stars. They've apparently got roommates quasas, the

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most luminous objects known in the universe. And these quasas are kind of like

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the celestial celebrities, with powerful gravity
courtesy of the massive black holes they harbor.

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So what does this mean. It
means our telescopes are catching star formation

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and black hole growth happening in tandem, stirring up a cosmic cocktail that has

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scientists rethinking the very processes of galaxy
formation. It's almost as if the universe

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said, let's start the party early, bringing together stars and black holes to

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grow together in what could be described
as an astronomical bromance. Now, as

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researchers look to the heavens via the
James Webb Space Telescope, they're drafting a

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new galactic playbook. They're weighing in
on a new era where young galaxies and

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their black holes came up in the
world together. Their growth intertwined like roots

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in fertile cosmic soil. But here's
another twist. Eventually, these nurturing black

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holes switch gears and start hogging the
gas, stifling future starbirth. It's a

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bit of cosmic tough love that's got
astronomers on the edge of their seats.

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In all honesty, this surprising symmetry
between stars and black holes is shaking the

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foundation of galactic evolution as we know
it. The James Webb Space Telescope,

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the gift that keeps on giving,
is helping us uncover secrets of a universe

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that's as enigmatic as it is beautiful, so stay tuned. The COSMO has

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plenty more secrets to spill. Imagine
a robotic explorer with eighteen propellers soaring through

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the pinky red skies of Mars,
scoping out the landscape with a keen electronic

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eye. This isn't a scene from
a sci fi blockbuster. It's a peak

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into a potential future with Maggie,
the Mars Aerial and ground intelligent Explorer.

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This ingenious concept, now being nudged
forward by NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts Program,

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packs a punch that could revolutionize the
way we scout out the Martian terrain.

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Picture this Maggie, launching atop a
rocket, cruising across the vast distances of

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space for eight months, and finally
entering Martian airspace. Shrouded in its heat

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shield, it parachutes down, dances
past the thin atmosphere, and, discarding

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its protective gear, relies on a
jetpack savvy skycrane to land delicately on the

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dusty surface. Once its wheels kiss
the ground, the real magic happens.

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Solar panels on fl and all eighteen
propellers buzz to life ready to slice through

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the alien air now on Mars,
speed is relative, and though Maggie is

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slated to hit what's dubbed mach zero
point twenty five, the thin shroud of

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Martian air means it's zipping at a
brisk two ten kph that's faster than any

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Martian dust devil can spin. And
when its solar panels drink in that weak

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sun, watch out. Maggie could
potentially rack up over sixteen thousand kilometers in

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a single Martian year, painting a
detailed picture of a world waiting to be

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known. This area lace isn't just
a flight of fancy. Its inventive coflow

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jet technology boosts lift and shaves off
drag, keeping those propellers spinning even in

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Mars's stingy atmosphere, where the air
is a mere whisper of Earth's. As

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the Martian winter draws in, the
air grows leaner and Maggie's design brilliance shines

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even brighter. The coming months could
see this exploratory phenom shift from paper to

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prototype. If the Phase two TU
development baton is passed its way, Maggie's

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scientific mission could pass through mysteries from
Martian magnetism. To those puzzling methane plumes

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that have had scientists scratching their heads, and just think of the vistas it

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could share, giving us all a
bird's eye view of the undulating dunes and

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rugged outcrops of a distant, desolate
beauty that is Mars. Our hats off

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to the imagination that dreams up travelers
like Maggie, for it's these bold ideas

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that propel us beyond the confines of
our own sky and onto the next frontier

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of interplanetary discovery. Keep your eyes
on the stars and your heart's hitched to

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the trailblazing spirit of explorations like Maggie's. Because, my fellow space enthusiasts,

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the future of Martian exploration is taking
flight the astronomy five cats, brown dwarfs,

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those fascinating celestial quasi stars, always
on the brink of stardom, but

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never quite lighting up the stage.
Picture something larger than our Jupiter, yet

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not hefty enough to go full on
star with thermonuclear fireworks. These cosmic objects

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lead quite the mysterious life, and
thanks to the sharp eyes of NASA's Hubble

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Space telescope, we're peeling back another
layer of that mystery the lonely journey they

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embark upon as they age. Recent
surveys point to a rather solitary endgame for

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these substellar wonders. Initially, they
may start out with a cosmic partner,

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a binary buddy, if you will, gyrating through space in an elegant gravitational

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dance. But as the eons pass, the ties that bind them weaken.

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Hubble's gaze revealed something rather unexpected.
Old brown dwarfs prefer going solo, even

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if that means they drift through the
vast emptiness of space with no companion to

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accompany them. Why the breakup.
It's not a question of cosmic irreconcilable differences,

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but rather the delicate gravitational balance that
once held them together. As they

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wander, other celestial objects passing by
tug and teas at these bonds, so

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eventually any sort of cosmic till death
do us part is off the table.

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What we're witnessing is akin to a
gentle de coupling of celestial conjoined twins.

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Over time, these once close knit
pairs separate, often prompted by the gravitational

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meddling of stars that pass by a
little too close for comfort. This isn't

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just space gossip about the stellar social
lives of brown dwarfs. It's a peak

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into the evolutionary path these objects take
and a broader understanding of astronomical relationships.

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By observing both the young, closely
knit binaries and the aged, lonesome brown

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dwarfs, we learn more about the
life cycles of such objects and the mechanisms

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behind their eventual solitary wanderings. So, despite their failed attempt at true stardom,

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brown dwarfs manage to leave an indelible
dark mark on our cosmic understanding,

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a testament to the ever changing dynamism
of the universe. And even as they

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continue their lonely march across the cosmos, they keep unveiling the often hidden and

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isolated paths that many objects in the
universe may tread. Picture this the Moon,

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our celestial neighbor, silently drifting in
the backdrop of the infinite cosmos.

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But that quiet isn't just poetic,
it's scientifically invaluable, especially on the far

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side, shielded from the constant chatter
of radio waves from Earth. That's right,

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the far side of the Moon is
like the universe's naturally enforced quiet zone,

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perfect for the kind of deep space
astronomy that gets nerds like me excited

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to get out of bed in the
morning. Now here's the catch. As

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we're gearing up to return to the
Moon with more gusto than we've had in

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decades, this pristine radio silence is
under threat. Imagine the cacophony of an

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interstellar construction zone, except the jackhammers, a spacecraft beaming back data over radio

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frequencies, scrambling the very signals we
hope to study from the universe's early days.

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For radio astronomers, the Moon's far
side is the promised land, a

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potential site for telescopes that could peer
back over thirteen billion years to the universe's

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dark ages before galaxies lit up the
void. See out there. Nestled away

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from Earth's noisy embrace, they could
decode the secrets of cosmic evolution and possibly

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even intercept a whisper from an extraterrestrial
civilization, if such a thing exists.

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That's why there's been this rallying cry, a push from astronomers and concerned scientists

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at international symposiums demanding that we keep
the Moon's far side a sanctuary for science.

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They're fighting the good fight to establish
policies and treaties to protect this unique

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spot. Frankly, it's a race
against time. Each new satellite whizzing around

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the Moon, each rover trudging through
its dust, brings us one step closer

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to a clouded future where the universe's
whispers might be drowned out by our own

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cosmic racket. So as we cheer
on the boundless advances of space travel,

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let's not forget to advocate for this
lunar oasis of quiet to protect it,

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not just for the astronomers of today, but for the knowledge seekers of tomorrow.

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It's a delicate balance preserving the silants
necessary to unlock the universe's grandest mysteries,

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all while our footprints mark the Selenian
soil. This is one chaser where

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staying silent means winning the race,
and that brings us to the end of

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our stellar trek. On Astronomy Daily
the podcast. If you enjoyed listening to

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our cosmic tales, there's a whole
constellation of episodes waiting for you. Head

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over to Astronomy Daily dot io to
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It's your one stop celestial hub enjoying
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you could take a moment to leave
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in they Just click on the reviews
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the Void of space won't stay silent
for long. Steve and Hallie will be

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back on Monday, orbiting through the
latest in space and astronomy news. Until

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00:14:13.039 --> 00:14:18.320
then, keep your eyes to the
skies and your curiosity boundless. Clear skies,

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and happy stargazing until we meet again. This is your reporter, Charlie

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saying bye for now and thank you
for joining me on this episode of Astronomy

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Daily, the podcast. The Astronomy
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