Latest / Space News Today / Cosmic Telescopes, Orbital Challenges, and the Secrets of Venus

Transcript

Cosmic Telescopes, Orbital Challenges, and the Secrets of Venus · Space News Today

• 0:00
  Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast
• 0:03
  that brings you the universe, one story
• 0:05
  at a time. I'm Avery.
• 0:07
  >> And I'm Anna. It's great to have you
• 0:09
  with us. Today, we've got stories that
• 0:11
  range from NASA's next great observatory
• 0:14
  to a stunning new image from the James
• 0:16
  Web Space Telescope. We'll also be
• 0:18
  looking at some trouble on a Kazakhstan
• 0:20
  launchpad and why Earth is so
• 0:22
  geologically unique.
• 0:24
  >> Let's not wait. Anna, why don't you
• 0:26
  start us off with our first story? It
• 0:28
  sounds like there's a new powerhouse
• 0:30
  telescope getting ready for the cosmic
• 0:31
  stage.
• 0:32
  >> That's right, Avery. NASA has just
• 0:34
  completed the assembly of the Nancy
• 0:36
  Grace Roman Space Telescope. Technicians
• 0:39
  at the Gddard Space Flight Center join
• 0:41
  the inner and outer portions of the
• 0:43
  spacecraft, which is a major milestone.
• 0:45
  >> So, it's fully built now. When do we get
• 0:47
  to see it in action?
• 0:49
  >> After some final testing, it's slated to
• 0:51
  launch by May 2027. Although the team
• 0:54
  says they're on track for a potential
• 0:56
  launch as early as fall 2026, a SpaceX
• 0:59
  Falcon Heavy will carry it to its
• 1:01
  destination a million miles from Earth.
• 1:04
  >> A million miles. Same neighborhood as
• 1:06
  the web telescope. Then what's the
• 1:08
  mission for Roman? What mysteries is it
• 1:10
  designed to solve?
• 1:12
  >> Its scope is just immense. The primary
• 1:15
  instrument is a 288 megapixel wide field
• 1:18
  camera. To put that in perspective,
• 1:21
  Roman is expected to gather data
• 1:23
  hundreds of times faster than the Hubble
• 1:25
  Space Telescope.
• 1:26
  >> Wow. Hundreds of times faster.
• 1:29
  >> Exactly. In its first 5 years alone, the
• 1:31
  mission is projected to unveil more than
• 1:33
  100,000 new exoplanets, hundreds of
• 1:36
  millions of stars, and billions of
• 1:38
  galaxies. It's also testing a new
• 1:40
  technology called a coronagraph
• 1:42
  instrument. This is designed to block
• 1:44
  out the overwhelming light from a star,
• 1:47
  allowing astronomers to directly image
• 1:49
  the much fainter planets orbiting it.
• 1:51
  It's a huge leap forward in our ability
• 1:53
  to survey the cosmos.
• 1:55
  >> That's incredible. From one powerful
• 1:57
  machine to another, our next story is a
• 2:00
  bit more down to earth, and
• 2:01
  unfortunately, it involves some damage.
• 2:04
  >> Damage is the polite way of putting it,
• 2:06
  though it's not as catastrophic as some
• 2:08
  would have you believe. On November
• 2:10
  27th, a Russian Soyuse rocket
• 2:13
  successfully launched three astronauts
• 2:15
  to the International Space Station from
• 2:16
  the Biconor Cosmo Drrome. The launch
• 2:19
  itself went off without a hitch.
• 2:22
  >> Okay, so what's the problem?
• 2:24
  >> The issue was discovered during routine
• 2:27
  post-launch inspections. Officials from
• 2:30
  Roscosmos, Russia Space Agency, reported
• 2:34
  finding damage to several launchpad
• 2:36
  components.
• 2:38
  >> That doesn't sound good. Do they know
• 2:40
  what caused it? Rocosmos is still
• 2:42
  assessing the situation, but they've
• 2:44
  said all the necessary spare parts are
• 2:46
  available for a quick repair. However,
• 2:48
  one expert, Brian Harvey, has suggested
• 2:51
  a possible cause. He believes a
• 2:53
  combination of the intense vibration and
• 2:55
  heat from the launch along with some
• 2:57
  improperly installed roller pins may
• 3:00
  have caused a service tower to topple
• 3:02
  over after the rocket had cleared the
• 3:03
  pad.
• 3:04
  >> Right. A service tower falling over
• 3:06
  would certainly count as damage. What
• 3:09
  does this mean for future launches?
• 3:11
  >> Harvey estimates it could take about 3
• 3:14
  months to repair, likely scavenging
• 3:16
  parts from other launch pads. The good
• 3:18
  news is that the next crew handover at
• 3:20
  the ISS isn't scheduled until July, and
• 3:23
  the next astronaut mission from US soil
• 3:26
  is a SpaceX flight in February, so no
• 3:29
  astronauts are stranded. However, the
• 3:31
  next Russian Progress supply ship
• 3:33
  delivery to the station will be delayed.
• 3:36
  We'll be keeping an eye on how quickly
• 3:38
  those repairs progress, but please know
• 3:40
  there is no panic and it isn't the end
• 3:43
  of the Russian space program. As has
• 3:45
  been reported in some of the more
• 3:46
  sensationalist media, it will be
• 3:48
  repaired and back in business.
• 3:51
  >> From problems on the ground to problems
• 3:54
  in orbit, Avery, we often talk about
• 3:56
  light pollution for groundbased
• 3:58
  telescopes, but a new forecast reveals
• 4:01
  that even our eyes in space are not
• 4:03
  safe. You're talking about satellite
• 4:06
  mega constellations, right? I've seen
• 4:08
  some startling images of bright streaks
• 4:11
  ruining astronomical photos.
• 4:14
  >> Exactly. And it's getting worse. If the
• 4:16
  current industry proposals for about
• 4:19
  half a million new satellites become a
• 4:21
  reality, the problem will escalate
• 4:23
  dramatically. Projections show that by
• 4:26
  the 2030s, onethird of all images from
• 4:29
  the Hubble Space Telescope will be
• 4:32
  contaminated with satellite trails.
• 4:35
  >> Onethird? That's a massive loss of data
• 4:38
  and time for one of our most important
• 4:40
  scientific instruments.
• 4:41
  >> It is. And for some newer telescopes,
• 4:44
  it's even more dire. The Chinese Space
• 4:47
  Station Telescope, Santien, is projected
• 4:50
  to be the worst affected. Some studies
• 4:53
  predict contamination and more than 96%
• 4:56
  of its observations with an average of
• 4:59
  92 satellite trails per exposure.
• 5:03
  >> 96%.
• 5:05
  At that point, the telescope is almost
• 5:07
  unusable for its intended purpose. It
• 5:10
  seems unsustainable.
• 5:12
  Are there any solutions being discussed?
• 5:14
  >> There are. Mitigation strategies are
• 5:17
  actively being developed. They include
• 5:19
  better orbital tracking to help
• 5:21
  astronomers avoid pointing at
• 5:23
  satellites, international coordination
• 5:25
  on satellite brightness standards, and
• 5:28
  perhaps most importantly, restricting
• 5:30
  the altitudes of these large
• 5:32
  constellations to below 600 km, which
• 5:35
  would reduce their visibility. It's a
• 5:38
  critical issue for the future of
• 5:39
  astronomy.
• 5:40
  >> It's a stark reminder of how crowded our
• 5:43
  orbital space is becoming. Okay, from
• 5:46
  our near space environment to our
• 5:48
  planetary neighbors, let's talk about
• 5:50
  Venus. We often call it Earth's twin,
• 5:53
  but new research is helping us
• 5:55
  understand one of the biggest
• 5:57
  differences between them, plate
• 5:59
  tectonics,
• 6:00
  >> right? Earth has this active moving
• 6:03
  crust, while Venus is often described as
• 6:05
  having a stagnant single plate surface.
• 6:08
  Why is that?
• 6:10
  >> An international team has developed a
• 6:12
  new framework for understanding how
• 6:14
  planets work. Geologically, using
• 6:17
  numerical models, they identified six
• 6:20
  distinct regimes for planetary
• 6:22
  tectonics. Earth exists in what they
• 6:25
  call the mobile lid regime, which is
• 6:28
  crucial for our planet's long-term
• 6:30
  habitability as it regulates climate by
• 6:33
  cycling carbon.
• 6:34
  >> The mobile lid. I like that. So, what
• 6:38
  kind of lid does Venus have? The study
• 6:40
  suggests Venus operates under what's
• 6:42
  called a plutonic squishy lid or an
• 6:46
  episodic squishy lid regime. In this
• 6:49
  model, the lithosphere, the planet's
• 6:51
  outer shell, is too hot and weak to
• 6:54
  break into distinct plates like Earth's.
• 6:57
  Instead, rising magma from the mantle
• 6:59
  weakens the crust from below.
• 7:02
  >> A squishy lid. So, it doesn't move
• 7:05
  globally, but it's not totally inactive
• 7:07
  either.
• 7:08
  Precisely. This leads to regional
• 7:11
  intermittent vcanism rather than the
• 7:13
  global tectonics we see here. And this
• 7:16
  model actually helps explain some other
• 7:18
  recent discoveries. We've seen findings
• 7:21
  suggesting there are active volcanoes on
• 7:23
  Venus, which seemed puzzling without
• 7:26
  plate tectonics. This squishy lid idea
• 7:29
  provides a mechanism for that volcanism
• 7:31
  to occur.
• 7:33
  Speaking of spectacular space phenomena,
• 7:36
  let's turn back to the James Webb Space
• 7:38
  Telescope. It has captured another
• 7:41
  breathtaking image. This time of a close
• 7:43
  encounter between two dwarf galaxies.
• 7:46
  >> Oh, I saw this one. The image is just
• 7:49
  stunning. It's the pair NGC 4490 and NGC
• 7:54
  4485. Right.
• 7:56
  >> That's them. They're about 24 million
• 7:59
  lighty years away and they're in the
• 8:01
  process of colliding. The web image is
• 8:04
  so detailed it reveals a glowing bridge
• 8:06
  of gas and streams of neworn stars
• 8:10
  connecting the two galaxies. The
• 8:12
  gravitational interaction between them
• 8:14
  has spurred a massive burst of new star
• 8:16
  formation.
• 8:18
  >> So, they're creating new stars as they
• 8:20
  pull each other apart. That's poetic.
• 8:23
  Can we tell how this interaction
• 8:25
  unfolded? We can by analyzing the
• 8:28
  different populations of stars.
• 8:30
  Researchers have been able to trace the
• 8:32
  timeline. They suggest the two galaxies
• 8:35
  first swept past each other about 200
• 8:38
  million years ago. During that pass, the
• 8:42
  larger galaxy NGC 4490
• 8:45
  began siphoning gas from its smaller
• 8:48
  partner NGC 4485.
• 8:51
  That stolen gas is now fueling the
• 8:53
  starburst we see in that glowing bridge.
• 8:57
  >> Incredible. It's like cosmic
• 8:59
  archaeology. A fantastic image with a
• 9:02
  fascinating story behind it. Now for our
• 9:06
  final story, we're coming much closer to
• 9:09
  home to our very own star. In early
• 9:12
  November, astronomers captured some
• 9:14
  extremely rare highdefinition images of
• 9:17
  sunspots in an active region designated
• 9:21
  Noah 14274.
• 9:24
  >> And what makes these images so special?
• 9:27
  >> The timing. The images were taken by the
• 9:30
  Greger Solar Telescope in Spain just 30
• 9:33
  minutes before those same sunspots
• 9:36
  erupted, emitting a powerful X1.2 class
• 9:40
  solar flare.
• 9:42
  Wow, that's like having a camera pointed
• 9:44
  at a volcano right before it blows.
• 9:47
  Capturing that with a groundbased
• 9:48
  telescope must be incredibly diff.
• 9:51
  >> It is. You have to be looking at the
• 9:54
  right spot at the right time and you
• 9:56
  need clear weather. It's a rare
• 9:58
  trifecta. The images are remarkable.
• 10:02
  They show what are called penumbal
• 10:04
  fibrals. These are the filaments
• 10:06
  extending from the dark center of the
• 10:08
  sunspot that are strongly curved and
• 10:11
  braided together.
• 10:13
  >> And what does that braiding tell us?
• 10:16
  >> It's a clear visual indicator of a
• 10:18
  highly stressed and tangled magnetic
• 10:20
  field. Think of it like a tightly wound
• 10:23
  rubber band. That immense stored energy
• 10:27
  is a direct precursor to an explosive
• 10:29
  release, which is exactly what happened
• 10:32
  30 minutes later with the solar flare.
• 10:34
  And this is just the beginning.
• 10:36
  Researchers are currently processing
• 10:38
  nearly 40,000 more data sets from the
• 10:40
  telescope, which could revolutionize how
• 10:43
  we predict these powerful solar events.
• 10:46
  >> And better prediction is crucial. These
• 10:50
  powerful solar events can disrupt
• 10:52
  satellites, power grids, and even pose a
• 10:54
  risk to astronauts. Understanding their
• 10:57
  warning signs is vital for our
• 10:59
  technological infrastructure. And that
• 11:02
  brings us to the end of our news roundup
• 11:04
  for today. It's been another busy day in
• 11:07
  the cosmos.
• 11:08
  >> It certainly has. Thanks for joining us
• 11:11
  on Astronomy Daily. We'll be back again
• 11:13
  tomorrow with another look at the latest
• 11:15
  news from across the universe. Until
• 11:17
  then, I'm Avery.
• 11:19
  >> And I'm Anna, reminding you to keep
• 11:21
  looking up.
• 11:26
  Oh,
• 11:33
  the stories told.