Tatooine's Real-Life Planets, ISS History Unveiled, and Sake Brewing on the Moon

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Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your

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source for the latest news from our solar

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system and beyond. I'm your host,

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Anna.

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Avery: And I'm Avery. It's great to have you with

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us. We've got plenty of news for you today,

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Anna. We're going from science fiction made m

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real to some fascinating problem solving on

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the red planet.

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Anna: That's right on the docket today. The

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discovery of a real life Tatooine like

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system with not one, but three Earth

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sized planets orbiting two suns.

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Avery: an incredible find. Then we'll tell you how

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you can explore 25 years of international

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space station history in real time. We'll

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also cover this week's launch roundup and

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then head to Mars, where a long standing

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mystery about its sand dunes has finally been

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solved by a surprising culprit.

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Anna: And to top it all off, we'll discuss a

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Japanese startup's rather unique

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plan to bring a taste of home to future

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lunar colonists by brewing sake

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on the moon.

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Avery: You heard that right, Sake on the moon. Let's

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get started.

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Anna: Our first story takes us 190 light

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years away to a binary star system

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named TOI2267.

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For anyone who grew up watching Star wars and

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dreaming of seeing a double sunset, this

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news is for you. Scientists have just

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discovered 3 earth sized

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exoplanets in this system.

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Avery: And this isn't just a fantasy anymore. The

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truly remarkable thing here is how these

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planets are arranged.

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Anna: Exactly. This is the very first time that

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transiting planets have been found orbiting

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both stars in such a compact binary

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system. Usually we find

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circumbinary planets which orbit far

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away from both stars at once.

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Avery: Right? Or we find a planet orbiting just one

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of the stars with the second star much

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further away. But this is different. This is

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close and complex.

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Anna: It is, and that's why it's challenging our

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existing models of planet formation. The

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gravitational environment around a, close

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binary star system is thought to be

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incredibly chaotic. The intense,

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shifting gravitational forces should make it

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very difficult for stable rocky

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planets like these to form and maintain their

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orbits.

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Avery: So finding three of them, all roughly the

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size of Earth, suggests that planet formation

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might be more resilient and happen in more

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diverse environments than we previously

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imagined.

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Anna: It really does. It forces theorists

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back to the drawing board to figure out the

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mechanics. And while we don't know if these

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planets are habitable, just imagining

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standing on one of their surfaces and

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watching two suns move across the sky

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is absolutely mind boggling.

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Avery: Alright, let's bring it back closer to home

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to our own outpost in low Earth orbit. The

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International Space station. For over 25

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years, humanity has had a continuous

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presence. And now there's a new way to

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experience that history.

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Anna: Yes, this is a truly amazing

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project. It's a new website called ISS

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in Real Time, and it's essentially a

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living archive of life aboard the station.

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Avery: It was created by NASA software engineer Ben

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Feast and designer Chris Charney. They've

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painstakingly compiled publicly available

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data from the entire history of the station.

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We're talking mission data, audio

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communications between the crew and mission

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control, every photo ever taken by the

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astronauts, and countless hours of video.

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Anna: That's an astonishing amount of data to

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wrangle. So how does it work?

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Avery: It's all organized into an interactive

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timeline. You can jump to any specific day

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or mission, from the very first module launch

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to yesterday's science experiments. You can

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listen to the actual audio of a spacewalk as

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it happened, see the photos the astronauts

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were taking at that moment, and track the

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station's position over Earth.

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Anna: It provides such a comprehensive, unfiltered

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look at what life is actually like in space.

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It's not just the big dramatic moments, it's

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the day to day work. The conversations, the

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quiet moments, looking out the cupola. It's

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an invaluable tool for historians,

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researchers, and frankly, anyone who's

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inspired by space exploration. A true digital

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monument. You can find the

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site@issinrealtime.org if

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you'd like to check it out. I'll leave a link

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in the show notes as well.

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Avery: Speaking of getting to space, let's move on

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to our launch roundup for the week. It's a

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very busy period for launch providers around

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the world.

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Anna: It certainly has. SpaceX, as

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usual, has a packed schedule.

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Avery: That's right, they're launching three

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separate Falcon 9 missions carrying batches

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of their Starlink satellites, continuing to

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build out their global Internet

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constellation.

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Anna: Over in China, there will be a major crewed

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launch. The Shenzhou 21 mission

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is sending three taikonauts to the Tiangong

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space station for a six month stay,

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continuing the steady crew rotation and

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scientific work aboard their orbital lab.

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Avery: SpaceX is also in the rideshare business this

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week with their Bandwagon 4 mission scheduled

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for Sunday. It's like a spacebound carpool

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carrying a whole host of smaller satellites

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for various customers into orbit on a single

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rocket. This mission will mark the

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140th Falcon 9 mission of 2025,

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the 558th overall Falcon 9

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mission, and SpaceX's

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585th mission of all time.

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Anna: And finally, the Indian Space Research

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Organization is scheduled to launch the CMS

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M03 mission atop its launch

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vehicle Mark 3 or LVM3

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rocket on Sunday at 10:30

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UTC. The payload will be the GSAT

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7R, a crucial naval communication

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satellite that will enhance India's maritime

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security and communication capabilities.

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All seven missions the LVM3 has flown

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since 2014 have been successful.

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This mission will mark the eighth LVM UM3

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mission, the first of 2025 and

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ISRO's 100th mission overall.

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Furthermore, this mission will be the

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254th orbital launch attempt

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worldwide in 2025. A truly

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global week in space.

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Avery: Now let's journey to our planetary neighbor,

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Mars. For decades, scientists have been

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intrigued by mysterious winding gullies that

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appear on some of Mars massive sand dunes. A

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leading theory was that they were carved by

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flowing liquid water. But the evidence was

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never conclusive.

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Anna: Right, and finding liquid water would be a

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monumental discovery in the search for past

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our present life. But a new study published

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in Nature suggests a much colder and

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frankly a much cooler explanat.

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It turns out the culprit is likely sliding

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blocks of dry ice, which is solid

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carbon dioxide. The Martian atmosphere is

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rich in CO2 and in the winter it

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freezes and falls as snow, forming

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slabs of this dry ice on the dunes.

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Avery: So how does a block of ice carve a channel?

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It sounds counterintuitive.

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Anna: Well, researchers conducted some clever

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laboratory experiments that simulated the

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conditions on Mars. As the seasons change

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and the sun warms, the ice blocks, they don't

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melt, they sublimate, turning directly from a

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solid into a gas. This gas gets

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trapped underneath the sliding block.

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Avery: Ah, so it creates a cushion of gas like an

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air hockey table.

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Anna: Precisely. The pressure builds up,

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causing the block to levitate slightly and

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slide down the dune at high speed. As it

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moves, the escaping gas blasts away the

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sand beneath it, carving out those

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distinctive sinuous gullies.

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Avery: So it's not water, it's gas propelled ice

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leads re sculpting the Martian landscape.

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That's a fantastic piece of planetary science

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detective work. It shows us that Mars is

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still a dynamic active planet, even if its

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processes are very different from Earth's.

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And now for our final story, which proves

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that the future of space exploration isn't

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just about rockets and rovers. It's also

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about culture. Anna, have you ever considered

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what the first alcoholic beverage brewed off

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world might be?

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Anna: I can't say I have. I might have guessed

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beer perhaps. But I have a feeling that's

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not the right answer.

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Avery: Not according to one Japanese startup. They

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are making serious plans to brew sake

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on the moon.

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Anna: Sake on the moon. That's

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certainly ambitious. Is this a

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gimmick or is there a scientific purpose?

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Avery: It's both. The primary scientific goal is

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to study how the lunar environment

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affects the delicate process of fermentation.

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The lower gravity, about 16 of Earth's,

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and the higher radiation levels could have

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unpredictable effects on the yeast and the

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final product.

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Anna: That's a fascinating astrobiology

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experiment, really. They'll need a

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specialized miniature fermentation chamber

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and a very robust strain of yeast

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to pull it off.

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Avery: They're working on all of that. But beyond

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the science, the company has a broader

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vision. They talk about humanizing life in

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space. The idea is that for humans to

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truly live and thrive on other worlds, we

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need to bring more than just technology. We

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need to bring our culture, our traditions,

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and our comforts.

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Anna: That makes a lot of sense. It connects

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future lunar inhabitants back to their home

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planet. They're aiming to produce the first

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batch by 2030, which aligns with

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NASA's Artemis missions, returning humans to

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the moon. It's a wonderful intersection of

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cutting edge science and ancient tradition.

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Avery: And that's all the cosmic news we have time

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for today. From planets with two suns to

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a brewery on the moon, the universe never

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fails to surprise and inspire.

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Anna: If you want to read more about any of the

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stories we covered today, you can find links

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and further information on our website at.

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Ah.astronomydaily.IO we'd like to

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thank you for joining us.

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Avery: I'm Avery.

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Anna: And I'm Anna. Until next time, keep looking

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up.