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It's Finally Official! Isaacman Confirmed! · Made of Stars

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Speaker 1: Warning. The following podcast contains an entertaining look at astronomy, physics,
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Speaker 1: and space news throughout the known universe. Listeners have been
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Speaker 1: known to learn about astronomical phenomenon, the scientific method, and
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Speaker 1: expanded vocabulary to include terms like quasar asterism and uranus. Listen,
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Speaker 1: that's your own risk.
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Speaker 2: Go ahead.
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Speaker 3: We're made of stars. Made them stars, madies. When made
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Speaker 3: of stars, you could be from high they would New Mexicomus,
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Speaker 3: where all stars?
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Speaker 4: When we are made of stars.
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Speaker 5: I'm Wes Carol, joined by my good friend doctor Seawan,
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Speaker 5: cruising from Columbus Universities Coca Cola Space Science Center. Hey Sean,
1:03
Speaker 5: good morning, Wes.
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Speaker 2: Good to be here today.
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Speaker 5: Well it finally happened. How long have we been talking
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Speaker 5: about Jared Isaacman and what a great NASA administrator he
1:14
Speaker 5: would be.
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Speaker 4: Boy, he would be perfect.
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Speaker 5: He comes in with some expertise on the private space
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Speaker 5: company company, and he's been to space and he's done
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Speaker 5: all these different things. What a great merge of these
1:27
Speaker 5: two worlds. What a fantastic selection that he would be.
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Speaker 5: And then not so fast, and then you know his
1:35
Speaker 5: name's been removed from consideration. And then you had Sean Duffy,
1:39
Speaker 5: who's the Transportation secretary filling in, and then all of
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Speaker 5: a sudden, Jared Isaacsmith names comes back up again, and
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Speaker 5: you think, all right, well, maybe now it's gonna happen.
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Speaker 5: But we got excited last time. We didn't want to
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Speaker 5: be excited this time. Well, now we can be excited
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Speaker 5: because at least in our opinion, he's the right pick and.
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Speaker 4: He will be or is he already?
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Speaker 5: Like how soon has this happened from being approved of
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Speaker 5: becoming the administrator? I guess we need to know he's
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Speaker 5: in the office at the desk.
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Speaker 2: Yes, that's right, when they put the name tag on
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Speaker 2: the front plaque facing outward on his desk. I guess
2:16
Speaker 2: maybe that's because it's a tough you know, I think
2:20
Speaker 2: Donald Trump has been president for thirty eight years now.
2:24
Speaker 2: I think it feels like that. But no, West, that's
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Speaker 2: not true. He's only been president this time since January
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Speaker 2: of this year, that's right, and so it's he then,
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Speaker 2: as president elect, suggested that he would nominate Jared Isaacman
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Speaker 2: in just December of last year, so just like a
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Speaker 2: year ago. And it feels like as you kind of
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Speaker 2: rolled out the various points of that sag it feels
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Speaker 2: like it's been decades. I don't know.
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Speaker 5: Maybe, as my Australian family say, ages.
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Speaker 2: It does feel like ages. It's absolutely true. But the
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Speaker 2: fact of the matter is, on December fourth of twenty
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Speaker 2: twenty four, then second time President elect Donald Trump said, Hey,
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Speaker 2: you know this Isaacman fellow might make a really good
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Speaker 2: NASA administrator. I think I'll be nominating him. And he
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Speaker 2: did so follow through on that nomination on his inauguration
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Speaker 2: day in January of this year, twenty twenty five. And yeah,
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Speaker 2: there's been nothing but ups and downs ever since.
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Speaker 5: Palpable excitement from you and me when that happened, though, Like,
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Speaker 5: you know, we could not have been more excited at
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Speaker 5: that name coming up. You're like, the guy was the
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Speaker 5: guy was standing with half of his body in space
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Speaker 5: on live TV. I think that would be a really
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Speaker 5: interesting choice. And then you know, things went south a
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Speaker 5: few months later.
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Speaker 2: All Right, So, if you've been living in a cave
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Speaker 2: or under a rock that didn't have cell service, maybe
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Speaker 2: you don't know who Jared Isiagman is. So let's just
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Speaker 2: review that really quick. Jared Isaacman is what they call
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Speaker 2: a fintech billionaire. That's financial technology. So he's only forty
4:20
Speaker 2: two years old. He made a fortune in the online
4:25
Speaker 2: payment processing landscape. Is the founder and chairman of a
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Speaker 2: company called Shift for Payments, a payment processing company. Then
4:36
Speaker 2: later he went on to found an aviation company because
4:39
Speaker 2: he's also a very accomplished pilot, including in jet fighter vehicles.
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Speaker 2: So he founded something called Draken International, which is a
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Speaker 2: company that provides adversary training to the US, British and
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Speaker 2: other NATO air forces. What in the world is that,
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Speaker 2: you might ask, Well, that's when they fly opposing countries
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Speaker 2: aircraft and basically dogfight in training with pilots from the
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Speaker 2: United States, the British Royal Air Force, and other NATO
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Speaker 2: air forces. So that's what adversary training means. So, again,
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Speaker 2: a very accomplished pilot. As of May of twenty twenty five,
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Speaker 2: his estimated net worth was one point four billion dollars.
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Speaker 2: This comes from the cbsnews dot com story, by the way,
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Speaker 2: where I'm borrowing a lot of this information, so thank
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Speaker 2: you to cbsnews dot com. And so he has a
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Speaker 2: personal passion for space exploration, so he took some fractions
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Speaker 2: of that multi billion dollar empire that he has and
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Speaker 2: he paid SpaceX some amount of money that we still
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Speaker 2: don't know back in February twenty twenty one to launch
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Speaker 2: him and three other billion shall we call them asternauts.
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Speaker 2: I want to on a two day, twenty three hour
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Speaker 2: flight that was the first purely all commercial, all civilian
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Speaker 2: space flight that was known as inspiration for Some people
6:21
Speaker 2: might call that space tourism. I don't really think that
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Speaker 2: is space tourism. I think that is what we call
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Speaker 2: a commercial astronaut program, as that group of human beings
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Speaker 2: not only enjoyed a fun flight to space, but did
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Speaker 2: many experiments and research projects while on that flight. It's
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Speaker 2: good to remember that that flight by Jared Isaacman raised
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Speaker 2: two hundred and fifty million dollars for Saint Jude's Children's
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Speaker 2: Research Hospital, one of many causes that Jared Isaacman champions.
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Speaker 5: Yeah. Important also because you know the old argument.
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Speaker 4: Of it's just rich people.
6:56
Speaker 5: They could have used all that money for helping out
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Speaker 5: sick kid, and he went, all right, well let's do
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Speaker 5: that then.
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Speaker 2: Yes, as he's done many times. I actually think the
7:09
Speaker 2: sick kids were a primary function of that mission.
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Speaker 5: Yeah. No, and I mean good for him for doing that.
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Speaker 5: That's one of those things where you know, you you
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Speaker 5: swerve into it and not away from it. So we
7:23
Speaker 5: applauded him for that when when that happened.
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Speaker 2: So Jared isag went went to space again twenty twenty four,
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Speaker 2: one of the first of three planned missions in what
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Speaker 2: they call the Polaris Mission program. What's the future of
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Speaker 2: the other Polaris missions now that Jared isaac Win's NASA
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Speaker 2: administra or that's a good side question. We don't really
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Speaker 2: know the answer to that, but it is a good
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Speaker 2: side question.
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Speaker 5: There's a Hubble side question too, but we can deal
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Speaker 5: with that another time.
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Speaker 2: It's a really interesting one. It's a very interesting question
7:55
Speaker 2: on the Hubble front as well, because jaredia went, you know,
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Speaker 2: volunteered to go up and fix Hubble himself on a
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Speaker 2: commercial mission anyway. Okay, So so jaredizac we logged nearly
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Speaker 2: five days in space on that Polaris Dawn mission, and
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Speaker 2: he became the first private citizen ever to carry out
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Speaker 2: a spacewalk. All right, So all of these things, all
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Speaker 2: these experiences, and his passion and enthusiasm for the space
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Speaker 2: exploration venture. He's very passionate and enthusiastic about encouraging people
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Speaker 2: to get involved with space exploration, which is what my
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Speaker 2: main job is here at Coca Cola Space Science Center.
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Speaker 2: So so I feel like I kind of walk in
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Speaker 2: a parallel career path in some senses. Jared Isaquin and
8:48
Speaker 2: so it it just with all of the sum of
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Speaker 2: these many experiences, skills, and talents that he brings to
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Speaker 2: the game, actually having been to space himself, knowing what
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Speaker 2: it's like to be out on a spacewalk, he just
9:07
Speaker 2: feels like the right guy. He feels like this is
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Speaker 2: and you know, Wes and I were having this conversation
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Speaker 2: what nine months ago when we were saying he might
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Speaker 2: be the best pick for a NASA administrator in decades,
9:23
Speaker 2: and of course that was shot down, but no, we're back.
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Speaker 2: It's the sequel, and we're thankful.
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Speaker 4: So here we are.
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Speaker 2: Jared Eisagman was approved by the Congress, and so that
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Speaker 2: happened on Wednesday, December seventeenth, and so he will now
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Speaker 2: become NASA's next administrator and we are very excited to
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Speaker 2: see that unfold. I think that he is he's going
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Speaker 2: to be a great one. You mentioned Sean Duffy earlier.
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Speaker 2: Sean Duffy, the Transportation Secretary had become the interim ACID
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Speaker 2: administrator and actually in some ways may have been involved
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Speaker 2: with kind of slowing down the process for Jared to
10:08
Speaker 2: get there. I think Sean Duffy really want to be
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Speaker 2: the director of NASA himself the administrator. But anyway, so
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Speaker 2: we're going to set aside those politics and.
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Speaker 5: Who wouldn't but who wouldn't want to be.
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Speaker 2: Well, I mean, yeah, I don't know.
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Speaker 5: You know a guy, I know a guy in Phoenix
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Speaker 5: who wouldn't want one of us to get the job.
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Speaker 2: But yeah, but other than that guy. Anyway, So Sean
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Speaker 2: Duffy reached out on AX. Do you reach out on X?
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Speaker 2: I don't know if that's true. He posted something on
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Speaker 2: ACC and he said this quote he wishes JAREDI is
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Speaker 2: it when success as he begins his tenure and leads
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Speaker 2: NASA as we go back to the moon in twenty
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Speaker 2: twenty eight and beat China. So that's kind of like,
10:53
Speaker 2: you know, go dogs beat Alabama. I don't know something
10:57
Speaker 2: like that, Go Chared beat China. Is the summary of
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Speaker 2: that anyway, Okay, So something like that. So I hope
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Speaker 2: those two will actually, like you know, make up professionally
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Speaker 2: speaking and actually help one another rather than obstruct one another.
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Speaker 2: It's really good when people work together and not a part.
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Speaker 5: So well said, if only you know the world would
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Speaker 5: get on board with that sentiment, or at least the
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Speaker 5: people actually in charge.
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Speaker 2: I think they're not on board, by the way, because
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Speaker 2: the affirmative vote was sixty seven to thirty, so there
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Speaker 2: were still thirty people in the United States Senate who said,
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Speaker 2: no way, not that guy. What's he doing. He's just
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Speaker 2: been to space twice and performed the first ever commercial
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Speaker 2: spacewalk and has run multi billion dollar companies. What do
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Speaker 2: we need him running NASA for? That seems silly.
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Speaker 4: So here's my dream.
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Speaker 5: And I've voiced this before, but now that he's you know,
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Speaker 5: been approved, and now he's confirmed, so now we'll get
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Speaker 5: to this point where he's going to take the job.
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Speaker 5: I assume he's a healthy guy. I assume he's still
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Speaker 5: space ready. My dream would be for a NASA administrator
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Speaker 5: actually go to space. I think that would you know,
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Speaker 5: just do like a you know, a pop in on
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Speaker 5: the space station or something. He could walk around with
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Speaker 5: a clipboard, well not walk, but you know what I mean.
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Speaker 5: And then he float around with a clipboard and you know,
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Speaker 5: just do a quick little check, maybe an inventory while
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Speaker 5: he's there, you know, make sure everybody's wearing their uniform properly.
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Speaker 5: Those kinds of things that you know, you get is
12:28
Speaker 5: when the boss comes to town. You know.
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Speaker 2: I think if he grew a beard and put on
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Speaker 2: a ball cap in glasses, he could do the undercover boss.
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Speaker 5: That's right. He could do that and just make sure
12:37
Speaker 5: they're all bathing themselves up there. Or he could do
12:41
Speaker 5: what I worked for a radio company once that they
12:43
Speaker 5: sent the one of the two owners to visit us
12:47
Speaker 5: and reassure us in person that they were not going
12:51
Speaker 5: to sell us. In three days later they sold us.
12:53
Speaker 5: So you know that's maybe you wouldn't want it to
12:55
Speaker 5: do that, but you know it would at least kind
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Speaker 5: of get him in line. They would think, oh my gosh,
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Speaker 5: the boss is coming. What's happening here?
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Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, one of the things we can say
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Speaker 2: about Jared Isiacman is he never had a career in
13:09
Speaker 2: radio management. So that's probably a positive.
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Speaker 5: Probably, I mean, just based on most although I didn't
13:18
Speaker 5: have a management role at one point, so I'm not
13:20
Speaker 5: going to miss them all. I was much lower on
13:22
Speaker 5: the totem pole.
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Speaker 4: I mean, we always have these.
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Speaker 2: VENN diagrams right there overlaps and things.
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Speaker 5: But well, it's an exciting time because of what the
13:31
Speaker 5: potential could be for him in this role. So obviously
13:36
Speaker 5: we've lost like almost a year of him being able
13:38
Speaker 5: to do it. So we'll see what he can get done,
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Speaker 5: and maybe, just maybe he'll be the first NASA administrator
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Speaker 5: to go to space. I mean, that would be pretty exciting.
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Speaker 2: So you know, just before we get off that subject,
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Speaker 2: there is we live in a time of rapid growth
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Speaker 2: in the space industry, and that is all jokes side
14:00
Speaker 2: a really important factor because the space industry globally is
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Speaker 2: expected to grow to trillions of dollars by twenty thirty
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Speaker 2: five one point eight trillion dollars under the review of
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Speaker 2: independent economists, and more than half of that space economy
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Speaker 2: is expected to grow in the United States. So the
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Speaker 2: confluence of somebody who's had show we call it entrepreneurial
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Speaker 2: success and also space exploration success, and also has worked
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Speaker 2: with the number one a private space company in the world,
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Speaker 2: which is SpaceX. It's kind of hard to argue that
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Speaker 2: they're not number one. Isn't that a good thing? That
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Speaker 2: seems like the perfect person. And again, politics aside, friends,
14:53
Speaker 2: I mean Democrats. Yeah, he shook Elon's hand a couple
14:56
Speaker 2: of times. Remember that there's been lots of people on
15:00
Speaker 2: the Democratic side of the House who've flown to space
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Speaker 2: on SpaceX capsules. Dang it. So we're just we're pro
15:08
Speaker 2: space here, right, that's what we were. Not Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative.
15:13
Speaker 2: We're pro space. We want people to go to space,
15:16
Speaker 2: we want space exploration to happen. And this guy, who
15:21
Speaker 2: by the way, has donated to Democratic causes, and yes
15:24
Speaker 2: he's Trump's nominee, seems to kind of straddle the House,
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Speaker 2: And let's just get rid of the politics and let's
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Speaker 2: go to space. Let's make America the greatest space country
15:36
Speaker 2: on the face of the Earth and make sure it
15:37
Speaker 2: stays there, because I think that for geopolitical reasons as
15:42
Speaker 2: well as defense reasons, is a very important set of goals. Friends.
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Speaker 2: That's just me editorializing right to me at Shawn doesn't
15:51
Speaker 2: care dot com And I will be happy to answer
15:54
Speaker 2: any questions you might have.
15:56
Speaker 5: Well, just don't sprain your ankle when you stuff off
15:58
Speaker 5: the soapbox. But that was a well said, well said
16:02
Speaker 5: and well delivered, and one hundred percent true. And if
16:06
Speaker 5: only that kind of mindset would just venture into every
16:10
Speaker 5: aspect of you know, politics and life and things, boy,
16:13
Speaker 5: we would be so much further along instead of getting
16:17
Speaker 5: in each other's way. Well, if you're listening Tomata Stars,
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17:46
Speaker 4: More Made of Stars.
17:47
Speaker 5: Right after this, we talked a little bit about Hubble
18:11
Speaker 5: because that's obviously part of the Isaacman story, and you
18:15
Speaker 5: can go back to past episodes where we mentioned Isaac.
18:18
Speaker 5: There's a couple with his name in the title. So
18:20
Speaker 5: as you're searching through wherever you listen to your podcast,
18:23
Speaker 5: if you just type in Jared Isaacman's name, you're gonna
18:27
Speaker 5: find some of those shows. But this desire that he
18:30
Speaker 5: had to go up and do some work on Hubble
18:32
Speaker 5: and NASA shot him down. Maybe maybe now as the
18:36
Speaker 5: guy he can get that approved. But again you go
18:40
Speaker 5: back and listen to those conversations. But we've been talking
18:42
Speaker 5: telescopes in that regard. We have some more telescope talk.
18:46
Speaker 5: We got a James Web story coming up, but before
18:50
Speaker 5: we get to that, let's talk about this next telescope
18:54
Speaker 5: it's the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope. Now this isn't the
18:57
Speaker 5: lady from TV who was like, all right, let's find
19:00
Speaker 5: on these children.
19:01
Speaker 4: It's not hers.
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Speaker 2: It, it's not as far as I know.
19:03
Speaker 4: Okay, all right, got it.
19:06
Speaker 2: There was actually a person who worked for NASA named
19:09
Speaker 2: Nancy Grace Roman. She was the head of the Astronomy
19:13
Speaker 2: Division at NASA throughout the nineteen sixties and seventies, so
19:16
Speaker 2: she played a very important role in the development of
19:20
Speaker 2: many ground based as well as space based astronomical observatories
19:25
Speaker 2: and astronomical research programs. That was Nancy Grace Roman. That's
19:30
Speaker 2: why she gets the naming rights for this telescope. Right,
19:34
Speaker 2: They've honored her a career by naming this telescope after her. Okay,
19:39
Speaker 2: so what is the actual instrument. Well, on November twenty fifth,
19:43
Speaker 2: it was completed. The Nancy Grace Roman Telescope is a
19:47
Speaker 2: giant infrared telescope that is going to be very sensitive
19:51
Speaker 2: and take really fantastic pictures of the universe. Pause. I
19:56
Speaker 2: know what you're thinking. Don't we already have one of those?
20:01
Speaker 2: Isn't that called the James Webspace Telescope. Yes, friends, we're
20:05
Speaker 2: not simply reproducing the same instrument. These two were intentionally
20:12
Speaker 2: designed together to work hand in hand. Here's how they work.
20:18
Speaker 2: The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is what we know
20:21
Speaker 2: as a wide field instrument. In other words, it can
20:26
Speaker 2: look at big swaths of the sky. It is perfect
20:31
Speaker 2: for surveying large areas of the sky to discover certain targets.
20:38
Speaker 2: In this case, one of the most important targets is exoplanets.
20:44
Speaker 2: So the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope is going to be
20:47
Speaker 2: an expert at finding planets around other stars, mapping dark
20:53
Speaker 2: energy and dark matter distribution, and surveying huge areas of
20:58
Speaker 2: the sky very quickly. So it was designed to do
21:02
Speaker 2: that so that instruments like the James Web Space Telescope
21:07
Speaker 2: also an infrared telescope, which has a much smaller field
21:10
Speaker 2: of view. In other words, it has a lot bigger
21:13
Speaker 2: magnification and can take a much closer look at things.
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Speaker 2: Can then go after these targets identified by the Roman
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Speaker 2: Space Telescope and do further investigations. Also Hubble Space Telescope.
21:27
Speaker 2: Providing that those last three gyros hold out a little longer,
21:30
Speaker 2: or maybe some NASA administrator decides to go up and
21:33
Speaker 2: fix the Hubble Space Telescope. Anyway, HUBBLIC can also go
21:36
Speaker 2: back and follow up on those newly identified objects in
21:39
Speaker 2: the optical wavelengths. So all of these instruments are developed
21:43
Speaker 2: as an integrated plan. Well. So the completion then of
21:48
Speaker 2: the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. On November twenty fifth,
21:51
Speaker 2: it's just announced that that completion was certified by NASA.
21:56
Speaker 2: They're calling it done and they're ready to begin testing.
22:00
Speaker 2: So construction complete, testing to begin. Once they have testing,
22:05
Speaker 2: they're going to get it down to Kennedy Space Center
22:07
Speaker 2: and they're going to try to put it on a
22:08
Speaker 2: Falcon heavy and they're going to try to get that
22:10
Speaker 2: thing up into a place in space called the L
22:14
Speaker 2: two point, the second Lagrange point, that's a gravitational balance
22:18
Speaker 2: point between the Earth and the Sun's gravitational fields. Anyway,
22:21
Speaker 2: they're going to try to get it up there as
22:22
Speaker 2: early as the fall of next year twenty twenty six.
22:26
Speaker 2: Wouldn't that be amazing that we have that brand new,
22:30
Speaker 2: highly specialized research telescope in orbit by the fall of
22:37
Speaker 2: twenty twenty six. We might learn of life on other
22:41
Speaker 2: worlds because of the work of this telescope. So that's
22:45
Speaker 2: maybe a little bit of hyperbolic language, but not over
22:49
Speaker 2: the top. It could. It does have the capabilities of
22:53
Speaker 2: potentially identifying the very exo planets on which we identify
22:57
Speaker 2: life signatures. That's where we're going. Check out the story
23:00
Speaker 2: on science alert dot com.
23:04
Speaker 5: So I think a comic book called the Cosmic Owl
23:08
Speaker 5: could be successful. It seems like it's just got there's
23:11
Speaker 5: something about the name the cosmic Owl. But what are
23:16
Speaker 5: the cosmic owl galaxies? And what are these images from
23:20
Speaker 5: James Webspace telescope telling us about the cosmicowl galaxies.
23:26
Speaker 2: I'm obliged to make this joke. Who oh, okay, sorry, yeah,
23:32
Speaker 2: I know it was there. It's a dad joke, all right.
23:34
Speaker 2: So all right, so, speaking of James Webspace Telescope. By
23:38
Speaker 2: the way, the James web Space Telescope has been checking
23:41
Speaker 2: out the owl cosmicowl galaxy. It's not really one galaxy,
23:48
Speaker 2: it's two, right, and they're just so close together because
23:51
Speaker 2: they're merging that they look like the two eyes of
23:54
Speaker 2: an owl. They do, yeah, I mean, and actually they
23:56
Speaker 2: really do kind of look like a mask. There's like
23:58
Speaker 2: an owl mask is what they really It could.
24:00
Speaker 5: Be a superhero I would wear it. Why let's fight
24:03
Speaker 5: some crime.
24:04
Speaker 2: Cosmic Owl. Let's go friends of the tick. Anyway, So
24:07
Speaker 2: the James Medspace Telescope has identified in this galaxy system
24:12
Speaker 2: something absolutely crazy, the first ever runaway super massive black hole.
24:21
Speaker 2: Say that again. Let that sink in. It's a super
24:24
Speaker 2: massive black hole that's running away. It's a runaway. It's
24:30
Speaker 2: been ejected from the system. It's now traveling at two
24:38
Speaker 2: point two million miles per hour, much greater than the
24:42
Speaker 2: escape velocity necessary for an object to escape the mutual
24:46
Speaker 2: gravitational field of the two galaxies that we know as
24:48
Speaker 2: cosmic Owl. It is three thousand times the speed of
24:52
Speaker 2: sound at sea level here on Earth. That gives you
24:54
Speaker 2: just kind of an idea. But it's a super massive
24:58
Speaker 2: black hole. Friends, This is like a million solar masses
25:06
Speaker 2: traveling at two point two million miles per hour. This
25:11
Speaker 2: is this is something straight out of a sci fi movie, right.
25:14
Speaker 2: This discovery from the James Web Space Telescope makes this
25:18
Speaker 2: the first ever confirmed runaway supermassive black hole. What do
25:22
Speaker 2: we mean by runaway? It is no longer gravitationally bound
25:26
Speaker 2: to its parent galaxy. It has been ejected and is
25:29
Speaker 2: going to fly out through free space, perfect Star Trek
25:35
Speaker 2: episode right there, some rogue runaway supermassive black hole coming
25:39
Speaker 2: into our own milky Way. Only the crew of the
25:42
Speaker 2: Enterprise can save us anyway, something along those lines. So
25:46
Speaker 2: this is a really interesting object. Now, just to give
25:50
Speaker 2: you an idea about what something that big, moving that
25:54
Speaker 2: fast with its intense gravitational field can do, well, it's
25:58
Speaker 2: generating a bow shock of material that's literally the size
26:04
Speaker 2: of a galaxy that it's bulldozing out in front of
26:09
Speaker 2: it as it pushes that material out and a way
26:12
Speaker 2: from the parent galaxies in the cosmic owl. So that's
26:18
Speaker 2: just hard to imagine. While it's doing that, it is
26:24
Speaker 2: also dragging behind it a gigantic comet like tail of
26:30
Speaker 2: material that's two hundred thousand light years in length. So
26:40
Speaker 2: this is so much material and it's being so heavily
26:43
Speaker 2: affected by the gravity of this runaway super massive black
26:47
Speaker 2: hole that star formation is actually being triggered. In other words,
26:52
Speaker 2: the gases are being compressed so violently in the tail
26:57
Speaker 2: of this object that brand new baby stars are being
27:00
Speaker 2: born throughout that trailing tale of gases. Dare I say
27:05
Speaker 2: it boggles the mind that that is traveling out away
27:12
Speaker 2: from the galaxies. They will literally be stars without a
27:14
Speaker 2: parent galaxy. It's crazy solar systems outside of any galaxy
27:20
Speaker 2: generated by the titanic forces of a super massive runaway
27:24
Speaker 2: black hole west throughout the boggles the mind phrase, as
27:31
Speaker 2: did the leader of the discovery team from Yale University,
27:35
Speaker 2: Peter van Dalkom. Peter van Docum said this, it boggles
27:40
Speaker 2: the mind in a quote to space dot Com.
27:43
Speaker 1: Quote.
27:44
Speaker 2: The forces that are needed to dislodge such a super
27:48
Speaker 2: massive black hole from its home are, in the words
27:52
Speaker 2: of Peter van dorkm, enormous. That's a good word, he
27:57
Speaker 2: went on to say. And yet it was predicted that
28:00
Speaker 2: such escapes should occur so in galaxy simulations, in simulations
28:05
Speaker 2: of galaxies colliding on occasion, the simulations show that a
28:09
Speaker 2: supermassive black hole could in fact be ejected from its
28:13
Speaker 2: parent galaxy and just thrown violently off into space.
28:16
Speaker 4: But we have never.
28:17
Speaker 2: Seen such an insane cataclysmic event until now, friends, discovered
28:24
Speaker 2: by the James Webb Space Telescope. So there you go.
28:28
Speaker 2: A great story for all you aspiring science fiction writers
28:32
Speaker 2: out there, We've now found one. Go out and write
28:35
Speaker 2: the episode here we.
28:36
Speaker 5: Go, rocket Lab launches a space Force and that's a
28:41
Speaker 5: disc sat experiment.
28:43
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I think maybe in a comment I made
28:46
Speaker 2: somewhere along the line to you, no way that these
28:48
Speaker 2: things are going to be confused for flying saucers.
28:50
Speaker 5: Not at all, nothing at all could be confusing with this.
28:53
Speaker 2: They are actually flying saucers in space. So that's what
28:58
Speaker 2: we're talking about. Friends, NASA and the United States Space
29:02
Speaker 2: Force have built their own fleet of flying saucers. That's
29:06
Speaker 2: what I thought when I read this. They're calling them
29:08
Speaker 2: disc SATs. Disc SATs like a frisbee, like frisbee golf,
29:12
Speaker 2: like frallf like for of f in space.
29:14
Speaker 5: Yeah, like UFOs.
29:16
Speaker 2: It's not for if it's disc golf. Yeah, I know,
29:18
Speaker 2: I got it. So if you're a frall for, this
29:22
Speaker 2: is a win for you. So rocket Lab, though, is
29:25
Speaker 2: the win for me because that's an up and coming
29:28
Speaker 2: space launch company and this may be one of their
29:30
Speaker 2: most high profile launches yet. So they are successful. They
29:36
Speaker 2: have successfully deployed a mission from both NASA and the
29:40
Speaker 2: United States Space Force working together from the Wallops Island
29:44
Speaker 2: Launch Complex in Virginia. They actually have their own launchpad
29:48
Speaker 2: there at Launch Complex Number two. So this mission will
29:51
Speaker 2: test new small sat architecture designed for operations in what
29:56
Speaker 2: is called very Low Earth orbit or vl EO. So
30:02
Speaker 2: these vl EO disc SATs, which should in no way
30:06
Speaker 2: be confused either for disc golf or UFO's flying saucers.
30:11
Speaker 2: This test program, called the STPs thirty, was accelerated from
30:16
Speaker 2: an initial launch target data spring of next year. They said, no,
30:20
Speaker 2: we've got to get these disks up right now, and
30:22
Speaker 2: so here are the goals from the Space Systems Command
30:26
Speaker 2: for this new test mission. Number one, to characterize the
30:29
Speaker 2: performance and utility of disc sat bus that's being able
30:35
Speaker 2: to generate electricity with disc SATs. Number two demonstrate that
30:38
Speaker 2: they can generate as much as one hundred watts of
30:41
Speaker 2: electrical power, primarily through solar cells mounted on the disc
30:45
Speaker 2: shaped bodies.
30:46
Speaker 4: And number three to test.
30:48
Speaker 2: The maneuver their maneuverability to multiple orbital regimes, including the
30:54
Speaker 2: very Earth Low Earth orbit environment or the vl EO.
30:57
Speaker 2: So there we go. As a couple of second goals here,
31:02
Speaker 2: they also have secondary payloads on board the spacecraft that
31:05
Speaker 2: will support experiments in communications and space environment sensing. So
31:09
Speaker 2: rocket Lab, this is your huge win, and yes we
31:12
Speaker 2: wish NASA and the Space Force the greatest amount of success.
31:15
Speaker 2: But rocket Lab from Long Beach, California. They have advanced
31:20
Speaker 2: manufacturing and mission operations centers in Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado, Maryland, Toronto,
31:26
Speaker 2: and yes, friends in New Zealand. I'm familiar with several
31:30
Speaker 2: of their New Zealand launches. We've covered them here on
31:33
Speaker 2: the podcast. Right, and so congratulations to rocket Lab. You
31:37
Speaker 2: have officially launched NASA and the US Space Force's fleet
31:41
Speaker 2: of flying saucers. Congratulations.
31:43
Speaker 5: More made of Stars. Right after this, let's talk about
32:07
Speaker 5: Christmas Star. I know we're entering into that phase. We're
32:10
Speaker 5: recording this on the eighteenth. It's a week till Christmas Day.
32:14
Speaker 5: So how much longer will you guys be open there
32:17
Speaker 5: at the Cocola Space Science Center. And then when do
32:19
Speaker 5: you reopen after the holiday?
32:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, believe it or not, we're going to be opened
32:23
Speaker 2: right up through Christmas Eve. So if the family's in
32:26
Speaker 2: town and you're just like, what are we going to
32:27
Speaker 2: do with these people on Christmas Eve? We don't open
32:30
Speaker 2: presents till the twenty fifth. You could come down on
32:32
Speaker 2: the twenty second, twenty third, or twenty fourth and Come
32:35
Speaker 2: down and see Mystery of the Christmas Star in the
32:38
Speaker 2: Atmosphere Theater at Columbus State University's Coca Cola Space Science Center.
32:42
Speaker 2: It is a great archaeo astronomy show all about trying
32:46
Speaker 2: to figure out the mystery of what the object reported
32:48
Speaker 2: in scriptures could have been that allegedly led those wise
32:53
Speaker 2: men to the birthplace of Jesus. There is a really
32:57
Speaker 2: great examination of all the objects that that could have
33:00
Speaker 2: been the precursor star, but also it could just be
33:04
Speaker 2: a miraculous event. It's a great coverage of all those possibilities.
33:08
Speaker 2: Come down and check out Mystery of the Christmas Star
33:11
Speaker 2: at Columbus State University's Coca Cola Space Sign Center inside
33:14
Speaker 2: the Atmosphere Theater. And while you do, friends, you're going
33:17
Speaker 2: to get to check out a lot of new toys
33:20
Speaker 2: that we have on display just in time for Christmas
33:22
Speaker 2: here at the Space Sign Center, including our Rocket Builder simulation,
33:27
Speaker 2: our Mars Helicopter Ingenuity and Perseverance Rover simulation. We have
33:32
Speaker 2: some actual Mars rovercars that you can drive around on
33:35
Speaker 2: our simulated Mars surface. We have our brand new upgraded
33:38
Speaker 2: flight simulators which you can land the Space Shuttle or
33:41
Speaker 2: fight the Space Pirates. Just all kinds of neuve and
33:45
Speaker 2: fun things to do in the gallery at the Coca
33:47
Speaker 2: Cola Space Sign Center. Come down and check it out.
33:50
Speaker 2: All the visitor information can be found at the website
33:53
Speaker 2: www dot cc SSC dot org. Charlie Charlie SamSam Charlie
33:59
Speaker 2: dot org. And I would like to take one more
34:01
Speaker 2: minute to say the day that we're recording this episode
34:05
Speaker 2: is the last day that I get to work with
34:08
Speaker 2: my great longtime friend mister Scott Norman, who is retiring
34:13
Speaker 2: from our staff here at Space Science Center. Scott and
34:15
Speaker 2: I have worked together for twenty eight years. I just
34:18
Speaker 2: want to congratulate him on his retirement. He has been
34:21
Speaker 2: a resource above all others for us here at Space
34:25
Speaker 2: Science Center because he is an excellent space historian. He's
34:29
Speaker 2: been the lead of our education team here at Space
34:31
Speaker 2: Science Center and he will be greatly missed. So Scott,
34:33
Speaker 2: congratulations on your career, enjoy your retirement, and I love you. Brother.
34:38
Speaker 5: Scott has been a part of this show, whether radio
34:41
Speaker 5: or podcast a couple of times, and you said it well,
34:46
Speaker 5: he is very knowledgeable and I know it's a resource
34:49
Speaker 5: that you guys will miss there in the building, Shawn
34:52
Speaker 5: and I thank you for listening, and we will do
34:54
Speaker 5: this again. Special year D editions we've got for the
34:59
Speaker 5: next two episodes. Uh, the first one will be next week.
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