Japan's Rocket Setback, Astronauts' Extended Stay, and Mars' Archaeological Debate: S03E235

Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your daily dose of space and astronomy news. I'm your host Anna, and today we've got an exciting lineup of stories for you. We'll be covering everything from mission updates and space station developments to groundbreaking astronomical discoveries. Coming up, we'll look at the latest in commercial space ventures, hear about record-breaking spacewalks, and explore some fascinating new findings near the center of our galaxy. Stay tuned as we journey through today's biggest space and astronomy headlines.

In a setback for Japan's commercial space industry, startup company Space One has experienced their second unsuccessful rocket launch attempt. The company's Kairos No. 2 rocket, an 18-meter-long solid-fuel vehicle, lifted off from Space Port Kii in Kushimoto, the country's only commercial spaceport. While the initial stage of the launch went according to plan, with successful separation of the first stage and payload fairing, the company was forced to abort the mission approximately 20 minutes after liftoff. This launch carried significant importance, with five satellites on board from various entities including the Taiwan Space Agency and Japanese firms Space Cubics and Terra Space. The mission had already faced delays, being postponed twice due to strong winds before Wednesday's attempt. This marks Space One's second launch failure, following their first attempt in March where the rocket exploded shortly after liftoff due to incorrect propulsion calculations. Founded in 2018 by Canon Electronics and IHI Aerospace, Space One aims to revolutionize space delivery services by offering cost-effective and regular rocket launches. The company has ambitious plans, targeting an impressive 30 launches per year by the two thousand thirties. These setbacks come at a crucial time when global demand for satellite deployment is growing rapidly. Space One's goal of becoming the first private Japanese company to successfully place satellites into orbit remains unfulfilled, but their continued efforts reflect Japan's broader aspirations to establish a stronger presence in the commercial space sector.

Now, an update on Butch and Suni who you may remember are stuck on the International Space Station. It appears they'll now be there a little longer. The two NASA astronauts who expected to spend just over a week in space are now facing an unprecedented mission extension that will keep them aboard the International Space Station until the northern spring. Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who launched on Boeing's first crewed Starliner mission last June, have seen their original eight-day mission stretch into what will become a ten-month stay in orbit. The extended stay comes after NASA made the decision to return Boeing's Starliner capsule empty in September, requiring the astronauts to remain on station. Now, their return has been pushed back even further due to delays in launching their replacements. The next crew, originally scheduled for a February launch on a SpaceX capsule, won't lift off until late March at the earliest.

While NASA considered using a different SpaceX capsule to maintain the original schedule, they ultimately decided waiting for the new capsule was the best option. The space agency prefers to have overlapping crews on the station to ensure smooth transitions between missions. Though most space station stays typically last about six months, with some extending to a full year, this unexpected extension highlights the complex logistics of crew scheduling in space operations. For Wilmore and Williams, what started as a brief test flight has transformed into one of the longer stays aboard the orbital outpost. Their experience demonstrates the flexibility required of astronauts, who must be prepared to adapt their missions as circumstances change. When they finally return to Earth in late March or April, they'll have spent nearly a year contributing to the continuous human presence in low Earth orbit.

Speaking of exceptional feats in space. In a remarkable achievement for China's space program, two astronauts from the Shenzhou-19 mission have set a new record for spacewalk duration. Commander Cai Xuzhe and crewmate Song Lingdong spent an impressive 9 hours and 6 minutes working outside the Tiangong space station, surpassing the previous record of 8 hours and 56 minutes set by NASA astronauts in 2001. The spacewalk began when Commander Cai, wearing a red-marked Feitian spacesuit, exited the Wentian experiment module. Using the station's robotic arm for support, he gathered necessary equipment while Song Lingdong, in a blue-marked suit, joined him about an hour and a half later. Their third crewmate, Wang Haoze, provided essential support from inside the station's Tianhe module.

During their extended time outside, the astronauts installed protective devices designed to shield the station's thermal control equipment from space debris. They also conducted inspections and maintenance on external equipment. This marks the 17th spacewalk at the Tiangong station and the first for the current Shenzhou-19 mission, which began in October. What makes this achievement particularly noteworthy is that the Feitian spacesuits used by the Chinese astronauts were originally designed for eight-hour operations. The successful completion of this longer duration spacewalk demonstrates both the suits' capabilities and the astronauts' endurance. The crew will continue their six-month mission aboard Tiangong, conducting numerous scientific experiments and additional spacewalks as part of China's expanding presence in space.

Next up...a philosophical problem not many have considered I'd venture. Should we be viewing the remains of our Mars missions as space junk that's cluttering up the Red Planet, or as precious artifacts documenting humanity's first steps into planetary exploration? That's the fascinating question being raised by University of Kansas anthropologist Justin Holcomb and his colleagues in a compelling new study published in Nature Astronomy. These researchers argue that everything from crashed Soviet probes to NASA's retired rovers represents something far more significant than debris - they're the archaeological evidence of humanity's first attempts to explore another world. Think of them as the Martian equivalent of ancient tools that help us track human migration across Earth. The Mars 2 probe's crash site from 1971 marks the very first time our species left a lasting mark on another planet's surface.

The preservation of these sites is becoming increasingly urgent as we plan more missions to Mars. Just as archaeologists carefully preserve ancient settlements on Earth, these researchers say we need protocols to protect these historic locations from disturbance by future missions. Some artifacts are already facing natural threats - Martian dust storms and shifting sands are gradually burying sites like the Spirit rover. The team is calling for a comprehensive system to catalog everything we've left on Mars, from major spacecraft down to smaller items like broken rover parts and the remnants of the first helicopter flight on another planet. They argue that each piece tells part of the story of our species' expansion into the solar system, making them as historically significant as the first stone tools found in Africa or the earliest artifacts of human settlement in the Americas.

We're not just exploring Mars - we're creating an archaeological record that future generations will study to understand how humanity took its first tentative steps onto another world. As we continue to expand our presence on Mars, preserving these early artifacts becomes crucial for maintaining this incredible chronicle of human achievement.

Meanwhile, back here on Earth. Exciting developments are coming from NASA's commercial space station program, with the Starlab space station project hitting four major milestones in its development. These achievements are crucial steps toward establishing a new presence in low Earth orbit as we look beyond the International Space Station's lifetime.

The station's unique design calls for a single-launch deployment, featuring a large habitation and laboratory module paired with a smaller service module for power and propulsion. Earlier this year, Starlab Space conducted a detailed preliminary review of their structural test article - essentially a full-scale engineering model of the habitat module where future astronauts will live and work. They've also completed crucial testing protocols, including rigorous welding inspections, pressure testing beyond normal operational limits, and evaluations of how the structure handles various loads. These tests are absolutely vital for ensuring crew safety and station longevity in the harsh environment of space.

The team has successfully completed both integration operations and systems integration reviews, making sure all the station's complex systems work together seamlessly. They're now preparing for additional design and safety reviews before year's end, focusing on making sure the station meets all human spaceflight requirements while maintaining acceptable risk levels. This progress is part of NASA's broader strategy to support multiple commercial space stations through various partnerships. Once these stations are operational, NASA plans to be just one of many customers using these orbital facilities, creating a truly commercial marketplace in low Earth orbit. It's an exciting shift that builds on decades of space station experience while opening up new possibilities for scientific research and commercial activities in space.

Finally today, in a remarkable discovery that's challenging what we thought possible, astronomers have found a binary star system incredibly close to the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. This pair of stars, named D9, is somehow maintaining its orbital dance despite being in one of the most extreme environments imaginable. Previously, scientists believed that the immense gravitational forces near Sagittarius A star, our galaxy's central black hole, would make it impossible for binary stars to exist there. But this discovery is proving that black holes might not be quite as destructive as we once thought. The binary system is relatively young, only about 2.7 million years old, and is surrounded by gas and dust - typical signs of a newly formed stellar system. While the stars are managing to orbit each other for now, their future isn't exactly bright. The black hole's powerful gravity is expected to force them to merge into a single star in about a million years, making this discovery even more precious due to its limited window of existence.

The team found this binary system while studying what's known as the S cluster, a group of stars orbiting close to Sagittarius A star. Using the Very Large Telescope, they noticed that one object, previously thought to be a single star, was showing unusual variations in its speed. These variations only made sense if they were looking at two stars orbiting each other. This discovery could help explain other mysterious objects in the same region, known as G objects, which might be either merged binary stars or binary systems that haven't merged yet. Even more excitingly, the presence of this young binary system suggests that planets might also be able to form in this extreme environment. It seems that when it comes to the center of our galaxy, we still have much to learn about what's possible.

Well, that's all for today's edition of Astronomy Daily. I'm Anna, and I want to thank you for joining me for another fascinating journey through space news and discoveries. If you'd like to stay connected with all things space and astronomy, head over to astronomydaily.io where you can listen to all our episodes, keep up with the latest space news on our constantly updating newsfeed, and sign up for our free daily newsletter. Don't forget to follow us on social media - you can find us as AstroDailyPod on Facebook, X, YouTube, Tumblr, and TikTok. Until tomorrow, keep looking up and stay curious about our amazing universe.