Weekend Wrap: Mars Slingshot, Dragon Launch, Cosmic Web, Dracula's Chivito, Starship V3 & More

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Anna: Good morning, good afternoon, or good

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evening, wherever in the world you're

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listening. It's Saturday, and that means it's

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time for the Astronomy Daily weekend space

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and astronomy news rep. I'm Anna.

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Avery: And I'm, um, Avery. Each week we take a look

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back at the biggest stories from across the

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past seven days. And today we've got two

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fresh off the press headlines, four of the

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week's most important stories, and a little

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bonus to round things off.

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Anna: It has been a genuinely spectacular week

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in space. Let's get into it.

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Avery: We're going to start with something that

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happened literally yesterday. And it's the

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kind of moment that reminds you just how

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extraordinary space exploration really is.

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Anna: NASA's Psyche spacecraft completed a, uh,

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gravity assist flyby of Mars on Friday,

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skimming just 2,800 miles above the

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planet's surface at over 12,000 miles per

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hour.

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Avery: Now, for context, Psyche launched back in

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October 2023 on a 2.2

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billion mile journey to reach its namesake

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asteroid 16 Psyche, a metal

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rich rock in the asteroid belt that

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scientists believe may hold clues about how

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the cores of planets like Earth first formed.

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Anna: And rather than burn through propellant to

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get there, the mission used Mars as a

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slingshot, borrowing the planet's

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gravitational energy to boost Psyche's speed

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and bend its trajectory toward the asteroid.

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Avery: The numbers are remarkable. In the days

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leading up to closest approach, Psyche was

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traveling at around 46,500

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miles per hour relative to the Sun. After the

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flyby that jumped over 52,000

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Anna: miles per hour, three speeds courtesy of

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Mars.

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Avery: And while Psyche was in the neighborhood, the

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science team wasn't just watching. They used

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the opportunity to calibrate the spacecraft's

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imager for the first time using Mars as a

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target. And they also fired up the other

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science instruments. There's even a chance

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the cameras may have captured evidence of

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Mars faint dusty ring formed by

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micrometeorites striking Phobos and Deimos.

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Anna: The time lapse imagery is still being

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compiled, so more to come on that front. Next

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stop for Psyche, the asteroid belt. With

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arrival at asteroid psyche expected in

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Avery: 2029, a, uh, spacecraft worth an

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estimated $10 quadrillion in

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asteroid real estate. Though I suspect we're

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not going to be mining it anytime soon.

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Anna: Not quite, but what a journey it already is.

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Avery: Also happening yesterday, SpaceX, uh, finally

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got the CRS 34 mission off the ground

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after not one, but two weather scrubs earlier

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in the week.

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Anna: Third time's a charm. A Falcon 9 rocket

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lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 6:05 in the

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evening. Eastern time on Friday, carrying a

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Dragon cargo spacecraft loaded with around

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£6,500 of supplies and science

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experiments bound for the International Space

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Station station.

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Avery: And it's actually a record breaking flight.

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This particular Dragon capsule is making its

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sixth flight to the iss. That's the most

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flights any cargo Dragon has ever made.

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Anna: Now here's the live angle for our weekend

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listeners. Dragon is due to dock autonomously

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to the station's Harmony module at around 7

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in the morning tomorrow, Sunday the 17th. So

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if you're up early, you may actually be able

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to catch that docking coverage live on NASA.

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Avery: Among the science heading upstairs,

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experiments studying how bacteria behave in

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microgravity, a, uh, bone scaffold made from

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wood that could lead to new treatments for

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osteoporosis, equipment to monitor space

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weather's effect on Earth's power grids and

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satellites, and research into how red blood

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cells change in the space environment.

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Anna: The Dragon is set to stay docked until mid

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June before returning with time sensitive

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research samples.

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Avery: The expedition's 74 crew, including Commander

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Jessica Meir and ESA astronaut Sophie

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Adeno, will

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Anna: the unpacking honors busy times on the iss.

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Let's now take a look at the biggest stories

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from across the past seven days.

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Avery: Time now for our four story weekly wrap. The

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biggest, most important space and astronomy

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stories from the past seven days. Anna, uh,

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where do we start?

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Anna: We start with the Universe's skeleton and

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the most detailed look anyone has ever taken

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at it.

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Avery: Scientists using NASA's James Webb Telescope

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have produced the most detailed map ever made

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of what astronomers call the cosmic web. The

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vast skeleton like structure of dark matter

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filaments and sheets that forms the

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underlying architecture of the entire

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universe.

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Anna: Imagine a uh, giant three dimensional

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spider's web stretching across all of space

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with galaxies and galaxy clusters sitting

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at the intersections and along the threads,

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while enormous empty voids lie in

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between. That's the cosmic web.

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Avery: Led by researchers at the University of

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California, Riverside, the team used

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Cosmos Webb, uh, the largest survey program

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ever conducted by JWST, to chart more

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than 164,000 galaxies

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across 13.7 billion years of cosmic

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history. They traced this structure all the

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way back to when the universe was just 1

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billion years old.

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Anna: One of the lead researchers described the

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jump in detail as truly significant,

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saying they can now see the cosmic web at a

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time when the universe was just a few hundred

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million years old. An era that was

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essentially out of reach before jwst.

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Avery: What used to look like a single smooth

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structure when viewed by Hubble now resolves

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into many separate components. Details that

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were blurred before are now clearly visible.

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Anna: And in a wonderful commitment to open

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science, the team has released everything

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publicly. The full pipeline, the galaxy

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catalog, and even a video showing the cosmic

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web evolving across billions of years.

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Avery: The skeleton of the universe. And now anyone

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can explore it. Published this week in the

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Astrophysical Journal.

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Anna: Now to a story with possibly the best name

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in the history of space.

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Dracula's Civito.

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Avery: I cannot think of a better name for a planet

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nursery.

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Anna: Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space

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Telescope have imaged the largest

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protoplanetary disk ever observed around a

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young star. The system is known officially

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as

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IRAS2307767,

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but its researchers have nicknamed it

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Dracula's Civito. One researcher is from

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Transylvania, another is from Uruguay, where

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a, uh, civito is

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Avery: a popular sandwich science at its finest.

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Anna: The disk is located about a thousand light

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years from Earth and stretches nearly 400

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billion miles across, roughly 40

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times the diameter of our own solar system,

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all the way out to the Kuiper Belt.

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Avery: And what Hubble has revealed is that this

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disk is not the calm, orderly structure

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astronomers expected planet nurseries to be.

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It's chaotic, turbulent, enormous

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wisps of gas and dust shoot vertically above

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and below the disk's central plane, far

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further than anything seen in a similar

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system.

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Anna: And strangely, these dramatic features

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only appear on one side of the disk. The

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other side cuts off sharply with nothing

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that bizarre asymmetry scientists cannot

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yet fully explain. Perhaps a sudden

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influx of material, perhaps gravitational

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interactions with the surrounding

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environment.

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Avery: The disk contains between 10 and 30 times

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the mass of Jupiter, enough raw material to

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potentially build several gas giant planets.

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Scientists think it may be an oversized,

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super chaotic version of what our own early

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solar system once looked like.

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Anna: As lead author Christina Monch from Harvard

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and Smithsonian put it, planet nurseries can

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be far more active and chaotic than we ever

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expected. Right now, there are more questions

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than answers. But these images are a

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beginning point

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Avery: and the star at the center, still hidden

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behind all that dust. Scientists don't even

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know if it's one star or two.

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Anna: Dracula's Chivito. A mystery wrapped in

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a cosmic sandwich.

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Avery: This one's for everyone who's been waiting.

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And it has been a long wait. SpaceX

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has set, uh, Tuesday, May 19th. That's this

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coming Tuesday as the launch date for

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Starship version 3 flight 12.

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Anna: Seven months since the last Starship flight.

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NV3 is not just another test.

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It's the most comprehensively redesigned

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version of the vehicle so far. Nearly

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every major system has been modified.

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Avery: The super heavy booster now uses three larger

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redesigned grid fins rather than four, each

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with a new catch point for the tower recovery

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system. The Raptor 3 engines have been

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upgraded for higher thrust and simplified

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operation. The propellant tanks have been

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enlarged. The upper stage has an entirely new

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maneuvering and propulsion system.

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Anna: This flight will also debut launch pad

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2 at Starbase in Texas, a new

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upgraded pad with faster propellant loading

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and electromechanical actuators on the catch

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arm.

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Avery: Tower Flight 12 won't attempt a booster

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tower catch SpaceX is prioritizing

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systems validation over showmanship. This

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time the super heavy will splash down in the

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Gulf of Mexico, or if you prefer, the Gulf

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of America, and the starship upper stage

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will continue on a suborbital trajectory,

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deploying 22 Starlink simulator

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satellites before splash down in the Indian

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Ocean.

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Anna: Why does this matter? Beyond the Spectacle

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because Starship V3 is the version

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NASA needs for the Artemis lunar landing

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program. Before astronauts can land on the

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moon, SpaceX needs to demonstrate

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propellant transfer in orbit, and that

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milestone depends on the success of this new

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vehicle.

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Avery: Launch window opens at 6:30 in the morning

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AEST on Wednesday, May 20. For

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our Australian listeners and for the rest of

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the world, that will be 8:30pm

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UTC on Tuesday, May 19th.

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We'll be watching closely and you can expect

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coverage in Monday's episode ahead of

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Anna: the launch and before our bonus story,

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a personal message to our Australian and

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Southern Hemisphere Step outside

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tonight, look west after sunset and

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say goodbye to a visitor that won't be back

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for 170,000 years.

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Avery: Comet C 2025 R3 Pan

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stars, which put on such a spectacular show

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for Northern Hemisphere observers through

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April, has now moved into the southern sky

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and it's your turn.

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Anna: The comet passed its closest point to the sun

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back on April 19 and reached its

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closest approach to Earth on April

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26. It's fading now, but it's also

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moving further from the sun in the sky, which

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means it's becoming easier to spot from a,

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uh, dark location with binoculars

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tonight.

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Avery: Saturday 16th May is actually

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ideal timing because tonight is New

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Moon, the darkest skies of the month. The

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comet is currently tracking through the

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constellation Monoceras the Unicorn,

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just east of Orion in the evening sky.

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Anna: Earlier this week, NASA's Astronomy

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Picture of the Day featured a breathtaking

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long exposure shot taken from the Craigieburn

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Mountain range in New Zealand, showing the

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comet with two distinct a short

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curved dust tail and a long blue

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ion tail, with the Orion Nebula

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visible in the background.

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Avery: This comet is an Oort Cloud visitor, a

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frozen time capsule from the earliest days of

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our solar system. Some astronomers believe

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gravitational interactions with the outer

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planets could eventually fling it out of the

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solar system entirely. Meaning this truly

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may be humanity's last chance to see it.

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Anna: Clear skies, Southern Hemisphere

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binoculars, dark horizon. Look west

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after sunset. You've got a few more weeks

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before it fades beyond reach.

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Avery: And now, because we couldn't resist, it's

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time for this week weekend wrap bonus. And

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this one is pure joy.

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Anna: Even Mars rovers have bad days.

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Avery: NASA's Curiosity rover, which has been

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exploring the Gale crater on Mars since 2012,

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drilled into a rock this week nicknamed

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Atacgama. Standard procedure.

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Curiosity does this all the time to sample

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the rock's chemistry.

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Anna: Except this time, the entire chunk of

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rock ripped clean out of the ground and

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stayed stuck to the drill.

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Avery: Just refused to let go. A, uh, complete Mars

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souvenir that Curiosity did not ask for.

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Anna: Engineers at JPL had to watch as the

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rover shook, maneuvered and worked to free

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itself from its unexpected passenger. The

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Internet naturally had a field day.

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Avery: Curiosity has been on Mars for nearly

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14 years. It has drilled into

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hundreds of rocks. And this week it

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finally met one that fought back.

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Anna: A little reminder that space exploration,

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even after all these years, still has the

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ability to surprise you. Sometimes with awe

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inspiring science and sometimes with a rock

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that just won't let go.

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Avery: We love you Curiosity. Never change.

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Anna: That's your Astronomy Daily weekend space and

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astronomy news wrap for Saturday 17th

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May, 2026. What a week it has

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been.

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Avery: Psyche's Mars Slingshot, a record

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breaking Dragon launch with docking happening

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today. The cosmic web mapped in

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stunning detail. The most chaotic planet

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nursery ever seen. Starship V3

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ready on the pad. A once in

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170,000 years Comet in

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your southern skies and a uh, Mars rover

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with a souvenir it uh, didn't ask for.

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Anna: If you enjoyed the show, please subscribe.

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Leave us a review and tell a friend. You can

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find us at astronomydaily IO and

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00:13:59.660 --> 00:14:01.020
follow us on social media

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00:14:01.340 --> 00:14:04.260
astrodailypod. And before I leave you

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this week, one more reminder to check our

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00:14:06.700 --> 00:14:09.410
sponsor's special money saving deal. I'm

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00:14:09.410 --> 00:14:12.090
talking about NordVPN, the one we use

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00:14:12.170 --> 00:14:14.530
because we only want the best. To get the

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00:14:14.530 --> 00:14:16.570
details, just click on the link in the show

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00:14:16.570 --> 00:14:18.250
notes, you'll be glad you did.

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Avery: And a uh, reminder, we have new episodes

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every Monday to Saturday and we'll be back

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Monday ahead of that Starship V3 launch.

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Don't miss it.

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Anna: For Avery, I'm Anna. Clear skies everyone.

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Wow.

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Story soul.