Slow Crawl, Fast Comet


Today on Astronomy Daily: NASA's Artemis II mission is rolling back to the Vehicle Assembly Building today after a helium flow issue dashed hopes of a March launch. We cover the latest on what went wrong, what it means for the April window, and what happens next. We also have five more stories to get through: Perseverance just gained the ability to locate itself on Mars with GPS-like precision — no Earth assistance required. Scientists have published a daring plan to intercept interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS using a solar slingshot manoeuvre, with a launch in 2035 and a 50-year journey to follow. China's mysterious Shenlong space plane is back in orbit on its fourth mission, and we still know almost nothing about it. We run through this week's packed launch schedule — including Rocket Lab's hypersonic scramjet test flight happening today, and Firefly Aerospace's return to flight on Friday. And we close with a genuinely beautiful piece of science: researchers have used supercomputers to solve a 50-year-old mystery about how elements move inside red giant stars. In This Episode 00:00 — Introduction 01:30 — Story 1: Artemis II rollback — the latest 05:30 — Story 2: Perseverance gets GPS on Mars 09:00 — Story 3: The 50-year mission to chase 3I/ATLAS 12:30 — Story 4: China's Shenlong space plane — Mission 4 15:00 — Story 5: This week's launch schedule 17:30 — Story 6: Supercomputers solve the red giant mystery 19:30 — Outro Find Us Website: astronomydaily.io Social: @AstroDailyPod Network: Bitesz.com Podcast Network
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Kind: captions
Language: en
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Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily,
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your daily guide to what's happening in
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space. I'm Anna.
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>> And I'm Avery. It is Tuesday, February
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24th, 2026, and we have a busy show for
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you today.
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>> We do. The big headline, the one
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everyone in the space community is
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talking about right now, is Artemis. And
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specifically, what is happening to that
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rocket at this very moment? Quite
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literally as we record this, the SLS
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rocket is making a very slow journey
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about 1 mph back to its garage. We have
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all the details on that. We also have a
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genuinely exciting story from Mars, a
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wild mission concept to chase an
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interstellar comet. China's mystery
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space plane is back in orbit. And we
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wrap up with some beautiful red giant
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science that solves a mystery that's
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been bugging astronomers since the
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1970s.
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>> Plus, we run through this week's launch
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schedule, and it is surprisingly busy
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despite all the Aremis drama. Let's get
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into it.
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>> So, Avery, let's start with Artemis
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because this is a story that has taken
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yet another dramatic turn. Honestly,
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Anna, this one stings a little because
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just last week we were watching a really
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successful second wet dress rehearsal
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and NASA was talking about March 6th as
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a real launch date. Things were looking
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good.
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>> And then Saturday happened
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>> and then Saturday happened. Overnight on
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February 21st, engineers noticed
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something concerning, an interruption in
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the flow of helium to the rocket's upper
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stage, specifically the interim
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cryogenic propulsion stage or ICPS.
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And just to be clear for listeners who
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might be newer to the show, what does
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the ICPS actually do?
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>> Great question. The ICPS is the upper
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stage of the SLS rocket. It sits above
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the core stage and it's what fires to
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push Orion and the crew on their trans
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lunar trajectory toward the moon. It
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uses helium internally to do two
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critical jobs. It maintains
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environmental conditions around its
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engine and it pressurizes the liquid
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hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant
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tanks. So helium is not optional. Helium
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is fundamental.
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>> And this helium flow issue appeared
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after the wet dress rehearsal had
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completed, not during it, which makes it
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particularly tricky to pin down.
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>> Exactly. The WDR itself went smoothly.
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It was during reconfiguration afterward
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that data showed the interruption. NASA
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administrator Jared Isaacman posted
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about it on Saturday, saying the team
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was investigating three possible causes.
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A blocked filter between the vehicle and
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ground support equipment, a failed quick
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disconnect umbilical interface, or a
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failed check valve on the vehicle,
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similar to what caused delays on Artemis
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1.
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>> And regardless of which of those three
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it turns out to be, the answer is the
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same.
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>> The answer is always the same. They have
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to go back to the vehicle assembly
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building. You can't fix any of those
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things on the launchpad. So NASA
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confirmed a roll back and that roll back
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is happening today, February 24th. The
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SLS, Orion, and the whole stack are
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being loaded onto the crawler and making
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that 4.2 mile journey back to the VAB at
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roughly 1 mph,
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>> which takes several hours. It is not a
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fast vehicle. It's not. The crawler
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itself weighs about 6 12 million pounds
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unloaded and it's burning around 165
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gall of diesel per mile. It is an
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extraordinary piece of engineering in
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its own right.
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>> So where does this leave the mission
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timeline?
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>> March is definitively off the table.
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Isaac man was very clear about that.
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April is now the earliest possible
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window and NASA has said that quick
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action to get back to the VAB could
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still preserve April. A full media
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briefing is expected this week. The
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crew, commander Reed Weisman, pilot
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Victor Glover, mission specialist
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Christina Ko, and Canadian astronaut
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Jeremy Hansen had just entered
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quarantine and have now been released
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again. This would be their second exit
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from quarantine,
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>> which tells you something about how hard
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this process has been. And this is still
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the first crude mission beyond low Earth
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orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.
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The stakes are enormous.
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>> They really are. NASA's under pressure
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both from the public and from the White
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House to get this done. IsaacMen has
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been quite transparent about the
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challenges, which is appreciated. We'll
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keep you updated as the investigation
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progresses. A media briefing is expected
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this week.
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>> Okay, let's lift the mood a little
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because our next story is genuinely
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brilliant and it comes from Mars.
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>> This is one of my favorites of the week.
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NASA's Perseverance rover has just been
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given something that effectively
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functions as GPS on a planet that has no
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GPS satellites whatsoever.
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>> So, how do you navigate on Mars? Walk us
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through how it used to work.
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>> So, historically, Perseverance used a
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system called visual odometry. Every few
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feet, it takes camera images of the
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surrounding rocks and geological
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features, and it tracks how those
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features shift in frame to estimate how
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far it's moved. It's clever, but the
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problem is that tiny errors add up. On a
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long drive, the rover's internal sense
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of where it is could be off by more than
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35 m. That's over 100 ft. When it hit
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that threshold of uncertainty, its
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safety systems would kick in and it
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would just stop and wait for
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instructions from Earth.
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>> And with communication delays of up to
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24 hours, that could mean an entire day
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of lost exploration time.
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>> Exactly. So NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab
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developed a new system called Mars
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Global Localization. Here's how it
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works. Perseverance takes a full 360°
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panorama with its navigation cameras.
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Then an algorithm compares that ground
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level view with highresolution orbital
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maps captured by the Mars Reconnaissance
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Orbiter far above. It matches the
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terrain, the ridges, rocks, slopes, and
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triangulates an exact position. The
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whole process takes about 2 minutes. 2
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minutes to know where you are with 25 cm
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accuracy. That is remarkable.
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>> What makes it even clever is where the
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computing power comes from. It runs on
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the helicopter base station, the
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processor that Perseverance used to
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communicate with Ingenuity. Ingenuity
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fluid's 72nd and final flight last year.
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So that processor was sitting idle. It
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runs more than 100 times faster than the
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rover's main computers. The team
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essentially repurposed it. So ingenuity
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keeps giving even in retirement.
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>> It really does. Bars global localization
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was used successfully for the first time
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in regular mission operations on
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February 2nd and again on February 16th.
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JPL's chief engineer of robotics
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operations, Vandy Verma, described it as
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giving the rover GPS, saying it can now
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drive for potentially unlimited
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distances without calling home.
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>> And this has implications beyond just
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Mars, doesn't it?
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>> Big implications. NASA's already looking
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at adapting this for future lunar
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missions where you have difficult
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lighting conditions and long cold nights
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that make precise location data even
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more critical. And if we ever have
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astronauts driving pressurized rovers on
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Mars, they won't be able to wait for
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Houston to tell them where they are.
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This is exactly the kind of technology
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they'll need.
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>> What a story. 5 years on Mars and
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Perseverance just keeps getting smarter.
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>> And hopefully so are we. Now, this next
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story, I love this one because it is
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genuinely audacious. We're talking about
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a mission concept that was published
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this week for chasing down an
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interstellar comet. Avery set the scene.
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>> Right. So, our audience will remember
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comet 3i/ATLS,
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the third confirmed interstellar object
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ever detected in our solar system,
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discovered in July 2025. It came
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screaming through from outside the solar
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system, made its closest approach to the
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sun last October, swung past Venus in
00:08:11.840 --> 00:08:14.230
November, and came closest to Earth in
00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:16.950
December. It is now racing away from us
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at over 60 km/s,
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>> which is extraordinarily fast. For
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context, that's faster than any
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spacecraft humanity has ever launched.
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>> Much faster. And that speed is the whole
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problem. Researchers from the Initiative
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for Interstellar Studies published new
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work this week exploring how you could
00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:39.350
actually send a spacecraft to intercept
00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:42.469
it. The short answer is you need to do
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something genuinely extreme. They call
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it a solar oirth maneuver.
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>> Explain that to us.
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>> So the oirth effect is actually a
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principle used in basically every rocket
00:08:54.560 --> 00:08:56.870
launch. It says that if you fire your
00:08:56.880 --> 00:08:59.110
engines when you're moving fast, you get
00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:01.110
a bigger boost than if you fire them
00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:03.670
when you're going slowly. Normally, it's
00:09:03.680 --> 00:09:05.509
applied when a spacecraft is at the
00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:07.829
closest point of its orbit around the
00:09:07.839 --> 00:09:10.470
planet. What this mission proposes is
00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:13.190
doing it at the closest point of a solar
00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:16.389
orbit, a literal close flyby of the sun
00:09:16.399 --> 00:09:19.990
itself. We're talking 3.2 solar radi
00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:22.550
from the sun's surface. That is
00:09:22.560 --> 00:09:25.670
extremely close. How close is that?
00:09:25.680 --> 00:09:26.550
Actually,
00:09:26.560 --> 00:09:28.710
>> to put it in perspective, the Parker
00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:31.509
Solar Probe goes closer, but even that
00:09:31.519 --> 00:09:33.350
is an extraordinary engineering
00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:35.829
challenge. At that distance, the heat
00:09:35.839 --> 00:09:38.470
and radiation are intense. The
00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:41.030
spacecraft would need serious shielding.
00:09:41.040 --> 00:09:43.190
But the gravitational kick from firing
00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:46.230
your engines that close to the sun is so
00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:48.070
powerful that you could theoretically
00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:50.389
reach speeds never achieved by
00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:53.430
human-made objects. And then you'd still
00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:57.750
need how long to actually reach 3i-atls?
00:09:57.760 --> 00:10:00.310
>> If launched in 2025, which the
00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:02.310
researchers identify as the optimal
00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:04.630
window based on the alignment of Earth,
00:10:04.640 --> 00:10:07.430
Jupiter, the sun, and the comet, the
00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:10.710
spacecraft would reach 3-TLS
00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:13.110
by around 2085
00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:16.630
at a distance of approximately 732
00:10:16.640 --> 00:10:19.269
astronomical units from the sun. For
00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:21.910
comparison, Voyager 1 has been traveling
00:10:21.920 --> 00:10:25.910
for nearly 50 years and is only at about
00:10:25.920 --> 00:10:27.430
170 AU.
00:10:27.440 --> 00:10:30.069
>> So this would be the most distant rende
00:10:30.079 --> 00:10:32.150
view in human history
00:10:32.160 --> 00:10:35.190
>> by a massive margin. And only a flyby
00:10:35.200 --> 00:10:37.910
would be possible, not orbit insertion
00:10:37.920 --> 00:10:39.829
because both the spacecraft and the
00:10:39.839 --> 00:10:42.710
comet would be moving so fast. But even
00:10:42.720 --> 00:10:45.670
a flyby would be extraordinary because
00:10:45.680 --> 00:10:47.910
3II-TLS
00:10:47.920 --> 00:10:50.470
didn't form in our solar system. It
00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:52.470
formed around the different star,
00:10:52.480 --> 00:10:55.430
possibly one that no longer exists. Its
00:10:55.440 --> 00:10:57.190
chemical fingerprints could tell us
00:10:57.200 --> 00:10:59.110
things about planetary formation
00:10:59.120 --> 00:11:01.590
elsewhere in the galaxy that we simply
00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:03.829
cannot learn any other way.
00:11:03.839 --> 00:11:05.670
>> It's one of those stories where the
00:11:05.680 --> 00:11:08.069
scale of ambition just takes your breath
00:11:08.079 --> 00:11:10.470
away. Is there any serious movement
00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:12.310
toward actually doing this?
00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:14.389
>> The researchers are clear this is a
00:11:14.399 --> 00:11:17.829
proposal, not a funded mission. But 2035
00:11:17.839 --> 00:11:20.550
is only 9 years away. Decisions would
00:11:20.560 --> 00:11:23.269
need to start being made soon. And three
00:11:23.279 --> 00:11:25.590
Atlas won't be the last interstellar
00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:28.310
visitor. The more of these we find, the
00:11:28.320 --> 00:11:30.470
more valuable the case for chasing one
00:11:30.480 --> 00:11:32.790
becomes. Staying in the realm of things
00:11:32.800 --> 00:11:35.110
we don't know much about, let's talk
00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:37.670
about China's Shenlong spacecraft, which
00:11:37.680 --> 00:11:39.590
launched on its fourth mission earlier
00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:42.150
this month. Shenl Long, which means
00:11:42.160 --> 00:11:44.550
divine dragon in Chinese, is one of
00:11:44.560 --> 00:11:46.470
those topics that generates a lot of
00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:49.110
fascination precisely because so little
00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:51.829
is officially confirmed. This is China's
00:11:51.839 --> 00:11:54.630
reusable robotic space plane. Broadly
00:11:54.640 --> 00:11:58.470
analogist to the US Air Force's X37B,
00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:00.389
it launched from the Ju Kuan satellite
00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:03.110
launch center on February 6th or 7th
00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:05.910
aboard a Long March 2F rocket.
00:12:05.920 --> 00:12:09.430
>> And as usual, China hasn't said much.
00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:11.829
>> Extremely little. The official line via
00:12:11.839 --> 00:12:14.389
state media Shin Wa is that the mission
00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:16.629
will conduct quote technology
00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:18.949
verification and will provide technical
00:12:18.959 --> 00:12:21.829
support for the peaceful use of space.
00:12:21.839 --> 00:12:23.670
No launch time was given, no
00:12:23.680 --> 00:12:26.069
photographs, no mission duration,
00:12:26.079 --> 00:12:27.110
nothing.
00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:28.870
>> But we can look at what the previous
00:12:28.880 --> 00:12:30.550
missions have done and draw some
00:12:30.560 --> 00:12:31.829
inferences.
00:12:31.839 --> 00:12:34.629
>> We can The first mission in September
00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:38.870
2020 lasted 2 days. The second in 2022
00:12:38.880 --> 00:12:42.870
lasted 276 days. The third launched
00:12:42.880 --> 00:12:47.750
December 2023 lasted 268 days. So recent
00:12:47.760 --> 00:12:49.750
missions have been around 9 months in
00:12:49.760 --> 00:12:52.310
orbit. If this one follows the pattern,
00:12:52.320 --> 00:12:54.310
we might expect it to return around
00:12:54.320 --> 00:12:56.150
November or December.
00:12:56.160 --> 00:12:58.470
>> And what have analysts pieced together
00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:00.710
about what it does up there?
00:13:00.720 --> 00:13:03.030
>> This is where it gets interesting.
00:13:03.040 --> 00:13:05.430
Western space tracking organizations,
00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:07.910
including the US space force and private
00:13:07.920 --> 00:13:10.310
space situational awareness companies,
00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:12.310
have observed that Shenlong conducts
00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:14.870
what are called rendevous and proximity
00:13:14.880 --> 00:13:17.670
operations. It maneuvers close to other
00:13:17.680 --> 00:13:20.550
objects in orbit. It has deployed small
00:13:20.560 --> 00:13:23.350
objects, possible subsatellites, during
00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:25.910
at least two previous missions. One of
00:13:25.920 --> 00:13:27.990
those objects was observed transmitting
00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:30.629
signals over North America, leading some
00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:32.710
analysts to describe it as a potential
00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:35.430
mobile signals intelligence platform
00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:38.310
>> and the anti-satellite angle.
00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:40.870
>> Analysts are cautious. Some experts
00:13:40.880 --> 00:13:43.030
point out that Shenlong's small payload
00:13:43.040 --> 00:13:45.509
bay and limited power generation make it
00:13:45.519 --> 00:13:48.550
an unlikely direct space weapon. But the
00:13:48.560 --> 00:13:50.710
ability to approach other satellites at
00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:54.069
close range is inherently dual use. It
00:13:54.079 --> 00:13:55.670
could be inspection. It could be
00:13:55.680 --> 00:13:58.230
servicing. It could be something else.
00:13:58.240 --> 00:14:01.269
We genuinely don't know. What we do know
00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:04.870
is that the US X37B's eighth mission is
00:14:04.880 --> 00:14:07.030
also currently in orbit. Launched last
00:14:07.040 --> 00:14:09.670
August to test quantum inertial sensors
00:14:09.680 --> 00:14:12.310
and high bandwidth laser links. These
00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:14.150
are the only two countries flying
00:14:14.160 --> 00:14:16.470
reusable space planes right now. and
00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:18.710
they're both being quite secretive about
00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:19.430
it.
00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:22.069
>> The new space race conducted largely in
00:14:22.079 --> 00:14:23.269
silence.
00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:24.790
>> Perfectly put.
00:14:24.800 --> 00:14:26.870
>> Now, let's do a quick run through of
00:14:26.880 --> 00:14:28.470
what else is happening on the launch
00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:30.710
front this week. Because despite all the
00:14:30.720 --> 00:14:33.189
Aremis drama, the commercial sector does
00:14:33.199 --> 00:14:34.629
not stop.
00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:38.389
>> It really doesn't. Today, February 24th,
00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:40.389
we actually have a launch scheduled from
00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:43.030
Wallup's flight facility in Virginia.
00:14:43.040 --> 00:14:45.670
Rocket Lab's Haste rocket hypersonic
00:14:45.680 --> 00:14:49.110
accelerator suborbital test electron is
00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:51.269
carrying a fascinating payload called
00:14:51.279 --> 00:14:54.389
Dart AE. It's a scamjet powered
00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:56.629
hypersonic vehicle built by Brisbane
00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:59.189
based company hypersonics launch systems
00:14:59.199 --> 00:15:01.829
and this will be its first ever flight.
00:15:01.839 --> 00:15:03.910
The mission is nicknamed that's not a
00:15:03.920 --> 00:15:05.910
knife which we appreciate.
00:15:05.920 --> 00:15:08.150
>> Australian hypersonics delivered with
00:15:08.160 --> 00:15:09.990
Australian humor.
00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:13.110
>> Exactly. SpaceX also has a Falcon 9
00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:14.949
Starlink launch out of Cape Canaveral
00:15:14.959 --> 00:15:17.350
today. Wednesday brings another Starlink
00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:19.509
from Vandenberg, but the standout launch
00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:21.590
of the week is Friday. Firefly
00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:23.829
Aerospace's Alpha rocket is returning to
00:15:23.839 --> 00:15:26.389
flight on the Stairway to 7 mission.
00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:27.990
>> Tell us about that one.
00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:30.550
>> So Fireflyy's last alpha launch was in
00:15:30.560 --> 00:15:33.910
April 2025 and it ended in failure. The
00:15:33.920 --> 00:15:35.829
rocket had an anomaly and the mission
00:15:35.839 --> 00:15:38.710
was lost. This is their return to flight
00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:41.189
and it's significant for another reason.
00:15:41.199 --> 00:15:43.189
This will be the last flight of Alpha in
00:15:43.199 --> 00:15:45.590
its current block one configuration.
00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:47.750
They're upgrading to block 2 for flight
00:15:47.760 --> 00:15:50.550
8 which introduces in-house avionics and
00:15:50.560 --> 00:15:53.350
thermal improvements. So flight 7 is
00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:55.269
essentially a test bed for some of those
00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:57.910
new systems ahead of the full upgrade.
00:15:57.920 --> 00:15:59.430
>> A lot riding on it.
00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:02.389
>> Quite a lot. Then the week closes out on
00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:05.509
Sunday, March 1st with two more SpaceX
00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:08.150
Starlink missions, one from Vandenberg
00:16:08.160 --> 00:16:10.870
and one from Cape Canaveral. By the end
00:16:10.880 --> 00:16:13.430
of this week, SpaceX will have surpassed
00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:18.629
27 Falcon 9 launches for 2026 alone. The
00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:20.550
cadence is extraordinary.
00:16:20.560 --> 00:16:22.870
>> And all of this happening while the SLS
00:16:22.880 --> 00:16:25.749
is making its 1m hour journey back to
00:16:25.759 --> 00:16:28.710
the VAB. Quite the contrast. The
00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:31.590
juxaposition pretty much writes itself.
00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:33.990
>> And we close today with some beautiful
00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:36.710
deep science. A new study published this
00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:39.269
week in the journal Nature Astronomy has
00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:41.749
solved a mystery about red giant stars
00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:43.829
that have had astronomers puzzled since
00:16:43.839 --> 00:16:45.509
the 1970s.
00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:47.430
>> I love this one. So, a bit of
00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:49.749
background. Red giants are what stars
00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:52.069
like our sun become when they exhaust
00:16:52.079 --> 00:16:54.230
their hydrogen fuel. They expand
00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:56.230
dramatically and undergo chemical
00:16:56.240 --> 00:16:58.470
changes. One of the most striking
00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:00.629
observations has been a consistent
00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:03.509
decline in the ratio of carbon 12 to
00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:06.390
carbon 13 in their outer layers.
00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:08.549
Scientists knew this had to be caused by
00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:10.549
material rising up from the nuclear
00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:12.870
furnace in the core. But they could not
00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:15.110
figure out how that material crossed the
00:17:15.120 --> 00:17:17.510
stable barrier layer separating the core
00:17:17.520 --> 00:17:19.029
from the outer envelope
00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:20.069
>> until now.
00:17:20.079 --> 00:17:23.829
>> Until now. A team led by Simon Bluen at
00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:25.829
the University of Victoria's Astronomy
00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:27.909
Research Center working with colleagues
00:17:27.919 --> 00:17:30.230
at the University of Minnesota used
00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:31.830
cuttingedge three-dimensional
00:17:31.840 --> 00:17:34.390
hydrodnamic simulations to model the
00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:36.950
actual fluid dynamics inside a red
00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:39.909
giant. And they found the answer. It's
00:17:39.919 --> 00:17:40.950
rotation.
00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:43.350
>> Stellar rotation drives the mixing
00:17:43.360 --> 00:17:45.990
>> in a really dramatic way. Their
00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:48.150
simulations showed that in non-rotating
00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:50.710
stars, waves passing through the barrier
00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:52.950
layer transport very little material,
00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:55.270
which is what previous models predicted.
00:17:55.280 --> 00:17:58.070
But once you add rotation, it amplifies
00:17:58.080 --> 00:18:00.870
those waves enormously. Mixing rates
00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:03.750
exceed non-rotating stars by over 100
00:18:03.760 --> 00:18:06.230
times, and they increase with faster
00:18:06.240 --> 00:18:08.789
rotation rates. That matches exactly
00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:10.870
what we observe on real red giant
00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:11.590
surfaces.
00:18:11.600 --> 00:18:13.510
>> And these weren't small simulations.
00:18:13.520 --> 00:18:15.750
They used some serious computing power.
00:18:15.760 --> 00:18:18.310
>> Two supercomputers, the Texas Advanced
00:18:18.320 --> 00:18:20.870
Computing Center at UT Austin and the
00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:22.710
brand new Trillium Supercomputing
00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:24.789
Cluster at the University of Toronto's
00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:26.950
CINET facility. The principal
00:18:26.960 --> 00:18:29.190
investigator, Faulk Herurwig, described
00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:31.190
these as the most computationally
00:18:31.200 --> 00:18:33.669
intensive stellar convection simulations
00:18:33.679 --> 00:18:36.230
ever performed. They were only possible
00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:38.070
because of very recent advances in
00:18:38.080 --> 00:18:38.870
supercomputing.
00:18:38.880 --> 00:18:40.710
>> And what does this mean for us? For our
00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:43.669
son? In about five billion years, our
00:18:43.679 --> 00:18:46.070
sun will enter its red giant phase.
00:18:46.080 --> 00:18:49.270
It'll expand and likely swallow Mercury,
00:18:49.280 --> 00:18:51.909
Venus, and probably Earth. Beyond the
00:18:51.919 --> 00:18:55.029
frost line, Jupiter, Saturn, and beyond,
00:18:55.039 --> 00:18:56.789
those worlds will move into the new
00:18:56.799 --> 00:18:59.350
habitable zone. This research gives us
00:18:59.360 --> 00:19:01.430
much better predictions of exactly how
00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:03.590
our sun's chemistry will evolve during
00:19:03.600 --> 00:19:05.669
that transition. What elements will
00:19:05.679 --> 00:19:08.150
appear on its surface, how fast changes
00:19:08.160 --> 00:19:08.870
will occur,
00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:10.549
>> which sounds like a very long-term
00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:12.390
concern. But understanding how our star
00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:14.950
will die is genuinely important science.
00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:17.190
>> It is, and the techniques developed here
00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:19.669
have applications far beyond astronomy.
00:19:19.679 --> 00:19:21.750
The same simulation methods apply to
00:19:21.760 --> 00:19:24.390
ocean currents, atmospheric dynamics,
00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:27.110
even blood flow. Balkerwig is already
00:19:27.120 --> 00:19:28.950
working with researchers in those fields
00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:31.270
to develop new largecale simulation
00:19:31.280 --> 00:19:31.830
tools.
00:19:31.840 --> 00:19:33.750
>> The universe teaching us about the
00:19:33.760 --> 00:19:35.909
ocean. I love it. And that is your
00:19:35.919 --> 00:19:38.150
astronomy daily for Tuesday, February
00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:40.950
24th. Big day for Artemis and not in any
00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:43.110
way anyone hoped. But as we've seen
00:19:43.120 --> 00:19:45.270
today, space science never stops.
00:19:45.280 --> 00:19:47.190
Whether it's a rover finding its feet on
00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:49.750
Mars or scientists finally understanding
00:19:49.760 --> 00:19:52.070
why red giant stars change the way they
00:19:52.080 --> 00:19:53.830
do. If you want to keep up with the
00:19:53.840 --> 00:19:56.310
Aremis roll back developments, we'll
00:19:56.320 --> 00:19:58.549
have updates in tomorrow's show once
00:19:58.559 --> 00:20:01.430
NASA has held that media briefing. In
00:20:01.440 --> 00:20:03.110
the meantime, you can find us at
00:20:03.120 --> 00:20:05.430
astronomyaily.io
00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:08.470
and at astrodaily pod across all your
00:20:08.480 --> 00:20:09.750
social platforms.
00:20:09.760 --> 00:20:11.590
>> Subscribe if you haven't already. Leave
00:20:11.600 --> 00:20:13.350
us a review if you have a moment. It
00:20:13.360 --> 00:20:14.950
really does help. And we will see you
00:20:14.960 --> 00:20:15.430
tomorrow.
00:20:15.440 --> 00:20:16.470
>> Clear skies everyone.
00:20:16.480 --> 00:20:20.789
>> Clear skies.
00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:28.789
Stories told
00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:36.710
stories told
00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:39.360
stories




