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Artemis 2 Delayed, SpaceX Unveils Stargaze Safety System · Space News Today

0:00
Welcome [music] to Astronomy Daily, your
0:02
source for the latest space and
0:04
astronomy news. I'm Anna. [music]
0:06
>> And I'm Avery. We're here to bring you
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today's cosmic headlines on this
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Wednesday, February 4th, 2026.
0:13
>> We've got a packed [music] show today
0:15
with some significant developments.
0:17
NASA's Aremis 2 mission [music] has hit
0:19
another speed bump with their moon
0:21
rocket experiencing some familiar issues
0:23
during testing. SpaceX is making
0:26
headlines [music] on two fronts today.
0:28
Launching an innovative new space safety
0:30
system while also dealing with a
0:32
temporary [music] grounding of their
0:33
Falcon 9 rocket. The James Web Space
0:36
Telescope has spotted something [music]
0:38
extraordinary in the early universe. A
0:40
rare fiveway galaxy merger that's
0:43
challenging our understanding of cosmic
0:45
evolution.
0:46
>> Scientists have finally cracked [music]
0:47
a 50-year mystery about why nearby
0:50
galaxies seem to be fleeing from us.
0:52
[music] and it involves a massive cosmic
0:54
void.
0:55
>> And we'll wrap up with fascinating new
0:57
[music] research on runaway stars.
0:59
Massive stellar objects racing through
1:02
the Milky Way at incredible speeds.
1:04
>> Let's dive in.
1:06
>> Our [music] top story today comes from
1:07
NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida,
1:10
where Artemis 2 mission has been delayed
1:12
by at least a month following issues
1:14
during a critical wet dress rehearsal
1:16
test.
1:17
>> This is the mission that will send four
1:19
astronauts on a flyby of the moon. the
1:21
first crude lunar mission in over 50
1:23
years. The crew includes NASA astronauts
1:26
Reed Weisman, Victor Glover, Christina
1:29
and Canadian Space Agency
1:31
astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
1:33
>> So, what happened during this test? NASA
1:36
concluded a 49-hour practice countdown
1:38
on Tuesday after loading 700,000 gallons
1:41
of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen
1:44
into the massive space launch system
1:46
rocket. And early in the tanking
1:48
process, as we reported yesterday, they
1:51
detected a hydrogen leak from the
1:52
interface that routes cryogenic
1:54
propellant into the rocket's core stage.
1:57
Sound familiar?
1:58
>> Unfortunately, yes. These hydrogen leaks
2:01
are reminiscent of the issues that
2:02
plagued the Aremis 1 launch attempts
2:04
back in 2022. However, there's some good
2:07
news. They did resolve the issue during
2:09
this test and actually achieved full
2:12
tanking on the first try, which NASA
2:14
considers a tremendous success. That's
2:17
actually quite significant progress. The
2:19
resolution involved stopping the
2:21
hydrogen flow, allowing the interface to
2:23
warm up so the seals could recede, and
2:25
then adjusting the flow of propellant.
2:28
It worked, but it raised concerns about
2:30
launch day operations.
2:32
>> NASA administrator Jared Isaacman
2:34
announced they're moving off the
2:36
February launch window and targeting
2:38
March for the earliest possible launch.
2:40
The first opportunity next month is
2:42
Friday, March 6th at 8:29 p.m. Eastern
2:46
time with the window extending through
2:47
March 11th. There were other issues,
2:50
too, weren't there? I read about
2:52
problems with a valve and some
2:53
communication dropouts.
2:55
>> Right. A valve associated with the Orion
2:58
crew module hatch pressurization had to
3:00
be retored, and closeout operations took
3:03
longer than planned. Cold weather
3:05
affected several cameras and other
3:07
equipment. And perhaps most concerning,
3:09
there were dropouts in audio
3:11
communication channels that have been
3:13
recurring over the past few weeks.
3:15
>> What's the crew saying about all this?
3:17
>> Commander Reed Wisman posted on social
3:19
media expressing immense pride in seeing
3:22
the rocket reach 100% fuel load,
3:25
especially knowing how challenging the
3:27
scenario was for the launch team. He
3:29
said they're jumping back into training
3:30
tomorrow to start preparations for
3:32
March.
3:33
>> And NASA's planning another wet dress
3:35
rehearsal before the actual launch.
3:37
Correct.
3:37
>> That's right. Launch director Charlie
3:39
Blackwell Thompson confirmed they'll
3:41
conduct another wet dress before
3:43
proceeding with the actual launch. The
3:46
team needs to fully review all the data
3:48
from this test, mitigate each issue, and
3:50
return to testing before setting an
3:52
official target launch date.
3:54
>> It's a delay, but safety has to come
3:56
first, especially with a crude mission
3:58
to the moon. From the moon to low Earth
4:01
orbit, SpaceX has just unveiled a
4:04
revolutionary new space safety system
4:06
called Stargaze that could fundamentally
4:09
change how we manage the increasingly
4:12
crowded space around our planet. This is
4:14
fascinating technology, Anna. Stargaze
4:17
is a space situational awareness system
4:19
that uses data from nearly 30,000 star
4:22
trackers across the Starlink satellite
4:24
constellation to continuously monitor
4:26
objects in low Earth orbit. 30,000 star
4:30
trackers. That's an incredible network.
4:32
And they're detecting approximately 30
4:35
million transits daily across the fleet.
4:38
That's a several order of magnitude
4:40
increase in detection capability
4:42
compared to conventional groundbased
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systems.
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>> The need for this kind of system has
4:46
never been more urgent. Practices like
4:48
leaving rocket bodies in LEO, operators
4:51
maneuvering satellites without sharing
4:53
trajectory predictions, and
4:55
anti-satellite tests have all heightened
4:57
collision risks. Conventional methods
4:59
typically observe objects only a limited
5:01
number of times per day, causing large
5:03
uncertainties in orbital predictions.
5:05
What makes Stargaze particularly
5:08
powerful is that it provides conjunction
5:10
screening results within minutes
5:12
compared to the current industry
5:13
standard of several hours. That speed
5:16
can be the difference between a
5:18
successful collision avoidance maneuver
5:20
and a catastrophic impact.
5:23
>> Basics actually shared a realworld
5:25
example that demonstrates just how
5:27
critical the system is. In late 2025, a
5:30
Starlink satellite encountered a
5:32
conjunction with a third party satellite
5:34
that was performing maneuvers but whose
5:36
operator wasn't sharing ephemeris data.
5:39
>> Emerous data, that's the trajectory
5:41
prediction information, right?
5:43
>> Exactly. So, initially the close
5:45
approach was anticipated to be about
5:47
9,000 m away, considered a safe missed
5:50
distance with zero probability of
5:51
collision. But then, just 5 hours before
5:54
the conjunction, the third party
5:56
satellite performed a maneuver that
5:58
collapsed the anticipated missed
6:00
distance to just 60 m.
6:02
>> 60 m. That's terrifyingly close in space
6:06
terms. Stargaze quickly detected this
6:08
maneuver and published an updated
6:10
trajectory to the screening platform,
6:12
generating new conjunction data messages
6:14
that were immediately distributed. The
6:17
Starling satellite was able to react
6:19
within an hour of detecting the
6:20
maneuver, planning an avoidance maneuver
6:22
to reduce collision risk back down to
6:24
zero.
6:25
>> And here's the really important part.
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SpaceX is making this data available to
6:30
all satellite operators free of charge.
6:33
Starting this spring, satellite
6:34
operators who submit their own
6:36
trajectory predictions to the platform
6:38
will receive conjunction data messages
6:40
against Stargaze data.
6:42
>> It's been in closed beta with over a
6:44
dozen participating satellite operators
6:46
and the response has been positive.
6:48
SpaceX is drawing a parallel to
6:50
commercial aviation. There are hundreds
6:52
of thousands of sites daily, but they
6:54
avoid collisions because they broadcast
6:56
their location and flight plans to other
6:58
aircraft. SpaceX is calling on all
7:01
spacecraft operators to follow the same
7:03
minimal standard of sharing predicted
7:05
trajectories. Starlink updates and
7:08
shares their ephemeris publicly every
7:10
hour as an example.
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>> This is the kind of collaborative
7:12
approach we need as space becomes more
7:14
congested. It's not just about
7:16
protecting SpaceX's massive
7:18
constellation. It's about creating a
7:20
safer orbital environment for everyone.
7:22
Speaking of SpaceX, the company has
7:25
temporarily grounded its Falcon 9 rocket
7:27
following an issue with the upper stage
7:29
on a recent Starlink launch, and the
7:31
timing couldn't be more critical.
7:34
>> This happened on Monday, February 2nd. A
7:36
Falcon 9 successfully delivered 25
7:39
Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit
7:41
as planned. But after deploying the
7:43
payloads, the rocket's upper stage
7:45
failed to perform its de-orbit burn.
7:47
That de-orbit burn is designed to bring
7:50
the spent upper stage down for
7:51
controlled destruction in Earth's
7:53
atmosphere. Without it, we have another
7:56
piece of debris in orbit. Exactly the
7:59
kind of problem that Stargaze is
8:00
designed to help monitor.
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>> The good news is the upper stage did
8:04
manage to pacivate itself by venting
8:07
propellant which lowered its perigee to
8:09
about 110 km. According to satellite
8:12
tracker Jonathan McDow, it will re-enter
8:15
quickly. But SpaceX has grounded the
8:17
Falcon 9 fleet while teams review data
8:20
to determine root cause and corrective
8:21
actions. And here's where the timing
8:23
gets tricky. The Crew 12 astronaut
8:26
mission to the International Space
8:28
Station is currently scheduled to launch
8:29
on February 11th, just 8 days from now.
8:33
>> Crew 12 is particularly important
8:35
because it will restore the ISS to its
8:37
normal complement of seven crew members.
8:40
The station has been operating with a
8:42
skeleton crew of just three astronauts
8:44
since January 15th when the four crew 11
8:47
astronauts departed in the first ever
8:49
medical evacuation from the ISS.
8:52
>> NASA associate administrator Amit
8:54
Kashatria confirmed that NASA teams from
8:56
the commercial crew program are embedded
8:58
in the investigation alongside SpaceX
9:00
and the FAA. He said they're pressing
9:03
towards the crew 12 window, but the
9:05
launch will be contingent on the return
9:06
to flight rationale. It's worth noting
9:09
that the Falcon 9 has an incredible
9:11
safety record. Last year alone, it
9:13
launched a record-breaking
9:15
165 times with all missions successful.
9:18
Just a single mission experienced a
9:20
significant anomaly, a Starlink launch
9:23
where a booster toppled after landing at
9:25
sea. That March 3rd incident was traced
9:28
to a fuel leak in one of the booster
9:30
nine Merlin engines which led to a fire
9:32
that weakened a landing leg. SpaceX
9:35
halted launches for a week at that time
9:36
as well. The question now is whether
9:39
they can resolve this upper stage issue
9:40
quickly enough to meet the February 11th
9:43
crew 12 launch date. If not, those three
9:45
astronauts on the ISS will have to wait
9:47
a bit longer for reinforcements. From
9:50
orbital mechanics to the deepest reaches
9:52
of space, the James Web Space Telescope
9:54
has spotted something extraordinary. A
9:57
fiveway galaxy merger in the early
9:59
universe that's challenging our
10:01
understanding of cosmic evolution.
10:03
>> This is remarkable, Anna. The system
10:05
consists of five compact, actively star
10:08
forming galaxies that were emerging when
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the universe was only about 800 million
10:12
years old. That's just 6% of the
10:15
universe's current age. And the level of
10:18
complexity is what's really stunning
10:20
astronomers. These five galaxies are
10:22
packed into a remarkably small region of
10:24
space. They're separated by only tens of
10:26
thousands of lightyear. To put that in
10:28
perspective, that's far closer together
10:30
than most neighboring galaxies in the
10:32
modern universe.
10:33
>> Dr.
10:34
Hu from Texas&M University, the study's
10:37
lead author, explained that what makes
10:39
this remarkable is that a merger
10:41
involving such a large number of
10:43
galaxies was not expected so early in
10:45
the universe's history. At that time,
10:47
galaxy mergers were thought to be
10:49
simpler, usually involving only two to
10:51
three galaxies.
10:52
>> But it's not just the number of galaxies
10:54
that's impressive. These five galaxies
10:56
are producing stars at a combined rate
10:59
of roughly 250 solar masses per year.
11:02
That's far exceeding typical star
11:04
formation rates for that era.
11:06
>> And this rapid stellar production has
11:08
already enriched the system with heavier
11:09
elements like oxygen. Materials forged
11:12
in stellar interiors and dispersed
11:14
through galactic interactions. The
11:16
presence of these elements indicates
11:18
that multiple generations of stars had
11:20
already lived and died. The really
11:22
fascinating part is that gas containing
11:24
oxygen and hydrogen extends beyond the
11:27
galaxies themselves. This suggests that
11:30
gravitational interactions are pushing
11:32
enriched material into intergalactic
11:34
space, showing how early mergers may
11:36
have shaped not just galaxies, but the
11:38
larger cosmic environment. This
11:41
discovery really disrupts the standard
11:42
model of galaxy assembly. That model
11:45
proposes a gradual buildup where small
11:47
galaxies merge over long periods to form
11:50
larger systems. But this fiveway merger
11:52
demonstrates that complex multi-galaxy
11:55
interactions were already underway less
11:57
than a billion years after the Big Bang.
12:00
>> Professor Casey Papovich, a co-author on
12:02
the study, emphasized the implications
12:05
by showing that a complex merger-driven
12:08
system exists so early. It tells us our
12:11
theories of how galaxies assemble and
12:14
how quickly they do so need to be
12:16
updated to match reality. This adds to
12:19
the growing body of evidence from JWST
12:22
that the early universe was capable of
12:24
producing massive maturelook galaxies at
12:27
astonishing speed. Matter in the early
12:29
universe appears to have clustered more
12:31
rapidly and efficiently than our
12:33
simulation suggested.
12:35
>> The study was published in Nature
12:37
Astronomy and it's another example of
12:39
how JWST is fundamentally changing our
12:43
understanding of the cosmos.
12:45
with cosmic mysteries, scientists have
12:48
finally solved a 50-year-old puzzle
12:50
about why nearby galaxies appear to be
12:52
fleeing from our own Milky Way. And the
12:55
answer involves a massive cosmic void
12:57
right in our neighborhood.
12:59
>> This is one of those mysteries that's
13:00
been nagging at astronomers for decades,
13:03
Avery. Most large galaxies near the
13:05
Milky Way, with the exception of
13:07
Andromeda, appear to be moving away from
13:10
us and seem largely unaffected by the
13:13
gravitational pole of our local group of
13:16
galaxies.
13:17
>> The local group being the Milky Way,
13:19
Andromeda, and dozens of smaller
13:21
galaxies. So, what's the solution? Led
13:24
by Ewood at the Capta Institute in
13:27
Granagan, an international research team
13:30
used advanced computer simulations and
13:32
discovered that matter just beyond the
13:35
local group forms a broad flat structure
13:38
stretching tens of millions of light
13:40
years across. And here's the key. Vast
13:44
empty regions lie above and below this
13:46
structure.
13:48
>> So we're basically living on a cosmic
13:50
pancake surrounded by voids. That's
13:53
actually a pretty good analogy. This
13:55
flat distribution of matter is the only
13:58
way to accurately account for both the
14:00
combined mass of the Milky Way and
14:02
Andromeda and the unexpected motions of
14:05
nearby galaxies.
14:07
>> But how does this flat structure explain
14:09
why galaxies are moving away from us?
14:12
>> It comes down to the local void, a vast
14:15
empty region discovered back in 1987 by
14:18
Brent Tully and Rick Fiser. The local
14:21
void extends approximately 60 mega parex
14:25
or about 200 million lightyear beginning
14:28
at the edge of the local group. The
14:30
local void is growing because there's
14:32
very little matter inside it to exert
14:34
gravitational pole. Our Milky Way sits
14:37
in what's called the local sheet, a flat
14:39
array of galaxies that bounds the void.
14:42
And this local sheet is rushing away
14:44
from the void center at 260 km/s.
14:48
How fast is that affecting the Milky
14:50
Way?
14:51
>> The Milky Way's velocity away from the
14:53
local void is 970,000
14:56
km hour. That's 600,000 mph. It's
15:01
astonishingly fast.
15:03
>> So, the new simulations show that this
15:05
hidden geometry, the flat plane of dark
15:08
matter beyond the local group with voids
15:10
above and below, is what's driving these
15:13
galactic motions.
15:15
>> Exactly. When researchers included this
15:17
configuration in their simulations, they
15:20
closely match the observed positions and
15:22
speeds of nearby galaxies. It provides a
15:25
coherent explanation for motions that
15:27
have puzzled astronomers for half a
15:29
century.
15:30
>> This is connected to research about the
15:32
Hubble tension, too, isn't it? The
15:34
discrepancy in measurements of the
15:36
universe's expansion rate.
15:38
>> That's right. Some researchers have
15:39
proposed that if we're inside a large
15:41
local void, it could affect how we
15:44
measure cosmic expansion, making the
15:46
local universe appear to be expanding
15:48
faster than it actually is. Though that
15:51
particular idea remains controversial
15:53
and needs more evidence. What's
15:55
remarkable is that we're learning our
15:57
immediate cosmic neighborhood is far
15:59
more structured and dynamic than we
16:01
previously understood. We're not just
16:04
floating in a uniform sea of galaxies.
16:06
We're on a sheet of matter bordering a
16:09
massive void.
16:10
>> And that void is shaping our galaxy's
16:13
journey through space in fundamental
16:14
ways.
16:15
>> For our final story today, we're turning
16:17
to some of the fastest objects in our
16:20
galaxy. Runaway stars that are racing
16:23
through the Milky Way at incredible
16:25
speeds. Researchers from institutes
16:27
across Spain have just completed the
16:29
most extensive observational study to
16:31
date of these stellar speeders,
16:34
analyzing 2140 type stars, the brightest
16:37
and most massive class of stars in our
16:39
galaxy.
16:40
>> These aren't just fastmoving stars,
16:42
Avery. We're talking about stars with
16:44
velocities that often exceed 700 km/s.
16:49
That's fast enough to escape the Milky
16:51
Way's gravity entirely. The term runaway
16:54
stars was first used back in the early
16:56
1960s by Dutch astronomer Adrien Blau.
17:00
He observed stars moving at unusually
17:02
high speeds and proposed they originated
17:04
in binary systems and were ejected when
17:07
the companion star collapsed and
17:09
exploded in a supernova.
17:11
>> By 2005, astronomers discovered even
17:14
faster runaway stars, leading to the
17:16
designation hypervelocity stars. These
17:19
objects are fascinating because of the
17:21
influence they have on galactic
17:23
evolution.
17:24
>> By escaping their systems of origin,
17:26
these stars in radiate gas and dust in
17:28
the interstellar medium, eventually
17:30
seating it with heavy elements after
17:32
they go supernova. This affects how
17:35
future stars and planets will form.
17:37
>> So, what did this new study reveal? The
17:39
team used data from ESA's Gaia
17:42
Observatory and the IAOB spectroscopic
17:45
database to analyze these 2140 type
17:49
stars. They found that most runaway
17:51
stars rotate slowly while those that
17:54
rotate faster are more likely to be
17:56
linked to supernova explosions and
17:58
binary systems. And here's an
18:00
interesting finding. The highest
18:01
velocity stars tend to be single,
18:03
suggesting they were ejected from young
18:05
clusters through gravitational
18:07
interactions. So there are actually two
18:10
different mechanisms creating runaway
18:12
stars.
18:12
>> Exactly. Some are explosively ejected by
18:15
supernova in binary systems while others
18:18
are gravitationally ejected from close
18:20
encounters with star clusters. The study
18:23
helps clarify the relative contributions
18:25
of these two mechanisms. Lead author Mar
18:28
Caretero Castrio, now at the European
18:30
Southern Observatory, called this the
18:32
most comprehensive observational study
18:34
of its kind in the Milky Way. By
18:36
combining information on rotation and
18:38
binarity, they're providing
18:40
unprecedented constraints on how these
18:42
runaway stars are formed. The team also
18:45
identified 12 runaway binary systems,
18:48
including three X-ray binary sources
18:50
that contain neutron stars or black
18:52
holes and three additional systems that
18:54
are likely candidates for hosting black
18:56
holes. Perhaps the strongest evidence
18:59
for multiple ejection mechanisms was
19:01
this. Virtually no stars in the study
19:04
exhibited both high velocities and rapid
19:06
rotation. If all runaway stars came from
19:09
the same process, you'd expect to see
19:11
some with both characteristics. Future
19:14
Gaia data releases and ongoing
19:16
spectroscopic studies will help
19:17
astronomers trace these stars back to
19:20
their birthplaces within the Milky Way,
19:22
which will confirm which mechanism was
19:24
responsible in each case. And there
19:26
might be another fascinating angle to
19:28
this research. Understanding these
19:30
systems could shed light on another role
19:32
they may play in galactic evolution,
19:34
potentially distributing the basic
19:36
ingredients of life throughout the Milky
19:38
Way as they travel. Cosmic messengers
19:40
carrying the seeds of life across the
19:42
galaxy. That's a beautiful thought to
19:44
end on.
19:45
>> And that wraps up today's episode of
19:47
Astronomy Daily.
19:48
>> From NASA's moon mission delays to
19:50
SpaceX's new safety innovations, from
19:53
ancient galaxy mergers to mysteries in
19:55
our cosmic neighborhood, it's been quite
19:58
a journey through the cosmos today.
19:59
>> Thanks for joining us. For more space
20:01
news, visit our website at
20:03
astronomydaily.io, io where you can
20:05
explore our full archive and stay
20:07
updated on the latest cosmic
20:08
discoveries.
20:09
>> You can also find us on social media at
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Astro Daily Pod across all major
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platforms. Until next time, keep looking
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