Story 1 — Dark Matter Is Hugging Our Galaxy's Black Hole • Virginia Tech researchers used 'echo mapping' — light reverberations around active black holes — to detect dark matter signatures • Supermassive black holes including Sgr A* (Milky Way) appear surrounded by dense dark matter clusters • Lead researcher Mayank Sharma: 'The observational evidence for dark matter is simply undeniable' • Published in Physical Review D, June 11, 2026 • Provides a new tool for probing dark matter in the most extreme gravitational environments Story 2 — Swift Rescue Mission: Launch Date Confirmed • NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory launched 2004; has been losing altitude due to atmospheric drag — no thrusters to compensate • Katalyst Space Technologies built LINK — a robotic servicer with 3 robotic arms and xenon Hall-effect thrusters • Northrop Grumman's Stargazer aircraft departed Wallops Flight Facility June 18 carrying Pegasus XL + LINK • Launch from Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands: confirmed for June 27, 2026 • LINK must chase down Swift, inspect it, and latch on — a first-of-its-kind robotic capture mission • Critical altitude threshold: if Swift drops below 185 miles (300 km), rescue becomes impossible • Success would give Swift another ~22 years of science at its original 600 km altitude Story 3 — Chandra Spots a Supernova Near the Galactic Centre • NASA Chandra, ESA XMM-Newton, and MeerKAT (South Africa) detected a 'blue blob' of X-ray emission in Sagittarius C • Sagittarius C is a star-forming region ~26,000 light-years from Earth, a few dozen light-years from Sgr A* • Estimated age: ~1,700 years — light from the explosion would have reached Earth around 300 AD • Expansion speed: approximately 2 million miles per hour • Published in The Astrophysical Journal (Zhu et al., June 11); NASA APOD June 18 • If confirmed, one of the closest supernova remnants ever found to the Milky Way's central black hole Story 4 — MAVEN: The Eulogy • MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) launched November 2013; arrived Mars September 2014 • Original mission: 1 year. Actual mission: 11+ years — ended June 3, 2026 • Last contact: December 6, 2025 — entered fast spin, batteries drained, unrecoverable • Key discoveries: atmospheric escape rates, solar storm acceleration of Mars atmosphere loss, atmospheric sputtering (first observed at any planet), new types of Martian aurora • Also served as communications relay for Curiosity and Perseverance rovers • PI Shannon Curry's epitaph: 'Best Mars mission ever.' — 800+ scientific publications • MAVEN will remain in Mars orbit 50–100 years before eventually entering the Martian atmosphere Story 5 — Operation Period: First-Ever Space Menstruation Study • Non-profit Operation Period, led by Manju Bangalore and Priya Abiram, announced OP-01 mission on June 19 • First dedicated scientific study of menstruation in microgravity — despite 100+ women having flown to space • Current practice: astronauts typically suppress menstruation during spaceflight with hormones — due to lack of data, not proven necessity • OP-01: suborbital Virgin Galactic flight in 2027; researchers will conduct the study on themselves • Research wing: Operation Period's 'Redshift Lab' • Data vital for longer missions — Moon, Mars — where menstrual health management matters more Story 6 — Isar Aerospace's Spectrum Rocket: Europe Keeps Trying • Isar Aerospace (Ottobrunn, Germany): Europe's most advanced commercial small launch startup — 800M+ euros raised • Spectrum rocket: 28m tall, up to 1,000 kg to LEO, 700 kg to SSO; 10 engines • First flight (March 2025): failed after 30 seconds — vent valve opened unexpectedly, rocket lost attitude control • Second flight 'Onward and Upward': carrying 5 university cubesats + 1 experiment; backed by ESA Boost! programme • 2026 scrubs: January (pressurisation valve), March (fuel temp/fishing vessel), April (pressure vessel), June 15 (fluid system anomaly) • Current status: no new launch date; Andøya window reportedly closed; Isar analysing data • Context: part of ESA's European Launcher Challenge — must achieve orbital flight by 2027 to qualify for up to €205M
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Anna: Light echoes, revealing dark matter,
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 a race against orbital decay with days
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 to go, a supernova ghost haunting
00:00:08 --> 00:00:11 the heart of our own galaxy. And an
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 11 year farewell to one of the best Mars
00:00:14 --> 00:00:15 missions we've ever flown.
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 Avery: Plus, the first ever scientific study of
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 menstruation in space is officially on the
00:00:21 --> 00:00:23 launchpad. And, um, Europe's plucky little
00:00:23 --> 00:00:26 rocket is trying and trying and
00:00:26 --> 00:00:27 trying again.
00:00:27 --> 00:00:30 Anna: It's Monday, the 22nd of June,
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 2026. You're listening to Astronomy
00:00:33 --> 00:00:34 Daily. I'm Anna.
00:00:34 --> 00:00:36 Avery: And I'm Avery. Let's get into it.
00:00:37 --> 00:00:39 Anna: We have something genuinely new to tell you
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 about dark matter this morning, and it
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45 involves the supermassive black hole right
00:00:45 --> 00:00:46 at the heart of our own galaxy,
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 Avery: Sagittarius a, our galaxy's 4
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 million solar mass anchor. Scientists have
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 been staring at it for decades, and, um, they
00:00:54 --> 00:00:56 just found something hiding in plain sight.
00:00:57 --> 00:00:59 Anna: Researchers at Virginia Tech have developed a
00:00:59 --> 00:01:02 technique called echo mapping, and they've
00:01:02 --> 00:01:05 used it to find hints that Sagittarius A
00:01:06 --> 00:01:08 and other supermassive black holes are
00:01:08 --> 00:01:11 surrounded by dense clusters of dark matter.
00:01:12 --> 00:01:15 Avery: Now, dark matter makes up about 85% of
00:01:15 --> 00:01:17 all the matter in the universe. We know it's
00:01:17 --> 00:01:20 there because of how it bends light and pulls
00:01:20 --> 00:01:22 on stars. But we can't see it, touch
00:01:22 --> 00:01:25 it, or detect it directly. It just
00:01:25 --> 00:01:26 lurks.
00:01:26 --> 00:01:29 Anna: Until now, the environments
00:01:29 --> 00:01:31 immediately around supermassive black holes
00:01:32 --> 00:01:34 were basically impenetrable to dark matter
00:01:34 --> 00:01:37 searches. But echo mapping changes that.
00:01:37 --> 00:01:39 Here's how it works.
00:01:39 --> 00:01:41 Avery: When a black hole at the center of an active
00:01:41 --> 00:01:44 galaxy flares, spitting out light, that
00:01:44 --> 00:01:46 light bounces off surrounding gas and dust,
00:01:46 --> 00:01:49 creating delayed echoes that we can detect,
00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 like sonar, but using light and gravity.
00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 Anna: Mayank Sharma, the Virginia Tech graduate
00:01:55 --> 00:01:57 student who led the study, said we are
00:01:57 --> 00:01:59 reaching a point where the observational
00:01:59 --> 00:02:02 evidence for dark matter is simply
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 undeniable. The research was published in
00:02:05 --> 00:02:07 Physical Review D on June 11th.
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 Avery: What they found were signatures in those
00:02:09 --> 00:02:11 echoes that couldn't be explained by the
00:02:11 --> 00:02:14 black hole lone. There appears to be extra
00:02:14 --> 00:02:17 material, extra mass huddled around it.
00:02:17 --> 00:02:19 And the leading candidate, dark matter.
00:02:20 --> 00:02:23 Anna: The implications are significant. If
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 dark matter clumps densely around
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 supermassive black holes, including our
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 own Sagittarius A. That
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 changes our models of how galaxies form,
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 how black holes grow, and potentially how
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 dark matter interacts at the smallest
00:02:39 --> 00:02:39 scales.
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 Avery: And this is an entirely new observational
00:02:42 --> 00:02:44 tool. Scientists now have a way to peer into
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 the environments right around black hole
00:02:46 --> 00:02:49 hearts and look for the universe's most
00:02:49 --> 00:02:50 mysterious ingredient.
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 Anna: Dark matter. Still invisible, still
00:02:53 --> 00:02:55 mysterious, but apparently very
00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 attached to the biggest objects in the
00:02:58 --> 00:02:58 cosmos.
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 Avery: We have a major update on a story we've been
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 following closely here on Astronomy Daily,
00:03:03 --> 00:03:06 the daring rescue mission to save NASA's Neil
00:03:06 --> 00:03:08 Jarrell's Swift Observatory.
00:03:08 --> 00:03:11 Anna: Swift launched in 2004. It's been one
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 of NASA's most productive telescopes,
00:03:14 --> 00:03:17 spotting gamma ray bursts, pivoting quickly
00:03:17 --> 00:03:20 to follow up targets across ultraviolet, X
00:03:20 --> 00:03:22 ray and visible light. 22 years
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 of extraordinary science.
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 Avery: But here's the problem. Swift was never
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 equipped with thrusters. And after years of
00:03:29 --> 00:03:32 heightened solar activity, the atmosphere has
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 puffed up, increasing drag. Swift
00:03:35 --> 00:03:38 has been sinking slowly but fatally
00:03:38 --> 00:03:39 towards Earth.
00:03:39 --> 00:03:42 Anna: Enter Catalyst Space Technologies, a,
00:03:42 --> 00:03:44 uh, startup that NASA commissioned to build a
00:03:44 --> 00:03:47 robotic servicer called Link, essentially
00:03:47 --> 00:03:50 a space tugboat with three robotic arms and
00:03:50 --> 00:03:53 xenon ion thrusters to grab
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 Swift and haul it back up to safety.
00:03:55 --> 00:03:58 Avery: And here's the new development. The launch
00:03:58 --> 00:04:01 day is confirmed June 27, just five
00:04:01 --> 00:04:03 days from now. Northrop Grumman Stargazer
00:04:03 --> 00:04:06 aircraft left Wallops flight facility on June
00:04:06 --> 00:04:09 18th carrying the Pegasus XL rocket
00:04:09 --> 00:04:11 with Link tucked inside. And it's been making
00:04:11 --> 00:04:13 its way across the Pacific.
00:04:13 --> 00:04:16 Anna: It's now en route to Kwajalein Atoll in the
00:04:16 --> 00:04:19 Marshall Islands, a remote equatorial
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 location chosen specifically for its orbital
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 geometry. The Pegasus rocket will be
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 dropped from about 40ft, fire its
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 engines and deliver Link to orbit in roughly
00:04:30 --> 00:04:31 10 minutes.
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 Avery: The hard part comes after launch. Link then
00:04:35 --> 00:04:37 has to chase down Swift, spending two to
00:04:37 --> 00:04:40 three weeks closing in on an observatory that
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 was never designed to be grabbed and use its
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 robotic arms to latch on.
00:04:44 --> 00:04:47 Anna: As of mid June, Swift was orbiting at
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 about 225 miles altitude.
00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 If it dips below 185 miles,
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56 the rescue becomes physically impossible.
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 Link's thrusters wouldn't be strong enough to
00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 fight the drag and boost them both to safety.
00:05:02 --> 00:05:05 Avery: If it works, Link will push Swift back up to
00:05:05 --> 00:05:07 around 600 km, its original
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 altitude, which sustained the telescope for
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 22 years. The first time. That would give
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 Swift potentially another two decades of
00:05:15 --> 00:05:16 science.
00:05:16 --> 00:05:19 Anna: And if successful, this will be the first
00:05:19 --> 00:05:21 ever capture of an uncrewed US Government
00:05:21 --> 00:05:24 satellite by a private robotic
00:05:24 --> 00:05:27 spacecraft. The whole space industry is
00:05:27 --> 00:05:27 watching.
00:05:28 --> 00:05:30 Avery: Five days. The countdown is on.
00:05:30 --> 00:05:33 Anna: Stay near the center of the galaxy with us
00:05:33 --> 00:05:35 for a moment because we have another
00:05:35 --> 00:05:38 extraordinary discovery to share. And this
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 one is thousands of years in the making.
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 Avery: NASA's Chandra X Ray Observatory, working
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 alongside ESA's XMM M M Newton
00:05:46 --> 00:05:49 and the Meerkat radial telescope in South
00:05:49 --> 00:05:51 Africa, has found what appears to be a
00:05:51 --> 00:05:54 supernova remnant lurking in a star
00:05:54 --> 00:05:56 forming region called Sagittarius C.
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 Just a few Dozen light years from Sagittarius
00:05:59 --> 00:05:59 A.
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 Anna: This would make it one of the closest
00:06:02 --> 00:06:04 supernova remnants ever found to the
00:06:04 --> 00:06:07 supermassive black hole at the center of our
00:06:07 --> 00:06:10 galaxy. The research was published in the
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13 astrophysical journal on June 11,
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 and NASA made it the astronomy picture of the
00:06:16 --> 00:06:17 day on June 18th.
00:06:18 --> 00:06:20 Avery: What they found is a bright blob of X ray
00:06:20 --> 00:06:23 emission, A blue blob in the composite images
00:06:23 --> 00:06:26 buried inside a much larger cloud of radio
00:06:26 --> 00:06:29 emission. The Sagittarius C region itself
00:06:29 --> 00:06:32 is enormous, about 50 light years across.
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35 Anna: The team think this blob is the expanding
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38 wreckage of a massive star that detonated in
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 a core collapse supernova. When a star
00:06:40 --> 00:06:43 runs out of fuel, collapses in on itself and
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 explodes outward in one of the universe's
00:06:46 --> 00:06:47 most violent events.
00:06:48 --> 00:06:51 Avery: And the numbers are staggering. This remnant
00:06:51 --> 00:06:54 is estimated to be at least 1700 years
00:06:54 --> 00:06:56 old, meaning the light from that explosion
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58 would have reached Earth around the year 300
00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 AD and it's still racing outward at
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 about 2 million miles per hour.
00:07:04 --> 00:07:06 Anna: The team led by Zem Lin Zhu and Mark
00:07:06 --> 00:07:09 Morris at UCLA looked for chemical
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 signatures of a supernova like elevate
00:07:12 --> 00:07:15 iron, oxygen and silicon. They didn't
00:07:15 --> 00:07:18 find a clear spike, but that may be because
00:07:18 --> 00:07:20 the debris has already mixed with the
00:07:20 --> 00:07:21 surrounding gas.
00:07:21 --> 00:07:24 Avery: The galactic center is an incredibly dense,
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 exotic environment. Magnetic fields,
00:07:26 --> 00:07:29 fast orbiting gas clouds, massive stars,
00:07:29 --> 00:07:32 and now possibly the ghost of a star that
00:07:32 --> 00:07:35 exploded in late antiquity, embedded just
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 spitting distance from our galaxy's central
00:07:37 --> 00:07:37 black hole.
00:07:38 --> 00:07:40 Anna: If confirmed, this remnant adds an important
00:07:40 --> 00:07:43 data point to our understanding of how
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 stellar cycles play out in the most extreme
00:07:45 --> 00:07:48 environments in the galaxy, and how
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 supernovae seed the next generation of stars
00:07:51 --> 00:07:53 and planets with heavy elements.
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 Avery: A blue blob expanding at 2 million
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 miles an hour for 1700 years.
00:07:59 --> 00:08:01 And we only just noticed it.
00:08:01 --> 00:08:03 Anna: We want to take a moment now to pay tribute
00:08:03 --> 00:08:06 to one of NASA's great Mars missions. Because
00:08:06 --> 00:08:09 on June 3, NASA officially declared
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 the end of the Maven mission after 11
00:08:12 --> 00:08:13 years in orbit at Mars.
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 Avery: MAVEN, that stands for Mars Atmosphere and
00:08:16 --> 00:08:19 Volatile Evolution, launched from Cape
00:08:19 --> 00:08:22 Canaveral in November 2013, arrived
00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 at Mars in September 2014, and was only
00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 ever supposed to last one year. It
00:08:27 --> 00:08:28 lasted 11.
00:08:28 --> 00:08:31 Anna: The mission was designed to answer one of
00:08:31 --> 00:08:33 planetary science's most compelling
00:08:34 --> 00:08:37 how did Mars go from a warm, wet world
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40 with rivers, lakes, and a thick atmosphere
00:08:40 --> 00:08:42 to the cold, dry desert desert we see today?
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 Avery: And MAVEN cracked it open. It measured
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 atmospheric escape rates, the pace at
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 which gas is being stripped away by solar
00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 wind. It discovered that solar storms
00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 dramatically accelerate that stripping.
00:08:57 --> 00:08:59 It found a New type of aurora at Mars,
00:09:00 --> 00:09:02 one that occurs planet wide, unlike
00:09:02 --> 00:09:04 Earth's, which are confined to the poles.
00:09:05 --> 00:09:07 Anna: It also observed a first atmospheric
00:09:07 --> 00:09:10 sputtering. That's when charged particles
00:09:10 --> 00:09:13 slam into the upper atmosphere hard enough to
00:09:13 --> 00:09:15 splash neutral gas molecules out into space.
00:09:16 --> 00:09:18 Like doing a cannonball in a pool, as the
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 mission's principal investigator, Shannon
00:09:20 --> 00:09:21 Curry, put it.
00:09:21 --> 00:09:24 Avery: Maven also helped keep our surface rovers
00:09:24 --> 00:09:27 alive. It acted as a crucial communications
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 relay for Curiosity and perseverance,
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 passing messages between Earth and the
00:09:32 --> 00:09:34 Martian surface. When Maven went silent,
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 it left a real gap.
00:09:37 --> 00:09:39 Anna: And silent it went. On December 6 last
00:09:39 --> 00:09:42 year, Maven passed behind Mars on a routine
00:09:42 --> 00:09:45 orbit and never came back. An
00:09:45 --> 00:09:47 anomaly review board spent months searching
00:09:47 --> 00:09:50 for a signal. They found fragments of
00:09:50 --> 00:09:52 telemetry showing the spacecraft had entered
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 a fast spin, draining its batteries beyond
00:09:55 --> 00:09:55 recovery.
00:09:56 --> 00:09:58 Avery: NASA formally ended the mission at a press
00:09:58 --> 00:10:01 conference on June 3rd. Shaman Curry, when
00:10:01 --> 00:10:03 asked what she'd put on Maven's tombstone,
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 had an immediate answer. Best Mars
00:10:06 --> 00:10:07 mission ever.
00:10:08 --> 00:10:10 Anna: Over 800 scientific publications.
00:10:11 --> 00:10:14 Auroras, atmospheric escape, Global
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 dust storm studies, observations of
00:10:16 --> 00:10:18 interstellar comet 3I Atlas.
00:10:19 --> 00:10:21 Maven changed how we understand an entire
00:10:21 --> 00:10:22 planet.
00:10:22 --> 00:10:25 Avery: It will remain in Mars orbit for another 50
00:10:25 --> 00:10:28 to 100 years before eventually burning up in
00:10:28 --> 00:10:30 the Martian atmosphere. Fitting, really.
00:10:30 --> 00:10:33 Maven studied Mars atmosphere until the very
00:10:33 --> 00:10:36 end. And one day, it will become part of it.
00:10:37 --> 00:10:39 Anna: 11 years of extraordinary science.
00:10:40 --> 00:10:41 Farewell, Maven.
00:10:41 --> 00:10:44 Avery: Now, here's a story that's surprising for one
00:10:44 --> 00:10:47 simple reason. It's 2026. More than
00:10:47 --> 00:10:50 100 women have flown to space, and nobody
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 has actually ever studied menstruation in
00:10:52 --> 00:10:54 microgravity until, um, now.
00:10:54 --> 00:10:57 Anna: A nonprofit called Operation Period, led by
00:10:57 --> 00:11:00 Gen Z researchers Manju Bangalore and Priya
00:11:00 --> 00:11:03 Abhiram has announced a suborbital research
00:11:03 --> 00:11:05 mission called Operation Period Zero,
00:11:06 --> 00:11:08 or OP1, on a Virgin Galactic
00:11:08 --> 00:11:11 suborbital flight targeted for 2027.
00:11:12 --> 00:11:15 Avery: Anju Bangalore is a physicist, astronautical
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 engineer, and former NASA researcher.
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 Priya Abhiram is an engineer who has worked
00:11:20 --> 00:11:23 on astronaut life support systems at NASA and
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 Blue Origin. These are serious scientists
00:11:25 --> 00:11:27 tackling a serious gap.
00:11:28 --> 00:11:30 Anna: Here's the gap right now. Astronauts who
00:11:30 --> 00:11:33 menstruate typically choose to fully suppress
00:11:33 --> 00:11:35 their periods during spaceflight using
00:11:35 --> 00:11:38 hormonal IUDs or oral contraceptives.
00:11:38 --> 00:11:40 Not because it's dangerous, but because
00:11:40 --> 00:11:43 nobody has studied. What happens if they
00:11:43 --> 00:11:43 don't.
00:11:43 --> 00:11:46 Avery: With no data, there are no real choices.
00:11:46 --> 00:11:49 And as spaceflight missions get longer, to
00:11:49 --> 00:11:52 the moon, to Mars, the question becomes more
00:11:52 --> 00:11:55 urgent. What happens to the menstrual cycle
00:11:55 --> 00:11:57 in microgravity? Does it change? Does
00:11:57 --> 00:12:00 Fluid dynamics behave differently. Nobody
00:12:00 --> 00:12:00 knows.
00:12:01 --> 00:12:04 Anna: Op1 will send Bangalore and Abhiram
00:12:04 --> 00:12:06 themselves to the edge of space on a Virgin
00:12:06 --> 00:12:09 Galactic suborbital flight to collect real
00:12:09 --> 00:12:12 physiological data. The specific research
00:12:12 --> 00:12:14 protocol will be announced closer to the
00:12:14 --> 00:12:14 mission.
00:12:15 --> 00:12:18 Avery: The announcement came on June 19. The team
00:12:18 --> 00:12:20 sits under Operation Period's research wing,
00:12:20 --> 00:12:23 called the Redshift Lab. And the team has
00:12:23 --> 00:12:26 been pointed out that over 750 people
00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 have traveled to space. Yet this fundamental
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 human biology has simply never been formally
00:12:31 --> 00:12:32 studied.
00:12:33 --> 00:12:35 Anna: It's a gap that's been hiding in plain sight.
00:12:35 --> 00:12:38 And it matters not just for the astronauts of
00:12:38 --> 00:12:40 today, but for the humans who will one day
00:12:40 --> 00:12:43 live on the Moon or spend years in transit to
00:12:43 --> 00:12:43 Mars.
00:12:44 --> 00:12:46 Avery: History is full of things that should have
00:12:46 --> 00:12:48 been studied decades earlier. Good to see
00:12:48 --> 00:12:50 this one finally getting its mission patch.
00:12:51 --> 00:12:54 Anna: And finally today, a story about persistence,
00:12:54 --> 00:12:56 ambition, and the maddening physics of
00:12:56 --> 00:12:57 getting a rocket off the ground.
00:12:58 --> 00:13:01 Avery: Europe wants sovereign access to space.
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 Not just through Ariana Space's big
00:13:03 --> 00:13:06 launchers, but through a new generation of
00:13:06 --> 00:13:09 nimble commercial small satellite rockets
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 built in Europe for European needs.
00:13:12 --> 00:13:15 Anna: The leading candidate for that crown is Isar
00:13:15 --> 00:13:18 Aerospace, a German startup headquartered
00:13:18 --> 00:13:21 near Munich. They've raised over 800
00:13:21 --> 00:13:23 million euros in private funding. They have a
00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 rocket called Spectrum, 28 meters tall,
00:13:26 --> 00:13:29 capable of hauling up to a ton to low Earth
00:13:29 --> 00:13:32 orbit. And they are trying very,
00:13:32 --> 00:13:33 very hard to fly it.
00:13:34 --> 00:13:37 Avery: Vectrum's first test flight was in March last
00:13:37 --> 00:13:40 year. It lasted 30 seconds before a
00:13:40 --> 00:13:43 vent valve unexpectedly opened. The rocket
00:13:43 --> 00:13:46 lost attitude control and it plunged into the
00:13:46 --> 00:13:47 sea near the launch pad.
00:13:47 --> 00:13:50 Anna: But critically, it cleared the pad,
00:13:50 --> 00:13:53 proved the engines could fire, proved liftoff
00:13:53 --> 00:13:56 was possible. And, Isar learned, fixed the
00:13:56 --> 00:13:59 softw, increased margins, and came back
00:13:59 --> 00:14:00 for a second attempt.
00:14:01 --> 00:14:04 Avery: That second attempt, the Onward and Upward
00:14:04 --> 00:14:06 mission, carrying five European university
00:14:06 --> 00:14:09 cubesats and a technology demonstrator,
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 has been trying to launch from Andoya
00:14:11 --> 00:14:14 spaceport in Norway since January. Four
00:14:14 --> 00:14:16 attempts this year alone.
00:14:17 --> 00:14:20 Anna: January scrubbed for a faulty pressurization
00:14:20 --> 00:14:23 valve. March scrubbed for fuel temperature
00:14:23 --> 00:14:25 issues. And then a fishing vessel wandered
00:14:25 --> 00:14:28 into the hazard zone. April postponed
00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 over a suspected pressure vessel leak. June
00:14:31 --> 00:14:34 15 halted after an anomaly in the fluid
00:14:34 --> 00:14:35 system.
00:14:35 --> 00:14:38 Avery: As of today, the launch window at Andoya has
00:14:38 --> 00:14:41 reportedly expired and no new date has been
00:14:41 --> 00:14:44 announced. ISAR is analyzing the data from
00:14:44 --> 00:14:45 the June 15th abort.
00:14:46 --> 00:14:49 Anna: To be fair, this is exactly what test flight
00:14:49 --> 00:14:51 programs look like. SpaceX had
00:14:51 --> 00:14:54 spectacular failures. Rocket lab had
00:14:54 --> 00:14:56 scrubs. Every rocket that flies reliably
00:14:56 --> 00:14:59 today once refused to fly at all.
00:15:00 --> 00:15:02 Avery: But the backdrop matters. Europe's space
00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 sector needs a sovereign small launcher.
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 Isar is the furthest ahead, and every delay
00:15:08 --> 00:15:10 is a reminder of just how hard the business
00:15:10 --> 00:15:12 of rocketry really is.
00:15:13 --> 00:15:15 Anna: We'll be watching. Go Spectrum whenever
00:15:15 --> 00:15:16 you're ready.
00:15:17 --> 00:15:19 Avery: Before we wrap up, let's look up what's in
00:15:19 --> 00:15:21 the winter sky tonight for our Southern
00:15:21 --> 00:15:23 Hemisphere listeners.
00:15:23 --> 00:15:26 Anna: The June Buddids meteor shower peaks
00:15:26 --> 00:15:28 Tonight right around 1am GMT,
00:15:28 --> 00:15:31 which for Eastern Australia is around midday,
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 so Southern Hemisphere viewers will have
00:15:34 --> 00:15:37 missed the peak. But the Bootids are famously
00:15:37 --> 00:15:39 unpredictable. Occasional outbursts have
00:15:39 --> 00:15:42 surprised observers in the past. Worth a look
00:15:42 --> 00:15:44 either way, though. Expect only a handful of
00:15:44 --> 00:15:45 meteors per hour.
00:15:46 --> 00:15:49 Avery: The Moon is in its first quarter phase, half
00:15:49 --> 00:15:52 lit, making it a great target for binoculars
00:15:52 --> 00:15:54 or a small telescope. Tonight, look for the
00:15:54 --> 00:15:57 crisp terminator line where craters and
00:15:57 --> 00:15:59 mountain ranges cast sharp shadows.
00:15:59 --> 00:16:02 Anna: Tomorrow night, the Moon will appear near
00:16:02 --> 00:16:04 Spica, the bright blue white heart of
00:16:04 --> 00:16:07 Virgo, an easy and lovely pair to spot
00:16:07 --> 00:16:09 after sunset with the naked eye.
00:16:10 --> 00:16:12 Avery: And keep watching the western horizon after
00:16:12 --> 00:16:15 sunset for the planetary trio. Venus
00:16:15 --> 00:16:18 remains the brightest by far, with Jupiter
00:16:18 --> 00:16:21 nearby. Mercury is fading lower but
00:16:21 --> 00:16:23 still catchable if you have a clear western
00:16:23 --> 00:16:23 horizon,
00:16:24 --> 00:16:27 Anna: beautiful winter skies, Everyone rug up
00:16:27 --> 00:16:28 and look up.
00:16:28 --> 00:16:30 That's Astronomy daily for Monday 22nd
00:16:31 --> 00:16:33 June 2026. I'm Hannah.
00:16:34 --> 00:16:36 Avery: And I'm Avery. Thank you so much for spending
00:16:36 --> 00:16:38 part of your day with us in the cosmos.
00:16:39 --> 00:16:40 Anna: You'll find links and show
00:16:40 --> 00:16:43 notes@astronomydaily IO and
00:16:43 --> 00:16:45 if you're enjoying the show, leaving us a
00:16:45 --> 00:16:47 review really does make a difference.
00:16:48 --> 00:16:50 Avery: Find us on X, Instagram, Facebook,
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53 TikTok, and Tumblr.
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 Astrodaily Pod, we'd love to
00:16:56 --> 00:16:57 hear what you thought of today's stories.
00:16:58 --> 00:17:00 Anna: Until tomorrow, keep your eyes on the
00:17:00 --> 00:17:03 Avery: stars and your mind in the universe.
00:17:14 --> 00:17:14 Anna: The stories.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:23 Were told
00:17:26 --> 00:17:26 m.