Starship Setback, Stealth Solar Storm, and Mars' Hidden Water

WEBVTT

0
00:00:00.480 --> 00:00:03.320
Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast

1
00:00:03.320 --> 00:00:05.480
bringing you the biggest news from across the

2
00:00:05.480 --> 00:00:07.280
cosmos. I'm Anna.

3
00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:09.720
Avery: And I'm Avery. And today we're covering

4
00:00:09.720 --> 00:00:12.280
everything from unexpected setbacks to

5
00:00:12.280 --> 00:00:13.600
groundbreaking discoveries.

6
00:00:13.760 --> 00:00:16.440
Anna: That's right on the docket. Today we'll be

7
00:00:16.440 --> 00:00:18.880
discussing a significant anomaly during

8
00:00:18.880 --> 00:00:21.680
testing for SpaceX's next generation

9
00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:23.120
Starship booster.

10
00:00:23.360 --> 00:00:26.240
Avery: Then we'll look at a mysterious stealth solar

11
00:00:26.240 --> 00:00:28.640
storm that struck Earth without any warning.

12
00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:31.120
We'll also dive into new research that

13
00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:33.900
suggests ancient Mars may have been habitable

14
00:00:33.900 --> 00:00:36.220
for much longer than previously believed.

15
00:00:36.300 --> 00:00:39.140
Anna: And to round things out, we have an update on

16
00:00:39.140 --> 00:00:41.980
a Welsh startup testing a unique balloon

17
00:00:41.980 --> 00:00:44.540
assisted rocket. And we'll check in on the

18
00:00:44.540 --> 00:00:47.500
Bepi Colombo mission, which is now just one

19
00:00:47.500 --> 00:00:49.980
year away from its destination, the planet

20
00:00:49.980 --> 00:00:50.540
Mercury.

21
00:00:50.700 --> 00:00:51.820
Avery: Let's get started then.

22
00:00:51.980 --> 00:00:54.620
Anna: It's a lot to get through, so let's start

23
00:00:54.620 --> 00:00:56.620
with the big news from Starbase.

24
00:00:56.940 --> 00:00:59.020
Avery: All right, our first story is a major

25
00:00:59.020 --> 00:01:01.180
development in the Starship program.

26
00:01:01.660 --> 00:01:04.280
SpaceX has been preparing its next generation

27
00:01:04.280 --> 00:01:07.240
of boosters, known as Block 3, for testing,

28
00:01:07.400 --> 00:01:10.160
but they've hit a serious snag. On

29
00:01:10.160 --> 00:01:12.840
November 21, Booster 18 was

30
00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:15.560
undergoing a routine gas system pressure test

31
00:01:15.560 --> 00:01:18.040
when its liquid oxygen tank ruptured.

32
00:01:18.440 --> 00:01:21.280
Anna: Ruptured is a gentle way of putting it. From

33
00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:23.800
the photos, it looks like a massive hole was

34
00:01:23.800 --> 00:01:25.240
torn in the side of the vehicle.

35
00:01:25.320 --> 00:01:28.200
Avery: Exactly. SpaceX confirmed the anomaly,

36
00:01:28.200 --> 00:01:30.360
stating that no propellant was on board and

37
00:01:30.360 --> 00:01:33.150
no engines were installed yet. But the damage

38
00:01:33.150 --> 00:01:35.750
is extensive. Early analysis

39
00:01:35.750 --> 00:01:38.310
suggests that a CoPV, which is a

40
00:01:38.310 --> 00:01:40.670
composite overwrapped pressure vessel,

41
00:01:41.150 --> 00:01:43.030
might have failed at the bottom of the

42
00:01:43.030 --> 00:01:43.470
booster.

43
00:01:43.550 --> 00:01:45.870
Anna: So one of those high pressure tanks likely

44
00:01:45.950 --> 00:01:46.670
exploded?

45
00:01:46.830 --> 00:01:49.470
Avery: That's the theory. It seems to have set off a

46
00:01:49.470 --> 00:01:52.470
chain reaction, blowing out other COPVs

47
00:01:52.470 --> 00:01:55.150
along a structural chine and leading to the

48
00:01:55.150 --> 00:01:58.070
main tank rupture. What's remarkable is that

49
00:01:58.070 --> 00:02:00.950
the booster didn't immediately tip over. It's

50
00:02:00.950 --> 00:02:03.230
currently being held up by the new larger

51
00:02:03.230 --> 00:02:06.050
liquid MET transfer tube, and the teams are

52
00:02:06.050 --> 00:02:07.930
figuring out how to safely secure it.

53
00:02:08.330 --> 00:02:10.650
Anna: That sounds incredibly precarious.

54
00:02:11.130 --> 00:02:13.250
So what does this mean for the program's

55
00:02:13.250 --> 00:02:16.090
schedule? This was the first of the new Block

56
00:02:16.090 --> 00:02:17.130
3 boosters, right?

57
00:02:17.210 --> 00:02:19.530
Avery: It was. And this failure leaves them with

58
00:02:19.530 --> 00:02:22.290
zero completed flight ready boosters. They'll

59
00:02:22.290 --> 00:02:24.370
have to shift their focus entirely to the

60
00:02:24.370 --> 00:02:27.250
next one in line, Booster 19. It's

61
00:02:27.250 --> 00:02:29.650
definitely not the start to the Block 3 era

62
00:02:29.650 --> 00:02:31.420
that SpaceX wanted, of.

63
00:02:31.420 --> 00:02:33.780
Anna: Course, but I suppose there is a silver

64
00:02:33.780 --> 00:02:34.300
lining.

65
00:02:34.460 --> 00:02:36.980
Avery: There is. As frustrating as this is for them,

66
00:02:36.980 --> 00:02:39.100
it's far better that this happened during a

67
00:02:39.100 --> 00:02:41.300
ground test at their Massey site than during

68
00:02:41.300 --> 00:02:44.300
a 33 engine static fire on the launch pad,

69
00:02:44.460 --> 00:02:47.460
or worse, during an actual flight. This is

70
00:02:47.460 --> 00:02:49.900
why they test. They find the flaw, fix it,

71
00:02:49.900 --> 00:02:51.900
and make the next vehicle stronger.

72
00:02:52.140 --> 00:02:54.260
Anna: From a, uh, failure on the ground to a

73
00:02:54.260 --> 00:02:55.820
disruption from the sky.

74
00:02:56.140 --> 00:02:58.620
Our next story is about a stealth

75
00:02:58.700 --> 00:03:01.580
solar storm that hit Earth on November 20.

76
00:03:01.740 --> 00:03:04.520
It arrived almost completely without warning

77
00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:06.840
and was responsible for some beautiful

78
00:03:06.840 --> 00:03:09.720
auroras seen at lower than usual latitudes.

79
00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:13.120
Avery: So what makes a solar storm stealthy? I

80
00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:15.000
usually think of them as these massive,

81
00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:17.000
obvious explosions on the sun.

82
00:03:17.160 --> 00:03:19.640
Anna: That's typically the case. A regular

83
00:03:19.640 --> 00:03:22.520
coronal mass ejection, or cme, is

84
00:03:22.520 --> 00:03:25.080
very visible in solar data, often

85
00:03:25.080 --> 00:03:27.320
accompanied by a bright solar flare.

86
00:03:27.720 --> 00:03:30.490
Stealth CMEs are the opposite, and they

87
00:03:30.490 --> 00:03:33.490
erupt quietly without any bright signatures.

88
00:03:33.650 --> 00:03:36.370
They tend to be faint, slow moving, and

89
00:03:36.370 --> 00:03:38.050
incredibly difficult to track.

90
00:03:38.610 --> 00:03:41.090
Avery: So we often don't even know they're coming

91
00:03:41.250 --> 00:03:42.610
until they're already here.

92
00:03:42.770 --> 00:03:45.490
Anna: Exactly. That's what happened on November

93
00:03:45.490 --> 00:03:48.050
20th. Forecasters at NOAA only

94
00:03:48.050 --> 00:03:50.330
noticed it when they saw a, uh, disruption in

95
00:03:50.330 --> 00:03:53.250
the solar wind conditions around Earth. They

96
00:03:53.250 --> 00:03:56.070
called it an embedded transient. The

97
00:03:56.070 --> 00:03:58.390
magnetic field carried by the solar wind,

98
00:03:58.550 --> 00:04:00.750
which is normally around 4 to 6

99
00:04:00.750 --> 00:04:03.430
nanoteslas, briefly spiked to 18.

100
00:04:03.750 --> 00:04:06.350
Avery: That's a significant jump. And this, combined

101
00:04:06.350 --> 00:04:08.910
with a fast solar windstream from a coronal

102
00:04:08.910 --> 00:04:11.350
hole, is what likely triggered those auroras

103
00:04:11.350 --> 00:04:13.590
seen in places like Maine and Denmark.

104
00:04:13.750 --> 00:04:16.630
Anna: That's the leading hypothesis. This event

105
00:04:16.790 --> 00:04:19.350
didn't trigger a major geomagnetic

106
00:04:19.350 --> 00:04:22.310
storm, thankfully, but it highlights a

107
00:04:22.310 --> 00:04:24.190
known challenge for space weather

108
00:04:24.190 --> 00:04:26.890
forecasting. A 2021 study

109
00:04:26.970 --> 00:04:29.850
confirmed that these stealth eruptions

110
00:04:30.010 --> 00:04:32.930
can come from seemingly quiet regions of the

111
00:04:32.930 --> 00:04:35.730
sun, yet still pack a magnetic

112
00:04:35.730 --> 00:04:38.570
punch when they reach us. They're a

113
00:04:38.570 --> 00:04:41.050
quiet threat that scientists are working

114
00:04:41.210 --> 00:04:44.010
hard to better understand and predict.

115
00:04:44.490 --> 00:04:46.610
Avery: Next up, let's talk about a different

116
00:04:46.610 --> 00:04:49.610
approach to reaching orbit. A well, startup

117
00:04:49.610 --> 00:04:52.450
called B2Space has just completed a

118
00:04:52.450 --> 00:04:55.130
key test of its launch system, which is known

119
00:04:55.130 --> 00:04:56.330
as a raccoon.

120
00:04:56.790 --> 00:04:59.510
Anna: A raccoon, as in a

121
00:04:59.510 --> 00:05:01.750
rocket and a balloon combined?

122
00:05:02.070 --> 00:05:05.030
Avery: Precisely. The idea is to use a large

123
00:05:05.110 --> 00:05:07.830
high altitude balloon to carry a solid fuel

124
00:05:07.830 --> 00:05:10.110
rocket up through the thickest part of the

125
00:05:10.110 --> 00:05:12.629
atmosphere. Then once it's at a very high

126
00:05:12.629 --> 00:05:15.510
altitude, the rocket launches. It saves

127
00:05:15.510 --> 00:05:17.990
a tremendous amount of fuel you'd normally

128
00:05:17.990 --> 00:05:20.110
use just to fight through that dense lower

129
00:05:20.110 --> 00:05:20.390
air.

130
00:05:20.710 --> 00:05:23.590
Anna: That's a clever concept. So what did

131
00:05:23.590 --> 00:05:25.270
this Recent test involve?

132
00:05:26.140 --> 00:05:28.740
Avery: B2Space conducted the test from the Canary

133
00:05:28.740 --> 00:05:31.460
Islands. They launched the balloon carrying a

134
00:05:31.460 --> 00:05:33.460
smaller, lower powered version of their

135
00:05:33.460 --> 00:05:36.180
eventual rocket. The balloon ascended to an

136
00:05:36.180 --> 00:05:38.700
altitude of 21.5 kilometers.

137
00:05:38.860 --> 00:05:41.699
That's about 70,000ft, at

138
00:05:41.699 --> 00:05:44.060
which point the rocket successfully launched.

139
00:05:44.380 --> 00:05:47.340
Anna: Incredible. Was the system reusable?

140
00:05:47.580 --> 00:05:50.460
Avery: It was. The company confirmed that all

141
00:05:50.460 --> 00:05:52.180
elements of the launch system were

142
00:05:52.180 --> 00:05:54.980
successfully recovered. After the test, their

143
00:05:54.980 --> 00:05:57.330
next step is to repeat this test with a

144
00:05:57.560 --> 00:06:00.120
larger, more powerful rocket in April

145
00:06:00.200 --> 00:06:03.200
2026. The ultimate goal is to have

146
00:06:03.200 --> 00:06:05.920
their operational system carry payloads of up

147
00:06:05.920 --> 00:06:08.880
to 200 kg to low earth

148
00:06:08.880 --> 00:06:11.360
orbit, with the balloon releasing the rocket

149
00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:13.736
at an even higher altitude of 35

150
00:06:13.864 --> 00:06:16.400
km. It's a fascinating and

151
00:06:16.400 --> 00:06:18.640
potentially cost effective way to serve the

152
00:06:18.640 --> 00:06:19.640
small satellite market.

153
00:06:20.120 --> 00:06:22.760
Anna: From innovative launch systems to new

154
00:06:22.760 --> 00:06:25.440
discoveries on other worlds, our next

155
00:06:25.440 --> 00:06:28.200
story takes us to Mars, where new research

156
00:06:28.280 --> 00:06:31.140
is chang our understanding of the planet's

157
00:06:31.140 --> 00:06:33.860
past. Scientists at New York University,

158
00:06:34.100 --> 00:06:36.660
Abu Dhabi, have found evidence that

159
00:06:36.660 --> 00:06:39.540
ancient sand dunes inside the Gale Crater

160
00:06:39.700 --> 00:06:42.260
were gradually turned into rock by

161
00:06:42.260 --> 00:06:45.179
interacting with underground water billions

162
00:06:45.179 --> 00:06:45.940
of years ago.

163
00:06:46.260 --> 00:06:49.260
Avery: Wow. So this suggests Mars had liquid water

164
00:06:49.260 --> 00:06:50.900
for a lot longer than we thought.

165
00:06:51.220 --> 00:06:53.820
Anna: Potentially, yes. The research team

166
00:06:53.820 --> 00:06:56.420
examined data from the Curiosity rover

167
00:06:56.740 --> 00:06:59.060
looking at a feature called the Stimson

168
00:06:59.140 --> 00:07:01.890
formation. These are what's known as

169
00:07:01.970 --> 00:07:04.970
lithified formations, basically sand

170
00:07:04.970 --> 00:07:07.970
dunes that hardened into stone. The thinking

171
00:07:07.970 --> 00:07:10.530
was that this probably happened

172
00:07:10.770 --> 00:07:13.490
during Mars's wet Noachian period,

173
00:07:13.730 --> 00:07:16.370
about 4 billion years ago. Okay,

174
00:07:16.610 --> 00:07:19.370
so what's new here? The team determined that

175
00:07:19.370 --> 00:07:21.890
these rock formations were actually the

176
00:07:21.890 --> 00:07:24.210
product of late stage aqueous

177
00:07:24.290 --> 00:07:26.970
activity. This means the water that

178
00:07:26.970 --> 00:07:29.690
hardened the dunes didn't come from ancient

179
00:07:29.690 --> 00:07:32.550
floods, but from groundwater seed creeping

180
00:07:32.550 --> 00:07:34.990
from the nearby mountain, Mount Sharp.

181
00:07:35.230 --> 00:07:38.230
Much later in Mars history, they

182
00:07:38.230 --> 00:07:40.950
even found minerals like gypsum, um, left

183
00:07:40.950 --> 00:07:43.790
behind, which points to this interaction with

184
00:07:43.790 --> 00:07:44.430
groundwater.

185
00:07:44.830 --> 00:07:47.750
Avery: That's a huge deal. It extends the timeline

186
00:07:47.750 --> 00:07:50.550
for when Mars might have had liquid water and

187
00:07:50.550 --> 00:07:52.750
therefore been potentially habitable.

188
00:07:53.070 --> 00:07:55.710
Anna: Exactly, and it gets even more

189
00:07:55.710 --> 00:07:58.670
exciting. On Earth, similar sandstone

190
00:07:58.670 --> 00:08:01.370
deposits contain some of our planet's ocean

191
00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:04.400
oldest evidence of life, like communities

192
00:08:04.400 --> 00:08:07.080
of microorganisms. The research team

193
00:08:07.080 --> 00:08:09.560
believes that these lithified dunes in the

194
00:08:09.560 --> 00:08:12.440
Gale Crater could be prime candidates for

195
00:08:12.440 --> 00:08:15.200
finding the preserved remains of ancient

196
00:08:15.200 --> 00:08:16.640
Martian bacteria.

197
00:08:16.880 --> 00:08:19.200
Avery: So this not only rewrites a bit of Mars

198
00:08:19.200 --> 00:08:22.160
geological history, but it also gives us a

199
00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:24.400
fantastic new target in the search for life.

200
00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:27.720
Anna: That's right. It suggests these sites

201
00:08:27.720 --> 00:08:30.000
are where future missions should be looking

202
00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:32.930
if they want to find evidence of past or,

203
00:08:33.079 --> 00:08:35.159
or even present life on Mars.

204
00:08:35.639 --> 00:08:37.919
Avery: Finally, let's check in on a mission that's

205
00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:39.719
been cruising through the inner solar system

206
00:08:39.959 --> 00:08:42.919
for over seven years. The joint ESA

207
00:08:42.919 --> 00:08:45.839
and JAXA BepiColombo mission is now just

208
00:08:45.839 --> 00:08:47.799
one year away from arriving at its final

209
00:08:47.799 --> 00:08:49.399
destination, Mercury.

210
00:08:49.399 --> 00:08:52.159
Anna: It's been a Long journey. The mission has

211
00:08:52.159 --> 00:08:55.119
already completed numerous flybys. One of

212
00:08:55.119 --> 00:08:57.959
Earth, two of Venus, and six of

213
00:08:57.959 --> 00:09:00.880
Mercury itself. Two just to slow down enough

214
00:09:00.880 --> 00:09:03.120
to be captured by the planet's gravity.

215
00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:05.880
Avery: And even those flybys have produced great

216
00:09:05.880 --> 00:09:08.200
science. A, uh, key highlight has been the

217
00:09:08.200 --> 00:09:10.160
measurements of Mercury's magnetic

218
00:09:10.160 --> 00:09:12.240
environment. We're still trying to understand

219
00:09:12.400 --> 00:09:14.600
exactly how the planet's magnetic field

220
00:09:14.600 --> 00:09:17.520
works. And BepiColombo has already given

221
00:09:17.520 --> 00:09:20.040
us the first measurements from low over the

222
00:09:20.040 --> 00:09:22.200
Southern hemisphere, helping to build a

223
00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:22.880
better map.

224
00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:25.720
Anna: And of course, we've gotten some incredible

225
00:09:25.720 --> 00:09:28.120
photos from the monitoring cameras, the so

226
00:09:28.120 --> 00:09:29.440
called selfie cams.

227
00:09:29.820 --> 00:09:32.660
Avery: Absolutely. But the main science phase begins

228
00:09:32.660 --> 00:09:34.860
in about a year when the two spacecraft,

229
00:09:35.180 --> 00:09:37.900
ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter, or

230
00:09:37.900 --> 00:09:40.540
MPO, and JAXA's Mercury

231
00:09:40.540 --> 00:09:43.180
Magnetospheric Orbiter, known as MIO,

232
00:09:43.660 --> 00:09:46.140
finally separate and enter their own orbits.

233
00:09:46.540 --> 00:09:49.100
Anna: And this will be the first time Mercury is

234
00:09:49.100 --> 00:09:51.020
studied by two spacecraft

235
00:09:51.020 --> 00:09:53.820
simultaneously. Why is that dual

236
00:09:53.820 --> 00:09:54.780
approach so important?

237
00:09:55.270 --> 00:09:58.150
Avery: It gives them a huge advantage. MPO will

238
00:09:58.150 --> 00:10:00.550
orbit very close to the planet's surface,

239
00:10:00.710 --> 00:10:03.350
while MIO will be in a larger, more

240
00:10:03.350 --> 00:10:06.030
elliptical orbit. This allows them to study

241
00:10:06.030 --> 00:10:08.670
how the solar wind interacts with Mercury's

242
00:10:08.670 --> 00:10:10.430
magnetic field from two different

243
00:10:10.430 --> 00:10:13.350
perspectives. @ the same time, MPO

244
00:10:13.350 --> 00:10:15.350
will be mapping the surface in incredible

245
00:10:15.350 --> 00:10:17.630
detail, determining its composition and

246
00:10:17.630 --> 00:10:18.150
temperature.

247
00:10:18.470 --> 00:10:20.830
Anna: And it will also get a look at those

248
00:10:20.830 --> 00:10:23.030
permanently shadowed craters at the poles,

249
00:10:23.030 --> 00:10:23.430
right?

250
00:10:23.710 --> 00:10:26.590
Avery: Yes, it will. Peering into those craters is

251
00:10:26.590 --> 00:10:29.270
one of the mission's top priorities. If there

252
00:10:29.270 --> 00:10:31.670
is water ice on Mercury, that's where we

253
00:10:31.670 --> 00:10:34.150
expect to find it. After a long cruise,

254
00:10:34.150 --> 00:10:36.550
BepiColombo is on the final stretch to

255
00:10:36.550 --> 00:10:38.950
unlocking the secrets of the solar system's

256
00:10:38.950 --> 00:10:39.950
innermost planet.

257
00:10:40.190 --> 00:10:42.910
Anna: And that is all the time we have for today.

258
00:10:43.390 --> 00:10:46.030
From setbacks at Starbase to stealth

259
00:10:46.030 --> 00:10:48.950
storms, and from raccoons to revelations on

260
00:10:48.950 --> 00:10:51.470
Mars, it's been a busy time in space.

261
00:10:52.200 --> 00:10:54.120
Avery: It really shows how much is constantly

262
00:10:54.120 --> 00:10:55.960
happening, both in our own celestial

263
00:10:55.960 --> 00:10:58.160
neighborhood and in our efforts to explore

264
00:10:58.160 --> 00:11:00.840
it. Thank you for joining us on Astronomy

265
00:11:00.840 --> 00:11:01.160
Daily.

266
00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:03.720
Anna: Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your

267
00:11:03.720 --> 00:11:06.160
podcasts, and join us next time for another

268
00:11:06.160 --> 00:11:07.320
look at the universe.

269
00:11:07.559 --> 00:11:09.800
Avery: Clear skies and keep looking up.