Tiny Robots, Alien Caves: NASA's Plan for Titan

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Anna: Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Astronomy

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AstroDailyPod. I'm Anna.

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Avery: And I'm Avery. And Anna, uh, I feel like we

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need to issue a weather warning today. A

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space weather warning.

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Anna: Very on brand for us. It's Monday,

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August 17th, series five, episode

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169. And yes, there is genuinely

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a solar storm rolling in as we speak, though.

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Uh, we'll get to that.

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Avery: We will. But first, our main storey today

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is one of my favourites in a while. NASA just

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funded a concept for little spherical robots

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to go exploring the caves

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Anna: of Titan, which sounds like science fiction

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and is, in fact, just science.

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Avery: Just science. Then we've got SpaceX

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quietly breaking its own launch record twice

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in one night, 38 minutes apart.

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Rocket Lab picking up its biggest defence

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contract yet for something called flat

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alights, which is a genuinely fun word to

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say. And then we'll close out with that solar

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storm, because depending on where you live,

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you might want to look up

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Anna: tonight, a very Monday lineup. Let's get

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into it.

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Avery: Okay, so start us off. What exactly did

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NASA fund here?

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Anna: So this is a, uh, NASA Innovative Advanced

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Concepts Grant, NIAC for short. That's

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NASA's Programme for Funding the genuinely

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weird early stage. This might not work, but

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if it does, it's a game changer. Ideas. And

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the one that just got a phase one grant is

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called sparc, which stands for Solid State

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Propulsion for Autonomous Reconnaissance of

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Karst. Karst being

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Karst is the geology term for terrain

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shaped by dissolving rock on Earth. That's

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usually limestone, and it's what gives you

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sinkholes, underground rivers, cave systems,

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all of that. Titan, Saturn's biggest

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moon, has its own version, except instead of

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water carving through limestone, it's liquid

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methane and ethane carving through water ice,

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which behaves like rock at Titan's

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temperatures.

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Avery: Right, because it's what, minus

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179 degrees Celsius out there?

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Anna: Roughly, yeah. Properly cryogenic.

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So Titan's got these liquid methane lakes and

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rivers on the surface, and scientists think

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underneath there's a whole hidden landscape

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of sinkholes and caves, the same way you'd

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get in, say, Kentucky or Slovenia, just

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running on an entirely different chemistry.

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Avery: Um, and that's the terrain a normal rover

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just can't deal with.

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Anna: Exactly. You can't drive a wheeled rover into

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a cave mouth or over a sinkhole edge. And

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flying a fixed rotorcraft in there is its own

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nightmare of collision risk. So the team

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behind sparc, led by Daniel Drew, an

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assistant professor at the University of

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Hawaii, working with Ethan Schaller and Jacob

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Israelovitz at JPL and Michael

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Molaska at the Blue Marble Space Institute of

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Science came up with something different.

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Small spherical robots that basically fly

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themselves through the terrain using electric

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propulsion. No propellers, no moving parts to

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break.

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Avery: No moving parts. So how do they actually

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move?

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Anna: This is the clever bit. It's called

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electrohydrodynamic propulsion, or

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ehd. It's a solid state electric

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thruster, similar in principle to the ion

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windlifters people have been experimenting

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with here on Earth for years. Except this

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team is adapting it for Titan's specific

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atmosphere. Drew's own description of the

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advantage is basically the whole pitch. He

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says the design gives you persistence,

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manoeuvrability, robustness to the

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challenging near cryogenic conditions, and

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minimises downwash disturbance of, uh,

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scientifically important hydrocarbon

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layering.

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Avery: Break that last bit down for me. Downwash

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disturbance.

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Anna: So if you fly a normal propeller drone into

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one of these caves, the propwash, the air

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it's pushing down and around would stir up

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and disturb the very hydrocarbon layers on

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the ground that scientists want to study

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undisturbed. A solid state thruster

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barely moves the surrounding atmosphere in

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the same way, so it can hover and inspect a

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site without messing up the science.

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Avery: That's such a specific, very tightened

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problem to have to design around.

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Anna: It really is. And it's a good reminder that

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Titan is nothing like Mars M with the Moon.

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In terms of engineering constraints, it

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actually works in the aerobots favour in one

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big way, though. Titan's atmosphere is denser

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than Earth's at the surface and gravity is

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only about a seventh of Earth's. So flying

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there is weirdly easier than flying

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here. You get more lift for less power.

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Avery: So it's almost the perfect place to fly a

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fleet of tiny spherical drones. Other than

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the fact that it's over a billion kilometres

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kilometres away and colder than anywhere on

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Earth has ever been.

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Anna: Just a few small logistical issues.

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But it's not the first time JPL's circled

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this exact problem either. There was an

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earlier concept called shapeshifter

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cobots that could roll as a sphere, fly

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independently, link into daisy chains to

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descend into caves, or reconfigure into

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a swimming probe for the lakes. That one

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dates back to around 2019, led by

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JPL's Ali Aga, and it never

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fl but it shows. This has been a recurring

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puzzle for mission planners. How do you

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actually get eyes into Titan's caves

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and under its lake surfaces?

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Avery: So SPARC is sort of the next generation

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attempt at solving the same problem, right?

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Anna: A ah, more focused, more mature approach to a

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piece of that puzzle. And in terms of where

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this sits right now, this is a NIAC Phase

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1 award, which is nine months of funding to

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mature the concept and prove out the physics.

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If it clears that bar, it can apply for a two

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year phase two grant. This is very early

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stage. We're talking design studies and lab

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testing, not hardware headed to the launch

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pad.

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Avery: Is there any actual mission this could hook

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into or is it purely conceptual?

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Anna: For now, the obvious one people are asking

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about is Dragonfly. That's NASA's

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rotorcraft lander that's actually built and

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funded targeting a Titan launch around

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2028. Drew's been fairly

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upfront that integration with Dragonfly

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specifically isn't confirmed. This is really

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a technology maturation project first

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looking for a ride on whatever future Titan

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mission makes sense, which could be an add on

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to Dragonfly or something entirely separate

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down the line.

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Avery: Why does any of this matter? Beyond tiny

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robot spheres are cool though, like

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scientifically. What's actually at stake in

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those caves?

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Anna: A few things. One basic geology.

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Understanding how karst terrain forms in an

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entirely different chemical system tells us a

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lot about how erosion and landscape evolution

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work in general, not just on Titan

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2. And this is the bigger one. Titan's

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subsurface, especially anywhere liquid

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water might mix with those organic

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hydrocarbons, is one of the more interesting

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astrobiology targets in the solar system.

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It's not Europa or Enceladus with their

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subsurface oceans, but Titan has its

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own complex organic chemistry happening on

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the surface and possibly just beneath it.

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And caves are exactly the kind of sheltered,

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chemically rich environment where you'd want

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to look closely.

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Avery: Tiny spherical robots floating into

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alien sinkholes, hunting for the building

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blocks of life. When you put it that way,

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it's, uh, a pretty great pitch for nine

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months of NIAC funding.

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Anna: It really is. And this is exactly the kind of

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storey I love bringing you because 90%

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of these NIAC Phase 1 concepts never

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fly. But the ones that do reshape

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entire mission architectures years later.

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Worth keeping an eye on SPARC as it moves

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through a view.

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Avery: Okay, moving on from tiny robots on

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Titan to something happening a lot closer to

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home. SpaceX broke its own turnaround record

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this weekend.

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Anna: Twice in one night, and not by a little.

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Avery: So Saturday night, August 15th, SpaceX

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launched two separate Falcon 9 missions from

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opposite coasts just 38 minutes apart.

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First one lifted off at 9:12pm, um, eastern

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from Cape Canaveral's Space Force Station in

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Florida, carrying eight Global Star

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telecommunications satellites deployed over

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about a six minute span. Then at

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9:50pm Eastern. So barely more than half

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an hour later, A second Falcon 9 went up from

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Vandenberg Space Force Base in California,

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carrying a classified U.S. space Force

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mission called USSF 366.

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Anna: Classified as in we don't fully know what's

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on it.

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Avery: Right. Though the reporting suggests it's

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likely built on the Starshield platform.

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That's SpaceX's national security variant of

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Starlink. But the headline here isn't really

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the payloads, it's the timing. 38

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minutes between liftoffs from two different

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coasts beat SpaceX's own previous record

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of 65 minutes, which was set back in August

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2024.

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Anna: So they shaved 27 minutes off their

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Avery: own record, which doesn't sound like much

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until you think about what has to happen in

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that window. Different pads, different

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states, different mission control teams,

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weather, range, safety clearances, all of

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it lining up almost simultaneously.

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Anna: And both boosters landed successfully too,

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right?

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Avery: Both stuck the landing. The Global Star

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Booster completed its 14th flight and the

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USSF 366 booster landed on the drone

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ship. Of Course I Still Love youe Out in the

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Pacific. That one was on its 18th flight.

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Anna: 18 flights on a single booster is

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wild to say out loud. And now it's just

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Tuesday. Well, Saturday.

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Avery: Just another day at the office for Falcon 9.

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And that's really the bigger storey

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underneath the record. This pushes SpaceX's

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2026 tally to 96 Falcon

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9 launches so far this year, with

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roughly three quarters of those dedicated to

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building out the Starlink constellation.

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Anna: 96 launches and we're not even through

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August.

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Avery: At, uh, that pace, they're on track to

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comfortably beat last year's total. It's

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honestly gone to the point where a single

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Falcon 9 launch barely makes news anymore.

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It takes something like 2 and 38 minutes from

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opposite coasts to actually stand

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Anna: out, which says a lot about how normalised

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orbital class rocket launches have become in

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the space of about a decade.

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Avery: It really does. We'll keep watching to see

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how long that 38 minute record holds, because

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at, uh, this cadence, I wouldn't bet on it

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lasting past the end of the year.

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Anna: Speaking of defence contracts and companies

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racing to build out Constellations, Rocket

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Lab just landed its biggest one yet.

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Avery: I need everyone to appreciate that name for a

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second.

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Anna: It's a great name. So this is a

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$397 million contract from

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the US Space Force awarded earlier this month

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for Rocket Lab to build and launch a batch of

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satellites called Flat Alights. Flat

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Panel Satellites, hence the name for a

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programme called SBAMTI M

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Space based Airborne Moving Target

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Indicator.

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Avery: Which is exactly what it sounds like tracking

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moving airborne threats from space.

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Anna: Right. It's about building a space based

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sensing layer that can watch contested

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airspace in near real time. Rocket Lab

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CEO Peter Beck put it this way. He said

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we are proud to contribute to the deployment

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of a resilient space based sensing layer

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that will enhance the Joint Force's ability

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to operate in contested airspace.

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Avery: And um, the flat design is the interesting

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engineering choice here is flat

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panel

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Anna: satellites stack far more efficiently inside

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a rocket fairing than traditional boxy

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satellite designs. So you can pack a lot more

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of them per launch. It's the same basic logic

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SpaceX used when it redesigned Starlink into

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a flat pack form factor. Each flat

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alight is also fitted with low latency high

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bandwidth communications alongside its threat

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detection sensors. So the whole constellation

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can talk to itself and to the ground quickly.

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Avery: Um, and these are flying on Neutron Rocket

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Lab's new rocket, the one we were just

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talking about on Thursday's episode that's

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still hedging on a 2026 debut.

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Anna: Exactly the same Neutron. So there's a

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nice bit of continuity here. The rocket

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itself still doesn't have a confirmed first

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flight date, but customers keep signing up to

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fly on it anyway, stacked in a Starlink

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style configuration once it does get off the

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ground.

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Avery: That's either a huge vote of confidence or a

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slightly nerve wracking amount of manifests

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riding on a rocket that hasn't flown yet.

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Anna: A bit of both, honestly. But it does make

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sense in context. This is Rocket Lab's

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largest defence contract to date, and it's

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not their only one this year. Add up the

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other government contracts they've announced

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in 2026. 190 million,

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90 million and $266

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million. And combined with this deal of

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397 million, that's

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$943 million in defence

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funding secured this year alone.

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Avery: Just shy of a billion dollars all in

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2026.

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Anna: Which tells you Rocket Lab's strategy of

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leaning hard into national security work

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alongside Electron's commercial track record

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is really paying off. It's positioning them

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as a legitimate second option to the primes

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in this space, not just a smaller player

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nipping at SpaceX's heels.

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Avery: Reputation and revenue building up nicely

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while Neutron itself is still on the ground.

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We'll see if that first flight finally

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happens before the manifest gets too long to

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wait for.

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Okay, last storey for today and this one's

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genuinely live. As we're recording, there's a

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geomagnetic Storm expected to hit Earth

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today, August 17th.

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Anna: This is the space weather warning I teased at

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the top.

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Avery: It is. So the setup is a double coronal

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mass ejection, 2 CMEs combined with the high

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speed solar windstream all heading our way.

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Forecasters including the British Geological

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survey are predicting G1 to G2 level

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geomagnetic storming. So minor to

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moderate on the scale that runs up to G5.

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Anna: And the timing, when's this actually supposed

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to arrive?

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Avery: The geomagnetic background's already been a

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bit unsettled since yesterday the 16th. But

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the main impact is expected in the second

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half of today as the bulk of that solar

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material reaches Earth.

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Anna: So basically tonight, depending on your time

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Avery: zone, basically tonight, and the fun part for

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listeners is the aurora. Potential

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forecasters are calling for possible displays

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at high latitudes based on similar recent

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storms this season. Uh, that's put places

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like Scotland, Northern England, Northern

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Ireland, Alaska, Canada and the

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northern tier of the U.S. from Washington

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state to Maine in the potential viewing zone.

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And in the Southern hemisphere, keep an eye

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out if you're in southern New Zealand or

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Tasmania.

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Anna: Solid excuse to step outside tonight if

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you're anywhere in that band.

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Avery: Definitely worth a look. This is coming off a

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pretty active stretch from the sun generally

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one active region in particular. Sunspot

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AR4507 fired off

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at least 10 C class flares in a single

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24 hour window between the 15th and

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16th including the strongest one, a uh,

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C3.7 right around

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3:31 UTC on the 16th.

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Anna: O M, M or X class flares in that batch.

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So nothing extreme but a genuinely busy sun

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which tracks.

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Avery: We're in an active phase of the current 11

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year solar cycle and there's been a steady

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run of filament eruptions, flares and Earth

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directed CMEs over the past few months. This

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is very much part of that pattern, not uh, a

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one off.

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Anna: I did see one slightly funny detail

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in the coverage Space weather experts

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advising that people who are sensitive to

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weather changes or who have cardiovascular

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conditions might want to keep stress low,

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stay hydrated and go easy on caffeine and

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alcohol

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Avery: during the storm, which is genuinely sound

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advice regardless of what the sun's doing.

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But sure, blame uh, it on the cme.

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Anna: Also worth flagging. Forecast models don't

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fully agree yet on exact timing, so

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this could still arrive a little later or

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even end up being more of a glancing blow

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than a direct hit. Space weather forecasting

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is still much fuzzier than the terrestrial

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kind, so no guarantees,

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Avery: but if you're in the right latitude band and

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the sky's clear tonight. It's worth stepping

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outside and looking up,

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Anna: which is basically our whole show in one

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sentence.

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Alright, that's our four storeys for today.

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Quick recap. NASA's funded an early stage

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concept called Sparc. Spherical propeller

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free aerobots that one day fly into the

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methane carved caves of Titan.

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SpaceX broke its own launch turnaround record

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with two Falcon 9 missions just 38

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minutes apart from opposite coasts, Rocket

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Lab landed a $397 million

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Space Force contract to build flat satellites

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for airborne threat tracking. And there's a

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geomagnetic storm arriving today that could

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bring Aurora to parts of the northern and

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southern high latitudes tonight.

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Avery: If you enjoyed today's episode, the best

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thing you can do for us is leave a rating or

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00:17:14.260 --> 00:17:16.300
review wherever you're listening and share

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00:17:16.300 --> 00:17:18.780
the episode with a fellow space nerd. You can

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find full show notes, sources and links for

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00:17:21.260 --> 00:17:22.980
every storey we covered today at

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00:17:22.980 --> 00:17:25.700
astronomydaily IO and find us on social

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00:17:25.700 --> 00:17:28.580
media. We're AstroDaily Pod pretty

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00:17:28.580 --> 00:17:29.300
much everywhere.

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Anna: We'll be back tomorrow with another episode.

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Until then, keep looking up. Tonight

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especially.

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Avery: See you next then. Um, clear skies.