- Ispace's Lunar Landing Setback: Join us as we delve into the unfortunate news surrounding Ispace's Resilience lander, which failed to achieve a successful landing on the Moon. After launching aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, the mission suffered a hard landing, resulting in lost communication. We discuss the implications of this setback and the company's plans for future missions, including their contract with NASA for a 2027 lunar delivery.
- Musk vs. Trump: A Space Tiff: Explore the escalating tensions between Elon Musk and Donald Trump following Musk's criticism of Trump's policies. With Musk threatening to decommission SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, we examine the potential consequences for American spaceflight and NASA's operations, particularly in light of SpaceX's crucial contracts.
- Mars Rover's Mysterious Maze: Uncover the fascinating purpose behind the maze captured in images by NASA's Perseverance rover. This calibration target for the rover's Sherlock instrument plays a vital role in detecting organic compounds on Mars, while also testing materials for future human exploration.
- Discovery of Extreme Nuclear Transients: Get ready for a mind-blowing revelation as astronomers unveil extreme nuclear transients (ENTs), the largest explosions observed since the Big Bang. These colossal events, linked to the destruction of massive stars by black holes, offer new insights into black hole growth and cosmic history.
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, 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 landing setback
10:00 - Musk vs. Trump: A space tiff
15:30 - Mars rover's mysterious maze
20:00 - Discovery of extreme nuclear transients
✍️ Episode References
Ispace Resilience Mission Details
[ISPACE](https://ispace-inc.com/)
Elon Musk and Donald Trump Dispute
[CNN](https://www.cnn.com)
NASA Perseverance Rover Information
[NASA Perseverance](https://mars.nasa.gov/perseverance/)
Extreme Nuclear Transients Research
[Astrophysical Journal](https://iopscience.iop.org/journal/0004-637X)
Astronomy Daily
[Astronomy Daily](http://www.astronomydaily.io/)
For Commercial-Free versions become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-exciting-space-discoveries-and-news--5648921/support.
00:00:00 --> 00:00:02 Anna: Hey there space enthusiasts and welcome to Astronomy
00:00:02 --> 00:00:05 Daily. I'm your host, Anna, and I'm super excited to
00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 bring you the latest cosmic happenings. Today we're
00:00:08 --> 00:00:11 diving into a mixed bag of news from M, A Japanese
00:00:11 --> 00:00:14 lunar lander that, didn't quite stick the landing to a very
00:00:14 --> 00:00:16 public spat between Elon Musk and.
00:00:17 --> 00:00:20 Well, you know. We'll also be taking a look at what
00:00:20 --> 00:00:22 a maze is doing on M. Mars and get this,
00:00:22 --> 00:00:25 the biggest explosion scientists have seen since the Big
00:00:25 --> 00:00:28 Bang. So buckle up and let's get
00:00:28 --> 00:00:28 started.
00:00:30 --> 00:00:33 So, first up, we have some updated news from Ispace, the
00:00:33 --> 00:00:36 Japan based company. And, well, it's not great.
00:00:36 --> 00:00:39 Their Resilience lander unfortunately didn't exactly
00:00:39 --> 00:00:42 nail its landing on the moon. Yeah, it seems they got to the
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45 finish line, but weren't quite successful in sticking the
00:00:45 --> 00:00:48 landing. Now this mission launched about
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 four and a half months ago on a Falcon 9 rocket from
00:00:51 --> 00:00:53 Cape Canaveral. As part of a rideshare with
00:00:53 --> 00:00:56 Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander.
00:00:56 --> 00:00:59 The teams in Japan announced that sadly, they
00:00:59 --> 00:01:02 lost communication with Resilience, which probably
00:01:02 --> 00:01:04 means it suffered a hard landing. Ouch.
00:01:05 --> 00:01:08 Takeshi Hakamada, the founder and
00:01:08 --> 00:01:11 CEO of Ispace, said that their top
00:01:11 --> 00:01:14 priority is to analyse the telemetry data they managed
00:01:14 --> 00:01:16 to get and figure out what went wrong. They're aiming to
00:01:16 --> 00:01:19 restore trust by providing a report to everyone involved.
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 The mission actually seemed to be going smoothly at first.
00:01:24 --> 00:01:26 Resilience went through several phases,
00:01:26 --> 00:01:29 gradually lowering its orbit around the moon. But
00:01:29 --> 00:01:32 after it reached about 20 kilometres above the surface,
00:01:32 --> 00:01:35 things went south. They lost telemetry,
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 and based on the data they have, the lander couldn't
00:01:38 --> 00:01:40 decelerate enough and it, well, crash
00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 landed. This lander was carrying science
00:01:43 --> 00:01:46 payloads and even a rover from Ispace Europe
00:01:46 --> 00:01:49 named Tenacious. The plan was to land in a
00:01:49 --> 00:01:52 region called Mare Frigoris, or the Sea of Cold.
00:01:52 --> 00:01:55 There was even a small model of a Swedish house on board, meant to be
00:01:55 --> 00:01:58 placed on the moon by the rover. Now, this is I
00:01:58 --> 00:02:00 Space's second landing failure in two missions.
00:02:01 --> 00:02:03 But their American subsidiary, Ispace US
00:02:04 --> 00:02:06 is still on contract with NASA for a mission
00:02:06 --> 00:02:09 in 2027 to deliver a larger
00:02:09 --> 00:02:12 lander to the far side of the moon. So hopefully
00:02:12 --> 00:02:13 they'll be able to turn things around.
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 Okay, next up, we've got a bit of a, ah, well,
00:02:18 --> 00:02:20 let's call it a situation brewing between
00:02:20 --> 00:02:23 Elon Musk and Donald Trump. Yeah, you heard that
00:02:23 --> 00:02:26 right. So apparently these two aren't exactly seeing eye to
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 eye anymore. After Musk served as a special
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 government employee leading the Department of Government
00:02:31 --> 00:02:34 Efficiency, or doge. Things seemed
00:02:34 --> 00:02:37 fine. Trump even called Musk one of
00:02:37 --> 00:02:40 the greatest business leaders and innovators the world has ever
00:02:40 --> 00:02:43 produced. But things went downhill after
00:02:43 --> 00:02:45 Musk criticised Trump's big beautiful bill.
00:02:46 --> 00:02:49 Trump fired back, suggesting the US could save money by cancelling
00:02:49 --> 00:02:52 government contracts with Musk's companies. And that's
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 when things got spicy. Musk responded with a
00:02:54 --> 00:02:57 threat to begin decommissioning SpaceX's Dragon
00:02:57 --> 00:03:00 spacecraft immediately. Now, if
00:03:00 --> 00:03:02 Musk is serious, this could have some pretty big
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 consequences for American spaceflight. I mean,
00:03:05 --> 00:03:08 think about it. SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft
00:03:08 --> 00:03:11 have been crucial for NASA operations on the International
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 Space Station, ushering in a new era of
00:03:14 --> 00:03:17 US spaceflight. If Dragon gets
00:03:17 --> 00:03:19 decommissioned, that would basically end US based
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 astronaut launches for a while. And Boeing's
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 Starliner isn't quite ready to fill that gap yet.
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 SpaceX has some pretty substantial government
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30 contracts, including NASA's Commercial Crew
00:03:30 --> 00:03:33 Programme, cargo resupply services for the ISS,
00:03:34 --> 00:03:37 and oh yeah, they're supposed to provide the lunar
00:03:37 --> 00:03:40 lander for NASA's Artemis moon programme. So if
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 those contracts get cancelled along with the proposed
00:03:42 --> 00:03:45 cuts to NASA's budget, it could seriously impact
00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 NASA as we know it. Now it's not clear what
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 this would mean for SpaceX's private spaceflight endeavours.
00:03:51 --> 00:03:54 Axiom Space is about to launch its fourth private
00:03:54 --> 00:03:57 astronaut mission on a brand new Dragon. And
00:03:57 --> 00:04:00 SpaceX has been doing some cool stuff with private spacewalks and
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 polar orbits. NASA's being pretty tight
00:04:03 --> 00:04:05 lipped about the whole situation, saying they'll
00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 continue to execute the President's vision for the future of space.
00:04:09 --> 00:04:11 So we'll have to wait and see how this all plays out.
00:04:12 --> 00:04:14 But yeah, stay tuned folks, because this could get
00:04:14 --> 00:04:15 interesting.
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 Alright, let's move on to something a little less
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 dramatic. Have you ever looked at the raw images
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 from NASA's Perseverance rover and wondered why it keeps
00:04:25 --> 00:04:28 snapping pics of this weird tiny maze? Well,
00:04:28 --> 00:04:31 it turns out there's a pretty cool reason. That maze is actually
00:04:31 --> 00:04:33 a calibration target. One of ten for
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 Perseverance's Sherlock instrument. Yeah, that's short for
00:04:36 --> 00:04:39 scanning habitable environments with Raman and luminescence for
00:04:39 --> 00:04:42 organics and chemicals. Catchy, right? So
00:04:42 --> 00:04:45 Sherlock is basically a Sherlock Holmes inspired tool
00:04:45 --> 00:04:48 designed to detect organic compounds and other minerals on
00:04:48 --> 00:04:50 Mars that could indicate signs of, you know,
00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 ancient microbial life. But to do that accurately, it
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56 needs to be carefully calibrated. And that's where our little maze
00:04:56 --> 00:04:59 comes in. Sherlock is Located on the rover's
00:04:59 --> 00:05:02 robotic arm and and uses spectroscopic techniques to
00:05:02 --> 00:05:05 analyse Martian rocks. To make sure its measurements
00:05:05 --> 00:05:08 are spot on, it routinely calibrates its tools
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 using reference materials with specific properties.
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 These are mounted on a plate attached to the front of the rover's
00:05:13 --> 00:05:16 body, which is called the Sherlock Calibration target.
00:05:17 --> 00:05:20 The maze helps calibrate the positioning of the laser
00:05:20 --> 00:05:23 scanner mirror and characterises the laser's focus.
00:05:23 --> 00:05:26 It's made of chrome plated lines that are super thin,
00:05:26 --> 00:05:29 only about twice the width of a human hair, printed onto
00:05:29 --> 00:05:32 silica glass. And get this, if you look
00:05:32 --> 00:05:35 closely, there's even a tiny Sherlock Holmes portrait
00:05:35 --> 00:05:38 right in the centre. How cool is that? The
00:05:38 --> 00:05:41 calibration target also includes samples of materials used in
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 spacesuits like Teflon, Gore Tex and
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 Kevlar. These are being tested under Mars
00:05:47 --> 00:05:49 conditions to see how they hold up over time, which is
00:05:49 --> 00:05:52 crucial for planning future human exploration of the red
00:05:52 --> 00:05:55 planet. And one last fun fact. Sherlock has a
00:05:55 --> 00:05:58 sidekick, a colour camera called Watson. Yep, just
00:05:58 --> 00:05:59 like Sherlock Holmes.
00:06:00 --> 00:06:02 Okay, now for something truly mind blowing.
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 Astronomers have stumbled upon a new type of giant space
00:06:05 --> 00:06:08 explosion. And get this. They're calling them extreme
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 nuclear transients, or ENTs.
00:06:11 --> 00:06:14 And, apparently they're the biggest bangs since the Big bang
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 itself. These ents are like
00:06:17 --> 00:06:19 colossal flares of light from the hearts of distant
00:06:19 --> 00:06:22 galaxies. And they linger way longer than any
00:06:22 --> 00:06:25 flares we've ever seen before. We're talking about
00:06:25 --> 00:06:27 blasts that release as much energy as
00:06:27 --> 00:06:30 100 suns would over their entire lifetimes. I
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 mean, wow. So what are they? Well,
00:06:33 --> 00:06:36 it turns out they're kind of like stars being torn apart by black
00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 holes, but on a scale we've never observed
00:06:39 --> 00:06:42 before. Each star is a massive one, at
00:06:42 --> 00:06:45 least three times as massive as our sun. And each black
00:06:45 --> 00:06:47 hole is a supermassive beast lurking in the centre of its
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 host galaxy. Normally, these events are called
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 tidal disruption events, or TDEs. But these
00:06:53 --> 00:06:56 ENTs are different. They're, like,
00:06:56 --> 00:06:59 nearly 10 times brighter than normal TDEs.
00:06:59 --> 00:07:02 And they stay luminous for years, surpassing
00:07:02 --> 00:07:04 even the brightest supernova explosions.
00:07:05 --> 00:07:08 Gaia, the space telescope, whose mission was to map
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 the Milky Way, actually accidentally
00:07:11 --> 00:07:13 captured these explosions while
00:07:13 --> 00:07:16 staring at the sky. Combing through Gaia data,
00:07:17 --> 00:07:19 scientists found two strange events from
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 2016 and 2018.
00:07:22 --> 00:07:25 After some digging, they figured out that these events were the
00:07:25 --> 00:07:27 same kind of event as something nicknamed Scary
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 Barbie, which sounds absolutely terrifying.
00:07:31 --> 00:07:34 Ents are super rare, like 10
00:07:34 --> 00:07:37 million times less frequent than supernovae. But
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 they give us a new way to study massive black holes
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 in distant galaxies because they're so
00:07:42 --> 00:07:45 bright and we can see them across vast cosmic
00:07:45 --> 00:07:48 distances. So in astronomy, looking far
00:07:48 --> 00:07:51 away means looking back in time. By observing
00:07:51 --> 00:07:53 these prolonged flares, we can learn more about black
00:07:53 --> 00:07:56 hole growth during a key era when the universe was half
00:07:56 --> 00:07:59 its current age. It's like galaxies
00:07:59 --> 00:08:02 were forming stars and feeding their supermassive black holes
00:08:02 --> 00:08:05 like 10 times more vigorously than they do today.
00:08:05 --> 00:08:06 Pretty wild stuff, huh?
00:08:08 --> 00:08:11 And that's all the space and astronomy news we have for you today.
00:08:12 --> 00:08:15 I've been your host, Anna, and I hope you enjoyed our journey through the
00:08:15 --> 00:08:17 cosmos. If you want to stay up to date with all the latest
00:08:17 --> 00:08:20 space happenings, be sure to visit our website at
00:08:20 --> 00:08:23 astronomydaily IO. There
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26 you can sign up for our free daily newsletter and catch up
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 on all the latest space and astronomy news with our
00:08:29 --> 00:08:32 constantly updating newsfeed. Also, don't forget to
00:08:32 --> 00:08:35 follow us on social media. Just search for Astro Daily
00:08:35 --> 00:08:37 Pod on Facebook, X, YouTube, YouTube, Music,
00:08:37 --> 00:08:40 Instagram, Tumblr, and TikTok. Thanks for tuning
00:08:40 --> 00:08:43 in, and we'll catch you next time on Astronomy Daily. In the
00:08:43 --> 00:08:44 meantime, keep looking up.