From Corporate Strategies to Cosmic Discoveries: Your Daily Space Update

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Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast


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that brings you the universe, one story


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at a time. I'm Avery.


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


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We've got a packed episode today. From


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major moves in the space industry to a


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potential solution for one of the


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biggest mysteries in cosmology.


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>> Let's start with that industry news.


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It's a big one. Blue Origin has just


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hired Tori Bruno, the former president


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and CEO of United Launch Alliance, or


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ULA.


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>> That's a major headline. Bruno is a


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giant in the industry. He's going to be


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heading up Blue Origin's new national


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security group.


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>> Exactly. And it makes so much sense when


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you think about it. Bruno was


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instrumental in transitioning ULA to its


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new Vulcan rocket. And what engines does


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the Vulcan rocket use? Blue Origin's BE4


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engines. It's all connected. This move


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signals that Blue Origin is getting very


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serious about competing for those


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lucrative national security launch


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contracts, especially with their new


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Glenn Heavy lift rocket on the horizon.


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>> It's a strategic chess move. Bringing in


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someone with Bruno's experience and


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connections is a clear sign of their


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ambition in that sector.


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>> Speaking of ambitions, let's shift from


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the business of space to one of its


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greatest mysteries, dark matter. A new


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study is proposing a fascinating, if


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somewhat exotic, idea.


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>> I'm always ready for a new dark matter


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theory. What's this one?


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>> Well, instead of tiny, undiscovered


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particles, this theory suggests dark


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matter could be made of giant star-sized


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objects that don't emit light. They're


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calling them exotic astrophysical dark


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objects or eads.


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>> EADs. I like it. So, what would these


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objects be?


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>> Things like Bzon stars or Q balls. very


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dense theoretical objects. The really


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cool part is how we might find them. If


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one of these yads passes in front of a


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distant star, its immense gravity would


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bend the starlight in a very specific


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way.


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>> Right. Gravitational lensing.


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>> Exactly. But a very specific kind.


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Instead of just brightening, the stars


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apparent position in the sky would seem


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to jump suddenly. It's a unique signal.


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And researchers think they can hunt for


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these jumps in the massive data set from


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the Gaia Space Telescope. It's a long


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shot, but it's a testable hypothesis.


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>> From hunting for invisible objects to


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tracking a very visible one, let's talk


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about asteroid Apous.


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>> Ah, yes. Everyone's favorite God of


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Chaos asteroid. It's making a very close


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pass by Earth in 2029.


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>> An incredibly close pass, just 32,000 km


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away, which is closer than some of our


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satellites. And to take advantage of


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this rare opportunity, the European


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Space Agency and Japan's JAXA are


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teaming up for a new mission called


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Ramssey's.


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>> So, what's the goal of Ramsy's?


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>> The mission will get up close to the 375


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m wide asteroid to study how Earth's


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gravity affects it during the flyby. We


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expect our planet's gravity to cause


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changes in Apothesis spin, maybe even


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trigger some landslides or quakes on its


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surface. And understanding those


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gravitational effects is crucial for


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planetary defense. If we ever need to


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nudge an asteroid out of the way, we


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need to know precisely how it will


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behave. This kind of international


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cooperation is exactly what we need for


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ensuring space safety.


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>> That's right. And speaking of


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understanding the cosmos on a grand


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scale, let's talk about all the stuff


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that isn't in asteroids or even


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galaxies. I'm talking about normal


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matter, the stuff that makes up you, me,


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and the stars. It turns out we've been


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missing most of it.


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>> This is one of my favorite cosmological


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problems. The Big Bang theory predicts a


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certain amount of normal matter in the


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universe, but when we add up all the


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stars and galaxies we can see, we only


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find about 10% of it. So where is the


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other 90%. For a long time, the theory


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has been that it's hiding in the vast


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spaces between galaxies in a hot, thin


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soup of gas called the intergalactic


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medium. It's often called the cosmic


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web, but it's so diffused that it's been


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nearly impossible to detect directly


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>> until now. Right. This is where fast


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radio bursts come in.


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>> Precisely. A new study used these


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powerful millisecond long blasts of


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radio waves from distant galaxies as


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probes. As an FRB signal travels across


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billions of light years, it gets


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slightly dispersed by the gas it passes


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through. By measuring how much the


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signal is smeared out, astronomers can


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calculate how much matter it


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encountered.


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>> And the results confirmed the theory.


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>> They did. The numbers match perfectly.


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The missing matter was in the cosmic web


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all along. It's a huge victory for


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cosmology. We finally completed the


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census of normal matter in the universe.


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>> That is incredible. From the cosmic web,


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let's zoom back in much closer to home.


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the chaotic space between the Earth and


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the Moon.


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>> It's an area that's about to get a lot


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busier with programs like Aremis and the


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lunar gateway,


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>> right? And navigating that space is


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notoriously difficult because of the


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complex shifting gravitational poles of


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the Earth, Moon, and Sun. It's the


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classic threebody problem. So, to help


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future missions, researchers at Lawrence


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Liverour Laboratory have done something


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amazing.


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>> What's that? They've created and


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released an open-source data set mapping


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1 million different stable trajectories


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in that cis lunar space. It's being


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called a gold standard map that


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companies and space agencies can use to


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validate their navigation software.


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>> So, it's essentially a comprehensive


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road map for the Earth moon system.


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That's invaluable. It helps identify


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stable regions like the Lrangee points


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where we could place future


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infrastructure like the lunar gateway.


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It's a foundational piece of work for


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the next era of lunar exploration.


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>> Absolutely. And before we go today,


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let's take a brief look at some of the


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major astronomical events to look out


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for in 2026, which is just around the


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corner.


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>> I love these previews. What's the


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biggest highlight?


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>> Without a doubt, the total solar eclipse


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on August 12th. The path of totality


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will cross over Greenland, Iceland, and


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parts of Spain. It's going to be a major


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event for sky watchers in Europe. And


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for those of us in North America, we get


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a treat a few months earlier. A total


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lunar eclipse on March 3rd, 2026.


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>> There's more, too. Jupiter's moons will


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enter a mutual eclipse season, meaning


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we can watch them pass in front of and


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behind one another. And both the Percied


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and Gemini meteor showers are expected


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to have excellent viewing conditions


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with no bright moon to wash them out.


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Plus, solar activity will still be high


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as we come down from the peak of solar


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cycle 25. So, there's a good chance for


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more impressive aurora displays. 2026 is


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shaping up to be a fantastic year for


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astronomy.


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>> It certainly is. And that's all the time


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we have for today. We've gone from


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corporate boardrooms to the edge of the


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visible universe and back to our own


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lunar backyard.


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>> Thanks for joining us on Astronomy


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Daily. If you'd like even more space


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news, just visit our website at


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astronomydaily.io. io or look out for us


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on social media. Just search for Astro


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Daily Pod on all the major platforms.


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I'm Avery


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>> and I'm Anna. Join us next time as we


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continue to explore the cosmos. Clear


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skies.


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Stories told.