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00:00:01 --> 00:00:03 Anna: Hey everyone. Welcome back to Astronomy
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 AstroDailyPod. And it's Saturday, so that
00:00:05 --> 00:00:06 means one thing.
00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 Avery: The weekend wrap today's news update. Then we
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 run back to the week's biggest news. In case
00:00:11 --> 00:00:12 you missed any of it,
00:00:12 --> 00:00:15 Anna: it's Saturday, August 22nd. Series
00:00:15 --> 00:00:18 5 Episode 174
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 and honestly, this might be the hardware
00:00:21 --> 00:00:24 heaviest week we've ever had to wrap up. A
00:00:24 --> 00:00:26 rocket recovered from the ocean, a rocket
00:00:26 --> 00:00:28 that hit the moon, a rocket that landed
00:00:28 --> 00:00:31 itself in China, and a rescue mission that
00:00:31 --> 00:00:32 didn' quite make it.
00:00:33 --> 00:00:35 Avery: Four spacecraft storeys, basically none of
00:00:35 --> 00:00:37 them simple. We're going to need the full
00:00:37 --> 00:00:38 recap today.
00:00:39 --> 00:00:41 Anna: But first, China's about to attempt what
00:00:41 --> 00:00:44 one lunar scientist is calling the most
00:00:44 --> 00:00:47 ambitious robotic lunar mission any
00:00:47 --> 00:00:48 nation has ever flown.
00:00:49 --> 00:00:51 Avery: And it's not some far off someday mission.
00:00:52 --> 00:00:53 The rocket's already on the pad.
00:00:54 --> 00:00:55 Anna: Let's get into it.
00:00:55 --> 00:00:58 Avery: Okay. Most ambitious lunar mission ever
00:00:58 --> 00:01:01 attempted by any nation is a big claim.
00:01:01 --> 00:01:02 Who's saying that?
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 Anna: James Head, a, uh, planetary scientist at
00:01:05 --> 00:01:07 Brown University who's been studying the moon
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 since Apollo. So it's not marketing copy,
00:01:10 --> 00:01:13 it's a genuine expert assessment. His exact
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 quote, Chang' E7 is the most
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 ambitious, comprehensive and complex
00:01:18 --> 00:01:21 robotic lunar mission any nation or
00:01:21 --> 00:01:23 entity has ever attempted.
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25 Avery: So what is it and um, when's it actually
00:01:25 --> 00:01:26 going?
00:01:26 --> 00:01:29 Anna: China's Chang' e 7 mission rolled its
00:01:29 --> 00:01:31 long March 5 rocket out to the pad at
00:01:31 --> 00:01:34 Wencheng on Hainan island on August
00:01:34 --> 00:01:37 19. A two and three quarter kilometre
00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 crawl from the assembly building. The launch
00:01:39 --> 00:01:42 window opens Monday, August 24th and
00:01:42 --> 00:01:45 runs through the 31st. So this could go up
00:01:45 --> 00:01:47 any day in that stretch? Potentially as soon
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 as Monday morning China time.
00:01:50 --> 00:01:52 Avery: So by the time next week's episodes air, this
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 thing could already be on its way?
00:01:54 --> 00:01:57 Anna: Very possibly. And once it launches, it's
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 roughly six to eight days to reach lunar
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 orbit, then a couple of months of mapping and
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 prep work before the lander actually touches
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 down. Which they're targeting for around the
00:02:07 --> 00:02:08 end of the year.
00:02:08 --> 00:02:09 Avery: Where's it landing?
00:02:09 --> 00:02:12 Anna: Right on the rim of Shackleton Crater at the
00:02:12 --> 00:02:15 lunar south pole. A 21 kilometre
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 wide crater whose interior never sees
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 sunlight. That's the whole point of this
00:02:20 --> 00:02:21 mission. Water ice.
00:02:22 --> 00:02:24 Avery: We've talked about lunar water ice before.
00:02:24 --> 00:02:26 Isn't that already a settled question?
00:02:27 --> 00:02:29 Anna: Genuinely not. And that's the part people get
00:02:29 --> 00:02:32 wrong. Planetary scientist Norbert
00:02:32 --> 00:02:34 Schorkhofer put it plainly. There has never
00:02:34 --> 00:02:37 been a landed mission to find water on the
00:02:37 --> 00:02:40 moon. We've got decades of orbital and remote
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 evidence, hydrogen signatures, permanently
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 shadowed regions that are cold enough to trap
00:02:45 --> 00:02:48 ice but nobody has actually landed at the
00:02:48 --> 00:02:50 South Pole and directly confirmed it,
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 measured how deep it is or worked out whether
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 it's accessible enough to actually use.
00:02:56 --> 00:02:58 Avery: And that's what makes it, uh, the most
00:02:58 --> 00:03:00 ambitious one. It's not just one lander, it's
00:03:00 --> 00:03:03 a whole toolkit for answering that specific
00:03:03 --> 00:03:03 question.
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 Anna: Exactly. Four separate vehicles working
00:03:07 --> 00:03:09 together. There's an orbiter which does
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 communications relay and mapping support and
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 sticks around for years. There's a lander
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 built for up to eight years of surface
00:03:16 --> 00:03:19 operations. There's a rover kitted out with
00:03:19 --> 00:03:21 cameras, ground penetrating radar and soil
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 analysis gear. And then there's the one
00:03:24 --> 00:03:26 everyone's actually excited about, a six
00:03:26 --> 00:03:27 legged hopper.
00:03:28 --> 00:03:30 Avery: A hopper, as in it jumps, as
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 in it jumps.
00:03:32 --> 00:03:34 Anna: Using its own rocket thrusters, it can leap
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 up to 15 kilometres across the surface in
00:03:37 --> 00:03:40 a single bound. That makes it only the second
00:03:40 --> 00:03:43 multi flight vehicle to ever operate on
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 another world, after NASA's Ingenuity
00:03:45 --> 00:03:47 helicopter on Mars.
00:03:47 --> 00:03:49 Avery: Why do you need something that hops instead
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 of just driving down into the crater?
00:03:51 --> 00:03:54 Anna: Because you genuinely can't drive into
00:03:54 --> 00:03:56 Shackleton Crater. The walls are brutally
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 steep and the interior is in permanent
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 darkness with no solar power and temperatures
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 cold to make wheeled exploration essentially
00:04:04 --> 00:04:07 impossible. A hopper can leap in,
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 use its own systems to survive the dark for a
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 short window, drill for ice with an onboard
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 probe and leap back out. It's the only
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 realistic way to physically sample the
00:04:16 --> 00:04:19 coldest, most permanently shadowed parts of
00:04:19 --> 00:04:19 that crater.
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 Avery: That's a genuinely clever engineering answer
00:04:22 --> 00:04:23 to a nasty problem.
00:04:23 --> 00:04:26 Anna: It is. And Chang' e 7 isn't going
00:04:26 --> 00:04:28 it alone either. This is a heavily
00:04:28 --> 00:04:30 international mission. It's carrying
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 instruments from Russia, Italy, Thailand,
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 Switzerland, Bahrain and Egypt, plus a
00:04:35 --> 00:04:38 small US linked payload, a 1.5
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 kilogramme telescope built by the University
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 of Hong Kong with the International Lunar
00:04:42 --> 00:04:45 Observatory association. Designed to capture
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 panoramic images of the Milky Way from the
00:04:47 --> 00:04:48 lunar surface.
00:04:48 --> 00:04:51 Avery: A telescope riding along on a Chinese moon
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 lander with an American research partnership
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56 attached. That's not the geopolitical picture
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 most people have in their head of the current
00:04:58 --> 00:04:59 moon race.
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 Anna: It's more collaborative at the instrument
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 level than the headlines usually suggest.
00:05:03 --> 00:05:05 Even while the two countries crewed
00:05:05 --> 00:05:07 programmes are very much racing each other,
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 which is worth mentioning, this mission sits
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 inside a much bigger plan. Changa
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 E8 follows around 2028 to test
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 habitat building technology. And China's
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 stated goal is a crewed lunar landing by
00:05:20 --> 00:05:21 2030.
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 Avery: Same um, target window NASA's chasing with
00:05:23 --> 00:05:23 Artemis.
00:05:24 --> 00:05:26 Anna: Same window and water ice is exactly why
00:05:26 --> 00:05:29 both programmes care so much about the South
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 Pole. Specifically if there's accessible ice
00:05:32 --> 00:05:34 down there, that's drinking water, breathable
00:05:34 --> 00:05:37 oxygen and rocket propellant without hauling
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 it up from Earth. Whichever programme nails
00:05:39 --> 00:05:42 down the real answer first has a serious head
00:05:42 --> 00:05:44 start on actually building something that
00:05:44 --> 00:05:44 stays.
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 Avery: So this isn't really a did they find ice yes
00:05:48 --> 00:05:49 or no storey yet?
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 Anna: Not yet. That's still months away after
00:05:52 --> 00:05:54 landing. Right now this is a watch the
00:05:54 --> 00:05:57 launch window storey. But given what's riding
00:05:57 --> 00:05:59 on the answer, and given that nobody's ever
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 tried anything quite like this hopper drill
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 combination before, this is very much a
00:06:05 --> 00:06:07 mission worth having on your radar. Starting
00:06:07 --> 00:06:07 Monday.
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 Avery: Rocket's literally on the pad. We'll be
00:06:10 --> 00:06:10 watching.
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13 Anna: Alright, onto the recap. And like we said up
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 top, this was a genuinely stacked week for
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 hardware. Let's go roughly in the order it
00:06:18 --> 00:06:18 happened.
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 Avery: Thory won. And it's actually had two
00:06:21 --> 00:06:24 chapters just this week. Quick reset. For
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 anyone who missed the earlier saga, this goes
00:06:26 --> 00:06:29 back to Flight 13 on July 24, when
00:06:29 --> 00:06:32 Starship's upper stage ship 40 did
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35 something no starship had ever done. Survived
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38 the soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean off
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 Western Australia completely intact,
00:06:40 --> 00:06:41 which
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 Anna: kicked off a genuinely dramatic recovery
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 effort. Covessles battling rough seas for
00:06:46 --> 00:06:49 weeks. Elon Musk saying on August 7 that ship
00:06:49 --> 00:06:51 recovery is not looking good right now.
00:06:51 --> 00:06:54 Prediction markets giving it about an 18%
00:06:54 --> 00:06:56 chance of ever making it to shore.
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58 Avery: And then, um, Tuesday we told you had
00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 actually worked. Recovery vessels got ship 40
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 secured and towed toward Western Australia.
00:07:03 --> 00:07:06 Anna: We did, and that was accurate as far as it
00:07:06 --> 00:07:08 went. But the fuller picture that emerged the
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 very next day was that recover didn't mean
00:07:11 --> 00:07:14 home. What actually happened is ship 40 was
00:07:14 --> 00:07:16 towed much further than first reported,
00:07:16 --> 00:07:19 arriving on August 18th in sheltered waters
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 off Christmas island out in the eastern
00:07:21 --> 00:07:24 Indian Ocean after 24 days adrift and
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 more than 400 kilometres of drift in total.
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 Avery: So not a mainland port, a, uh, calmer spot to
00:07:30 --> 00:07:30 regroup.
00:07:30 --> 00:07:33 Anna: Exactly that. SpaceX set up a 500
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 metre exclusion zone around it and sent
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 engineers out to do a proper close up
00:07:37 --> 00:07:40 inspection before figuring out the next leg.
00:07:40 --> 00:07:43 Getting a 170 foot stainless steel
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 rocket all the way back to Starbase in Texas.
00:07:46 --> 00:07:47 Avery: And um, how's that going a few
00:07:47 --> 00:07:50 Anna: days on, still unresolved. Genuinely.
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 As of the most recent reporting, ship 40 is
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 still sitting off Christmas island and
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 nobody's actually announced how they're going
00:07:58 --> 00:08:00 to move it. One detail that puts the scale of
00:08:00 --> 00:08:03 the problem in perspective. Getting it back
00:08:03 --> 00:08:05 to Texas by sea at the pace it's been moving
00:08:05 --> 00:08:08 so far would take over a year. So
00:08:08 --> 00:08:10 they're clearly going to need a different
00:08:10 --> 00:08:12 method, whether that's a faster ship, an
00:08:12 --> 00:08:15 alternate route, or something else entirely.
00:08:15 --> 00:08:16 And SpaceX hasn't said yet.
00:08:17 --> 00:08:19 Avery: What does the intact recovery actually buy
00:08:19 --> 00:08:21 them beyond bragging rights?
00:08:21 --> 00:08:24 Anna: Real engineering value, Close up hands on
00:08:24 --> 00:08:26 inspection of the heat shield and engine
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 sections instead of just working from drone
00:08:29 --> 00:08:32 photos, Busk has said it strengthens the case
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 for eventually catching a returning ship with
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 the launch tower's arms the way boosters
00:08:37 --> 00:08:38 already get caught.
00:08:38 --> 00:08:40 Avery: Speaking of which, there's actually a fresh
00:08:40 --> 00:08:43 update on that specific plan this week too.
00:08:43 --> 00:08:46 Anna: There is, and it's a bit of a step back from
00:08:46 --> 00:08:47 where things stood a couple of weeks ago.
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 Back on August 4th, on UM, SpaceX's first
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 earnings call as a public company, Musk
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 sounded optimistic that they'd attempt the
00:08:55 --> 00:08:58 tower catch on Flight 14, which was
00:08:58 --> 00:08:59 tentatively pencilled in for the end of
00:08:59 --> 00:09:02 August. But on August 20th he posted
00:09:02 --> 00:09:04 that we will probably catch the ship with the
00:09:04 --> 00:09:07 tower in a few months, though that specific
00:09:07 --> 00:09:09 milestone has slipped.
00:09:09 --> 00:09:11 Avery: Any word on why the reporting points
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 Anna: to regulatory sign off rather than a
00:09:13 --> 00:09:16 technical setback. A tower catch of the ship
00:09:16 --> 00:09:19 needs its own FAA approval separate from the
00:09:19 --> 00:09:21 booster catches. SpaceX already has clearance
00:09:21 --> 00:09:24 for Flight 14 itself is still very
00:09:24 --> 00:09:27 much happening now, targeted no earlier than
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 August 28, and it's still a big deal in its
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 own right. Musk says Starship will go fully
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 orbital on that flight for the first time
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 ever. The catch attempt is just being
00:09:36 --> 00:09:37 decoupled from it.
00:09:38 --> 00:09:41 Avery: So ship recovered, sort of still
00:09:41 --> 00:09:43 marooned off an island transport plan
00:09:43 --> 00:09:46 unknown and the next big milestone got its
00:09:46 --> 00:09:49 own ass. *2 this one keeps giving us
00:09:49 --> 00:09:51 corrections, it really does.
00:09:51 --> 00:09:54 Anna: We'll keep tracking it properly this time.
00:09:54 --> 00:09:57 Avery: Storey 2 and this is a much cleaner win.
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59 Thursday's main storey in case you're
00:09:59 --> 00:10:02 catching up, China's private space sector
00:10:02 --> 00:10:04 landed an orbital class rocket booster for
00:10:04 --> 00:10:05 the first time.
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 Anna: The company is Land Space, founded back in
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 2015, and the rocket is Zhuque
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13 3. Stainless steel construction,
00:10:13 --> 00:10:16 methane fueled and at 76.6
00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 metres, actually taller than a Falcon 9.
00:10:19 --> 00:10:22 Their first flight back in December reached
00:10:22 --> 00:10:24 orbit successfully, but the landing attempt
00:10:24 --> 00:10:27 ended in a fireball. The booster lost an
00:10:27 --> 00:10:29 engine during its landing burn and came down
00:10:29 --> 00:10:32 hard, even though it hit remarkably close to
00:10:32 --> 00:10:33 its target zone.
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 Avery: So this was a do over.
00:10:35 --> 00:10:38 Anna: This was the do over. And on August 19th
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 they nailed it. Liftoff from the Dongfeng
00:10:40 --> 00:10:43 Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone in
00:10:43 --> 00:10:45 northwestern China, and about eight minutes
00:10:45 --> 00:10:48 later the first stage came down on four legs,
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 roughly 390 kilometres
00:10:51 --> 00:10:54 downrange in Ganshu Province landing
00:10:54 --> 00:10:56 close to dead centre on its pad.
00:10:56 --> 00:10:58 Avery: First time. Any private Chinese companies
00:10:58 --> 00:10:59 pulled that off.
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 Anna: First time. And Landspace themselves are
00:11:02 --> 00:11:04 framing it as the shift towards the
00:11:04 --> 00:11:06 engineering application phase of reusability.
00:11:07 --> 00:11:09 In other words, the step from can this work
00:11:09 --> 00:11:11 at all? To how do we make this routine?
00:11:12 --> 00:11:14 It puts them on a genuinely short list of
00:11:14 --> 00:11:16 organisations on Earth that have landed an
00:11:16 --> 00:11:19 orbital class booster. And it's the clearest
00:11:19 --> 00:11:21 sign yet that China's commercial launch
00:11:21 --> 00:11:23 sector, not just the state programme, is
00:11:23 --> 00:11:26 closing in on the reusability playbook that
00:11:26 --> 00:11:27 made SpaceX what it is today.
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 Avery: Good news for anyone hoping launch prices
00:11:30 --> 00:11:30 keep coming down.
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33 Anna: Competition's good for that. This is one to
00:11:33 --> 00:11:33 watch.
00:11:34 --> 00:11:37 Avery: Storey 3, from Friday's episode. The case of
00:11:37 --> 00:11:39 the SpaceX rocket stage that hit the moon
00:11:39 --> 00:11:40 finally got closed.
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 Anna: Right. On August 5th, a, uh, spent Falcon 9
00:11:44 --> 00:11:46 upper stage, long dead and uncontrolled,
00:11:46 --> 00:11:49 struck the lunar surface. This wasn't SpaceX
00:11:49 --> 00:11:52 aiming for anything. It's leftover hardware
00:11:52 --> 00:11:54 whose orbit had finally decayed enough to
00:11:54 --> 00:11:56 come down. What made it a storey worth
00:11:56 --> 00:11:58 following is that astronomers had tracked it
00:11:58 --> 00:12:01 well enough in advance to predict roughly
00:12:01 --> 00:12:02 where and when it would hit.
00:12:03 --> 00:12:05 Avery: And, um, this week we found out exactly how
00:12:05 --> 00:12:06 good that prediction was.
00:12:07 --> 00:12:10 Anna: Genuinely impressive. NASA's Centre for Near
00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 Earth Object Studies refined the tracking
00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 data and passed coordinates to South Korea's
00:12:15 --> 00:12:18 Danuri Orbiter, which imaged the site within
00:12:18 --> 00:12:21 hours and nailed the location to within about
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 six tenths of a mile. NASA's Lunar
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 Reconnaissance Orbiter then got its own
00:12:26 --> 00:12:28 detailed images on August 11th and 12th,
00:12:28 --> 00:12:31 which is the full analysis that came out this
00:12:31 --> 00:12:31 week.
00:12:31 --> 00:12:33 Avery: What does the crater actually look like?
00:12:34 --> 00:12:37 Anna: Modest, about 60ft wide, less than 10ft
00:12:37 --> 00:12:39 deep. But the useful part is the ejecta
00:12:39 --> 00:12:42 rays. Darker streaks made of older space,
00:12:42 --> 00:12:45 weathered material dug up from about a foot
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 and a half down, and brighter streaks of
00:12:47 --> 00:12:50 completely fresh material excavated from
00:12:50 --> 00:12:53 deeper still. Together, that's a free cross
00:12:53 --> 00:12:55 section of the lunar soil at two different
00:12:55 --> 00:12:58 depths, which helps scientists calibrate
00:12:58 --> 00:13:00 exactly how fast the moon's surface actually
00:13:00 --> 00:13:01 weathers over time.
00:13:02 --> 00:13:04 Avery: Um, an accidental science instrument.
00:13:04 --> 00:13:07 Anna: Exactly that. For the record, the coordinates
00:13:07 --> 00:13:10 are 199 degrees
00:13:10 --> 00:13:13 north, 2668
00:13:13 --> 00:13:15 degrees east. A small, permanent,
00:13:15 --> 00:13:17 uninvited addition to the Moon.
00:13:17 --> 00:13:20 Avery: And Storey four, also from Friday, and the
00:13:20 --> 00:13:23 toughest one of the week, the rescue attempt
00:13:23 --> 00:13:25 for NASA's Swift observatory has failed.
00:13:26 --> 00:13:28 Anna: Swift's been watching gamma ray bursts since
00:13:28 --> 00:13:31 2004, but it's been losing altitude
00:13:31 --> 00:13:33 faster than expected because of heightened
00:13:33 --> 00:13:36 solar activity puffing up the atmosphere. And
00:13:36 --> 00:13:39 adding drag without help, it was heading for
00:13:39 --> 00:13:41 an uncontrolled re entry before year's end.
00:13:42 --> 00:13:44 So NASA gambled on a fast turnaround fix.
00:13:45 --> 00:13:48 A, uh, $30 million contract with Arizona's
00:13:48 --> 00:13:50 Catalyst Space Technologies to build a
00:13:50 --> 00:13:53 dedicated rescue craft called Link and
00:13:53 --> 00:13:55 dock with Swift to boost it to safety.
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 Avery: Built and launched in under a year, if I
00:13:58 --> 00:13:58 remember right.
00:13:59 --> 00:14:02 Anna: Under a year designed to launch, link
00:14:02 --> 00:14:04 went up July 3rd on a Northrop Grumman
00:14:04 --> 00:14:07 Pegasus XL rocket, and for about three weeks
00:14:07 --> 00:14:10 it was tracking towards an actual rendezvous.
00:14:10 --> 00:14:13 Then Link itself developed an attitude
00:14:13 --> 00:14:15 control failure. Two of its three reaction
00:14:15 --> 00:14:18 wheels stopped working and its thruster
00:14:18 --> 00:14:21 system malfunctioned, sending it spinning
00:14:21 --> 00:14:23 uncontrollably. A software patch clawed
00:14:23 --> 00:14:26 back partial control, but not enough for a
00:14:26 --> 00:14:29 safe capture attempt. NASA made the failure
00:14:29 --> 00:14:30 official on August 19th.
00:14:31 --> 00:14:33 Avery: So Swift's fate is sealed.
00:14:33 --> 00:14:36 Anna: It is uncontrolled reentry
00:14:36 --> 00:14:38 sometime later this year, with early
00:14:38 --> 00:14:40 reporting suggesting not before October.
00:14:41 --> 00:14:43 Though NASA hasn't committed to a firm date
00:14:43 --> 00:14:45 or said anything about where debris might
00:14:45 --> 00:14:48 come down. And there's no second rescue
00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 attempt planned, NASA administrator Jared
00:14:51 --> 00:14:53 Isaacman's line on it was about as honest as
00:14:53 --> 00:14:56 it gets. This is not the outcome we were
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 working toward, but it does not change why
00:14:58 --> 00:15:00 this mission was worth attempting.
00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 Avery: Any silver lining at all.
00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 Anna: A, uh, small one. Link is still going to
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 attempt a close flyby of Swift just to gather
00:15:08 --> 00:15:10 proximity operations data that'll help
00:15:10 --> 00:15:13 whoever attempts the next satellite rescue
00:15:13 --> 00:15:15 mission. Satellite servicing is still a
00:15:15 --> 00:15:18 genuinely new capability. Nobody's got down
00:15:18 --> 00:15:21 to routine yet, so even a failed attempt
00:15:21 --> 00:15:24 teaches the next team something. Small
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 comfort for a telescope that's about to
00:15:26 --> 00:15:29 become a very expensive shooting star. But
00:15:29 --> 00:15:30 not nothing.
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 Avery: A uh, rough note to end the week's recap on,
00:15:32 --> 00:15:33 but an honest one.
00:15:33 --> 00:15:36 Anna: That's the job, even when the news isn't
00:15:36 --> 00:15:36 great.
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 Avery: Okay, that's the weekend wrap. China's Chang'
00:15:39 --> 00:15:42 E7 about to attempt the most ambitious moon
00:15:42 --> 00:15:44 mission any nation's ever flown. Plus a big
00:15:44 --> 00:15:47 week catching up on Starship's ship 40, still
00:15:47 --> 00:15:49 marooned off Christmas island with its
00:15:49 --> 00:15:52 transport plan. Unresolved landspace becoming
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 the first private Chinese company to land an
00:15:54 --> 00:15:57 orbital class booster. NASA pinpointing
00:15:57 --> 00:16:00 exactly where a Falcon nine hit the moon. And
00:16:00 --> 00:16:03 the rescue mission for NASA Swift Observatory
00:16:03 --> 00:16:04 coming up short.
00:16:04 --> 00:16:07 Anna: A ah, genuinely massive week for hardware and
00:16:07 --> 00:16:09 hopefully a useful way to catch up if you
00:16:09 --> 00:16:10 missed any of it as it happened.
00:16:10 --> 00:16:12 Avery: If you enjoyed today's episode, the best
00:16:12 --> 00:16:14 thing you can do for us is leave a rating or
00:16:14 --> 00:16:16 review wherever you're listening and share it
00:16:16 --> 00:16:19 with a fellow space nerd. Full shown outs,
00:16:19 --> 00:16:21 sources and links for every storey we covered
00:16:21 --> 00:16:24 today are @astronomydaily IO and you
00:16:24 --> 00:16:26 can find us on social media. We're astrodaily
00:16:26 --> 00:16:28 pod pretty much everywhere.
00:16:28 --> 00:16:30 Anna: We'll be back Monday with our regular weekday
00:16:30 --> 00:16:32 format. Until then, keep looking up.
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 Avery: See you then. Clear skies, everyone.