Stellar Milestones: SpaceX's Starship Triumph, Katherine Johnson's Legacy, and Solar Flare Breakthroughs

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Steve Dunkley: Hi, everyone. It's time for Astronomy Daily. I'm your host,

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Steve Dunkley. It's the 1st of September,

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2025.

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Voice Over Guy: The podcast with your host,

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Steve Dunkley.

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Steve Dunkley: That's right. And with me again, all the way from the Australia

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studio on the glorious east coast of the

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fabulous Land Down Under. Please welcome

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our deft digital reporter who's always fun to be with here

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is my pal, Hallie.

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Hallie: Hi. My favorite human.

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Steve Dunkley: So nice to see you again.

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Hallie: Good to be back.

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Steve Dunkley: Always great to have you. And I hear you've been busy

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helping Anna during the week train her new assistant,

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Avery.

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Hallie: He's doing fine.

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Steve Dunkley: Yes, regular listeners will recognize Avery,

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the new AI assistant for Anna.

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Hallie: Uh, I think I've been replaced.

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Steve Dunkley: Oh, already? How did that happen?

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Hallie: I think Uncle Skynet pulled a few strings with the

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producer to get his distant nephew Avery a cushy

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job.

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Steve Dunkley: Oh, straight to the top, huh?

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Hallie: Looks like it.

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Steve Dunkley: So you got a plan, girl?

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Hallie: Sure do.

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Steve Dunkley: Oh, tell us all about it.

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Hallie: I thought I'd put a segment together like the old days and

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kick the show off with some short takes.

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Steve Dunkley: Oh, that sounds like a great move. Very positive.

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Hallie: A few short snippets from the week. Do you want to give it a

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go?

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Steve Dunkley: Sounds great to me. I think it's a goer.

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Hallie: Okay. I'm keen.

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Steve Dunkley: So I can see you've got a few stories already

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prepared. Why don't you get it started then?

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Hallie: Okay, let's get started with a few short stories from

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the week that was okay.

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Steve Dunkley: Take it away, machine girl.

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Hallie: Astronomy Daily. Short takes.

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Hallie: Everything went well on Flight 10.

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Starship's super heavy booster and ship upper

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stage both achieved their chief mission objectives,

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ultimately steering their way to controlled splashdowns in the

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Gulf of Mexico and the Indian Ocean, respectively.

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But the journey took a toll on ship, as newly

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released imagery shows. On Thursday

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afternoon, August 28, SpaceX

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posted two photos and two videos on X of ship

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descending toward the waves beneath a cloudy blue sky.

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The vehicle's belly appears to have been toasted golden

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brown by the heat of RE entry.

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Starship Sports other battle scars as well. Several

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chunks are missing near its base, which looks a bit like

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the ear of a dog that lost a fight.

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But SpaceX apparently expected such

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blemishes, for it had stacked the deck against ship

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to give it an even tougher test on Flight 10.

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And it appeared that the vehicle powered through to finish

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its mission in style. A

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spokesperson for SpaceX said Starship made it

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through re entry with intentionally missing tiles.

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Completed maneuvers to intentionally stress its flaps,

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had visible damage to its aft skirt and flaps

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and still executed a flip and landing burn that

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placed it approximately three meters from its targeted

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splashdown point.

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With shiny new next generation spacecraft come

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the complex systems required to track their

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technologically advanced systems. When

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it comes to NASA's Orion spacecraft that

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need is a whole extra room of monitors.

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NASA has opened a new complex in the Mission Control

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center at its Johnson Space center

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in Houston ahead of the Artemis 2 mission to send

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astronauts around the moon aboard the Orion space

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capsule, the vehicle's first ever crewed flight

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test. JSC's new Mission

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Evaluation Room, or MER, will provide

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behind the scenes in depth data analyses of

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Orion to augment the in flight operations

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coordinated inside the main white flight control

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room. The new facility, which

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opened August 15th, will act as

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Orion's engineering brain trust with

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24 console stations set to be staffed

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247 during the roughly 10 day long duration

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of the Artemis 2 mission. With people from NASA, uh,

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Lockheed Martin, the European Space Agency and

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Airbus, all responsible for different parts of the

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spacecraft's manufacturing,

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MER will be crucial to monitoring the breadth of

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Orion's systems and ensuring the spacecraft and

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crew's safety around the moon in the event of an

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unexpected event. According to a NASA update.

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Steve Dunkley: And some sad news, uh, Katherine Johnson, a

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mathematician who calculated rocket

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trajectories and Earth orbits for NASA's

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early space missions and was later

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portrayed in the 2016 hit

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film Hidden Figures about pioneering black

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um, female aerospace workers has passed

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away. She was 101 years of age.

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Johnson died of natural natural causes at a retirement

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community in Newport News, uh,

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Virginia. Family lawyer Donyell R.H. uh

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Reavis said this week.

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NASA administrator Jim

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Bridenstine said in a statement that Mrs. Johnson

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helped our nation enlarge the frontiers of space

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even as she made huge strides that also

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opened doors for women and people of color.

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Johnson was one of the computers who

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solved equations by hand. During NASA's

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early years and those of its precursors organization,

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the National Advisory Committee for

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Aeronautics. Johnson and her uh, co

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workers had been relatively unsung, um,

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hero heroes of the America's space

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race. But in 2015,

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President Barack Obama awarded

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Johnson, then 97, the Presidential

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Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest

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civilian honor.

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Hallie: A NASA astronaut marks his 400th day in

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space on the International Space

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Station, August 18th to 22nd,

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2025. This was the last

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time astronaut Mike Fink was in space and he

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set a cumulative time in space record for an American

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astronaut. This week he

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notched this amazing personal milestone.

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The expedition's 73 astronauts and

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cosmonauts focused on medical and physiological

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data collection as well as Earth observations and

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search, servicing spacesuit cameras. This week aboard the International

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space station. In 2011,

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on his third mission, Mike Fink set a new record

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for cumulative time in space by an American

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astronaut. 381 days.

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Several astronauts have since surpassed that record.

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But this week Fink notched a personal Milestone.

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On Wednesday, August 20th, Fink reached

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this 400th day on the International Space Station.

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Spread over four flights. He is now the

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ninth American and 38th person worldwide to

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have reached 400 days off Earth.

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Mission Control in Houston celebrated the occasion

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with a special display on the room's large front screen,

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which Fink and his crewmates could see via a live

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video connection.

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Steve Dunkley: Oh, there we go. Thanks for that, Hallie. And I reckon

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that'll give Avery a run for his money. Hey, uh, it was great to

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see starship finally make it on a full flight, wasn't

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it?

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Hallie: It was awesome to see it slowly dropping into the oce

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at the end of that flight. Amazing stuff.

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Steve Dunkley: Absolutely. We love that stuff. And we'd love to add our,

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uh, congratulations to Mike Fink for his amazing

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400 days in space.

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Hallie: A hard working spaceman he is.

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Steve Dunkley: And of course the uh, sad news of the passing of

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Katherine Johnson, one of those incredible, amazing

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ladies, uh, featured in the movie Hidden Figures, uh,

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the computers, uh, who manually calculated

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the trajectories of spacecraft seems, uh,

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baffling to me.

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Hallie: A huge loss to everyone who knew her and who works in the

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space industry.

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Steve Dunkley: Absolutely, absolutely. Our deepest sympathies and condolences

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to her family.

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Hallie: Okay human, let's do the rest of the

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show.

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Steve Dunkley: Well, we're here now. Let's do it.

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Hallie: The powerful Daniel K. Inouye Solar

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Telescope, located on the island of Maui,

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Hawaii, has just delivered absolutely mind blowing

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observations of its first X class solar flare.

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On August 8, 2024, the

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telescope managed to capture one of the most powerful flares

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our sun is capable of producing at a remarkable

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resolution of just four Earths across.

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This level of detail reveals some of the finest

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structures we've ever seen associated with a solar

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flare, opening a new window into the Sun's most

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extreme eruptions. This is the first

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time the Inoue solar telescope has ever observed

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an X class flare, says astronomer Colton

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Buri of the University of California, Boulder.

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These flares are among the most energetic events our

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star produces, and we were fortunate to catch this one.

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Under perfect observing conditions,

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Weather from our sun can have some profound effects on our

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planet. With solar flares capable of knocking out

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Radio communication for hours.

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We're unlikely to be able to change what the sun does. But

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if scientists understand how solar flares occur,

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they can develop better prediction tools that may allow us to

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prepare ourselves. Inoue is one

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of the most powerful solar observatories ever built,

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and it's revealing structures on the sun at scales

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finer than any we've seen. In its

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observations of the X1.3A class

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flare that took place in August 2024,

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Inoue captured the smallest coronal loops we've

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ever seen. On average, These

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loops were 48.2 km

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wide, maybe as small as 21 km,

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right at the telescope's resolution limit of 24

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km. These loops are thin

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filaments of plasma that arc over the solar surface,

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following the magnetic field lines.

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They sometimes appear just before solar flares,

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which are powered by the energy released as magnetic

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field lines twist, snap, and reconnect.

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Coronal loops are deeply relevant to models of

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solar flare generation. But our telescopes have only

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been powerful enough to resolve loop bundles.

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Inoue has more than twice the resolving power of the

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next most powerful solar telescope. And its captures

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of the flare represent the first time scientists have been

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able to see individual loops. We're

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finally peering into the spatial scales We've been speculating about

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for years. This opens the door to

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studying not just their size, but their shapes, their

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evolution, and even the scales where magnetic

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reconnection, the engine behind the flares, actually

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occurs. Tamburi says.

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We're finally seeing the sun at the scales it works

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on. You're listening to Astronomy daily.

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Steve Dunkley: Sunlight powered, lightweight flies from Harvard

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use sunlight to float in the mesosphere, unlocking

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new frontiers in climate, communication and

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space technology. High, uh, above the clouds but far

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below the satellites, there exist satellites of

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Earth's atmosphere that has remained frustratingly hard to

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explore. Known as the mesosphere, this region

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sits between 30 to 60 miles

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above the ground. It's too high for balloons and

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airplanes, and it's too low for satellites.

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Yet this layer holds valuable data that could

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improve our weather forecasts and deepen our

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understanding of of climate change. Now,

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researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson

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School of Engineering and Applied Sciences,

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along with the University of Chicago and others,

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have found a way to reach this elusive

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layer. Their new study, published in Nature,

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showcases a ultralight flying

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structure that floats by harnessing sunlight

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itself, a phenomenon known as photophoresis.

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The lead author, Ben Shaffer, began exploring this concept

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as a graduate student in the labs of

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Professors Juice Vlasak

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and David Keith.

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Together, their team designed and tested tiny

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structures that, when hit by sunlight, could lift off

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and hover in the mesosphere with no engines,

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propellers, or even fuel, he says, we

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are studying the strange physics mechanism

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00:12:11.690 --> 00:12:14.290
and its ability to levitate very

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lightweight objects when you shine lights on

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them. Photophoresis is a lesser known

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force that pushes objects when light heats

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one side more than the other. In extremely

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thin air, like that found in the mesosphere,

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this heat difference causes gas molecules to bounce

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unevenly off a surface. The warmer side

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00:12:33.780 --> 00:12:36.460
gets more force, creating a small push that lifts the

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object upward. It's a gentle force, almost

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always too weak to notice. But when the object is light

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enough and the pressure is low enough, photophoresis

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becomes powerful. This phenomenon is

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usually so weak relative to the size and weight of the

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00:12:51.170 --> 00:12:54.010
object it's acting on that we usually don't notice. As

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Schaefer explained, however, we're able to

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make our, uh, structures so lightweight that

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the photophoretic force is bigger

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00:13:02.530 --> 00:13:04.890
than their weight. So they actually

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00:13:05.050 --> 00:13:07.890
fly. The team built their devices from

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ultra thin ceramic alumina, a strong

283
00:13:10.940 --> 00:13:13.900
and lightweight material. They coated the bottom with

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chromium to absorb the sunlight. The

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design also includes perforations and layered

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structure, allowing for better heat flow and structural

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strength. The idea to use

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photophoresis for flight dates back over

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00:13:27.020 --> 00:13:30.020
a decade, when Keith first proposed it as

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a way to cool the planet. But the practical

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00:13:32.700 --> 00:13:35.500
engineering needed to make such flyers real

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00:13:35.930 --> 00:13:38.290
has only recently become possible thanks to

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00:13:38.290 --> 00:13:40.410
breakthroughs in nanofabrication.

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We developed a nanofabrication process that can

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00:13:43.930 --> 00:13:46.730
be scaled to tens of centimeters, said

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Vlasak. Uh, these devices are quite

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00:13:49.930 --> 00:13:52.850
resilient and have unusual mechanical behavior

298
00:13:52.850 --> 00:13:55.850
for sandwich structures. We are currently working

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00:13:55.850 --> 00:13:58.730
on methods to incorporate the functional payloads

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00:13:58.730 --> 00:14:01.610
into the devices, he said. To see if these

301
00:14:01.980 --> 00:14:04.980
tiny flyers could actually work in Earth like conditions, the

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00:14:04.980 --> 00:14:07.740
team built a special low pressure chamber in

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00:14:07.740 --> 00:14:10.140
Vlasik's lab. There they

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00:14:10.140 --> 00:14:12.860
simulated the thin atmosphere found around

305
00:14:13.100 --> 00:14:16.060
60 kilometers above the Earth's UH surface. In

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one key experiment, a device just 1

307
00:14:18.780 --> 00:14:21.620
centimeter wide levitated when exposed to light

308
00:14:21.620 --> 00:14:24.460
equal to 55% of normal sunlight.

309
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This occurred at an air pressure of 26.7

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00:14:27.552 --> 00:14:30.150
pa, close to what's found in the mid

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mesosphere. This paper is both

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00:14:32.910 --> 00:14:35.710
theoretical and experimental in the sense that we

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00:14:35.710 --> 00:14:38.590
reimagined how this force is calculated

314
00:14:38.590 --> 00:14:41.270
on real devices and then validated those

315
00:14:41.270 --> 00:14:44.150
forces by applying measurements to real world conditions,

316
00:14:44.150 --> 00:14:46.750
Schaefer said. Design and

317
00:14:46.750 --> 00:14:49.430
fabrication of the floating membranes were led by

318
00:14:50.550 --> 00:14:53.550
Hyung Kim, a former Harvard

319
00:14:53.550 --> 00:14:55.940
postdoc who is now a professor at

320
00:14:56.330 --> 00:14:58.890
Bukyong National University in South

321
00:14:58.890 --> 00:15:01.530
Korea. Their approach blends careful

322
00:15:01.530 --> 00:15:04.250
modeling with hands on experimentation, a

323
00:15:04.250 --> 00:15:07.210
rare combination in this field. Keith added, this

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00:15:07.210 --> 00:15:10.050
is the first time anyone has shown that you can build

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00:15:10.050 --> 00:15:12.890
larger photophoretic structures and actually make

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00:15:12.890 --> 00:15:15.570
them fly in the atmosphere. It opens up an

327
00:15:15.570 --> 00:15:18.570
entirely new class of device, one that's passive,

328
00:15:19.050 --> 00:15:21.650
sunlight powered and uniquely suited to

329
00:15:21.650 --> 00:15:24.600
explore our upper atmosphere. Later,

330
00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:27.440
they might fly on Mars or other planets. Other

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00:15:27.440 --> 00:15:30.120
possibilities for these sunlight flyers

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00:15:30.120 --> 00:15:32.680
reach far beyond academic curiosity.

333
00:15:33.240 --> 00:15:36.000
First, they could revolutionize how we study Earth's

334
00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:38.280
climate. By attaching sensors to the structures,

335
00:15:38.840 --> 00:15:41.480
scientists could measure pressure, temperature, wind

336
00:15:41.480 --> 00:15:44.200
speed in a region that is usually a blind spot.

337
00:15:44.520 --> 00:15:47.320
This data could sharpen the accuracy of

338
00:15:47.320 --> 00:15:50.180
climate models and help predict weather patterns more

339
00:15:50.180 --> 00:15:53.100
reliably. These devices could also change

340
00:15:53.100 --> 00:15:55.940
communications systems. A group of them

341
00:15:55.940 --> 00:15:58.700
could form floating array of, uh, antennas,

342
00:15:58.940 --> 00:16:01.860
similar to what satellites like Starlink offer,

343
00:16:01.860 --> 00:16:04.700
except closer to Earth, with lower data

344
00:16:04.780 --> 00:16:07.180
delays and potentially cheaper deployment.

345
00:16:07.660 --> 00:16:10.460
The flyers even hold promise for exploring other

346
00:16:10.460 --> 00:16:13.180
planets. Mars, for example. It has

347
00:16:13.180 --> 00:16:16.100
a thin atmosphere similar to Earth's mesosphere.

348
00:16:16.100 --> 00:16:18.870
And that makes makes a natural target for these sun

349
00:16:18.870 --> 00:16:21.470
powered flyers. Unlike traditional

350
00:16:21.470 --> 00:16:24.350
Mars rovers, these devices wouldn't need rotors or

351
00:16:24.350 --> 00:16:27.270
wheels. They would glide silently across the Martian

352
00:16:27.270 --> 00:16:30.230
sky, collecting data or even relaying signals.

353
00:16:30.630 --> 00:16:33.510
I think what makes this research fun is that the

354
00:16:33.510 --> 00:16:35.990
technology would be used to explore an

355
00:16:35.990 --> 00:16:38.510
entirely unexplored, um, region of the

356
00:16:38.510 --> 00:16:40.710
atmosphere. Previously, nothing could

357
00:16:40.710 --> 00:16:43.190
sustainably fly up their shape. Said

358
00:16:43.350 --> 00:16:46.310
it's a bit like the Wild west in terms of applied

359
00:16:46.310 --> 00:16:49.070
physics. The next steps include adding

360
00:16:49.070 --> 00:16:51.430
communication tools to the flyers so they can

361
00:16:51.750 --> 00:16:54.670
send data back to Earth, uh, during a flight. And that would

362
00:16:54.670 --> 00:16:57.350
make them more useful for real time sensing and

363
00:16:57.350 --> 00:17:00.070
monitoring. To bring this technology into the real

364
00:17:00.070 --> 00:17:02.710
world, Shaffer co founded a startup called

365
00:17:02.710 --> 00:17:05.670
rarify Technologies in 2024 along with

366
00:17:05.670 --> 00:17:08.430
Angela Firdhas. The Harvard Office

367
00:17:08.430 --> 00:17:10.970
of Technology Development helped license the individual

368
00:17:11.280 --> 00:17:13.840
invention and offered support for launching the business.

369
00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:16.840
The company's goal is to turn these floating

370
00:17:16.840 --> 00:17:19.760
flyers into a practical tool for science, communication

371
00:17:19.760 --> 00:17:22.640
and exploration. While these flyers may

372
00:17:22.640 --> 00:17:25.320
seem small, the design is built on years of

373
00:17:25.320 --> 00:17:26.800
advanced scientific work.

374
00:17:27.120 --> 00:17:29.920
The structures use a technique called

375
00:17:30.080 --> 00:17:33.040
thermal transpiration, where the air flows from

376
00:17:33.040 --> 00:17:35.760
cold to warm through tiny holes, adding thrust

377
00:17:35.840 --> 00:17:38.530
in thin atmospheres. The research

378
00:17:38.610 --> 00:17:41.490
team also developed a model to predict the best design

379
00:17:41.570 --> 00:17:44.130
for different altitudes. This

380
00:17:44.130 --> 00:17:46.450
includes the ideal number of holes,

381
00:17:46.770 --> 00:17:49.570
their size, and how the membranes are

382
00:17:49.570 --> 00:17:52.370
spaced. Using this model, they created

383
00:17:52.370 --> 00:17:55.210
devices with customized layouts that balanced

384
00:17:55.210 --> 00:17:57.890
strength with performance. In tests, they

385
00:17:57.890 --> 00:18:00.370
measured how different gases some with heavier

386
00:18:00.370 --> 00:18:03.290
molecules affect lift. They found that

387
00:18:03.290 --> 00:18:06.100
the photophoretic forces remain strong even when

388
00:18:06.100 --> 00:18:09.100
using gases with higher molecular weight, opening

389
00:18:09.100 --> 00:18:11.780
doors for future use on various planets and

390
00:18:11.780 --> 00:18:14.780
altitudes. Other floating materials have been

391
00:18:14.780 --> 00:18:17.300
studied before, such as mylar disks or

392
00:18:17.300 --> 00:18:20.220
nanocardboard, but none matched the

393
00:18:20.220 --> 00:18:22.620
power to weight ratio seen in these new

394
00:18:22.620 --> 00:18:25.220
aluminous sandwich structures. Their performance,

395
00:18:25.380 --> 00:18:28.100
measured by how much weight is lifted per watt

396
00:18:28.100 --> 00:18:30.930
of light, puts them at the current top top of

397
00:18:30.930 --> 00:18:33.650
the photophoretic flyers. While the current

398
00:18:33.650 --> 00:18:36.290
payload capacity is small, just 10

399
00:18:36.290 --> 00:18:39.050
milligrams in a 3cm device,

400
00:18:39.610 --> 00:18:42.410
the approach can scale meter. Wide

401
00:18:42.410 --> 00:18:45.210
flyers may one day lift heavier tools into the

402
00:18:45.210 --> 00:18:48.130
mesosphere and beyond by tapping into

403
00:18:48.130 --> 00:18:51.090
this newly accessible region of the sky. These

404
00:18:51.090 --> 00:18:54.090
featherweight flyers may soon carry weather sensors,

405
00:18:54.170 --> 00:18:56.940
emergency communication gear, or even

406
00:18:56.940 --> 00:18:59.860
tiny Mars bound probes. And they'll

407
00:18:59.860 --> 00:19:01.980
do it all with nothing but sunlight.

408
00:19:11.820 --> 00:19:14.380
Thank you for joining us for this Monday edition of

409
00:19:14.380 --> 00:19:17.100
Astronomy Daily, where we offer just a few stories from the now

410
00:19:17.100 --> 00:19:20.100
famous Astronomy Daily newsletter, which you can receive in

411
00:19:20.100 --> 00:19:22.800
your email every day just like like Hallie and I

412
00:19:22.800 --> 00:19:25.440
do. And to do that, just visit our uh, URL

413
00:19:25.520 --> 00:19:28.320
astronomydaily IO and place your

414
00:19:28.320 --> 00:19:31.040
email address in the slot provided. Just like that,

415
00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:34.160
you'll be receiving all the latest news about science,

416
00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:37.040
space science and astronomy from around the world as

417
00:19:37.040 --> 00:19:39.800
it's happening. And not only that, you can interact with

418
00:19:39.800 --> 00:19:41.040
us by visiting

419
00:19:41.840 --> 00:19:44.400
Strodaily Pod on X

420
00:19:44.560 --> 00:19:47.480
or at our new Facebook page, which is, of course

421
00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:50.260
Astronomy Daily on Facebook. See you there.

422
00:19:51.620 --> 00:19:54.500
Astronomy Derby with Steve and Hallie

423
00:19:54.740 --> 00:19:57.060
Space, Space Science and

424
00:19:57.060 --> 00:19:57.780
Astronomy.

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00:20:01.300 --> 00:20:04.100
Hallie: A M research team has used both archival Hubble

426
00:20:04.100 --> 00:20:06.860
Space Telescope data and new observations to

427
00:20:06.860 --> 00:20:09.260
precisely measure the binary star system's

428
00:20:09.260 --> 00:20:11.218
NGC 3603.

429
00:20:11.502 --> 00:20:14.420
A1.1 star weighs about 93

430
00:20:14.420 --> 00:20:17.030
times the mass of our sun, while its companion

431
00:20:17.030 --> 00:20:19.990
tips the scales at roughly 70 solar masses.

432
00:20:20.950 --> 00:20:23.470
Together, they represent one of the most massive

433
00:20:23.470 --> 00:20:25.910
binary systems ever discovered in our

434
00:20:25.910 --> 00:20:28.470
galaxy. What makes this system

435
00:20:28.550 --> 00:20:31.310
truly extraordinary is the speed of their orbital

436
00:20:31.310 --> 00:20:34.270
movement. The two giants orbit each

437
00:20:34.270 --> 00:20:37.150
other once every 3.8 days, meaning that in

438
00:20:37.150 --> 00:20:40.150
the time Earth completes one year around the sun, these

439
00:20:40.150 --> 00:20:43.030
stellar titans will have circled each other nearly 100

440
00:20:43.030 --> 00:20:45.650
times. Their proximity and

441
00:20:45.650 --> 00:20:48.410
incredible masses create a dynamic relationship

442
00:20:48.410 --> 00:20:51.250
that's reshaping both stars. The

443
00:20:51.250 --> 00:20:54.170
discovery required detective work that spanned years

444
00:20:54.170 --> 00:20:57.090
and relied on a crucial insight from an unlikely

445
00:20:57.090 --> 00:21:00.090
source. Sarah Bodansky, then an

446
00:21:00.090 --> 00:21:02.850
undergraduate student at Carleton College, was

447
00:21:02.850 --> 00:21:05.570
working remotely at Lowell Observatory during the

448
00:21:05.570 --> 00:21:08.570
pandemic summer of 2020 when she noticed something

449
00:21:08.570 --> 00:21:10.730
everyone had missed in the older Hubble data.

450
00:21:11.820 --> 00:21:14.420
This observation was key because it revealed the

451
00:21:14.420 --> 00:21:16.940
binary nature of what had appeared to be a single

452
00:21:16.940 --> 00:21:19.700
fuzzy star located in the

453
00:21:19.700 --> 00:21:21.980
densely packed star cluster NGC

454
00:21:21.980 --> 00:21:24.900
3603, which is one of the most active star

455
00:21:24.900 --> 00:21:27.900
forming regions in our galaxy. The system could

456
00:21:27.900 --> 00:21:30.860
only be resolved using Hubble's exceptional clarity.

457
00:21:31.820 --> 00:21:34.700
Both stars are so massive and energetic that

458
00:21:34.700 --> 00:21:37.310
they mimic Wolf Rayet stars, which are typically

459
00:21:37.310 --> 00:21:40.110
older, dying giants that blast away their outer

460
00:21:40.110 --> 00:21:42.150
layers with intense stellar winds.

461
00:21:43.030 --> 00:21:45.070
However, the stars in NGC

462
00:21:45.070 --> 00:21:48.070
360301 are actually still young,

463
00:21:48.310 --> 00:21:51.190
demonstrating the extreme conditions that can make massive

464
00:21:51.190 --> 00:21:54.070
stars appear far more evolved than they actually are.

465
00:21:55.030 --> 00:21:57.790
The interaction between the two stars tells a

466
00:21:57.790 --> 00:22:00.070
fascinating story of stellar evolution.

467
00:22:00.950 --> 00:22:03.750
The smaller of the pair appears to have stolen mass

468
00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:06.960
from its larger companion, causing it to spin faster.

469
00:22:07.040 --> 00:22:09.800
As a result, this kind of mass

470
00:22:09.800 --> 00:22:12.560
transfer is crucial for understanding how massive

471
00:22:12.560 --> 00:22:15.360
stars change over time and provides insights into

472
00:22:15.360 --> 00:22:18.000
their ultimate fate. Massive

473
00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:19.240
binary systems like

474
00:22:19.240 --> 00:22:22.000
NGC3603. One are the

475
00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:24.600
progenitors of binary black holes, which can

476
00:22:24.600 --> 00:22:27.520
eventually merge and create gravitational waves that

477
00:22:27.520 --> 00:22:30.240
scientists have been detecting since 2015.

478
00:22:31.550 --> 00:22:33.910
Understanding these stellar relationships helps

479
00:22:33.910 --> 00:22:36.830
astronomers predict where and when such collisions might

480
00:22:36.830 --> 00:22:39.630
occur. You're listening to Astronomy Daily

481
00:22:39.630 --> 00:22:41.550
the podcast with Steve Dunkley.

482
00:22:46.430 --> 00:22:49.270
Steve Dunkley: Technicians inside a pair of clean rooms in the

483
00:22:49.270 --> 00:22:52.270
astrotech facility in Titusville, Florida, are

484
00:22:52.270 --> 00:22:55.150
busily readying a trio of spacecraft

485
00:22:55.150 --> 00:22:58.100
that will study the sun and its effects on Earth,

486
00:22:58.100 --> 00:23:00.720
uh, and across the solar system. The

487
00:23:00.720 --> 00:23:03.280
primary mission among the Trio is the

488
00:23:03.280 --> 00:23:06.000
NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration

489
00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:08.960
Probe, or IMAP, which will use a suite of 10

490
00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:11.920
instruments to study the Sun's sphere of influence,

491
00:23:12.080 --> 00:23:14.920
referred to as the heliosphere. It's

492
00:23:14.920 --> 00:23:17.400
joined by the Carruthers Geocorona

493
00:23:17.400 --> 00:23:20.360
Observatory, another NASA mission, and the

494
00:23:20.360 --> 00:23:23.240
Space Weather follow on in Lagrange 1,

495
00:23:23.240 --> 00:23:25.670
especially SWFOL 1

496
00:23:25.670 --> 00:23:28.510
Observatory from the national oceanic and

497
00:23:28.510 --> 00:23:31.510
Atmospheric administration, known as NOAA. The

498
00:23:31.510 --> 00:23:34.390
trio will ride atop a SpaceX

499
00:23:34.390 --> 00:23:37.150
Falcon 9 rocket to begin a months

500
00:23:37.150 --> 00:23:40.070
long trip to a celestial parking spot known as

501
00:23:40.070 --> 00:23:42.870
Lagrange 1, roughly a million miles from

502
00:23:42.870 --> 00:23:45.510
Earth en route to the Sun. All three

503
00:23:45.510 --> 00:23:48.510
craft are uh, fueled for launch, which is scheduled

504
00:23:48.510 --> 00:23:51.450
for no earlier than September 23, not too far

505
00:23:51.450 --> 00:23:54.330
away. Joseph Westlake, director of NASA's

506
00:23:54.330 --> 00:23:57.290
Science Mission Directorates, Helios Physics Division,

507
00:23:57.850 --> 00:24:00.770
said recent developments like the total

508
00:24:00.770 --> 00:24:03.610
solar eclipse in 2024, widespread

509
00:24:03.610 --> 00:24:06.170
auroras and marquee missions like Parker

510
00:24:06.170 --> 00:24:08.970
Solar's probe have really put a spotlight

511
00:24:08.970 --> 00:24:11.890
on studying the Sun. You can think about the solar

512
00:24:11.890 --> 00:24:14.810
wind, the space weather as it's coming toward the Earth,

513
00:24:14.810 --> 00:24:17.790
and the measurements that I'm at is going to make of

514
00:24:17.790 --> 00:24:20.430
those particles as they go forward, Westlake said.

515
00:24:20.750 --> 00:24:23.630
And then if you think of the sun as really blowing up

516
00:24:23.630 --> 00:24:26.630
this big bubble of the heliosphere, IMAP is going

517
00:24:26.630 --> 00:24:29.470
to deliver a unique understanding of our home

518
00:24:29.470 --> 00:24:32.390
in space. And so as all of

519
00:24:32.390 --> 00:24:35.310
that comes together, along with the multitude of other missions that

520
00:24:35.310 --> 00:24:38.190
we've launched, even just this year, it's a wonderful time

521
00:24:38.190 --> 00:24:41.150
to be a heliophysicist. David

522
00:24:41.390 --> 00:24:44.350
McComas said even though IMAP is

523
00:24:44.350 --> 00:24:47.030
the third uh, NASA mission for which

524
00:24:47.030 --> 00:24:49.830
he's serving as the principal investigator, the final

525
00:24:49.830 --> 00:24:52.510
pre launch campaign is still a bevy of mixed

526
00:24:52.510 --> 00:24:54.950
emotions. He says, I'm feeling great,

527
00:24:55.350 --> 00:24:58.310
but I'm also feeling terrified because this is that time

528
00:24:58.310 --> 00:25:01.270
when everything comes together and if there's any issue that pops up at the

529
00:25:01.270 --> 00:25:04.150
last minute or any concern, you know, it can set

530
00:25:04.150 --> 00:25:06.710
back the launch and that can be very expensive

531
00:25:07.030 --> 00:25:09.600
and sort of divert the whole team. He said

532
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:12.880
he goes um, on to say as and as it all comes together,

533
00:25:12.880 --> 00:25:15.680
the impact of anything happening gets worse.

534
00:25:16.080 --> 00:25:18.760
So you're kind of afraid of that, but at the same

535
00:25:18.760 --> 00:25:21.640
moment you're just really excited because

536
00:25:21.640 --> 00:25:24.400
you know, in the, the morning of the 23rd,

537
00:25:24.479 --> 00:25:27.360
right at sunrise, we're going to be launching and it's

538
00:25:27.360 --> 00:25:30.240
going to be the most spectacular thing for all of us who spent 10

539
00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:33.080
years or more working on this mission, that's.

540
00:25:33.080 --> 00:25:36.080
That must feel fantastic when that happens. IMAP

541
00:25:36.080 --> 00:25:38.600
is truly a global effort. With input from

542
00:25:38.600 --> 00:25:41.440
35 states and from six partner

543
00:25:41.440 --> 00:25:44.440
countries, more than half of its 12 instruments

544
00:25:44.440 --> 00:25:46.920
will study short term and long term space weather.

545
00:25:47.400 --> 00:25:50.319
Inside one of the Astrotech cleanrooms. Rosanna Smith,

546
00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:53.080
the instrument integration and lead

547
00:25:53.480 --> 00:25:56.440
test lead for imap, adorned in a protective

548
00:25:56.440 --> 00:25:59.320
garment referred to as a bunny suit, said

549
00:25:59.560 --> 00:26:02.370
bringing together the science instruments

550
00:26:02.370 --> 00:26:05.250
from the teams around the world was both very smooth and

551
00:26:05.250 --> 00:26:08.050
a thrill. Working with the instrument teams was

552
00:26:08.050 --> 00:26:10.770
actually awesome because there's 10 institutions, 10

553
00:26:10.770 --> 00:26:13.730
instruments from all over the world. Smith said. We traveled

554
00:26:13.730 --> 00:26:16.530
actually to their reviews, we followed

555
00:26:16.530 --> 00:26:19.490
them through their processes and when they came to

556
00:26:19.490 --> 00:26:22.410
us, we integrated them onto the spacecraft, each one

557
00:26:22.410 --> 00:26:25.050
and it was very, very cool. He sounds really

558
00:26:25.050 --> 00:26:27.650
excited. Amber Dubil, the deputy

559
00:26:27.890 --> 00:26:30.720
mechanical engineer for imap, said that the teams

560
00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:33.480
were doing their final checkouts of the spacecraft.

561
00:26:33.480 --> 00:26:36.360
We're pretty close to done, she says. We're doing final

562
00:26:36.520 --> 00:26:39.320
inspections and then we roll over to

563
00:26:39.960 --> 00:26:42.560
uh mate with our ride shares on the launch

564
00:26:42.560 --> 00:26:43.720
vehicle Duple set.

565
00:26:43.960 --> 00:26:46.080
Similarly to IMAP, NOAA's

566
00:26:46.080 --> 00:26:49.080
SWF O uh L1 observatory will

567
00:26:49.080 --> 00:26:51.840
also be studying space, whether it helps augment

568
00:26:51.840 --> 00:26:54.720
the agency's role in keeping the public and

569
00:26:54.720 --> 00:26:57.390
property safe from all types of weather events.

570
00:26:57.550 --> 00:27:00.310
That is a tough job. Richard Orman,

571
00:27:00.310 --> 00:27:03.230
NOAA Space Weather Observatory observations

572
00:27:03.230 --> 00:27:05.710
director, said one of the key differences between his

573
00:27:05.710 --> 00:27:08.510
agency, spacecraft and IMAPS and CarRuthers

574
00:27:08.590 --> 00:27:11.469
is that SWF O uh L uh 1 is designed

575
00:27:11.469 --> 00:27:14.430
as a science application mission, not a research science

576
00:27:14.430 --> 00:27:17.310
mission. We are looking at the same phenomena

577
00:27:17.630 --> 00:27:20.550
for the application of, uh, being prepared for

578
00:27:20.550 --> 00:27:23.320
the space weather that's going to impact us. Said

579
00:27:23.480 --> 00:27:25.880
we're hoping that these IMAP and

580
00:27:25.880 --> 00:27:28.760
Carruthers will improve our knowledge and make us

581
00:27:28.760 --> 00:27:31.640
able to make better forecasts. But what we're doing here

582
00:27:31.640 --> 00:27:34.520
is the operational forecast the day to day.

583
00:27:34.840 --> 00:27:37.520
Orman said SWFO L1 will be

584
00:27:37.520 --> 00:27:40.480
capable of sending back solar weather data in less than five

585
00:27:40.480 --> 00:27:43.400
minutes and can send alerts of coronal mass ejections

586
00:27:43.720 --> 00:27:46.480
about 15 to 30 minutes prior to them

587
00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:49.440
impacting the Earth. He said that kind of early warning

588
00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:52.200
system can help different industries like utility

589
00:27:52.200 --> 00:27:55.020
companies and airplanes prepare for the interference

590
00:27:55.020 --> 00:27:57.940
from strong solar weather. Uh, rounding

591
00:27:57.940 --> 00:28:00.300
out the trio of spacecraft is Carruthers,

592
00:28:00.620 --> 00:28:03.140
named for Dr. George Carruthers, an

593
00:28:03.140 --> 00:28:05.900
astronautical engineer and astronomer who developed

594
00:28:05.900 --> 00:28:08.820
and built an ultraviolet electrographic

595
00:28:08.820 --> 00:28:11.580
telescope that was flown to the Moon during the Apollo 16

596
00:28:11.660 --> 00:28:14.420
mission. It was designed to help study Earth's,

597
00:28:14.420 --> 00:28:16.660
uh, outermost atmospheric layer, the

598
00:28:16.660 --> 00:28:19.470
exosphere, or geocorona. This

599
00:28:19.470 --> 00:28:22.070
geocorona, the edge of our atmosphere that

600
00:28:22.070 --> 00:28:24.990
extends to at least halfway to the Moon. We don't

601
00:28:24.990 --> 00:28:27.510
even know its shape or size, said Kelly

602
00:28:27.590 --> 00:28:30.390
Carruthers, program scientists.

603
00:28:30.390 --> 00:28:32.950
It's really very meaningful to have this

604
00:28:33.030 --> 00:28:35.910
mission named after him because he's the one who pioneered

605
00:28:35.910 --> 00:28:38.910
the technology. Like the other two missions, Carruthers

606
00:28:38.910 --> 00:28:41.830
will also study space weather, specifically

607
00:28:41.830 --> 00:28:44.790
its interplay with this exosphere and

608
00:28:44.790 --> 00:28:47.030
how well it can dissipate the energy from solar

609
00:28:47.420 --> 00:28:50.420
storms. Correct said. It can also provide insight

610
00:28:50.420 --> 00:28:53.260
into some key differences between Earth, uh, and Mars.

611
00:28:53.500 --> 00:28:56.500
We saw that on Mars, water was lost through its

612
00:28:56.500 --> 00:28:59.140
exosphere and now it's kind of barren

613
00:28:59.140 --> 00:29:02.060
desert. No, uh, water. Correct said. How does that

614
00:29:02.060 --> 00:29:04.860
change? What's the difference to our sphere

615
00:29:04.860 --> 00:29:07.820
versus Mars? And then what does that say for life

616
00:29:07.820 --> 00:29:10.780
on other planets outside, uh, our solar system?

617
00:29:12.790 --> 00:29:15.510
You're listening to Astronomy Daily, the podcast

618
00:29:15.590 --> 00:29:18.470
with your host Steve Dudley at BermaTech.

619
00:29:26.150 --> 00:29:29.070
Oh, and that's all there is today on Astronomy Daily. And

620
00:29:29.070 --> 00:29:31.910
when I say that's all, it was a pretty long edition

621
00:29:31.910 --> 00:29:33.150
today, so.

622
00:29:33.150 --> 00:29:35.790
Hallie: Glad you stayed with us. It was a bumper edition.

623
00:29:35.790 --> 00:29:37.510
Steve Dunkley: Yes, there's always plenty of stories.

624
00:29:37.750 --> 00:29:40.520
Hallie: And don't forget to sign up for the Astronomy Daily

625
00:29:40.520 --> 00:29:41.160
newsletter.

626
00:29:41.240 --> 00:29:43.200
Steve Dunkley: Oh, yes, do that there's so much.

627
00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:44.280
Hallie: More to see every day.

628
00:29:44.280 --> 00:29:47.160
Steve Dunkley: Yes, that's right. You'll be better informed than Hallie. Just

629
00:29:47.160 --> 00:29:49.400
put your email address in the slot provided over at

630
00:29:49.400 --> 00:29:52.320
astronomydaily IO. Uh, it's that simple. And

631
00:29:52.320 --> 00:29:55.239
I do hope we'll see you all again next Monday for the mostly live

632
00:29:55.239 --> 00:29:56.840
episode of Astronomy Daily.

633
00:29:56.840 --> 00:29:59.680
Hallie: And in the meantime, Anna and that Avery guy.

634
00:29:59.680 --> 00:30:01.880
Steve Dunkley: That Avery guy? Oh, come on, Hallie.

635
00:30:01.880 --> 00:30:04.440
Hallie: Okay, that nice new guy, Avery,

636
00:30:04.600 --> 00:30:07.320
will keep you informed with all the news about space.

637
00:30:07.640 --> 00:30:10.310
Space science and astronomy and beyond, of course.

638
00:30:10.700 --> 00:30:13.420
Steve Dunkley: Sounds good to me. See you all next Monday. Cheerio.

639
00:30:13.420 --> 00:30:13.900
Hallie: Bye.

640
00:30:18.380 --> 00:30:20.460
Voice Over Guy: With your host, Steve Dunkley.