May 8, 2025

Little Bangs, Outer Planets & the Cosmic Budget Crunch

Little Bangs, Outer Planets & the Cosmic Budget Crunch

This episode is brought to by Incogni...removing your personal data online the easy and inexpensive way. To get the special Space Nuts listener deal with 30 day money back guarantee, go to https://www.incogni.com/spacenuts Exploring New Theories of...

Spotify Apple Podcasts Youtube Music iHeartRadio Spreaker PocketCasts YouTube Goodpods Amazon Music TuneIn Overcast JioSaavn Castro RSS Feed
Spotify podcast player icon Spotify Spotify Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts Youtube Music podcast player icon Youtube Music Youtube Music iHeartRadio podcast player icon iHeartRadio iHeartRadio Spreaker podcast player icon Spreaker Spreaker PocketCasts podcast player icon PocketCasts PocketCasts YouTube podcast player icon YouTube YouTube Goodpods podcast player icon Goodpods Goodpods Amazon Music podcast player icon Amazon Music Amazon Music TuneIn podcast player icon TuneIn TuneIn Overcast podcast player icon Overcast Overcast JioSaavn podcast player icon JioSaavn JioSaavn Castro podcast player icon Castro Castro RSS Feed podcast player icon RSS Feed RSS Feed

This episode is brought to by Incogni. ..removing your personal data online the easy and inexpensive way. To get the special Space Nuts listener deal with 30 day money back guarantee, go to www.incogni.com/spacenuts

Exploring New Theories of the Big Bang and Beyond
In this episode of Space Nuts, host Andrew Dunkley is joined by the ever-knowledgeable Professor Fred Watson to discuss groundbreaking theories and discoveries in the realm of astronomy. They delve into a new hypothesis regarding the Big Bang, potential discoveries of outer planets, and the latest updates on space missions.
Episode Highlights:
- A New Perspective on the Big Bang: Andrew and Fred Watson dissect a provocative theory suggesting that instead of a singular Big Bang, there may have been multiple smaller bangs. This theory challenges existing notions about dark matter and dark energy, which have long puzzled cosmologists.
- The Search for Planet 8.5: The duo explores intriguing new data hinting at a potential outer planet, dubbed Planet 8.5, which may exist beyond the realm of the hypothesised Planet Nine. They discuss the implications of this discovery and what it could mean for our understanding of the solar system.
- Spacecraft News from the Past: A look back at the fate of Cosmos 482, a Russian spacecraft originally intended for Venus, which is now on a collision course back to Earth after 53 years in orbit. Andrew and Fred Watson discuss the unpredictable nature of space debris and the potential for dramatic re-entries.
- Updates on Artemis 2 and NASA Budget Cuts: The episode wraps up with exciting news about the completion of the Orion capsule for Artemis 2, set to carry astronauts on a lunar mission, juxtaposed with concerns over proposed budget cuts to NASA that could impact future space exploration efforts.
For more Space Nuts, including our continually updating newsfeed and to listen to all our episodes, visit our website. Follow us on social media at SpaceNutsPod on Facebook, X, YouTube Music, Tumblr, Instagram, and TikTok. We love engaging with our community, so be sure to drop us a message or comment on your favourite 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
Stay curious, keep looking up, and join us next time for more stellar insights and cosmic wonders. Until then, clear skies and happy stargazing.
(00:00) Welcome to Space Nuts with Andrew Dunkley and Fred Watson Watson
(01:20) Discussion on a new theory regarding the Big Bang
(15:00) Exploring the potential discovery of Planet 8.5
(25:30) Fate of Cosmos 482 and space debris concerns
(35:00) Updates on Artemis 2 and NASA's budget challenges
For commercial-free versions of Space Nuts, join us on Patreon, Supercast, Apple Podcasts, or become a supporter here: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/space-nuts-astronomy-insights-cosmic-discoveries--2631155/support .

 

 

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.359
Hi there, thanks for joining us. This is Space Nuts.

2
00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:05.360
My name is Andrew Dunkley. It's great to have your

3
00:00:05.360 --> 00:00:10.160
company yet again. Coming up on this episode, we will

4
00:00:10.199 --> 00:00:13.720
be looking at a new Big Bang theory, so to speak.

5
00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:17.679
It's sort of wrapped up with dark matter and dark

6
00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:20.960
dark energy and all that dark and foreboding stuff, so

7
00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:24.960
we'll talk about that. Some other data is pointing to

8
00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:28.480
a potential outer planet and it may not be Planet nine,

9
00:00:29.239 --> 00:00:30.719
or is it. We're not sure yet.

10
00:00:30.760 --> 00:00:32.799
We'll talk about that and.

11
00:00:32.840 --> 00:00:37.079
Some space science stuff. An old Russian spacecraft is headed

12
00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:39.840
back to Earth and unfortunately that's not where it was

13
00:00:39.880 --> 00:00:42.399
originally supposed to go back in nineteen seventy two.

14
00:00:43.399 --> 00:00:44.119
Artemis too.

15
00:00:44.359 --> 00:00:46.840
An update on that, and a bit of a budget

16
00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:50.560
cut issue with NASA. That's all coming up on this

17
00:00:50.679 --> 00:00:58.039
episode of Space Nuts fifteen in Channel ten nine Ignition

18
00:00:58.280 --> 00:01:02.240
Space Nut or three.

19
00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:07.519
Two one Space Nurse when I report it.

20
00:01:07.599 --> 00:01:11.120
Neil Good and it's good to see Professor Fred Watson

21
00:01:11.159 --> 00:01:13.640
again joining us on this episode of space and that's

22
00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:14.159
high Fred.

23
00:01:14.519 --> 00:01:16.640
Hello, Andrew, very good to see you too.

24
00:01:16.760 --> 00:01:18.200
You're looking hale and hearty.

25
00:01:18.239 --> 00:01:20.239
I have to say yes, I've got I've got a

26
00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:23.439
new background you like my new office. Yes, my new

27
00:01:23.519 --> 00:01:24.519
virtual office.

28
00:01:25.200 --> 00:01:28.200
It's it's saying a lot of hellos at the moment

29
00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:29.000
it is has.

30
00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:29.920
Got a low error.

31
00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:32.120
And if I put my hands in the right place,

32
00:01:32.359 --> 00:01:33.120
they're invisible.

33
00:01:33.519 --> 00:01:33.920
Yes.

34
00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:37.640
In fact, if I go yeah, if I look around,

35
00:01:37.640 --> 00:01:38.680
I go invisible.

36
00:01:39.079 --> 00:01:39.560
Do Yes.

37
00:01:39.640 --> 00:01:41.480
Yes, you went invisible a minute or two ago, and

38
00:01:41.519 --> 00:01:43.079
I thought you'd lock it in into space.

39
00:01:43.239 --> 00:01:46.079
Never mind, it was one day, No doubt you will.

40
00:01:46.799 --> 00:01:48.400
But now you've been away, haven't you.

41
00:01:48.920 --> 00:01:51.920
We were over in lord How Island, which is an

42
00:01:51.920 --> 00:01:55.879
island some some kilometers off of the coast of New

43
00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:58.239
South Wales, is on the same latitude of Port Macquarie.

44
00:01:58.400 --> 00:01:59.719
I used to broad to.

45
00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:04.159
Yes, yes, she did that.

46
00:02:05.439 --> 00:02:07.560
I didn't actually have that much chance to talk to

47
00:02:07.640 --> 00:02:09.479
many of the locals in detail, or else I would

48
00:02:09.479 --> 00:02:10.840
have asked them if they In fact, I think I

49
00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:12.479
did ask one person whether they listened to.

50
00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:13.240
You, and they said yes.

51
00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:17.560
But we were there for a dark sky festival.

52
00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:20.240
Lord How is.

53
00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:25.879
Working on the prospect of becoming Australia's first dark sky island,

54
00:02:26.360 --> 00:02:28.840
which is like a dark sky park, but it's an island.

55
00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:32.280
I'm not giving away any secrets there, but there are

56
00:02:32.280 --> 00:02:35.000
people working on that very enthusiastically and we wish them

57
00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:38.039
every success with it. So one of this was a

58
00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:42.719
sort of kickoff festival with talks and presentations and I

59
00:02:42.759 --> 00:02:44.960
took the old Gibson guitar and Marny and I did

60
00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:47.479
a set in their music night. We did seven songs

61
00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:49.759
between us. I was cool and I've done that for

62
00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:54.759
about fifty years. And then you know, we did some

63
00:02:55.599 --> 00:03:02.199
experiments with the friend of ours, Marcuscaro, launching rockets with

64
00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:06.680
which were fueled by vinegar and bicarbonate of soda, which

65
00:03:06.719 --> 00:03:09.120
meant we all ended up smelling of vinegar for the

66
00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:12.960
next four days. And yeah, it went. It went went

67
00:03:13.039 --> 00:03:14.759
very well. That was a fun thing for the kids

68
00:03:14.759 --> 00:03:16.439
to do. So it was a good festival and it

69
00:03:16.439 --> 00:03:20.960
wound up on Thursday evening with very nice meal cooked

70
00:03:21.000 --> 00:03:22.960
up by one of the top chefs on the island.

71
00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:25.879
Wow, it's fantastic. I haven't been the lord here, but

72
00:03:26.919 --> 00:03:27.800
to get there you need.

73
00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:28.520
To go, you do need.

74
00:03:29.439 --> 00:03:34.520
It's also the home of some unique wildlife I believe.

75
00:03:34.360 --> 00:03:38.639
There are yes, and particularly the wood hen which is ubiquitous.

76
00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:41.439
They had a program four or five years and three

77
00:03:41.479 --> 00:03:43.599
or four years ago I think it was to eliminate

78
00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:46.280
all the rats on the island which were eating the woodhens,

79
00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:49.560
and that was quite controversial, but it's worked, and the

80
00:03:49.560 --> 00:03:55.960
woodhens are there in remarkable proflicty.

81
00:03:56.199 --> 00:03:56.560
Was that there?

82
00:03:57.439 --> 00:04:01.039
And they also have those quite rare stickings. Is it

83
00:04:01.080 --> 00:04:05.439
on the spire it's on Balls Pyramids? Yeah, Balls Pyramid

84
00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:08.759
twenty kilometers off. Lord how we had a very rough

85
00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:11.560
crossing to Balls Pyramid. We went because I always wanted

86
00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:14.039
to see it up close and personal. It's this stick

87
00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:16.120
of rock five hundred.

88
00:04:15.879 --> 00:04:20.199
Meters high and remarkable and as you said, it does

89
00:04:20.279 --> 00:04:23.879
have I think it's the only place where these nocturnal

90
00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:26.399
stick insects are phoned, and they're usually quite big.

91
00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:27.800
So a photograph of one.

92
00:04:28.199 --> 00:04:30.800
Yeah, I remember that story breaking many years ago when

93
00:04:30.800 --> 00:04:34.160
they found them and they went, oh my goodness, didn't

94
00:04:34.199 --> 00:04:34.839
know they were here.

95
00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:35.879
That's right.

96
00:04:36.040 --> 00:04:38.000
Yeah, incredible place it is.

97
00:04:38.079 --> 00:04:40.959
It's amazing. So what about you have? How's your week been?

98
00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:45.360
Pretty quiet? Actually, just sort of settling back into normal life,

99
00:04:45.399 --> 00:04:46.279
even though that's going.

100
00:04:46.199 --> 00:04:46.759
To be temporary.

101
00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:48.759
But I did want to show you something from our trip.

102
00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:51.800
As you know, we went to San Francisco, and San

103
00:04:51.839 --> 00:04:55.959
Francisco is the home of a big rock known as Alcatraz. Indeed,

104
00:04:56.040 --> 00:04:58.839
and you know, I like to collect souvenirs wherever I go,

105
00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:04.319
particularly particularly little rocks from different places. But this one's legal.

106
00:05:05.720 --> 00:05:10.839
There it is save the rock. Yeah, and inside that box, yes,

107
00:05:11.399 --> 00:05:16.399
two pieces, two pieces of the cell block of Alcatraz

108
00:05:17.079 --> 00:05:20.040
because they're trying to do renovations to keep it going

109
00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:23.800
for future generations, and so as a part of the

110
00:05:23.879 --> 00:05:28.920
renovation process, they've had to demolish certain sections and they're

111
00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:31.399
selling the rock to fund the renovations.

112
00:05:32.319 --> 00:05:32.959
There you go.

113
00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:36.920
I've got two pieces of the cell wall from Alcatraz.

114
00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:37.160
In my collections.

115
00:05:37.160 --> 00:05:41.560
Now see them as your screen tries to wipe them

116
00:05:41.560 --> 00:05:43.560
out and make them part of the background. But if

117
00:05:43.560 --> 00:05:45.879
I tip it forward a dispute can see them.

118
00:05:46.360 --> 00:05:49.600
So that's yeah. They are. Oh there they are, yes.

119
00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:54.040
Looking very very penal commonly this.

120
00:05:54.040 --> 00:05:57.000
Chunk of concrete, It says, this chunk of concrete is

121
00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:00.879
a byproduct of a major rehabilitation effort now underway on

122
00:06:00.920 --> 00:06:04.959
the island. It's been inspected by park historic preservation specialists

123
00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:08.399
to be sure that it contains nothing of research potential.

124
00:06:08.839 --> 00:06:12.120
So it's just looks like a piece of concrete but

125
00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:15.160
it's actually a piece of Alcatraz. It's all mine.

126
00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:19.519
And interestingly it's in the news at the moment, of course,

127
00:06:19.879 --> 00:06:23.480
because President Trump wants to reinstate it.

128
00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:25.040
As a jail, does he.

129
00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:29.079
I didn't hear that one. It needs well, I'll tell

130
00:06:29.160 --> 00:06:33.360
him one thing for free. It needs work. It needs work.

131
00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:37.480
But it's only a fifteen minute trip to get over there. Yes,

132
00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:43.240
that's right, thirty nine, So yeah's it's worth visiting. Though,

133
00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:45.639
we better get down to the business of the day,

134
00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:48.759
and that is astronomy in space science. And we'll start

135
00:06:48.759 --> 00:06:51.879
off with this story fred a new theory on the

136
00:06:51.879 --> 00:06:55.680
Big Bang, dark matter, dark energy, all of that stuff

137
00:06:55.800 --> 00:06:59.399
is rolled into this this paper that's been released through

138
00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:04.360
the Universe. City of Alabama in Huntsville. This is this

139
00:07:04.439 --> 00:07:08.560
is a physics professor who's come up with alternative theories

140
00:07:08.560 --> 00:07:12.879
in the past or other things. This one, though, is

141
00:07:13.079 --> 00:07:17.720
probably going to get pulled apart under the microscope. What

142
00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:20.839
he's suggesting is there might not have been one big bang,

143
00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:22.000
but lots of little bangs.

144
00:07:23.360 --> 00:07:29.279
That's right exactly, and you know you've you've described it perfectly.

145
00:07:29.399 --> 00:07:34.360
It's a really interesting theory in that if you have

146
00:07:34.439 --> 00:07:37.879
lots of little bangs rather than one big one. Apparently,

147
00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:41.319
mathematically you can get rid of dark matter and dark energy,

148
00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:46.040
which are of course the two big problems in current cosmology.

149
00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:49.759
What are these And just a bit of background there.

150
00:07:49.839 --> 00:07:53.240
Dark energy, we think is the property of space that

151
00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:59.519
makes the expanding universe accelerating its expansion, although there's just

152
00:07:59.639 --> 00:08:02.600
we're just starting to see evidence that that might slow

153
00:08:02.680 --> 00:08:06.000
down that acceleration. It looks as though it was more

154
00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:10.720
rapid five billion years ago than it is today. And that's,

155
00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:13.519
you know, new news. I guess on the on the

156
00:08:13.639 --> 00:08:15.480
what you might call the conventional picture, and of course

157
00:08:15.480 --> 00:08:17.879
the other half of that is the dark matter, which

158
00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:20.920
is something that we believe holds galaxies together and holds

159
00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:25.879
clusters of galaxies together, which is invisible and undetectable except

160
00:08:25.959 --> 00:08:29.920
by its gravity. Two big problems for modern cosmology. So

161
00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:34.360
Professor new It thinks that he's solved both of these

162
00:08:34.639 --> 00:08:38.399
with a theory that it's got a name.

163
00:08:38.519 --> 00:08:39.600
I can't remember what it is.

164
00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:46.360
It's his paper is entitled I can't find the title

165
00:08:46.360 --> 00:08:50.320
of his paper. It's something like getting rid of dark

166
00:08:50.360 --> 00:08:58.840
matter and dark energy. It's basically the idea exactly as

167
00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:02.200
you've said, is that you instead of having one big bang,

168
00:09:03.480 --> 00:09:08.200
you you have several little ones that sort of every

169
00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:12.639
time you get one, they you know, it sort of

170
00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:16.799
restarts things in an odd way. And that's the bit

171
00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:20.159
of this that I have to say, I don't understand

172
00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:23.679
because we have such great evidence that there's only been

173
00:09:23.720 --> 00:09:26.200
one big bang, and that is the fact that we

174
00:09:26.360 --> 00:09:29.159
still see it the cosmic microwave background radiation.

175
00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:33.919
Yeah, wasn't that wouldn't that just wipe this theory out instantaneously?

176
00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:38.279
Well, unless he suggests that you get, you know, a

177
00:09:38.320 --> 00:09:41.440
new microwave background radiation every time there's one of these

178
00:09:41.480 --> 00:09:45.440
mini big bangs. But that actually flies in the face

179
00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:52.080
of the research, the observations that Professor lew is suggesting

180
00:09:52.759 --> 00:09:56.960
that we do to detect these multiple big bangs. I

181
00:09:57.000 --> 00:10:02.039
think the cosmic microwave back radiation is a showstopper for this.

182
00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:06.919
And the reason is when we look out into space,

183
00:10:07.559 --> 00:10:13.799
we see progressively objects, most notably galaxies, at different red shifts.

184
00:10:13.799 --> 00:10:15.159
They're increasing red shift.

185
00:10:15.159 --> 00:10:18.480
It's the red shift is the move of the of

186
00:10:18.519 --> 00:10:21.000
the light to the red end of the spectrum. It's

187
00:10:21.480 --> 00:10:25.240
what we measure. We believe it's happening because space is expanding.

188
00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:29.039
That stretches the light waves and gives you the red shift.

189
00:10:29.399 --> 00:10:31.840
And if you look at a high enough redshift, what

190
00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:34.879
you see you see the big Bank, You see the

191
00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:38.039
cosmic microwave background radiation, the flash of the Big Bang

192
00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:41.759
when it became from when the universe became transparent about

193
00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:45.720
three hundred and eighty thousand years after the Big Bang event. Now,

194
00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:49.080
what Professor lew is saying is that you could test

195
00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:54.360
his theory by looking for as you look back in time,

196
00:10:54.679 --> 00:10:58.600
in other words, that increasing red shifts, look for jumps

197
00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:04.240
in red shift, which you know it might mean that

198
00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:07.720
if you're looking along a particular line of sight, you

199
00:11:07.759 --> 00:11:11.039
see all the galaxies along that line of sight, you

200
00:11:11.080 --> 00:11:14.639
see them gradually increasing in red shift, and then suddenly

201
00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:18.200
you see a jump in redshift, which looks as though

202
00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:21.639
something's missing. And what he's suggesting is that's where you

203
00:11:21.679 --> 00:11:26.320
get a mini Big Bang. But that, as I said,

204
00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:28.960
flies in the face of the cosmic micround radiation, because

205
00:11:28.960 --> 00:11:31.279
that is at the most extreme red shift we can observe.

206
00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:34.759
It's a the red shift of about thirteen hundred because

207
00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:37.679
the universe has expanded by a factor similar to that

208
00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:42.360
in the time since since it became transparent, which is

209
00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:46.279
what we can see. We can see the opaque universe

210
00:11:46.600 --> 00:11:49.960
at that great distance. So that's my take on it

211
00:11:50.039 --> 00:11:55.919
for what it's worth from a non cosmologist. But it's

212
00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:56.679
causing interest.

213
00:11:57.320 --> 00:12:01.080
It's really, you.

214
00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:04.480
Know, actually an interesting piece of work. I haven't looked

215
00:12:04.480 --> 00:12:07.360
at the original paper, but as you pointed out, I

216
00:12:07.399 --> 00:12:12.240
think you found this one, Andrew. This is on the

217
00:12:12.279 --> 00:12:16.279
Brighter Side of News website. There's a lovely piece of

218
00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:19.120
pros at the end of that article which I'd love

219
00:12:19.159 --> 00:12:22.000
to read out to you, quotching the brighter side of news.

220
00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:26.200
Instead of hunting for invisible ingredients i e. Dark matter

221
00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:29.840
and dark energy. Instead of hunting for invisible ingredients, scientists

222
00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:33.840
might start listening for the echoes of ancient, unstoppable bursts,

223
00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:37.320
the hidden rhythms of a universe still in motion.

224
00:12:38.120 --> 00:12:42.600
Very poetic, very very I think the paper is titled

225
00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:45.720
are dark matter and dark energy Omnipresent?

226
00:12:45.960 --> 00:12:49.639
Yes? That's yeah, I had that, but I couldn't remember it. Now,

227
00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:54.919
Well why would you remember that? Yes, So watch this space.

228
00:12:55.000 --> 00:13:00.320
We'll see what other physicists and astronomers may of it,

229
00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:03.120
and hopefully see a bit more.

230
00:13:03.480 --> 00:13:06.320
That's What I like about these papers is that everybody

231
00:13:06.360 --> 00:13:10.120
gets to read them and go, Okay, I think that's

232
00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:13.039
wrong and this is why, or I think that could

233
00:13:13.080 --> 00:13:14.759
be on the money, and this is why. You know,

234
00:13:14.919 --> 00:13:16.720
everybody gets a say in it.

235
00:13:16.759 --> 00:13:18.360
So it gets.

236
00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:23.360
Bounced around like a yeah, it's a pinball until everyone

237
00:13:23.399 --> 00:13:26.799
seems to settle on some agreeable potential answer.

238
00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:28.559
Would that be right?

239
00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:31.360
Yeah, that's right, And it's a consensus. It's you know,

240
00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:35.840
as the scientific consensus emerges, that's what we then regard

241
00:13:35.879 --> 00:13:39.360
as as the standard.

242
00:13:38.799 --> 00:13:40.279
Model, if I can put it that way.

243
00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:46.159
But often, like some of this particular work, is going

244
00:13:46.200 --> 00:13:49.480
to take a lot to verify it, and looking for

245
00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:54.279
redshift steps might be one way of doing it. And

246
00:13:54.639 --> 00:13:56.799
in fact I was going to mention this that is

247
00:13:56.840 --> 00:14:01.200
not new. I remember back in the seventies when I

248
00:14:01.240 --> 00:14:04.759
was working at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, one of

249
00:14:04.799 --> 00:14:08.759
my colleagues was looking for what he called quantized redshifts,

250
00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:14.360
redshifts that appeared in groups among the galaxies, which is

251
00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:18.519
the sort of thing that you might expect Professor Lew's research.

252
00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:19.919
To throw up. He didn't find them.

253
00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:22.720
That the person who was my colleague at Edinburgh he did,

254
00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:25.759
he never found them, so but that was, of course,

255
00:14:25.759 --> 00:14:28.200
with nineteen seventy technology. We have moved on a very,

256
00:14:28.279 --> 00:14:31.360
very long way since then. Just a little bit.

257
00:14:31.559 --> 00:14:34.600
Yes, I'm sure we'll hear more about this story as

258
00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:37.679
people analyze his theory. So we'll keeping on that. And

259
00:14:37.720 --> 00:14:40.759
as Fred said, it's available for you to read on

260
00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:45.840
the bright side dot news website. Let me tell you

261
00:14:45.879 --> 00:14:49.519
a little bit about our sponsor, Incogni. And with so

262
00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:52.879
many scams available on the Internet, and so many people

263
00:14:52.919 --> 00:14:56.559
getting caught, and so many hundreds of thousands of dollars

264
00:14:56.639 --> 00:14:59.720
being taken out of bank accounts and credit cards, and

265
00:14:59.720 --> 00:15:02.960
who knows what, you really do want to be more

266
00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:08.759
vigilant when you're online, especially with private information. But how

267
00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:10.919
do you stop it from getting onto the dark web?

268
00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:15.080
How do you stop hackers from getting into your stuff? Well,

269
00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:19.679
the answer is in Cogny. And there's a special deal

270
00:15:19.720 --> 00:15:22.679
for you as a Space Nuts listener thanks to our

271
00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:29.279
sponsor in Cogni. They're offering an exclusive sixty percent discount

272
00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:32.879
in Cogny. What will it do for you, Well, it'll

273
00:15:32.919 --> 00:15:36.039
reduce the amount of spam emails and spam calls that

274
00:15:36.120 --> 00:15:39.879
you get. It'll certainly lower the risk of identity theft

275
00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:43.879
and it will make your personal information much harder to

276
00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:48.080
find online. And they have a thirty day money back

277
00:15:48.200 --> 00:15:52.480
guarantee with their product. And look, they do all the

278
00:15:52.519 --> 00:15:54.399
hard work for you. If you were to try and

279
00:15:54.440 --> 00:15:58.279
go online and clean out all your personal information, they

280
00:15:58.360 --> 00:16:00.960
reckon it to take you a couple of years. Why

281
00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:03.720
not just get someone else to do it for you?

282
00:16:03.799 --> 00:16:09.720
Remove all your exposed personal information from anywhere Google Results,

283
00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:14.320
public websites, and companies who collect and sell data. You

284
00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:16.000
can do that and get rid of all of that

285
00:16:16.440 --> 00:16:22.080
with the Incognitate Unlimited Plan. They handle an unlimited amount

286
00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:25.840
of data removal requests for you, reclaiming your info even

287
00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:30.320
from the most challenging data broker through opt out processes.

288
00:16:30.600 --> 00:16:34.600
So it's a great product. It's fabulous and all you

289
00:16:34.679 --> 00:16:37.960
have to do is go to a special URL and

290
00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:42.039
sign up and start removing yourself from the Internet now

291
00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:44.759
or you know the places you don't want to be basically,

292
00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:48.960
so it's in Cogni dot com, slash space nuts in

293
00:16:49.080 --> 00:16:52.600
Cogni dot com slash space nuts. Then just click on

294
00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:56.799
the button start removing now, and you can check out

295
00:16:56.840 --> 00:17:03.399
all their plans very very inexpensive. You can do individual plans,

296
00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:07.200
unlimited plan of course, which I've mentioned, standard plans, family plans,

297
00:17:08.519 --> 00:17:13.440
you know, whatever suits you. There'll be an offer available

298
00:17:13.720 --> 00:17:16.519
as a space Nuts listener through in Cogni and if

299
00:17:16.519 --> 00:17:21.359
you sign up for their annual package, you'll save sixty percent.

300
00:17:21.400 --> 00:17:25.279
And don't forget that thirty day money back guarantee. It's

301
00:17:25.319 --> 00:17:29.039
in cognit dot com slash space Nuts and you can

302
00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:33.440
cancel anytime. Don't forget that in Cogni dot com slash

303
00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:40.440
space Nuts. Now back to the show space Nuts. Now, Fred,

304
00:17:40.519 --> 00:17:44.599
let's move on to another story that we've looked at

305
00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:48.480
many times, and that is planet nine. Although this is

306
00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:53.279
probably not about planet nine, but they have been looking

307
00:17:53.480 --> 00:17:58.559
at data that suggests there is an out of planet

308
00:17:59.160 --> 00:18:02.039
further out than I think we're planet dark nine should be.

309
00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:05.759
So this could is this planet ten or nine point

310
00:18:05.799 --> 00:18:06.920
five or what.

311
00:18:07.079 --> 00:18:10.119
I think they're calling it eight and a half because

312
00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:13.799
we've got yes, this is not planet nine, that is

313
00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:15.000
planet eight point five.

314
00:18:15.640 --> 00:18:18.559
Right, that's okay, So what's the story.

315
00:18:18.759 --> 00:18:26.519
So well, let's scan backwards to two thousand and sixteen.

316
00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:29.799
I think it was, yeah, twenty sixteen, when two US

317
00:18:29.880 --> 00:18:36.440
astronomers basically puts out paper suggesting that the fact that

318
00:18:36.839 --> 00:18:41.759
we've got all these distant asteroid orbits these are objects

319
00:18:41.759 --> 00:18:45.839
trans Neptunian objects, objects that are beyond the orbit of Neptune,

320
00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:49.319
and in fact, some of them are called extreme trans

321
00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:52.960
Neptunian objects, objects a long way beyond the orbit of Neptune,

322
00:18:53.160 --> 00:18:58.079
whose orbits are highly elliptical, they're very very elongated, but

323
00:18:58.119 --> 00:19:02.160
they seem to line up the you know, the elongated

324
00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:04.359
orbit seemed to line up, and they suggested that was

325
00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:06.359
because there's a planet out there that we haven't found.

326
00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:09.640
They call it Planet nine. They think it's probably ten

327
00:19:09.720 --> 00:19:12.440
times the mass of the Earth, what you might call

328
00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:15.799
a super Earth or a sub Neptune. Those are the

329
00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:19.119
planets that are kind of common in other solar systems

330
00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:22.480
but are missing in our Solar system. So it sort

331
00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:27.559
of fit fit the bill. Lots of enthusiasm for this,

332
00:19:27.960 --> 00:19:31.640
but also again lots of controversy. I think I've probably

333
00:19:31.680 --> 00:19:34.720
mentioned to you at the beginning of last year, was it.

334
00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:35.480
I think yes.

335
00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:38.440
When I was in Canada, I spoke to a planetary

336
00:19:38.480 --> 00:19:42.480
scientist there who said Planet nine is rubbish. And that

337
00:19:42.599 --> 00:19:46.000
was somebody who was well tuned with you know, with

338
00:19:46.039 --> 00:19:51.359
the with the science anyway, we now have a.

339
00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:54.240
New theory or.

340
00:19:54.440 --> 00:19:59.519
Sorry, some new observations which come from astronomers in Taiwan,

341
00:19:59.680 --> 00:20:03.640
Japan and here in Australia. And what they've done is

342
00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:11.039
they've looked through archival images from two infrared satellites. One

343
00:20:11.160 --> 00:20:13.759
was called IRAS, which I remember well. It was a

344
00:20:13.880 --> 00:20:19.480
NASA Netherlands UK satellite dating from nineteen eighty three, a

345
00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:23.640
very very productive satellite, infrared astronomy satellite, that's what the

346
00:20:24.279 --> 00:20:28.920
abbreviation was. And Akari, which was a kind of Japanese equivalent,

347
00:20:28.920 --> 00:20:31.119
which was launched quite a long time later in two

348
00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:35.799
thousand and six. And that means, excuse me, both these

349
00:20:35.839 --> 00:20:37.920
satellites surveyed the sky.

350
00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:40.519
Excuse my frog in my throat.

351
00:20:41.640 --> 00:20:45.640
But they are you know, they're doing it at two

352
00:20:45.720 --> 00:20:51.079
completely different times, which are twenty five ish years apart.

353
00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:54.559
And so what that means is that if there's something

354
00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:59.119
deep in the Solar system that is slowly moving, you

355
00:20:59.240 --> 00:21:01.640
will you might be able to pick it up, pick

356
00:21:01.720 --> 00:21:05.200
up its motion on these sets of images that were

357
00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:07.400
taken so far apart in time.

358
00:21:08.519 --> 00:21:09.400
That's what they've found.

359
00:21:09.480 --> 00:21:13.000
They basically had two million objects in the two catalogs,

360
00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:16.640
and they got down to I think it was thirteen

361
00:21:17.480 --> 00:21:23.200
candidates of objects that moved slowly across the sky in

362
00:21:23.279 --> 00:21:27.160
the time, and then they looked at each one by eye.

363
00:21:27.240 --> 00:21:29.119
Some of them probably turned out to be flaws in

364
00:21:29.160 --> 00:21:32.599
the data and things of that sort, but one of

365
00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:39.680
them actually looked very promising because the two observations, the

366
00:21:40.440 --> 00:21:45.160
Iras and Nikari observations, separated by twenty odd years, showed

367
00:21:45.359 --> 00:21:50.440
an object that had moved, but its color and its

368
00:21:50.519 --> 00:21:54.319
brightness were the same in both images, and so they

369
00:21:54.359 --> 00:21:57.759
are suspecting that that makes it the same object rather

370
00:21:57.839 --> 00:22:00.759
than two bits of data or.

371
00:22:00.759 --> 00:22:06.839
Something like that. Now it's it's actually.

372
00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:14.160
Something different from what Planet nine has been suspected. First

373
00:22:14.160 --> 00:22:19.200
of all, this object, if it is real, goes around

374
00:22:19.240 --> 00:22:24.000
the Sun in the opposite direction from everything else. It's

375
00:22:24.079 --> 00:22:27.000
tilted way over its orbits tilted at one hundred and

376
00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:29.680
twenty degrees, which because it's more than ninety degrees, means

377
00:22:29.680 --> 00:22:34.599
it's going the wrong way around. Whereas planet nine, the

378
00:22:34.599 --> 00:22:39.559
theory that was built around these extreme trans Neptunian objects

379
00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:43.880
that you know, provided a model for planet nine that

380
00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:47.319
really needed a very low orbit tilt fifteen degrees or

381
00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:52.279
so in order to do the stretching of these orbits

382
00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:57.079
or the alignment of these orbits. So the two scientists

383
00:22:57.119 --> 00:22:59.920
who were the original proposers of planet nine might grow

384
00:23:00.279 --> 00:23:06.000
and constanting Latigin, they say, well, whatever this is, it's

385
00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:11.640
not planet nine, and it's it's but it may be

386
00:23:11.720 --> 00:23:12.319
something else.

387
00:23:12.599 --> 00:23:13.079
That's the.

388
00:23:14.839 --> 00:23:19.440
Inference that this thing may be real, and it clearly

389
00:23:19.680 --> 00:23:24.440
needs more data to determine whether it's a real object.

390
00:23:24.759 --> 00:23:26.759
If it is, it might as exactly as we were

391
00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:28.920
said before, might be planet eight and a half or

392
00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:32.599
nine and a half. I guess the best bet for

393
00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:35.400
finding it is going to be when we get the V. C.

394
00:23:35.559 --> 00:23:40.640
Rubin Observatory online, which is going to be towards the

395
00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:45.279
end of this year, and that is going to be

396
00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:49.200
able to look at the Southern Sky, which I think

397
00:23:49.279 --> 00:23:51.599
is where this object is. I can't remember what constellation

398
00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:54.960
it was in, but it's going to be able to

399
00:23:55.000 --> 00:23:57.400
look at the Southern sky in much detail, and it

400
00:23:57.440 --> 00:24:00.319
may find Planet nine, or it may confirm Plant eight

401
00:24:00.359 --> 00:24:04.119
and a half, or may just tell us there's nothing

402
00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:07.759
out there at all. So this is something that we're

403
00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:09.559
going to look forward to, and you and I will

404
00:24:09.599 --> 00:24:10.599
talk about it, I'm sure.

405
00:24:11.160 --> 00:24:15.759
Yeah, And this has also created another issue because if

406
00:24:15.799 --> 00:24:19.880
this is a planet beyond where planet nine should be,

407
00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:24.920
there is another theory that suggests that it will basically

408
00:24:25.039 --> 00:24:29.039
eliminate the potential existence of planet nine because they would

409
00:24:29.240 --> 00:24:32.759
interfere with each other, and that's not evident in this data.

410
00:24:33.240 --> 00:24:34.559
That's correct, that's right.

411
00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:37.799
So, yeah, you picked up on something I've forgotten when

412
00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:39.440
I when I read the piece.

413
00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:40.000
That's right.

414
00:24:40.119 --> 00:24:46.279
It's if this is a real object, it would not

415
00:24:46.319 --> 00:24:49.559
be compatible with there being a planet nine, which would

416
00:24:49.599 --> 00:24:52.319
actually be much nearer than this. This is a long

417
00:24:52.359 --> 00:24:55.680
long way away, right on the edge of the Solar System,

418
00:24:55.799 --> 00:24:58.680
if it's real, and it would conflict with the idea

419
00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:00.559
of a planet nine. Yes, So so it may be

420
00:25:01.720 --> 00:25:03.880
that this will if it turns out to be the

421
00:25:03.960 --> 00:25:06.359
right thing, If it turns out to be a real thing,

422
00:25:06.519 --> 00:25:08.680
then it might not the planet nine theory on the

423
00:25:08.759 --> 00:25:09.440
head altogether.

424
00:25:10.200 --> 00:25:13.000
But it's still just as exciting because it's it's it's

425
00:25:13.039 --> 00:25:13.559
a planet.

426
00:25:13.960 --> 00:25:15.799
Yeah, it could be a planet that's.

427
00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:21.480
Want to be a planet regardless, So yeah, forget planet nine, yeah, whatever,

428
00:25:22.039 --> 00:25:25.880
whatever it is. Yeah, Well, hopefully we can we can

429
00:25:25.920 --> 00:25:28.799
find that one they might end up calling a planet

430
00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:30.640
nine anyway, because well.

431
00:25:30.519 --> 00:25:33.160
That's what it will be, what it will be exactly.

432
00:25:33.400 --> 00:25:37.839
Yeah, it's really interesting. This one just keeps coming up.

433
00:25:38.240 --> 00:25:41.880
Yes, I'm giving it does. Yeah, I love it.

434
00:25:43.160 --> 00:25:45.279
If you would like to read up on that, it's

435
00:25:45.319 --> 00:25:49.599
been published on the website science dot org. This is

436
00:25:49.759 --> 00:25:57.960
space Nuts with Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson. Space

437
00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:04.000
Nuts now Fred quick stories about various things that are happening,

438
00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:09.559
mainly involving space craft or space missions or lack of

439
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:12.759
although the last story is more of a budget cut issue.

440
00:26:12.799 --> 00:26:15.599
But let's go back to nineteen seventy two when the

441
00:26:15.599 --> 00:26:21.240
Soviet Union and the United States were very heavily involved

442
00:26:21.240 --> 00:26:26.240
in the space race, and the Soviet Union launched a

443
00:26:26.279 --> 00:26:30.319
spacecraft that was supposed to send a lander to Venus,

444
00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:36.000
didn't quite make it, and now it's coming it's probably

445
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:37.359
going to crash back down to worse.

446
00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:38.720
That's right.

447
00:26:38.839 --> 00:26:41.519
So Cosmos four to eight to two was the name

448
00:26:41.559 --> 00:26:44.079
of the mission, and it was on its way to Venus.

449
00:26:44.200 --> 00:26:50.160
You're absolutely right. But apparently one of the final stages

450
00:26:50.200 --> 00:26:55.960
in the rocket, the upper stage, the booster, basically malfunctioned

451
00:26:57.119 --> 00:27:00.960
and so the spacecraft went in orbit around the Earth.

452
00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:03.359
It's probably quite a big orbit. I'm not sure if

453
00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:08.960
its dimensions, but it's so it's been in orbit around

454
00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:14.880
the Earth for the last fifty three years, and that

455
00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:19.240
time has now come when its orbit is decaying and

456
00:27:19.960 --> 00:27:23.440
it looks as though it is going to re enter

457
00:27:24.200 --> 00:27:31.359
the Earth's atmosphere, and with actually a prediction for its

458
00:27:31.400 --> 00:27:35.119
century almost as soon as the end of this week.

459
00:27:36.759 --> 00:27:41.200
It's and that's very hard to predict because it is

460
00:27:42.400 --> 00:27:45.640
it's uncontrolled. It doesn't have you know, it doesn't have

461
00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:49.799
any any sort of way of being being directed as

462
00:27:49.880 --> 00:27:52.759
to where it will re enter the atmosphere, so it'll

463
00:27:52.759 --> 00:27:56.400
come down in a random place. And as you mentioned

464
00:27:57.559 --> 00:28:02.680
earlier on, it's it's dangerous in a sense because this

465
00:28:02.759 --> 00:28:08.319
spacecraft was designed to penetrate the atmosphere of Venus, and

466
00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:13.279
Venus's atmosphere is much thicker than our atmosphere. Now, it

467
00:28:13.319 --> 00:28:16.839
would have been a controlled entry into the atmosphere of Venus,

468
00:28:16.839 --> 00:28:18.920
it would have had breaking rockets to slow it down,

469
00:28:19.640 --> 00:28:22.319
which it doesn't have coming into the Earth's atmosphere. But

470
00:28:22.359 --> 00:28:24.799
it does mean that there might be bits of this

471
00:28:25.079 --> 00:28:31.039
capsule which will actually survive re entry and could land

472
00:28:31.200 --> 00:28:36.559
on the grounds. One to watch I think is this

473
00:28:36.640 --> 00:28:39.839
because we could see a headline that this piece of

474
00:28:40.039 --> 00:28:44.119
ancient space junk has landed in somebody's paddic or we're

475
00:28:44.160 --> 00:28:49.920
still landed on somebody's house, and we'll probably cause global news.

476
00:28:49.960 --> 00:28:52.240
So look out for news on that within the next

477
00:28:52.279 --> 00:28:52.880
few days.

478
00:28:53.279 --> 00:28:55.440
It might create one heck of a fireball.

479
00:28:56.119 --> 00:28:59.319
It could, Yes, that's right, Yeah, it could. As it comes.

480
00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:02.880
Down, we don't know. We don't know where it might.

481
00:29:02.839 --> 00:29:05.440
Land at this stage. It's one of these.

482
00:29:07.000 --> 00:29:11.880
Very unpredictable, unpredictable scenarios, So it could just land anywhere.

483
00:29:11.920 --> 00:29:15.000
I mean, odds are it's going to miss something significant.

484
00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:18.440
It's just probably going to land in Probably water would

485
00:29:18.440 --> 00:29:19.160
be most likely.

486
00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:22.920
Well, that's that's correct, because water is what covers most

487
00:29:22.960 --> 00:29:27.400
of the Earth or seventy five percent, that's right, And

488
00:29:27.480 --> 00:29:30.319
that sort of tends to be what happens with re

489
00:29:30.519 --> 00:29:32.160
entering space ABAE.

490
00:29:32.200 --> 00:29:34.000
Most of it goes into the ocean.

491
00:29:34.400 --> 00:29:36.880
Yeah, but they go on to say that the risk

492
00:29:36.920 --> 00:29:40.200
of something getting hit is not particularly high, but not zero.

493
00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:41.160
That's right.

494
00:29:41.359 --> 00:29:44.599
That's great, But I guess that's always the case with

495
00:29:44.680 --> 00:29:48.799
anything coming through the atmospheres. Yes, watch with interest, keep

496
00:29:48.839 --> 00:29:52.359
your eye on the sky. That story in Space Daily

497
00:29:52.480 --> 00:29:55.960
dot com. Let's move on to our next story. This

498
00:29:56.039 --> 00:30:01.319
is really exciting news. Lockheed Martin has finished the Orion

499
00:30:01.480 --> 00:30:03.559
capsule which is going to be put on top of

500
00:30:03.759 --> 00:30:04.559
Artemis two.

501
00:30:05.759 --> 00:30:09.519
Indeed, that's right for launch next year, and Artemis two

502
00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:14.599
will will carry four astronauts and in a in a

503
00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:21.680
repeat mission of Artemis one, which was basically going to

504
00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:24.680
the Moon and back, going into a very elongated orbit

505
00:30:24.720 --> 00:30:27.319
around the Moon, and then coming back to Earth, re

506
00:30:27.480 --> 00:30:29.680
entering and landing back on Earth. That was all done

507
00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:32.920
as a dress rehearsal. It's I think it's two years

508
00:30:32.920 --> 00:30:38.880
ago now, and it worked flawlessly. Actually, everything worked very

509
00:30:38.880 --> 00:30:42.039
well after a few hiccups on the launch pad. So

510
00:30:42.279 --> 00:30:45.160
Artemis two is the same thing, but will carry a crew.

511
00:30:45.319 --> 00:30:48.119
I think the capsule has been I think it's had

512
00:30:48.160 --> 00:30:53.000
some upgrades from the original planned one.

513
00:30:52.039 --> 00:30:53.960
And I think they I think they put a toilet

514
00:30:53.960 --> 00:30:54.160
in it.

515
00:30:55.519 --> 00:30:56.799
That would be very good if they did.

516
00:30:58.200 --> 00:31:02.400
These are We've got a quote here that comes from

517
00:31:02.440 --> 00:31:06.799
one of the Lockheed Martin technical engineers. To support the

518
00:31:06.799 --> 00:31:09.119
health and safety of the crew, this new systems have

519
00:31:09.160 --> 00:31:12.880
been added, which include life support, air water, thermal control,

520
00:31:13.160 --> 00:31:17.519
waste management as you said, displays and controls, audio communications,

521
00:31:17.519 --> 00:31:21.160
an exercise machine, and a fully functional launcher boort system

522
00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:24.200
and so and lots and lots of other bells and

523
00:31:24.200 --> 00:31:27.400
whistles on it. And so there'll be a lot of

524
00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:30.960
work now to kind of get the thing ready for

525
00:31:31.079 --> 00:31:34.759
launch next year. But yes, Artemis is on track for

526
00:31:35.039 --> 00:31:38.200
Artemists too, flying very soon.

527
00:31:38.720 --> 00:31:41.200
Yeah, and they will carry astronauts this time.

528
00:31:41.359 --> 00:31:42.680
This will be a human.

529
00:31:42.440 --> 00:31:45.200
Mission and they're going to go way past the Moon

530
00:31:45.759 --> 00:31:48.720
like the first mission. Yes, will this be a record

531
00:31:48.839 --> 00:31:51.079
as to the furthest people have been out?

532
00:31:51.519 --> 00:31:53.720
It will indeed, that's right, it's going to be the

533
00:31:54.079 --> 00:31:56.599
you know, it's going to be the furthest from Earth

534
00:31:56.599 --> 00:31:57.960
that any human has ventured.

535
00:31:58.079 --> 00:32:02.079
So that's yes, Yeah, the moment, I think that record

536
00:32:02.119 --> 00:32:06.039
is held by Michael Collins because he was by himself,

537
00:32:06.200 --> 00:32:11.839
wasn't he in the Apollos actual?

538
00:32:12.079 --> 00:32:16.119
Yeah, that might be right. I mean, all the Apollo astronauts,

539
00:32:16.200 --> 00:32:20.480
the the what was it it was the capsule commander

540
00:32:20.519 --> 00:32:26.000
I think were left in orbit around the Moon. I

541
00:32:26.039 --> 00:32:28.559
don't know, until some of those orbits might have been

542
00:32:28.599 --> 00:32:29.519
higher than others.

543
00:32:30.079 --> 00:32:33.480
Yeah, yeah, I just said rings a bell. I think

544
00:32:33.240 --> 00:32:35.759
I think that's right. Yeah, I'm sure I'll be corrected.

545
00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:36.519
I could look it up.

546
00:32:36.559 --> 00:32:40.039
But yeah, bother we've got Space notes listeners.

547
00:32:41.240 --> 00:32:42.680
They're very quick to correctors.

548
00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:45.720
Absolutely, But this is all the exciting news and it

549
00:32:45.759 --> 00:32:48.880
looks yeah, they're looking at was it April next year

550
00:32:49.559 --> 00:32:54.480
or launch? Everything on schedule at the moment. But this

551
00:32:54.559 --> 00:32:58.279
is another example of the collaborative effort to put these

552
00:32:58.319 --> 00:33:05.160
missions together. It's Lockheed Martin's just one company. I think

553
00:33:05.400 --> 00:33:10.119
air Bus is involved in this as well, and so

554
00:33:10.160 --> 00:33:13.759
many others. So we will watch with interest. I'm kind

555
00:33:13.759 --> 00:33:15.839
of glad they put that life support system in. That

556
00:33:15.880 --> 00:33:17.359
would probably be useful.

557
00:33:18.079 --> 00:33:19.839
It might be, yes, it might be helpful.

558
00:33:20.559 --> 00:33:24.359
Indeed, you can find plenty of stories that talk about

559
00:33:24.359 --> 00:33:27.279
that particular mission online if you care to search. One

560
00:33:27.359 --> 00:33:31.720
final thing, Fred, and this is probably not good news,

561
00:33:32.480 --> 00:33:36.759
and that is a potential budget cuts that will hit

562
00:33:36.839 --> 00:33:38.000
NASA pretty hard.

563
00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:40.079
Very hard. Yeah.

564
00:33:40.119 --> 00:33:44.000
So this is the White House has proposed federal spending

565
00:33:44.039 --> 00:33:49.519
budget for twenty twenty six, and there's cuts in many,

566
00:33:49.559 --> 00:33:56.519
many areas. But NASA have actually taken the brunt of

567
00:33:56.559 --> 00:34:01.119
this with a cut facing a possible cut has to

568
00:34:01.119 --> 00:34:04.160
be approved clearly, but it's twenty four point three percent,

569
00:34:05.160 --> 00:34:08.320
coming down from twenty four point eight billion in this

570
00:34:08.400 --> 00:34:11.840
financial year to eighteen point eight billion in the next

571
00:34:11.840 --> 00:34:15.480
financial year. And of course, so many of NASA's programs

572
00:34:15.480 --> 00:34:19.559
are very very sensitive to funding. Many of them are

573
00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:22.239
on shoe string budgets, you know, like keeping the Voyagers

574
00:34:24.079 --> 00:34:28.599
in Touch and the deep space programs, all of that,

575
00:34:28.840 --> 00:34:34.559
possible future missions for new horizons, that's all you have

576
00:34:34.599 --> 00:34:39.800
to worry about the future of them. What's perhaps more significant,

577
00:34:40.039 --> 00:34:43.639
and you know, I can see sort of where this

578
00:34:43.800 --> 00:34:46.880
is going is we've just been talking about Artemis. The

579
00:34:46.920 --> 00:34:52.360
current Artemis program has I think five missions, which the

580
00:34:52.639 --> 00:34:55.079
last ones would have you know, would have.

581
00:34:55.039 --> 00:34:57.760
The Gateway, the Gateway.

582
00:34:59.039 --> 00:35:05.559
Space station in orbit around the Moon. Basically, the cuts

583
00:35:05.639 --> 00:35:10.079
would bring the Artemis mission to an end. After Artemis three,

584
00:35:10.960 --> 00:35:15.320
Gateway would be canceled, and those later Artemis landings would

585
00:35:15.360 --> 00:35:23.320
be canceled as well, and the sort of load on

586
00:35:23.679 --> 00:35:28.079
lunar exploration would then be taken by the private sector.

587
00:35:28.239 --> 00:35:30.599
That's the idea that you get the.

588
00:35:30.440 --> 00:35:32.960
Private sector to do it, which probably means SpaceX and

589
00:35:33.639 --> 00:35:38.800
Blue Origin and companies like that, and so it will

590
00:35:38.840 --> 00:35:42.119
be a remarkably big change to what's currently planned.

591
00:35:42.639 --> 00:35:42.920
So the.

592
00:35:45.159 --> 00:35:49.079
Launch vehicles for Artemis are the Space Launch System SLS,

593
00:35:49.199 --> 00:35:55.920
which uses recycled Shuttle components, and the Orion capsule. That's

594
00:35:55.920 --> 00:35:59.960
what we've just been talking about. The capsule will hold astronaut.

595
00:36:00.920 --> 00:36:03.360
The idea would be to phase it out after the

596
00:36:03.400 --> 00:36:07.159
three flights, after Artemis three, so that includes the SLS

597
00:36:07.199 --> 00:36:07.599
as well.

598
00:36:07.639 --> 00:36:08.079
That would go.

599
00:36:08.920 --> 00:36:12.360
Yeah, and what I found in regards like twenty four

600
00:36:12.360 --> 00:36:16.440
point three percent funding cut, that is a huge, huge cut.

601
00:36:16.559 --> 00:36:20.320
It is, and most of that would be felt in

602
00:36:20.360 --> 00:36:23.440
the Space and Earth Science divisions of NASA. And when

603
00:36:23.440 --> 00:36:26.920
you look at what they do. Space Science Division does heliophysics,

604
00:36:26.920 --> 00:36:31.159
planetary science, and astrophysics, and the Earth Science Division looks

605
00:36:31.159 --> 00:36:37.760
at atmospheric sciences, oceanography, land sciences, criosphere technology, biosphere technology.

606
00:36:38.280 --> 00:36:40.559
I would have thought they were pretty important areas.

607
00:36:40.639 --> 00:36:42.239
But yes, yes, that's rue.

608
00:36:42.519 --> 00:36:45.880
They could get hammered in this if this budget cut

609
00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:49.920
goes ahead. Do you think Elon has sort of been

610
00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:52.679
saying to mister Trump, look, I can do this, you

611
00:36:52.719 --> 00:36:53.440
don't have to pay for.

612
00:36:55.840 --> 00:36:58.679
I couldn't possibly guess that the conversations that go between

613
00:36:58.679 --> 00:37:00.480
those two, but it wouldn't be rised.

614
00:37:02.519 --> 00:37:04.719
Yeah, it's a it's a bit of a worry. Someone

615
00:37:04.760 --> 00:37:10.400
else told me that they've totally cut funding to national

616
00:37:10.400 --> 00:37:13.880
public Radio NPS, which is that's the US equivalent to

617
00:37:13.920 --> 00:37:14.440
the A b C.

618
00:37:14.719 --> 00:37:15.599
So I heard that.

619
00:37:16.519 --> 00:37:20.119
So that that's fairly tragic, I think in this scheme

620
00:37:20.159 --> 00:37:20.519
of things.

621
00:37:20.719 --> 00:37:25.199
Yeah, so this this these budget proposals have to go

622
00:37:25.239 --> 00:37:30.719
to the US Congress because they appropriate the funds, and

623
00:37:30.840 --> 00:37:34.920
it's you know, it's remains to be seen what happens

624
00:37:35.039 --> 00:37:39.079
after that. The Congress is fairly evenly balanced, I think politically, so.

625
00:37:39.760 --> 00:37:44.719
Yeah, unlike unlike our new government that's just been elected there,

626
00:37:44.880 --> 00:37:47.119
I think it's looking pretty lopsided at the moment.

627
00:37:48.480 --> 00:37:53.119
Yeah, quite quite quite a result. That was Okay, thank

628
00:37:53.119 --> 00:37:53.480
you for Verdi.

629
00:37:53.440 --> 00:37:56.519
If you'd like to look into that story about the

630
00:37:56.519 --> 00:37:59.719
budget the potential budget cuts to that's a spaceflight now

631
00:37:59.760 --> 00:38:03.760
dot com is the website. We're all done, Fred, Thank you.

632
00:38:04.599 --> 00:38:07.719
It's been a pleasure, always good to talk and to

633
00:38:07.760 --> 00:38:11.039
bring us ourselves up today as well as everybody.

634
00:38:10.639 --> 00:38:12.320
Else on what's going on in the world of space

635
00:38:12.320 --> 00:38:12.920
and astronomy.

636
00:38:13.039 --> 00:38:15.400
Very true, all right, we'll catch you on the next episode.

637
00:38:15.440 --> 00:38:18.880
Thank you Fred, Professor Fred Watson, Astronomer at Large. And

638
00:38:19.760 --> 00:38:21.920
we would say thanks to here in the studio, but

639
00:38:22.559 --> 00:38:25.039
he's not where us. Budget cuts or you know how

640
00:38:25.039 --> 00:38:27.440
it goes. And don't forget to visit us on our

641
00:38:27.480 --> 00:38:31.519
website social media, and please leave reviews on your favorite

642
00:38:31.840 --> 00:38:36.440
podcasting platform apparently they're quite helpful. And from me Andrew Dunkley,

643
00:38:36.440 --> 00:38:38.320
thanks for your company. See you on the next episode

644
00:38:38.360 --> 00:38:39.119
of Space Nuts.

645
00:38:39.119 --> 00:38:39.559
Bye bye.

646
00:38:40.920 --> 00:38:45.960
You'll be listening to the Space Nuts podcast available at

647
00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:51.280
Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, or your favorite podcast player.

648
00:38:51.480 --> 00:38:54.760
You can also stream on demand at bides dot com.

649
00:38:54.800 --> 00:39:00.480
This has been another quality podcast production from sites dot com.
Send a Voicemail