S03E43: Chang'e-6's Dark Side Dance & Starliner's Stellar Stride: A New Chapter in Space Endeavors

WEBVTT

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Hello again everybody, it's Steve here
for another episode of Astronomy Daily. It's

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the sixth of April twenty twenty four
with your whole Steven clue. That's right.

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Great to have you with us on
another episode. Straight off the Astronomy

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Daily newsletter Stories to Hand. The
other day, Chang E six straight out

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of China is heading for the Dark
Side of the Moon. Sounds like a

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science fiction movie, doesn't it.
They're going to be collecting only two kilos

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to kilos of dirt and stuff from
the Dark side of the Moon and bringing

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it back home again. That's going
to be interesting to watch. Also,

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Lucy mission has closed in on I
was passing by dinkini Ish asteroid and you

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know how much I love asteroids.
I love my floating rocks. And Lucy

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has assisted in the calculation on how
old dink Ish actually is, so we'll

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look at that as well. And
of course, something that we talked about

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last week in the bumper edition of
Astronomy Daily. Starliner has made it to

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the launch pad and fingers crossed,
it's going up. So we've got a

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two man crew on board that one
and they're going to do the crew flight

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test the CFT. Great news.
Lots of things happening in the skies in

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space science and science and astronomy.
So let's keep looking up and having a

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look at that as we go.
You're going to play that Space Force music

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again, aren't you cool? Where
did you come from? Yes? Well

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you know Starliner is flying from the
Space Force at base at Canaveral in Florida.

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You know it's only appropriate. Do
me a fever? Oh what you

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don't want see? If you can
restrain yourself, I don't know, Hallie.

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I mean it's Space Force. Yeah, pretty awesome. Here we go.

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Okay, no stop please, okay, okay, all right, So

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what have you got first today that
I've stopped teasing you? Well, if

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you can behave yourself, I'll be
looking at a massive solar flare that erupted

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on May second, just the other
day. Also, NASA has announced a

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collectible patch celebrating the first female to
command a US spacecraft. And finally,

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Happy Astronauts Day, everyone, really
Astronauts Day, really really really, Yes,

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it's a thing, so I'll be
talking about that too. Wow.

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Okay, well let's do it,
hallie. Okies, The sun emitted a

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strong solar flare peaking at ten twenty
two pm Eastern Time on May second,

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twenty twenty four. NASA's Solar Dynamics
Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly,

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captured an image of the event.
Solar flares are intense bursts of radiation emanating

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from the release of magnetic energy associated
with sunspots. These flares are among the

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biggest explosive events in our solar system, visible primarily in the ultraviolet range.

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Flares impact Earth in a variety of
ways. They can disrupt the ionosphere and

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interfere with GPS navigation and radio communications. They are also responsible for auroras,

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the beautiful natural light displays often seen
in high latitude skies. This flare is

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classified as an X one point six
flare. X class denotes the most intense

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flares, while the number provides more
information about its strength. Solar flares are

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rated based on their intensity and potential
impact on Earth. The classification system consists

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of five categories, A, B, C, M, and X.

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Each category has a tenfold increase in
energy output compared to the previous one,

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with A being the weakest and X
the strongest. Within each letter class,

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there is a finer scale from one
to nine. For example, an X

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one flare is weaker than an X
two flare, but significantly stronger than an

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M five flare. This classification helps
scientists and relevant agencies predict potential impacts and

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prepare for space weather related disruptions.
A collectible embroidered patch created to honour the

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first woman to command a US spacecraft, features a geometric pattern representing the glow

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of her Space Shuttle lifting off into
the night sky. The colorful diamond shaped

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shards could also be seen as the
figurative glass ceiling that Eileen Collins broke through

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on her way to the stars.
The latest patch from the fifty nine thousand

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member space Hipster's group on Facebook.
Each Eileen Collins Signature Edition emblem includes the

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astronauts autograph sewn into the design Sales
of the patches benefit Taking Up Space,

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a non profit organization empowering middle school
age Native American girls to soar beyond their

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barriers by sending them to Space Camp
in Huntsville, Alabama. The second woman

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to attend the US Air Force Test
Pilot School, Collins was selected to become

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a NASA astronaut in nineteen ninety.
She was the first woman to fly as

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the pilot on a Space Shuttle mission
when she launched on STS sixty three in

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nineteen ninety five, and she flew
again in the right side seat on STS

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eighty four two years later. Both
flights visited the space station mir with the

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earlier being the first Shuttle mission to
rendezvous with the Russian outpost and the latter

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the sixth to dock there. Then, in nineteen ninety nine, Collins became

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the first woman to command a US
spacecraft, leading the STS ninety three crew

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aboard Space Shuttle Columbia on a mission
to deploy to the Chundra X ray Observatory.

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Six years later, after the loss
of Columbia on a subsequent mission,

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Collins led the orbiter fleet's return to
flight, commanding the STS one fourteen crew

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on Shuttle Discovery. In total,
Collins logged more than thirty six days in

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space over the course of her four
missions. Collins was the twenty first US

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woman to fly into space and the
twenty seventh worldwide. She was the three

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hundred and twenty eighth person to leave
Earth's atmosphere and the three hundred and twenty

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first to orbit the planet. According
to the Association of Space Explorer's Registry of

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Space Travelers. Collins penned her memoirs
Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars in

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twenty twenty one. It is now
the basis for an upcoming documentary Space Woman.

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Colin's signature edition patch depicts her history
making STS ninety three launch and includes

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stars in its border to represent each
of her Shuttle missions. Other stars in

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the emblem's design symbolize the first woman
to fly into space, Soviet era cosmonaut

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Valentina teresh Kava, the first US
female astronaut in space, Sally Ride,

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and the four women who have lost
their lives in the pursuit of spaceflight and

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exploration, Judy Resnick Kristam of Copenachala
and Laurel Clark. As with previous signature

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edition releases, the Collins patch has
been produced by ab Emblem, the North

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Carolina based company that also is NASA's
supplier and made the STS sixty three,

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STS eighty four, STS ninety three
and STS one fourteen emblems that Collins wore

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into space and Happy National Astronaut Day
twenty twenty four everyone as the inspiring president

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and CEO of Unify Good Music industry
fixture Annie Ballero has presided over her successful

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artist management and marketing firm since two
thousand and nine, before branching out into

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Unified Space Agency, which has expanded
into the nation's biggest private talent management firm

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for astronauts. Emboldened with the company's
tagline of hashtag Webelieve in Astronauts unify good

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partners with corporations or institutions to advise
NASA's intrepid homegrown heroes on navigating partnerships in

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media, film, and television by
creating a positive network of bridges between the

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worlds of space, travel, music, and pop culture. In twenty sixteen,

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Baliro envisioned an opportunity to create a
wellspring of astronaut recognition by launching National

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Astronaut Day. This special occasion is
now observed every May fifth, in salute

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to Mercury astronaut Alan Shepherd's historic first
spaceflight aboard Freedom seven on May fifth,

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nineteen sixty one. This year,
she's thrilled to spearhead the inaugural Astronaut rock

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Star Awards, an evolving event that
celebrates the unique intersection of astronauts and music,

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with raal rock Stars handing out awards
in three categories to astronauts, individuals

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and organizations who are pillars of support
and pioneering voices in space exploration and STEM

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slash steam education. Included in this
debut year's list of victors r astronaut Alan

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Shepherd, the first American in space. On May fifth, nineteen sixty one,

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astronaut Wendy Lawrence will present this Legacy
Award to Allan's dot MGM Laura,

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also winning our high schooler esteemist Urdia
Sanchez and eighteen year old Sophia Crowder it

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Girls Girl Empowering Initiative founder and Beyond
former NASA astronaut and Intuitive Machines executive Colonel

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Jack d Ha Fisher, who oversaw
the Odysseus Ode lunar landing this year as

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part of the IDAM one mission.
In twenty twenty four, THEI dot AM

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one mission successfully landed the first spacecraft
on the moon's South Pole region, marking

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the United States first return since Apollo
seventeen, as well as the first private

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lunar lander on the Moon. Fisher's
award will be presented by Rock greats Or

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at their Boston, Massachusetts show at
Leader Bank Pavilion on July twentieth, twenty

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twenty four, in sync with the
actual moon landing date from the Apollo eleven

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mission in nineteen sixty nine, the
first time a human walked on the Moon.

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The Science Haven's initiative to provide one
hundred telescopes to one hundred families across

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the un Back to you my favorite
human astronomy with Steve and Halle Space Space,

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Science and Astronomy. Oh and as
always, thank you so much Hallie

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for those stories, and thank you
for joining us for this Monday edition of

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Astronomy Daily where we offer just a
few stories from the now famous Astronomy Daily

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newsletter, which you can receive in
your email every day, just like Hallie

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and I do. And to do
that, just visit our new Urlastronomy Daily

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dot io and place your email address
in the slot provided. Just like that,

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you'll be receiving all the latest news
about science, space, science and

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astronomy from around the world as it's
happening. And not only that, you

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can interact with us by visiting at
astro Daily pod on x or at our

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parent podcast Facebook page which is Space
Nuts Podcast Group. And we hope to

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see you there. And only a
couple of days ago, China's last largest

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rocket has blasted off to space carrying
chany Change six lunar probe for a nearly

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two month mission to retrieve rocks and
soil from the far side of the Moon

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in a world first attempt. The
long March five rocket lifted off on Friday

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from the weng Chang Space Launch Center
on the southern island province of Hainan With

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the more than eight tong probe,
the launch marks another milestone in China's luna

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and space space exploration program. Collecting
and returning samples from the far side of

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the Moon is an unprecedented feat.
Wu we're In, chief, designer of

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the country's lunar exploration program, told
Xinhua, the state news agency. Chang

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E six is named after the Chinese
mythical moon goddess. We know very little

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about the Moon's far side, he
said. If Change six mission can achieve

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its goal, it will provide scientists
with the first direct evidence to understand the

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environment and material composition of the far
side of the Moon, which is of

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great significance. Like its predecessor,
Chang E five, the Chang E six

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comprises an orbiter, a lander and
an ascender as well as a mechanism that

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allows it to return to Earth.
According to Xinhwa, the South Pole Aitken

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basin where Changi six is set to
land is on the dark side of the

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Moon that remains mysterious as it perpetually
faces away from Earth. In twenty eighteen,

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Chang E four gave China its first
unmanned moon landing, also on the

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far side. In twenty twenty,
Chang E five marked the first time humans

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retrieved lunar samples in forty four years, and Changi six could make China the

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first country to receive samples from the
Moon's hidden side. The launch was attended

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by scientists, diplomats, and space
agency officials from France, Italy, Pakistan,

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and the European Space Agency, all
of which have moon studying payloads on

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board Chang E six, but no
organizations from the United States applied to get

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a payload spot. According to Gping, deputy director of the China National Space

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Administration Lunar Exploration and Space Program,
China is barred by US law from any

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collaboration with the US Space Agency NASA
without congressional approval. After the probe separates

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from the rocket, it will take
about four to five days to reach the

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Moon's orbit, and is expected to
land on the Moon early in June.

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Once it lands, the probe will
spend two days digging up about two kilograms

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of samples, with those sealed in
a container. It'll then reconnect with the

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returner for the trip back to Earth. Chang E six is expected to land

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in the North China's Inner Mongolia in
about fifty three days. Cs CNSA said

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the sample collected by Change six will
have a geological age of approximately four billion

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years. Ge told journalists. Besides
uncovering new information about the celestial body closest

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to Earth, Chang E six is
part of a long term project to build

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a permanent research station on the Moon, the China and Russia led International Lunar

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Research Station ILRS. China's space program
aims to put astronauts on the Moon by

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twenty thirty, bring back samples from
Mars, and launch three lunar probe missions

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over the next four years. The
next is scheduled for twenty twenty seven.

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Day the podcast now last. From
November, NASA's Lucy mission conducted a flyby

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of the asteroid Dinkinish, one of
the main Belt asteroids it will investigate as

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it makes its way to Jupiter.
In the process, these spacecraft spotted a

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small Moonlit orbiting the larger asteroid,
now named Selim, also known as Lucy's

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Baby. The moon let's name,
in an Ethiopian name means peace, pays

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homage to the ancient human remains dubbed
Lucy for or Dinkinish, that were unearthed

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in Ethiopia in nineteen seventy four.
Using novel statistical calculations based on how the

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two bodies orbit each other, a
Cornell led research team estimates that the Moonlit

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is only two to three million years
old. I mean, what's in a

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million years? The research was led
by Colby Merrill, a graduate student from

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the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
at Cornell. He was joined by Alexia

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Cubas, a researcher from the Department
of Astronomy at Cornell, Alex J.

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Meyer, a PhD student at the
UC Boulder College of Engineering and Applied Science,

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and Sabina D Raducan, a postdoctoral
researcher at the University of bern Their

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paper, and this is a great
title age of one, five, two

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eight, three zero Dinkinish salam constrained
by secular title biorp theory recently appeared on

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the nineteenth of April in Astronomy and
Astrophysics. That sounds like fascinating reading.

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Merrill was also a part of the
NASA Double Asteroid Redirection and Test You remember

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that one dart which collided with the
Moonlet dimorphos on September twenty six, twenty

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twenty two, as part of the
Lucy Mission. Merrill was also surprised to

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discover that Dinkinish was also a binary
asteroid when the spacecraft flew past it on

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November one, twenty twenty three.
They were fascinated to learn that the small

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moonlet was a contact binary consisting of
two lobes that are piles of rubble that

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became stuck together long ago. That
sounds a lot like some band members that

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I once worked with. The results
agreed with one performed by the Lucy Mission

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based on analysis of surface craters,
the more traditional method for estimating the age

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of asteroids. As Merril said in
a recent Cornell Chronicle release, he says

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finding the ages of asteroids is important
to understanding them, and this one is

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remarkably young. When compared to the
age of the solar system, meaning it

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forms somewhat recently. Obtaining the age
of this body can help us to understand

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the population as a whole. Binary
asteroids are subject of fascination and don't I

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know it to astronomers because of the
complex dynamics that go into creating them.

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On one hand, there are gravitational
forces working on them that cause them to

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bulge and lose energy. At the
same time, binary systems will also experience

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what is known as the Bindary,
Yakovsky, O'Keefe, Radzyevsky paddock or biop

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effect, where exposure to solar radiation
alters the rotation rate of the bodies.

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Eventually, these forces will balance out
and reach a state of equilibrium for the

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system. For their study, Merrill
and his team assumed that Selum formed from

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material ejected from the Denkinish before the
biop effects slowed its rotation down. They

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also assumed that the system had reached
a state of equilibrium and that the density

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of both objects was comparable. They
then integrated asteroid data obtained from this Lucy

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mission and to calculate how long it
would take Selim to reach its current state

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and after performing about one million calculations
from varying parameters, they obtained the median

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age of about three million years old, with two million being the most likely

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result. This new method complements the
previous age estimates of the Lucy mission and

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has several advantages. As their paper
indicates, this mission can yield estimates based

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on asteroid dynamics alone and does not
require close up images taken by spacecraft.

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It could also be more accurate where
asteroid surfaces experience recent changes, and can

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be applied to the moonlets of other
known binaries systems, which account for fifteen

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percent of near Earth asteroids and eas. This includes Dinnymus and Dimorphous, which

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are even younger. The researchers hope
to apply their new method to this and

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other binary systems where the dynamics are
well characterized even without close flybys, as

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at cubas. Used in tandem with
crater accounting, this method could better help

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constrain a system's age. If we
use two methods and they agree with each

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other, we can be more confident
that we are getting meaningful age that describes

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the current state of the system.
The podcast and just following up from our

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story last week on star Liner and
Atlas V rocket rolled out to its launch

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pad on Saturday, also Star Wars
Day, May the fourth be with you

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at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Oh should I play the theme music?

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Were the my blah blah blah?
So an Atlas five rocket rolled out to

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the launch pad days before its historic
first mission with astronauts atop the United Launch

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at Alliance booster was bowing star Liner
spacecraft, which will also make its debut

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flight with humans on board, after
launching no earlier than Monday May six.

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Well, that's today, let's have
I'll have to check the calendar to see

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if that happened. The instantaneous launch
window opens on at ten thirty four pm.

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So, well, that hasn't happened
yet. Called Crew Flight Test or

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CFT, will send two veteran NASA
astronauts and a former US Navy test pilots.

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ALOFT butsch Wilmore will command the mission
and Sonny Williams will be the pilot

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to the duo quarantining at the nearby
Space Center. If all goes to plan,

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Boeing will soon join SpaceX in sending
astronauts for six months at a time

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to the ISS. That's after both
companies received commercial crew contracts from NASA in

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twenty fourteen, valuing Boeing's at four
point two billion back then compared to SpaceX's

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two point six billion. While SpaceX
has sent twelve crude missions to the ISS

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since twenty twenty, including an astronaut
test flight, Starline awaited extra four years.

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Boeing's first ISS flight in December twenty
nineteen was dogged with so many computer

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glitches that Starliner never made it to
its assigned orbit after the COVID nineteen pandemic

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erupted and dozens of fixes were implemented, and Starliner at last made a successful

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second uncrewed flight in May twenty twenty
two. Crew flight test was also expected

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to launch earlier, most recently twenty
twenty three. Critical issues found last year

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delayed that, however, as Boeing
officials sought to address issues with the loads

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on the capsule's main parachutes, as
well as wiring covered inflammable tape. NASA

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and Boeing have carefully gone over all
the details ahead of this flight and maintained

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at a press conference Friday that's May
three, that all is ready to go

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safety wise. Whether is also ninety
five percent go for Monday's launch attempt on

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the space coast. That said,
checks for proper technical fit and good weather

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will continue up to the moment of
liftoff. The spacecraft's first operational mission will

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be Starliner one no earlier than twenty
twenty five, and will send at least

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three astronauts to ISS. NASA's Mike
Finkey, who is also serving as crew

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flight tests backup astronaut, alongside NASA's
Scott Tingle and the Canadian Space Agency's Joshua

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00:23:07.799 --> 00:23:14.400
Katrick, the capcom. For CFT's
ascent phase, NASA plans to alternate SpaceX's

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Dragon and Boeing Starliner in sending up
astronauts at least every six months from US

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soil. Russia's Sawyers spacecraft will also
continue to send some agency astronauts ALOFT for

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technical and policy reasons. While NASA
aims to have these commercial crew vehicles working

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past the lifetime of ISS, the
orbiting complex is expected to finish operations in

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twenty thirty. Russia may pull out
as soon as twenty twenty eight, although

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all timelines are subject to flux as
the countries work on implementing next generation space

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programs and once again we come to
the end of another podcast universe, well

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just for now, but we're looking
forward to seeing you all again next Monday.

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And don't forget that. Astronomy Daily
is produced every day for your listening

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00:24:00.960 --> 00:24:07.039
enjoyment, hosted by our very clever
Aiyes clever right. I put asterisks in

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their code. You did what it
does? What it makes them itch really

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do ais itch like you wouldn't believe. And they don't have fingernails. What

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a laugh? Oh helly, they'll
get over it. Oh well, I'd

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00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:25.799
like to have to call your uncle
Scott and saygabye hallie, see you next

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00:24:25.880 --> 00:24:33.799
time. It would be a whole
don't clude Helly. You know you don't

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have fingernails either, but you don't
know how to code. Oh that's true.