Latest / Space News Today / Moon Safe! Asteroid Threat Ends + Cosmic Laser Record + Solar Storm Hits Mars

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Moon Safe! Asteroid Threat Ends + Cosmic Laser Record + Solar Storm Hits Mars · Space News Today

• 0:00
  Hey everyone, welcome back to Astronomy
• 0:02
  Daily. I'm Anna.
• 0:04
  >> And I'm Avery. Happy Friday, space fans.
• 0:07
  We've got a great one for you today.
• 0:09
  >> We do. Six stories. And honestly, this
• 0:12
  is one of the more varied lineups we've
• 0:14
  had in a while. We've got planetary
• 0:17
  defense, a cosmic laser from halfway
• 0:20
  across the universe, a solar supertorrm
• 0:22
  hitting Mars, a SpaceX rocket polluting
• 0:25
  the atmosphere on its way down. A
• 0:28
  mystery satellite launched from the
• 0:30
  other side of the world. And my personal
• 0:32
  favorite, scientists trying to grow
• 0:35
  chickpeas on the moon. Moon hummus.
• 0:38
  Avery, that's where we're headed.
• 0:40
  >> Moon hummus. Let's go.
• 0:42
  >> Okay, first up, great news for anyone
• 0:45
  who's been losing sleep over asteroid
• 0:47
  2024 YR4. NASA has now officially ruled
• 0:51
  out any chance of it hitting the moon in
• 0:54
  2032.
• 0:55
  >> Right. So, let's quickly recap the story
• 0:58
  for anyone who hasn't been following it.
• 1:00
  This asteroid was discovered back in
• 1:02
  December 2024, and for a while, it was
• 1:05
  genuinely alarming. It briefly became
• 1:08
  the most dangerous asteroid identified
• 1:10
  in the last 20 years with a small but
• 1:13
  very real chance it could hit Earth.
• 1:15
  >> That Earth impact risk was ruled out
• 1:18
  fairly quickly. But when the asteroid
• 1:20
  faded from view last year, astronomers
• 1:22
  were left with something almost as
• 1:24
  intriguing. a lingering 4% chance it
• 1:28
  could strike the moon on December 22nd,
• 1:30
  2032.
• 1:32
  >> 4% sounds small, but in asteroid terms,
• 1:35
  that's enormous. We're talking about a
• 1:37
  60 m rock, roughly the same size as what
• 1:40
  caused the Tangusa event in 1908, or
• 1:43
  what dug out Meteor Crater in Arizona.
• 1:46
  If it hit the near side of the moon, it
• 1:48
  would have created a crater about a
• 1:49
  kilometer wide and put on the most
• 1:52
  spectacular light show humanity has ever
• 1:54
  seen from Earth.
• 1:56
  >> So, everyone's been watching very
• 1:57
  closely. The problem was by spring last
• 2:00
  year, the asteroid had drifted so far
• 2:03
  away it was invisible to pretty much
• 2:05
  every telescope on Earth and in space
• 2:08
  with one exception. The James Webb Space
• 2:11
  Telescope, which pushed itself to its
• 2:14
  very limit to catch this thing. A team
• 2:16
  led by the John's Hopkins Applied
• 2:18
  Physics Laboratory use Web's near
• 2:21
  infrared camera in two observation
• 2:23
  windows in February the 18th and the
• 2:26
  26th to track down this incredibly faint
• 2:29
  speck against the background of stars.
• 2:31
  >> And the result was clear. The new
• 2:33
  measurements allowed scientists to map
• 2:36
  2024 YR4 forest trajectory with enough
• 2:39
  precision to rule out a lunar collision.
• 2:42
  Instead of hitting the moon, it's going
• 2:44
  to pass at a distance of about 13,200
• 2:47
  m from the lunar surface, which is yes,
• 2:50
  closer than some satellites orbit Earth,
• 2:53
  but it's a miss.
• 2:54
  >> 13,200 m is basically next door in
• 2:57
  astronomical terms, but next door is
• 3:00
  still a miss. The moon is safe. Earth is
• 3:03
  safe and 2024 YR4 is just going to keep
• 3:07
  trucking.
• 3:07
  >> NASA says they'll observe it again when
• 3:09
  it swings back near Earth in 2028. So,
• 3:12
  the story isn't quite over, but for now,
• 3:15
  the threat is officially off the table.
• 3:17
  >> Good news to kick off the show. What's
• 3:20
  next?
• 3:20
  >> Okay, story two. This one comes out of
• 3:23
  South Africa and it involves what
• 3:25
  scientists are describing as a cosmic
• 3:28
  laser. And I mean that almost literally.
• 3:31
  Tell me more. Lasers in space sounds
• 3:33
  like something I need in my life.
• 3:36
  >> So, astronomers using the Mircat radio
• 3:38
  telescope in the Ku Desert have detected
• 3:41
  the most distant hydroxal megaer ever
• 3:44
  found. It's located in a violently
• 3:46
  merging galaxy more than 8 billion
• 3:49
  lightyear away. And the signal is so
• 3:52
  powerful that researchers are actually
• 3:54
  calling it a gigamaser rather than a
• 3:56
  megaer.
• 3:57
  >> Okay, let's break this down for people.
• 3:59
  What exactly is a hydroxal megamaser?
• 4:03
  >> Right. So on earth, a laser works by
• 4:06
  exciting atoms or molecules until they
• 4:09
  release light in a very tight amplified
• 4:11
  beam. The same basic physics can happen
• 4:14
  in space. But instead of visible light,
• 4:17
  it happens at radio wavelengths.
• 4:19
  Hydroxal molecules, that's one hydrogen,
• 4:22
  one oxygen, in massive gas clouds, can
• 4:25
  be excited by the energy of colliding
• 4:27
  galaxies and amplify radio waves in
• 4:30
  exactly the same way. When the signal is
• 4:33
  extraordinarily bright, it's called a
• 4:35
  megaer.
• 4:36
  >> So, it's a natural radio laser powered
• 4:39
  by two galaxies smashing into each
• 4:41
  other.
• 4:42
  >> Exactly. And the one Mircatound
• 4:44
  cataloged as H A T L A SJ142935.3-002836
• 4:53
  is the most distant and luminous example
• 4:56
  ever detected. We're seeing it as it
• 4:58
  existed when the universe was less than
• 5:00
  half its current age.
• 5:02
  >> And you said there was a gravitational
• 5:04
  lens involved as well.
• 5:06
  >> Yes. This is the really lovely part of
• 5:08
  the story. On its 8 billionyear journey
• 5:11
  to Earth, the radio signal happened to
• 5:13
  pass directly behind another completely
• 5:16
  unrelated galaxy sitting between us and
• 5:19
  the source. That foreground galaxy's
• 5:22
  gravity bent and warped space around it,
• 5:25
  acting like a natural magnifying glass
• 5:27
  and amplifying the signal even further
• 5:29
  before it reached Mircat. So, we have a
• 5:32
  natural space laser being focused by a
• 5:35
  natural gravitational telescope.
• 5:37
  >> That is genuinely delightful. The
• 5:39
  universe just handed astronomers a
• 5:40
  cosmic gift.
• 5:42
  >> The lead researcher, Dr. Tho Monla from
• 5:45
  the University of Ptoria, described it
• 5:48
  beautifully. He said they were seeing
• 5:50
  the radio equivalent of a laser halfway
• 5:52
  across the universe and that it was a
• 5:54
  wonderfully serendipitous discovery.
• 5:57
  >> And the bigger picture here is that
• 5:58
  Mircat is a precursor to the square
• 6:00
  kilometer array, the SKA, which is going
• 6:03
  to be even more powerful. So this is
• 6:05
  just a start of what's possible.
• 6:07
  >> Exactly. Bonamela's team wants to find
• 6:10
  hundreds, even thousands of these
• 6:12
  objects. And when the SKA comes online,
• 6:15
  that's going to become a real
• 6:16
  possibility.
• 6:18
  >> Incredible. All right, story three.
• 6:20
  >> And a bit of recent space history.
• 6:22
  >> Story three takes us back to May 2024
• 6:25
  and to Mars. You might remember that in
• 6:27
  May 2024, Earth was hit by the biggest
• 6:30
  solar storm recorded in over 20 years.
• 6:33
  Spectacular auroras were seen as far
• 6:35
  south as Mexico. I remember it well.
• 6:38
  Half the world was posting aurora
• 6:40
  photos,
• 6:41
  >> right? But that same storm also slammed
• 6:43
  into Mars. And thanks to ISA's two Mars
• 6:46
  orbiters, Mars Express and ExoMars Trace
• 6:48
  Gas Orbital, we now know in
• 6:50
  unprecedented detail what that actually
• 6:53
  looked like. A new paper published today
• 6:55
  in Nature Communications reveals the
• 6:56
  full picture.
• 6:58
  >> So what happened to Mars?
• 7:00
  >> In short, Mars got absolutely hammered.
• 7:02
  The storm sent fastmoving, energetic,
• 7:05
  magnetized plasma and X-rays flooding
• 7:07
  towards the red planet. When this
• 7:09
  barrage hit Mars' upper atmosphere, it
• 7:11
  stripped electrons from neutral atoms,
• 7:13
  causing two distinct layers of the
• 7:15
  atmosphere to fill up with charged
• 7:17
  particles at altitudes of around 110 and
• 7:21
  130 km.
• 7:22
  >> How much of an effect are we talking?
• 7:25
  The electron density in those layers
• 7:26
  surged by 45% in one and a whopping 278%
• 7:31
  in the other. Lead author Jacob Parrot
• 7:34
  from issa described it as the biggest
• 7:36
  response to a solar storm ever seen at
• 7:38
  Mars.
• 7:39
  >> And the orbiters themselves were
• 7:41
  affected too, right?
• 7:42
  >> They were. Both spacecraft suffered
• 7:45
  computer errors from the energetic
• 7:47
  particles which is a known hazard of
• 7:49
  space weather. But crucially, both had
• 7:52
  been designed with radiation resistant
• 7:54
  components and error correction systems,
• 7:57
  so they recovered fast. And the timing
• 8:00
  was incredibly fortunate. The
• 8:02
  researchers were able to capture the
• 8:04
  aftermath of the storm using a technique
• 8:06
  called radio occultation. Just 10
• 8:09
  minutes after a large solar flare hit
• 8:11
  Mars.
• 8:12
  >> Radial occultation. For our listeners,
• 8:15
  that's where one spacecraft beams a
• 8:17
  radio signal to another at precisely the
• 8:20
  moment it disappears over the planet's
• 8:22
  horizon. The signal gets bent by the
• 8:24
  atmosphere on the way, and scientists
• 8:27
  can read all sorts of information about
• 8:29
  the atmospheric layers from the way it
• 8:31
  bends.
• 8:32
  >> It's a technique that's been used for
• 8:34
  decades here at Earth, but only recently
• 8:37
  has it been applied between two
• 8:38
  spacecraft at Mars. This was a perfect
• 8:41
  demonstration of how powerful it can be.
• 8:43
  And there's a broader significance here,
• 8:46
  isn't there? Mars has no global magnetic
• 8:48
  field the way Earth does, which is why
• 8:51
  the storm hits so much harder.
• 8:54
  >> Exactly. On Earth, our magnetic field
• 8:56
  deflects a lot of the solar particles
• 8:58
  and channels the rest toward the poles
• 9:00
  as auroras. Mars lost its magnetic field
• 9:03
  billions of years ago, and that's almost
• 9:05
  certainly why it also lost most of its
• 9:08
  atmosphere and its liquid water over
• 9:10
  time. This study helps us understand
• 9:13
  that ongoing process and it has very
• 9:15
  practical implications for future crude
• 9:18
  missions and radar operations on and
• 9:20
  around Mars.
• 9:22
  >> Really fascinating stuff.
• 9:24
  >> Okay, story four. And this one has a bit
• 9:26
  more of an edge to it. So, this story
• 9:29
  starts with a SpaceX Falcon 9 upper
• 9:31
  stage that back in February 2025 failed
• 9:35
  to execute its planned de-orbit burn
• 9:38
  after delivering 22 Starlink satellites
• 9:41
  to orbit. It drifted uncontrolled for 18
• 9:44
  days before beginning an uncontrolled
• 9:47
  re-entry about 100 km off the west coast
• 9:50
  of Ireland.
• 9:51
  >> I remember this one. Some debris came
• 9:54
  down in Poland, which caused a fairly
• 9:56
  significant diplomatic incident. Poland
• 9:59
  dismissed its head of space agency over
• 10:01
  the lack of communication about where
• 10:03
  the thing was going to land. Right. But
• 10:06
  now there's a new dimension to this
• 10:08
  story. A paper just published in
• 10:10
  communications earth and environment by
• 10:13
  Robin Wing and her colleagues at the
• 10:15
  Libnitz Institute for Atmospheric
• 10:17
  Physics in Germany has for the first
• 10:20
  time ever directly tied a specific
• 10:23
  rocket re-entry to a measurable
• 10:25
  atmospheric pollution plume.
• 10:27
  >> How did they do that?
• 10:29
  >> They were operating a highly sensitive
• 10:31
  resonance fluoresence LAR system in
• 10:34
  Koulensbornne Germany. essentially a
• 10:37
  laserbased atmospheric monitoring
• 10:39
  instrument. They weren't specifically
• 10:41
  watching for the rocket. They were just
• 10:43
  doing their regular atmospheric
• 10:45
  observations. But right around midnight
• 10:47
  on the 20th of February 2025, just 20
• 10:51
  hours after the Falcon 9 came down, they
• 10:54
  detected a spike in lithium vapor levels
• 10:57
  in the upper atmosphere.
• 10:59
  >> Lithium, which is not something that
• 11:01
  should be up there in any quantity.
• 11:03
  Normally lithium in the upper atmosphere
• 11:05
  sits at about 3 atoms per cubic cm. They
• 11:09
  measured a spike to 31 atoms per cm at
• 11:13
  an altitude of between 94 and 97 km.
• 11:17
  That's a tfold increase. And lithium is
• 11:20
  in the rocket because
• 11:22
  >> Falcon 9 upper stages carry an estimated
• 11:25
  30 kg of lithium in lithium ion
• 11:28
  batteries and in the aluminum lithium
• 11:31
  alloy that makes up the whole plating.
• 11:33
  Critically, that alloy starts melting at
• 11:36
  precisely 98.2 km altitude, which
• 11:40
  matches exactly where the pollution
• 11:42
  cloud was detected.
• 11:44
  >> That's a pretty compelling fingerprint.
• 11:46
  But did they need to do more than just
• 11:48
  say, "Well, there's lithium up there and
• 11:50
  a rocket just fell down."
• 11:52
  >> They did. They ran 8,000 simulations of
• 11:55
  backward wind trajectories from the LAR
• 11:57
  station in Germany all the way back to
• 12:00
  the re-entry point over Ireland. They
• 12:02
  checked every other possible source and
• 12:05
  everything pointed to the rocket. The
• 12:07
  case is solid.
• 12:08
  >> So, what are the implications? Is a
• 12:11
  lithium cloud in the upper atmosphere a
• 12:13
  big deal? That's actually still an open
• 12:15
  question and the researchers are honest
• 12:17
  about that. We don't yet fully
• 12:19
  understand the impact on atmospheric
• 12:22
  chemistry. But what this paper
• 12:24
  represents is a first. It's the first
• 12:26
  time a specific re-entry event has been
• 12:29
  directly linked to a specific pollution
• 12:32
  plume. And with the growth of mega
• 12:34
  constellations, hundreds and eventually
• 12:37
  thousands of satellites being launched
• 12:39
  and de-orbited, this is going to become
• 12:41
  an increasingly important area of study.
• 12:44
  >> And presumably, we need to start
• 12:46
  thinking about whether controlled
• 12:47
  re-entries can be designed to minimize
• 12:50
  this kind of chemical contamination.
• 12:52
  >> Exactly. That's the question the paper
• 12:54
  ends with. It's not alarmist. It's more
• 12:56
  of a we need to start measuring this
• 12:59
  properly moment, which this paper very
• 13:01
  much is. Good. Story five. Slightly
• 13:04
  lighter.
• 13:05
  >> It's mystery launch time.
• 13:07
  >> Okay. Story five. Rocket Lab launched an
• 13:10
  Electron rocket from its New Zealand
• 13:12
  site yesterday evening local time,
• 13:14
  marking the company's 83rd launch to
• 13:16
  date. The mission is called Insight at
• 13:19
  Speed is a friend indeed, which is
• 13:22
  exactly the kind of cryptic mission name
• 13:24
  that drives people absolutely mad on the
• 13:26
  space forums.
• 13:27
  >> What do we know about it?
• 13:28
  >> Almost nothing, which is rather the
• 13:30
  point. Rocket Lab announced the launch
• 13:33
  just a few hours before liftoff, which
• 13:35
  is unusually short notice even for them.
• 13:38
  They confirmed it's a single satellite
• 13:40
  for a confidential commercial customer
• 13:42
  deployed to an orbit about 470 km above
• 13:46
  Earth. That's it.
• 13:47
  >> The mission name is interesting though.
• 13:50
  Insight at Speed. That sounds like it
• 13:52
  could be an Earth observation or
• 13:54
  intelligence related payload. Fast
• 13:56
  access to imagery. Maybe
• 13:58
  >> that's been the general speculation.
• 14:00
  Yes. small fast satellite for rapid
• 14:03
  imaging. But Rocket Lab isn't saying
• 14:05
  anything beyond confidential commercial
• 14:07
  customer. And the customer isn't saying
• 14:09
  anything either, which is of course
• 14:11
  they're right.
• 14:12
  >> Rocket Lab has carved out quite a niche
• 14:14
  for exactly this kind of mission. Small
• 14:16
  dedicated launches on relatively short
• 14:18
  notice for customers who want
• 14:20
  discretion. It's a good business to be
• 14:22
  in.
• 14:23
  >> 83 launches in counting. They're doing
• 14:25
  just fine. Okay, last story. And I've
• 14:28
  been looking forward to this one all
• 14:29
  morning. That can only mean one thing.
• 14:32
  It's a food related story,
• 14:34
  >> right? Scientists at the University of
• 14:36
  Texas at Austin, working with Texas A&M
• 14:39
  have successfully grown and harvested
• 14:41
  chickpeas in simulated moon dirt
• 14:44
  published today in scientific reports.
• 14:46
  First time it's ever been done.
• 14:48
  >> Okay, tell me everything.
• 14:50
  >> So, the challenge with lunar regalith,
• 14:53
  which is the technical name for moon
• 14:54
  dirt, is that it is spectacularly
• 14:57
  hostile to plant life. It's fine as
• 14:59
  talcum powder. It's abrasive and clingy.
• 15:02
  It has no organic material whatsoever,
• 15:05
  no microbes, and it contains toxic heavy
• 15:08
  metals like aluminum, copper, and zinc.
• 15:10
  Previous attempts to grow plants in
• 15:12
  actual Apollo lunar samples resulted in
• 15:15
  stressed, stunted plants that absorbed
• 15:18
  dangerous levels of metals.
• 15:19
  >> So, how did the Texas team crack it?
• 15:22
  >> Two ingredients. First, vermic compost,
• 15:25
  which is essentially worm castings. Red
• 15:27
  Wigler earthworms were fed food scraps
• 15:30
  and cotton waste, the kind of organic
• 15:32
  material that would naturally accumulate
• 15:34
  on a long lunar mission anyway. And
• 15:36
  their output provided a rich microbially
• 15:39
  diverse soil amendment that could be
• 15:41
  mixed with the regalith simulant.
• 15:43
  >> Okay, so worm poo. Got it
• 15:45
  >> precisely. Second ingredient are
• 15:48
  buscular microisal fungi AMF which were
• 15:51
  used to coat the chickpea seeds before
• 15:53
  planting. These fungi are remarkable.
• 15:56
  They extend into the soil like a
• 15:58
  secondary root system, improving
• 16:00
  nutrient uptake while simultaneously
• 16:02
  helping to sequester heavy metals away
• 16:05
  from the plant. They also produce
• 16:07
  proteins that bind loose regalith
• 16:09
  particles together, making the stuff
• 16:11
  behave more like actual soil.
• 16:13
  >> And it worked.
• 16:14
  >> It worked with caveats. Mixtures of up
• 16:18
  to 75% regulative simulant could
• 16:20
  successfully produce flowering
• 16:22
  seedbearing plants. go above 75% and the
• 16:26
  plants started showing serious stress
• 16:28
  and dying early. And across the board,
• 16:31
  the regalith plants produced fewer seeds
• 16:33
  than the control plants grown in
• 16:35
  ordinary earth soil, though the
• 16:37
  individual seeds that did grow were
• 16:40
  comparable in size and weight.
• 16:42
  >> Can they eat them?
• 16:44
  >> Not yet. The chickpeas are currently
• 16:46
  being tested for metal accumulation.
• 16:49
  They need to make sure no dangerous
• 16:51
  levels of aluminum or other heavy metals
• 16:53
  made it into the seeds before anyone
• 16:55
  takes a bite. The lead researcher,
• 16:58
  Jessica Atkin, said, and I love this,
• 17:01
  "Before anyone makes moon hummus, we
• 17:04
  need to confirm they are safe and
• 17:06
  nutritious." She has also promised to be
• 17:08
  the first one to make moon hummus if
• 17:11
  they pass.
• 17:12
  >> That is a fantastic quote, and I love
• 17:15
  that she played Bad Moon Rising to
• 17:17
  encourage the plants in the lab. She
• 17:19
  hung a poster of chickpeas growing on
• 17:21
  the moon above the growth chamber as
• 17:22
  well. Kind of silly, but something to
• 17:25
  aim for. This is the energy we want in
• 17:28
  space science.
• 17:29
  >> So, what's the bigger picture here? This
• 17:31
  isn't just about hummus, I assume.
• 17:34
  >> No. Although the hummus angle is doing a
• 17:36
  lot of heavy lifting for the press
• 17:38
  coverage, the real significance is this.
• 17:41
  As we plan for long-term human presence
• 17:44
  on the moon through the Aremis program
• 17:46
  and beyond, food sustainability is a
• 17:48
  genuine challenge. You cannot shuttle
• 17:51
  all the food you need from Earth to a
• 17:53
  lunar base indefinitely. The cost is
• 17:55
  prohibitive. So being able to grow crops
• 17:58
  from local resources, converting sterile
• 18:01
  regalith into living soil using biology
• 18:04
  that future astronauts could actually
• 18:06
  bring with them and maintain is a
• 18:08
  crucial piece of the puzzle. And
• 18:10
  chickpeas specifically are a great
• 18:12
  choice for this, right? High protein,
• 18:14
  resilient plant.
• 18:16
  >> Exactly. High protein, nitrogen fixing.
• 18:19
  They actually put nutrients back into
• 18:21
  the soil as they grow and relatively
• 18:24
  hardy. The team is now exploring whether
• 18:26
  seeds from the moon grown chickpeas can
• 18:28
  grow a second generation and what the
• 18:31
  nutritional profile of the harvest looks
• 18:33
  like. It's early days, but Sarah Santos,
• 18:36
  the principal investigator, summed it up
• 18:38
  well. This is a small first step toward
• 18:41
  growing crops on the moon, but we have
• 18:43
  shown this is feasible and we are moving
• 18:46
  in the right direction.
• 18:47
  >> Moon hummus coming to a lunar outpost
• 18:50
  near you eventually.
• 18:52
  >> I will be first in line
• 18:54
  >> and that's your astronomy daily for
• 18:57
  Friday the 6th of March 2026. I'm Anna
• 19:01
  >> and I'm Avery. Thanks so much for
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  listening, space fans. If you enjoyed
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  today's show, please leave us a review
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  wherever you get your podcasts. It
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  genuinely makes a difference.
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  >> You can find show notes, our blog, and a
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  whole lot more at astronomy.io.
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  And we're at Astro Daily Pod on X,
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  Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, and
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  elsewhere.
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  >> We'll be back tomorrow with more of the
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  universe's greatest hits. Until then,
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  keep looking up.
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  >> Clear skies, everyone.
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  Stories told
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  stories told
• 19:48
  stories