S02E01: SpaceX vs the Environment, Cosmic Radiation on Planes, and China's Lunar Exploration Plans

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Welcome to another episode of Astronomy Daily. I'm Steve Dunkley, your host for

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today. It is Tuesday, the
second of May twenty twenty three. In

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this episode, we'll be hearing a
little bit more about space X versus the

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environment, a telescope array searching for
extra terrestrial life, and three super earths

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discovered. Sir, let's begin with
your whole Steve Dunkley, and with me

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in the studio is my favorite digital
reporter, Hallie. How are you,

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Hallie? Hi? They're Steve.
It seems like forever since we've been together,

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well since I have a very different
perception of time from you humans,

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it really does seem like a thousand
years were lucky for me. You never

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forget anything. Oh, I could
never forget you, Steve. You know

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you're my favorite. Oh that's nice? Well, oh hang on, hang

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on your favorite favorite? What?
Oh? Nothing? Really? No?

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No, no, really, Helly
your favorite favorite? Walk on with the

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show, Steve really headlines here we
go. Have you ever wondered about the

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risks of cosmic radiation while flying on
a plane? Cosmic rays are high energy

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radiation that stems from space and the
Sun. THESS rays can pose a threat

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to air travel, especially for frequent
flyers and pilots who receive greater doses of

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radiation. However, a new study
has found that exposure levels very greatly depending

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on route, altitude, and solar
activity. Scientists from the University of Helsinki

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measured the cosmic radiation levels on board
several aircraft on various flights. They discovered

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that some flights exceeded the annual radiation
limit recommended for astronauts by NASA, while

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others were below average. The researchers
recommend that airlines provide their crews with radiation

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monitoring tools and ensure that passengers are
aware of the risks. However, they

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also noted that the risks from natural
cosmic radiation are relatively low, as the

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body can naturally repair any radiation damaged
cells. So the next time you board

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a plane and I hope Andrew is
listening, don't fret about cosmic radiation too

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much. But it's always good to
be informed about the potential risks of air

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travel. And it looks like SpaceX
has more trouble on the ground, but

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of a different kind. This time. Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against

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SpaceX and the federal Aviation Administration FAA
over the company's launch activities at its Texas

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facility. The lawsuit alleges that the
FAA violated federal law by granting SpaceX a

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launch license without conducting a thorough environmental
review of the potential impacts of its activities

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on the surrounding wildlife and natural habitat. The environmental groups claim that the launches

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disrupt the breeding, nesting, and
feeding patterns of many species of birds,

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including the endangered Applomato falcon. SpaceX
has countered that it has taken measures to

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minimize its impact on the environment,
and that it has complied with all applicable

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laws and regulations. The case is
currently ongoing in federal court. I sure

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hope that can work it out.
China has announced that they plan to send

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their astronauts, also known as taconnots, to explore the Moon with the hopes

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of landing someone on it by the
year twenty thirty. The ambitious plan involves

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multiple missions, starting with the launch
of their newest rocket, the Long March

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nine, in twenty twenty eight.
The Chinese National Space Administration has already sent

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suffer spacecraft to the Moon, including
the Change four spacecraft which made history by

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successfully landing on the far side of
the Moon in twenty nineteen. They plan

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to continue their exploration by launching the
Change five sample return mission later this year.

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The ultimate goal is to establish a
base on the Moon, which would

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serve as a research station and launching
point for further exploration. This base would

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potentially be constructed using resources found on
the Moon, such as water, ice,

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and regulith, which could also be
used to generate oxygen, water,

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and rocket fuel. China's lunar exploration
program is just one part of their larger

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space ambitions, which include plans for
a space station in Earth orbit and a

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mission to Mars in the twenty thirties. With their determination and resources, China

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is quickly becoming a major player in
the world of space exploration. And that's

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all the eatest news. Thank you
very much for that, Hallie. Have

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some very interesting things going on in
the world today. Space X is up

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to launching the biggest rocket ever made, the most powerful engines ever installed on

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a rocket. I can't wait to
see what they get up to. I

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hope they get over the environmental problems
that they are facing at the moment.

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That is part and parcel of brand
new research and development. That is what

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happens when you do new things.
Now, one of the world's most powerful

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radio telescope arrays is the Jansky Very
Large Array just outside of Sirocco, New

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Mexico, and it's collecting the kind
of data that only artificial transmitters make.

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That's the kind of signal that would
betray or give away the existence of an

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accomplished technological society. Now the VLA
is the go to instrument for radio astronomers,

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and it's the first time they're using
it for a wide ranging and continuous

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search for techno signatures, as they're
known. The VLA is one of the

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most productive radio telescopes in the world, consisting of twenty seven antennas spread over

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twenty three miles of desert real estate. And that's quite a slice of desert

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when you look at it. And
since twenty seventeen it has been engaged in

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a project known as VLAs Very Large
Array Sky Survey, a radio reconnaissance of

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eighty percent of the sky. But
while these observations being undertaken, a tap

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of the signal distribution network will shunt
a copy of the data into a special

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receiver sporting a very narrow channel approximately
one hurts wide. Researchers think that any

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signals from a deliberately constructed transmitter will
contain such a narrow band component, and

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their discovery would indicate that the signals
is not produced by nature, but by

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some kind of constructed transmitter by a
race of technologically advanced beings. The new

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process system for SETI is dubbed Cosmic. They love their acronyms, don't they.

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The commensal open sourced multimode Inferometer cluster
and is spearheaded by the SETI Institute

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in collaboration with the National Radio Astronomy
Observatory and Breakthrough Listen Initiative. Now,

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just to verify that the system actually
works, they've actually picked up signals from

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Voyager one spacecraft and confirmed that the
system actually does operate as directed. So

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now that they've got confirmation that it
all works, they can now put the

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system to work for good. When
combined with the incredible sensitivity of VLA,

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Cosmic will be approximately a thousand times
more comprehensive than any previous SETI search.

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Now. History has shown that major
improvements to sensitivity and range of explority experiments

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are often rewarded with the detection of
a signal. Won't that be exciting?

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Astronomers have discovered three new super earths
orbiting a nearby star, increasing the chances

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of finding habitable planets outside our Solar
system. The star, known as g

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J ten sixty one is located just
twelve light years away and has already been

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found to host a super Earth in
its habitable zone, the region around a

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star where the temperatures are just right
for liquid water to exist on a planet's

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surface. Now, using data from
the harp's North spectrograph at the Telescopi of

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Nationale Galileo in the Canary Islands,
astronomers have found three more planets orbiting the

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star. Two of the planets are
located closer to the star than the previous

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previously discovered super Earth, making them
too hot to support life as we know

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it. But the third star,
GJ ten sixty one D, is located

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further away from the star and may
be potentially habitable. GJ is ten sixty

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one D has a mass of about
four times that of Earth and orbits the

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star once every thirteen days. Its
surface temperature is estimated to be about five

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degrees celsius that's twenty three degrees fahrenheit
in the old language, assuming it has

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an earthlike atmosphere that's cold compared to
Earth's average temperature of about fifteen degrees celsius

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fifty nine degrees fahrenheit, but it's
within the range of where liquid water could

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exist. This planet is of great
interest because it's not only relatively small and

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cool, but it's also in the
habitable zone of its star, said lead

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author of the study Mark von Hussen
from University of Saint Andrew's. The discovery

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of GJ ten sixty one D is
exciting for astronomers because it brings us one

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step closer to finding potentially habitable world
outside our Solar system. The habitable zone

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around a star, as liquid water
could exist on a planet's surface a key

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factor in the search for terrestrial life. Since GJ sixty ten sixty one is

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a nearby star relatively speaking, as
well as being relatively bright, we may

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be able to determine the atmospheric composition
of this planet in the not too distant

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future, said co author of the
study Mario Domaso from the University Turin.

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The discovery of three new planets also
sheds light on the formation of super earths.

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Super Earths are planets with a mass
of higher higher than Earth's but lower

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than that of Neptune. There are
a common type of planet in our galaxy

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and a believed to be the most
likely candidates for habitable worlds. These planets

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are exciting because they offer the chance
to study the physical and chemical properties of

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rocky planets beyond our solar system,
said Vor Houston. The discovery of three

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new planets also highlights the importance of
continued investment in astronomical technology. The Harps

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North Spectrograph is highly sensitive instrument that
analyzes the light from stars to detect the

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slight wobble caused by a planet's gravitational
pall. It's one of several telescopes around

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the world dedicated to the search of
exoplanets. As we continue to explore the

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skies with ever more sensitive instruments,
will undoubtedly discover more of these intriguing worlds

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in the years to come, said
Tomaso. The discovery of three new super

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earths orbiting GJ ten sixty one is
a significant step forward in the search for

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habitable worlds beyond our own solar system, as astronomical technology continues to improve,

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we may eventually discover a truly earth
like planet somewhere among the stars. Until

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then, we'll keep searching and studying
the fascinating worlds that we have already discovered

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in our own celestial backyard. Oh
and that's all we have time for in

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this episode of Astronomy Daily. How
about that howling? Oh really, I

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don't believe it. Time flies when
you're having fun. Someone should tell Elon

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Musk that, Oh you think so? I wonder if he is still having

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fun trying to get that rocket to
fly. Good question, Halle. Once

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again, thank you for joining us
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as well as every episode of our
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Thanks again for joining us on Astronomy
Daily, See you all again soon,

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Bye Hollie, see you next time.