China Aces Lunar Abort Test, Viking Life Debate Reignited, and Hubble’s Dying Star

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Good day and welcome to Astronomy Daily,


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your go-to source for everything


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happening in space and astronomy. I'm


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Anna


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>> and I'm Avery. It's Thursday, February


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the 12th, 2026, and we have a packed


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show for you today.


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>> We really do. China has just pulled off


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a major milestone in its push to land


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astronauts on the moon, including a


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pretty spectacular rocket splashdown


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that should have a few people at SpaceX


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paying attention. We've also got ULA's


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Vulcan Centaur rocket launching a pair


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of space surveillance satellites for the


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US Space Force, a deep dive into why


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Artemis 2 has so few chances to actually


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get off the ground, and a stunning new


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Hubble image of a dying star. Plus, did


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NASA's Viking missions actually find


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life on Mars 50 years ago? New research


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says the answer might be yes, and


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astronomers are still hunting for the


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remains of a comet that dramatically


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fell apart during CO lockdowns.


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>> Let's get into it. Our lead story today


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takes us to Wang Chong Space launch site


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on the island of Hainan where yesterday,


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February 11th, China conducted a


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landmark test that checked off multiple


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firsts in a single mission. This was a


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lowaltitude demonstration flight of


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China's next generation Long March 10


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rocket carrying the Mangjo crew capsule.


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And what they were testing was something


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called a Max Q abort. Basically, can the


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capsule safely escape the rocket at the


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moment of maximum aerodynamic stress


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during ascent?


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>> And for context, that's the point during


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any rocket launch where the vehicle is


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experiencing the greatest combination of


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speed and atmospheric resistance. If


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something goes wrong at max Q, the crew


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needs to get away fast. This was China's


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first ever test of that scenario with a


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crude class spacecraft. The capsule


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successfully separated from the rocket,


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deployed its parachutes, and was


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recovered at sea. It was carrying lunar


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space suits and test dummies rather than


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actual tyonuts, obviously, but the abort


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system performed exactly as designed.


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>> Now, here is where it gets really


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interesting, Avery. After the capsule


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separated, the Long March 10 first stage


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didn't just tumble into the ocean. It


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performed a powered vertical landing, a


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soft splashdown at sea, very much in the


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style of SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster


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recoveries.


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>> And that's a huge deal because until now


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only the United States has had


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operational reusable orbital class


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rockets. This was China's first


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successful rocket recovery attempt and


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it worked on the very first powered


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flight of the Long March 10 prototype.


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And they even had a dedicated autonomous


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recovery vessel called the Ling Hangzer


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standing by which is essentially China's


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answer to SpaceX's drone ships. The full


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Long March 10 is going to be an absolute


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beast when it's complete. A Tririccore


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rocket standing around 90 m tall with


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about 2700 tons of liftoff thrust. It's


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designed to be China's largest launch


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vehicle and the only one capable of


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sending both a crew spacecraft and a


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lunar lander to the moon in a single


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launch. If things continue at this pace,


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China is projecting a full orbital


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flight of the long march 10 by 2027 with


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tyonauts on the lunar surface before the


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end of the decade. That puts them in a


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very real race with NASA's Aremis


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program, which is targeting its own


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crude landing with Artemis 3 no earlier


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than 2028.


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>> And this test was conducted from the


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brand new launchpad number three in


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Wangchang, which was built specifically


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for these lunar missions. So, the


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infrastructure is going in alongside the


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hardware. A genuinely significant day


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for the Chinese space program and one


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that adds real momentum to what's


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shaping up to be the most exciting moon


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race since Apollo.


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>> Sticking with rockets, but moving to


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Cape Canaveral, ULA's Vulcan Centaur


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rocket is set to launch early this


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morning, February 12, with the window


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opening at 3:30 a.m. Eastern time.


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>> This is the fourth Vulcan mission


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overall and the first of 2026. The


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payload is a pair of GSSAP satellites.


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That's the geocynchronous space


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situational awareness program built by


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Northrop Grumman for the US Space Force.


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>> Think of GSSAP as a neighborhood watch


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program for geocynchronous orbit. These


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satellites monitor other spacecraft at


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that critical 35,000 km altitude,


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improving flight safety and giving Space


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Force operators better situational


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awareness about what's happening up


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there. There's also a secondary payload


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called Propulsive ESPA. Essentially, a


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training spacecraft that Space Force


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Guardians will use to practice precision


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orbital maneuvers and validate


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techniques for protecting assets in


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orbit. What's notable about this


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particular mission is that it's the


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longest Vulcan flight to date, nearly 10


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hours, because the Centaur upper stage


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is performing a direct insertion all the


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way to geocynchronous orbit rather than


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just dropping the satellites into a


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transfer orbit. ULA is under some


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pressure this year. They've got interm


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CEO John Elbon at the helm after Tory


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Bruno departed to join Blue Origin late


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last year and they're targeting 18 to 22


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launches in 2026 after falling short of


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their targets in 2025.


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>> They've invested heavily in


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infrastructure, a second mobile launch


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platform and a second integration


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facility at the Cape. So, the capacity


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is there. The question is whether Vulcan


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can deliver on the reliability and


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cadence that their roughly 80 mission


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backlog demands.


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>> We should note that ULA's webcast


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coverage will end at fairing separation


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about 5 minutes after launch because the


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classified nature of the payload means


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the rest of the mission is conducted in


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silence. Now, speaking of getting


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rockets off the ground, let's talk about


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Artemis 2. Because if you've been


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following the countdown to the first


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crude moon mission in over 50 years, you


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might have noticed something surprising


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about how few chances there actually are


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to launch. NASA has published the


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available launch dates and there are


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just 11 opportunities across March and


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April combined. Five dates in March, the


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6th through the 9th, plus March 11th,


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and six in April. Each window is about 2


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hours long. 11 chances in 61 days.


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That's it. And some of those could be


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lost to weather or the need to replace


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consumables like rocket fuel. So why so


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few?


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>> It all comes down to orbital mechanics


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and the specific requirements of this


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mission. Artemis 2 doesn't fly straight


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to the moon. The SLS rocket first


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delivers the Orion capsule to high Earth


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orbit where the crew and ground teams


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run through a series of checkouts. Then


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comes a trans lunar injection burn to


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send Orion on its way.


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>> So the launch time on any given day has


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to thread the needle. SLS needs to reach


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the right orbit. Orion needs to be in


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the correct alignment with both Earth


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and the moon for that trans lunar


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injection burn. And the whole trajectory


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has to work as a free return loop using


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the moon's gravity to sling the capsule


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home.


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>> And then there's a power constraint.


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Orion's solar arrays can't be in


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darkness for more than 90 minutes at a


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stretch. So NASA has to rule out any


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trajectory that would put the spacecraft


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in an extended eclipse. That alone


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eliminates a lot of potential dates.


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>> The return profile matters too. Orion


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needs a specific entry angle and


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conditions for splashdown. So that


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further narrows the field. Now, the


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reason we're talking about March and


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April specifically, is that the first


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wet dress rehearsal, that's the full


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practice run of fueling and countdown


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procedures, ended early on February 2nd,


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because of a liquid hydrogen leak that


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took February off the table entirely. A


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second wet dress attempt is expected


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soon, possibly this weekend. And NASA


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officials have been reassuring everyone


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that there are launch opportunities in


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every month beyond April as well. They


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just haven't published those dates yet.


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>> And it's worth remembering that Artemis


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1 had similar hydrogen leak issues and


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still flew successfully in late 2022. So


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this isn't uncharted territory.


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>> Whenever it flies, it'll be historic. No


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astronaut has been beyond low Earth


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orbit since Apollo 17 in December 1972.


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That's over 53 years.


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>> Moving on to our next story, and it's


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time for some pure cosmic beauty. NASA


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has released a breathtaking new image


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from the Hubble Space Telescope showing


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the Egg Nebula in extraordinary detail.


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The Egg Nebula is about a thousand


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lighty years away in the constellation


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Signis and it's what astronomers call a


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pre-planetary nebula which despite the


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name has nothing to do with planets


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forming. It's the early stage of a dying


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sunlike star shedding its outer layers.


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And NASA describes it as the first,


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youngest, and closest pre-planetary


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nebula ever discovered, which makes it


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incredibly valuable for studying how


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stars like our sun eventually meet their


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end. What makes this image so striking


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is the structure. At the center, you


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have the dying star, the yolk of the


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egg, hidden behind a dense cloud of


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dust. Quinn beams of light punch outward


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through gaps in that dusty shell,


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illuminating a series of concentric arcs


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of gas that ripple outward like waves.


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And unlike most nebula, which glow


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because their gas has been ionized, the


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Egg Nebula shines purely by reflected


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light from the central star. The star


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hasn't heated up enough yet to ionize


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its surroundings. That's what makes this


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a pre-planetary nebula rather than a


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full planetary nebula. The symmetry is


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remarkable, too. Scientists say the


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patterns are far too orderly to have


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come from a violent event like a


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supernova. Instead, they point to


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coordinated sputtering events in the


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carbonenenriched core of the dying star.


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Though the exact mechanism is still


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poorly understood, there's also evidence


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of gravitational interactions with one


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or more hidden companion stars buried


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deep within the dust, which may be


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helping to shape those dramatic


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outflows. This pre-planetary phase only


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lasts a few thousand years, an absolute


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blink in cosmic terms. So catching a


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nebula at this stage is like catching


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lightning in a bottle. And the material


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being shed here is the same kind of


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carbonri stardust that seated our own


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solar system 4 and a half billion years


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ago. Hubble has observed the Egg Nebula


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before, but this new image taken with


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the wide field camera 3 combines


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multiple data sets to produce the most


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detailed portrait yet. 35 years in orbit


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and Hubble is still delivering. Now for


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a story that could fundamentally change


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how we think about Mars. New research


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published in the journal Astrobiology is


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making the case that NASA's Viking


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missions may have actually detected


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signs of life on Mars back in 1976.


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We just didn't know how to read the


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data.


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>> This is a big claim, so let's unpack it.


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The Viking landers carried an instrument


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called the GCMS,


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the gas chromatography mass


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spectrometer, which was designed to


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detect organic molecules in the Martian


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soil. At the time, it returned what was


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interpreted as a negative result. No


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organics found. Case closed.


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>> And that conclusion essentially shut


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down the debate for decades. The Viking


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project scientist Gerald Soffen famously


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said, "No bodies, no life." And that


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became the textbook answer.


00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:15.030
>> But here's the twist. In 2008, NASA's


00:12:15.040 --> 00:12:17.350
Phoenix Lander discovered perchlorates


00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:19.990
in the Martian soil. Perchlorates are


00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:22.470
powerful oxidizing chemicals. And it


00:12:22.480 --> 00:12:24.470
turns out they break down organic


00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:26.870
molecules when heated, which is exactly


00:12:26.880 --> 00:12:29.829
what the Viking GCMS did to its soil


00:12:29.839 --> 00:12:33.430
samples. Though in 2010, astrobiologist


00:12:33.440 --> 00:12:36.389
Raphael Navaro Gonzalez showed that if


00:12:36.399 --> 00:12:38.790
you take organic material and heat it in


00:12:38.800 --> 00:12:40.790
the presence of perchlorate, you get


00:12:40.800 --> 00:12:43.350
methyl chloride and carbon dioxide,


00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:45.269
which is precisely the chemical


00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:47.509
signature that Viking detected and


00:12:47.519 --> 00:12:50.230
dismissed as either contamination or an


00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:52.069
unknown chemical process.


00:12:52.079 --> 00:12:54.550
>> Lead author Dr. Benner puts it very


00:12:54.560 --> 00:12:58.230
directly. The GCMS didn't fail to


00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:01.110
discover organics. It did discover them


00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:03.670
through their degradation products. We


00:13:03.680 --> 00:13:05.509
just didn't understand what we were


00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:06.230
looking at.


00:13:06.240 --> 00:13:08.310
>> The team has even developed a model for


00:13:08.320 --> 00:13:10.629
what Martian microbes might look like.


00:13:10.639 --> 00:13:13.590
They call it Barum. That's bacterial


00:13:13.600 --> 00:13:16.310
autoroes that respire with stored oxygen


00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:18.550
on Mars. The idea is that these


00:13:18.560 --> 00:13:20.629
organisms could photosynthesize during


00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:23.030
the Martian day, produce and store


00:13:23.040 --> 00:13:25.430
oxygen, then use it to survive the


00:13:25.440 --> 00:13:27.590
freezing Martian nights. I should


00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:30.069
emphasize this doesn't prove there's


00:13:30.079 --> 00:13:32.790
life on Mars, but it does reopen a door


00:13:32.800 --> 00:13:35.829
that was closed 50 years ago and makes a


00:13:35.839 --> 00:13:37.829
compelling case that the evidence was


00:13:37.839 --> 00:13:40.710
there all along hiding in plain sight.


00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:43.509
>> And it raises a fascinating question. If


00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:45.190
we go back to Mars with modern


00:13:45.200 --> 00:13:47.190
instruments designed with perchlorates


00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:49.829
in mind, what else might we find?


00:13:49.839 --> 00:13:52.069
>> Our final story today is a bit of a


00:13:52.079 --> 00:13:56.790
cosmic cold case. Remember comet C209 Y4


00:13:56.800 --> 00:13:57.910
Atlas?


00:13:57.920 --> 00:13:59.990
>> Oh, the pandemic comet. It was


00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:02.710
discovered in December 2019. And as it


00:14:02.720 --> 00:14:04.629
flew toward the inner solar system in


00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:07.670
early 2020, it brightened so rapidly


00:14:07.680 --> 00:14:09.509
that astronomers predicted it could


00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:11.910
become visible to the naked eye, a real


00:14:11.920 --> 00:14:13.509
lockdown spectacle.


00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:16.949
>> And then, like so many plans in 2020, it


00:14:16.959 --> 00:14:19.990
fell apart, literally. In late April


00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:22.069
2020, the comet dramatically


00:14:22.079 --> 00:14:24.870
disintegrated into dozens of pieces.


00:14:24.880 --> 00:14:26.949
Hubble tracked about 30 fragments


00:14:26.959 --> 00:14:29.110
grouped into a few clusters of icy


00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:31.990
debris. But here's the thing. A new


00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:34.230
study in the Astronomical Journal by a


00:14:34.240 --> 00:14:37.110
team led by Salvatore Cordova Kihano at


00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:39.509
Boston University has been asking if


00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:41.829
anything is still out there. Did the


00:14:41.839 --> 00:14:44.470
comet completely destroy itself or could


00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:47.030
a chunk have survived? The team scanned


00:14:47.040 --> 00:14:50.069
the skies in August and October of 2020


00:14:50.079 --> 00:14:52.310
using the Lowel Discovery Telescope in


00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:54.550
Arizona and the Zwicki Transient


00:14:54.560 --> 00:14:56.870
Facility, which surveys the entire


00:14:56.880 --> 00:14:59.430
northern sky every two nights. They


00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:02.790
found nothing. But, and this is the


00:15:02.800 --> 00:15:04.310
intriguing part, that doesn't


00:15:04.320 --> 00:15:06.710
necessarily mean there's nothing left.


00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:08.870
Their analysis suggests that a fragment


00:15:08.880 --> 00:15:11.269
up to about half a kilometer wide could


00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:13.750
still exist, but would be too small and


00:15:13.760 --> 00:15:15.590
too faint for those telescopes to


00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:18.470
detect. It could be out there right now,


00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:20.550
quietly tracing the comet's original


00:15:20.560 --> 00:15:22.470
orbit back toward the outer solar


00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:23.269
system.


00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:25.110
>> The researchers pose a really


00:15:25.120 --> 00:15:27.509
thoughtprovoking question. How many


00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:29.189
comets that we've assumed were


00:15:29.199 --> 00:15:31.829
completely destroyed might actually have


00:15:31.839 --> 00:15:34.069
surviving remnants still orbiting the


00:15:34.079 --> 00:15:36.550
sun? And there's a wonderful historical


00:15:36.560 --> 00:15:38.870
footnote here. Comet Atlas is believed


00:15:38.880 --> 00:15:41.189
to be a fragment of the same parent body


00:15:41.199 --> 00:15:44.629
as the great comet of 1844, which itself


00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:46.310
may have been visible to stone age


00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:49.110
civilizations about 5,000 years ago when


00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:51.030
it swept past the sun.


00:15:51.040 --> 00:15:53.829
>> So somewhere out there, a tiny piece of


00:15:53.839 --> 00:15:57.030
a 5,000-year-old cosmic traveler might


00:15:57.040 --> 00:15:58.949
still be making its lonely journey


00:15:58.959 --> 00:16:01.670
through the darkness. I find that oddly


00:16:01.680 --> 00:16:02.550
beautiful.


00:16:02.560 --> 00:16:05.110
>> Me, too. And the study serves as a heads


00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:07.350
up to astronomers. Next time a comet


00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:09.829
breaks apart, be ready to keep watching


00:16:09.839 --> 00:16:12.230
because the story might not be over.


00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:14.470
>> And that is your Astronomy Daily for


00:16:14.480 --> 00:16:18.310
Thursday, February 12th, 2026. What a


00:16:18.320 --> 00:16:21.110
lineup. From China's moon ambitions to


00:16:21.120 --> 00:16:23.749
Vikings longlost life clues. If you


00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:25.670
enjoyed the show, please do leave us a


00:16:25.680 --> 00:16:27.590
review on your podcast platform of


00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:29.430
choice. It really does help new


00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:31.829
listeners find us. And you can find full


00:16:31.839 --> 00:16:33.990
show notes, links to all our sources,


00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:37.189
and more at astronomyaily.io.


00:16:37.199 --> 00:16:39.509
>> For Avery and the whole Astronomy Daily


00:16:39.519 --> 00:16:41.749
team, I'm Anna. Keep looking up, and


00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:54.069
we'll see you tomorrow.


00:16:54.079 --> 00:16:57.880
Stories told.