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From SpaceX Records to Lunar Gold Rush: Your Daily Space Update · Space News Today

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  Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast
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  [music] that brings you the universe,
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  one story at a time. I'm Avery.
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  >> And I'm Anna. It's great to have you
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  with us. Today, we'll be looking at
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  SpaceX's [music]
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  absolutely staggering launch record, a
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  real life tractor [music] beam for
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  cleaning up space junk, and the latest
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  search for alien signals. [music] Plus,
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  we'll dive into the new gold rush, or
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  maybe water rush on the moon, tell
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  [music] you what to look for in the
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  night sky, and solve the celestial
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  mystery nearly a thousand years in the
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  making. Let's get started with our top
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  story, [music]
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  >> and it's a big one. SpaceX has once
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  again completely shattered their own
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  launch record. In 2025, the company
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  successfully completed
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  165 orbital flight.
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  >> Wow.
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  165. That averages out to a launch every
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  2.2 days. That pace is just incredible.
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  >> It really is. And the workhorse behind
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  this feat was the Falcon 9 rocket, which
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  handled almost all of those missions. To
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  put it in perspective, this number
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  represents a huge increase over their
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  previous years and absolutely dominates
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  the global launch landscape.
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  >> Right. And I'm guessing a huge chunk of
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  those launches were for their own
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  project.
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  >> Exactly. The vast majority were
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  dedicated to building out the Starlink
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  internet constellation. But it wasn't
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  just about the Falcon 9. The company
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  also made significant strides with its
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  next generation Starship vehicle,
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  completing several successful test
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  flights that bring a fully reusable
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  heavy lift rocket closer to reality.
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  >> It's clear they're not just leading,
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  they're creating a whole new league. But
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  all those satellites do bring up the
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  ever growing issue of space junk. And it
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  seems like every week we have some new
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  idea on how to deal with it. Well,
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  here's a novel new one. Some scientists
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  are turning to science fiction for a
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  solution.
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  >> That's right. Researchers at the
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  University of Colorado Boulder are
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  developing what they're calling a
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  tractor beam to help clean up orbital
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  debris.
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  >> A tractor beam like in Star Trek.
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  >> That's the inspiration. But the physics
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  is very real. It's a non-cont system. It
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  would use a focused electrostatic beam
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  to attract and move pieces of space junk
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  without ever physically touching them.
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  >> And that's the key part, isn't it? The
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  non-cont aspect. Using nets or harpoons
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  to grab debris runs the risk of hitting
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  it wrong and accidentally creating even
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  smaller, harder to track pieces of junk.
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  Precisely, this electrostatic method
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  would gently pull the object, allowing a
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  cleanup satellite to guide it into a
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  decaying orbit where it can safely burn
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  up in the atmosphere. The concept is
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  currently being tested in labs. But it's
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  a very promising approach to a serious
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  problem.
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  >> It's great to see that kind of
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  innovative thinking. From cleaning up
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  our orbital neighborhood to looking for
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  signs of other civilizations out there,
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  our next story takes us far beyond
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  Earth's orbit to our recent interstellar
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  visitor.
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  >> Yes, astronomers conducted a highly
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  sensitive radio search on three Atlas as
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  it traveled through our neighborhood.
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  This was an interstellar object, meaning
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  it originated from outside our solar
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  system and was just passing through. The
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  team was looking for what are called
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  techno signatures.
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  >> Basically, signals that would indicate
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  the presence of alien technology, a
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  transmission, a beacon, anything that
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  isn't produced by natural cosmic
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  phenomena. So, what did they find?
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  >> Well, after sifting through the data,
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  and despite a few initial candidate
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  signals that caused some excitement, all
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  of them were eventually determined to be
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  false positives, human generated
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  interference from Earth. So, no alien
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  transmissions were found.
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  >> Ah, I have a shame.
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  >> It might seem so, but the project was
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  far from a failure. The search was
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  actually the most sensitive of its kind
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  ever conducted on an interstellar
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  object. It sets a new standard and a
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  powerful new benchmark for how to
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  conduct these searches in the future
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  when the next interstellar visitor comes
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  calling.
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  >> That makes sense. We learn and refine
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  the process with each attempt. And while
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  we're searching the far reaches of space
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  for others, there's a new kind of space
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  race heating up much, much closer to
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  home.
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  >> That's right, Avery. There's a growing
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  and increasingly urgent international
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  race to mine the moon. Various countries
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  and private companies are actively
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  developing the technology needed to
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  extract valuable lunar resources.
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  >> And we're not just talking about rocks.
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  The big prizes are resources like water
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  ice, which is critical for life support
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  and can be broken down into hydrogen and
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  oxygen for rocket fuel, and an isotope
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  called helium 3, which is rare on Earth,
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  but could be a fuel for future fusion
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  reactors.
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  >> Mhm. And the list of players is growing.
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  We have space agencies and companies
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  from the US, China, Australia, Japan,
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  and Europe all working on lunar
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  excavation and resource extraction
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  technologies. But there's a major
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  hurdle, and it's not a technical one.
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  >> Exactly. The International Legal
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  Framework for this is dangerously
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  outdated. The Outer Space Treaty of 1967
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  forbids any nation from claiming
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  sovereignty over a celestial body, but
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  it's completely silent on the issue of
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  commercial resource extraction.
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  >> So, it's a bit like the Wild West on the
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  final frontier. There are urgent calls
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  from legal experts and diplomats to
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  establish clear modern international
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  rules to prevent conflict and ensure
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  that lunar mining is done responsibly
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  and sustainably.
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  >> It's a conversation that needs to happen
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  quickly. Well, while nations plan their
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  lunar futures, the rest of us can look
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  up and enjoy some amazing celestial
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  events right from our own backyards.
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  Avery, what should we be looking for in
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  the night sky? There's plenty to see as
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  we head into the new year, particularly
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  for our northern hemisphere listeners.
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  For starters, on January 1st, the
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  brightest star in our night sky, Sirius,
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  will be at its highest point in the sky
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  around midnight, making it a brilliant
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  sight.
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  >> And what about the moon?
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  >> We'll have three full moons before the
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  spring equinox. And the third one on
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  March 3rd is special. It will feature a
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  total lunar eclipse, which will be at
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  least partially visible across most of
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  the United States. So, mark your
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  calendars for that. Ooh, I will. Any
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  planets putting on a show?
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  >> Absolutely. The giant of our solar
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  system, Jupiter, is at opposition. That
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  means Earth is passing directly between
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  Jupiter and the sun. So, the planet will
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  be visible all night long and at its
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  brightest for the year. And for the
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  early evening sky watchers, Venus is
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  making its return as the brilliant
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  evening star.
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  >> Wonderful. Plenty to look forward to.
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  It's amazing to look up and see these
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  events happening now. But our final
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  story today, Avery, is about solving a
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  cosmic mystery that's almost a thousand
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  years old.
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  >> That's right. Astronomers believe they
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  finally figured out the puzzle of a
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  supernova remnant known as PA30.
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  Historical records from Chinese and
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  Japanese astronomers in the year 1181
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  noted a new guest star in the sky that
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  was visible for 6 months. Scientists
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  have long suspected PA30 was the
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  leftover cloud from that event.
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  >> And now they know what caused it. It
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  turns out this was an extremely rare
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  type of stellar explosion. What they
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  call a failed type 1 AX supernova.
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  >> A failed supernova. So the star didn't
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  completely blow itself to bits.
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  >> Exactly. The explosion wasn't powerful
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  enough to completely obliterate the
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  star. Instead, a surviving white dwarf
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  star was left behind at the center of
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  the remnant. And this survivor is doing
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  something incredible.
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  >> Mhm. And that explains the remnant's
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  weird shape, right? Most supernova
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  remnants are chaotic, messy clouds of
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  gas and dust. Pay 30 is different. It
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  has these strange, almost straight
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  filaments. That's the key. The surviving
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  white dwarf at the center is emitting an
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  extremely fast stellar wind. Material
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  flowing outwards at thousands of
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  kilometers per second. It's this
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  incredibly fast, powerful wind that is
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  shaping the nebula creating those unique
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  straight line filaments. It's a
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  fantastic piece of cosmic detective
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  work.
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  >> And that's a wrap on another starstudded
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  collection of stories for today. From
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  record-breaking launches to
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  thousand-year-old stellar mysteries, the
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  universe never fails to fascinate.
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  >> It certainly doesn't. A huge thank you
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  to all of you for tuning in to Astronomy
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  Daily. We hope you'll join us again next
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  time for another journey through the
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  cosmos. And we hope you'll visit our
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  website at astronomydaily.io
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  for even more space news and our full
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  catalog of back episodes.
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  >> Until tomorrow, this has been Avery
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  >> and Anna reminding you to always keep
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  looking up. Astronomy [music] Day.
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  Stories we told.