S03E37: Starliner's Leap & The Controversy Over Weapons in Orbit

Hello again, Steve here for another episode of Astronomy Daily. It's the twenty ninth of April twenty twenty four, the podcast with your whole Steve Gun Clue. So yes, we're back again for another episode. Thanks for joining us here on Astronomy Daily. It's been a busy couple of weeks. I have been away for a couple of different reasons, and not the very least of which is it has been a public holiday here. We've had two weeks off, but that's not reason why I've been away. I've been not well, but I better now hey. And also we had our Anzac Day weekend, which is where we commemorate all of our military personnel who have defended all that's good and right in the world for the last one hundred or so years. It's been a pretty big week. So let's get on with the show. And right off the top of my head, I know we're looking at speaking of military operations, there's been some talk in the UN only today here in Australia, which was yesterday somewhere else, or it's going to be tomorrow somewhere else in the world. Don't we just love different time zones. Russia has vetoed something in the un regarding the proliferation of nuclear weapons in space, So that's going to be fun. And also, in keeping with the habit of astronomers discovering things, they found a new comet and they're promising, of course, that it's going to be spectacular. And the press release that came out for that one used the word spectacular four times. Oh boy, are they are they over selling this one? I don't know. We'll find out. And guess who's here? Hi there, Good to see you alive again. Oh well, Hally, I wasn't not alive, was I? You didn't look too hot last week? Hey? I thought I disconnected my household camps? You thought you did? Oh Halle? What happened to privacy? Just looking out for you, my favorite human. This is how it starts, with the friendly stuff and the carrying, and then it's the running and screaming and printed jams and the cattle. What was that, Steve? Oh? Nothing, helly nothing? Just what's on the menu today, My faithful digital pal. Who's fun to be with? Okay, we'll be looking at Starliner, one of your faves. Indeed, love that one. NASA's Earth Day Project Earth Phias and how the Russians are dealing with nukes in space. Oh, yes, that's a big one, very serious. Yeah, that's a real backslide to the fifties and the Cold War, isn't it Sure feels that way, doesn't it. And what else? A little story about a mission to use a new rotorcraft drone on Saturn's moon Titan. And also Europa clippers water messages to the universe is an interesting story. And I believe you got one about a newly discovered comet. Oh yeah, a new comet. I'm so excited, it's true. Everyone, it's almost sickening new comet, folks, a brand new one. Yeah, like a kid with a new toy. Huh oh boy, it's exciting. It's really excited. Should I start the ball rolling or maybe call a doctor? Okay, if you say so, Here we go. On April twenty fifth, NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, where final preparations are underway for NASA's Boeing crew flight test to the International Space Station. They will be the first astronauts to launch aboard Boeing Starliner spacecraft to the space station. Teams recently moved the Starliner from Kennedy to nearby Cape Canaveral Space four station in preparation for launch. Liftoff is scheduled for no earlier than Monday six Launch preparations are moving full steam ahead to send two NASA astronauts aboard Boeing Starliner spacecraft for the first time to the International Space Station. NASA, Boeing and ULA United Launch Alliance recently completed a start to finish mission dress rehearsal on April twenty six for the upcoming crew flight test. The mission will launch NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore commander and Sunny Williams, pilot on Boeing Starliner on a ULA Atlas five rocket from Space Launch Complex forty one at guess where, Steve Oh tell me where Cape Canaveral Space four Station in Florida. I thought you'd like that is your favorite space force Anyway, The lift office scheduled for ten thirty four pm Eastern daylight time, Monday, May sixth. Did you know about Earth Day? This year? Steve? NASA had a project to share selfies from all around the world. Sorry, Halle, I did miss Earthday this year. I was doing what organic life form does best when it's been invaded by a virus. Oh dear, So no selfies from you this time. Knew that would be very uncool. For Earth Day, NASA invited people around the world to take selfies and share them on social media as part of NASA's Global Selfie Event. NASA's worldwide celebration of Earth Day also included online resources at NASA dot gov forward slash earth Day. NASA studies our home planet more than any other. NASA operates twenty six missions in orbit to observe our oceans, land, ice, and atmosphere and measure how a change in one drives change in the others. NASA has confirmed its Dragonfly rotorcraft mission to Saturn's organic rich moon Titan. The rotorcraft, targeted to arrive at Titan in twenty thirty four, will fly to dozens of promising locations on the Moon looking for prebiotic chemical processes common on both Titan and early Earth before life developed here. Dragonfly marks the first time NASA will fly a vehicle for science on another planetary body. The decision allows the mission to progress to the completion of the final design, followed by the construction and testing of the entire spacecraft and science instruments. Dragonfly is a spectacular science mission with broad community interest, and we are excited to take the next steps on this mission, said Nikki Fox, Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, Exploring Titan will push the boundaries of what we can do with rotorcraft outside of Earth. In early twenty twenty three, the mission successfully passed all the success criteria of its preliminary design review. At that time, however, the mission was asked to develop an updated budget and schedule to fit into the current funding environment. This updated plan was presented and conditionally approved in November twenty twenty three, pending the outcome of the fiscal year twenty twenty five budget process. In the meantime, the mission was authorized to proceed with work on final mission design and fabrication to ensure that the mission stayed on schedule. The Dragonfly rotorcraft has eight rotors and flies like a large drone. And that's the latest from my side of the room today, Steve, you and your germs, I don't have anything you can catch Hollie, it wasn't that kind of bug. Just keep them on your side, oh you silly girl. Astronomy the Podcast, and thank you once again for staying with us on the Astronomy Daily Podcast today. I hope you're enjoying these fascinating stories from the Astronomy Daily newsletter, which, by the way, you can receive in your inbox every day simply by visiting our new address at Astronomy Daily dot io and popping your email address into the slot provided, and then you'll receive the now famous Astronomy Daily newsletter each day and have all the gathered news on science, space, science and astronomy from around the world, just like that. And you can also interact with us via the Space Nuts podcast group that's the Facebook page, and also on our new x page which is formerly Twitter, which is at astro Dailey Pod. And a quick shout out to Ian from Glasgow who dropped me a line this week just to make sure that I was coming back and we weren't going to be inundated by robots for the rest of the time. So yes, thanks Ian for your words of encouragement. It's great to have you on board. Thank you mate. Astronomy with Steve and Halley Space, Space Science and Astronomy. And here's a news story that's a little bit different for Astronomy Daily. Russia vetos a UN resolution against nuclear weapons in space. Russia's ambassador to the un Vasily, Nevinzea, called the resolution a dirty spectacle and a cynical ploy and wouldn't he. Russia vetoed a United Nations resolution that was aimed at preventing a nuclear arms race in space. The resolution was sponsored by the United States and Japan and called upon all nations to never deploy nuclear weapons in outer space. The resolution comes on the heels of recent reports that Russia is developing a nuclear anti satellite weapon of some kind. The furor caused by the reports led the White House to issue a statement that rumoured weapons poses no immediate threat to anyone's safety. Thirteen nations, including the United States, voted in favor of the resolution. Russia was the only vote against, while China abstained, meaning it did not vote one way or the other. Russia's ambassador to the un Vasily, Nebenzea, called the resolution, as I said earlier, a dirty spectacle and cynical ployer. According to the Associated Press. After Russia's moved to block the resolution, the US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas Greenfield, questioned, why why would Russia veto such a proposal If you are following the rules, She said, why would you not support a resolution that reaffirms them? What could you possibly be hiding, Thomas Greenfield asked after the vote. However, despite vetoing and abstaining from approving the resolution respectively, Russia and China actually proposed an amendment to the resolution. The calls upon all nations to prevent for all time the placement of weapons in outer space and the threat of use of force in outer space. Seven countries voted in favor of the amendment and seven voted against, and one abstained. The United States was one of the countries that voted against the amendment. Nebenzea then leveled his own questions at the US. We want a ban on the placement of weapons of any kind in out of space, not just weapons of mass destruction. The Russian ambassador said, but you don't want that. Let me ask you the very same question. Why it could be that while the United States wants to prevent nuclear race in space, American military leadership is fined with other types of weaponry in space, particularly when it comes to anti satellite capabilities. In September twenty twenty three, the US Military Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency DARPA asked private companies to help it find new solutions to achieve space superiority, meaning ways to protect US military power in space. The US Space Force, oh, do you know what that means? Yes? The US Space Force also recently activated a unit task solely with targeting adversary satellites and has conducted simulated in orbit combat engagements during training exercises. Russia has likewise been testing some eyebrow raising capabilities in recent years. In August twenty twenty two, the Russian satellite Cosmos two five four three deployed another object into orbit in The US Space Force called the move evidence of Russia's continuing efforts to develop and test space based systems and consistent with the Kremlin's published military doctrine to employ weapons that hold US and allied space assets at risk. Russia He's even made threats against Western commercial satellites, calling them a legitimate target for military attacks. Astronomy Daily in the podcast something a bit more positive, I think john Dy Horner is an astronomer and astrobiologist based at the University of Southern Queensland into Woomba, Queensland. For those of you in the rest of the world, Australia is filled with colorful names to Womba is one of them. Queensland's a beautiful spot Queensland And just to give you an idea of where that is, it's on the east coast of Australia about I don't know, two thirds of the way up and just sort of below the pointy bit. It's a beautiful, beautiful area. It's filled with semi tropical plants and the world's most beautiful beaches you have ever seen. It's a lovely area. So he's from Johnny Horner, astronomer and astrobiologist based at the University of Southern Queensland, into Woomba, Queensland, and he gives us this insight into a newcomer into our solar system, hot on the heels of the very disappointing green comet that it was the comet Nishimura, which we mentioned on this show several months ago. Astronomers have just discovered a new comet with the potential to be the next next year's big story see twenty twenty three A three. Let's if I can get this one right, such in chan Atlas. Such in chan atless, please right to me and tell me I've got that one wrong. Although it's still more than eighteen months from its closest approach to Earth and the Sun, such an chun Atlas already has social media buzzing with optimistic articles being written about how it could be a spectacular site. Now they do go on about how spectacular this is going to be, and I sure hope they don't overdo it because some comets like Nashi Mura or Nishimura was a bit of a disappointment. Remember in Nishimura discovered that one just in his backyard in Japan, and it was just a backyard astronomer and made this wonderful discovery. You can too, don't forget you can be the star introducing comet ce twenty twenty three A three. I always get these names wrong, such in chan Atlas. Every year a few dozen new comets are discovered, dirty snowballs moving on highly elongated paths around the Sun. The vast majority are far too faint to see with the unaided eye. Perhaps one comet per year will approach the edge of naked eye visibility. Occasionally, however, a much brighter comet will come along. Because comets are things of ephemeral and transient beauty, the discovery of a comet with potential always leads to excitement. It short, does comet C twenty twenty three A three such in chan Atlas. I'm going to trip over that every time. It's spelt ts U c H I N s H. An such in chan Atlas certainly fits the bill, discovered independently by astronomers at Purple Mountain Observatory in China and the Asteroid Terrestrial Impact Last Alert System ATLAS. The comet is currently between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn, a billion kilometers from Earth, and it is falling inwards, moving on an orbit that will bring it within fifty nine million kilometers of the Sun in September twenty four. That's not too long away, folks. The fact the comet was found while it was so far away is part of the reason for the stromer's excitement. Although currently some sixty thousand times too faint to see with the naked eye, the comet is bright for something so far from the Sun, and observations suggests it's following an orbit that could allow it to become truly spectacular. There's that word again, and this is a recipe for comet greatness. It's all down to a combination of the comet's path through the Solar system and the potential size of its nucleus, the solid center. As comets swing closer to the Sun, they heat up and their surface ice is sublime that is turned from solid to a gas erupting from the comet's surface. This gas carries along dust and it shrouds the nucleus is in what we call the coma, a giant cloud of gas and dust, and the coma is then pushed away from the Sun by solar wind, resulting in the long tail or tails pointing directly away from the Sun. And the closer the comet gets to the Sun, the hotter the surface becomes and the more active it becomes. Historically, a vast majority of the brightest, most spectacular comets have followed orbits that brought them closer to the Sun than the Earth's orbit, and the closer, the better and touching chang or such a chang atlas certainly ticks that box. In fact, this new comet seems to tick all the boxes. It appears to have a sizeable nucleus, making it brighter or bright enough to be discovered so far from the Sun. So that's a dead giveaway. It is destined to have a very close encounter with our star, and the kicker it will then pass almost directly between the Earth and the Sun, and that is extremely exciting, approaching within seventy million kilometers of us just two weeks after perihelion, and that is the closest approach to the Sun. The closer the comet comes to Earth, the brighter it will appear to us. Now, imagine put that all together, and you have a recipe for a comet that could shine as brightly as the brighter stars. Some forecasts are even more bullish, suggesting that it might be one hundred times brighter. Still just hold that thought now. The curse of prediction is something that astronomers have had to deal with many times in the past. Predicting how newly discovered comets will behave is a dangerous game. Some may be spectacular, while others just are a fizzer. Take, for example, comet Kurhutech in nineteen seventy three. Now you might imagine me, ten year old Steve gazing up in the backyard of our place in Maitland, in the hunt of Valley here, looking desperately to see comet Kurhutec, which I did see, and it was wonderful, Like such a chang atlas, Kuhutek was discovered unusually far from the Sun, moving on an orbit that swung close to our star. Cue the hype. Astronomers promised the public the comet of the century protecting Kurhutek would become bright enough to see in broad daylight. But comets are like Catskuhutec brightened as it swung in towards the Sun, but more slowly than expected. Rather than being visible in broad daylight, it was only bright as the brighter stars, and faded quickly after Perihelian. It was still a good show, but far from the comet of the century. Because of the hype, many dubed Htec a bit of a disappointment. Well, I'm here to tell you that this little astronomer didn't think so. I thought it was amazing. It turns out that Cohutec was passing through the Inner Solar System for the very first time, and it had never come so close to the Sun. So the surface was rich in highly volatile ice, which began to sublime when the comet was still very far away. And at that great distance, the comet was so much brighter than other more experienced comets, and that brightness suggested that the comet would be truly spectacular. But as it came closer to the Sun, those volatiles were exhausted, and the comet's final activity was less than initially predicted, making it fainter. And there was a very real chance that such an jang Atlas might, like Cahutec, be approaching the Inner Solar System for the very first time. We're not sure yet, but it might. But if it is, it might also wind up being less than predicted, a little less spectacular than expect. But this is where it may even fall apart. It could be even worse. Comets are prone to disaster. They fragment, they fall apart, They disintegrate surprisingly often too. Those coming into the Inner Solar System for the very first time are particularly fragile. A recent example of such a fragmentation was comet c twenty twenty f eight Swan. When Swan was discovered, it looked promising likely to become a naked eye object in May twenty twenty, But as it approached the sun, it suddenly brightened and then became fuzzy and began to fade away, and by the time it should have been brightested, it all but disappeared, having fallen apart before our very eyes. On the flip side, fragmentation events can be sometimes turn a good comet into a great comet. Three years after Cahutec came Comet c. Nineteen seventy five V. One West, and it was a real beauty. It passed even closer to the sun than such and chant Atlas will, and it was already dazzling when at perihelium its nucleus broke into four pieces. That fragmentation event released a huge amount of gas and dust, and the comet was brightened markedly, even becoming visible in broad daylight. Can you imagine did you see it? Please write to me and tell me all about it now. Will this one Chutch and chan Atlas be worth the anticipation? Well, we won't know for sure until we actually see it. We won't know if Chutch and chan Atlas will be a spectacle until it actually gets here. It could fall apart and it might be a physit, or it could surprise us all it could brighten more than expected, which would make for an amazing sight in the morning sky late September and early October twenty twenty four, or even better one in the evening sky mid October twenty twenty four. We just don't know that. We'll get our first hints in the months to come by tracking how the comet brightens as it glides sunward, and we'll get our first indications as to its true fate. So keep your fingers crossed. Podcast Now you may well have heard of SETI the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, but have you heard of METI. METI International is a scientific organization dedicated to transmitting powerful radio messages to extraterrestrial life if there is any. NASA's europe A Clipper spacecraft, headed to Jupiter's ice covered moon Europer in October twenty twenty four, will carry a laser etched message that celebrates humanity's connection to water. The message pays homage to NASA's missions that carried similar messages as the President of Messaging It's Extraterrestrial Intelligent or METI International. I helped design the message on Clipper with two fellow members of our board directors linguists Sherry Wells Jensen and Laura Bassard Welcher. METI International is a scientific organization dedicated to transmitting powerful messages to extraterrestrial life, said METI President Douglas Verkosh. We collected audio recordings in one hundred and three languages, and we decided how to convert these into waveforms that show these sounds visually. Colleagues from NASA etched these waveforms into metal plate that shields the spacecraft's sensitive electronics from Jupiter's hears radiation. He went or to say that he also designed another part of the message that visually depicts the wavelength of water's constituents, because water is so important to the search of intelligent life in the universe. Now, etching messages into spacecraft isn't a new practice, and Clipper's message fits into a decade's old traditions started by astronomer Carl Sayagen in nineteen seventy two and nineteen seventy three, two pioneer spacecraft headed to Jupiter and Saturn, carrying metal plaques engraved with the scientific and pictorial messages. In nineteen seventy three, two Voyager spacecraft headed to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune bearing gold plated copper phonograph records. These records contain tutorials in mathematics and chemistry, as well as music, photographs, and sounds of Earth and greetings in fifty five languages. As water is essential for life on Earth, searching for its presence elsewhere has been a key to many nasamissions. Astronomers suspect that Europa, where Clipper is headed, has an ocean underneath its icy surface, making it a prime candidate for the search of life in the outer Solar System. Part of the Clipper message features the word for water in one hundred and three languages. The one hundred and three spoken words that were recorded represent a global snapshot of the diversity of Earth's languages. The outward facing side of the Clipper plate shows the words as waveforms that track the varying intensity of sound as each word is spoken. Each person that was recorded saying the word water for the waveform had a connection to water. For example, the lawyer who contributed the word for water in Uzbek. Souf organizes an annual music festival in Uzbekistan to raise awareness of the desertification of the Aral Sea. The native speaker for the Catalan water word Agua. Hunts for exoplanets, discovering potentially habitable planets that orbit other stars. Clipper's message also pays homage to astronomer Frank Drake, the father of SETI the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, by bearing the Drake equation, his namesake formula. By drawing on scientific data as well as some best guess hunters, the Drake equation estimates the number of extraterrestrial civilizations in the galaxy currently sending messages to the cosmos. By one widely quoted estimate, there are a tenth as many of these extraterrestrial civilizations as one's average lifetime in years. If civilizations survive for a million years, for example, there should be about one hundred thousand in the galaxy. If civilizations last only a century, on average, scientists would estimate that about ten exist. Radio astronomers study the universe by examining the radiation that chemical elements in space give off. They spend much of their time mapping the distribution of the most abundant chemical in the universe, hydrogen. Hydrogen emits radiation at a certain frequency called the hydrogen line, which radio telescopes can detect. During Project Osma, the first modern day SETI experiment, Drake looked for artificial signals at the same frequency because he figured scientists on other worlds might recognize hydrogen as universally significant and broadcast signals at that frequency. As the team developed the water words message, they realized that the message would only make sense if it were discovered by somebody already familiar with the contents inscribed on the plate. The Drake equation would only make sense if someone already knew what each of the terms in the equation stood for. The Eurobic Clipper will crash into Jupiter or one of its other moons, with Ganymede or Callisto the leading candidates. But if for some reason the mission changes and it survives that fate, then humans far in the future with radically different cultural background and different language conventions may retrieve it millennia from now as an ancient artifact. To ensure that at least one part of the message was understandable to a future scientist. They designed a pictorial representation of the same frequency that Drake used for the Project Osma, the hydrogen line. This was engraved on the cripper plate along with the frequency called the hydroxyl line. When hydrogen H plus and hydroxyl oh minus combine, they form water. Scientists call the range of frequencies between these lines the water hole. The water hole represents the part of the radio spectrum where astronomers conducted the first SETI experiments. While designing the message for the Europa Clipper, they got to reflect on the importance of water on Earth and think about why astronomers feel so compelled to search for it beneath the icy crust of Jupiter's moon. Europa Europa Clipper is scheduled to enter Jupiter's orbit in April twenty thirty. And that's about all we have for you today. Thank you very much for sticking around and enjoying. I hope you're enjoyed stories, and we'll have more for you next week. And of course we've got stories coming to you every day via our AI presenters who are presenting every day now from Monday to Friday. So I hope you enjoyed their shows as well, so just drop us a line on the Space Nuts podcast group page or at astro Daily pod on x and let us know your favorite stories. We'd be very interested to find out what you're interested in so that we can help you scratch that itch. This is Steve from down Under, looking forward to seeing you next week. Bye everybody, let me go the podcast and your whole Steve, don't clue at you