European Launch Ambitions, Starquake Mysteries, and the Quest for Hidden Stars

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Language: en

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Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily,


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[music] the podcast that brings you the


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latest news from across the cosmos. I'm


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Avery. [music]


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>> And I'm Anna. It's great to be with you.


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Today's agenda covers a lot, from


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[music] Europe's new ambitions in space


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launch to the strange secrets of star


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[music] quakes near black holes.


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>> That's right. We'll also be diving into


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the very nature of time itself,


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searching for hidden stars that might


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host intelligent life, and looking at a


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new mission to monitor the dangers of


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living on the moon. So, let's get


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started.


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>> First up, [music] there's big news from


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the European Space Agency. It looks like


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they're getting very serious about


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fostering a commercial launch market.


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>> They certainly are. Member states have


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committed over€ 900 million e to the


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European Launcher Challenge. That's more


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than double what was anticipated.


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>> And what's interesting here is the


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strategy. This isn't about ISSA directly


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funding the development of a new rocket.


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Instead, they're acting more like a


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customer, promising to purchase launch


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services and co-und upgrades for private


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companies.


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>> Right? It's the shift from being the


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builder to being an anchor client. It's


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a model that has worked very well for


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NASA with companies like SpaceX. It


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stimulates competition and innovation.


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>> Exactly. There's a whole list of


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companies shortlisted for this,


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including ESAR Aerospace, Rocket


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Factory, Augsburg, and PLLD Space, among


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others. We're seeing major contributions


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from countries like Germany, Spain, and


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the UK.


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>> So, what's the timeline for this? When


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can we expect to see these new launch


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services in action?


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>> The plan is to sign framework agreements


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in 2026 with the goal of seeing launch


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system demonstrations by 2027. If all


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goes well, we should see actual missions


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being flown under this program by 2030.


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It's a major step towards European


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autonomy and space access.


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>> From launching rockets to listening to


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stars, our next story is truly


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fascinating. Scientists are using star


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quakes to uncover the secrets of dormant


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black holes. And it's rewriting what we


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thought we knew.


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>> Star quakes? So, you mean astroismology?


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studying the oscillations of stars.


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>> Precisely. The study focused on two


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systems, Gaia BH2 and Gaia BH3.


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Each has a red giant star orbiting a


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quiet black hole. In the Gaia BH2


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system, the star quakes revealed a


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puzzle. The star appears young, but its


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chemical composition says it's old.


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>> That's a contradiction. How did they


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explain that? The leading theory is that


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the red giant is actually the product of


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two stars that merged into one. This


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would explain its unusually fast spin


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rate as well. So, it had a dramatic life


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even before it got captured by the black


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hole.


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>> Incredible. And what about the other


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system Gaia BH3?


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>> That one presented a different kind of


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mystery. The red giant in that system is


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ancient and what we call metal pore.


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According to our models, it should be


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showing starquakes, but it isn't. It's


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completely silent.


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>> So, our understanding of how these old


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stars behave might be wrong.


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>> It suggests that yes, the research is a


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fantastic example of how studying these


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companion stars can refine how we


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measure black hole masses and reveal the


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complex violent histories these systems


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can have. Well, from the complex history


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of stars to the complex nature of time


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itself, this is a topic that has baffled


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physicists and philosophers for


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centuries. As St. Augustine famously


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said, we know what time is until someone


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asks us to explain it.


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>> It's one of the ultimate questions. And


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a lot of the confusion, according to


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some physicists, comes from mixing up


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two different concepts, existence and


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occurrence. Okay, break that down for


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us.


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>> The universe as a physical object


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exists, but events within the universe


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don't exist in the same way. They happen


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or they occur. The past isn't a place


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that still exists. And the future isn't


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a place that's waiting for us. They are


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just records and probabilities of


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occurrences.


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>> That makes sense. So, this helps clarify


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some old philosophical arguments.


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>> It does. Take the ancient Greek


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philosopher Parmenities who argue that


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since we can talk about the past and


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future, they must exist. This new


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perspective says that's a fallacy based


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on that core confusion. The same goes


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for how we often interpret Einstein's


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concept of spaceime.


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>> Right. People often imagine spacetime as


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a physical block universe that you could


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theoretically travel through.


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>> Exactly. But it's more useful to think


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of spaceime as a map of events. The map


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is a real useful model, but it's not the


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territory. The map of your city exists,


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but you can't live in the map. By


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cleanly separating the existence of the


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universe from the occurrence of events,


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the so-called mystery of time becomes


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much less mysterious.


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>> Speaking of searching for things, let's


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turn our attention to the search for


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extraterrestrial intelligence or SETI. A


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new study suggests we can make our


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search much more effective by accounting


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for stars that we've been ignoring.


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>> Hidden stars. How can a star be hidden?


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>> It's not that they're physically hidden,


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but they're not the primary targets of


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our surveys. Think about it. When a


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radio telescope points at a specific


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star, its field of view is much wider.


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It inevitably captures data from


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countless other stars in the background


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and foreground. The study calls this


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stellar by catch.


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>> Ah, I see. So, we have all this data on


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stars we weren't even intentionally


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looking at.


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>> Precisely. The challenge is knowing


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which stars are in that by catch. To


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solve this, scientists are using


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something called the Bisank galactic


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model. It simulates our galaxy's star


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populations, allowing them to predict


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which hidden stars are likely in a


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telescope's field of view at any given


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time. So this vastly expands the number


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of stars we're monitoring for techno


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signatures without needing any new


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observations or equipment.


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>> Yes. And it also helps remove human bias


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from target selection. Projects like


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Breakthrough Listen can now apply this


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method to get a much more comprehensive


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survey of our galaxy. It's a very clever


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way to maximize the scientific return


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from the data we're already collecting.


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For our final story, we're coming back a


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little closer to home, to the moon. As


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nations like China and the US make


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serious plans for lunar bases, a new


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mission from Hong Kong aims to monitor a


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constant threat, things falling from the


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sky.


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>> You mean meteoroid impacts. We know they


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happen, but this mission aims to provide


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the first ever continuous monitoring of


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them from lunar orbit.


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>> That's right. The mission is called


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Wessen, which means moon flashes. It's a


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lunar orbiter set to launch by 2028. Its


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primary job will be to watch for the


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bright flashes caused by meteoroids


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hitting the lunar surface.


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>> And this data is critical. Without an


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atmosphere to burn them up, even small


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pebbles can hit with the force of a hand


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grenade. These impacts pose a very real


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threat to future lunar infrastructure


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and of course to astronauts.


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>> It's a huge engineering and safety


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challenge. Wesson's data will be


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particularly valuable for China's


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ambitious plans to establish a lunar


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research station. What's also notable is


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that the telescope for the mission is


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being designed and built in Hong Kong,


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marking a significant step for the city


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in space exploration.


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>> It will be a great complement to other


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monitoring efforts like NASA's


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Earth-based observations and ISIS


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proposed Lumio mission. To truly


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understand the risks of living on the


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moon, we need that constant closeup


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view. USAN promises to deliver just


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that.


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>> And that's all the time we have for


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today. From commercial rockets to cosmic


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philosophies, we've covered a lot of


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ground.


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>> We hope you enjoyed the journey. Join us


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next time for another edition of


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Astronomy Daily, where we continue to


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explore the universe one story at a


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time. Thanks for listening.


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>> And one quick plug. For more space and


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astronomy news and all our back catalog,


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just visit our website at


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astronomyaily.io.


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You can also follow us on social media.


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Just search for Astro Daily Pod on your


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favorite platforms. That's it for me.


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I'm Avery. Clear skies, everyone, and


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keep looking up.


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[music]


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Stories told. [music]