Today on Astronomy Daily — S05E36 — Wednesday February 11, 2026.
⏱ TIMESTAMPS
• 00:00 — Cold Open & Show Intro
• 02:15 — Story 1: SpaceX Crew-12 delays & the cosmonaut spy scandal
• 10:30 — Story 2: Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS — alien chemistry revealed
• 19:00 — Story 3: NASA lets AI drive the Perseverance Mars rover
• 26:45 — Story 4: Earth's rare chemical Goldilocks zone — why life got lucky
• 33:20 — Story 5: Ring of Fire solar eclipse — one week away!
• 38:10 — Story 6: Starship is back — Flight 12 cryo tests pass
• 44:00 — Show Close
📰 IN THIS EPISODE
• SpaceX Crew-12 launch delayed to Feb 13 — weather, ISS skeleton crew & Oleg Artemyev's removal
• Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS: SPHEREx & JWST reveal record CO2 levels, alien organic chemistry
• NASA uses Anthropic Claude AI to drive Perseverance rover 456m across Mars
• New Nature Astronomy study: Earth's habitability may be a rare chemical fluke
• Annular solar eclipse February 17 — Antarctica Ring of Fire preview
• Starship Flight 12: Booster 19 cryo tests complete, March 2026 launch window
🔗 LINKS
• Full show notes & transcripts: astronomydaily.io
• NASA Crew-12: nasa.gov/mission/nasas-spacex-crew-12
• NASA SPHEREx on 3I/ATLAS: science.nasa.gov
• AI drives Perseverance: universetoday.com
• Earth habitability study: nature.com/articles/s41550-026-02775-z
• Ring of Fire eclipse guide: space.com
• Starship Flight 12 updates: nasaspaceflight.com
🎙 ABOUT ASTRONOMY DAILY
Hosted by Anna and Avery. New episode every weekday covering the biggest stories in space exploration, astronomy and planetary science. Subscribe and hit the bell so you never miss a launch, discovery or cosmic event.