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SpaceX came agonisingly close to launching the most powerful rocket ever built in its newest configuration — but a technical halt at T-minus 40 seconds sent Starship V3's debut back to the drawing board, with another attempt window opening this evening (6:30–8:00 p.m. EDT). Anna and Avery dig into what went wrong, what makes V3 different, and the stunning announcement buried in the webcast: a named commander for humanity's first crewed Mars flyby mission. Plus: JWST rewrites exoplanet atmospheric science with unexpected ice clouds on a distant super-Jupiter, researchers map a mysterious magnetic 'flip' inside the Milky Way, and Rocket Lab launches from New Zealand.
Links & Further Reading • Starship Flight 12 live updates: space.com • SpaceX launch webcast (tonight): spacex.com • Chun Wang Mars announcement: universetoday.com • JWST Epsilon Indi Ab paper (ApJL): doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/ae5823 • Milky Way magnetic field study (ApJ): doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ae28d1 • Rocket Lab Viva La Strix mission: rocketlabusa.com • Astronomy Daily website: astronomydaily.io
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00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Anna: 40 seconds. That's all that stood between
00:00:02 --> 00:00:05 humanity and the most powerful rocket ever
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 built, taking its first flight in a whole New
00:00:08 --> 00:00:08 form.
00:00:08 --> 00:00:11 Avery: 40 seconds. The countdown was running. The
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 rocket was fueled. Tens of thousands of
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 people were watching, including a certain pop
00:00:16 --> 00:00:18 star who really should have been a good omen.
00:00:18 --> 00:00:21 Anna: And then it stopped. Ground equipment
00:00:21 --> 00:00:24 issues, rising propellant temperatures, a
00:00:24 --> 00:00:24 scrub.
00:00:24 --> 00:00:27 Avery: But here's the thing. Even in the scrub,
00:00:27 --> 00:00:29 SpaceX dropped a bombshell that had nothing
00:00:29 --> 00:00:32 to do with the rocket. A crewed mission to
00:00:32 --> 00:00:35 Mars. A real one, with a commander already
00:00:35 --> 00:00:35 named.
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39 Anna: We have got a lot to unpack today. I'm
00:00:39 --> 00:00:39 Anna.
00:00:39 --> 00:00:40 Avery: I'm, um, Avery.
00:00:40 --> 00:00:43 Anna: And, um, this is Astronomy Daily. May 22,
00:00:43 --> 00:00:45 2026. Let's get into it.
00:00:45 --> 00:00:48 Avery: Alright, let's set the scene. Thursday
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 evening, South Texas Starbase. The
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 brand new Starship version 3 is sitting on
00:00:53 --> 00:00:56 the pad, fueled, stacked, frosted white
00:00:56 --> 00:00:59 from cryogenic propellant. And the crowd has
00:00:59 --> 00:01:00 been building all day.
00:01:01 --> 00:01:04 Anna: This was supposed to be Flight 12, the debut
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 of the most powerful rocket ever built in its
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 most advanced configuration yet. And for
00:01:10 --> 00:01:12 context, this is the first starship test
00:01:12 --> 00:01:15 flight since way back in October of last
00:01:15 --> 00:01:17 year. Seven months of development work,
00:01:18 --> 00:01:21 two explosive setbacks on the test stand that
00:01:21 --> 00:01:23 destroyed hardware. And now, finally,
00:01:23 --> 00:01:24 here they are.
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 Avery: The launch window opens, weather clears.
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 SpaceX pushes to the back of the 90 minute
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 window to wait for upper level winds to ease.
00:01:33 --> 00:01:35 And then the countdown starts ticking toward
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 Anna: T0 and it gets to T minus
00:01:38 --> 00:01:41 40 seconds and it stops. It
00:01:41 --> 00:01:43 restarts, goes back to T40,
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 stops again. Engineers are on the webcast,
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 working through it in real time. SpaceX
00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 communications manager Dan Hoot is telling
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 viewers they're seeing issues with quick
00:01:54 --> 00:01:56 disconnect lines and water diverters on the
00:01:56 --> 00:01:57 launch tower.
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 Avery: And then propellant temperatures start rising
00:02:00 --> 00:02:02 in the tanks. That's the clock running out.
00:02:02 --> 00:02:03 The window closes.
00:02:04 --> 00:02:07 Anna: Scrubbed a ah scrub at T minus 40
00:02:07 --> 00:02:09 is genuinely frustrating. You're that close.
00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 But it's also, as SpaceX themselves say,
00:02:13 --> 00:02:16 completely expected behavior for a brand new
00:02:16 --> 00:02:19 rocket on a brand new pad. You learn things
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21 about these systems that you simply cannot
00:02:21 --> 00:02:22 learn any other way.
00:02:23 --> 00:02:25 Avery: So let's talk about what they're actually
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 trying to fly. Because Starship V3 is a
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 substantial step up from everything that came
00:02:30 --> 00:02:30 before.
00:02:31 --> 00:02:33 Anna: The V3 Starship. That's the upper stage
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 called ship 39 in this case and its
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 super heavy booster, booster 19
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 together generate around 18 million
00:02:42 --> 00:02:45 pounds of thrust at liftoff. That is a
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 significant Increase over the V2
00:02:47 --> 00:02:50 configuration. New engines on both stages.
00:02:50 --> 00:02:53 Avery: The mission profile for Flight 12, when it
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 does fly, has Booster 19 splashing down in
00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 the Gulf of Mexico while Ship 39 continues
00:02:59 --> 00:03:01 on a suborbital trajectory and targets a
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
00:03:04 --> 00:03:06 And critically, the mission includes a Raptor
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 engine test during the coast phase. Important
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 Data for future DE orbiting burns on orbital
00:03:11 --> 00:03:12 flights.
00:03:12 --> 00:03:15 Anna: And if, uh, Flight 12 goes well, the word
00:03:15 --> 00:03:18 from SpaceX is that Flight 13 could be the
00:03:18 --> 00:03:20 first orbital starship launch. That's a
00:03:20 --> 00:03:23 massive milestone. Now there's a bigger
00:03:23 --> 00:03:26 picture here too, Avery. SpaceX recently
00:03:26 --> 00:03:29 filed for an IPO. The company is expected to
00:03:29 --> 00:03:32 go public within weeks. And Starship is
00:03:32 --> 00:03:34 central to that story, demonstrating
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 meaningful progress on the next generation
00:03:37 --> 00:03:40 rocket program. Right now matters in a very
00:03:40 --> 00:03:41 real financial sense.
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 Avery: The good news is they get another shot
00:03:43 --> 00:03:46 tonight. The launch window opens at 6:30pm
00:03:46 --> 00:03:49 Eastern, closing at 8. Engineers have been
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 working through the night on those ground
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 systems. If you're listening to this and the
00:03:53 --> 00:03:55 window hasn't opened yet, watch to space.
00:03:56 --> 00:03:59 Anna: And now the part that honestly might be the
00:03:59 --> 00:04:01 bigger story. Because while engineers were
00:04:01 --> 00:04:04 troubleshooting at T minus 40, the SpaceX
00:04:04 --> 00:04:07 webcast team did something remarkable. They
00:04:07 --> 00:04:09 cut to a pre recorded interview
00:04:09 --> 00:04:12 Avery: with a man sitting on Bouvet island, which
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 for context is widely considered the most
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 remote island on Earth. A tiny volcanic rock
00:04:17 --> 00:04:20 in the South Atlantic, a nature reserve,
00:04:20 --> 00:04:21 population zero.
00:04:21 --> 00:04:24 Anna: This is Chun Wang, Chinese born
00:04:24 --> 00:04:27 cryptocurrency entrepreneur, citizen of Malta
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 and the commander of the Fram 2 mission last
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 year. The first ever crewed spaceflight to
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 polar orbit. The man has form when it comes
00:04:35 --> 00:04:38 to doing genuinely novel things in space.
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 Avery: And SpaceX announced that Chun Wang has
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 signed on to fly on the first commercial
00:04:42 --> 00:04:45 starship Circumlunar mission, joining Dennis
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 Tito and his wife Akiko, who bought seats
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 back in 2022. A loop around the moon
00:04:50 --> 00:04:51 on starship.
00:04:51 --> 00:04:54 Anna: But that's not the headline. The headline is
00:04:54 --> 00:04:55 what comes after the lunar flight.
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 Avery: Chun Wang will command the first crewed
00:04:58 --> 00:05:00 Starship interplanetary mission. A
00:05:00 --> 00:05:03 flyby of Mars. A two year mission.
00:05:03 --> 00:05:06 And in Wang's own words, a lot of people talk
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 about going to Mars. We like Mars, we're
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 going to land on Mars, we're going to build a
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 colony on Mars. But let's get it started with
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 a flyby. It will light the fire, it will
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 ignite the imagination, it will build the
00:05:18 --> 00:05:18 momentum.
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 Anna: No launch date was given, no full crew
00:05:21 --> 00:05:23 manifest, but a commander is named, a
00:05:23 --> 00:05:26 mission is defined. That's a real step
00:05:26 --> 00:05:29 beyond the language of we intend to and
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 into the language of this person is going.
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 Avery: Remember, SpaceX's own timeline has Uncrewed
00:05:35 --> 00:05:37 starships launching for Mars in the November
00:05:37 --> 00:05:40 December 2026 transfer window. The pace
00:05:40 --> 00:05:42 of this program, even with scrubs and
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 setbacks, is like nothing we've seen before.
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 Anna: One scrub doesn't change any of that. It will
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 simply become a footnote in space history
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53 books. What matters is that the rocket is on
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 the pad. The ambition is extraordinary.
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 And tonight, maybe tonight, Starship
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 V3 flies for the first time.
00:06:01 --> 00:06:03 Avery: And meanwhile, in other space news today,
00:06:04 --> 00:06:05 staying with the theme of extraordinary
00:06:05 --> 00:06:08 things happening in space, the James Webb
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 Space Telescope has given us another one.
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13 Astronomers have directly imaged an exoplanet
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 called Epsilon Indi Ab, a cold
00:06:16 --> 00:06:19 super Jupiter sitting about 12 light years
00:06:19 --> 00:06:21 from ear, and found something nobody expected
00:06:21 --> 00:06:22 to find there.
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 Anna: Water ice clouds. Not ammonia clouds,
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 which is what Jupiter, like planets are
00:06:27 --> 00:06:29 supposed to have. Hatchy, thick water
00:06:29 --> 00:06:32 ice clouds similar to cirrus clouds here on
00:06:32 --> 00:06:35 Earth, hiding in the atmosphere of a world
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38 seven and a half times the mass of Jupiter.
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 Avery: The discovery comes from a team led by
00:06:40 --> 00:06:42 Elizabeth Matthews at the Max Planck
00:06:42 --> 00:06:44 Institute for Astronomy, using Webb's mid
00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 infrared imager, the MIRI camera, which was
00:06:47 --> 00:06:49 able to directly image the planet's faint
00:06:49 --> 00:06:52 heat emission. The planet orbits its star at,
00:06:52 --> 00:06:54 uh, roughly Neptune's distance from our sun,
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 making it far colder than most exoplanets.
00:06:57 --> 00:07:00 Webb has studied surface temperatures
00:07:00 --> 00:07:03 somewhere between -70 and positive 20
00:07:03 --> 00:07:03 degrees Celsius.
00:07:04 --> 00:07:06 Anna: What makes this significant isn't just the
00:07:06 --> 00:07:09 discovery itself. It's what it says about our
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 models. Current atmospheric models for
00:07:11 --> 00:07:14 exoplanets didn't predict water ice clouds in
00:07:14 --> 00:07:17 a world like this. They expected ammonia.
00:07:17 --> 00:07:20 The fact that thick water ice layers appear
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 to be masking the ammonia signal means our
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 frameworks need updating.
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 Avery: And it has practical implications for how we
00:07:26 --> 00:07:29 search for other cold planets. If water ice
00:07:29 --> 00:07:31 clouds make some wavelengths look much
00:07:31 --> 00:07:34 fainter than expected, we may be missing
00:07:34 --> 00:07:36 worlds that don't fit the standard brightness
00:07:36 --> 00:07:36 profile.
00:07:36 --> 00:07:39 Anna: The researchers put it this JWST
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 is finally letting us study solar system
00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 analog planets in detail. As lead author
00:07:45 --> 00:07:48 Elizabeth Matthews said, if we were aliens
00:07:48 --> 00:07:50 several light years away, looking back at our
00:07:50 --> 00:07:53 sun, this is the first telescope that could
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 study Jupiter in detail. We are living in the
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 golden era of exoplanet science, from 12
00:07:59 --> 00:07:59 light years
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 Avery: away to right here in our own galaxy.
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 And a discovery that reshapes how we
00:08:04 --> 00:08:06 understand the invisible forces holding the
00:08:06 --> 00:08:07 Milky Way together.
00:08:07 --> 00:08:10 Anna: Astronomers at the University of Calgary
00:08:10 --> 00:08:13 have produced one of the most detailed maps
00:08:13 --> 00:08:16 ever made of the Milky Way's magnetic field
00:08:16 --> 00:08:19 and found something deeply unexpected hidden
00:08:19 --> 00:08:22 inside it. A magnetic flip, a
00:08:22 --> 00:08:24 reversal in the field's direction cutting
00:08:24 --> 00:08:27 diagonally through one of our galaxy's main
00:08:27 --> 00:08:30 spiral arms, the Sagittarius arm.
00:08:30 --> 00:08:33 Avery: The data came from a new radio
00:08:33 --> 00:08:35 telescope at the Dominion Radio
00:08:35 --> 00:08:38 Astrophysical Observatory in British
00:08:38 --> 00:08:41 Columbia, Canada. The instrument
00:08:41 --> 00:08:44 scans the sky at multiple radio
00:08:44 --> 00:08:47 frequencies simultaneously, allowing
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 researchers to trace the galaxy's
00:08:49 --> 00:08:52 magnetic structure using a technique
00:08:52 --> 00:08:55 called Faraday rotation, measuring
00:08:55 --> 00:08:58 the way radio waves shift when they pass
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 through magnetized plasma.
00:09:00 --> 00:09:03 Anna: In most of the galaxy, the magnetic field
00:09:03 --> 00:09:05 flows in a consistent direction along the
00:09:05 --> 00:09:08 spiral arms. But in the Sagittarius
00:09:08 --> 00:09:11 arm, the team found a, uh, diagonal
00:09:11 --> 00:09:14 reversal. The field essentially flips
00:09:14 --> 00:09:16 orientation across a diagonal line, cutting
00:09:16 --> 00:09:19 through space. This is the first time this
00:09:19 --> 00:09:21 structure has been mapped in three
00:09:21 --> 00:09:21 dimensions.
00:09:22 --> 00:09:24 Avery: The finding matters because the galaxy's
00:09:24 --> 00:09:27 magnetic field isn't just a curiosity. It
00:09:27 --> 00:09:30 shapes where gas flows, where new stars can
00:09:30 --> 00:09:33 form, and how the galaxy itself evolves
00:09:33 --> 00:09:36 over billions of years. A detailed map of
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 that field gives astronomers a reliable
00:09:38 --> 00:09:41 baseline for future studies that reach far
00:09:41 --> 00:09:42 beyond our own galaxy.
00:09:43 --> 00:09:46 Anna: Bead researcher Dr. Rebecca Booth described
00:09:46 --> 00:09:48 it as revealing a hidden structure.
00:09:48 --> 00:09:51 What looks like empty space is anything
00:09:51 --> 00:09:54 but empty. And thanks to this work, the
00:09:54 --> 00:09:57 invisible architecture of our own galaxy
00:09:57 --> 00:09:59 is no longer just a theory. It can be
00:09:59 --> 00:10:01 studied, tested, and built upon.
00:10:02 --> 00:10:04 Avery: And finally today, a successful launch close
00:10:04 --> 00:10:07 to home, at least for our Australian and New
00:10:07 --> 00:10:08 Zealand listeners.
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 Anna: Rocket Lab fired off another electron rocket
00:10:11 --> 00:10:14 this morning from its Launch Complex 1 on the
00:10:14 --> 00:10:17 Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. Mission
00:10:17 --> 00:10:20 name Viva Le Strix. The payload was
00:10:20 --> 00:10:22 a synthetic aperture radar satellite called
00:10:22 --> 00:10:25 Strix 7, built for the Japanese Earth
00:10:25 --> 00:10:27 imaging company Synspective.
00:10:27 --> 00:10:30 Avery: This is the ninth time Rocket Lab has
00:10:30 --> 00:10:33 launched a Strix satellite for Synspective. A
00:10:33 --> 00:10:35 relationship going back to 2020. And with
00:10:35 --> 00:10:38 another 18 missions already booked through to
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 2030, the constellation
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 Synspective is building will eventually
00:10:42 --> 00:10:45 provide continuous SAR imaging of Japan
00:10:45 --> 00:10:48 and surrounding regions. Data used for
00:10:48 --> 00:10:50 urban development, planning, infrastructure,
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 monitoring, and disaster response.
00:10:53 --> 00:10:56 Anna: Synthetic aperture radar is worth a quick
00:10:56 --> 00:10:58 note for those unfamiliar. It's a type of
00:10:58 --> 00:11:01 imaging that works in total darkness and
00:11:01 --> 00:11:03 through cloud cover, While optical
00:11:03 --> 00:11:05 satellites can't see through weather or at
00:11:05 --> 00:11:08 night. SAR satellites illuminate the
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 surface with radar pulses and build a
00:11:10 --> 00:11:13 detailed image from the return signal. That's
00:11:13 --> 00:11:15 why Synspective called the Constellation
00:11:15 --> 00:11:18 Strix, the genus of owls they
00:11:18 --> 00:11:19 see in the dark.
00:11:20 --> 00:11:23 Avery: The electron rocket itself is now 70
00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 flights into its operational life. Small,
00:11:25 --> 00:11:28 dedicated, reliable, it's become the
00:11:28 --> 00:11:31 workhorse of the smallsat launch market. And
00:11:31 --> 00:11:33 this mission is a textbook example of what it
00:11:33 --> 00:11:36 was designed for. A commercial customer. A
00:11:36 --> 00:11:39 specific orbit, a uh, clean deployment Rocket
00:11:39 --> 00:11:41 Lab doing what Rocket Lab does.
00:11:41 --> 00:11:44 Anna: And that is your Astronomy daily for Friday,
00:11:44 --> 00:11:47 May 22, 2026. What a
00:11:47 --> 00:11:48 morning to be alive.
00:11:48 --> 00:11:50 Avery: And following space news, Starship
00:11:50 --> 00:11:53 V3 gets another shot tonight. A crewed
00:11:53 --> 00:11:56 Mars flyby has a Commander Webb is
00:11:56 --> 00:11:58 rewriting Exoplanet atmospheric science.
00:11:59 --> 00:12:01 Our own galaxy just revealed a hidden
00:12:01 --> 00:12:04 magnetic structure and rocket Lab quietly
00:12:04 --> 00:12:06 keeps building humanity's eyes in Orb, a
00:12:06 --> 00:12:08 hillside in New Zealand.
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 Anna: If you're watching the starship launch
00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 tonight, you can follow live coverage@sp
00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 SpaceX.com window opens 06:30
00:12:15 --> 00:12:18 Eastern and as always, all the links, show
00:12:18 --> 00:12:19 notes and further reading are at
00:12:19 --> 00:12:21 astronomydaily IO.
00:12:21 --> 00:12:24 Avery: If you're enjoying the show, a uh subscribe a
00:12:24 --> 00:12:26 review, a uh share it all helps us reach more
00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 space enthusiasts around the world. We
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 genuinely appreciate every single one.
00:12:31 --> 00:12:33 Anna: And before we go, a quick reminder about the
00:12:33 --> 00:12:36 special money saving deal our uh, sponsor
00:12:36 --> 00:12:39 NordVPN has put together for you as you
00:12:39 --> 00:12:41 think about upgrading or implementing your
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00:12:47 --> 00:12:49 Avery: 2 check out deal and be surprised by how good
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00:12:51 --> 00:12:51 notes.
00:12:52 --> 00:12:52 Anna: I'm Anna.
00:12:53 --> 00:12:54 Avery: And I'm Avery bae.
00:12:54 --> 00:12:57 Anna: Curious. Keep looking up. We'll see you
00:12:57 --> 00:12:59 tomorrow on Astronomy Daily.
00:12:59 --> 00:13:00 Avery: Astronomy Daily
00:13:02 --> 00:13:03 Stories we told
00:13:05 --> 00:13:05 Love.