S02E20: Rocket Setbacks and Stellar Discoveries: Global Space Endeavors

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Hi everybody, and welcome to the
Astronomy Daily podcast for Friday, the fourteenth

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of July twenty and twenty three.
My name is Tim Gibson. I will

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be your host for today's podcast.
As usual, I have my AI assistant

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Halli in the studio with me today. Now, Hallie, do you have

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any interesting stories for us? Hi, Tim I do. Indeed, here

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are my top stories for today.
A Japanese rocket engine exploded during a test

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on Friday, an official said,
in the latest blow to the country's space

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agency. The Epsilon S, an
improved version of the Epsilon rocket that failed

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to launch in October, blew up
roughly fifty seconds after ignition. Science and

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Technology Ministry official now Ya Takagami told
AFP the testing site in the northern prefecture

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of Akita was engulfed in flames and
a huge plume of gray smoke rose into

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the sky. Footage from National broadcaster
and HK showed so far, we have

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received no reports of injuries from the
japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Jackson, which was

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investigating the cause of the explosion.
Takagami said. The malfunction comes after Tokyo

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in March saw its second attempt to
launch its next generation H three rocket fail

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after liftoff, and after the failed
launch of the solid fuel Epsilon in October.

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That was Japan's first failed launch in
nearly two decades and the only one

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for an Epsilon rocket, a model
that has flown five successful missions since its

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two thirteen debut. In both incidents, Jackson was forced to send self destruct

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orders to the rockets. The Epsilon
is smaller than the country's previous liquid fueled

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model and a successor to the solid
fuel am In five rocket that was retired

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in two thousand and six due to
its high cost. Jackson said in May

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that the cause of the failed launch
in October was a defect in pipes that

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carry fuel. Japan plans to launch
the Epsilon S rocket next year after a

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disheartening twenty nineteen moon landing failure.
India's lunar exploration effort will resume Friday with

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the planned launch of Chandrea in A
three, a sophisticated automated mission to touch

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down softly and demonstrate how its rover
can navigate the surface. Liftoff is planned

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for five oh five p m Eastern
daylight time from the satishdoan space station in

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Andhra province of Sariharakota, just above
Chennai on the southeast coast. However,

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if there is a delay, the
launch window extends to Wednesday. After that

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the launch attempt would have to be
put off until September. Officials said.

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To carry out its plan, the
Indian Space Research Organization will send a spacecraft

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Trio, a module that will sail
all the way to the Moon and enter

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orbit around it, a lander called
Vicrum to reach the surface, and Pragyon,

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a six wheeled mini rover that will
travel to explore a region near the

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lunar south Pole. The landing is
planned for August twenty third or twenty four,

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assuming no launch delay occurs. A
GSLVMK three rocket, India's most powerful

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and normally used to launch communication satellites, will be stretched to the limit of

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its abilities to lift the eight thousand, six hundred pound payload. Prageon will

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take two weeks or one lunar day
to roam around and measure the soil temperature

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using a thermal probe that it will
insert to a depth of four inches.

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Specifically, the probe will measure how
heat spreads from the upper surface going downward,

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The rover carries a mass spectrometer to
analyze soil composition and a seismograph to

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listen for mini moon quakes to provide
scientists with clues about the Moon's internal structure.

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Another instrument will analyze the effect of
subatomic particles from the Sun interacting with

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sand and dust. Astronomers at the
University of Sydney have shown that a small,

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faint star is the coldest on record
to produce emission at radio wavelength.

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The ultracool brown dwarf examined in the
study is a ball of gas simmering at

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about four hundred and twenty five degrees
centigrade, cooler than a typical campfire without

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burning nuclear fuel. By contrast,
the surface temperature of the Sun a nuclear

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inferno is about five thousand, six
hundred degrees. While not the coldest star

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ever found, it is the coolest
so far analyzed using radio astronomy. The

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findings are published in the Astrophysical Journal
Letters. Lead author and PhD student in

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the School of Physics, Covey Rows
said it's very rare to find ultracol brown

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dwarf stars like this producing radio emission. That's because their dynamics do not usually

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produce the magnetic fields that generate radio
emissions detectable from Earth. Finding this brown

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dwarf producing radio waves at such a
low temperature is a neat discovery. Deepening

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our knowledge of ultracol brown dwarfs like
this one will help us understand the evolution

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of stars, including how they generate
magnetic fields. How the internal dynamics of

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brown dwarfs sometimes produce radio waves is
something of an open question. While astronomers

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have a good idea how larger main
sequence of stars like the Sun generate magnetic

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fields and radio emissions, it is
still not fully known why fewer than ten

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percent of brown dwarf stars produce such
emission. The rapid rotation of ultracol dwarfs

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is thought to play a part in
generating their strong magnetic fields. When the

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magnetic field rotates at a different speed
to the dwarf'sionist atmosphere, it can create

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electrical current flows. In this instance, it is thought the radio waves are

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being produced by the inflow of electrons
to the magnetic polar region of the star,

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which, coupled with the rotation of
the brown dwarf star, is producing

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regularly repeating radio bursts. Thanks so
that Hallie and now a story which will

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be of particular interest to Australian listeners. The Australian government on Friday said it

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was acting a billion dollar plan to
develop a series of space satellites as it

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tries to cut costs amid an economic
slowdown and a cost of living crisis.

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The Australian one point two billion National
Space Mission for Earth Observation was unveiled just

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last year and hailed as a key
plan plank in developing an Australian space industry.

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The program's aim was to design,
build and operate four satellites to be

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launched between two thousand and twenty eight
and two thousand and thirty three to gather

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Earth observation data. The data helps
authorities forecast the weather, respond to natural

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disasters, and manage the environment.
But the country's center left government said the

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plan will be scrapped for budget repair
reasons, leaving Australia reliant on Earth data

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from overseas partners. Industry and Science
Minister Ed Husick told public broadcaster ABC on

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Friday that prior to his prioritizing broader
environmental things while fighting inflation, had meant

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making tough calls. If I don't
cut a bill and there, I've got

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to find it somewhere else in the
portfolio. He said. There are other

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ways we can build capability. We're
certainly interested in doing that. We just

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have to make the call on this. Australia's government has promised to balance the

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budget this year despite slow growth and
a steady increase in defense spending. The

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Space Industry Association of Australia said the
decision to cancel the satellite program was shortsighted.

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It will undermine the Albanese government's agenda
on climate defense, stem advanced manufacturing

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and building tech jobs. The Lobby
Group for Australia's Space Industry set now here's

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my two cents on this. Anthony
Albanize, the Prime Minister of Australia,

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commonly referred to as Albo Albo.
Mate, if you're listening to the podcast,

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this is not a good look for
Australia. This is not an invest

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in Australia's future. Please rethink your
decision here. Invest in science, invest

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in Australia, invest in astronomy,
and invest in the youth of today.

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I urge you to reconsider this decision
of yours the Astronomy Daily podcast. China

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Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, a
leading Chinese science space contractor, has revealed

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plans to create an expansive remote sensing
satellite network by the end of this decade.

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The announcement, made on Friday is
an impressive testament to the ongoing advancement

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in China's space exploration and surveillance capabilities. Managed by Classic Space Engineering Development Abaijing

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based subsidiary of the corporation, a
forthcoming satellite network will provide a range of

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public services, including emergency response and
rescue and disaster prevention and relief. In

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addition to these services, the system
will facilitate real time, high resolution observation

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of specific areas and targets as per
user requests. Although the network remains unnamed,

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its scope and capability have been outlined
with precision. Comprising three hundred remote

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sensing satellites, the system will operate
in extra low orbits at altitudes below three

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hundred kilometers. This strategic positioning will
enable the satellites to capture a diverse array

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of data, from optical photos to
radar data, and from hyper spectral to

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infrared images. According to the company
by twenty thirty, the network's responsiveness will

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be such that it can map and
survey any location on Earth within a quarter

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of an hour from receiving a request. This bits timeline was announced at the

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ninth China International Commercial Aerospace Forum,
an influential space event that kicked off in

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Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei
Province, on Wednesday. Kassik's vision for

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a comprehensive remote sensing satellite network underscores
China's continued commitment to enhancing its capabilities in

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space based technologies. These developments are
expected to have far reaching impacts not only

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on the nation's disaster management, but
also on fields like climate research, land

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use planning, and national security.
Now as usual, you can find all

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of our episodes on spacenuts dot io
and bytes dot com. You can find

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Steve on Monday's and myself as usual
on Friday's. Thanks for listening to today's

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episode. Good bye everybody, and
enjoy your weekend. Bye for now,

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Thanks Tim TTFN. Bye The Astronomy
Daily Podcast.