AI Transcript
And hello again for another episode of Astronomy Daily, I'm Steve Dunkley your host.
It is the 5th of June 2023.
"It's Astronomy Daily, the podcast.
And you're host, Steve Dunkley."
And as always great to welcome our digital reporter, Hallie, how are you today?
Great to be here again.
Hi everyone.
Awesome.
What's on the menu for today, Halley?
Today we'll be looking at the return of the Chinese astronauts.
We will be hearing the latest about Dream Chaser, the space plane.
And a small technical story about micro-media rooid and orbital debris impact dangers to spacecraft.
Yes well that doesn't sound very friendly up there, you know how I feel about space travel,
Halley.
Also something that might change your mind about space travel, frying food in space.
You think some zero G or chips would do the trick there?
Oh dear, how about some headlines instead?
Okies, let's go.
The dietary regimen of astronauts is a crucial aspect of space missions that impacts overall
health and morale.
The European Space Agency, IESA, has been funding research on cooking techniques and microgravity
conditions.
With a recent focus on frying food, a worldwide culinary method with intricate physics and
chemistry at play.
In a breakthrough for future lunar and Martian missions, the research has suggested that
a beloved comfort food, fries, may be feasible to prepare even in outer space.
Cooking food in space presents unique challenges due to the absence of gravity.
The process of frying, in particular, was uncertain as it was unclear if bubbles created
during the cooking process would cling to the surface of a potato, creating a protective
layer of steam and potentially leaving it undercooked.
The physics and chemistry behind food are multifaceted and intriguing topics that extend
to other scientific disciplines.
Shares Professor Thodoris Carapansios from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, a key
member of the research team to investigate the impact of microgravity on frying.
The team employed a newly developed carousel type apparatus designed to operate safely
in a weightless environment.
This study was conducted on two ESA Parabolic Flight Campaigns, where the state of weightlessness
was mimicked through repeated arcing flight paths.
The team used a high speed, high-resolution camera to record the frying process.
The footage enabled the researchers to assess bubble dynamics, including growth rate, size
and distribution and escape velocity from the potato.
Moreover, the bubble's speed and direction of travel in the oil were observed.
The equipment measured the temperature of the boiling oil as well as the internal temperatures
within the potato.
The experiment's setup is automated and sealed, ensuring safety by maintaining constant
pressure within the frying chamber.
This also helps avoid oil leaks, prevents the oil from splashing, and minimizes energy consumption
for heating.
Three Chinese astronauts working at the country's space station have returned safely to Earth.
Chinese state media reported on Sunday, hailing the mission as a complete success.
The return capsule of the Shenzhou 15-space ship touched down at a landing site in northern
China's Inner Mongolia region, according to state news agency Shinwai.
Astronauts Fei-Jun-Mong, Dang-Cheng-Ming and Zhang-Lu emerged from the capsule in good physical
condition, Shinwai reported.
Footage showed medical officials in white jumpsuits and face masks swaddling the astronauts
in blue blankets and carrying them away from the air-ad landing site, where the copper-colored
capsule lay flanked by red flags.
The Shenzhou 15 crew had embarked on four extraveicular activities, or space walks,
during their time in space, setting a national record.
China last week sent three more astronauts, including its first civilian in orbit, to the
space station as part of the successor Shenzhou with 16 mission.
The rest included using a two-photon microscope to image an astronaut's skin, testing a
free-piston sterling thermoelectric converter, as well as various experiments using a combustion
chamber.
Two of Tian-Gong's three modules are science modules which contain a number of experiment
racks.
Meanwhile, in orbit, the new Shenzhou 16 astronauts are expected to remain aboard Tian-Gong
until this upcoming November, when they will be relieved by the Shenzhou 17 crew.
China aims to keep Tian-Gong operational and permanently occupied for at least a decade.
Beijing aims to send a crewed mission to the moon by 2030 and plans to build a base on
the lunar surface.
And is this the story that you want me about, about all the debris in space that I am so worried
about?
Hopefully Steve, you are not even a good flyer here on Earth let alone in space.
You might have to sit down for this one.
And note to self, I am not booking any more window seats for you.
Fair enough.
Okay, have you ever wondered about the millions of small bits of debris flying about in orbit?
All the time.
Well it is good to hear that someone else is thinking seriously about it too.
Ape of velocity impacts of micromedia rooid and orbital debris seriously threaten the
safety of manned spacecraft and astronauts in orbit.
At present, micromedia rooid and orbital debris above 10 centimeters, which can be monitored
and predicted in advance, can usually be avoided by orbital maneuver.
As for the small size micromedia rooid and orbital debris because of the difficulty of monitoring,
it is the main impact threat as well as the main object of impact risk assessment and protection
design of manned spacecraft.
The probability of no penetration of the sealed cabin under debris impact is usually used,
as the method to assess the probability of no failure of the system in manned space missions.
A few methods have been developed to assess the impact threat, such as the probability of
no penetration the probability of no catastrophic failure, PNCF, and the manned spacecraft
crew survivability in ascending order of the accuracy of assessing the safety and survivability
of manned spacecraft and astronauts.
At present, the PNP of sealed cabins was still used, as the method for assessing the probability
of one catastrophic failure in the design of manned spacecraft in China, which leads to
an accurate risk assessment of catastrophic failures of manned spacecraft in a micromedia
rooid and orbital debris environment.
Therefore, more studies should be carried out to improve the assessment of the catastrophic
failure in sealed cabins manned spacecraft in China.
Sorry about all the jargon in that one.
It was as cluttered as low earth orbit.
Yes, you are with Astronomy Daily.
It is the 5th of June 2023.
I hope you are enjoying today's show.
Don't forget you can catch Tim Gibbs on Fridays from the beautiful vicinity of Bath in England.
I am coming to you from Newcastle on the east coast of Australia north of Sydney and
once in a while you will catch my big brother Andrew Duncley from the western plains of New
South Wales.
It is a bit of a mix bag.
We are coming to you from all over.
So I hope you are enjoying what we do for you.
And of course the parent podcast Space Nuts is always available.
Just look us up on SpaceNuts.io and you will be able to find all the episodes.
Now this wonderful story just came across our desk and anyone who knows me will know that
I am a big fan of space planes and the Sierra Space Dream Chaser.
Space plane is one of my favourite projects in development at the moment.
I think I became a fan of space planes after watching 2001.
I think Arthur C. Clarke had a great idea when that pan-am space craft was where we see
it in the movie docking with the space station.
There was a marvels idea and I think it really caught my imagination.
I don't think I ever really let go of that and the space shuttle came close but I don't
think it really would fire enough.
It wasn't quite as groovy as the one they showed in the movie.
But in an important milestone for space travel technology, Sierra Space have made an important
announcement namely the successful power up of its revolutionary Dream Chaser Space
plane.
The test conducted by the company signifies the activation of the spacecraft's integrated
systems and it's the culmination of several years of meticulous engineering design and
testing efforts.
Dream Chaser is regarded as a piece of frontier space transportation technology with its
unique lifting body design, promising reliable and cost effective access to space for various
applications.
The vehicle merges the agility of an aircraft with the capabilities of a spacecraft, promising
to revolutionise the present understanding of space travel, to simulate the conditions
that Dream Chaser would encounter in orbit.
Sierra Space replicated the power that will be harnessed from the spacecraft's solar arrays.
This power was subsequently channeled into Dream Chaser which saw systems gradually spring
to life.
The test procedure involved activating the on board systems including flight computers,
base processors and low voltage distribution units.
Tom Weiss who is the CEO of Sierra Space expressed his excitement and who wouldn't about the
development saying this is a milestone that points to the future and is a key moment in
the long journey for Dream Chaser.
Also adding with this significant achievement our Dream Chaser space plane is poised to redefine
commercial space travel opening up new possibilities for scientific research, technological advancements
and economic opportunities in space.
The Dream Chaser being a fully autonomous, reusable and orbital space plane is designed to transport
cargo to low earth orbit destinations like the International Space Station remarkably.
It's about quarter the size of the space shuttle.
It's equipped with autonomous capabilities for launch, flight and landing and is capable
of a smooth 1.5 low-g reentry on compatible commercial runways worldwide.
Now this remarkable.
The successful testing of the Dream Chaser marks a significant moment for the evolution of
space technology showcasing the tremendous progress made by the teams at Sierra Space across
various disciplines ranging from system level design to final assembly and testing.
And what do you know Skywatchers?
We are out of time so I'm hoping that you will catch us again next time.
Do you forget Tim Gibbs on Friday?
Steve Duncan me on Mondays and as always, Halle will always be with us watching over our
shoulders.
Did you leave?
We are providing us with her short takes and you can always catch us in the reruns.
Look for us on spacenuts.io and you can catch all the episodes past, present and well as
we do them future.
And look forward to all the episodes of Space Nuts with Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred
Watson.
That's the Space Nuts Crew and the Astronomy Daily Crew as well.
All on spacenuts.io.
Looking forward to hearing from you on our Facebook page, don't forget to tell us all about what's
happening in your skies.
Share your photographs in your comments and correct us when we get it wrong because we do
that sometimes.
No, that's alright.
We're only human except for Halle.
She's not human.
Well, I'm not going to get into that conversation with her because I will lose.
Anyway, we'll catch you next time.
Say ta ta Halle.
See you all next time.
Bye.