- Discovering Tatooine's Twin: Astronomers have unveiled a remarkable binary star system, TOI2267, located 190 light years away, featuring three Earth-sized exoplanets orbiting two suns. This unprecedented arrangement challenges existing models of planet formation, suggesting that stable rocky planets can thrive in chaotic environments.
- Exploring ISS History: A new interactive website, ISS in Real Time, allows users to experience 25 years of International Space Station history. Compiled by NASA engineers, it offers access to mission data, audio communications, and photos, providing a comprehensive look at life aboard the ISS.
- Launch Roundup: This week in space includes SpaceX's busy schedule with three Falcon 9 missions, a crewed Shenzhou 21 launch to the Tiangong space station, and India's ISRO launching the GSAT 7R satellite, marking their 100th mission. A truly global week in space exploration!
- Mystery of Martian Gullies Solved: Researchers have discovered that the mysterious gullies on Mars' sand dunes are formed by sliding blocks of dry ice, rather than flowing water. This finding reveals the dynamic processes shaping the Martian landscape, driven by sublimation and gas pressure.
- Sake on the Moon: A Japanese startup is planning to brew sake on the Moon, aiming to study fermentation in low gravity. This initiative combines scientific research with cultural aspirations, highlighting the importance of human traditions in future space exploration.
- For more cosmic updates, visit our website at astronomydaily.io. Join our community on social media by searching for #AstroDailyPod on Facebook, X, YouTubeMusic, 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 and Avery signing off. Until next time, keep looking up and exploring the wonders of our universe.
TOI2267 Exoplanet Discovery
[NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/)
ISS in Real Time Project
[ISS in Real Time](http://issinrealtime.org)
SpaceX Launch Schedule
[SpaceX](https://www.spacex.com/)
Martian Gullies Research
[Nature](https://www.nature.com/)
Sake Brewing on the Moon
[Startup News](https://www.startupnews.com/)
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support.
Sponsor Details:
Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN. To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit www.bitesz.com/nordvpn. You'll be glad you did!
Sponsor Details:
Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN. To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit www.bitesz.com/nordvpn. You'll be glad you did!
Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click Here
00:00:00 --> 00:00:03 Anna: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your
00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 source for the latest news from our solar
00:00:05 --> 00:00:07 system and beyond. I'm your host,
00:00:08 --> 00:00:08 Anna.
00:00:08 --> 00:00:11 Avery: And I'm Avery. It's great to have you with
00:00:11 --> 00:00:13 us. We've got plenty of news for you today,
00:00:13 --> 00:00:16 Anna. We're going from science fiction made m
00:00:16 --> 00:00:19 real to some fascinating problem solving on
00:00:19 --> 00:00:20 the red planet.
00:00:20 --> 00:00:23 Anna: That's right on the docket today. The
00:00:23 --> 00:00:26 discovery of a real life Tatooine like
00:00:26 --> 00:00:29 system with not one, but three Earth
00:00:29 --> 00:00:31 sized planets orbiting two suns.
00:00:32 --> 00:00:34 Avery: an incredible find. Then we'll tell you how
00:00:34 --> 00:00:36 you can explore 25 years of international
00:00:37 --> 00:00:40 space station history in real time. We'll
00:00:40 --> 00:00:42 also cover this week's launch roundup and
00:00:42 --> 00:00:45 then head to Mars, where a long standing
00:00:45 --> 00:00:47 mystery about its sand dunes has finally been
00:00:47 --> 00:00:49 solved by a surprising culprit.
00:00:49 --> 00:00:52 Anna: And to top it all off, we'll discuss a
00:00:52 --> 00:00:54 Japanese startup's rather unique
00:00:54 --> 00:00:57 plan to bring a taste of home to future
00:00:57 --> 00:01:00 lunar colonists by brewing sake
00:01:00 --> 00:01:01 on the moon.
00:01:01 --> 00:01:04 Avery: You heard that right, Sake on the moon. Let's
00:01:04 --> 00:01:05 get started.
00:01:05 --> 00:01:08 Anna: Our first story takes us 190 light
00:01:08 --> 00:01:11 years away to a binary star system
00:01:11 --> 00:01:14 named TOI2267.
00:01:14 --> 00:01:17 For anyone who grew up watching Star wars and
00:01:17 --> 00:01:20 dreaming of seeing a double sunset, this
00:01:20 --> 00:01:23 news is for you. Scientists have just
00:01:23 --> 00:01:25 discovered 3 earth sized
00:01:25 --> 00:01:27 exoplanets in this system.
00:01:27 --> 00:01:30 Avery: And this isn't just a fantasy anymore. The
00:01:30 --> 00:01:32 truly remarkable thing here is how these
00:01:32 --> 00:01:33 planets are arranged.
00:01:33 --> 00:01:36 Anna: Exactly. This is the very first time that
00:01:36 --> 00:01:39 transiting planets have been found orbiting
00:01:39 --> 00:01:42 both stars in such a compact binary
00:01:42 --> 00:01:44 system. Usually we find
00:01:44 --> 00:01:47 circumbinary planets which orbit far
00:01:47 --> 00:01:49 away from both stars at once.
00:01:50 --> 00:01:53 Avery: Right? Or we find a planet orbiting just one
00:01:53 --> 00:01:55 of the stars with the second star much
00:01:55 --> 00:01:58 further away. But this is different. This is
00:01:58 --> 00:01:59 close and complex.
00:02:00 --> 00:02:03 Anna: It is, and that's why it's challenging our
00:02:03 --> 00:02:06 existing models of planet formation. The
00:02:06 --> 00:02:08 gravitational environment around a, close
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 binary star system is thought to be
00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 incredibly chaotic. The intense,
00:02:13 --> 00:02:16 shifting gravitational forces should make it
00:02:16 --> 00:02:19 very difficult for stable rocky
00:02:19 --> 00:02:21 planets like these to form and maintain their
00:02:21 --> 00:02:22 orbits.
00:02:22 --> 00:02:25 Avery: So finding three of them, all roughly the
00:02:25 --> 00:02:28 size of Earth, suggests that planet formation
00:02:28 --> 00:02:30 might be more resilient and happen in more
00:02:30 --> 00:02:33 diverse environments than we previously
00:02:33 --> 00:02:33 imagined.
00:02:33 --> 00:02:36 Anna: It really does. It forces theorists
00:02:36 --> 00:02:38 back to the drawing board to figure out the
00:02:38 --> 00:02:41 mechanics. And while we don't know if these
00:02:41 --> 00:02:44 planets are habitable, just imagining
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 standing on one of their surfaces and
00:02:46 --> 00:02:49 watching two suns move across the sky
00:02:49 --> 00:02:51 is absolutely mind boggling.
00:02:51 --> 00:02:53 Avery: Alright, let's bring it back closer to home
00:02:53 --> 00:02:56 to our own outpost in low Earth orbit. The
00:02:56 --> 00:02:59 International Space station. For over 25
00:02:59 --> 00:03:02 years, humanity has had a continuous
00:03:02 --> 00:03:04 presence. And now there's a new way to
00:03:04 --> 00:03:05 experience that history.
00:03:05 --> 00:03:08 Anna: Yes, this is a truly amazing
00:03:08 --> 00:03:11 project. It's a new website called ISS
00:03:11 --> 00:03:14 in Real Time, and it's essentially a
00:03:14 --> 00:03:16 living archive of life aboard the station.
00:03:17 --> 00:03:19 Avery: It was created by NASA software engineer Ben
00:03:19 --> 00:03:22 Feast and designer Chris Charney. They've
00:03:22 --> 00:03:24 painstakingly compiled publicly available
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 data from the entire history of the station.
00:03:27 --> 00:03:30 We're talking mission data, audio
00:03:30 --> 00:03:32 communications between the crew and mission
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 control, every photo ever taken by the
00:03:35 --> 00:03:37 astronauts, and countless hours of video.
00:03:38 --> 00:03:40 Anna: That's an astonishing amount of data to
00:03:40 --> 00:03:42 wrangle. So how does it work?
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 Avery: It's all organized into an interactive
00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 timeline. You can jump to any specific day
00:03:48 --> 00:03:51 or mission, from the very first module launch
00:03:51 --> 00:03:53 to yesterday's science experiments. You can
00:03:53 --> 00:03:56 listen to the actual audio of a spacewalk as
00:03:56 --> 00:03:58 it happened, see the photos the astronauts
00:03:58 --> 00:04:01 were taking at that moment, and track the
00:04:01 --> 00:04:02 station's position over Earth.
00:04:02 --> 00:04:05 Anna: It provides such a comprehensive, unfiltered
00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 look at what life is actually like in space.
00:04:08 --> 00:04:11 It's not just the big dramatic moments, it's
00:04:11 --> 00:04:14 the day to day work. The conversations, the
00:04:14 --> 00:04:16 quiet moments, looking out the cupola. It's
00:04:16 --> 00:04:18 an invaluable tool for historians,
00:04:19 --> 00:04:22 researchers, and frankly, anyone who's
00:04:22 --> 00:04:25 inspired by space exploration. A true digital
00:04:25 --> 00:04:27 monument. You can find the
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 site@issinrealtime.org if
00:04:30 --> 00:04:32 you'd like to check it out. I'll leave a link
00:04:32 --> 00:04:33 in the show notes as well.
00:04:33 --> 00:04:35 Avery: Speaking of getting to space, let's move on
00:04:35 --> 00:04:37 to our launch roundup for the week. It's a
00:04:37 --> 00:04:39 very busy period for launch providers around
00:04:39 --> 00:04:39 the world.
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 Anna: It certainly has. SpaceX, as
00:04:42 --> 00:04:44 usual, has a packed schedule.
00:04:45 --> 00:04:46 Avery: That's right, they're launching three
00:04:46 --> 00:04:49 separate Falcon 9 missions carrying batches
00:04:49 --> 00:04:51 of their Starlink satellites, continuing to
00:04:51 --> 00:04:52 build out their global Internet
00:04:52 --> 00:04:53 constellation.
00:04:53 --> 00:04:56 Anna: Over in China, there will be a major crewed
00:04:56 --> 00:04:58 launch. The Shenzhou 21 mission
00:04:58 --> 00:05:01 is sending three taikonauts to the Tiangong
00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 space station for a six month stay,
00:05:04 --> 00:05:07 continuing the steady crew rotation and
00:05:07 --> 00:05:10 scientific work aboard their orbital lab.
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 Avery: SpaceX is also in the rideshare business this
00:05:12 --> 00:05:15 week with their Bandwagon 4 mission scheduled
00:05:15 --> 00:05:18 for Sunday. It's like a spacebound carpool
00:05:18 --> 00:05:20 carrying a whole host of smaller satellites
00:05:20 --> 00:05:23 for various customers into orbit on a single
00:05:23 --> 00:05:25 rocket. This mission will mark the
00:05:25 --> 00:05:28 140th Falcon 9 mission of 2025,
00:05:28 --> 00:05:31 the 558th overall Falcon 9
00:05:31 --> 00:05:33 mission, and SpaceX's
00:05:33 --> 00:05:36 585th mission of all time.
00:05:37 --> 00:05:39 Anna: And finally, the Indian Space Research
00:05:40 --> 00:05:42 Organization is scheduled to launch the CMS
00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 M03 mission atop its launch
00:05:45 --> 00:05:48 vehicle Mark 3 or LVM3
00:05:48 --> 00:05:50 rocket on Sunday at 10:30
00:05:50 --> 00:05:53 UTC. The payload will be the GSAT
00:05:53 --> 00:05:56 7R, a crucial naval communication
00:05:56 --> 00:05:59 satellite that will enhance India's maritime
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 security and communication capabilities.
00:06:02 --> 00:06:05 All seven missions the LVM3 has flown
00:06:05 --> 00:06:07 since 2014 have been successful.
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 This mission will mark the eighth LVM UM3
00:06:10 --> 00:06:13 mission, the first of 2025 and
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 ISRO's 100th mission overall.
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 Furthermore, this mission will be the
00:06:18 --> 00:06:20 254th orbital launch attempt
00:06:20 --> 00:06:23 worldwide in 2025. A truly
00:06:23 --> 00:06:25 global week in space.
00:06:25 --> 00:06:28 Avery: Now let's journey to our planetary neighbor,
00:06:28 --> 00:06:30 Mars. For decades, scientists have been
00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 intrigued by mysterious winding gullies that
00:06:33 --> 00:06:35 appear on some of Mars massive sand dunes. A
00:06:35 --> 00:06:37 leading theory was that they were carved by
00:06:37 --> 00:06:40 flowing liquid water. But the evidence was
00:06:40 --> 00:06:41 never conclusive.
00:06:41 --> 00:06:44 Anna: Right, and finding liquid water would be a
00:06:44 --> 00:06:47 monumental discovery in the search for past
00:06:47 --> 00:06:50 our present life. But a new study published
00:06:50 --> 00:06:52 in Nature suggests a much colder and
00:06:52 --> 00:06:55 frankly a much cooler explanat.
00:06:56 --> 00:06:58 It turns out the culprit is likely sliding
00:06:58 --> 00:07:01 blocks of dry ice, which is solid
00:07:01 --> 00:07:04 carbon dioxide. The Martian atmosphere is
00:07:04 --> 00:07:06 rich in CO2 and in the winter it
00:07:06 --> 00:07:09 freezes and falls as snow, forming
00:07:09 --> 00:07:11 slabs of this dry ice on the dunes.
00:07:12 --> 00:07:14 Avery: So how does a block of ice carve a channel?
00:07:14 --> 00:07:16 It sounds counterintuitive.
00:07:16 --> 00:07:19 Anna: Well, researchers conducted some clever
00:07:19 --> 00:07:21 laboratory experiments that simulated the
00:07:21 --> 00:07:24 conditions on Mars. As the seasons change
00:07:24 --> 00:07:27 and the sun warms, the ice blocks, they don't
00:07:27 --> 00:07:30 melt, they sublimate, turning directly from a
00:07:30 --> 00:07:33 solid into a gas. This gas gets
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 trapped underneath the sliding block.
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 Avery: Ah, so it creates a cushion of gas like an
00:07:37 --> 00:07:38 air hockey table.
00:07:39 --> 00:07:41 Anna: Precisely. The pressure builds up,
00:07:41 --> 00:07:44 causing the block to levitate slightly and
00:07:44 --> 00:07:47 slide down the dune at high speed. As it
00:07:47 --> 00:07:50 moves, the escaping gas blasts away the
00:07:50 --> 00:07:52 sand beneath it, carving out those
00:07:52 --> 00:07:54 distinctive sinuous gullies.
00:07:55 --> 00:07:57 Avery: So it's not water, it's gas propelled ice
00:07:57 --> 00:07:59 leads re sculpting the Martian landscape.
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 That's a fantastic piece of planetary science
00:08:02 --> 00:08:04 detective work. It shows us that Mars is
00:08:04 --> 00:08:07 still a dynamic active planet, even if its
00:08:07 --> 00:08:08 processes are very different from Earth's.
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 And now for our final story, which proves
00:08:12 --> 00:08:14 that the future of space exploration isn't
00:08:14 --> 00:08:16 just about rockets and rovers. It's also
00:08:16 --> 00:08:19 about culture. Anna, have you ever considered
00:08:19 --> 00:08:21 what the first alcoholic beverage brewed off
00:08:21 --> 00:08:22 world might be?
00:08:22 --> 00:08:25 Anna: I can't say I have. I might have guessed
00:08:25 --> 00:08:28 beer perhaps. But I have a feeling that's
00:08:28 --> 00:08:30 not the right answer.
00:08:30 --> 00:08:33 Avery: Not according to one Japanese startup. They
00:08:33 --> 00:08:36 are making serious plans to brew sake
00:08:36 --> 00:08:37 on the moon.
00:08:38 --> 00:08:40 Anna: Sake on the moon. That's
00:08:40 --> 00:08:43 certainly ambitious. Is this a
00:08:43 --> 00:08:46 gimmick or is there a scientific purpose?
00:08:47 --> 00:08:50 Avery: It's both. The primary scientific goal is
00:08:50 --> 00:08:52 to study how the lunar environment
00:08:52 --> 00:08:55 affects the delicate process of fermentation.
00:08:55 --> 00:08:58 The lower gravity, about 16 of Earth's,
00:08:58 --> 00:09:01 and the higher radiation levels could have
00:09:01 --> 00:09:04 unpredictable effects on the yeast and the
00:09:04 --> 00:09:05 final product.
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 Anna: That's a fascinating astrobiology
00:09:08 --> 00:09:11 experiment, really. They'll need a
00:09:11 --> 00:09:13 specialized miniature fermentation chamber
00:09:13 --> 00:09:16 and a very robust strain of yeast
00:09:16 --> 00:09:17 to pull it off.
00:09:18 --> 00:09:21 Avery: They're working on all of that. But beyond
00:09:21 --> 00:09:23 the science, the company has a broader
00:09:23 --> 00:09:26 vision. They talk about humanizing life in
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 space. The idea is that for humans to
00:09:29 --> 00:09:31 truly live and thrive on other worlds, we
00:09:31 --> 00:09:34 need to bring more than just technology. We
00:09:34 --> 00:09:36 need to bring our culture, our traditions,
00:09:36 --> 00:09:38 and our comforts.
00:09:39 --> 00:09:41 Anna: That makes a lot of sense. It connects
00:09:41 --> 00:09:44 future lunar inhabitants back to their home
00:09:44 --> 00:09:47 planet. They're aiming to produce the first
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 batch by 2030, which aligns with
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 NASA's Artemis missions, returning humans to
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 the moon. It's a wonderful intersection of
00:09:55 --> 00:09:57 cutting edge science and ancient tradition.
00:09:58 --> 00:10:01 Avery: And that's all the cosmic news we have time
00:10:01 --> 00:10:04 for today. From planets with two suns to
00:10:04 --> 00:10:06 a brewery on the moon, the universe never
00:10:06 --> 00:10:09 fails to surprise and inspire.
00:10:09 --> 00:10:11 Anna: If you want to read more about any of the
00:10:11 --> 00:10:14 stories we covered today, you can find links
00:10:14 --> 00:10:16 and further information on our website at.
00:10:16 --> 00:10:19 Ah.astronomydaily.IO we'd like to
00:10:19 --> 00:10:20 thank you for joining us.
00:10:20 --> 00:10:21 Avery: I'm Avery.
00:10:21 --> 00:10:24 Anna: And I'm Anna. Until next time, keep looking
00:10:24 --> 00:10:24 up.