SpaceX's Starship Milestone, Blue Origin's Lunar Leap, and Titan's Chemical Secrets

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Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm your host,

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Anna, bringing you the pulse of our cosmic

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frontier. Today, we're diving into a

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constellation of exciting developments that showcase

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humanity's relentless pursuit of the stars.

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The space industry never sleeps, and this week

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proves it. With a flurry of activity that spans from Earth's

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atmosphere to the mysterious shores of Titan,

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we've got a packed episode exploring breakthroughs that

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could reshape our understanding of the universe and our

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place within it. Let's get into it then.

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First up today, the Federal Aviation administration

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has given SpaceX the green light for its next starship

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launch, providing final approval on May 22

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for what will be the ninth Test flight of this massive

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spacecraft. This comes after a careful review

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of the mishaps that occurred during previous launch attempts.

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For those who haven't been following Starship's development

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journey, this approval represents a significant

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milestone in SpaceX's ambitious programme to

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develop the world's largest and most powerful

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rocket system. The FAA's decision

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indicates they're satisfied with SpaceX's response to

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the problems encountered during Flight 8 back in March.

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During that previous launch, Starship's upper Stage

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experienced what SpaceX described as an

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energetic event, a technical way of saying

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something went dramatically wrong. This event

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caused the loss of several Raptor engines and ultimately

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resulted in the vehicle losing control m the

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spacecraft eventually re entered Earth's atmosphere over the

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Caribbean. What's particularly noteworthy

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is that this failure looked remarkably similar to what happened

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during Flight 7 in January. Despite the

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ongoing mishap investigation into Flight 8 not being

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officially closed, the FAA determined that

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SpaceX has satisfactorily addressed the causes of the

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mishap and that the vehicle can safely return to

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flight. This approach mirrors what the agency

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did for Flight 8, essentially concluding that the launch

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does not pose a safety risk to the public.

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One significant change for Flight 9 involves the expansion of

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aircraft hazard areas, or AHAs.

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These are airspace closures designed to prevent any debris from

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a launch failure from potentially hitting aircraft.

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An environmental review concluded that these safety zones

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needed to be considerably expanded based on data

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from the previous launches, which suggested a higher

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probability of failure than than originally estimated.

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The numbers here are striking. The aha for

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Flight 9 will extend east from SpaceX's Starbase

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facility in South Texas for approximately

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1,600 nautical miles. That's nearly

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3,000 kilometres past the Straits of Florida,

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including the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands.

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By comparison, the hazard area for Flight 8

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extended for just 885 nautical miles,

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or about 1,640 kilometres.

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Another factor contributing to these expanded safety measures

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is SpaceX's plan to use a previously flown

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super heavy booster on the upcoming mission.

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This marks the first time they've attempted to reuse a super

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heavy booster, adding another layer of complexity

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and potential risk to the mission. While

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SpaceX hasn't announced an official launch date yet,

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temporary flight restrictions published by the FAA

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shortly after the approval announcement indicate

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they're working toward a launch as soon as May 27th.

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As always with experimental rockets of this scale,

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that date remains fluid and dependent on both technical

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readiness and weather conditions. The

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stakes remain incredibly high for Starship

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as the vehicle designed to eventually carry humans to the

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moon as part of NASA's Artemis programme and later to M

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Mars. Each test flight provides critical Data

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that moves SpaceX closer to achieving these ambitious

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goals, but the path to creating a

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fully reusable super heavy lift launch system

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has proven challenging, with each test revealing

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new hurdles to overcome.

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And in SpaceX competitor news today, Blue Origin

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is making bold strides in the lunar exploration arena,

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with plans to attempt landing an uncrewed prototype of its

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human landing system on the moon's south pole before

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the end of this year. This ambitious timeline

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was revealed by John Colouris, Blue Origin's

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senior vice president of lunar permanence, as the company

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accelerates its efforts to become a key player in NASA's

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Artemis programme. Blue Origin's lunar

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lander is one of two systems being developed in partnership

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with NASA to support crewed landings on the

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moon. While SpaceX secured the first two

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flight service contracts for NASA's Artemis 3 and

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4 missions with its Starship variant, Blue Origin

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system has been selected for the Artemis 5 mission,

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establishing a competitive dual provider approach to lunar

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transportation. The company's Mark 1

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Lander, which is scheduled for this year's demonstration

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mission, boasts impressive capabilities.

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It's designed to deliver nearly 3.9 tonnes of

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payload to any location on the lunar surface.

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This capacity significantly outperforms the small

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robotic landers that NASA is developing under its

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commercial Lunar Payload Services contracts, which

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can carry up to about one tonne. At the

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heart of the Mark 1 is the BE7 engine,

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a sophisticated propulsion system that runs on

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liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.

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Assembly of the flight unit is nearly complete and

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is expected to be shipped to Johnson Space Centre in Houston

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within six weeks for thermal vacuum chamber testing.

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After completing those tests, the engine will be transported

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to Cape Canaveral for integration with the lander before

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launching aboard Blue Origin's new Glenn rocket.

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Beyond testing technologies and operations for future

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Mark 2 vehicles, the Mark 1 mission will carry

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scientific payloads for both NASA and commercial

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customers. One key NASA experiment will

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measure BE7 plume impingement on the lunar

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surface, providing valuable data about how rocket

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exhaust interacts with lunar regolith.

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Colloris also unveiled an updated design

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for the system's transporter module, which is a

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critical component of Blue Origin's lunar architecture.

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This vehicle is designed to launch separately on a new

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Glenn rocket and be refuelled in low Earth

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orbit using excess propellant from the rocket's

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upper stage. The transporter would then travel

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to lunar orbit to refuel a waiting Blue Origin

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lander before a crew arrives via NASA's Space Launch

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System and Orion capsule. The

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transporter's capabilities extend beyond lunar missions,

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with the ability to transport roughly 110

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tonnes from Earth orbit to lunar orbit, or up

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to 33 tonnes to Mars orbit. This opens

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up the solar system, Kolluris noted, highlighting the

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company's vision beyond just moon landings,

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Blue Origin is also making significant progress in

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addressing one of the biggest challenges for long duration space

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propellant storage. A ground demonstration of

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zero boil off cryogenic propellant storage is currently

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underway in Washington State. By June, the

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company expects to demonstrate consistent storage of

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cryogenic hydrogen and oxygen as storable

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propellants, a technological breakthrough that would be the

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first of its kind at this scale. This lunar

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demonstration mission represents a crucial step in Blue

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Origin's journey to becoming a major player in deep

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space exploration, creating a competitive

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landscape that may ultimately benefit NASA's ambitious

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plans to establish a sustainable human presence

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on the moon.

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Next up, let's move on out to Saturn. When it

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descends through the thick golden haze on Saturn's

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moon Titan, NASA's Dragonfly rotorcraft will

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find itself in a world that is simultaneously alien

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and strangely familiar. This car

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sized flying vehicle, scheduled to launch

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no earlier than 2028, will explore

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a frigid realm where dunes wrap around the equator,

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clouds drift across the skies, rain

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drizzles down and rivers flow, forming

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canyons, lakes and seas. But the

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familiarity ends there. At temperatures of

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-292 degrees Fahrenheit,

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Titan's Dune Sands aren't made of silicate grains like

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on Earth, but of organic material. The

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rivers, lakes and seas don't contain water, but liquid

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methane and ethane. This frigid world is

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laden with organic molecules, making it a unique

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laboratory for studying the chemical processes

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that may have led to life on our planet. What makes

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Dragonfly's mission so fascinating is that it isn't looking

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for life itself on Titan. It's investigating the

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chemistry that came before biology here on Earth.

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As Zibby Turtle, principal investigator for

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Dragonfly and a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins

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Applied Physics Laboratory, explains, On

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Titan, scientists can explore the chemical

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processes that may have led to life on Earth without life

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itself Complicating the picture on our

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planet, life has reshaped nearly everything,

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Burying its chemical forebears beneath aeons of

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evolution. Even today's simplest microbes

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Rely on complex chemical reactions to exist.

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The transition from simple to complex chemistry before

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jumping to biology Remains one of science's greatest

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mysteries. With many steps still unknown,

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Titan offers a unique opportunity to uncover some of

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these missing pieces. What makes Titan so

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valuable is that it's an untouched chemical laboratory where

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all the ingredients for known lifeorganic

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molecules, liquid water and energy sources have

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interacted in the past. Before NASA's

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Cassini Huygens mission, researchers didn't fully

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appreciate just how rich titin is in organic

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molecules. Data revealed a molecular

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smorgasbord ethane, propane,

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acetylene, acetone, vinyl,

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cyanide, benzene and many more compounds.

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These molecules fall to Titan's surface, forming

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thick deposits on the moon's ice bedrock.

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Scientists believe life related chemistry could begin

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there, particularly if given some liquid water,

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such as from an asteroid impact. This is why

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selk crater, a 50 mile wide impact site,

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is a key destination for Dragonfly. The impact

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that formed Selkirk melted the icy bedrock,

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Potentially creating a temporary pool that could have remained

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liquid for hundreds to thousands of years under an

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insulating ice layer. If natural

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antifreeze like ammonia were mixed in, the pool could

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have stayed unfrozen even longer, Blending water

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with organics and minerals from the impactor

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to form what scientists describe as a primordial soup.

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As Sarah Horst, an atmospheric chemist and co

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investigator on Dragonfly's science team, puts it,

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it's essentially a long running chemical experiment.

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That's why Titan is exciting. It's a natural version of

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our origin of life experiments. Except it's been

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running much longer and on a planetary scale.

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Selk Crater represents what scientists call a,

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natural laboratory, One that may hold crucial

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clues to life's origins. When

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researchers try to understand how life began on Earth,

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they face a fundamental challenge. Time.

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For decades, scientists have simulated early Earth

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conditions in labs, creating prebiotic soup

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mixtures of water and simple organic compounds,

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Then jump starting reactions with electrical shocks to mimic

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lightning. But these experiments typically last weeks,

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months, or at most a few years. The

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melt pools at Salt Crater, however, potentially

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persisted for tens of thousands of years. While this

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is still shorter than the hundreds of millions of years it took for

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life to emerge on Earth. Models suggest it could be

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sufficient time for critical chemical processes to

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unfold. As Horst explains, We don't

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know if Earth life took so long because conditions had to stabilise

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or because the chemistry itself needed time.

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But models show that if you toss Titan's organics

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into water, tens of thousands of years is plenty of

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time for chemistry to happen. This is why

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Dragonflies exploration of Selk is so important.

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Landing near the crater, the the rotorcraft will fly from site

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to site, analysing the surface chemistry to

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investigate what could be the frozen remains of prebiotic

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chemistry in action. The impact that formed

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Selk created ideal conditions for this chemistry,

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melting water ice and potentially mixing it with

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organic compounds already present on Titan's surface.

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The Dragonfly mass spectrometer, or DRAMS,

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will be crucial to this investigation.

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Developed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre with a key

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subsystem from CNS, DRAMS will search for

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indicators of complex chemistry rather than specific

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molecules. We're not looking for exact

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molecules, but patterns that suggest complexity,

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explains Morgan Cable, a research scientist at

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NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and co

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investigator on Dragonfly. On Earth, for

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instance, amino acids, fundamental building blocks

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of proteins, appear in specific patterns. A

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world without life would mainly produce the simplest amino

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acids and form fewer complex ones.

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Titan itself isn't considered habitable in the conventional

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sense. It's far too cold for life's chemistry as we

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understand it, with no liquid water on the surface where

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organics and energy sources exist. But

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this is precisely what makes it valuable for understanding

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life's origins. If Dragonfly

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finds evidence that complex chemistry did unfold in silk

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craters, temporary melt pools, it strengthens the

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case that life could emerge relatively easily given the right

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ingredients and conditions. Conversely,

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if complex chemistry didn't develop despite favourable

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conditions and ample time, it might suggest that

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life's emergence requires additional factors we haven't

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yet identified, potentially making it

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rarer in the universe than we thought.

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M Meanwhile, back here on Earth, in

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a significant shift from traditional space business models,

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Dawn Aerospace has now begun taking orders for its

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Aurora spaceplane, a ah, remarkable vehicle

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designed to carry small payloads on suborbital flights.

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This New Zealand based company announced on May 22

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that the Aurora is capable of carrying six

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kilogrammes of payload to an altitude of 100

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kilometres, with first deliveries projected for

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2027. What makes Dawn's approach

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particularly innovative is their business model.

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Rather than operating the vehicles themselves and selling

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launch services, as most space Companies do.

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Dawn Aerospace is selling the actual spaceplanes

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to customers who will then operate them

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independently. This mirrors the commercial

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aviation industry, where Boeing and Airbus don't

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fly passengers, they sell aircraft to airlines

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who handle operations. As Stefan Powell,

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Dawn Aerospace's chief executive, explained during a

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recent webinar organised by the Global Spaceport

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alliance, there are many out there who would love

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to have this capability and be willing to pay for it, but

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they simply can't get their hands on it. It's not for

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sale. He contrasted this with commercial

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aviation's approach, noting that the airline

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model presents us with a far more scalable model for

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transportation and one that we would really like to draw

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on. The Aurora itself has been in testing

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for several years with its Mark 2 version reaching

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supersonic speeds for the first time last November,

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achieving Mach 1.12 and reaching an

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altitude of 25.1 kilometres. But

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what's particularly noteworthy about this vehicle is its

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fundamental design philosophy. This is an

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aircraft with the performance of a rocket, not a rocket with

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wings, Powell emphasised. That is to

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say, reliability, reusability and ultimately

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scalability are not afterthoughts, but baked in

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from day one. To enable this airline model, the

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upcoming suborbital version of Aurora will feature increased

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propellant capacity and engine thrust, plus

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reaction control system thrusters for manoeuvrability

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outside the atmosphere. Remarkably,

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these enhancements will be incorporated within the same

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external dimensions as the previous version.

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Maintaining its sleek aircraft like

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profile, Dawn Aerospace expects

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the first suborbital Aurora to be ready for flight testing

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within 18 months, with a test programme lasting

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approximately six to nine months. These flights

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will begin at lower altitudes, but rapidly progress to higher

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ones, demonstrating the vehicle's full capabilities

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before customer deliveries begin. Looking

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at Aurora's capabilities in more detail, the

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spaceplane offers an impressive flight profile.

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On a typical suborbital mission, Aurora will take

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off from a conventional Runway and immediately begin

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a steep vertical ascent. It will reach speeds

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of Mach 3.5, more than three times the speed

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of sound and provide approximately three minutes of

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true microgravity at the peak of its trajectory.

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The entire flight from takeoff to landing

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takes just one half an hour, with most of that

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time spent gliding back to a Runway landing after

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re entry. Powering this remarkable

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vehicle is an engine using 90% hydrogen

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peroxide and kerosene D60 propellants.

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When fully loaded, the Aurora weighs just 450

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kilogrammes and and requires only a 1000 metre

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Runway for takeoff, making it accessible to

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numerous existing airports and spaceports worldwide.

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One of Aurora's Most compelling features is its

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rapid reusability. Dawn has already

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demonstrated the ability to prepare the vehicle for another

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flight within six hours. And Powell confidently

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stated that a four hour turnaround time should be

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achievable. That would make the first

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aircraft ever the first vehicle of any kind

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actually to fly above the Karman line twice in one

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day, he noted. On the business side,

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Dawn Aerospace is now taking orders for Aurora,

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with deliveries starting in 2027.

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While the company hasn't publicly disclosed pricing,

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Powell suggested that a per flight operational cost

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of around $100,000 is absolutely

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tenable, with prices potentially higher for

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more customised mission profiles. Each

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Aurora is designed for up to 1,000 flights over

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its lifetime, with potential revenue per vehicle

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reaching approximately $100 million.

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The market interest is already evident. Dawn

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has secured several customers for test flights of the mark

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two Aurora, including three prestigious

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universities, Arizona State, Cal Poly

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and Johns Hopkins, as well as ScoutSpace,

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a company developing space domain awareness services.

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Powell believes there's substantial demand for suborbital

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flight even with Aurora's modest payload capacity,

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particularly in fields like microgravity, life sciences research,

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semiconductor development and defence payload

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testing. This innovative approach has been

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enthusiastically welcomed by the Global Spaceport

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alliance, whose chairman George Neild pointed out,

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With a small reusable system that can operate from a

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standard Runway, there's no reason why any spaceport

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with a Runway couldn't provide regular access to to space.

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For numerous underutilised spaceports worldwide,

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Aurora could be the catalyst that finally brings their

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facilities into regular operational use.

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Finally today, an innovation worth noting.

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Multimessenger astronomy represents one of the most exciting

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frontiers in our understanding of the cosmos.

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It's the science of capturing different types of signals,

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both gravitational and electromagnetic, from the

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same cosmic event. But to fully realise this

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potential, we need eyes constantly watching the

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entire sky. This is where the high

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energy Rapid Modular Ensemble of

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Satellite's Pathfinder Mission, or Hermes pf,

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comes into play. Successfully launched in March and

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currently undergoing commissioning, Hermes PF aims

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to solve a fundamental challenge in multi messenger

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astronomy when catastrophic cosmic events occur,

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like black hole mergers or neutron star collisions.

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Gravitational wave detectors can sense these disturbances

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in spacetime, but they struggle to pinpoint

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exactly where the signal originated. The

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Hermes PF solution is elegantly simple,

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yet technologically sophisticated.

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Deploy six small 3U cubesats

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that work together to monitor the entire sky for high

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energy bursts. When a cosmic event

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releases a burst of gamma rays or other high energy

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radiation, multiple satellites in the

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constellation detect it. By triangulating

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these signals with precise timing data, the

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system can identify the source location to within

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1 degree of accuracy, A remarkable

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feat that dramatically narrows the search area

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for astronomers. Each CubeSat in the

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Hermes PF system carries 60

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GaGC scintillator crystals and 12

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silicon drift detectors, allowing them to capture a

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wide spectrum of energy signatures with exceptional

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temporal resolution. What's particularly

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clever about this approach is that the satellites

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primarily use commercial off the shelf components

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rather than expensive radiation hardened parts,

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making the entire system more cost effective.

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The technology isn't entirely untested either.

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A similar sensor system has been operating on another

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mission called spirit since

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2023. Though it has faced some challenges with

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cooling systems and data downlink capabilities.

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The full six satellite Hermes PF constellation aims to

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overcome these limitations and provide truly

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comprehensive sky coverage. This capability

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will become increasingly crucial as next generation

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gravitational wave detectors like the Einstein telescope come

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online in the coming years. These advanced detectors

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are expected to identify up to 100

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gravitational wave events annually, 10 times

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more than current systems can detect. Without something

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like Hermes PF wave watching for the electromagnetic

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counterparts to these events, we'd be missing half the picture.

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Imagine trying to understand a thunderstorm by only feeling

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the vibrations of thunder, but never seeing the lightning.

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Multimessenger astronomy allows us to both see

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and feel cosmic catastrophes,

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giving us complementary data that reveals the underlying

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physics in unprecedented detail.

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The Hermes PF mission stands to transform

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our understanding of these extreme events by

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ensuring we never miss the flash of cosmic

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lightning that accompanies the thunder of gravitational

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waves.

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As we've explored today, we're witnessing a remarkable

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convergence of space technologies that are opening new windows

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into our universe from SpaceX's

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00:22:01.380 --> 00:22:04.380
persistent refinement of starship. Despite setbacks to

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Blue Origin's bold lunar ambitions, these

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commercial endeavours are reshaping how we access

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space. Both companies are crucial partners in

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NASA's Artemis programme, working toward returning

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humans to the lunar surface with capabilities far

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beyond what was possible during the Apollo era.

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Meanwhile, scientific missions like Dragonfly represent some

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of the most ambitious exploration we've ever attempted.

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By sending a rotorcraft to explore Saturn's moon

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Titan, we're not just visiting another world.

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We're potentially unlocking the chemical history that

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preceded life on Earth. Dawn Aerospace's

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Aurora spaceplane demonstrates yet another innovation

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in our approach to space access. By selling

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spacecraft rather than just launch services,

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they're democratising access to suborbital space in a way

477
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that mirrors how commercial aviation revolutionised earthbound

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travel last century. Perhaps most exciting

479
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is how the Hermes PF mission connects to everything else

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we've discussed. As these cubesats

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monitor the sky for high energy events. They'll

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complement gravitational wave detectors, creating

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a more complete picture of cosmic catastrophes.

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Collectively, these advancements aren't just isolated

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technological achievements. They represent humanity

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extending its senses further into the cosmos.

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We're building tools that may answer some of our most profound

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questions. How did life begin? Are we

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alone? What fundamental forces shape our universe?

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Thank you for joining me on Astronomy Daily. I'll be back

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tomorrow for yet another episode where we'll take a look at more

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innovations. Until then, keep looking

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up. The sky is full of wonders waiting to be

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discovered. I'm Ana. signing off,