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Mars Oceans Unveiled, Spinning Asteroids & Crew Evacuations | Space Nuts: Astronomy Insights &... · Space News Today

• 0:00
  Hi there. Thanks for joining us on
• 0:01
  another episode of Space Nuts. Great to
• 0:03
  have your company. My name is Andrew
• 0:05
  Dunley, your host, and hope you can
• 0:07
  stick around because we've got a
• 0:08
  jam-packed show. We're once again going
• 0:12
  to Mars because they've looked at some
• 0:15
  new evidence that uh does suggest Mars
• 0:18
  oceans may have been vast. That is
• 0:22
  really exciting news. We're also going
• 0:24
  to look at the fastest spinning asteroid
• 0:26
  yet discovered. This one's uh really in
• 0:28
  a in a spin. It's making everybody
• 0:31
  dizzy. And the evacuation of the
• 0:33
  International Space Station uh due to
• 0:36
  ill health. We'll see if we can uh get
• 0:38
  some news on that because that's
• 0:40
  actually happening as Fred and I are
• 0:42
  recording today. That's all coming up on
• 0:45
  this edition of Space Nuts.
• 0:47
  >> 15 seconds. Guidance is internal. 10 9
• 0:52
  Ignition sequence start.
• 0:54
  >> Space Nuts. 5 4 3 [music] 2
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  >> 1 2 3 4 5 5 4 3 2 1
• 1:00
  >> space nurse
• 1:01
  >> astronauts reported feels good
• 1:03
  >> and he's back again to furnish us with
• 1:05
  his knowledge. He is Professor Fred
• 1:07
  Watson, astronomer at large. Hello Fred.
• 1:10
  >> Hello Andrew. I was just doing a quick
• 1:12
  calculation there for a number that I
• 1:14
  want to use um later in the chat.
• 1:17
  >> Ah okay. Now, I I need to apologize in
• 1:20
  advance because they're working across
• 1:22
  the road and I think they're using uh
• 1:25
  dynamite because it's pretty [laughter]
• 1:27
  it's pretty noisy.
• 1:29
  >> Um but hopefully it won't mess me up too
• 1:32
  much. I can hear it, but I don't know if
• 1:34
  it's coming through the system. It's got
• 1:36
  all sorts of filters, but um you know,
• 1:38
  some things you can't stop. Um, now
• 1:41
  Fred, I I did want to actually mention a
• 1:42
  couple of things before we start on our
• 1:44
  topics because uh I I meant to do this
• 1:47
  last week for our first show back of the
• 1:49
  year just to highlight some of the
• 1:51
  things that are coming up in 2026 that
• 1:53
  we can look forward to and that you and
• 1:55
  I will probably talk about.
• 1:57
  >> The Arteimus 2 launch is slated. Uh
• 2:01
  whether or not it'll be delayed again
• 2:02
  remains to be seen, but um that will see
• 2:05
  a crew doing a lap around the moon. Uh,
• 2:08
  and that'll be the first time humans
• 2:10
  have been back uh in orbit around the
• 2:13
  moon since the 70s, which uh is exciting
• 2:16
  and probably too long, but u that'll be
• 2:18
  good. Um, this one I know will excite
• 2:21
  you. The Grace Roman Space Telescope is
• 2:23
  going to be launched. That one um is is
• 2:26
  going to u open so many doors for us, I
• 2:29
  suspect. Um the Plato mission uh which
• 2:33
  will be searching for rocky planets. Uh
• 2:35
  it'll be doing a lot more than that, but
• 2:37
  that's that's one of the things that
• 2:38
  it's being sent out to do. Uh China is
• 2:42
  to launch its own space telescope as
• 2:44
  well um in the hunt for dark matter and
• 2:48
  dark energy.
• 2:50
  And there's another mission that's going
• 2:52
  to be studying uh the moon and Mars.
• 2:54
  Well, several missions, not just one.
• 2:56
  More Chinese and Japanese missions
• 2:58
  involved there. And I think this is one
• 3:00
  you and I have talked about before. The
• 3:02
  smile mission, uh, which will be
• 3:04
  studying Earth's magnetic field and how
• 3:06
  the sun interacts with our atmosphere,
• 3:09
  uh, is due to be launched this year as
• 3:11
  well. I'm sure there's a lot more going
• 3:13
  on than that, but there's some of the
• 3:14
  highlights of 2026.
• 3:17
  So, uh, we'll have a lot to talk about.
• 3:19
  Fred,
• 3:20
  >> could I add a couple more as well?
• 3:21
  >> Oh, go for it. Um, we've just uh heard
• 3:24
  that the Pandora spacecraft has entered
• 3:26
  orbit uh which I think is a spacecraft
• 3:29
  uh again looking at um looking at
• 3:32
  exoplanets [clears throat] uh to try and
• 3:34
  sort of tell us a bit more about how
• 3:36
  their atmospheres might reveal stuff. Um
• 3:39
  China has just filed for 200,000
• 3:42
  satellites constellation with the
• 3:44
  International Telecommunications Union.
• 3:47
  >> Which is Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's not the
• 3:49
  biggest yet. The biggest was back in
• 3:51
  2020 when the Rwanda government filed
• 3:53
  for over 300,000. Um, uh, since then
• 3:57
  they've launched one cube set, I think.
• 3:59
  So, um, that looked like a a filing that
• 4:02
  was more getting your foot in the door.
• 4:05
  Uh, and just turning to nature, we've
• 4:07
  got some interesting events coming up.
• 4:09
  Uh, March the 3, total eclipse of the
• 4:11
  moon, visible certainly from our
• 4:13
  hemisphere in Australia, not sure about
• 4:16
  North America and Europe. Um there's uh
• 4:20
  uh towards the end of the year and this
• 4:21
  will happen twice uh which is great
• 4:24
  because you can see it on different
• 4:25
  sides of the earth. I think it's October
• 4:28
  sometime in October and sometime in
• 4:30
  November there will be an occultation of
• 4:32
  the planet Jupiter by the moon. That
• 4:34
  means the moon will pass in front of
• 4:36
  Jupiter. And certainly for us in
• 4:38
  November here in Australia it will be
• 4:40
  during the daytime. So get your
• 4:41
  binoculars out during the daytime and
• 4:43
  check out the moon and watch for Jupiter
• 4:45
  disappearing. Ooh, that'll be good. I
• 4:49
  Yeah, that'd be good one for a backyard
• 4:50
  telescope, wouldn't it?
• 4:52
  >> Absolutely. Perfect. Yes.
• 4:54
  >> Awesome. Um I I had my six-year-old
• 4:58
  granddaughter here uh the other day and
• 5:00
  uh the moon was was out in the east and
• 5:03
  um it was still daytime, but it was
• 5:05
  pretty prominent. So I grabbed the
• 5:07
  telescope and gave her a look and uh I
• 5:10
  tried to explain to her what craters
• 5:12
  were and she struggled with the concept
• 5:14
  but she eventually I think figured it
• 5:16
  out but uh yeah I took a couple of
• 5:18
  photos of her looking through the
• 5:19
  telescope. She was very excited
• 5:22
  >> when she sent to me. It was uh lovely to
• 5:24
  see. Yeah. Yeah. Lovely lovely shots. A
• 5:27
  youngster looking through a telescope
• 5:28
  with granddad in the background. It's
• 5:30
  great.
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  >> Yeah. Yeah. Uh, she's got blonde hair
• 5:33
  and blue eyes and her brothers and
• 5:35
  sisters are all brownhaired and
• 5:37
  browneyed. So,
• 5:38
  >> okay. [laughter]
• 5:39
  >> She she seems to have picked up Judy's
• 5:41
  side of the family jeans because Judy's
• 5:43
  blondie blonde with blue eyes. But, um,
• 5:46
  >> yeah, she's the only one in the in the
• 5:48
  family that's that's gone that that way.
• 5:51
  [laughter] It happens though, doesn't
• 5:52
  it? It's just the way it is. That's DNA.
• 5:55
  Uh, okay, Fred, let's uh let's get stuck
• 5:58
  into it because uh we're heading off to
• 6:01
  Mars and we're doing this because of a
• 6:05
  study that's just been published uh in
• 6:08
  fact in the last uh week or two about
• 6:11
  observations of Mars that suggest that
• 6:15
  its oceans were once vast. Now, we
• 6:18
  always knew there was probably surface
• 6:19
  water, but we didn't really know whether
• 6:22
  they were, you know, pockets or separate
• 6:25
  oceans or or what, but now they're
• 6:27
  thinking this the oceans might have been
• 6:31
  enormous.
• 6:32
  Uh yes, that's right. And I mean, you
• 6:35
  know, we we re we revisit this story
• 6:38
  probably on average once every month or
• 6:40
  two. Uh the last time we covered this
• 6:44
  and I wrote it wrote it up actually in
• 6:46
  Australian Geographic article um not
• 6:49
  that I did the research but this is
• 6:50
  other people's research and that was
• 6:52
  pointing in the same direction Andrew it
• 6:54
  was um a group that looked at the way um
• 6:58
  rivers ancient rivers on Mars meandered
• 7:01
  uh because you can learn something from
• 7:03
  the meandering about the size of the
• 7:06
  body of water that they're emptying into
• 7:09
  uh and they came to the same conclusion
• 7:11
  the the river meanders tell you that
• 7:13
  there was a large body of water at the
• 7:15
  end of it at the mouth of these rivers
• 7:17
  uh rather than just a few puddles or a
• 7:19
  few lakes and things of that sort. Uh
• 7:21
  and this new uh piece of work um whilst
• 7:24
  it's a different uh you know it's got a
• 7:27
  different emphasis comes up with exactly
• 7:29
  the same answer. Uh and it's scientists
• 7:32
  uh who have looked uh at the if I
• 7:36
  remember rightly there in uh in
• 7:38
  Switzerland. Yeah. University of Burn.
• 7:40
  Uh it's scientists who have looked at
• 7:42
  the region around uh Val's Marinaris.
• 7:47
  You know that great huge chasm in the uh
• 7:51
  in the surface of Mars near Mars's
• 7:53
  equator. Uh something that makes the
• 7:55
  Grand Canyon look like a bit of a
• 7:57
  scratch on the on the surface of the
• 7:59
  Earth.
• 7:59
  >> Yeah. Is it right that the Grand Canyon
• 8:01
  would fit into one of its tributaries or
• 8:03
  something?
• 8:04
  >> That's right. I think that's correct.
• 8:05
  Yeah. Amazing.
• 8:06
  >> Um, so they've been looking in that
• 8:08
  region and certainly on the northern
• 8:10
  side and the northern flanks there are
• 8:13
  valleys that um sort of open out onto
• 8:15
  the plains of Mars because that valley
• 8:19
  Marinaris is kind of right at the start
• 8:20
  of the highland areas of the southern
• 8:23
  hemisphere of Mars. Mars has got this
• 8:25
  dichotomy. The northern hemisphere is
• 8:26
  flat and low. southern hemisphere 3
• 8:29
  kilometers higher on average full of
• 8:30
  craters, mountains and all the rest of
• 8:32
  it. So um um what they've done is
• 8:35
  they've looked at uh regions where you
• 8:39
  know where there's this transition from
• 8:41
  the mountainous highlands of the south
• 8:44
  to the lowlands of the north and they've
• 8:47
  looked very carefully from at data from
• 8:50
  uh several orbiting spacecraft. Um I
• 8:53
  guess Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is one
• 8:55
  and some of the other ones um actually
• 8:57
  even um uh uh um ESOS uh Exom Mars Trace
• 9:03
  Gas Orbiter uh Mars Express another issa
• 9:06
  sorry not issa uh European space agency
• 9:09
  another um uh orbiting spacecraft
• 9:12
  they've taken the data from these looked
• 9:15
  at the the height the topography and
• 9:20
  looked at the geomorph let me get it gem
• 9:22
  ofological um um features that they can
• 9:27
  find. Um what have they spotted? They've
• 9:30
  spotted uh a whole succession of ancient
• 9:34
  river deltas. Um this is to say regions
• 9:37
  where a river mouth opened into what
• 9:40
  they are calling now an ocean uh and
• 9:44
  deposited its um its sediments. the
• 9:46
  sediments out of the river fall down to
• 9:48
  the floor uh of the ocean and build up
• 9:51
  uh the the the basically a rock form uh
• 9:54
  which is preserved today. It's a kind of
• 9:56
  fossilized river delta. There's
• 9:58
  something similar going on uh as you and
• 10:00
  I have spoken about many times at Jezro
• 10:02
  Crater which is why um Perseverance is
• 10:05
  there because there's a a river delta
• 10:07
  there. But I think these are on a much
• 10:08
  larger scale. And um the great thing is
• 10:12
  that when you look at them, they they
• 10:15
  sort of define a shoreline um because
• 10:19
  they're you know these are all occurring
• 10:21
  at the same topographical height in
• 10:24
  Mars's geography. And so they basically
• 10:27
  uh define a shoreline and that shoreline
• 10:30
  tells you that um there would have been
• 10:32
  a lot of water in Mars's northern
• 10:35
  hemisphere for the water level to reach
• 10:37
  the height that we find those deltas at.
• 10:40
  Uh so really yeah really nice piece of
• 10:43
  work uh done with characteristic Swiss
• 10:46
  precision I think uh that's been widely
• 10:48
  reported. Um there's several articles on
• 10:51
  the on the science news feeds um which
• 10:54
  basically support this idea. Very nice
• 10:57
  uh piece of research indeed.
• 10:59
  >> And they think it was as big as the
• 11:02
  Arctic Ocean on Earth just by
• 11:05
  comparison. And how big is the Arctic
• 11:06
  Ocean? It's 14 million square kilometers
• 11:09
  or 5 12 million square miles
• 11:13
  >> big
• 11:14
  >> uh in size. So that's that's a lot of
• 11:16
  water on Mars and it's a lot of it's
• 11:18
  still there, Fred.
• 11:19
  >> Yeah, that's right. With um we know from
• 11:21
  uh particular the Phoenix mission that
• 11:23
  just scraped the surface in the Martian
• 11:25
  Arctic and sure enough there was
• 11:26
  perafrost underneath. Uh so a lot of
• 11:29
  it's still there. There's still water
• 11:30
  locked up in the in the two ice caps of
• 11:32
  Mars. Um but probably not. Well, I don't
• 11:35
  know. It's actually really interesting.
• 11:37
  I do remember reading quite some time
• 11:38
  ago that if you thawed out this even
• 11:40
  just the Antarctic ice cap of Mars,
• 11:42
  you'd cover the whole planet to a depth
• 11:44
  of several meters. Um now whether that
• 11:48
  still holds good with what we've
• 11:50
  discovered since then. That was quite an
• 11:51
  old I think that was probably 20 years
• 11:53
  15 years ago or so that that comment was
• 11:55
  made. It would be interesting to know
• 11:57
  how we evaluate that now. But I think
• 11:59
  it's still true uh that a lot of that
• 12:01
  water is is still there. Yeah, it is a
• 12:05
  fascinating story.
• 12:07
  >> Water means life.
• 12:08
  >> Yes. Well, we Yes. Yes. We've said that
• 12:11
  many times. And you just don't know, do
• 12:13
  you?
• 12:14
  >> You don't.
• 12:15
  >> Although the uh the mission to retrieve
• 12:17
  those um cylinders that contain
• 12:21
  potential evidence of that
• 12:23
  >> has been scotched. So, it's just going
• 12:25
  to sit in obeyance for um an indefinite
• 12:29
  period. Sorry.
• 12:30
  >> Yeah. I I think um so so this is news
• 12:34
  that um the Senate have um basically
• 12:37
  agreed with the White House in saying
• 12:39
  that um the Miles sample return mission
• 12:42
  uh should be cancelled. Uh and so that
• 12:44
  will probably go through. It's not been
• 12:46
  voted on yet, I don't think. But um and
• 12:49
  so that means yes, we've got these
• 12:51
  canisters on Mars uh carefully dropped
• 12:53
  by Perseverance. Uh but with with a
• 12:57
  joint European Space Agency NASA mission
• 13:00
  to retrieve them uh which whose cost has
• 13:03
  blown out uh we've talked about this
• 13:05
  before. Uh and not perhaps surprising
• 13:08
  that it's now had a line drawn under it.
• 13:10
  Now that's
• 13:12
  bad news because we really would like to
• 13:14
  get hold of these samples. there's one
• 13:16
  in particular that may contain actually
• 13:18
  fossilized microbes. Uh you know um so
• 13:21
  it's um there's every keenness to do
• 13:24
  that. Uh um and I think I think it will
• 13:28
  will there'll certainly be a revisiting
• 13:30
  of this idea. I think is still going
• 13:33
  ahead with their half of the bargain
• 13:34
  which was I think to build the orbiter
• 13:36
  which would actually bring the samples
• 13:38
  back to Mars. NASA's part was gathering
• 13:40
  them up on the surface and sending them
• 13:42
  up to orbit around Mars. Uh, so I, you
• 13:45
  know, it's it's it's it's bad news.
• 13:48
  There's a bright side to it, though, in
• 13:50
  that the money that's being saved will
• 13:51
  probably go to some of the other
• 13:52
  missions that are that are being
• 13:54
  planned. So, name your favorite planet.
• 13:57
  You might get some good news out of
• 13:58
  this. I know your favorite, and probably
• 14:00
  mine, too, is Mars. Uh, but um anyway,
• 14:03
  we'll see what happens. I I I wouldn't
• 14:06
  write uh the Mars sample return off
• 14:08
  altogether. in my flights of fantasy
• 14:11
  last night while [sighs and gasps] my uh
• 14:13
  respiratory tract infection was making
• 14:16
  me cough all night. I was thinking maybe
• 14:19
  the Chinese could bring them back
• 14:21
  >> because I think they're planning a
• 14:22
  sample return mission as well. So maybe
• 14:25
  we do a deal there which would be
• 14:27
  fabulous international cooperation.
• 14:29
  >> It would. It would indeed. Of course we
• 14:31
  could all always start the conspiracy
• 14:32
  and say what does NASA and the US
• 14:34
  government know that they're not telling
• 14:36
  us?
• 14:37
  [sighs and gasps] It's not no return.
• 14:40
  >> Be careful what you what you say,
• 14:41
  Andrew. [laughter]
• 14:42
  >> No, look, I'm just kidding around. But,
• 14:44
  uh,
• 14:46
  >> it's just money, isn't it? That's that's
• 14:48
  the thing.
• 14:48
  >> It's all about money. That's right. It's
• 14:50
  not about finding something with legs
• 14:51
  that you don't want anybody to know
• 14:53
  about. [laughter]
• 14:55
  >> Yes. That's been done in a lot of
• 14:57
  science fiction films.
• 14:58
  >> Yeah, it has. And Yes.
• 15:00
  >> All right. Great story about the oceans
• 15:02
  of Mars, though. If you'd like to check
• 15:04
  it out, it's on the fizz phys.org. org
• 15:07
  website or you can read the paper that's
• 15:10
  been published in the journal NPJ Space
• 15:12
  Exploration. This is Space Nuts with
• 15:15
  Andrew Dunley and Professor Fred Watson.
• 15:20
  >> Roger. Here also
• 15:22
  >> Space Nuts to our next story, Fred. And
• 15:27
  this is uh a really good one for a
• 15:29
  couple of reasons. It's something we
• 15:31
  haven't seen before, but it also
• 15:32
  involves the uh Reuben Observatory,
• 15:36
  which u has already uh done things that
• 15:40
  uh other observatories have not been
• 15:43
  able to do and promises to do so much
• 15:45
  more. This is the fastest spinning
• 15:47
  asteroid yet discovered. And a couple of
• 15:50
  headlines I've read suggested, why
• 15:52
  hasn't it thrown itself to pieces?
• 15:54
  because of the speed at which it's
• 15:56
  rotating.
• 15:58
  >> Um and and and the rate is is rather
• 16:01
  high when you look at what the average
• 16:03
  asteroid does.
• 16:05
  >> Yeah, it's so that the the it is a
• 16:06
  record breaker. It's the the fastest
• 16:09
  spinning asteroid for its size
• 16:13
  because I think smaller things can spin
• 16:15
  faster than this. It's uh 710 m long,
• 16:18
  nearly 3/4 of a kilometer. Uh so it's
• 16:23
  not a small asteroid at all. This is
• 16:25
  quite a large one. Uh and it spins at
• 16:29
  the rate of one rotation every 1 minute
• 16:32
  53 seconds.
• 16:34
  >> Uh so that is one heck of a spin. So
• 16:38
  that's its day length. Andrew, if you
• 16:40
  were standing on it, your day will be 1
• 16:42
  minute 53 seconds.
• 16:44
  >> Night and day, not 24 hours. Um but uh
• 16:48
  you're right. You're absolutely right. I
• 16:49
  think it's interesting for two reasons.
• 16:51
  One is exactly as you've said. It uh
• 16:54
  underlines just how powerful the Reubin
• 16:56
  Observatory is going to be. Uh these the
• 16:59
  observations of this object were made
• 17:02
  during the sort of commissioning period
• 17:04
  for the telescope's instruments which
• 17:06
  was earlier uh last year, April and May
• 17:09
  2025.
• 17:10
  uh and um that you know that um as you
• 17:14
  probably remember I think they released
• 17:16
  uh uh information saying they got they
• 17:18
  discovered more than a thousand
• 17:19
  asteroids in 10 hours of observing which
• 17:22
  is pretty fantastic. Uh the telescope's
• 17:25
  capabilities will allow it to survey the
• 17:27
  entire southern sky every three nights
• 17:31
  uh with an 8 mclass telescope. That is
• 17:33
  an astonishing achievement and that that
• 17:36
  we we must find something incredible.
• 17:40
  >> Yeah, we will. Yeah, that kind of things
• 17:43
  that come out of the woodwork. Uh it's
• 17:45
  what we call um uh sort of timesensitive
• 17:49
  astronomy or transient astronomy. You're
• 17:51
  looking for things that either move or
• 17:52
  change in the sky and it's going to be
• 17:55
  so good at finding them. And um yeah, so
• 17:58
  the the real the real observing uh
• 18:00
  campaign, the large synoptic survey uh
• 18:03
  will start uh sometime this year uh sort
• 18:07
  of when they're ready to hit the the go
• 18:09
  button. Uh but I think everybody at the
• 18:11
  Reubin is pretty happy with the way
• 18:12
  things are going. Um and just to uh sort
• 18:15
  of highlight that you know to to it's a
• 18:19
  a telescope with this kind of capability
• 18:21
  to make many observations over a short
• 18:23
  period of time of the same area of sky
• 18:26
  that has allowed uh the scientists to
• 18:29
  discover the very rapid rotation of this
• 18:33
  asteroid because what you have to
• 18:35
  produce uh to look at the way an
• 18:37
  asteroid rotates is what's called a
• 18:38
  light curve. you look at the way its
• 18:40
  brightness changes uh because it's most
• 18:43
  asteroids are quite asymmetric. They're
• 18:45
  either shaped like a potato or a
• 18:46
  dumbbell. Uh very few are anything
• 18:49
  remotely spherical. Um uh this
• 18:51
  particular one is I think quite
• 18:53
  elongated and so as it as it rotates uh
• 18:57
  it you know different sides of it catch
• 18:59
  the sunlight and you get a variation in
• 19:01
  the light that we see from it. Uh and so
• 19:03
  that uh has allowed because it's you
• 19:06
  know it's only one minute 53 seconds for
• 19:08
  one complete revolution that has allowed
• 19:11
  the scientists to to determine that
• 19:14
  fact. Um so to the asteroid itself
• 19:16
  you're right it's interesting it
• 19:18
  rejoices in the name of 2025 MN45 a
• 19:22
  classic asteroid name. Um and it's in
• 19:25
  the main asteroid belt. That's a good
• 19:28
  place for it to be between Jupiter and
• 19:31
  Mars where most of the asteroids are. Uh
• 19:34
  but it's uh its rotation is what
• 19:37
  highlights the um you know the unusual
• 19:40
  nature of it because as you and I have
• 19:42
  spoken about before many asteroids are
• 19:45
  basically what we call rubble piles.
• 19:46
  They're just piles of debris which stick
• 19:49
  together loosely under their own under
• 19:51
  their own uh gravity. um little little
• 19:55
  uh Demorphos uh and Diddimos, the two uh
• 19:58
  objects that NASA did the the dart test
• 20:01
  on a few years ago. They are probably
• 20:03
  rubber piles. They've got the
• 20:04
  characteristic rubber pile shape, which
• 20:06
  is like two cones uh on back to back. Uh
• 20:10
  this if it was a rubber pile, it would
• 20:12
  have flown apart gazillions of years ago
• 20:16
  uh when it with that short period of
• 20:18
  rotation, 1 minute 53 seconds. So, um,
• 20:22
  uh, and when you look at the size of it
• 20:25
  and, uh, interpret what the rotation
• 20:27
  means, it tells you it's probably made
• 20:29
  of absolutely solid rock. This is
• 20:31
  something that is, um, going to be hard
• 20:33
  to pull apart, uh, to rotate for for it
• 20:36
  to be that big, rotate at that speed.
• 20:39
  It's got to be solid rock. Um, making
• 20:42
  it, you know, in some ways even more
• 20:44
  interesting because we think the rubble
• 20:45
  piles are perhaps the more common uh,
• 20:47
  asteroids that we see. Do we do we have
• 20:50
  any idea what would make it different?
• 20:52
  Why it would be different? Is it a piece
• 20:53
  of a a destroyed planet? Thea.
• 20:56
  [laughter]
• 20:57
  >> Well, yeah, could be. Uh might be part
• 20:59
  of the one that created the moon uh
• 21:03
  after after it collided with the Earth.
• 21:05
  It's more likely. You're you're right.
• 21:08
  It's probably um you know, maybe part of
• 21:10
  the the outer mantle of what would have
• 21:14
  been a protolanet uh in the early solar
• 21:17
  system. These things were the building
• 21:19
  blocks of planets. They collided and
• 21:20
  sometimes they blasted each other apart.
• 21:22
  Sometimes they uh they stuck together to
• 21:25
  form what we see in the solar system
• 21:28
  today. Um and uh I think some of the
• 21:31
  collisions that would have happened in
• 21:32
  the early solar system uh may well have
• 21:36
  set an object like this spinning very
• 21:38
  rapidly. In fact, it might have, you
• 21:39
  know, initially been spinning even more
• 21:41
  rapidly than it is now because we're
• 21:43
  looking at probably several billion
• 21:45
  years ago when when whatever happened to
• 21:48
  it happened. So, uh an object of some
• 21:51
  interest and um one that I I'm sure will
• 21:55
  be studied uh in greater detail. We we
• 21:57
  might want to know things like um you
• 21:59
  know the infrared signature of its
• 22:01
  surface which gives you an idea of what
• 22:03
  the surface is like, how rough it is,
• 22:05
  whether it's a
• 22:07
  whether it's a smooth surface, what
• 22:09
  materials are likely to be uh found on
• 22:11
  its surface. That can all come from
• 22:13
  spectroscopy and also the science of
• 22:15
  polarime
• 22:17
  to to know whether something's highly
• 22:18
  reflective or or rather rough and
• 22:20
  diffuse. So yeah, um I think there's
• 22:23
  lots to learn about uh 2025 MN45.
• 22:27
  >> Indeed. Uh so it's in the asteroid belt
• 22:30
  between Mars and Jupiter. Um people
• 22:34
  probably imagine that to be just a a
• 22:37
  wall of rocks that how do we get through
• 22:39
  it? But it it's it's quite sparse, isn't
• 22:41
  it?
• 22:42
  >> It is. Yeah. Yeah. It's uh it's it's you
• 22:44
  know, it's sparse enough that um several
• 22:46
  spacecraft have actually gone through it
• 22:48
  unscathed.
• 22:50
  Um, so yes, it's
• 22:52
  >> Well, I have never heard of a spacecraft
• 22:54
  actually running into anything out
• 22:55
  there.
• 22:56
  >> Not that there have been that many that
• 22:58
  have gone through, but that's
• 22:59
  >> that's right. But it but you know, as um
• 23:02
  uh was it Douglas Adams? Space is big.
• 23:05
  Yes.
• 23:06
  >> Yes.
• 23:06
  >> You might think it's a long way down to
• 23:08
  the chemist at the corner of the street,
• 23:10
  but that's nothing compared with space.
• 23:12
  I think that was what he said.
• 23:16
  >> Yes, indeed. Uh so if you would like to
• 23:18
  learn more about what the Vera C rubin
• 23:21
  Observatory has discovered, you can do
• 23:23
  that at the universitytoday.com
• 23:26
  website or you can read the paper in the
• 23:28
  astrophysical journal letters which was
• 23:31
  uh only published on January the 7th. So
• 23:33
  they're getting down to business early
• 23:35
  this year, aren't they? This is space
• 23:37
  with
• 23:38
  >> sorry
• 23:38
  >> I was just going to say um we always get
• 23:40
  a really um good crop of news stories at
• 23:44
  this time of year because it's right at
• 23:45
  the beginning of January that the
• 23:47
  American Astronomical Society has its
• 23:50
  has its annual meeting
• 23:52
  and um so there's always some great
• 23:55
  stories. So, you know, that's why it was
• 23:58
  uh you know it was published last week.
• 23:59
  I'm sure that's
• 24:00
  >> it's actually it's actually very clever
• 24:01
  because as someone who worked in the
• 24:03
  media for 40 years and um had to work a
• 24:08
  lot of Christmases and New Year's, you
• 24:11
  quite often find you're struggling.
• 24:13
  >> Yeah.
• 24:13
  >> For stories because everything's shut
• 24:15
  down. So, you're not getting the
• 24:17
  information that you normally get. So to
• 24:20
  actually be in a position to do stories
• 24:22
  like this at this time of year is um
• 24:25
  yeah and it it's it's well positioned as
• 24:29
  we would say. Uh you can read all about
• 24:31
  it of course and uh we uh will certainly
• 24:35
  be keeping a very close eye on what the
• 24:37
  Ver Rubin Observatory is going to be
• 24:39
  doing um from now on because it's uh
• 24:43
  it's it's it's all up and running and uh
• 24:46
  already doing some remarkable things.
• 24:49
  This is Space Nuts with Andrew Dunley
• 24:50
  and Fred Watson
• 24:54
  and I feel
• 24:56
  >> space nuts. Now Fred, uh by the time
• 24:58
  people hear us talking about this story,
• 25:00
  things will have uh changed a bit, but
• 25:03
  as we speak, uh we understand that the
• 25:07
  Crew Dragon spacecraft is docking at the
• 25:11
  International Space Station to do the
• 25:13
  first ever crew evacuation. Now, after
• 25:16
  25 years, I'm surprised this is the
• 25:19
  first time this has happened, but uh
• 25:21
  there's been a medical issue. They won't
• 25:23
  elaborate on who or what. Uh but it's
• 25:25
  got to be serious if somebody's um if
• 25:28
  they're bringing the whole crew back.
• 25:29
  It's a crew of four. There's seven on
• 25:32
  board at the moment, but they're
• 25:33
  bringing four back. Correct. That's
• 25:35
  right. So, uh there is a crew of three
• 25:38
  uh now. So, as we speak, I think um I
• 25:40
  think they've probably undocked the Crew
• 25:43
  Dragon spacecraft from the International
• 25:45
  Space Station. I think that happened an
• 25:46
  hour ago. uh and um they will then
• 25:50
  re-enter and bring the crew back in a
• 25:53
  pretty routine fashion uh landing in a
• 25:56
  few hours from now. Um so you're right,
• 25:59
  it's uh crew 11 uh the SpaceX uh um
• 26:04
  what's what's called the SpaceX crew 11
• 26:06
  because they're the ones that go up and
• 26:07
  down in the crew dragon uh rather than
• 26:09
  the Soyots which is the space vehicle
• 26:11
  that will bring the other the remaining
• 26:13
  three astronauts down when the their
• 26:15
  time comes to an end. Uh you're right.
• 26:18
  It's a medical evacuation. That crew,
• 26:20
  Crew 11, consists of um if I remember
• 26:22
  rightly, two NASA uh astronauts, one uh
• 26:27
  Russian cosmonaut and uh a Japanese uh
• 26:31
  astronaut as well. Uh so they're coming
• 26:33
  home. Uh they're coming home something
• 26:36
  like a month early and we are told as
• 26:39
  exactly as you've said that this is
• 26:40
  because of a medical issue which
• 26:42
  apparently is not uh an emergency. It's
• 26:45
  not urgent, but it's thought to be
• 26:47
  something that is going to be much
• 26:48
  better dealt with on Earth. Uh we don't
• 26:51
  know which of the astronauts has the
• 26:53
  issue. Um I saw a picture of them posed
• 26:56
  just before they evacuated the
• 26:58
  spacecraft uh um last night and they all
• 27:02
  looked fairly cheerful. Uh but um so you
• 27:05
  know you can't really read um
• 27:09
  read read from people's faces how
• 27:10
  they're feeling. um which is just as
• 27:13
  well cuz I feel pretty croo at the
• 27:14
  moment.
• 27:16
  So that's because of my uh upper resp
• 27:19
  respiratory tract infection. Sorry to
• 27:21
  keep hopping on about it. Anyway, going
• 27:23
  back to the more important story,
• 27:26
  >> it's a good thing you're not in the
• 27:27
  International Space Station feeling like
• 27:29
  that.
• 27:29
  >> Well, that's right. Else you you'd have
• 27:30
  the same thing, too. Uh so yeah so um uh
• 27:34
  interesting but your comments well made
• 27:36
  you know the fact that it's the first
• 27:38
  time in the 25 year history of the ISS
• 27:43
  of the ISS being permanently occupied um
• 27:47
  the first time this has happened and I
• 27:50
  think it was Jared Isaacman the the
• 27:52
  newly appointed NASA administrator the
• 27:54
  boss of of NASA who made the comment it
• 27:58
  might be somebody else but it's one of
• 28:00
  the one of the you high-ups in NASA made
• 28:03
  the comment that they when they planned
• 28:05
  the ISS and they were working towards
• 28:07
  it, they expected that there would be
• 28:09
  something like this happening every 3
• 28:11
  years. Uh so they've done pretty well to
• 28:14
  get through 25 years without um needing
• 28:16
  to bring people home because of a
• 28:17
  medical issue.
• 28:19
  >> Yeah. Look, while you've been talking,
• 28:21
  Fred, I've just been looking online to
• 28:24
  see where things are up to, and I found
• 28:25
  a um they did a live stream of the Crew
• 28:29
  Dragon docking at the International
• 28:31
  Space Station through uh I think it's
• 28:34
  NASA's YouTube channel.
• 28:36
  >> Mhm.
• 28:36
  >> And you can you can actually log on and
• 28:39
  and watch what happened and uh and see
• 28:42
  the whole process. It's quite incredible
• 28:44
  what we can do now, isn't it, with um
• 28:46
  live coverage from space as as things
• 28:48
  unfold. It's it's a far cry from those
• 28:52
  times back in the 60s and 70s when we
• 28:54
  were looking at those really fuzzy black
• 28:55
  and white pictures off the moon
• 28:59
  >> which was miraculous in its day.
• 29:01
  >> Oh, it was in itself. Yes. Yes.
• 29:03
  >> Yeah.
• 29:04
  >> I actually I am watching Crew Dragon
• 29:06
  detach as we speak. So that happened
• 29:08
  probably
• 29:09
  >> 30 minutes ago, give or take our time.
• 29:13
  >> Yeah. Um it's it's like a slow motion
• 29:15
  ballet, isn't it? Can they
• 29:17
  >> uh things in spacecraft up there?
• 29:21
  >> Well, you don't want to bang into
• 29:22
  anything.
• 29:23
  >> Yeah. Anyway, I hope all is well with
• 29:25
  the uh individual involved. I'm I'm not
• 29:28
  sure we'll ever find out what exactly
• 29:31
  the issue is, that's that's subject to
• 29:33
  privacy from what I understand. But the
• 29:35
  fact that they've been able to go up
• 29:39
  there, get them bring them back and deal
• 29:40
  with the problem is is extraordinary
• 29:43
  because, you know, go back to the 70s
• 29:46
  when Skylab was was in orbit. If someone
• 29:48
  got sick or or injured in that
• 29:51
  situation, I don't know if we would have
• 29:54
  been able to do much in a hurry.
• 29:58
  Um, yeah, maybe not. I mean, there would
• 30:00
  have been contingency plans in in place.
• 30:03
  Uh it's um I I think some of the things
• 30:08
  that might have brought somebody home
• 30:09
  from Skyab might be things that could
• 30:11
  have been fixed on the International
• 30:13
  Space Station because there is quite a
• 30:15
  you know a fair a fair amount of medical
• 30:17
  expertise up there and some of the kit
• 30:19
  but you don't want people taking
• 30:21
  appendices out and things like that in
• 30:23
  space.
• 30:23
  >> No, not really.
• 30:25
  >> Have to wipe down the walls afterwards
• 30:26
  and that's not fun.
• 30:28
  >> [laughter]
• 30:28
  >> Although I I should um counter it by
• 30:31
  saying we did recently have a situation
• 30:33
  where a a crew got stuck on the
• 30:35
  International Space Station for very
• 30:37
  unusual reasons due to uh incompatible
• 30:40
  space suits because of a failure in the
• 30:42
  Boeing Star Liner.
• 30:44
  >> So you know [laughter]
• 30:46
  >> that wasn't a quick rescue that one but
• 30:48
  it didn't involve illness or injury. So,
• 30:50
  it wasn't as urgent, but uh sometimes it
• 30:53
  it it can be a slow process. But, um uh
• 30:56
  yeah, but NASA's been very quick to
• 30:58
  point out that this has got nothing to
• 31:00
  do with an operational issue. It's um
• 31:03
  it's a personal issue, nothing to do
• 31:04
  with an injury or accident on board.
• 31:07
  They want to make that pretty clear.
• 31:09
  >> Um so, uh yeah, we wish them well.
• 31:11
  They're on their way back as we speak,
• 31:13
  and by the time you hear this podcast,
• 31:15
  they will have returned, no doubt.
• 31:18
  Um, that's it, Fred. Well, gosh, we got
• 31:21
  through that in a mighty hurry, didn't
• 31:22
  we?
• 31:23
  >> Um,
• 31:25
  yes, I think we we gave it due due
• 31:29
  recognition. [laughter] We've been
• 31:31
  talking for well over an hour, Andrew.
• 31:35
  >> Oh, have we? [laughter]
• 31:38
  >> Doesn't feel like it. Um, but no. Um,
• 31:42
  Pardon? 38 minutes. I'm sorry. I'm I'm
• 31:44
  misreading my my clock. You're right.
• 31:46
  >> That's okay. Well, we got through that,
• 31:48
  you know,
• 31:48
  >> you're probably you're probably reading
• 31:50
  a Mars clock because we talked about
• 31:51
  that recently. That's it's going a bit
• 31:53
  faster.
• 31:56
  >> Um, now if you were to follow up those
• 31:58
  stories, I've I've told you where to go
• 32:00
  and look for them, but uh you can also
• 32:02
  read the show notes on our website,
• 32:04
  spacenutspodcast.com or spacenuts.io.
• 32:08
  And while you're there, uh you might
• 32:10
  like to um check out all the uh all the
• 32:13
  tabs and uh links on our on our website,
• 32:17
  uh the astronomy daily feed. You can
• 32:18
  subscribe for your daily dose of
• 32:20
  astronomy and space science news. Uh
• 32:23
  don't forget reviews. We really do
• 32:25
  appreciate your reviews. The more
• 32:26
  reviews, the more we get noticed. The
• 32:29
  more we get noticed, the more people
• 32:31
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• 32:33
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• 32:35
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• 32:39
  comments in through the AMA link and so
• 32:42
  on and so forth. And don't forget to
• 32:43
  visit the Space Nuts shop. Uh, that's
• 32:45
  one thing that Hugh um did some years
• 32:48
  ago and it's been very popular. All the
• 32:51
  Space Nuts memorabilia if you if you
• 32:53
  want to get hold of it. I've got I've
• 32:54
  got my Space Nuts cup here somewhere.
• 32:56
  Here it is. Look. Look at this.
• 32:59
  >> There it is.
• 32:59
  >> I never I never got one of those.
• 33:02
  [laughter]
• 33:02
  >> Um I I had to buy it.
• 33:06
  That'll be good. That's [laughter] good.
• 33:08
  I'm too stingy.
• 33:09
  >> But we got shirts, we've got hoodies,
• 33:11
  we've got uh all sorts of bits and bobs
• 33:14
  at the Space Nuts shop uh at our
• 33:16
  website. Uh thank you, Fred. We'll leave
• 33:18
  it there. We'll catch you on the next
• 33:20
  episode.
• 33:21
  >> Look forward to it, Andrew. See you
• 33:22
  soon.
• 33:23
  >> Professor Fred Watson, astronomer at
• 33:25
  large. And thanks to Hugh in the studio
• 33:27
  who couldn't be with us today. He had to
• 33:29
  be evacuated after attempting a Michael
• 33:32
  Jackson moonwalk. Not good at his age.
• 33:35
  No. And from me, Andrew Dunley, thanks
• 33:37
  for your company. We'll catch you on the
• 33:38
  next episode of Space Nuts. Bye-bye.
• 33:42
  >> Space Nuts.
• 33:43
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• 33:45
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• 33:47
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