- ISPACE's Lunar Landers Challenges: In this episode, we delve into the challenges faced by ISPACE as their second lunar lander mission, Resilience, reportedly crashed due to a malfunctioning laser rangefinder. We discuss the implications of this hardware failure during descent and the steps the company is taking to prevent future issues, including enhanced testing and potential upgrades to their navigation systems.
- European Mission Possible Test Vehicle: We explore the partial success and failure of a European company's Mission Possible Test vehicle, which achieved orbit and re-entry but lost contact before touchdown. The company’s transparent communication about the parachute deployment issue highlights a refreshing approach in the space industry.
- Mapping the Milky Way: Astronomers have developed a new method for mapping the outer gas disk of the Milky Way, revealing its complex structure. Using data from the Gaia satellite, the team has created accurate maps that enhance our understanding of the galaxy’s hydrogen disk and its interactions with nearby dwarf galaxies and dark matter.
- Venus Co-Orbital Asteroids Discovery: We discuss the intriguing potential of Venus co-orbital asteroids, with new research suggesting that hundreds more may exist than previously thought. These elusive space rocks could provide valuable insights into near-Earth space and the dynamics of our solar system.
- Double Hot Jupiters Explained: Scientists may have cracked the mystery of double hot Jupiters in binary star systems, proposing a new migration process that leads to the formation of these rare exoplanets. We examine the implications for our understanding of planet formation models and the future of exoplanet research.
- Upcoming Space Launches: The week ahead promises a busy schedule of space launches, including Axiom Space's fourth private mission to the International Space Station, multiple SpaceX Falcon 9 missions, and the final flight of the Japanese H2A rocket. We highlight the significance of these launches and their contributions to ongoing space exploration efforts.
For more cosmic updates, visit our website at astronomydaily.io. Join our community on social media by searching for #AstroDailyPod on Facebook, X, YouTube Music Music, TikTok, and our new Instagram account! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Thank you for tuning in. This is Anna signing off. Until next time, keep looking up and stay curious about the wonders of our universe.
Chapters:
00:00 - Welcome to Astronomy Daily
01:10 - ISPACE's lunar lander challenges
10:00 - European Mission Possible Test vehicle
20:00 - Mapping the Milky Way
30:00 - Venus co-orbital asteroids discovery
40:00 - Double hot Jupiters explained
50:00 - Upcoming space launches
✍️ Episode References
ISPACE Lunar Mission Update
[ISPACE](https://ispace-inc.com/)
European Mission Possible Test Vehicle
[Exploration Company](https://www.explorationcompany.com/)
Milky Way Mapping Research
[Gaia Mission](https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Gaia)
Venus Co-Orbital Asteroids Study
[Valerio Carruba Research](https://www.unesp.br/)
Double Hot Jupiters Research
[Yale University](https://www.yale.edu/)
Astronomy Daily
[Astronomy Daily](http://www.astronomydaily.io/)
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support.
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily. I'm your host, Anna, and
00:00:03 --> 00:00:06 I'm thrilled you're joining us for another exciting dive into
00:00:06 --> 00:00:09 the cosmos. Today we'll be exploring the recent
00:00:09 --> 00:00:11 challenges faced by some ambitious spacecraft,
00:00:12 --> 00:00:14 uncovering surprising new discoveries about our very
00:00:14 --> 00:00:17 own Milky Way galaxy, and discussing a
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 potential hidden family of asteroids that might be sharing
00:00:20 --> 00:00:23 Venus's orbit. Plus, we'll take a look
00:00:23 --> 00:00:25 ahead at what promises to be a very busy week for space
00:00:25 --> 00:00:28 launches around the globe. Stay with us.
00:00:29 --> 00:00:32 First up, let's talk about the challenges of lunar
00:00:32 --> 00:00:33 exploration.
00:00:33 --> 00:00:36 Japanese company ISPACE has announced that it believes its
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39 second lunar lander mission, named Resilience,
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 crashed due to problems with its laser rangefinder.
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45 This crucial piece of equipment is designed to determine altitude
00:00:45 --> 00:00:47 during descent, but it reportedly suffered a
00:00:47 --> 00:00:50 hardware issue. During a press briefing,
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 company executives explained that the laser
00:00:53 --> 00:00:56 rangefinder, meant to provide the first altitude data
00:00:56 --> 00:00:59 at 3 km above the surface, didn't give
00:00:59 --> 00:01:02 its initial measurement until the lander was less than
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 900 meters high. By then, the
00:01:04 --> 00:01:07 spacecraft was traveling much faster than planned,
00:01:07 --> 00:01:10 reaching 66 meters per second compared
00:01:10 --> 00:01:13 to the intended 44 meters per second. The last
00:01:13 --> 00:01:15 telemetry from the lander at an altitude of
00:01:15 --> 00:01:18 192 meters, still showed it descending
00:01:18 --> 00:01:20 rapidly at 42 meters per second.
00:01:21 --> 00:01:24 Images later released by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 Orbiter show a 16 meter wide crater
00:01:26 --> 00:01:28 marking the probable crash site.
00:01:29 --> 00:01:31 ISpace's executive vice president
00:01:31 --> 00:01:34 Yoshitsugu Hitachi clarified that this
00:01:34 --> 00:01:37 incident was different from their first mission in
00:01:37 --> 00:01:40 2023, which failed due to a software
00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 error. While the software on Resilience worked as
00:01:43 --> 00:01:45 intended, the laser rangefinder was a different
00:01:45 --> 00:01:48 model but sourced from a new unnamed
00:01:48 --> 00:01:50 supplier. Investigations ruled out improper
00:01:50 --> 00:01:53 installation, leading the company to conclude the unit's
00:01:53 --> 00:01:56 performance simply degraded. Several factors
00:01:56 --> 00:01:59 could have caused this, including lunar surface
00:01:59 --> 00:02:01 conditions, reduced laser power, or even
00:02:01 --> 00:02:04 effects from the space environment like vacuum and radiation.
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 Looking ahead, ISPACE is taking significant
00:02:08 --> 00:02:11 steps to prevent future issues. Chief
00:02:11 --> 00:02:14 Technology Officer Ryo Ujiya stated they will
00:02:14 --> 00:02:16 enhance testing for the laser rangefinder and and related
00:02:16 --> 00:02:19 sensors to better simulate high speed and low
00:02:19 --> 00:02:22 reflectivity conditions. They're also considering
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 using a different flight proven laser rangefinder
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 and augmenting it with other sensors like LIDAR or
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 cameras for more robust navigation. These
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 efforts will be supported by a new external review board,
00:02:34 --> 00:02:36 including former engineers from NASA and the
00:02:36 --> 00:02:39 Japanese space agency jaxa. Despite
00:02:39 --> 00:02:42 the setbacks, ISPACE remains committed to,
00:02:43 --> 00:02:46 with CEO Takeshi Hakamada emphasizing their
00:02:46 --> 00:02:48 resolve to keep improving and moving forward with their next
00:02:48 --> 00:02:51 missions, both still scheduled for
00:02:51 --> 00:02:51 2027.
00:02:52 --> 00:02:55 Moving on let's turn our attention to Europe, where the
00:02:55 --> 00:02:58 exploration company recently faced a setback with its
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01 Mission Possible Test vehicle. This
00:03:01 --> 00:03:04 European company, which aims to develop orbital
00:03:04 --> 00:03:07 spacecraft for cargo and eventually human transport,
00:03:07 --> 00:03:10 achieved a partial success and a partial
00:03:10 --> 00:03:12 failure in its latest test flight.
00:03:13 --> 00:03:16 The vehicle powered up and flew successfully in orbit
00:03:16 --> 00:03:18 before making a controlled RE entry into Earth's
00:03:18 --> 00:03:21 atmosphere. Crucially, it managed to
00:03:21 --> 00:03:24 re establish communication after the blackout period,
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 suggesting it navigated the most thermally challenging part
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30 of reentry effectively. However, the
00:03:30 --> 00:03:33 company lost contact with the spacecraft just a few minutes
00:03:33 --> 00:03:36 before its planned touchdown in the ocean. In a
00:03:36 --> 00:03:39 candid update, the exploration company indicated
00:03:39 --> 00:03:42 that the most likely culprit was an issue with the
00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 deployment of its parachutes, which were designed
00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 to deploy at specific velocities during descent.
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 This demonstration vehicle, measuring two and a half meters in
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 diameter, aimed to test four key
00:03:54 --> 00:03:57 structural performance in orbit, surviving RE entry,
00:03:57 --> 00:04:00 autonomous navigation, and recovery in real world
00:04:00 --> 00:04:02 conditions. It only clearly failed in this final
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 critical task of recovering the vehicle M.
00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 Despite this challenge, the company's transparent and rapid
00:04:08 --> 00:04:11 communication acknowledging the partial failure
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 within hours of the launch is quite refreshing in
00:04:14 --> 00:04:17 the space industry. The Mission Possible vehicle
00:04:17 --> 00:04:20 was developed at a relatively low cost of about
00:04:20 --> 00:04:23 $20 million in just 2.5 years,
00:04:23 --> 00:04:26 demonstrating the company's aggressive timeline and commitment.
00:04:27 --> 00:04:29 While it's possible the exploration company might conduct another
00:04:29 --> 00:04:32 subscale demonstration, this mission
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 represents a significant step forward for Europe's
00:04:35 --> 00:04:38 commercial space sector, which has historically
00:04:38 --> 00:04:41 lagged behind the US And China. The
00:04:41 --> 00:04:44 ability to launch a fairly large vehicle and bring it
00:04:44 --> 00:04:47 back through Earth's atmosphere less than four years
00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 after the company's founding is a credible and promising
00:04:50 --> 00:04:52 start. They are now focused on developing
00:04:52 --> 00:04:55 their full size Nix cargo spacecraft with
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 a potential flight as early as 2028.
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 Now let's shift our gaze closer to home within our own
00:05:02 --> 00:05:03 cosmic neighborhood.
00:05:04 --> 00:05:06 Astronomers have recently developed a groundbreaking new
00:05:06 --> 00:05:09 method for accurately mapping the outer gas disk of the
00:05:09 --> 00:05:12 Milky Way, and what they've found is quite
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 surprising. It turns out our galaxy's structure is
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 far more complex than previously thought, complete with what
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 they describe as flocculant or tufty looking
00:05:21 --> 00:05:24 gas clouds. This innovative approach, pioneered
00:05:24 --> 00:05:27 by Sukanya Chakrabarti of the University of Alabama
00:05:27 --> 00:05:29 and Peter Craig from msu, relies on
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 determining the precise distances to very young
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 stars within the outer disk. They leverage
00:05:35 --> 00:05:38 data from the European Space Agency's Gaia satellite,
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 which has meticulously measured the brightness,
00:05:40 --> 00:05:43 positions, motions, and, crucially, the
00:05:43 --> 00:05:46 distances to nearly 2 billion Milky Way stars.
00:05:47 --> 00:05:49 As Chakrabarti emphasized, distance is one
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 of the most Fundamental things you can measure in the universe.
00:05:52 --> 00:05:55 Unless you know distances, you can't map anything.
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 This is a significant departure from traditional mapping methods
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 that use kinematic distances which assume
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 a model for the galaxy's velocity fields.
00:06:05 --> 00:06:08 These older methods can be imprecise, especially
00:06:08 --> 00:06:11 for gas clouds which appear much fleecier and more
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 disturbed than the smoother patterns seen in stars.
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 To overcome these inaccuracies, the team used a clever
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 pattern matching technique. They observed that
00:06:20 --> 00:06:23 the spiral structure in the gas clouds of nearby
00:06:23 --> 00:06:26 galaxies closely mirrors the structure of young
00:06:26 --> 00:06:29 stars less than 400 million years old,
00:06:29 --> 00:06:32 which are born from these gas clouds. By
00:06:32 --> 00:06:34 pairing young stars with known locations to nearby
00:06:34 --> 00:06:37 clumps of gas, they created a new map that isn't
00:06:37 --> 00:06:40 dependent on the problematic kinematic assumptions.
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 For highly accurate distance markers, they relied on
00:06:44 --> 00:06:46 Cepheid variable stars which
00:06:46 --> 00:06:49 pulsate with a, uh, regular rhythm, allowing
00:06:49 --> 00:06:52 astronomers to calculate incredibly precise distances.
00:06:53 --> 00:06:56 The results are transforming our understanding.
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58 Craig noted that their new maps nicely
00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 demonstrate that the spiral structure in the gas disk of
00:07:01 --> 00:07:04 the Milky Way is highly flocculant and
00:07:04 --> 00:07:07 that the overall structure of the disk is complex.
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 This technique combining pattern matching with
00:07:11 --> 00:07:14 accurate stellar distances promises to
00:07:14 --> 00:07:17 significantly improve our understanding of the prevalence and
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 shapes of the clouds in the hydrogen disk.
00:07:20 --> 00:07:22 Beyond that, these more accurate maps can
00:07:22 --> 00:07:25 enhance three dimensional dust maps of the entire
00:07:25 --> 00:07:28 galaxy and help astronomers identify
00:07:28 --> 00:07:31 disturbances within the disk, such as
00:07:31 --> 00:07:34 interactions with nearby dwarf galaxies or
00:07:34 --> 00:07:37 even the presence of dark matter. It's a
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 truly exciting development that paints an even more
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41 intricate picture of our home galaxy
00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 moving from the intricate patterns within our own Milky Way.
00:07:46 --> 00:07:49 Let's turn our attention to an exciting discovery much closer
00:07:49 --> 00:07:51 to home, right in our solar system.
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 Astronomers are currently delving into a little known and
00:07:54 --> 00:07:57 largely unseen group of asteroids that
00:07:57 --> 00:08:00 quietly share Venus's orbit around the Sun. These
00:08:00 --> 00:08:03 fascinating space rocks, dubbed Venus Co orbital
00:08:03 --> 00:08:05 asteroids, might be far more numerous than we ever
00:08:05 --> 00:08:08 imagined. To date, only about 20 of
00:08:08 --> 00:08:11 these unique asteroids have been confirmed. However,
00:08:11 --> 00:08:14 a new study led by Valerio Carruba from Sao
00:08:14 --> 00:08:17 Paulo State University in Brazil the suggest that hundreds
00:08:17 --> 00:08:18 more could be lurking just out of sight.
00:08:19 --> 00:08:22 Karuba excitingly compared this potential discovery
00:08:22 --> 00:08:25 to discovering a continent you didn't know existed.
00:08:25 --> 00:08:28 The reason so few have been found until now is their
00:08:28 --> 00:08:31 elusiveness. They appear close to the sun in our
00:08:31 --> 00:08:34 sky, making them difficult for ground based telescopes
00:08:34 --> 00:08:36 to spot. And their rapid movement adds to the
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 tracking challenge. To investigate this
00:08:39 --> 00:08:42 hidden population, Karuba's team ran
00:08:42 --> 00:08:45 extensive computer simulations modeling
00:08:45 --> 00:08:48 the orbits of hundreds of hypothetical Venus Co
00:08:48 --> 00:08:50 orbital asteroids over a staggering
00:08:50 --> 00:08:53 36 years into the future,
00:08:53 --> 00:08:56 they found that many of these objects could remain
00:08:56 --> 00:08:58 gravitationally bound to Venus's orbit for an
00:08:58 --> 00:09:00 average of about 12 years.
00:09:01 --> 00:09:03 Interestingly, their orbits appeared chaotic,
00:09:04 --> 00:09:06 meaning small shifts over long periods could
00:09:06 --> 00:09:09 eventually push them onto different paths, including
00:09:09 --> 00:09:12 some that might bring them closer to Earth. However,
00:09:12 --> 00:09:15 there's no need for alarm. Experts,
00:09:15 --> 00:09:18 including astronomer Scott Shepard from the Carnegie
00:09:18 --> 00:09:21 Institution for Science, emphasize that none of the
00:09:21 --> 00:09:23 known asteroids pose an immediate threat, and the
00:09:23 --> 00:09:26 timescales involved span many thousands of years.
00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 The likelihood of one colliding with Earth anytime soon is
00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 extremely low. Despite the low risk,
00:09:32 --> 00:09:35 understanding these objects is crucial for building a more
00:09:35 --> 00:09:38 complete picture of near Earth space. Because
00:09:38 --> 00:09:41 they're so hard to spot from Earth, the team also
00:09:41 --> 00:09:43 explored new detection methods. Their
00:09:43 --> 00:09:46 simulations suggest that a spacecraft orbiting closer to
00:09:46 --> 00:09:49 Venus would have a much better chance. And the
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 newly commissioned Vera C Rubin Observatory,
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 though not specifically designed for the inner solar system,
00:09:55 --> 00:09:58 could potentially catch some of these hidden asteroids during
00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 its special twilight observing campaigns.
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 Further into the future, a proposed mission concept called
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 Crown and envisions a fleet of small spacecraft
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 near Venus specifically designed for this search.
00:10:10 --> 00:10:13 These efforts promise to unveil many more of these
00:10:13 --> 00:10:15 dynamically intriguing objects, adding another
00:10:15 --> 00:10:18 layer to our understanding of the solar system's diverse
00:10:18 --> 00:10:19 inhabitants.
00:10:20 --> 00:10:23 From hidden asteroids to perplexing planets,
00:10:23 --> 00:10:26 astronomers have been busy unraveling cosmic
00:10:26 --> 00:10:28 mysteries. And speaking of mysteries,
00:10:28 --> 00:10:31 scientists may have finally cracked the curious case of what are
00:10:31 --> 00:10:34 known as double hot Jupiters. These are
00:10:34 --> 00:10:37 rare exoplanet pairs found in binary star systems,
00:10:37 --> 00:10:40 with one scorching gas giant orbiting each of the twin
00:10:40 --> 00:10:42 stars. This arrangement has long puzzled
00:10:42 --> 00:10:45 scientists, seeming to defy our understanding of
00:10:45 --> 00:10:48 how planets form. But now a team of
00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 astronomers believes they have the key to this celestial
00:10:51 --> 00:10:54 puzzle, a process known as von Zypolidov
00:10:54 --> 00:10:57 Kozai or zlk. Migration team
00:10:57 --> 00:11:00 leader and Yale University astronomer Melena Rice
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 describes it as a dance of sorts of
00:11:02 --> 00:11:05 essentially in a binary star system, the gravitational
00:11:05 --> 00:11:08 influence of the second star can significantly shape
00:11:08 --> 00:11:11 and warp the orbits of planets, causing them to
00:11:11 --> 00:11:13 migrate inward towards their parent stars.
00:11:14 --> 00:11:17 The researchers propose that this mechanism leads to a
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 mirrored migration process, resulting in both
00:11:20 --> 00:11:22 stars in the binary system ending up with their own hot
00:11:22 --> 00:11:25 Jupiter. To reach this conclusion, Rice and her
00:11:25 --> 00:11:28 colleagues performed numerous simulations of binary stars
00:11:28 --> 00:11:31 with two planets using powerful computing clusters
00:11:31 --> 00:11:34 and data from sources like NASA's Exoplanet
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 Archive and the European Space Agency's Gaia
00:11:36 --> 00:11:39 mission. The unintended yet
00:11:39 --> 00:11:42 exciting consequence of this research is that
00:11:42 --> 00:11:45 it makes our planet formation models a whole lot more
00:11:45 --> 00:11:48 interesting. We typically expect giant planets
00:11:48 --> 00:11:50 to form much further away from their host stars.
00:11:51 --> 00:11:53 Which is precisely why Hot Jupiters, especially
00:11:53 --> 00:11:56 pairs of them, have been such a captivating subject
00:11:56 --> 00:11:59 of studying. For future discoveries, the team
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 suggests revisiting binary systems where just one
00:12:02 --> 00:12:05 Hot Jupiter has already been found. The crucial
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 factor, however, is that these parent stars need
00:12:08 --> 00:12:11 to have a moderate separation, not too close
00:12:11 --> 00:12:13 and not too far apart, just the right distance
00:12:13 --> 00:12:15 for this gravitational dance to unfold.
00:12:17 --> 00:12:20 Next up, the global launch manifest continues to be
00:12:20 --> 00:12:23 as busy as ever. As we approach the halfway point of
00:12:23 --> 00:12:26 2025 this week, we're looking at a packed
00:12:26 --> 00:12:29 schedule highlighted by multiple SpaceX Falcon
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 9 missions, including a significant private
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 crewed flight to the International Space Station.
00:12:34 --> 00:12:37 First up, Axiom Space aims to return crew to the iss
00:12:37 --> 00:12:40 with its fourth private mission, AX4, launching
00:12:40 --> 00:12:43 today if all goes according to plan. From Florida
00:12:43 --> 00:12:46 Commanding this flight is Peggy Whitson, a former NASA
00:12:46 --> 00:12:49 astronaut, making this her second commercial mission and further
00:12:49 --> 00:12:52 extending her record for the longest cumulative time in space by
00:12:52 --> 00:12:55 an American. Joining her are Shubanshu
00:12:55 --> 00:12:58 Shukla from India and mission specialists Slawash
00:12:58 --> 00:13:00 Usnanski, Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of
00:13:00 --> 00:13:03 Hungary, all making their first space flights and marking
00:13:03 --> 00:13:06 significant milestones for their nations. This
00:13:06 --> 00:13:09 mission also debuts crew Dragon
00:13:09 --> 00:13:11 C213, the final capsule ever
00:13:11 --> 00:13:14 manufactured completing SpaceX's fleet. The
00:13:14 --> 00:13:17 Falcon 9 booster will attempt a, uh, return to launch site
00:13:17 --> 00:13:19 landing. Beyond the crewed mission,
00:13:19 --> 00:13:22 SpaceX is maintaining its impressive pace with three
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 Starlink satellite deployments also on the docket. This
00:13:25 --> 00:13:28 week, two Falcon 9 flights will launch from Cape
00:13:28 --> 00:13:31 Canaveral carrying Starlink V2 mini satellites
00:13:31 --> 00:13:34 into low Earth orbit, while the third lifts off from
00:13:34 --> 00:13:37 Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. These
00:13:37 --> 00:13:39 launches underscore SpaceX's aggressive goal of
00:13:39 --> 00:13:42 completing 170 orbital flights this year.
00:13:43 --> 00:13:45 Elsewhere on the launch pad, Rocket Lab aims to continue its
00:13:45 --> 00:13:48 record cadence with the 67th electron mission,
00:13:48 --> 00:13:51 symphony in the Stars from New Zealand.
00:13:51 --> 00:13:54 Slightly delayed for checkouts, this confidential
00:13:54 --> 00:13:57 commercial payload is set for a 650
00:13:57 --> 00:14:00 kilometer orbit. Blue Origin also has its
00:14:00 --> 00:14:02 fifth New Shepard suborbital flight of
00:14:02 --> 00:14:05 2025 NS33, expected
00:14:05 --> 00:14:08 to carry a crew of six passengers, just above the Carmen
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 line for a brief period of microgravity after being
00:14:10 --> 00:14:13 scrubbed last weekend. And
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 finally, a momentous launch marks the end of an
00:14:16 --> 00:14:19 era, the 50th and final mission for the
00:14:19 --> 00:14:21 Japanese H2A rocket. This
00:14:21 --> 00:14:24 swan song flight, delayed due to an
00:14:24 --> 00:14:27 electrical issue, will carry the GOSAT GEO
00:14:27 --> 00:14:29 Water Earth Observation payload from the
00:14:29 --> 00:14:32 Tanegashima Space Center. This satellite is designed to
00:14:32 --> 00:14:35 monitor greenhouse gases and measure water on
00:14:35 --> 00:14:38 Earth's surface and in the atmosphere. The
00:14:38 --> 00:14:40 H2A, with an impressive track record,
00:14:40 --> 00:14:43 is being phased out in favor of its successor, the
00:14:43 --> 00:14:44 H3 family.
00:14:46 --> 00:14:49 And with that news, we wrap up today's episode of
00:14:49 --> 00:14:52 Astronomy Daily, where we explored everything from
00:14:52 --> 00:14:54 lunar lander challenges and a European spacecraft's re
00:14:54 --> 00:14:57 entry setback to the clumpy nature of our
00:14:57 --> 00:15:00 Milky Way and the hidden asteroids of Venus.
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 Plus the fascinating dance of double hot Jupiters
00:15:03 --> 00:15:06 and a look at the busy week ahead for space launches.
00:15:07 --> 00:15:09 Thank you for joining us. I'm Anna your your host
00:15:10 --> 00:15:12 and I hope you enjoyed this dive into the cosmos.
00:15:13 --> 00:15:16 Remember, you can visit Astronomy Daily IO
00:15:16 --> 00:15:18 to catch up on all the latest space and astronomy news with
00:15:18 --> 00:15:21 our constantly updating newsfeed and listen to all our back
00:15:21 --> 00:15:24 episodes. Subscribe to Astronomy Daily on
00:15:24 --> 00:15:27 Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music or
00:15:27 --> 00:15:30 wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you again
00:15:30 --> 00:15:32 tomorrow. In the meantime, keep looking up
00:15:35 --> 00:15:36 stories be told
00:15:43 --> 00:15:44 stories.