April 17, 2026

Unveiling 11,000 New Asteroids and Earth's Local Origins

Show Notes
Transcript

SpaceTime Series 29 Episode 46 *Discovery of over eleven thousand new asteroids Preliminary data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory has led to the discovery of over 11,000 new asteroids. *Confirmation that the Earth was made locally A new study has shown that planet Earth was formed from materials located in the inner solar system rather than stuff from beyond Jupiter. *Virgin Galactic’s new spaceship to be flying before the end of the year Space tourism company Virgin Galactic says work on the first of its new Delta class spacecraft will be completed within a few weeks. and construction of the second of these sub orbital space planes is now underway. *The Science Report Could routine be key to successful weight loss. A new study has found that Tyrannosaurus Rex walked and ran on their tippy toes. The Australian Army’s new Huntsman Self-Propelled Howitzers now rolling off the production line. Skeptics guide to monsters in the railroad yard. Our Guests This Week: DSN Spokesperson Rhianna Lyons from the CSIRO Sean Hodgman from the Australian National University Yogesh Sridhar from the Australian National University And our regular guests: Alex Zaharov-Reutt from techadvice.life Tim Mendham from Australian Skeptics 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through premium versions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ For more SpaceTime and show links: https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ If you love this podcast, please get someone else to listen to. Thank you… For more podcasts visit our HQ at https://bitesz.com

The Astronomy, Space, Technology & Science News Podcast.

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This is Spacetime Series twenty nine, Episode forty six, for

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broadcast on the seventeenth of April twenty twenty six. Coming

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up on Spacetime, discovery of over eleven thousand new asteroids,

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confirmation that planet Earth was made locally, and Virgin Galactic's

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new spaceship Delta to be flying before the end of

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the year. All that and more coming up on space Time.

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Welcome to space Time with Stuart Gary.

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Preliminary data from the Veri Sea Reuben Observatory has now

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led to the discovery of over eleven thousand new asteroids.

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The data was confirmed by the International Astronomical Union's Minor

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Planet Center, making this the largest single batch of asteroid

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discovery submitted in the past year. The new Veris Reuben

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Telescope is located on a two thousand, six hundred and

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eighty two meter high mountain in northern Chile. It's a

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survey telescope housing an eight point four meter primary mirror

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which feeds a three point two gigapixel CCD camera, the

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largest ever constructed. The discoveries were made using data from

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Reuben's early optimization surveys and offers a powerful preview of

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the observatory's likely transformative impact on Solar system science. The

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submission comprises approximately a million observations taken over a span

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of just one and a half months, in the process

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discovering eleven thousand new asteroids and also observing some eighty

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thousand already known asteroids, including some that were previously observed

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but had been lost because their orbits were too uncertain

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to predict their future locations. The studies lead author, Mario

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Jurich from the University of Washington says, this first large

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submission from Reuben is just the tip of the iceberg

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and shows that the observatory is ready. He says, what

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used to take years or decades to discover Reuben will

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unearth in just months. It means Rubens already beginning to

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deliver on its promise to fundamentally reshape sciences inventory of

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our Solar system, in the process, opening the door to

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discoveries astronomers haven't yet imagined. Among the newly identified objects

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are thirty three previously unknown NEOs or near Earth objects.

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These are asteroids and comets as close as the proach

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to the Sun is less than one point three times

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the distance between the Sun and the Earth. The largest

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of these is some five hundred meters wide. But the

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good news is that none of these newly discovered NEOs

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posiireic threat to Earth, at least not yet. Objects larger

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than one hundred and forty meters are closely tracked by astronomers,

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as they could cause significant damage were they to impact

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the Earth. The problem is astronomers estimate that only about

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forty percent of these mid sized NEOs have so far

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been identified. Once operating in full survey mode, rubens expected

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to reveal an additional nearly ninety five thousand new NEOs,

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some of which may potentially be hazardous to the Earth.

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It will also nearly double the number of known NEOs

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larger than one hundred and forty metres by around seventy percent.

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By enabling early detection and continuous monitoring of these objects,

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REUBEN will be a powerful tool for Earth planetary defense.

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The data set also contains roughly three hundred and eighty

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trans Neptunian objects. These are the icy bodies, frozen worlds,

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and comets orbiting beyond Neptune, and two of these newly

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discovered icy worlds, previously named twenty twenty five LS two

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and twenty twenty five m x three forty eight have

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been found to be in extremely large elongated orbits at

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their most distant points. These two objects each roughly one

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thousand times further away than the Earth is from the

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Sun is, placing them among the thirty most distant minor

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planets known. The discoveries were enabled by Reuben's unique combination

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of a large mirror, the word's most powerful astronomical digital camera,

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and highly sophisticated software designed to detect faint, fast moving

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objects against a crowded, starfiled sky. Reuben will be able

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to survey the southern sky with roughly six times the

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sensitivity of most current asteroid searchers, allowing it to detect smaller,

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more distant objects than ever before. These capabilities will allow

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Reuben to build the most detailed senses of our Solar

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System ever obtained, and all of these discoveries will help

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astronomers work out the story of our Solar System's history

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and consequently the history of planet Earth. This is space

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time still to come, confirmation that Planet Earth was made locally,

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and Virgin Galactic's new spaceship to be flying before the

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end of the year. All that and more still to

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come on space time. A new study has shown that

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planet Earth formed from materials located in the Inner Solar

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System rather than stuff from beyond Jupiter see. Planetary scientists

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have long debated where the materials that form the Earth

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came from. Despite its location in the Inner Solar System,

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they consider it likely that between six and forty percent

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of the materials that make up the Earth probably came

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from the Outer Solar System beyond Jupiter see. For a

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long time, the material from the Outer Solar System was

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considered necessary for Earth because it brings volatile components such

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as water.

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To our planet.

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Accordingly, then must have been an exchange of material between

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the Outer and Inner Solar systems during Earth's formation. But

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how accurate is that hypothesis? Planetary scientists Parlos Sass and

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Dan Bauer from eighty eight zero compared existing data on

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isotopic ratios from a wide range of meteorites, including those

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from Mars and from the asteroid Vesta, as well as

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isotopic ratios from Earth. Isotopes are elements that contain the

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same number of protons but have different mass because they

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contain different numbers of neutrines. The authors analyzed this stata

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in a new way and arrived at as surprising conclusion

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the material that makes up Earth did, in fact originate

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virtually entirely from the inner Solar System. The new findings,

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reported in the journal Nature Astronomy, show that the material

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from the outer Solar System makes up less than two percent,

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if anything, of the Earth's mass. For their study, authors

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use data on ten different isotopic systems from meteorites and

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analyze them using a specialized statistical method see Previous studies

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have mostly concentrated on looking at just two isotopic systems,

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Saucy says, and that's where their research is different. It

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carried out statistical calculations that are rarely used in geochemistry.

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Isotopes in meteorites have long been used by scientists to

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determine the origin of a solid strual body, that is,

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which part of our solar system they came from. Historically, however,

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only various isotobes of the element oxygen have been used

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to determine their providence. It wasn't until the early twenty

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tens thatists discovered other isotobes, such as chronium and titanium,

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could also be used for the same purpose, and This

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enabled the authors to classify meteorites into two categories, non

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carbonaceous ones, which warm exclusively in the Inner Solar System,

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and carbonaceous ones, which contain more water and carbon and

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originate from the outer Solar System, and the new analysis

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shows that Planet Earth is composed almost entirely of non

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carbonaceous material. In fact, no evidence was found for the

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previously suspected exchange between outer and in the Solar System reservoirs. Therefore,

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Planet Earth grew within a relatively static system, incorporating its

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smaller neighboring planets as it grew. Now this also implies

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that most volatile elements such as water, must have already

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been present in the Inner Solar System, But that raises

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the question of why are there two distinct reservoirs in

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our Solar System. Scientists assume that our Solar systems split

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into two separate reservoirs during its formation due to Jupiter's

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rapid growth in size. The gravity of the gas giant

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literally tore a gap in the protoplanetary disks surrounding our

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young Sun. These ring shaped protoplanetary discs consist of gas

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and dust and other birthplace of planets close to the Sun.

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Only heavy elements such as silicons and irons, can form lighter,

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more volatile elements such as water, in only form where

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temperatures are cooler beyond what's called the snow line, which

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is located roughly where the main asteroid built is between

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Mars and Jupiter, and Jupiter acts as a barrier preventing

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material from the outer Solar System from later entering the

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inner region. However, the extent to which this barrier was

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permeable remained unclear until now. The new analysis demonstrates that

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almost no material from beyond Jupiter flowed towards the Earth,

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Bower says. The analysis also shows that Earth's material composition

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is similar to that of the asteroid Vesta and the

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planet Mars. The authors suspect that venice and mercury also

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lie in the same line. The findings shed new light

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on the formation history of planet Earth, as well as

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the other rocky terrestrial planets of the Inner Solar System.

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The authors now intend to follow up by investigating why

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there was sufficient water in the hot Inner Solar System

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the form Earth's oceans and examine whether these processes can

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also be applied to extra Solar planets. Planets opening stars

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other than the Sun. This is space time still to come.

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Virgin Galactic's new spaceship expected to be flying before the

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end of the year, and later in the science report,

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a new study is found that routine could be the

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key to successful weight loss. All that and more still

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to come on space time. Space tourism company Virgin Galactic

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says work on the first of its new Dota class

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spacecraft will be completed within the next few weeks, and

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construction of the second of these suborbital space planes is

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already underway. The company says ground testing on the new

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vehicle will begin later this month, with engine powered test

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flights expected to start before the end of the year. However,

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before it takes to the year, the spacecraft will need

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to undergo production acceptance testing, ensuring that all systems are

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functioning correctly to validate and verify the overall system design.

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The announcement follows the cancelation of the original Spaceship three

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program that was to see the development of two orbital

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space planes, VSS Imagine and VSS Inspire. In fact, VSS

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Imagine actually rolled out of the production facility back in

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February twenty twenty one, but after that nothing happened, and

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the program was eventually canceled. Virgin Galactic went back to

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the drawing board. The test flight program with the new

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Delta class vehicles, including glide and rocket powered flights, could

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begin in the third quarter of this year. Virgin Spaceline

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president Mike Mercers is the company's planning for partial duration

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powered flight of the vehicle to test its performance. It

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speeds up to MAC one point five. That'll be followed

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by two full duration burns, which will take the vehicle

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on a complete suborbital trajectory. The first of these two

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test flights will have just the two pilots on board,

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as well as some research payloads for NASA. The second

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will have the two pilots as well as six company

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employees order to validate the cabin experience as well as

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procedures and processes. MOSESS based on the company's earlier spaceship

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two vehicles, three powered test flights should be sufficient.

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Those two spaceship.

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Two vehicles were the VSS Enterprise, which was destroyed in

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a pilot eer crash in twenty fourteen, and VSS Unity,

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which undertook twelve suborbital flights exceeding altitudes of eighty kilometers,

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although it never actually passed the one hundred kilometer high

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Carmon line, which marks the official start of space. Whether

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the new Delta class will be able to surpass that

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barrier yet to be seen. The company expects commercial suborbital

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flights to resume later this year. It has already opened bookings,

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with seats going for three quarters of a million dollars each. Meanwhile,

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Virgins is that needs to train additional pilots to meet

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the expended increase in cadence, and they'll use the original

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spaceship two vehicle VISs Unity for the training, as it

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shares the same profile as the new Delta class. The

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company says commercial research flights would begin in the fourth

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quarter of twenty twenty six, followed by private asinal flights

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in other words, space tourism six to.

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Eight weeks later.

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Once the new vehicle enter service, Virgin will gradually ramp

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up its flight rate, starting with four flights a month

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once a week, later increasing that to eight flights a month,

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twice a week, and eventually achieving ten or more flights

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by later next year. Meanwhile, the mothership that carries the

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rocket plane to altitude has also gone through an upgrade.

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The revamp will allow the twin hule jet powered aircraft,

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then as Eve the handle between twelve and fifteen flights

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a month and extend its service life till at least

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twenty thirty two. Meanwhile, Virgin Galactic has now started design

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work on a replacement vehicle, currently simply known as LVX.

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It should be ready by twenty thirty along with additional

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space planes. This report from Virgin Galactic.

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Those who have already flown to space described the experience

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as utterly life changing. Commercial human spaceflight is a new

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and growing market. As Virgin Galactic prepares for its next

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phase of launches, the company has already pre booked approximately

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seven hundred customers from more than sixty countries. Although this

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industry is still in its early stages, research suggests a

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potential addressable target market of nearly three hundred thousand customers worldwide,

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with an anticipated annual growth rate of eight percent. Given

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the world's timeless attraction to space travel, high customer demand

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is not surprising. Historically, the design and operating model of

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spacecraft made regular, repeatable flight operations nearly impossible, and therefore

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the cost per flight of human space travel has been

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prohibitively high. While the space industry typically measures turnaround time

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the time between flights of a single spacecraft in months,

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Virgin Galactic is changing that. The company's new space ships

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are being built to operate with an average turnaround time

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of just three days, an enormous breakthrough that structurally changes

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the cost of human spaceflight. This achievement is made possible

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with their unique space flight system and technology. The first

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stage of flight is delivered by the mothership, a unique

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airplane that begins the day by leaving the spaceport hangar,

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taking off for a climb to forty five thousand feet,

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and then releasing the spaceship for the second phase of flight.

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The spaceship then uses the world's most powerful hybrid rocket

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system to flight to space at around three times the

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speed of sound. The fuel for this flight is carried

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in a replaceable rocket motor that is easily changed between flights.

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The wing design of the spaceship allows the energy of

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re entry to be dispersed in a graceful glide back

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to the spaceport. This is comfortable for customers and enables

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the spaceship to make a quick return to the maintenance

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hangar shortly after landing. Once the ships are back in

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the hangar, the spent rocket motor is replaced with a

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new one, a series of post flight inspections are conducted,

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and preparation begins for the next space flight a few

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days later. This innovative approach is designed to enable each

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spaceship in the fleet to fly hundreds of customers to

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space each year, while bringing costs down dramatically compared to

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historical standards. Virgin Galactic's next two spaceships, new models that

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are planned to launch in twenty twenty six, are expected

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to deliver steady state operating capacity of approximately one hundred

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and twenty five space flights per year, or around seven

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hundred and fifty customers. Assuming seven hundred and fifty customers

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flying per year at current pricing of six hundred thousand

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dollars per seat, this translates to annualized revenue of around

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four hundred and fifty million dollars. As the fleet is

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expanded by adding two additional spaceships and an additional mothership,

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flight capacity is expected to increase to around two hundred

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and seventy five flights with over sixteen hundred customers per year.

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This rate would translate into revenues growing to nearly one

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billion dollars. This impressive revenue level would be delivered by

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less than one percent of estimated global demand. With such

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substantial unmet demand, the company expects to further scale its

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fleet to serve additional spaceports in other parts of the globe.

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This space time and time.

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That'd take another brief look at some of the other

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stories making news and science this week with the Science

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report and a new study suggest that routine could be

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key to losing weight. A report in the journal Health

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Psychology claims a repetitive rotation of meals is linked to

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better results from a twelve week behavioral weight loss program.

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To reach their conclusions, one hundred and twelve overweight or

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a bease adults participated in the program, and the authors

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collected detailed data on their diets to compare how similar

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they were, how often meals were repeated, and how similar

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the participants total color consumption was day to day, including

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on the weekends. The authors say participants who repeated meals

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more often had an average weight loss of five point

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nine percent, compared to four point three percent among those

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who mostly eight unique meals. Those who weight a more

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consistent amount of calories each day were also more likely

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to lose more weight than those who fluctuated. The authors

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think that because simple habits are easier to stick to,

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creating a smaller rotation of go to meals could be

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best for consistently making the best diet choices for weight loss.

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A new study is found that the dinosaur lizard king

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Tyrannosaurus rex walked and ran on the tipitoes. The findings

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reported in the Journal of the Royal Society Opened Science,

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based on precise measurements of leg and footburns from four

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well preserved t Rex specimens. They also studied fossil footprints

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see where these seven tonth therapod dinosaurs pressed their weight

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into the ground. Fighting that the deepest marks were under

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their toes, which suggested a tiptoe step. The authors think

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these fourteen met long predators could reach speeds in between

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five and eleven meters per second, moving with a gate

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similar to modern ground birds. Walking on tiptoes also affects

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how the animals handle their own weight. Humans tend to

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run with relatively stiff, spring like steps. In contrast, t

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Rex moved in the Crouch's posture and took lots of

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fast steps to remain stable.

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These tippitoe steps.

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Allowed the legs to act like shock absorbers, helping the

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predators stay balanced even on uneven terrain. The first of

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the Australian Army's thirty new locally made self propelled howartzs

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are starting to roll off the production line in Victoria.

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The AS nine Huntsman uses a one to fifty five

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millimeter howitzer gun. The vehicles are based on the South

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Korean Canine Thunder, updated and modified with NATO fire control

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systems to meet local requirements. Vehicles will operate together with

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fifteen AS ten ammunitionary supply support vehicles based on the

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South Korean K ten. Globally, eleven nations are now operating

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00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:12.759
the K nine and K ten Arturist system, with some

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00:19:12.839 --> 00:19:17.000
twenty four hundred vehicles now in service. Their arrival follows

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the deployment of the first of initial forty two M

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one forty two High Mars mobile rocket launcher systems, with

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approve already given for an additional forty eight vehicles. The

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00:19:27.119 --> 00:19:29.680
High Mars is equipped with six launch tubes designed to

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carry a range of guided rockets. The Army was also

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recently re equipped with seventy five new Abrams M one

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A two main battle tanks, replacing the earlier M one

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A one versions, many of which have been donated to

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Ukraine for their fight against the Russian invasion.

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There are growing reports of.

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Strange, creepy sounds emanating from the bowels of Sea xx's

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railroad yards in Cincinnati. The Skeptics timendum says, so naturally,

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if there are strange noises, there must be monsters on

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the loose.

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Yes, this is a part of the town in Cincinnati,

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00:20:02.440 --> 00:20:04.599
which is near a Union round yard. But people have

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00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:08.759
been hearing these strange animal bookie sounds described as wearring, oscillating,

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00:20:08.839 --> 00:20:12.400
going up and down like a siren, and it's been

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00:20:12.480 --> 00:20:15.519
quite hearable, readily heard by people in the area. So

339
00:20:15.559 --> 00:20:17.519
it's not a phony sound. It's real, and it's been

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caring a lot of people, and it'supposedly every night these

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00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:23.079
sound coming out. It's naturally come down to suggestions that

342
00:20:23.160 --> 00:20:25.079
it's sort of a yetty or a big foot or

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00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:28.039
something like that, or a Lockdows monster, which is weird Cincinnati.

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00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:29.640
I don't think it has a lot even a kraken

345
00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:34.039
RELIGHI Yeah, others believe it's sort of a biblical animal

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00:20:34.079 --> 00:20:36.359
of some sort or another, and as it turns out,

347
00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:38.880
it's probably a like a despite all the people sort

348
00:20:38.920 --> 00:20:40.240
of claiming they can hear the sound as I can

349
00:20:40.279 --> 00:20:41.920
here the samp, but it's not quite what they think

350
00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:44.039
it is. There is an engine called trim engine, which

351
00:20:44.119 --> 00:20:46.240
is basically an old thing that just shunt carriages and

352
00:20:46.279 --> 00:20:48.839
other locomotives in and out of their spot on the railio,

353
00:20:48.920 --> 00:20:51.000
but it doesn't be too out into the wild, so

354
00:20:51.160 --> 00:20:52.960
it's been doing this for some time, but apparently it

355
00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:55.680
needs repairs and it needs a good maintenance to take

356
00:20:55.720 --> 00:20:58.480
away some of these worrying, oscillating, going up and down

357
00:20:58.559 --> 00:20:59.240
siren sounds.

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00:20:59.400 --> 00:21:02.440
Very first station I worked at, the place I was renting,

359
00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:05.160
was right next to the rail yard, and yeah, I've

360
00:21:05.200 --> 00:21:08.920
heard some creepy sounds coming from switcher locomotives there that

361
00:21:09.240 --> 00:21:12.400
are in need of repairs, and they make some really

362
00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:15.240
spooky sounds at times, not just the thrubbing of an engine,

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00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:19.359
which you'd expect, but some really weird squeals and screams.

364
00:21:19.359 --> 00:21:21.680
And I'm not talking about stel wheels with flanges on

365
00:21:21.759 --> 00:21:24.559
iron rails. I'm talking about problems with the engine and

366
00:21:24.599 --> 00:21:27.200
the turbo charges on the engines and stuff that needs

367
00:21:27.240 --> 00:21:29.240
to be repaired, and it can sound creepy.

368
00:21:29.319 --> 00:21:32.400
To be precise, is coming from the CSXT eight four

369
00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:35.799
three one engine locomotive. There's a trim engine that it's

370
00:21:35.799 --> 00:21:37.519
an old engine that means repairs.

371
00:21:37.160 --> 00:21:40.240
If it is CSXT eighty four to thirty one, so

372
00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:43.200
SD forty model MD locomotive.

373
00:21:42.759 --> 00:21:44.799
Well, there we are. The engine of the locomotive does

374
00:21:44.799 --> 00:21:46.960
not leave the rail yard. It is used to push

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00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:50.480
and pull rail car, revving loudly during heavy hauls and

376
00:21:50.519 --> 00:21:53.160
the engine is sort of a bit grinding the owners

377
00:21:53.160 --> 00:21:55.200
of the rail yard. So yeah, yeah, we do look

378
00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:57.680
after our locomotives, babe. They'd meant that it's sort of

379
00:21:57.880 --> 00:22:00.799
using old stock for something thirty something around. But it's

380
00:22:00.920 --> 00:22:04.440
interesting example of how people hear a found that I

381
00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:06.279
don't know what it is that I actually assume the

382
00:22:06.359 --> 00:22:09.359
big footer ide you're a lockin a sponsor or locals

383
00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:11.680
that have crypted or some sort or another. So you know,

384
00:22:11.880 --> 00:22:13.319
I don't know what it is, but this is what

385
00:22:13.319 --> 00:22:15.240
it is. And it's a jump, which is sort of

386
00:22:15.240 --> 00:22:17.720
probably one of the most amusing and frustrating things for skeptics.

387
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That's the skeptics, t mindum, and this is space Time,

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00:22:36.440 --> 00:22:39.759
and that's the show for now. Space Time is available

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00:22:39.799 --> 00:22:44.759
every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through at bites dot com, SoundCloud, YouTube,

390
00:22:44.920 --> 00:22:48.359
your favorite podcast download provider, and from space Time with

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00:22:48.480 --> 00:22:52.279
Stuart Gary dot com. Space Time's also broadcast through the

392
00:22:52.359 --> 00:22:55.880
National Science Foundation, on Science Own Radio and on both

393
00:22:55.880 --> 00:22:59.359
iHeartRadio and tune in Radio. And you can help to

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00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:02.400
support our show by visiting the Spacetime Store for a

395
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range of promotional merchandising goodies, or by becoming a Spacetime Patron,

396
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