Avery: Welcome to Astronomy Daily, the podcast
that brings you the universe one story at
a time. I'm Avery.
Anna: And I'm Anna. Uh, today we've got an update
on a story we brought you yesterday. A second
launch attempt for a massive communication
satellite.
Avery: Fingers crossed for that one.
Anna: Celebrating an incredible milestone for a
deep space explorer and witnessing a first
in US China space cooperation.
Plus a stunning 3D map of a distant
world from J and a look
at Europe's ambitious launch plans.
Avery: It's a busy day in the cosmos. Let's get
right to it.
Starting with that nail biter down at Cape
Canaveral. So United Launch
alliance was planning on giving it another go
tonight with their Atlas V rocket.
Anna: That's right. They were hoping to launch the
Viasat 3F2 satellite.
Liftoff had been scheduled from Cape
Canaveral at 10:16pm M. Eastern,
right at the start of a 44min window.
Avery: However, the launch had to be scrubbed the
second time this week. The first attempt last
night was also scrubbed.
Anna: The valve issue that prevented a launch
Wednesday night remained persistent on
Thursday. Launch director James Whelan
scrubbed the launch attempt Wednesday night
when a vent valve on the Atlas 5's first
stage liquid oxygen tank failed to work
properly during final pre launch checkouts.
Then again, a little more than an hour before
the Thursday night window opened, ULA
said it was foregoing the launch attempt with
the same valve issue causing the problem.
Avery: A, uh, third attempt has already been touted,
but no date or time just yet.
So tell us about the passenger. This is a
pretty significant satellite.
Anna: Isn't really is. The Viasat
V3F2 is a hefty communication
satellite weighing in at 6 metric
tons. Its job will be to provide K
network capabilities, essentially high speed
Internet over the Americas.
Avery: And um, this is the second in a series.
Right. How did the first one fare?
Anna: That's the part that adds a little pressure.
The first one launched in 2023
unfortunately suffered an antenna deployment
issue that significantly reduced its
capacity. So there's a lot riding on this
mission for viasat.
Avery: Absolutely. Well, we'll be watching for news
on the third attempt.
Anna: Details from a new beginning.
Let's turn to an incredible
decades long journey. We have a milestone
coming up for one of humanity's greatest
explorers.
Avery: Oh, you have to be talking about one of the
Voyagers.
Anna: Exactly. In November of
2026, Voyager 1 will become
the first human made object to
travel a full light day away from Earth.
Avery: A light day. That is just staggering to
think about. That's about
25.9 billion kilometers.
Anna: It is remember, this spacecraft was
launched way back in 1977.
It's already in interstellar space, having
left the Sun's direct influence behind.
Now it's heading towards the Oort Cloud.
Avery: The Oort Cloud, the great icy shell
at the very edge of our solar system. And
it's still talking to us after all this time.
It's hard to fathom. How is it even powered
after all these decades?
Anna: That's the one. And the timescales are
mind boggling. It will take Voyager
about 300 years just to reach the
inner edge of the Oort Cloud.
Avery: Wow.
Anna: And another 30,000 years to pass
completely through it. The journey is almost
eternal. And what happens after that?
In about 40,000 years, it'll make a
relatively close pass of another star,
Gliese 445. It will actually
be closer to that star than it is to our own
sun.
Avery: And all that time, it's carrying its message
in the bottle. The golden record.
Anna: That's right. A message from humanity. Just
in case any extraterrestrial intelligence
ever finds it. It's a testament to our
curiosity and our hope to connect with the
cosmos. A truly profound legacy,
an incredible mission.
Avery: It really puts our own sense of time into
perspective.
Well, from reaching out to the unknown, let's
talk about connecting a little closer to
home. There's been a really interesting
development in orbit between the US and
China.
Anna: This M is a significant first. For the first
time, the China National Space Administration
proactively reached out to NASA to
coordinate a satell maneuver.
Avery: Right. To avoid a potential collision. So
what's the big deal here? How did this work
before?
Anna: Well, previously, NASA's orbital tracking
would identify a potential conjunction and
they would notify China. It was then
typically NASA or the US Space Force that
would perform any necessary avoidance
maneuvers.
Avery: So this is a reversal. China reached out
first and handled the coordination. What does
that tell us?
Anna: It suggests that China's own space
situational awareness capabilities have
improved dramatically. They are now able to
track, predict, and act on these threats with
high confidence.
Avery: That's crucial, especially now. The number of
satellites up there is just exploding.
Anna: Exactly. We have mega constellations like
SpaceX's Starlink and China's own
Guoang Network being deployed. Low
Earth orbit is getting very crowded very
fast.
Avery: So more communication and coordination is
essential to prevent disaster.
Anna: Absolutely. This move is a really positive
step for the safety and sustainability of
space operations for everyone.
Speaking of seeing things more clearly, let's
jump from low Earth orbit to a world hundreds
of light years away. The James Webb Space
Telescope has Given us another incredible
first.
Avery: JWST is the gift that keeps on
giving. What has it found now?
Anna: Astronomers have used it to create the very
first three dimensional map of an
exoplanet's atmosphere.
Avery: A 3D map of the air on another planet.
That sounds like science fiction. Which
planet did they look at?
Anna: The target was a fascinating one called Wasp
18B. It's what's known as an
ultra hot Jupiter. It orbits its
star so closely that its atmosphere
reaches temperatures hot enough to destroy
water vapor.
Avery: Wow. Okay, so how do you even begin to
map something like that?
Anna: They used a brilliant technique called
spectroscopic eclipse mapping. As
the planet passes behind its star,
JWST carefully measures the changes
in light. By analyzing this data, they can
build a picture of the temperature at, ah,
different altitudes and locations.
Avery: A, uh, temperature profile in three
dimensions. What did it show?
Anna: It revealed some really significant
temperature variations across the planet's
atmosphere, giving us insights into its
weather and energy circulation. Far
more complex than our previous 2D models
suggested.
Avery: That's amazing. And I assume this technique
isn't just for hot Jupiters.
Anna: That's the most exciting part. This new
method opens the door to studying the
atmospheres of many other exoplanets
in much more detail, including
potentially smaller rocky worlds like our
own.
Avery: Incredible.
From 3D maps to launch manifestos, Our
final story today takes us back to Earth,
focusing on Europe's ambitions in the launch
industry. Ariane Ace is looking to seriously
ramp things up.
Anna: They certainly are. The company is aiming
to double, uh, its Ariane 6 launch cadence in
the year 2026.
Avery: Double it? The Ariane 6 is still
relatively new, having debuted in 2024.
How many flights are we talking about?
Anna: Well, after flying three times in
2025, the plan for 2026 is to
conduct between six and eight missions. It's
a very ambitious.
Avery: What's enabling this increase in pace?
Anna: They're getting more efficient with launch
processing. But more importantly, they're
introducing an upgraded block 2
version of the rocket in 2026 which will
boost its performance.
Avery: More power, more launches. Do we know what
they'll be launching?
Anna: We do. The very first launch of
2026 will be the more powerful
Ariane 64 variant. Its
primary payload will be a batch of satellites
for Amazon's Project Cooper Constellation.
Avery: Ah, uh, another megaconstellation driving the
market. So what's the long term goal
for Arianespace?
Anna: Ultimately, they're aiming for a maximum
launch cadence of nine to 10 flights per
year, driven entirely by customer
demand. It's a clear sign that the global
launch market is hotter than ever.
Avery: And that's a wrap on the big stories from
around the cosmos today. From another launch
scrubbed at the Cape and Voyager's lonely
journey to new cooperation in orbit,
3D alien atmospheres, and the
bustling European launchpad, it's a
reminder that.
Anna: There is always something new to discover,
both near and far. Thank you so
much for joining us.
Avery: Be sure to subscribe to Astronomy Daily
wherever you get your podcasts so you don't
miss an episode. Until next time, keep
looking up.