Latest / Space News Today / The Sun’s Great Galactic Road Trip, China’s Moon Museum & a Pi Day Planet

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The Sun’s Great Galactic Road Trip, China’s Moon Museum & a Pi Day Planet · Space News Today

• 0:00
  Happy Pi Day, space fans. 3.14159
• 0:05
  and counting. Yes, it's March 14th. And
• 0:08
  if that sounds like an excuse to talk
• 0:10
  about an exoplanet with a 3.14 day year,
• 0:14
  that's because it absolutely is.
• 0:16
  >> But before we get to our cosmic pie
• 0:19
  celebration, we have a packed episode. A
• 0:22
  story about where our own son came from.
• 0:24
  A big announcement about where China's
• 0:26
  astronauts might first set foot on the
• 0:28
  moon, and Russia's bold plan to pick up
• 0:30
  where the Soviet Union left off at
• 0:32
  Venus. Plus, a nuclearpowered flying
• 0:36
  drone for Saturn's moon Titan is now
• 0:38
  actually being built. And China's race
• 0:41
  to beat everyone to a Martian soil
• 0:43
  sample is well and truly underway.
• 0:46
  >> I'm Avery.
• 0:47
  >> And I'm Anna. This is Astronomy Daily,
• 0:50
  season 5, episode 63. Let's get into it.
• 0:54
  >> Here's a question that sounds simple,
• 0:56
  but turns out to be surprisingly deep.
• 0:59
  How did our own sun end up where it is
• 1:01
  in the Milky Way,
• 1:02
  >> right? I mean, you might assume it just
• 1:05
  formed where it is. But the evidence has
• 1:07
  been pointing somewhere else for a
• 1:09
  while. And a new study published this
• 1:11
  week in astronomy and astrophysics might
• 1:14
  finally have the answer. and it involves
• 1:16
  thousands of stars traveling together.
• 1:19
  >> Researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan
• 1:21
  University and the National Astronomical
• 1:23
  Observatory of Japan built the largest
• 1:26
  ever catalog of what are called solar
• 1:28
  twins. Stars so similar to our sun in
• 1:31
  temperature, mass, chemical composition,
• 1:34
  and surface gravity that they're
• 1:35
  essentially its cousins. They compiled
• 1:38
  6,594
• 1:41
  solar twins, which is a staggering
• 1:43
  number when you think about how special
• 1:45
  we tend to think our sun is. And they
• 1:48
  used ISA's Gaia satellite data to
• 1:50
  determine two things about each star.
• 1:52
  How old it is and where it has been
• 1:54
  moving. What they found was a striking
• 1:57
  pattern. A large number of these solar
• 1:59
  twins are between 4 and 6 billion years
• 2:01
  old, which is the same age bracket as
• 2:03
  our own son. That clustering is not
• 2:06
  random. It suggests that the sun and
• 2:09
  many of these stars formed in the same
• 2:11
  general region of the galaxy, probably
• 2:13
  closer to the Milky Way's inner regions
• 2:16
  and then gradually drifted outward
• 2:18
  together over billions of years. But
• 2:21
  here's the puzzle that the researchers
• 2:22
  had to solve. The Milky Way has what's
• 2:25
  called a galactic bar, a rotating
• 2:28
  bar-shaped structure of stars and gas
• 2:30
  near the center. That bar creates
• 2:32
  something astronomers call a co-rotation
• 2:35
  barrier, which basically traps stars in
• 2:37
  certain orbital zones and makes it very
• 2:40
  hard for them to move outward.
• 2:42
  >> So, how did the sun escape?
• 2:44
  >> The theory is that when the sun and its
• 2:46
  companions formed, the galactic bar was
• 2:48
  still in the process of forming. It
• 2:50
  wasn't fully developed yet, and the
• 2:52
  weaker barrier may have allowed whole
• 2:54
  groups of stars to break out together,
• 2:56
  carried along by the dynamics of the
• 2:58
  early galaxy. And the implications of
• 3:00
  this go beyond just knowing our sun's
• 3:02
  origin story. If the sun formed much
• 3:05
  closer to the center, researchers
• 3:07
  estimate about 10,000 lighty years
• 3:10
  closer than it is today, then this
• 3:12
  migration may actually be part of the
• 3:14
  reason Earth became habitable. The
• 3:17
  galactic center is a harsher place.
• 3:20
  Higher star density, more frequent
• 3:22
  supernova explosions, more high energy
• 3:25
  radiation. Moving outward placed us in a
• 3:28
  calmer neighborhood, one where complex
• 3:30
  chemistry and life could hold and
• 3:32
  persist over billions of years.
• 3:35
  >> So, our sun didn't travel alone. It was
• 3:38
  part of a wave, a kind of ancient
• 3:40
  stellar migration. And that journey may
• 3:42
  be one of the reasons we are here to
• 3:44
  talk about it.
• 3:46
  >> There is a lot to be grateful for in
• 3:47
  that story. If you've been following the
• 3:50
  global moon race, you'll know that China
• 3:52
  has an ambitious target to land
• 3:54
  astronauts on the lunar surface by 2030.
• 3:57
  And this week, we got the clearest
• 3:59
  picture yet of where that landing might
• 4:01
  happen. A new study published in Nature
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  Astronomy has highlighted a region
• 4:06
  called Remi Bode, a volcanic area near
• 4:09
  the lunar equator on the moon's near
• 4:10
  side as the leading candidate for
• 4:12
  China's first crude lunar mission. And
• 4:15
  the description that researcher Jun Hong
• 4:18
  from the China University of
• 4:20
  Geossciences used for it is just
• 4:22
  perfect. He called it a geological
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  museum
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  >> because within a relatively compact
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  area, Reay Bode contains five distinct
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  terrain types. ancient pyrolastic
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  deposits from volcanic eruptions, smooth
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  mare basults, two different rail systems
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  which are essentially long channels or
• 4:42
  cracks in the surface and nearby
• 4:44
  highland material. Five completely
• 4:47
  different chapters of lunar history, all
• 4:49
  accessible from one landing zone. That's
• 4:52
  the key point for mission planners. A
• 4:54
  scientifically rich site is only useful
• 4:57
  if it's also safe and practical. And
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  what makes Remay Bode attractive is that
• 5:02
  astronauts could potentially traverse
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  across several very different geological
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  environments without having to travel
• 5:09
  enormous and risky distances.
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  >> The researchers dated some of the
• 5:13
  earliest volcanic activity in the region
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  to roughly 3.2 to 3.7 billion years ago.
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  That's deep lunar history. And those
• 5:23
  ancient pyrolastic materials could
• 5:25
  include ash and glass beads thrown up
• 5:28
  from the moon's interior, which would be
• 5:30
  completely different from the rocks
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  returned by the Apollo missions or
• 5:33
  China's own robotic Chang missions. This
• 5:36
  site didn't come out of nowhere. Chinese
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  researchers had originally screened 106
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  potential landing areas and narrowed
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  them to 14 candidates based on practical
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  requirements. nearside location for
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  communication with Earth, access to
• 5:52
  solar power, and terrain safe enough for
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  landing and surface operations. From
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  that short list, the new paper proposes
• 6:00
  four specific landing spots within ReMay
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  Boat itself, each offering slightly
• 6:05
  different scientific priorities while
• 6:08
  still meeting those safety criteria. The
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  plan also includes the use of an
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  unpressurized rover to travel between
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  geological units which would
• 6:17
  dramatically extend the science possible
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  in a single mission. China's crude lunar
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  program is part of a larger sequence
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  that includes Chong A 7 and Chong A
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  missions with long-term goals around a
• 6:29
  south pole research station. But Reay
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  Bode as a first landing site makes a lot
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  of sense. near side for communications,
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  scientifically diverse, and a manageable
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  operating environment.
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  >> It's still a candidate rather than a
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  confirmed destination, but this is the
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  most specific and scientifically
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  detailed case we've seen yet for where
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  China's first astronauts might set foot
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  on another world.
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  >> Another country making a big
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  announcement this week. Russia has
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  announced plans to launch a mission
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  called Vanera D to Venus in 2036. And
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  it's an ambitious one. We're talking
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  about a lander, a balloon that would
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  float through the Venucian atmosphere,
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  and an orbiter all working together.
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  >> And the historical context here is
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  remarkable. The Soviet Union is the only
• 7:19
  nation in history to have successfully
• 7:21
  landed and operated spacecraft on the
• 7:24
  surface of Venus. Vanera 7 did it first
• 7:27
  back in 1970. And over the following 13
• 7:30
  years, the Soviets sent a whole series
• 7:32
  of Vanera landers and orbiters, 16
• 7:35
  missions in total across 22 years. And
• 7:39
  when you understand what the surface of
• 7:40
  Venus is actually like, that achievement
• 7:43
  becomes even more extraordinary. Surface
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  temperatures around 900° F. That's 480
• 7:51
  C. atmospheric pressure more than 90
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  times that of Earth at sea level. It is
• 7:57
  a genuinely hellish environment.
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  >> The Soviet Vanera landers didn't just
• 8:02
  survive. They sent back images. Those
• 8:05
  photographs of Venus's volcanic rock
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  surface tinged yellow by the sulfuric
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  acid clouds above remain some of the
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  most extraordinary images in the history
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  of space exploration.
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  >> Russia hasn't been to Venus since 1983.
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  And Vanera D has actually been in
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  planning since 2003. It was at one point
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  even under consideration as a joint
• 8:27
  mission with NASA before Russia's 2022
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  invasion of Ukraine ended that kind of
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  collaboration.
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  >> Russia's first deputy prime minister
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  Dennis Mterov confirmed the mission this
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  week, describing Venus alongside the
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  moon as central to Russia space
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  ambitions. And one of the Nerad's key
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  scientific goals will be searching for
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  signs of microbial life in Venus's
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  clouds.
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  >> That's not as outlandish as it might
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  sound. The cloud layers of Venus at
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  altitudes of around 48 to 60 km have
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  temperatures and pressures not unlike
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  those at Earth's surface. And there have
• 9:04
  been disputed detections of phosphine
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  and ammonia there, both of which could
• 9:08
  potentially be biological in origin.
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  Russia isn't the only nation looking at
• 9:13
  Venus right now.Sa's Envision mission,
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  India's Shukrion 1, and NASA's Da Vinci
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  and Veraritoss projects are all in
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  various stages of development. Venus is
• 9:23
  having a moment.
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  >> And if Fener D launches in 2036 as
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  planned, it would extend one of the most
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  impressive and now largely forgotten
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  legacies in space exploration history.
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  The Soviets conquered Venus. Russia
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  wants to go back. Now, here's a
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  milestone that deserves a moment of
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  appreciation. This week, engineers at
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  the John's Hopkins Applied Physics
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  Laboratory in Maryland officially began
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  assembling NASA's Dragonfly rotorcraft,
• 9:52
  the nuclearpowered drone that will one
• 9:54
  day fly across the surface of Saturn's
• 9:56
  moon Titan. This is the point where a
• 9:59
  mission stops being a plan and starts
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  being a physical thing. Principal
• 10:04
  investigator Elizabeth Turtle put it
• 10:06
  perfectly when she said, "This milestone
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  essentially marks the birth of our
• 10:10
  flight system."
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  >> So, what is Dragonfly exactly? It's a
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  car-sized eight rotor drone. Think of a
• 10:18
  very large quadcopter, but with eight
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  rotors and four counterrotating pairs.
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  It'll be powered not by solar energy,
• 10:25
  but by a radioisotope thermo electric
• 10:28
  generator, a nuclear power source.
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  Because sunlight on Titan is too faint
• 10:33
  and too inconsistent to be useful.
• 10:35
  >> And Titan is just a spectacular target.
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  It's Saturn's largest moon, and it's
• 10:41
  unlike anywhere else we've thought about
• 10:43
  sending a mission. It has a thick
• 10:45
  nitrogen atmosphere, denser than
• 10:47
  Earth's, which is actually what makes
• 10:49
  flying there possible. It has rivers and
• 10:52
  lakes, but not of water, of liquid
• 10:55
  methane and ethn. It has complex organic
• 10:58
  chemistry raining down from the
• 11:00
  atmosphere like a slow chemical snow.
• 11:03
  >> Scientists think Titan's surface
• 11:05
  chemistry might resemble what Earth
• 11:06
  looked like before life emerged, which
• 11:09
  is exactly why it's so exciting from an
• 11:11
  astrobiology perspective. Dragonfly will
• 11:14
  fly to dozens of locations across the
• 11:16
  surface, stopping to collect and analyze
• 11:18
  samples as it goes. The first power and
• 11:21
  functional tests have already been
• 11:23
  completed on Dragonflyy's integrated
• 11:25
  electronics module, its brain, and its
• 11:28
  power switching units. The aeros shell
• 11:30
  and cruise stage are being assembled at
• 11:32
  Lockheed Martin in Colorado, and the
• 11:35
  wind tunnel testing at NASA Langley has
• 11:37
  already validated the rotor design.
• 11:40
  >> The timeline integration and testing
• 11:42
  continues at John's Hopkins through this
• 11:44
  year and into early 2027. Then system
• 11:47
  level testing at Loheed Martin. Then
• 11:50
  final environmental testing back at
• 11:52
  Hopkins before heading to Kennedy Space
• 11:54
  Center in spring of 2028 for launch on a
• 11:57
  SpaceX Falcon Heavy that summer. Arrival
• 12:00
  at Titan 2034. And once there, Dragonfly
• 12:04
  aims to cover more than 108 miles of
• 12:08
  terrain, nearly double the total
• 12:10
  distance traveled by all Mars rovers
• 12:12
  combined. It is one of the most
• 12:15
  audacious planetary missions ever
• 12:17
  conceived and this week it became a real
• 12:20
  spacecraft.
• 12:21
  >> More news from China. The race to return
• 12:24
  samples from Mars is very much on and
• 12:27
  this week came confirmation that China's
• 12:29
  entry in that race is moving from
• 12:31
  engineering prototypes to real flight
• 12:33
  hardware. Chief designer Leu Ji Chong
• 12:36
  announced at China's annual two sessions
• 12:39
  political meetings on March 12th that
• 12:41
  Tanwin 3 has achieved breakthroughs in
• 12:44
  all key technologies and now is entering
• 12:46
  the flight model development phase,
• 12:48
  meaning they're building the actual
• 12:50
  spacecraft that will go to Mars.
• 12:52
  >> Gon 3 is an enormously complex mission.
• 12:56
  It involves two separate launches from
• 12:58
  Earth in late 2028 using Long March 5
• 13:02
  rockets, the same type that launched
• 13:04
  China's previous Mars mission and its
• 13:06
  lunar sample return. One launch carries
• 13:09
  a lander and ascent vehicle. The other
• 13:12
  carries an orbiter and Earth return
• 13:14
  spacecraft. The lander touches down on
• 13:16
  Mars, collects at least 500 g of Martian
• 13:20
  rock and soil using a combination of a
• 13:22
  scoop, a drill, and a small drone. Then
• 13:25
  the ascent vehicle launches those
• 13:26
  samples into Mars orbit. There it
• 13:29
  rendevous with the orbiter which then
• 13:31
  carries the samples all the way back to
• 13:33
  Earth targeted arrival in 2031.
• 13:36
  >> If successful that would make Tanwen 3
• 13:39
  the first ever mission to return samples
• 13:42
  from Mars and that's important context.
• 13:45
  NASA's own Mars sample return program
• 13:47
  was effectively cancelled earlier this
• 13:49
  year when it received no funding in the
• 13:52
  2026 appropriations bill. China has
• 13:56
  narrowed its landing site candidates
• 13:57
  from 106 down to 19 with the final three
• 14:01
  to be selected by the end of this year.
• 14:03
  Candidate sites include ancient
• 14:05
  shorelines, clay, mineralrich terrain
• 14:07
  that could preserve organic molecules,
• 14:09
  and areas associated with Mars's ancient
• 14:11
  water systems. The primary scientific
• 14:14
  goal is the search for bio signatures,
• 14:17
  potential signs that life once existed
• 14:19
  on Mars. The mission is also open to
• 14:22
  international collaboration with China
• 14:24
  inviting partner payloads and promising
• 14:26
  international scientists access to the
• 14:29
  returned samples. This is a story worth
• 14:32
  watching very closely. By the time
• 14:34
  Tanwan 3 launches in 2028, it may well
• 14:37
  be the only active Mars sample return
• 14:40
  mission on the books. The first Martian
• 14:42
  soil in a laboratory on Earth could be
• 14:44
  arriving on a Chinese spacecraft.
• 14:47
  >> We'll keep an eye on this one. The
• 14:48
  geopolitical ramifications, not to
• 14:51
  mention bragging rights, could be quite
• 14:53
  important.
• 14:54
  >> All right, we saved the best for Pi Day.
• 14:56
  And NASA's astronomy picture of the day
• 14:59
  team clearly agrees with us because
• 15:01
  today's APOD is dedicated entirely to K2
• 15:04
  315b, the exoplanet with a year that
• 15:07
  lasts almost exactly 3.14 days. K2315b
• 15:12
  was discovered using data from the
• 15:14
  Kepler space telescope's extended K2
• 15:17
  mission and announced back in 2020. It's
• 15:20
  an Earth-sized world orbiting a cool red
• 15:23
  dwarf star, an Mtype star about 185
• 15:26
  light years away from us. Now, an
• 15:29
  orbital period of 3.14 days means it is
• 15:32
  very close to its star, very close,
• 15:35
  which means its surface temperature is
• 15:37
  absolutely scorching. the kind of baking
• 15:40
  hot that makes any thoughts of
• 15:41
  habitability evaporate immediately.
• 15:44
  >> But that's fine. K2315b
• 15:46
  is not here to be habitable. It's here
• 15:48
  to be delightful because of all the
• 15:51
  exoplanets we found, and we found
• 15:53
  thousands. Now, this one just happens to
• 15:56
  orbit its star in almost precisely pi
• 15:58
  days.
• 15:59
  >> The precision is genuinely striking.
• 16:02
  Astronomers measured the orbital period
• 16:04
  at 3.14159
• 16:06
  days, which if you've had your pi
• 16:08
  memorized since school, you'll recognize
• 16:10
  as pi to five decimal places. The
• 16:14
  universe didn't do that on purpose,
• 16:16
  obviously. But it's a beautiful
• 16:17
  coincidence and a wonderful reminder
• 16:19
  that the cosmos doesn't always have to
• 16:21
  be profound and weighty. Sometimes it
• 16:24
  just gives you a planet that celebrates
• 16:26
  mathematics.
• 16:27
  >> So, from all of us here at Astronomy
• 16:29
  Daily, happy Pi Day. May your circles be
• 16:32
  perfect and your exoplanets be
• 16:34
  numerically satisfying.
• 16:35
  >> And that wraps up episode 63 of
• 16:38
  Astronomy Daily Season 5. What a show
• 16:41
  today. Solar twin migrations, China's
• 16:44
  lunar museum, Soviet era Venus
• 16:46
  nostalgia, nuclear drones for Titan, the
• 16:49
  Mars sample race, and the Pi Day cosmic
• 16:52
  treat.
• 16:53
  >> If you enjoyed today's episode, please
• 16:55
  leave us a review wherever you listen.
• 16:57
  It genuinely makes a difference in
• 16:58
  helping new listeners find us. And share
• 17:01
  the show with anyone who needs a little
• 17:02
  more space in their life.
• 17:04
  >> You can find us at astronomyaily.io
• 17:07
  and we're at Astro Daily Pod on X,
• 17:10
  Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, Facebook,
• 17:13
  and Tumblr. All your show notes, links,
• 17:15
  and extras are on the website.
• 17:17
  >> We'll be back on Monday with more of the
• 17:20
  universe's greatest hits. Until then,
• 17:22
  keep looking up.
• 17:26
  The stories been told.
• 17:35
  Stories told.