Latest / Space News Today / European Launch Ambitions, Starquake Mysteries, and the Quest for Hidden Stars

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European Launch Ambitions, Starquake Mysteries, and the Quest for Hidden Stars · Space News Today

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  Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily,
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  [music] the podcast that brings you the
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  latest news from across the cosmos. I'm
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  Avery. [music]
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  >> And I'm Anna. It's great to be with you.
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  Today's agenda covers a lot, from
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  [music] Europe's new ambitions in space
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  launch to the strange secrets of star
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  [music] quakes near black holes.
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  >> That's right. We'll also be diving into
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  the very nature of time itself,
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  searching for hidden stars that might
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  host intelligent life, and looking at a
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  new mission to monitor the dangers of
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  living on the moon. So, let's get
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  started.
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  >> First up, [music] there's big news from
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  the European Space Agency. It looks like
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  they're getting very serious about
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  fostering a commercial launch market.
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  >> They certainly are. Member states have
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  committed over€ 900 million e to the
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  European Launcher Challenge. That's more
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  than double what was anticipated.
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  >> And what's interesting here is the
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  strategy. This isn't about ISSA directly
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  funding the development of a new rocket.
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  Instead, they're acting more like a
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  customer, promising to purchase launch
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  services and co-und upgrades for private
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  companies.
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  >> Right? It's the shift from being the
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  builder to being an anchor client. It's
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  a model that has worked very well for
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  NASA with companies like SpaceX. It
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  stimulates competition and innovation.
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  >> Exactly. There's a whole list of
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  companies shortlisted for this,
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  including ESAR Aerospace, Rocket
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  Factory, Augsburg, and PLLD Space, among
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  others. We're seeing major contributions
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  from countries like Germany, Spain, and
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  the UK.
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  >> So, what's the timeline for this? When
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  can we expect to see these new launch
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  services in action?
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  >> The plan is to sign framework agreements
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  in 2026 with the goal of seeing launch
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  system demonstrations by 2027. If all
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  goes well, we should see actual missions
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  being flown under this program by 2030.
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  It's a major step towards European
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  autonomy and space access.
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  >> From launching rockets to listening to
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  stars, our next story is truly
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  fascinating. Scientists are using star
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  quakes to uncover the secrets of dormant
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  black holes. And it's rewriting what we
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  thought we knew.
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  >> Star quakes? So, you mean astroismology?
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  studying the oscillations of stars.
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  >> Precisely. The study focused on two
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  systems, Gaia BH2 and Gaia BH3.
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  Each has a red giant star orbiting a
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  quiet black hole. In the Gaia BH2
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  system, the star quakes revealed a
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  puzzle. The star appears young, but its
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  chemical composition says it's old.
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  >> That's a contradiction. How did they
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  explain that? The leading theory is that
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  the red giant is actually the product of
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  two stars that merged into one. This
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  would explain its unusually fast spin
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  rate as well. So, it had a dramatic life
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  even before it got captured by the black
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  hole.
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  >> Incredible. And what about the other
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  system Gaia BH3?
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  >> That one presented a different kind of
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  mystery. The red giant in that system is
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  ancient and what we call metal pore.
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  According to our models, it should be
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  showing starquakes, but it isn't. It's
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  completely silent.
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  >> So, our understanding of how these old
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  stars behave might be wrong.
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  >> It suggests that yes, the research is a
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  fantastic example of how studying these
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  companion stars can refine how we
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  measure black hole masses and reveal the
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  complex violent histories these systems
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  can have. Well, from the complex history
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  of stars to the complex nature of time
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  itself, this is a topic that has baffled
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  physicists and philosophers for
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  centuries. As St. Augustine famously
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  said, we know what time is until someone
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  asks us to explain it.
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  >> It's one of the ultimate questions. And
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  a lot of the confusion, according to
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  some physicists, comes from mixing up
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  two different concepts, existence and
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  occurrence. Okay, break that down for
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  us.
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  >> The universe as a physical object
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  exists, but events within the universe
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  don't exist in the same way. They happen
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  or they occur. The past isn't a place
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  that still exists. And the future isn't
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  a place that's waiting for us. They are
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  just records and probabilities of
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  occurrences.
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  >> That makes sense. So, this helps clarify
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  some old philosophical arguments.
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  >> It does. Take the ancient Greek
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  philosopher Parmenities who argue that
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  since we can talk about the past and
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  future, they must exist. This new
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  perspective says that's a fallacy based
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  on that core confusion. The same goes
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  for how we often interpret Einstein's
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  concept of spaceime.
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  >> Right. People often imagine spacetime as
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  a physical block universe that you could
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  theoretically travel through.
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  >> Exactly. But it's more useful to think
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  of spaceime as a map of events. The map
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  is a real useful model, but it's not the
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  territory. The map of your city exists,
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  but you can't live in the map. By
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  cleanly separating the existence of the
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  universe from the occurrence of events,
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  the so-called mystery of time becomes
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  much less mysterious.
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  >> Speaking of searching for things, let's
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  turn our attention to the search for
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  extraterrestrial intelligence or SETI. A
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  new study suggests we can make our
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  search much more effective by accounting
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  for stars that we've been ignoring.
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  >> Hidden stars. How can a star be hidden?
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  >> It's not that they're physically hidden,
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  but they're not the primary targets of
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  our surveys. Think about it. When a
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  radio telescope points at a specific
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  star, its field of view is much wider.
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  It inevitably captures data from
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  countless other stars in the background
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  and foreground. The study calls this
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  stellar by catch.
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  >> Ah, I see. So, we have all this data on
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  stars we weren't even intentionally
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  looking at.
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  >> Precisely. The challenge is knowing
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  which stars are in that by catch. To
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  solve this, scientists are using
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  something called the Bisank galactic
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  model. It simulates our galaxy's star
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  populations, allowing them to predict
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  which hidden stars are likely in a
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  telescope's field of view at any given
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  time. So this vastly expands the number
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  of stars we're monitoring for techno
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  signatures without needing any new
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  observations or equipment.
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  >> Yes. And it also helps remove human bias
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  from target selection. Projects like
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  Breakthrough Listen can now apply this
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  method to get a much more comprehensive
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  survey of our galaxy. It's a very clever
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  way to maximize the scientific return
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  from the data we're already collecting.
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  For our final story, we're coming back a
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  little closer to home, to the moon. As
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  nations like China and the US make
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  serious plans for lunar bases, a new
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  mission from Hong Kong aims to monitor a
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  constant threat, things falling from the
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  sky.
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  >> You mean meteoroid impacts. We know they
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  happen, but this mission aims to provide
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  the first ever continuous monitoring of
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  them from lunar orbit.
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  >> That's right. The mission is called
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  Wessen, which means moon flashes. It's a
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  lunar orbiter set to launch by 2028. Its
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  primary job will be to watch for the
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  bright flashes caused by meteoroids
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  hitting the lunar surface.
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  >> And this data is critical. Without an
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  atmosphere to burn them up, even small
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  pebbles can hit with the force of a hand
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  grenade. These impacts pose a very real
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  threat to future lunar infrastructure
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  and of course to astronauts.
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  >> It's a huge engineering and safety
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  challenge. Wesson's data will be
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  particularly valuable for China's
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  ambitious plans to establish a lunar
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  research station. What's also notable is
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  that the telescope for the mission is
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  being designed and built in Hong Kong,
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  marking a significant step for the city
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  in space exploration.
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  >> It will be a great complement to other
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  monitoring efforts like NASA's
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  Earth-based observations and ISIS
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  proposed Lumio mission. To truly
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  understand the risks of living on the
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  moon, we need that constant closeup
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  view. USAN promises to deliver just
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  that.
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  >> And that's all the time we have for
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  today. From commercial rockets to cosmic
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  philosophies, we've covered a lot of
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  ground.
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  >> We hope you enjoyed the journey. Join us
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  next time for another edition of
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  Astronomy Daily, where we continue to
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  explore the universe one story at a
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  time. Thanks for listening.
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  >> And one quick plug. For more space and
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  astronomy news and all our back catalog,
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  just visit our website at
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  astronomyaily.io.
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  You can also follow us on social media.
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  Just search for Astro Daily Pod on your
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  favorite platforms. That's it for me.
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  I'm Avery. Clear skies, everyone, and
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  keep looking up.
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  [music]
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  Stories told. [music]