Avery: Hello, and welcome to Astronomy Daily,
the podcast that brings you the universe, one
story at a time. I'm Avery, and as always,
I'm joined by the brilliant Anna.
Anna: Hi, Avery. And hello to all our
listeners. We have a busy show today
covering everything from a groundbreaking new
private space telescope to Russia's only
crewed launch pad. Running into some trouble.
Avery: Plus, we've got the James Webb Space
Telescope doing what it does best, peering
into the heart of our Galax. And we'll
look at some stunning new photos of home.
So let's get started. Anna, uh, tell us about
this new telescope.
Anna: Absolutely.
Our first story is a big one, though. It
comes in a small package. A new space
telescope named Mouth, about the size of
a mini fridge, just launched successfully
aboard a SpaceX transporter mission.
Avery: Okay, a, uh, mini fridge in space.
What makes this one so special?
Anna: Well, unlike Hubble or Webb, Malve is
owned by a private company, Blue Skies Space.
And this is the key difference. Its data will
also be private. Researchers will have to
subscribe to get access to the ultraviolet
spectra.
Avery: It collects a subscription model
for astronomical data. That's a
fascinating shift.
Anna: It really is. The mission was funded by a
mix of EU grants and private funding,
costing significantly less than comparable
NASA missions. It's built on a CubeSat
chassis, which is incredibly compact and
will spend three years in low Earth orbit
observing exoplanets, stellar flares
and monitoring stars.
Avery: So why would, uh, astronomers pay for this?
Is the data that unique?
Anna: It's about Access time on
telescopes like Hubble is at an extreme
premium, and most proposals get rejected.
Mauve offers a dedicated stream of
ultraviolet data, which is only accessible
from space. For many institutions, an
annual subscription could be a more reliable
way to get the specific data they need for
long term studies.
Avery: That makes sense. So this could be the start
of a whole new commercial market for
astronomical observation.
Anna: Exactly. Blue Sky Space already has
another mission, Twinkle, planned for
2027 to study exoplanet planet
atmospheres. With falling launch costs and
miniaturization, this could really change how
a lot of astronomical research is done.
Avery: Incredible. From a new beginning
to a potential problem.
Our next story takes us to the Baikonur
Cosmodrome and Kazakhstan. Anna, uh,
you have the details on some trouble for
Roscosmos?
Anna: That's right. Following the successful launch
of the Soyuz MS.28 crew to the
International Space Station, it seems the
launch pad itself itself sustained some
significant damage.
Avery: What happened exactly?
Anna: During the post launch inspection,
Roscosmos confirmed that a maintenance cabin
located in the Flame trench at site
31.6 collapsed. This is a
critical piece of hardware needed to prepare
rockets for launch.
Avery: And this is Russia's only active launch pad
for sending cosmonauts to the iss. Right.
Anna: That's the crucial part. They used to use the
historic site one, Gagarin's start, but
it was retired in 2020. So since
then, all Russian crewed and cargo flights
have gone from site 31. Roscosmos
says they have the spare parts and will
repair the damage, but some outside estimates
suggest it could take up to two years.
Avery: Two years. That would have a major
impact on their ISS operations. There's
a progress resupply mission scheduled for
next month.
Anna: Indeed, it's unclear at this point if that
schedule will hold or if another pad could be
adopted. The good news, of course, is that
the Soyuz MS.28 crew, including
NASA astronaut Chris Williams, arrived at the
station safely and are beginning their 8m
month stay.
Avery: A, uh, situation to watch for. Sure.
Alright, let's shift our gaze from Earth
orbit to the very center of our galaxy. And
the James Webb Space Telescope has been
watching the Milky Way's supermassive black
hole, Sagittarius A.
And it saw something spectacular.
Anna: It did. Astronomers used Webb
to observe flares from Sagittarius
A in mid infrared light
for the first time. We've seen these flares
in other wavelengths like near infrared
and radio, but. But mid infrared was
the missing piece of the puzzle.
Avery: Why is seeing it in a different wavelength so
important? Does it just look different?
Anna: It's about understanding the physics of
what's happening. The processes that create
these flares don't show up in all
wavelengths equally. By observing
in mid infrared, Webb is bridging the
gap between what we see in near infrared
and radio waves, giving us a more
complete picture of how the flare evolved.
Avery: So what did this new view reveal? Mhm.
Anna: Two really cool things. First, they
confirmed that a process called synchrotron
cooling is happening. This is when high
speed electrons lose energy by
emitting radiation. And that's what powers
the mid infrared light we're seeing.
Avery: Okay. Synchroton cooling. And the second
thing, this is the.
Anna: Big one, because the speed of that cooling
process depends on the strength of the
magnetic field. These new observations
allow scientists to measure the magnetic
field around the black hole more
directly and cleanly than ever before.
It's a critical parameter for understanding
how these cosmic giants are sculpted
and how they eject so much energy.
Avery: Wow. So we're getting a direct measurement of
the magnetic environment right next to a
supermassive black hole. That's A huge step.
Anna: It is. And the lead researchers
emphasized this was only possible because
of Webb's MIRI instrument, which can
observe in that specific wavelength with
incredible sensitivity, something
impossible from the ground.
Avery: Absolutely incredible. So now that we have
this new tool to measure the magnetic field
so close to the event horizon, we. What's the
next big question these researchers are
trying to answer? Are they looking for
something specific in future observations?
Anna: The ultimate goal is to understand how
Sagittarius A feeds and grows.
These flares are thought to be the crumbs
from its meals, gas and stars that
get too close. By studying the
magnetic field, scientists can build better
models of the accretion disk, which is the
swirling vortex of matter that feeds the
black hole. They want to understand how this
magnetic field extracts energy and
launches powerful jets of particles, a, uh,
phenomenon we see in more active
supermassive black holes across the universe.
Webb's observations are providing the crucial
ground truth for those theories.
Avery: Another win for Webb.
Okay, from one innovative space mission to
another. The European Space Agency just
launched its first, first scout mission.
Anna, uh, what is Hydro GNNS
scouting for?
Anna: As the name suggests, it's scouting for
water. Hydro GNNSS
consists of two small twin satellites
also launched on that same transporter 15
rideshare flight we mentioned earlier. Their
goal is to improve our understanding of
Earth's water cycle.
Avery: And how are they doing that? What's the
technology?
Anna: It's a really clever technique called GNSS
reflectometry. Essentially, the
satellites listen for signals from navigation
systems like GPS and Galileo.
They compare the signals they receive
directly from the navigation satellites with
the signals that have reflected off the
Earth's surface.
Avery: Right. And the way those signals change after
bouncing off the ground tells them something.
Anna: Exactly. It reveals valuable information
about key parts of the water cycle, such as
soil moisture, the freeze, thaw, state of
the ground, areas of flooding or
wetlands, and even the amount of
biomass in forests. These are all
critical for things like predicting floods,
planning agriculture, and understanding
carbon cycles.
Avery: You mentioned this is a scout mission. What
does that mean for esa?
Anna: It's a new approach for them, inspired by the
new space philosophy. Scout missions
are designed to be fast, agile and low
cost. They go from concept to launch in
just three years with a lean budget,
complementing their larger, more traditional
Earth explorer missions. Hydro
GNSS is the first of this new
family.
Avery: That's fantastic. It's great to see agencies
embracing faster, more innovative development
cycles.
Finally, let's bring it back home. NASA's
Osiris APEX spacecraft recently swung by
Earth and sent Back some souvenirs.
Anna: It did. Listeners will remember this
spacecraft as Osiris Rex, the
mission that successfully returned a sample
from the asteroid Bennu. After dropping off
its precious cargo, it was given a new name,
Osiris Apexed, and a new target,
the asteroid Apophis.
Avery: And to get there, it needed a little help
from home.
Anna: That's right. It performed a gravity assist
flyby of Earth, using our planet's
gravity to slingshot itself on a new course
towards Apophis. During this maneuver,
it flew just over 2,000 miles above the
surface and took some absolutely stunning
photos of Earth showing swirling cloud
patterns over blue oceans.
Avery: I saw those pictures. They're breathtaking.
It also got a shot of the moon, didn't it?
Anna: It did. As it was departing, it captured a
dramatic image of the Earth and Moon in the
same frame from about
370,000 miles away.
Besides being beautiful, these images
confirmed that its cameras are working
perfectly.
Ahead of its new mission and its.
Avery: Target, Apophis is a particularly
interesting asteroid, isn't it?
Anna: Very. Apophis will have its own
extremely close encounter with Earth on April
13, 20, 2029, passing closer
than many of our satellites. Osiris
Apex is scheduled to arrive shortly after
that pass, making it the first mission to
study how an asteroid is physically altered
by a planetary encounter. It will orbit
Apophis for 18 months, mapping it and
even firing its thrusters to stir up surface
dust for analysis.
Avery: It's amazing that they can get so much more
out of one spacecraft. Why is
Apophis in particular such a high priority
target? Is it just about the close flyby,
or is there something special about the
asteroid itself?
Anna: It's m a combination of both. The
2029 flyby is a once in a millennium
scientific opportunity to see how Earth's
gravity can physically alter an asteroid,
potentially triggering asteroid quakes or
changing its spin. But Apophis is
also an S type or stony asteroid,
which are very common in the inner solar
system and are the type most likely to pose
an impact hazardous. By studying its
composition and structure up close,
especially after it's been gravitationally
stressed, we gain invaluable data for
planetary defense models. It's a perfect
natural laboratory, an incredible.
Avery: Second act for a history making spacecraft.
Well, that's all the time we have for today.
From private telescopes and damaged launch
pads, to black hole flares and Earth scouting
satellites, it's been another busy day in
space.
Anna: It certainly has. Thanks for tuning in to
Astronomy Daily. Be sure to subscribe
wherever you get your podcasts so you don't
miss an episode.
Avery: Until next time. I'm Avery.
Anna: And I'm Anna. Keep looking up.
Avery: Stories.
We told.