Anna: Hello and welcome to Astronomy Daily, your
daily dose of everything happening in the
cosmos. I'm, your host, Anna, and I'm
thrilled to bring you today's roundup of the
most fascinating developments in space and
astronomy. We've got an action packed episode
for you today. We'll explore China's latest
achievements with their methane powered
rocket launch and their upcoming asteroid
sample return mission. Then we'll dive into
some intriguing Mars mysteries as, scientists
may have finally solved the puzzle of those
strange dark streaks on the Martian surface.
Plus, we'll uncover the truth behind that
mysterious light streak that appeared over US
skies during a recent aurora storm. Get
updates on SpaceX's busy Starlink launch
schedule, and check in with NASA's
Perseverance rover as it explores an ancient
region on Mars that could hold clues to the
planet's watery past. So stick around
as we journey through today's most exciting
space news right here on Astronomy Daily.
China has made significant strides in the
commercial space race with Beijing based
Landspace Technology successfully launching
their Jukui 2E Y2 carrier rocket
last Saturday. The rocket blasted off from
the Juquan satellite launch center in
northwest China at 12:12pm local time,
marking the fifth flight for the Jukui 2
series. What makes this launch
particularly noteworthy is that Landspace is
doubling down on methane as a rocket fuel. In
fact, the company made history in July
2023 when it became the world's first
to successfully launch a methane liquid
oxygen rocket launch, beating out major
competitors like Elon Musk's SpaceX
and Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin.
Methane is gaining popularity in the
aerospace industry for good reason. It's
considered less polluting than traditional
rocket fuels, offers enhanced safety, and
comes with a lower price tag. These
advantages make methane particularly well
suited as a propellant for reusable rockets,
which is exactly what Landspace is working
toward. Saturday's launch successfully
deployed six satellites into orbit, showing
progress from their previous launches. Their
first successful methane powered launch
didn't carry any real satellites, while their
second launch in December 2023 managed to
place three satellites into orbit. This
latest mission carried payloads developed by
Chinese firm Spacedee, including a radar
satellite, two multispectral satellites, and
three satellites for scientific experiments.
This launch included some technical
improvements that will support Landspace's
reusability goals. The company implemented a
new propulsion method that involved chilling
both liquid oxygen and methane below their
boiling points to boost thrust. Landspace
founder and CEO Zhang Chung Wu has
indicated that the company is actively
developing reusable rockets with test
launches expected in the second half of 2025.
The race to develop reusable rockets has
intensified since SpaceX demonstrated how
they can dramatically lower costs for for
launch vehicles and space transportation.
Chinese commercial space companies have been
particularly active since 2014, when the
government opened the industry to private
investment, with land space being one of the
earliest and best funded entrants in the
field.
In more news from China today, China is
ramping up its ambitious space exploration
program with the upcoming launch of the
Tianwen 2 asteroid probe, scheduled for late
May from the Qichong satellite launch center.
After being transported to the launch area on
May 14, the spacecraft is currently
undergoing final inspections before its
historic journey begins. This mission
represents China's first attempt to collect
samples from interplanetary space, marking
another significant milestone in the
country's rapidly advancing space program.
The primary Target is asteroid 2016
HO3, a small 100 meter
asteroid that follows a unique orbit around
Earth as what scientists call a, quasi
satellite. While it doesn't orbit Earth
directly like our moon, it follows a path
around the sun that keeps it as a constant
companion to our planet. Once
Tianwen 2 reaches its destination, it will
deploy a mechanical arm to scoop up dust
samples from the asteroid's surface. But the
mission doesn't end there. The spacecraft
will also explore Comet 311P,
providing an unprecedented opportunity to
study two distinct celestial bodies during a
single mission. This sample return
mission follows in the footsteps of similar
successful ventures by other spacefaring
nations, including the United States and
Japan, who have previously landed on
asteroids. However, this represents China's
first venture into asteroid exploration and
sample collection. The Tianwen 2 mission
comes on the heels of China's impressive
achievement earlier this year with the Chang'
E 6 lunar probe, which made history as the
first mission to bring back samples from the
moon's far side. This consistent progress
demonstrates China's growing capabilities and
determination to establish itself as a
leading space power. Looking ahead,
China has already announced plans for Tianwen
3, an even more ambitious mission scheduled
for around 2028 that aims to return
samples from Mars. These missions
reflect the intensifying space race between
China and the United States as both nations
accelerate their exploration plans with
increasingly sophisticated missions. The
upcoming Tianwen 2 launch will be closely
watched by the international scientific
community as the samples it returns could
provide valuable insights into the
composition of asteroids and the early solar
system, potentially offering clues about the
origins of life on Earth.
Next, let's take a look at the first of two
stories we have today from the Red Planet
dark streaks that mysteriously appear on
Martian slopes and have puzzled planetary
scientists since they were first observed in
the late 1970s. These features, known
as slope streaks, are typically darker than
their surroundings and can extend for
hundreds of meters down steep terrain.
In 2011, researchers discovered similar
but shorter lived features called recurrent
slope lineae, or rsl, triggering an
intense debate about their origins. For
decades, scientists have been divided on
whether these streaks are evidence of
something extraordinary liquid water flowing
on the Martian surface or merely the result
of dry processes like dust movements.
A new study published in Nature
Communications may have finally resolved this
long standing mystery. A big focus of
Mars research is understanding modern day
processes on Mars, including the possibility
of liquid water on the surface, explains
Adamus Valentinus from Brown University, who
co authored the research. The water
hypothesis suggested that small amounts from
buried ice, subsurface aquifers, or
unusually humid air could mix with salt
to create briny flows capable of persisting
even in Mars's freezing conditions.
To settle the debate, Valentinas and his
colleague Dr. Valentin Bickle from the
University of Bern used machine learning to
create the first global catalog of these
features. After training their algorithm
on confirmed slope streak sightings, they
analyzed over 86,000 high resolution
satellite images identifying 500,000
individual slope streaks. Once we had this
global map, we could compare it to databases
of temperature, wind speed, hydration,
rockslide activity, and other factors, says
Bickle. Then we could look for
correlations over hundreds of thousands of
cases. Their findings were conclusive.
These features appear more frequently in
areas with above average wind speed and dust
deposition factors that strongly suggest a
dry origin rather than liquid water.
Neither type of streak shows associations
with factors you'd expect if water were
involved, such as specific slope
orientations, high humidity, or temperature
fluctuations. The researchers concluded
that slope streaks most likely form when
layers of fine dust suddenly slide off steep
slopes, while RSLs are more commonly found
in places with frequent rockfalls and dust
devils, those mini whirlwinds of dust and
grit that dance across the Martian surface.
Our findings suggest that Martian slopes
currently do not experience seasonal
transient flows of liquid water or brines,
underscoring the dry desert. Like Nature of
Mars, the authors write, this conclusion
has important implications for future Mars
missions, as it suggests these areas are
unlikely to be habitable environments,
potentially easing planetary protection
constraints for landed missions targeting
these regions.
Meanwhile, a mystery back here on Earth on
the night of Saturday, May 17, sky watchers
across the United States were treated to an
unexpected light show. A brilliant stream of
whitish light stretched across the night sky,
visible as far south as New Mexico, with a
major auroral display Already underway Due to
solar particles hitting Earth's magnetic
field, many observers initially thought they
were witnessing Steve. That's the strong
thermal emission velocity enhancement, a
rare aurora adjacent phenomenon that creates
white mauve streaks in the ionosphere. But
this wasn't Steve at all. Astronomer Jonathan
McDowell, who specializes in tracking
activity in Earth orbit, quickly identified
the true source, a fuel dump from the upper
stage of China's Zhuque 2 rocket at an
altitude of about 250 kilometers.
As reported earlier in the show, just Hours
earlier, at 04:12 UTC,
Beijing based startup Landspace Technology
had launched their Jukui 2E Y2
carrier rocket carrying six satellites into
orbit. The striking visual effect occurred
when the rocket's upper stage released unused
methalox fuel, a mixture of methane and
liquid oxygen, while passing over the
southwestern United States. At that
altitude, right in Earth's ionosphere, the
fuel created a chemical light show through
reactions with the charged plasma
environment. According to physicists,
these reactions can include ion molecule,
charge exchange, electron ion recombination,
and optical emissions from chemiluminescence.
In m simpler terms, we when rocket fuel
interacts with the ionosphere at night, it
can create a long lived glow visible from the
ground. While we've seen rocket fuel create
strange spirals in the sky before this
particular manifestation, a straight white
streak resembling Steve appears to be
something new. With methalox gaining
popularity as a rocket fuel due to its
efficiency, cleaner combustion, and
potential for in situ production on Mars, we
might see more of these unusual light shows
in our night skies in the future. So if you
spotted this mysterious streak on May 17, now
you know it wasn't an aurora or Steve, but
rather the after effects of humanity's
expanding activities in space, bringing a bit
of cosmic chemistry right to our doorstep.
Okay, moving on. Let's take a look at this
week's launch schedule. SpaceX is ramping up
for an exceptionally busy week, with at least
three Starlink satellite launches planned
across both coasts of the United States. The
ambitious schedule reflects the company's
accelerating pace as it works to expand its
global Internet constellation. The week began
with a Falcon 9 scheduled to launch Starlink
Group 12 to 15 from Space Launch Complex
40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida. However,
the countdown was held at just under 2 1/2
minutes before liftoff. Unlike most Starlink
missions, which typically have four hour
launch windows, this one had an unusually
short 35 minute window. The hold
resulted in a scrub as Falcon 9's highly
chilled fuel warms too quickly to allow for a
reset within the same window. The mission
would have carried 23 satellites, including
both standard V2 mini satellites and
specialized direct to cell variants. Later
in the week, another Florida launch is
planned, with Starlink Group 1222 lifting off
from the same pad on Saturday. This
mission will similarly carry a mixture of
Starlink V2 mini and and direct to cell
satellites on a southeasterly trajectory over
the Atlantic Ocean. But perhaps the most
significant launch of the week will come from
Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
On Sunday, SpaceX plans to initiate
construction of an entirely new orbital shell
for the Starlink Constellation with the Group
171 mission. This launch represents
a major milestone as the first Starlink
mission targeting a polar sun synchronous
orbit at a 97 degree inclination since the
earlier Group 3 deployments which used older
V1.5 satellites. The
polar orbit will enable Starlink to provide
coverage at high latitudes, including the
Arctic and Antarctic region's areas that have
historically had limited access to reliable
Internet connectivity. This expansion into
polar orbits represents the next phase in
SpaceX's plan to provide truly global
coverage. All three missions will include
landing attempts on SpaceX's autonomous drone
ships positioned in the Atlantic and Pacific
Oceans. These recoveries continue to
demonstrate the company's reusability model,
which has revolutionized launch economics,
with some boosters now having flown more than
two dozen missions. If all launches proceed
as planned, SpaceX will surpass 60 missions
for 2025, continuing their record
breaking launch cadence and and further
cementing their dominance in the commercial
launch market.
Also this week we have launches planned from
China and Russia. The first of several
Chinese launches expected this week will
launch from Launch Complex 201
at AH, the Wencheng Space Launch Site in
China on Tuesday, May 20 at
11:50 UTC. There is no
information regarding the mission's payload
at present, however, the hazard warning
notices published indicate that the Changjang
7A CZ7A will
fly due east from the launch site. Another
Chinese launch is expected on Wednesday, May
21 at 400 UTC during
a launch window extending from 3:54 until
4:15 UTC. A Kinetica 1 will lift off
from Site 130 at Juquan Satellite Launch
center in China. Published hazard notices
indicate a southwesterly trajectory for the
flight. This mission will serve as the first
Kinetica 1 mission of 2025 and the
seventh overall. And finally rounding out a
busy week of launches, a Russian Soyuz
2.1 A with a Fregat M M 4th stage
will launch an unknown payload on Friday, May
23rd at 0700 UTC from the
Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwestern Russia.
This will be the third launch for a Soyuz in
2025 and the 113th orbital
launch attempt worldwide this year.
M Finally today, let's return to Mars.
NASA's Perseverance rover is embarking on an
exciting new chapter of its Martian
adventure, exploring a region that scientists
believe could harbor some of the oldest rocks
on the entire planet. After spending five
months investigating Witch Hazel Hill, the
nuclear powered rover has now moved on to a
new area of interest dubbed Crocodylon.
The name, which means the crocodile in
Norwegian, was chosen by mission scientists
after a mountain ridge on Norway's Prinz
Karls foreland Island. This 73
acre plateau of rocky outcrops
sits downslope to the west and south of Witch
Hazel Hill on the lower slope of Jezero
Crater's rim. What makes Crocodylan
particularly tantalizing is its geological
age. These rocks formed before Jezero Crater
was even created, dating back to Mars
earliest geological period known as the
Noachian Era. In fact, they're among the
oldest accessible rocks on the entire Martian
surface. An early investigation of the
region revealed the presence of clay
minerals, which require liquid water to form.
This provides compelling evidence that
abundant water once flowed across this
ancient landscape long before an asteroid
impact created Jezero Crater. Clay
minerals are especially important in the
search for past life because they're known on
Earth to preserve organic compounds, the
fundamental building blocks of life. Ken
Farley, deputy project scientist for
Perseverance, explained the significance if
we find a potential biosignature here, it
would most likely be from an entirely
different and much earlier epoch of Mars
evolution than the one we found last year in
the crater with Chayava Falls.
That previous discovery featured chemical
signatures and structures that could have
been formed by ancient life. The
rover, which celebrated its
1,500th day of surface operations
on May 9, is currently analyzing a rocky
outcrop called Copper Cove.
Orbital data suggests that other areas of
Crocodylon may contain olivine and carbonate
minerals. While olivine forms from
magma, carbonates typically develop when rock
reacts with carbon dioxide dissolved in
liquid water. On Earth, carbonates
excel at, preserving fossilized microbial
life, recording ancient climate conditions.
The Perseverance team has also implemented a
new sampling strategy, allowing some cored
samples to remain unsealed. This gives the
mission flexibility to replace earlier
samples if more scientifically compelling
features are discovered down the road.
Katie Stack, Morgan Perseverance's acting
project scientist, noted, we have been
exploring Mars for over four years, and every
single filled sample tube we have on board
has its own unique and compelling story to
tell. As Perseverance continues its
methodical exploration of this ancient
Martian landscape, each rock it analyzes
brings us closer to understanding Mars's
distant past and potentially answering
whether life once existed on our neighboring
planet.
Well, what an incredible week in space and
astronomy news. We've m truly spanned the
solar system in today's episode. From
groundbreaking rocket launches here on Earth
to the mysteries of Mars and beyond, the
pace of innovation in space technology
continues to accelerate, with China's
landspace joining the race to develop methane
powered rockets, technology that could
revolutionize our access to space through
reusability and efficiency. Their
upcoming Tianwen 2 mission represents another
significant step in asteroid exploration,
joining efforts by NASA, JAXA and other space
agencies to understand these ancient
celestial bodies. Looking ahead,
watch for SpaceX's continued expansion of
their Starlink constellation, particularly
the new Polar Orbit Shell, which will enhance
global coverage. The Russian Soyuz launch
carrying its mysterious payload will
certainly be worth monitoring as well. On
Mars, Perseverance's exploration of the
ancient Crocodilan region may yield some of
the most significant discoveries yet about
the Red Planet's early history. The rover's
investigation of those Noachian era rocks
could fundamentally change our understanding
of Mars's potential habitability. And the
scientific detective work that solved both
the mystery of Mars slope streaks and the
strange light phenomenon over the United
States reminds us that space science is
constantly evolving, with new observations
challenging our previous assumptions. The
coming weeks promise even more excitement as
these missions progress and new launches take
flight. Our understanding of the cosmos grows
richer with each passing day.
And that's all for this episode of Astronomy
Daily. I'm Anna and I want to thank you
for joining me on this cosmic journey through
today's most fascinating space and astronomy
news. If you're hungry for more space content
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