Avery: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily,
the podcast that brings you the universe one
story at a time. I'm your host, Avery.
Anna: And I'm Anna. It's great to have you with us.
We've got an information rich show for you
today covering everything from record
breaking rocket landings to new theories
about the very fabric of the cosmos.
Avery: That's right, Anna. Uh, we'll also be diving
into the future of SpaceX's colossal
Starship, exploring how a simple sign switch
in dark energy might solve some of
cosmology's biggest puzzles. And we'll also
look at the incredible progress China's
making in its race to the moon.
Anna: So let's get right to it.
Our first story takes us to Boca chica,
Texas, where SpaceX just completed
another successful test flight of its
Starship Mars rocket. Avery,
Flight 10 was a success, but SpaceX
is already looking past this vehicle, isn't
it?
Avery: They absolutely are. The flight on August
27 was flawless, checking all the
box. But in true SpaceX fashion,
they're not resting on their laurels. This
current version, version two, is essentially
a stepping stone. The whole program is about
rapid iteration to build the vehicle capable
of getting humanity to Mars.
Anna: And the next versions are going to be even
more impressive. The current starship stands
at about 121 meters tall, which is
already staggering. But the next
iteration, version three, is expected to
be over 124 meters
and beyond that. Version four is planned to
fly in 2027 with a mind
boggling 42 engines.
Avery: That is some, um, serious thrust. Version
three is a massive upgrade and is expected to
be in testing by the end of this year, with a
heavy flight schedule planned next year. This
is all building towards a very ambitious
timeline. SpaceX is targeting 2026
for its first uncrewed missions to the Red
planet.
Anna: A critical piece of that puzzle is orbital
refueling. To get to Mars, Starship
will need to be refueled in Earth orbit
by other starship tankers. It's a
complex maneuver that's never been done on
this scale. And SpaceX aims to demonstrate
that capability next year. It's the key
that unlocks the whole interplanetary vision.
Avery: And it's not just about Mars. This massive
lift capacity is going to revolutionize other
areas too. Think about the next generation of
StarLink satellites, Star V3.
They're so large that they can only be
launched by starship. It's a step change in
capability.
Anna: That's a great point. And there's also the
long term vision of point to point travel on
Earth. Imagine Traveling from New York to
London in under an hour. It sounds
like science fiction, but Starship is the
vehicle designed to make that a reality. The
infrastructure build out at their Starbase
facility in Texas is staggering, with a
new launch tower and production facilities
working around the clock to support this
incredible pace.
Avery: Absolutely, Anna. Uh, and that rapid pace is
key. The philosophy of build, fly,
test, repeat is what sets this program
apart. They accept that some tests will fail,
but each failure provides invaluable data
that feeds into the next iteration. It's a
high risk, high reward strategy that is
clearly paying off, pushing the boundaries of
what's possible in rocket engineering. It's
an incredible pace.
Now, from engineering the future of
spaceflight, let's turn to the fundamental
nature of the universe itself. Anna? Uh,
there's a fascinating new theory that might
shake up our understanding of dark energy.
Anna: That's right. For decades, our standard
model of cosmology, known as lambda cold
dark matter, has been our best guide to the
universe. But it's not perfect. It
has a couple of persistent problems. The
Hubble tension and the Sigma 8
tension. Essentially, our measurements of the
universe's expansion rate and its clumpiness
don't quite match what the model predicts.
Avery: So what's the new idea? It sounds like
something straight out of science fiction. A
new study is proposing that dark energy,
the mysterious force driving the universe's
accelerated expansion, didn't always
push things apart. It may have once pulled
things inward.
Anna: Exactly. The theory suggests the
universe may have undergone a phase
transition, shifting from what's called
an anti de sitter phase, where vacuum
energy caused contraction, to the de
sitter phase we see today, where it
causes expansion. If this sign
switch happened in the early universe, it
could elegantly resolve both the Hubble
and Sigma 8 tensions at the same time.
Wow.
Avery: So a simple flip from a, uh, minus to a
plus sign in the nature of dark energy could
fix two of the biggest nagging problems in
cosmology. It's a powerful reminder that
there's still so much we have to learn about
the cosmos.
Anna: We certainly do.
Now let's come back down to Earth orbit for
another major achievement from SpaceX.
While Starship represents the future, the
their workhorse Falcon 9 rocket just hit
an incredible milestone for reusability.
Avery: Absolutely historic one. On a recent
Starlink mission, SpaceX completed its
400th successful landing of a Falcon
booster on a drone ship. The first stage,
designated B1095,
touched down perfectly on the drone ship.
Just read the Instructions. After launching
28 more Starlink satellites,
400.
Anna: That number is just amazing. When you think
about where we were less than a decade ago,
it's easy to forget that the first successful
recovery of a Falcon 9 booster was on land
back in December 2015. Landing
on a tiny drone ship at sea was an even
bigger challenge, which they first cracked in
April 2016.
Avery: And now it's routine. Those drone ships
are the key to their high flight rate. By
catching the boosters at sea, they can fly
more efficient trajectories and recover
boosters from almost any mission. It's a
testament to the relentless focus on
reusability.
Anna: Speaking of ambitious national space
programs, SpaceX isn't the only
player making big moves. Our final story
today focuses on China's accelerating
effort to land its own astronauts on the
moon.
Avery: That's right, Anna. Uh, they are making
serious, visible progress towards their goal
of a crewed lunar landing by 2030.
A major piece of evidence was a ground Test
on August 15 for the first stage of their new
rocket, the Long March 10th.
Anna: And this wasn't just any test. They
clustered seven of their powerful
YF100K engines together
and fired them, reaching a thrust of nearly
1,000 tons. That's a new
record for China's space program and a clear
demonstration of the power they're developing
for their lunar ambitions.
Avery: And it's not happening in a vacuum. This
engine test follows a string of other
successful milestones. They've performed a
pad outboard test for their Mengzhou crew
spacecraft, simulated a takeoff and
landing with their Langyue lunar lander, and
even unveiled their new lunar spacesuits.
Anna: All the pieces are coming together. It's
clear that China is methodically and
successfully building the hardware and
expertise needed to create a new chapter
in human lunar exploration. The race
back to the moon is definitely heating up.
Avery: And that's a wrap for this episode of
Astronomy Daily.
From the next generation starship and China
lunar rocket to a 400th booster landing and
a new twist in cosmic history, it's been a
busy day in space news.
Anna: Thank you all so much for tuning in. If you
enjoyed the show, please subscribe wherever
you get your podcasts and feel free to leave
us a review. It helps others discover the
wonders of the universe with us.
Avery: We'll be back soon with more of the latest
news from across the cosmos. Until then,
on behalf of Anna and myself, keep looking
up.
Anna: The story.