One Million Satellites, Space Mushrooms & the Search for Martian Shorelines | Space Nuts:...


One Million Satellites, Space Mushrooms, and Martian Shorelines
In this action-packed episode of Space Nuts , hosts Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson explore a variety of cosmic topics that will leave you both informed and entertained. From the ambitious plan to launch a million satellites to the intriguing discovery of Martian shorelines, this episode covers the latest in space exploration and technology.
Episode Highlights:
- One Million Satellites: Andrew and Fred dive into the shocking news of SpaceX's application to launch up to one million satellites. They discuss the implications of this vast constellation on astronomical observations and the potential challenges it poses for the night sky.
- Good News from Chile: The hosts celebrate the cancellation of a large energy project in Chile that threatened to introduce light pollution near some of the world's most significant telescopes. They commend the decision to prioritize astronomical integrity over industrial development.
- Artemis II Launch Delay: Following the latest updates on NASA's Artemis II mission, Andrew and Fred discuss a hydrogen leak that has postponed the launch. They reflect on the importance of safety in space exploration and the challenges faced by the Artemis program.
- Space Mushrooms: In a delightful twist, the hosts share a fascinating story about astronauts who grew mushrooms in space and enjoyed them upon their return. They highlight the significance of this experiment for future long-duration space missions and food sustainability.
- Perseverance Goes AI: The episode wraps up with a discussion on the Perseverance rover's recent milestone of executing its first autonomous drive on Mars, planned entirely by artificial intelligence. Andrew and Fred explore what this means for future Mars exploration and the potential benefits of AI in space missions.
- Martian Shorelines: Finally, the hosts reveal exciting new evidence of ancient shorelines on Mars, suggesting that large bodies of water once existed on the planet. This discovery expands the timeline for potential life on Mars and adds to the growing body of evidence supporting a more Earth-like past for our neighboring planet.
For more Space Nuts, including our continuously updating newsfeed and to listen to all our episodes, visit our website. (https://www.spacenutspodcast.com/) Follow us on social media at SpaceNutsPod on Facebook, Instagram, and more. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favorite platform.
If you’d like to help support Space Nuts and join our growing family of insiders for commercial-free episodes and more, visit spacenutspodcast.com/about (https://www.spacenutspodcast.com/about) .
Stay curious, keep looking up, and join us next time for more stellar insights and cosmic wonders. Until then, clear skies and happy stargazing.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support (https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss) .
Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/31531469?utm_source=youtube
Kind: captions
Language: en
00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.910
Hello again. Thanks for joining us. This
00:00:01.920 --> 00:00:04.710
is Space Nuts. My name is Andrew Dunky.
00:00:04.720 --> 00:00:06.390
Thanks for joining us. We've got a big
00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:08.629
program today. It is jam-packed. We've
00:00:08.639 --> 00:00:10.870
got 27
00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:15.030
at least 27 maybe six stories. Um
00:00:15.040 --> 00:00:16.550
here's one. I I don't know if you heard
00:00:16.560 --> 00:00:19.429
the song um 1 million bicycles in
00:00:19.439 --> 00:00:21.910
Beijing. It probably wasn't a big hit,
00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:24.870
but now we're talking 1 million
00:00:24.880 --> 00:00:27.750
satellites in space. Yep. It's it's a
00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:29.669
possible thing. Uh, some good news out
00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:31.189
of Chile though. We'll talk about that.
00:00:31.199 --> 00:00:33.910
Artemus 2, not bad news. Probably not
00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:36.549
surprising news. A launch delay. Space
00:00:36.559 --> 00:00:39.510
mushrooms. Yes, they are real and they
00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:41.510
are very yummy. Apparently, uh,
00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:45.030
Perseverance is going AI and they have
00:00:45.040 --> 00:00:47.830
discovered or confirmed a Martian
00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:49.670
shoreline. We'll talk about all of that
00:00:49.680 --> 00:00:52.150
on this episode of Space Nuts.
00:00:52.160 --> 00:00:57.029
>> 15 seconds. Guidance is internal. 10 9
00:00:57.039 --> 00:00:58.790
Ignition sequence start.
00:00:58.800 --> 00:00:59.670
>> Space Nuts.
00:00:59.680 --> 00:01:02.229
>> 5 4 3 2
00:01:02.239 --> 00:01:04.630
>> 1 2 3 4 5 5 4 3 2 1
00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:05.830
>> Space Nuts.
00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:08.390
>> Astronauts report. It feels good.
00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:11.030
>> And taking a break from a little sojourn
00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:13.109
to a horrible part of the world in
00:01:13.119 --> 00:01:15.590
Australia is Professor Fred Watson,
00:01:15.600 --> 00:01:17.990
astronomer at large. Hello, Fred.
00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:20.230
>> Hello. Hello, Andrew. Greetings from
00:01:20.240 --> 00:01:21.109
Nelson Bay.
00:01:21.119 --> 00:01:23.350
>> Yeah, dreadful, dreadful place. I I
00:01:23.360 --> 00:01:25.670
spent much of my youth in Nelson Bay,
00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:28.550
just north of Newcastle. It's just um it
00:01:28.560 --> 00:01:30.390
was a sleepy little fishing village when
00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:33.990
I used to go there, but now it's just um
00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:35.910
nothing like that.
00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:37.590
>> Well, it's been discovered, hasn't it?
00:01:37.600 --> 00:01:39.670
That's the thing. You know, two two
00:01:39.680 --> 00:01:43.030
hours from Sydney, it's uh and what,
00:01:43.040 --> 00:01:44.950
half an hour from Newcastle. It's not
00:01:44.960 --> 00:01:46.310
really
00:01:46.320 --> 00:01:49.030
>> It's It's bound to be a target. And it's
00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:50.710
still got its charm, though. I have to
00:01:50.720 --> 00:01:52.310
say as we were talking a few minutes
00:01:52.320 --> 00:01:54.630
ago, I've been coming here for 43 years
00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:57.670
nearly. In fact, it is it's 43 years and
00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:00.630
uh and uh it's as you exactly as you've
00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:03.270
said, it's very very different, but it's
00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:05.749
still uh geographically it's a lovely
00:02:05.759 --> 00:02:08.869
spot with Port Stevens, this huge
00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:12.150
expanse of water uh with um you know,
00:02:12.160 --> 00:02:15.350
islands in it and uh hills all around.
00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:16.949
Really quite remarkable.
00:02:16.959 --> 00:02:19.350
>> It is lovely. Yeah. Uh I miss it a lot.
00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:20.710
The last time we were there was for a
00:02:20.720 --> 00:02:22.229
beach wedding, but that's going back a
00:02:22.239 --> 00:02:23.830
few years. But even then, it didn't look
00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:26.070
like the, you know, the fishing village
00:02:26.080 --> 00:02:28.790
that I grew up, is it?
00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:31.350
>> Uh while we're talking about different
00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:34.229
places, um I was having a bit of a um I
00:02:34.239 --> 00:02:36.309
don't know what you'd call it, a job at
00:02:36.319 --> 00:02:39.430
Colorado's cold weather uh on a recent
00:02:39.440 --> 00:02:42.550
episode. And um I I got a note from
00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:44.710
Michael who said um on the podcast
00:02:44.720 --> 00:02:45.990
you're concerned about the frigid
00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:48.390
temperatures in Colorado. Unfortunately,
00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:49.830
we've just had one of the warmest
00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:51.910
Decembers on record with daily highs
00:02:51.920 --> 00:02:54.550
often 10 to 15° C. That's that's a
00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:57.589
winter in do um until this weekend,
00:02:57.599 --> 00:02:59.670
January, uh was on track to be well
00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:02.869
above normal uh with highs around 7 to
00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:05.430
10. And to add insult to injury, our
00:03:05.440 --> 00:03:07.670
mountain snow packs are the worst on
00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:13.509
record. Uh, and while our um um USB50
00:03:13.519 --> 00:03:16.070
ski industry is getting hurt, the real
00:03:16.080 --> 00:03:17.990
problem is that they rely on melting
00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:20.470
snow for water and they didn't get a lot
00:03:20.480 --> 00:03:23.990
of snow this year. So, um, yeah. Uh,
00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:26.949
that's that's a scary one. Um, and and I
00:03:26.959 --> 00:03:28.309
I think a lot of places in the world
00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:31.350
rely on snow for, you know, the the the
00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:33.190
spring melt for their water supplies.
00:03:33.200 --> 00:03:35.830
So, hopefully that's just a one-off in
00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:37.350
Colorado.
00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:39.750
Um, got a lot to talk about, Fred. Let's
00:03:39.760 --> 00:03:43.350
start with this uh this
00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:45.430
news that we received uh during the
00:03:45.440 --> 00:03:47.589
week. It's it's been um highly
00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:49.110
publicized.
00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:52.229
Uh Elon Musk, SpaceX
00:03:52.239 --> 00:03:54.630
has put in an application to launch
00:03:54.640 --> 00:03:58.149
possibly 1 million satellites. 1
00:03:58.159 --> 00:03:59.990
million. This this is a a completely
00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:03.429
different project to that of um uh uh
00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:06.550
the the um internet service that he's
00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:08.229
that he's been working on. This this is
00:04:08.239 --> 00:04:10.789
another kettle of fish.
00:04:10.799 --> 00:04:14.309
>> It is it's an orbiting data center. Uh
00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:17.590
>> so uh in fact SpaceX has basically
00:04:17.600 --> 00:04:19.909
teamed up with another company, an AI
00:04:19.919 --> 00:04:23.510
company. Um and together there is this
00:04:23.520 --> 00:04:28.310
plan to launch three sorry not 300,000 a
00:04:28.320 --> 00:04:30.629
million satellites
00:04:30.639 --> 00:04:34.950
um between 500 kilometers and 200 2,000
00:04:34.960 --> 00:04:40.230
kilometers in altitude um and at
00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:43.830
probably quite interesting inclinations
00:04:43.840 --> 00:04:46.870
not far from the equator uh and also
00:04:46.880 --> 00:04:51.030
some uh which will be in polar orbits
00:04:51.040 --> 00:04:54.469
What's the idea? Well, you you basically
00:04:54.479 --> 00:04:57.749
harness the sun's energy uh using these
00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:00.390
uh these spacecraft uh in order to power
00:05:00.400 --> 00:05:04.310
your data center uh and you link them by
00:05:04.320 --> 00:05:08.230
lasers essentially optical links. Uh and
00:05:08.240 --> 00:05:11.350
so uh the you know the the whole thing
00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:13.749
then engages with Starlink to send the
00:05:13.759 --> 00:05:17.430
data up and down to the earth. So it's a
00:05:17.440 --> 00:05:20.550
it's a wild idea. Um, it fills
00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:23.189
astronomers with horror. Uh, because a
00:05:23.199 --> 00:05:25.749
million satellites in orbit is just
00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:28.390
gonna completely pollute the sky.
00:05:28.400 --> 00:05:29.430
Especially
00:05:29.440 --> 00:05:32.390
>> when you have the some of them at 2,000
00:05:32.400 --> 00:05:33.990
kilometers, which means that they're
00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:36.870
they're visible for in fact at some
00:05:36.880 --> 00:05:39.029
latitudes they'll be visible all night.
00:05:39.039 --> 00:05:41.990
>> Uh, so that's uh, yep, that's uh, the
00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:44.150
latest shock horror. Uh, that is a
00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:45.990
filing that has gone, I think I'm right
00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:47.909
in saying, to the Federal Communications
00:05:47.919 --> 00:05:51.350
Commission. Uh I don't know whether it's
00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:52.710
been filed with the International
00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:54.950
Telecommunications Union which is the
00:05:54.960 --> 00:05:58.310
only international body that uh can
00:05:58.320 --> 00:06:01.110
basically regulates um space flights.
00:06:01.120 --> 00:06:03.110
There are many national bodies but uh
00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:05.670
the only international one is the ITU.
00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:09.189
Uh I would guess they would accept it uh
00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:12.070
because they accepted a filing back in
00:06:12.080 --> 00:06:14.950
2020 for 300,000 satellites put in by
00:06:14.960 --> 00:06:18.309
the Rwanda government. Um, but that uh
00:06:18.319 --> 00:06:19.909
if it hasn't already, and I don't think
00:06:19.919 --> 00:06:21.830
it has yet, that will have expired
00:06:21.840 --> 00:06:22.950
because I think they've only lost
00:06:22.960 --> 00:06:25.990
launched one cubat uh rather than
00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:29.189
300,000. So, it might be a little bit a
00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:31.029
little bit like the Rwanda was something
00:06:31.039 --> 00:06:34.150
like putting your foot in the door uh to
00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:36.629
uh you know to uh to to stake a claim.
00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:38.469
But we will see what happens. It's a
00:06:38.479 --> 00:06:40.629
very interesting development and said
00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:42.230
one that scares us to death in the
00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:45.270
world. Yeah, certainly a divisive issue
00:06:45.280 --> 00:06:47.990
and um it's not the first time as you
00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:50.629
said um the year before last there were
00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:52.390
complaints about the Starlink network
00:06:52.400 --> 00:06:54.950
and you know the blinding of telescopes.
00:06:54.960 --> 00:06:56.950
Astronomers got upset about that. Uh
00:06:56.960 --> 00:06:59.350
Elon Musk has actually rejected those
00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:01.110
claims and he'd probably reject these
00:07:01.120 --> 00:07:03.270
ones too. I mean
00:07:03.280 --> 00:07:06.070
>> it has to be said he's not he hasn't
00:07:06.080 --> 00:07:09.189
really of all the the internet uh supply
00:07:09.199 --> 00:07:11.350
companies of course Starink is the the
00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:13.909
one that's most populous. They've got uh
00:07:13.919 --> 00:07:16.550
9,000 a little bit more than 9,000
00:07:16.560 --> 00:07:19.589
spacecraft in orbit and um SpaceX has
00:07:19.599 --> 00:07:21.589
worked with the astronomical community
00:07:21.599 --> 00:07:23.909
to try and minimize their effect of of
00:07:23.919 --> 00:07:25.430
all the companies they've been the most
00:07:25.440 --> 00:07:28.150
forthcoming. But it's hard to see how
00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:29.589
when you put it up to a million
00:07:29.599 --> 00:07:31.270
satellites, how you can reconcile that
00:07:31.280 --> 00:07:32.870
with with astronomy.
00:07:32.880 --> 00:07:35.270
>> No. Uh and I might add actually as we
00:07:35.280 --> 00:07:37.909
speak there is a meeting going on in in
00:07:37.919 --> 00:07:40.950
Vienna uh which uh the issue of uh what
00:07:40.960 --> 00:07:42.790
we call dark and quiet skies the idea of
00:07:42.800 --> 00:07:44.629
satellite constellations that will be
00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:46.950
discussed this week and then
00:07:46.960 --> 00:07:48.950
>> okay be interesting to see what comes
00:07:48.960 --> 00:07:51.029
out of that. Uh we'll leave that one
00:07:51.039 --> 00:07:52.950
there. Um but I'm sure there'll be more
00:07:52.960 --> 00:07:55.510
about it going forward maybe. Uh let's
00:07:55.520 --> 00:07:57.909
go over to Chile because we talked about
00:07:57.919 --> 00:08:01.270
a um an energy energy project that was
00:08:01.280 --> 00:08:03.110
uh being touted for that part of the
00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:04.790
world which was going to be very close
00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:06.469
to some of the most significant
00:08:06.479 --> 00:08:09.430
telescopes on earth. Uh the problem with
00:08:09.440 --> 00:08:12.309
this energy plant was it was going to be
00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:15.670
um basically the size of a small city.
00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:17.749
So the lighting would have been a major
00:08:17.759 --> 00:08:19.670
issue but that that seems to have all
00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:22.230
been scrapped.
00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:25.990
>> Uh indeed it has. So, so the the problem
00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:29.350
was uh you're quite right. Um there is
00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:32.230
there are two mountains in Chile which
00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:34.230
aren't notable for astronomy. They've
00:08:34.240 --> 00:08:36.230
both got optical telescopes. One is
00:08:36.240 --> 00:08:39.589
Sarah Paranel which houses the VT uh the
00:08:39.599 --> 00:08:43.750
four 8.2 2 meter uh telescopes of the of
00:08:43.760 --> 00:08:45.750
the very large telescope as it's called
00:08:45.760 --> 00:08:48.150
and about um it's about 20 kilometers
00:08:48.160 --> 00:08:50.389
away on the other side of the valley is
00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:52.150
a mountain called Sarah Armazone is
00:08:52.160 --> 00:08:53.670
where the biggest telescope in the world
00:08:53.680 --> 00:08:56.550
is being built 39 meter ELT or extremely
00:08:56.560 --> 00:08:58.949
large telescope and in that valley uh
00:08:58.959 --> 00:09:02.630
it's where uh the an energy company AES
00:09:02.640 --> 00:09:07.269
Andes uh they had plans for a factory to
00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:09.430
use solar and wind energy to make green
00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:10.310
hydrogen
00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:12.710
Uh and as exactly as you've said, it was
00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:15.030
citicized. Uh it were it filled
00:09:15.040 --> 00:09:17.509
astronomers with horror because uh it
00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:20.470
threatened to put light pollution into a
00:09:20.480 --> 00:09:23.190
region which so far has been completely
00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:25.190
dark and which houses perhaps the
00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:27.590
world's most productive and efficient
00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:29.750
telescope. Certainly when the ELT comes
00:09:29.760 --> 00:09:32.070
along, uh there is nothing to touch it
00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:33.829
anywhere else in the world. It's going
00:09:33.839 --> 00:09:35.750
to be an extraordinary instrument. Uh
00:09:35.760 --> 00:09:38.150
but it's been cancelled. the company has
00:09:38.160 --> 00:09:40.230
pulled out of the project and I think
00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:42.470
they've taken note of the environmental
00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:44.389
damage it would do to astronomy. I think
00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:45.750
that's been the reason why they've done
00:09:45.760 --> 00:09:48.870
that and so all credit to people who've
00:09:48.880 --> 00:09:51.269
used common sense to you know to
00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:53.750
progress things they'll no doubt put it
00:09:53.760 --> 00:09:56.070
somewhere else um where it might be less
00:09:56.080 --> 00:09:57.990
damaging because it is a you know it's
00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:00.949
an environmentally positive uh step.
00:10:00.959 --> 00:10:03.350
Green hydrogen's a great thing to have
00:10:03.360 --> 00:10:06.790
but uh but we don't want it there. No,
00:10:06.800 --> 00:10:09.750
no, but uh hopefully they will be able
00:10:09.760 --> 00:10:11.269
to put it somewhere else because it does
00:10:11.279 --> 00:10:13.829
sound like a a good project moving
00:10:13.839 --> 00:10:15.990
forward, but just um yeah, not not
00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:18.550
there. Not in that place. Um yeah,
00:10:18.560 --> 00:10:21.030
>> hats off to them for making that
00:10:21.040 --> 00:10:22.389
decision. It must have been difficult
00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:24.949
because that's a that's a 10 billion US
00:10:24.959 --> 00:10:26.150
project. That's
00:10:26.160 --> 00:10:26.870
>> very big. Yeah,
00:10:26.880 --> 00:10:27.750
>> that's a lot of bigies.
00:10:27.760 --> 00:10:29.990
>> I suppose that that's the ultimate nimi,
00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:32.630
isn't it? Uh a nimi pro process. Not in
00:10:32.640 --> 00:10:33.030
my backyard.
00:10:33.040 --> 00:10:34.870
>> Not in my backyard. We got a lot of nimi
00:10:34.880 --> 00:10:36.470
projects around here. I could tell you.
00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:37.430
>> Yes.
00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:39.430
>> Wind farms, solar farms, the inland
00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:42.630
rail. It's all causing um a lot of
00:10:42.640 --> 00:10:45.670
people to um get a bit nimi. This is
00:10:45.680 --> 00:10:47.990
Space Nuts with Andrew Dunley and
00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:52.550
Professor Fred Watson.
00:10:52.560 --> 00:10:54.550
>> Swift
00:10:54.560 --> 00:10:56.710
base here. The angle has landed.
00:10:56.720 --> 00:10:57.829
>> Space nets.
00:10:57.839 --> 00:11:00.230
>> Okay, Fred. Uh speaking of the boon,
00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:03.509
let's move our attention to Arteimus 2.
00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:05.190
that uh mission we talked about last
00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:07.110
week which was getting ready for its wet
00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:09.750
rehearsal and a few other tests and a
00:11:09.760 --> 00:11:13.110
few checkovers. Uh mostly things went
00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:16.630
well but they did find a hydrogen leak
00:11:16.640 --> 00:11:19.990
and that set them back another month.
00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:21.750
>> Uh it's a bit like Groundhog Day, isn't
00:11:21.760 --> 00:11:23.829
it really? Cuz this is exactly what
00:11:23.839 --> 00:11:26.470
happened with Arteimus one. Uh and in
00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:27.990
fact at one point I think they took the
00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:29.990
the whole spacecraft back into the
00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:32.069
vehicle assembly building to to try and
00:11:32.079 --> 00:11:34.310
fix the hydrogen leaks. Uh so yes the
00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:37.269
wet uh the wet dress rehearsal was this
00:11:37.279 --> 00:11:40.550
past weekend uh our time uh as we are
00:11:40.560 --> 00:11:43.990
speaking today on the recording. Um and
00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:47.750
the hydrogen leak as I understand it is
00:11:47.760 --> 00:11:50.389
it's the place where the pipe fits into
00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:53.590
the into the tank. You know it's like on
00:11:53.600 --> 00:11:55.670
your car. It's where you stick your the
00:11:55.680 --> 00:11:59.110
fuel bowser in hose into your petrol
00:11:59.120 --> 00:12:01.030
tank. Except it's a little bit more
00:12:01.040 --> 00:12:02.790
complicated than that. But I think
00:12:02.800 --> 00:12:04.870
that's where the leak has been. And it's
00:12:04.880 --> 00:12:08.230
sufficiently it's worrying enough to the
00:12:08.240 --> 00:12:11.030
engineers and the administrators who are
00:12:11.040 --> 00:12:13.829
overlooking 2 that what they've done is
00:12:13.839 --> 00:12:15.829
they said well actually we need to do
00:12:15.839 --> 00:12:18.310
another wet dress rehearsal when we fix
00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:20.870
this problem. And that means postponing
00:12:20.880 --> 00:12:23.110
uh at the altimus 2 launch from this
00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:25.829
month which was what we hoped uh to next
00:12:25.839 --> 00:12:28.389
month which means March at the earliest.
00:12:28.399 --> 00:12:32.550
So yes uh a push uh back in uh in in the
00:12:32.560 --> 00:12:33.910
you know in the process.
00:12:33.920 --> 00:12:36.629
>> Will will they leave the launch vehicle
00:12:36.639 --> 00:12:38.550
on the pad at this stage?
00:12:38.560 --> 00:12:40.550
>> I think at the moment that's the plan.
00:12:40.560 --> 00:12:44.389
Uh I haven't heard uh any hints of it
00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:46.150
being taken back to vehicle assembly
00:12:46.160 --> 00:12:47.750
building. That's a you know it's a big
00:12:47.760 --> 00:12:50.150
pro process is a major step to have to
00:12:50.160 --> 00:12:51.910
do that. So they will certainly I think
00:12:51.920 --> 00:12:53.829
be looking at trying to fix it on the
00:12:53.839 --> 00:12:55.269
pad beforehand.
00:12:55.279 --> 00:12:57.509
>> Okay. And and if they can't Yeah. They
00:12:57.519 --> 00:12:59.590
might have to roll back
00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:00.069
>> Yeah.
00:13:00.079 --> 00:13:01.269
>> again.
00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:02.069
>> Again.
00:13:02.079 --> 00:13:03.910
>> But you know it's it's it's all about
00:13:03.920 --> 00:13:06.150
safety. That's the most important thing.
00:13:06.160 --> 00:13:07.590
And
00:13:07.600 --> 00:13:08.230
>> yeah,
00:13:08.240 --> 00:13:10.389
>> we you know they they want to get this
00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:14.310
right. So, um, it's better to be a month
00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:17.190
late or even longer than have something
00:13:17.200 --> 00:13:19.030
go horribly wrong, which we've certainly
00:13:19.040 --> 00:13:20.470
witnessed in the past. And we talked
00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:22.389
about the anniversary of Colombia last
00:13:22.399 --> 00:13:25.670
week. And it's, you know, those things
00:13:25.680 --> 00:13:28.790
are still strong in people's minds. You
00:13:28.800 --> 00:13:31.190
got to avoid that at all costs. So, um,
00:13:31.200 --> 00:13:32.949
yeah, hopefully they'll find find the
00:13:32.959 --> 00:13:34.870
problem. Maybe it's a poo valve that's
00:13:34.880 --> 00:13:37.750
just, you know, not
00:13:37.760 --> 00:13:40.550
>> Yeah, it could be a P valve. The real
00:13:40.560 --> 00:13:43.990
problem is hydrogen atoms are so small.
00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:44.389
>> Yeah.
00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:46.389
>> Uh they're the smallest of all atoms. So
00:13:46.399 --> 00:13:49.030
they they fit through any tiny crack. Um
00:13:49.040 --> 00:13:52.949
we had a uh at one time uh when I was
00:13:52.959 --> 00:13:54.470
working as an astronomer at Siding
00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:56.790
Spring Observatory, not far from you. Uh
00:13:56.800 --> 00:13:58.949
one of our telescopes used photographic
00:13:58.959 --> 00:14:01.990
plates back in the day. And to sensitize
00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:04.230
them, we called it hypersensitizing. We
00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:05.670
we actually had to bathe them in
00:14:05.680 --> 00:14:08.389
hydrogen for a period of something like
00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:11.110
10 hours before they were used and that
00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:13.670
increased their sensitivity by se
00:14:13.680 --> 00:14:17.030
several orders in fact. Uh um but the
00:14:17.040 --> 00:14:18.550
problem was keeping the hydrogen where
00:14:18.560 --> 00:14:20.870
you wanted it. It tends to leak. Uh it's
00:14:20.880 --> 00:14:23.430
it's a very leaky gas because of the
00:14:23.440 --> 00:14:24.949
small size of the atoms.
00:14:24.959 --> 00:14:26.310
>> Yeah. Yeah. Well, just look at the
00:14:26.320 --> 00:14:29.110
Hindenburg. Certainly leaked there.
00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:30.310
>> Yes, that's right.
00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:33.670
>> Yeah. Um although didn't they figure out
00:14:33.680 --> 00:14:35.430
many many years later that it wasn't the
00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:37.590
hydrogen leaking that was the problem.
00:14:37.600 --> 00:14:41.030
It was the um ah what do they call it
00:14:41.040 --> 00:14:43.750
the stuff in the fabric um that that
00:14:43.760 --> 00:14:45.910
caused the problem. Yeah. It wasn't it
00:14:45.920 --> 00:14:47.350
wasn't actually the hydrogen that was
00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:50.230
the issue. It was the it was the static
00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:52.550
electricity in the fabric but it was the
00:14:52.560 --> 00:14:54.069
the lacquer. I think the lacquer.
00:14:54.079 --> 00:14:54.870
>> That was my
00:14:54.880 --> 00:14:55.189
>> Yeah,
00:14:55.199 --> 00:14:56.470
>> that that could be it. That was my
00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:57.750
understanding that it was static
00:14:57.760 --> 00:14:58.550
electricity.
00:14:58.560 --> 00:15:01.990
>> Yeah. different story. But yeah, Artemus
00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:05.509
2 still on the launch pad. U probably
00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:07.829
the schedule is March the 6th at this
00:15:07.839 --> 00:15:11.910
stage, but um maybe that will change uh
00:15:11.920 --> 00:15:14.470
depending on how the next test goes or
00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:16.310
the wet rehearsal or whatever they do.
00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:17.670
They did want to try and do more than
00:15:17.680 --> 00:15:19.670
one. So um yeah, well, they got an
00:15:19.680 --> 00:15:22.550
opportunity. Now they have to. Um now,
00:15:22.560 --> 00:15:25.350
uh this this story I find fascinating
00:15:25.360 --> 00:15:27.110
and I think you've got a personal
00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:28.389
connection with some of the people
00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:30.629
involved in this, but they have
00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:33.110
basically grown mushrooms in space and
00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:34.710
then they brought them back and had
00:15:34.720 --> 00:15:37.350
lunch.
00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:39.350
That's right. Uh this is actually a
00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:41.990
friend of ours, um Sarah Webb, who's
00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:44.069
down in Melbourne. She's a an
00:15:44.079 --> 00:15:46.310
astrophysicist and a science
00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:48.550
communicator uh which is how we've
00:15:48.560 --> 00:15:50.790
worked with her in the past. But she
00:15:50.800 --> 00:15:56.150
runs uh a project uh to basically engage
00:15:56.160 --> 00:15:59.670
um with the International Space Station
00:15:59.680 --> 00:16:03.189
uh uh on behalf of school school
00:16:03.199 --> 00:16:05.910
students. Uh and so this particular
00:16:05.920 --> 00:16:09.990
project uh was designed by 12 uh by
00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:12.230
Sarah and and one sorry Sarah and one of
00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:15.110
her colleagues uh plus 12 high school
00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:17.430
students from Hailbury College in
00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:20.870
Melbourne uh and um a lot of help from
00:16:20.880 --> 00:16:23.350
professional mushroom growers. Uh what
00:16:23.360 --> 00:16:27.430
they did was they packaged up uh not the
00:16:27.440 --> 00:16:31.430
mushrooms themselves but the things that
00:16:31.440 --> 00:16:35.350
uh essentially act almost like the roots
00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:39.350
of the mushrooms uh which are called uh
00:16:39.360 --> 00:16:41.670
mascelium uh a word I didn't know
00:16:41.680 --> 00:16:43.509
because I'm not a mushroom expert. The
00:16:43.519 --> 00:16:46.310
small filaments that are essentially the
00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:48.389
root network of mushrooms. So that's
00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:50.629
what they sent up. They were in space
00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:52.470
for a month on the International Space
00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:54.310
Station. They came back again with a
00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:57.509
crew change. Um, and so what the
00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:00.310
researchers did uh was to essentially
00:17:00.320 --> 00:17:04.549
take these mcelium uh uh filaments and
00:17:04.559 --> 00:17:07.750
plant them and turn them into mushrooms.
00:17:07.760 --> 00:17:10.230
Uh, and it worked. Uh, it worked well.
00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:12.549
And so they've now written a rather nice
00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:15.829
conversation piece which is entitled We
00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:18.150
Ate Space Mushrooms and survived to tell
00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:20.549
the tale which is I think quite a nice
00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:21.189
title.
00:17:21.199 --> 00:17:23.909
>> It is rather uh I was just looking up
00:17:23.919 --> 00:17:25.829
what the most expensive mushrooms in the
00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:28.309
world are and they're the yatsa gamboo
00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:30.390
caterpillar fungus.
00:17:30.400 --> 00:17:34.710
uh and they cost $50 to $63,000
00:17:34.720 --> 00:17:37.909
per pound because of their rarity and
00:17:37.919 --> 00:17:39.669
apparently they've got medicinal
00:17:39.679 --> 00:17:41.830
properties and you know they grow them
00:17:41.840 --> 00:17:45.909
in the Himalayas. I've got a feeling
00:17:45.919 --> 00:17:48.390
these mushrooms which are based on the
00:17:48.400 --> 00:17:50.630
lion's mane mushroom.
00:17:50.640 --> 00:17:51.190
>> Yes.
00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:52.870
>> Uh would be a bit more expensive than
00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:55.510
that by the sound of it.
00:17:55.520 --> 00:17:57.110
>> Yeah, they might be by the time you
00:17:57.120 --> 00:17:58.870
figure in the cost of the International
00:17:58.880 --> 00:18:00.310
Space Station. That's right. And the
00:18:00.320 --> 00:18:03.029
lion's mane is the one um it's a species
00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:04.549
that it's actually the one that they
00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:08.630
they ate. Um it's just to put this
00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:11.830
project in context, it's really um you
00:18:11.840 --> 00:18:14.870
know thinking about how you might uh
00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:18.070
grow fresh food for astronauts on
00:18:18.080 --> 00:18:19.909
longhaul space missions.
00:18:19.919 --> 00:18:22.150
>> Uh you know, if you've got um people
00:18:22.160 --> 00:18:24.070
going to Mars, you're going to have six,
00:18:24.080 --> 00:18:26.070
seven, eight months in the spacecraft.
00:18:26.080 --> 00:18:29.350
Um can you uh as they say in their
00:18:29.360 --> 00:18:31.190
conversation article, how can you
00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:33.510
continue to nutritionally support those
00:18:33.520 --> 00:18:37.270
astronauts? Uh and uh that is
00:18:37.280 --> 00:18:39.029
essentially uh one one of the
00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:40.870
motivations for looking at things like
00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:44.549
growing things in space uh giving them
00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:46.470
um the check out to make sure that they
00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:50.150
don't uh turn poisonous by their zero
00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:51.669
gravity environment, things of that
00:18:51.679 --> 00:18:52.870
sort. And that's what they've done with
00:18:52.880 --> 00:18:54.630
this. So very nice experiment. Yeah,
00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:56.870
I've been doing a lot of research on how
00:18:56.880 --> 00:18:59.669
you would feed people on a on a a
00:18:59.679 --> 00:19:02.310
spaceship for a long haul mission. And
00:19:02.320 --> 00:19:05.190
that's one of the solutions uh to to
00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:08.870
have um basically small farms on on the
00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:11.110
ship. hydroponics and things like that
00:19:11.120 --> 00:19:13.270
and and grow grow your vegetables and
00:19:13.280 --> 00:19:15.270
and your fungi and
00:19:15.280 --> 00:19:17.510
>> whatever else will grow easily in space
00:19:17.520 --> 00:19:21.110
and supplement the other stuff that you
00:19:21.120 --> 00:19:23.430
have to take with you um which would be
00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:26.710
the proteins. But uh yeah, it's um it's
00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:31.270
a really interesting um story uh what
00:19:31.280 --> 00:19:33.750
they can do with food. I mean, if you're
00:19:33.760 --> 00:19:35.669
going to spend a year out in space or or
00:19:35.679 --> 00:19:38.549
whatever, you you can't just rely on
00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:42.789
packets of chips. And
00:19:42.799 --> 00:19:44.789
>> yeah, you you won't get out of the hatch
00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:47.270
when you get home. But um yeah,
00:19:47.280 --> 00:19:50.150
nutrition is very important and uh yeah,
00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:52.549
they got to get that right too uh in
00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:55.029
time. It's all it's not it's not an easy
00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:56.870
thing, is it? going into space when you
00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:59.750
consider all the logistics involved in
00:19:59.760 --> 00:20:03.750
in feeding and disposal of waste and um
00:20:03.760 --> 00:20:06.470
you know um all the other things that go
00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:08.710
with it. Quite quite extraordinary. But
00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:10.870
uh I wonder what they were like like um
00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:13.990
I um I think the report basically
00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:16.549
suggests that they were quite yummy.
00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:19.029
>> Yes. Um that's right. Exactly that. They
00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:20.150
were very tasty.
00:20:20.160 --> 00:20:20.549
>> Yeah.
00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:22.710
>> I wonder did do you think space changes
00:20:22.720 --> 00:20:25.830
the the taste of things? Well, in you
00:20:25.840 --> 00:20:27.750
know, that might be one of the um the
00:20:27.760 --> 00:20:31.029
tests that you do. You you you take uh
00:20:31.039 --> 00:20:33.110
mycelium that's been to space and
00:20:33.120 --> 00:20:36.390
mycelium that hasn't and um try try to
00:20:36.400 --> 00:20:37.909
contrast the two. I'm sure they've done
00:20:37.919 --> 00:20:38.710
that, too.
00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:40.870
>> Yeah, maybe. It's great story. You can
00:20:40.880 --> 00:20:44.070
read it at the conversation website. Uh
00:20:44.080 --> 00:20:46.230
yes, it's called We Ate Space Mushrooms
00:20:46.240 --> 00:20:49.029
and Survived to Tell the Tale. Love it.
00:20:49.039 --> 00:20:51.110
Uh this is Space Nuts with Andrew Dunley
00:20:51.120 --> 00:20:55.350
and Professor Fred Watson.
00:20:55.360 --> 00:20:57.669
We choose to go to the moon in this
00:20:57.679 --> 00:21:00.149
decade and do the other things not
00:21:00.159 --> 00:21:02.549
because they are easy but because they
00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:03.190
are hard.
00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:05.750
>> These nuts.
00:21:05.760 --> 00:21:07.350
>> Now Fred, we're going to dedicate the
00:21:07.360 --> 00:21:10.630
last section of the show to Mars. And
00:21:10.640 --> 00:21:13.270
this was uh a story that caught me a
00:21:13.280 --> 00:21:15.110
little bit by surprise. We've talked a
00:21:15.120 --> 00:21:17.430
lot about the Perseverance rover and
00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:20.710
what it's up to. Um these two stories
00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:24.230
actually involve Perseverance. Um, but
00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:26.549
this one, um, yeah, Perseverance has
00:21:26.559 --> 00:21:30.070
gone AI. No more no more human drivers.
00:21:30.080 --> 00:21:32.950
We've left it up to the computers.
00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:35.669
>> They've That's right. So, it's, um, the
00:21:35.679 --> 00:21:38.630
story is really about the first ever
00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:40.789
drive on Mars, fully planned by
00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:42.470
artificial intelligence.
00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:42.950
>> Wow.
00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:44.549
>> And it h happened actually at the end of
00:21:44.559 --> 00:21:47.430
last year. Um, the two demonstrations
00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:48.950
carried out on December the 8th and
00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:52.070
December the 10th last year. uh and it's
00:21:52.080 --> 00:21:55.830
all about how you plan a route across
00:21:55.840 --> 00:22:00.070
the terrain uh of Mars uh with no manual
00:22:00.080 --> 00:22:05.669
input. And so it's a a process that uh
00:22:05.679 --> 00:22:09.510
usually is is performed by humans as you
00:22:09.520 --> 00:22:11.830
might expect. People on Earth pouring
00:22:11.840 --> 00:22:15.029
over the maps that we've got the high
00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:16.950
resolution images that have been taken
00:22:16.960 --> 00:22:19.190
by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and
00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:22.230
things of that sort. Um so uh what
00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:25.270
they've done is given all that to the AI
00:22:25.280 --> 00:22:28.950
um u machine and said okay we want to
00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:32.470
get to there how do we do it and
00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:35.350
basically that's what they've done and
00:22:35.360 --> 00:22:39.430
it's um it there's a very nice report on
00:22:39.440 --> 00:22:43.110
this on the uh space.com website
00:22:43.120 --> 00:22:46.870
>> uh that gives us uh a map showing the
00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:50.470
planned and the actual routes that were
00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:54.390
taken by the Perseverance rover. Uh, and
00:22:54.400 --> 00:22:57.029
it just goes to show how close the
00:22:57.039 --> 00:22:58.870
actual route was to the planned route,
00:22:58.880 --> 00:23:00.149
which means that they, you know, they
00:23:00.159 --> 00:23:03.029
didn't encounter unexpected obstacles
00:23:03.039 --> 00:23:03.990
and things of that sort.
00:23:04.000 --> 00:23:06.549
>> Yeah, that's uh very unlike when I used
00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:07.990
to go in the car with my grandmother.
00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:10.390
She Yeah, I
00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:12.549
remember one day we turned into the
00:23:12.559 --> 00:23:14.310
highway and she was on the wrong side of
00:23:14.320 --> 00:23:16.310
the road.
00:23:16.320 --> 00:23:19.190
>> Anyway, that's not a problem on Mars.
00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:20.710
No, there there isn't a wrong side of
00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:22.950
the road on Mars. That's right. I
00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:25.590
suppose um you know getting off the your
00:23:25.600 --> 00:23:27.750
beaten track is uh but there isn't a
00:23:27.760 --> 00:23:29.270
beaten track. That's the other thing. So
00:23:29.280 --> 00:23:31.110
you're always on virgin territory when
00:23:31.120 --> 00:23:34.470
you're uh driving a spacecraft on Mars.
00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:38.149
Um I think um I think it's uh a step
00:23:38.159 --> 00:23:40.390
forward because I think there's quite a
00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:46.470
lot of uh you know work goes in uh to um
00:23:46.480 --> 00:23:48.230
the the the
00:23:48.240 --> 00:23:50.870
human planning of the the routes to
00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:56.230
Mars. Um it's it's uh it's a labor
00:23:56.240 --> 00:23:59.110
intensive process. Um in fact I might
00:23:59.120 --> 00:24:01.190
read a little bit from that space.com
00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:04.710
article which is really quite sums up
00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:06.710
the the whole process. Uh because Mars
00:24:06.720 --> 00:24:09.750
is an average of 150 million miles or
00:24:09.760 --> 00:24:12.070
225 million kilometers from Earth.
00:24:12.080 --> 00:24:14.070
Communication delays make realtime
00:24:14.080 --> 00:24:16.710
control impossible. For decades mission
00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:18.710
teams have instead planned daily routes
00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:21.430
by hand. Human drivers analyze the
00:24:21.440 --> 00:24:24.789
terrain and rover status data,
00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:27.430
then map out paths using way points,
00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:29.430
typically spaced no more than about 100
00:24:29.440 --> 00:24:33.190
meters, 330 ft apart, to avoid hazards.
00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:34.870
And then these plans are sent to Mars
00:24:34.880 --> 00:24:37.430
via the deep space network where the
00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:42.070
rover executes them. Uh so this is uh uh
00:24:42.080 --> 00:24:44.149
really um you know a step forward. If
00:24:44.159 --> 00:24:46.470
you can get AI to do all that, then the
00:24:46.480 --> 00:24:48.470
other mission scientists could go and do
00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:51.269
something else like analyze uh what the
00:24:51.279 --> 00:24:53.669
what the sample uh you know sample
00:24:53.679 --> 00:24:55.590
gatherers are telling us about the
00:24:55.600 --> 00:24:56.789
terrain on Mars.
00:24:56.799 --> 00:24:59.990
>> Yeah. Uh it's it's a big leap forward
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:02.549
really. And when you think about it, I
00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:04.549
mean
00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:06.470
they've they've done it pretty tough
00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:08.549
trying to make decisions about where to
00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:10.149
where to go and how to do it. And if you
00:25:10.159 --> 00:25:12.470
have to make a direction change, the
00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:16.390
time factor is like 4 minutes up to 24
00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:18.630
minutes to get the message to
00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:20.470
Perseverance
00:25:20.480 --> 00:25:22.149
and then you got to wait that time again
00:25:22.159 --> 00:25:23.510
for the message to come back saying,
00:25:23.520 --> 00:25:25.909
"No, we hit a rock."
00:25:25.919 --> 00:25:28.149
>> That's right. Yes. So, yeah. Exactly.
00:25:28.159 --> 00:25:29.990
So, um you know, that's why you've got
00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:32.310
to upload the the instructions
00:25:32.320 --> 00:25:35.430
beforehand. Um and if AI can help with
00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:36.789
that, so much the better.
00:25:36.799 --> 00:25:38.710
>> Yeah. Incredible. Yeah. I I mean you
00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:40.950
hear a lot of doom and gloom about AI
00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:43.269
from certain commentators. Uh you know
00:25:43.279 --> 00:25:45.750
it's going to be the end of humanity.
00:25:45.760 --> 00:25:48.710
That's the extreme. But it's so useful.
00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:51.029
Like even in general day-to-day stuff,
00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:53.830
uh it is so very useful. I was trying to
00:25:53.840 --> 00:25:55.350
look something up the other day and I
00:25:55.360 --> 00:25:58.070
could not get the wording right in my
00:25:58.080 --> 00:26:00.870
browser for it to look up what I wanted.
00:26:00.880 --> 00:26:02.870
It doesn't happen often like that, but
00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:05.830
it was driving me nuts. So, I just went
00:26:05.840 --> 00:26:08.549
to um AI mode and went, I want to know
00:26:08.559 --> 00:26:09.990
this. And it went ding, ding, ding,
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:13.430
done. It's it's pretty impressive stuff.
00:26:13.440 --> 00:26:15.430
>> Really impressive stuff. And we're only
00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:17.350
at the very dawning of it, aren't we?
00:26:17.360 --> 00:26:19.190
Really, it's it's only in the early
00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:22.710
days. And uh it makes me wonder, Fred,
00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:25.430
what we can use in terms of AI as
00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:28.710
day-to-day people, what have they got
00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:33.190
going in secret, you know, in in in
00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:35.269
the dark rooms of the military and
00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:37.830
places like that. Their AI systems must
00:26:37.840 --> 00:26:39.909
be amazing.
00:26:39.919 --> 00:26:41.269
>> Yeah, that's where it really starts
00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:43.510
worrying when you let robots go off and
00:26:43.520 --> 00:26:44.470
kill people.
00:26:44.480 --> 00:26:46.149
>> Yeah, that'll happen one day.
00:26:46.159 --> 00:26:46.630
>> Yeah,
00:26:46.640 --> 00:26:48.789
>> I don't doubt it. But, uh, yeah,
00:26:48.799 --> 00:26:51.750
fantastic story about Perseverance, uh,
00:26:51.760 --> 00:26:54.310
using AI technology to find its way
00:26:54.320 --> 00:26:56.710
around and, uh, maybe it'll miss those
00:26:56.720 --> 00:26:58.630
rocks now. And you can read it at
00:26:58.640 --> 00:27:00.470
space.com.
00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:05.029
Still on Mars and, uh, still on the, um,
00:27:05.039 --> 00:27:08.230
Perseverance rover. Uh, this is a
00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:10.149
fabulous story to finish on, Fred. And
00:27:10.159 --> 00:27:12.390
this is I I think we've talked about the
00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:16.950
potential for a shoreline uh being
00:27:16.960 --> 00:27:19.269
suggested for Mars, but now they reckon
00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:21.750
they've actually uncovered
00:27:21.760 --> 00:27:24.870
definitive evidence of it. That's right.
00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:26.710
Yes. So you you're absolutely right.
00:27:26.720 --> 00:27:29.750
There's um uh for a long time there have
00:27:29.760 --> 00:27:32.390
been features in just in the geomapology
00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:34.470
of Mars the you know the layout of the
00:27:34.480 --> 00:27:39.990
land that uh suggest uh shorelines uh
00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:44.789
from this this hypothetical ocean which
00:27:44.799 --> 00:27:46.789
that the evidence is building probably
00:27:46.799 --> 00:27:48.390
covered the northern hemisphere of Mars
00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:50.710
for a long period. Uh we've talked about
00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:52.470
several stories recently that seem to be
00:27:52.480 --> 00:27:54.070
confirming that it was a large body of
00:27:54.080 --> 00:27:56.549
water rather than just a few lakes that
00:27:56.559 --> 00:27:59.350
came and went uh with uh with the
00:27:59.360 --> 00:28:03.990
climate. Um so but the you know we it's
00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:06.710
one thing identifying possible
00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:09.269
shorelines from orbit but it's quite
00:28:09.279 --> 00:28:12.789
another to have definitive evidence on
00:28:12.799 --> 00:28:15.029
the ground. And that's uh what
00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:18.389
Perseverance seems to have found now
00:28:18.399 --> 00:28:21.750
with an analysis of rocks. And we're
00:28:21.760 --> 00:28:23.909
still talking about Jezero Crater, which
00:28:23.919 --> 00:28:26.310
is where the spacecraft is. Remember,
00:28:26.320 --> 00:28:27.909
it's this crater that we believe was
00:28:27.919 --> 00:28:30.389
once full of water. And there's a a
00:28:30.399 --> 00:28:32.710
river delta on one side of it, which is
00:28:32.720 --> 00:28:35.510
what Perseverance is is looking at. Um
00:28:35.520 --> 00:28:38.950
but the shoreline uh hypothesis comes
00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:42.789
about uh and this is actually uh um from
00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:44.710
studies carried out by scientists at
00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:47.029
Imperial College in London. Uh what
00:28:47.039 --> 00:28:49.350
they've done is they've looked at it's
00:28:49.360 --> 00:28:51.990
an area which is called the margin unit.
00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:55.269
Uh interesting you it's sounds bit more
00:28:55.279 --> 00:28:57.110
like a jazz combo to me but it's the
00:28:57.120 --> 00:29:00.230
margin unit. That's the that's the the
00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:03.669
name of this uh geological feature. M uh
00:29:03.679 --> 00:29:07.430
and it's got a double whammy in terms of
00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:10.789
uh the way its history has evolved
00:29:10.799 --> 00:29:15.430
because uh there's there's signs of uh
00:29:15.440 --> 00:29:17.590
what's been called subsurface water
00:29:17.600 --> 00:29:22.070
activity where you've got water that is
00:29:22.080 --> 00:29:25.190
changing the characteristics of rock. Uh
00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:28.230
and the I think the thinking summarizing
00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:30.070
it very quickly and I hope I'm doing the
00:29:30.080 --> 00:29:32.389
scientist justice in doing this. Uh what
00:29:32.399 --> 00:29:34.070
you've got is basically it starts off
00:29:34.080 --> 00:29:37.430
with volcanic rock but uh that rock is
00:29:37.440 --> 00:29:41.029
then altered by water uh and turns out
00:29:41.039 --> 00:29:43.029
to have uh you know to be sort of
00:29:43.039 --> 00:29:45.750
carbonacious after that carbon dioxide
00:29:45.760 --> 00:29:48.389
uh rich water underground circulating
00:29:48.399 --> 00:29:51.350
underground. It it gives the a chemical
00:29:51.360 --> 00:29:53.830
alteration to the to the to the
00:29:53.840 --> 00:29:57.350
landscape underground. Um and so that's
00:29:57.360 --> 00:29:59.830
one of the things that this study has
00:29:59.840 --> 00:30:01.909
revealed that that is almost certainly
00:30:01.919 --> 00:30:05.269
what happened. But the other thing is uh
00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:08.630
the fact that they now see evidence of a
00:30:08.640 --> 00:30:12.710
shoreline in terms of the basically the
00:30:12.720 --> 00:30:15.110
layers the um the there there are
00:30:15.120 --> 00:30:18.630
structures in the sand sandstone which
00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:20.549
is kind of what it is. It's this altered
00:30:20.559 --> 00:30:24.149
rock um which match structures as they
00:30:24.159 --> 00:30:26.789
say typically formed by wave action on
00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:27.669
the shoreline.
00:30:27.679 --> 00:30:27.990
>> Yeah.
00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:30.870
>> Um and a lovely comment from one of the
00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:32.789
uh one of the researchers. We are
00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:35.590
looking at what was once a beach. Uh
00:30:35.600 --> 00:30:38.230
that's Alex Jones who is a PhD student
00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:40.070
at the Imperial College and he's the
00:30:40.080 --> 00:30:43.590
lead author of uh this this study.
00:30:43.600 --> 00:30:45.430
>> Yeah, it's fascinating. So
00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:47.510
>> I I think for me, Fred, the most
00:30:47.520 --> 00:30:49.830
exciting part of this story is that they
00:30:49.840 --> 00:30:52.230
are suggesting this discovery pushes
00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:54.870
back the timeline for conditions that
00:30:54.880 --> 00:30:58.630
would support life on Mars. So it g does
00:30:58.640 --> 00:31:00.710
that mean that the the time frame is
00:31:00.720 --> 00:31:02.310
much larger than they originally
00:31:02.320 --> 00:31:03.350
thought?
00:31:03.360 --> 00:31:05.190
>> Yes, I think that's the bottom line that
00:31:05.200 --> 00:31:06.789
you you know you you you're giving
00:31:06.799 --> 00:31:10.230
yourself a bigger window uh in which uh
00:31:10.240 --> 00:31:13.430
life could form on Mars. So yes, it's uh
00:31:13.440 --> 00:31:16.310
it is a very nice piece of work. Uh once
00:31:16.320 --> 00:31:18.470
again, it's just adding to the growing
00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:21.510
body of evidence that we we are amassing
00:31:21.520 --> 00:31:23.909
that yes, Mars once had a climate very
00:31:23.919 --> 00:31:24.870
like the Earth's.
00:31:24.880 --> 00:31:28.470
>> Yeah. And may may well have had life as
00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:30.710
a consequence of that. And now that the
00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:35.190
window is bigger, um yeah, it's I my
00:31:35.200 --> 00:31:36.870
brain is saying it's only a matter of
00:31:36.880 --> 00:31:39.909
time before we find the evidence. And
00:31:39.919 --> 00:31:41.830
whether or not there's still life on
00:31:41.840 --> 00:31:43.909
Mars, no one's dismissing that
00:31:43.919 --> 00:31:45.029
possibility either.
00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:47.830
>> No, that's that's right. Exactly.
00:31:47.840 --> 00:31:49.750
Fascinating story. You can read it at
00:31:49.760 --> 00:31:52.149
daily galaxy.com.
00:31:52.159 --> 00:31:56.710
Uh or you can do the uh geeky thing and
00:31:56.720 --> 00:31:58.070
read the paper at the Journal of
00:31:58.080 --> 00:32:01.669
Geoysical Research Planets. Uh gosh,
00:32:01.679 --> 00:32:03.190
Fred, we've uh we've covered a lot of
00:32:03.200 --> 00:32:05.110
territory and we're all done for the
00:32:05.120 --> 00:32:07.430
day. Thank you very much.
00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:09.990
Pleasure and uh great to revisit Mars
00:32:10.000 --> 00:32:11.350
again. Your favorite planet.
00:32:11.360 --> 00:32:12.950
>> Yeah, it's Well, it's got a lot to tell,
00:32:12.960 --> 00:32:14.789
hasn't it? That's that's what makes it
00:32:14.799 --> 00:32:18.230
exciting. Yeah, we've got um um so much
00:32:18.240 --> 00:32:20.549
going on there and there's always news
00:32:20.559 --> 00:32:22.389
almost every day coming out of Mars.
00:32:22.399 --> 00:32:24.230
Yeah. Fascinating. Thanks, Rick. We'll
00:32:24.240 --> 00:32:25.830
catch you real soon.
00:32:25.840 --> 00:32:27.509
>> That sounds great. See you soon.
00:32:27.519 --> 00:32:29.990
>> See you. Uh and uh don't forget to visit
00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:32.789
our website uh between episodes. You can
00:32:32.799 --> 00:32:34.870
do that at spaceodcast.com.
00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:36.470
spacenuts.io.
00:32:36.480 --> 00:32:38.389
have a look around. You can get your uh
00:32:38.399 --> 00:32:41.750
daily uh news feed through our website.
00:32:41.760 --> 00:32:43.269
You can visit the shop and buy yourself
00:32:43.279 --> 00:32:46.389
a cap or a shirt or a mug or a spiral
00:32:46.399 --> 00:32:48.310
notepad.
00:32:48.320 --> 00:32:50.470
We've got everything. Uh and don't
00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:52.470
forget you can send us messages or send
00:32:52.480 --> 00:32:54.630
us questions through the ask me anything
00:32:54.640 --> 00:32:56.710
tab at the top. That's all at
00:32:56.720 --> 00:32:59.430
spacenutspodcast.com.
00:32:59.440 --> 00:33:01.430
Uh and don't forget our social media as
00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:03.669
well. It's a great place to visit other
00:33:03.679 --> 00:33:06.070
people uh or meet other people that uh
00:33:06.080 --> 00:33:08.070
listen to Space Nuts. Uh that's the
00:33:08.080 --> 00:33:10.950
official Space Nuts Facebook page or the
00:33:10.960 --> 00:33:12.950
podcast group Facebook page. There are
00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:15.830
two. They're both very busy places. And
00:33:15.840 --> 00:33:17.590
thanks to Hugh in the studio who
00:33:17.600 --> 00:33:18.870
couldn't be with us today because he's
00:33:18.880 --> 00:33:20.630
in Brisbane.
00:33:20.640 --> 00:33:22.470
That's funny for a lot of reasons that
00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:24.710
no one will understand, but um anyway,
00:33:24.720 --> 00:33:26.389
we'll leave it there. And from me,
00:33:26.399 --> 00:33:28.470
Andrew Dunley, uh thanks for your
00:33:28.480 --> 00:33:29.669
company. We'll catch you on the next
00:33:29.679 --> 00:33:31.750
episode of Space Nuts. Bye-bye.
00:33:31.760 --> 00:33:32.789
>> Space Nuts.
00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:34.870
>> You'll be listening to the Space Nuts
00:33:34.880 --> 00:33:37.110
podcast
00:33:37.120 --> 00:33:40.149
>> available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify,
00:33:40.159 --> 00:33:42.789
iHeart Radio, or your favorite podcast
00:33:42.799 --> 00:33:45.190
player. You can also stream on demand at
00:33:45.200 --> 00:33:48.070
byes.com. This has been another quality
00:33:48.080 --> 00:33:52.600
podcast production from byes.com.




