Tiny Robots, Alien Caves: NASA's Plan for Titan

WEBVTT
0
00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:03.200
Anna: Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Astronomy
1
00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:04.560
AstroDailyPod. I'm Anna.
2
00:00:04.720 --> 00:00:07.680
Avery: And I'm Avery. And Anna, uh, I feel like we
3
00:00:07.680 --> 00:00:10.000
need to issue a weather warning today. A
4
00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:11.200
space weather warning.
5
00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:14.640
Anna: Very on brand for us. It's Monday,
6
00:00:14.800 --> 00:00:17.550
August 17th, series five, episode
7
00:00:17.690 --> 00:00:20.640
169. And yes, there is genuinely
8
00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:23.480
a solar storm rolling in as we speak, though.
9
00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:24.480
Uh, we'll get to that.
10
00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:27.410
Avery: We will. But first, our main storey today
11
00:00:27.410 --> 00:00:30.290
is one of my favourites in a while. NASA just
12
00:00:30.290 --> 00:00:32.930
funded a concept for little spherical robots
13
00:00:32.930 --> 00:00:34.330
to go exploring the caves
14
00:00:34.330 --> 00:00:37.130
Anna: of Titan, which sounds like science fiction
15
00:00:37.130 --> 00:00:39.210
and is, in fact, just science.
16
00:00:39.690 --> 00:00:42.330
Avery: Just science. Then we've got SpaceX
17
00:00:42.330 --> 00:00:44.970
quietly breaking its own launch record twice
18
00:00:44.970 --> 00:00:47.370
in one night, 38 minutes apart.
19
00:00:47.610 --> 00:00:49.850
Rocket Lab picking up its biggest defence
20
00:00:49.850 --> 00:00:51.970
contract yet for something called flat
21
00:00:51.970 --> 00:00:54.350
alights, which is a genuinely fun word to
22
00:00:54.350 --> 00:00:56.750
say. And then we'll close out with that solar
23
00:00:56.750 --> 00:00:58.870
storm, because depending on where you live,
24
00:00:58.950 --> 00:01:00.390
you might want to look up
25
00:01:00.390 --> 00:01:03.310
Anna: tonight, a very Monday lineup. Let's get
26
00:01:03.310 --> 00:01:03.750
into it.
27
00:01:03.910 --> 00:01:06.710
Avery: Okay, so start us off. What exactly did
28
00:01:06.710 --> 00:01:07.830
NASA fund here?
29
00:01:08.230 --> 00:01:11.030
Anna: So this is a, uh, NASA Innovative Advanced
30
00:01:11.030 --> 00:01:14.030
Concepts Grant, NIAC for short. That's
31
00:01:14.030 --> 00:01:16.550
NASA's Programme for Funding the genuinely
32
00:01:16.630 --> 00:01:19.590
weird early stage. This might not work, but
33
00:01:19.590 --> 00:01:22.460
if it does, it's a game changer. Ideas. And
34
00:01:22.460 --> 00:01:24.540
the one that just got a phase one grant is
35
00:01:24.540 --> 00:01:27.300
called sparc, which stands for Solid State
36
00:01:27.300 --> 00:01:29.660
Propulsion for Autonomous Reconnaissance of
37
00:01:29.660 --> 00:01:31.540
Karst. Karst being
38
00:01:31.940 --> 00:01:34.860
Karst is the geology term for terrain
39
00:01:34.860 --> 00:01:37.700
shaped by dissolving rock on Earth. That's
40
00:01:37.700 --> 00:01:39.940
usually limestone, and it's what gives you
41
00:01:39.940 --> 00:01:42.900
sinkholes, underground rivers, cave systems,
42
00:01:42.900 --> 00:01:45.580
all of that. Titan, Saturn's biggest
43
00:01:45.580 --> 00:01:48.260
moon, has its own version, except instead of
44
00:01:48.260 --> 00:01:51.100
water carving through limestone, it's liquid
45
00:01:51.100 --> 00:01:53.930
methane and ethane carving through water ice,
46
00:01:54.320 --> 00:01:56.200
which behaves like rock at Titan's
47
00:01:56.200 --> 00:01:56.800
temperatures.
48
00:01:57.280 --> 00:01:59.240
Avery: Right, because it's what, minus
49
00:01:59.240 --> 00:02:01.600
179 degrees Celsius out there?
50
00:02:01.920 --> 00:02:04.880
Anna: Roughly, yeah. Properly cryogenic.
51
00:02:04.960 --> 00:02:07.680
So Titan's got these liquid methane lakes and
52
00:02:07.680 --> 00:02:10.279
rivers on the surface, and scientists think
53
00:02:10.279 --> 00:02:12.880
underneath there's a whole hidden landscape
54
00:02:12.880 --> 00:02:15.640
of sinkholes and caves, the same way you'd
55
00:02:15.640 --> 00:02:18.560
get in, say, Kentucky or Slovenia, just
56
00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:20.960
running on an entirely different chemistry.
57
00:02:21.410 --> 00:02:23.470
Avery: Um, and that's the terrain a normal rover
58
00:02:23.470 --> 00:02:24.670
just can't deal with.
59
00:02:24.990 --> 00:02:27.990
Anna: Exactly. You can't drive a wheeled rover into
60
00:02:27.990 --> 00:02:30.910
a cave mouth or over a sinkhole edge. And
61
00:02:30.910 --> 00:02:33.630
flying a fixed rotorcraft in there is its own
62
00:02:33.630 --> 00:02:36.070
nightmare of collision risk. So the team
63
00:02:36.070 --> 00:02:38.870
behind sparc, led by Daniel Drew, an
64
00:02:38.870 --> 00:02:40.790
assistant professor at the University of
65
00:02:40.790 --> 00:02:43.510
Hawaii, working with Ethan Schaller and Jacob
66
00:02:43.510 --> 00:02:45.990
Israelovitz at JPL and Michael
67
00:02:45.990 --> 00:02:48.630
Molaska at the Blue Marble Space Institute of
68
00:02:48.630 --> 00:02:50.590
Science came up with something different.
69
00:02:51.160 --> 00:02:53.880
Small spherical robots that basically fly
70
00:02:53.880 --> 00:02:56.480
themselves through the terrain using electric
71
00:02:56.480 --> 00:02:59.280
propulsion. No propellers, no moving parts to
72
00:02:59.280 --> 00:02:59.560
break.
73
00:03:00.040 --> 00:03:02.520
Avery: No moving parts. So how do they actually
74
00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:02.920
move?
75
00:03:03.240 --> 00:03:05.680
Anna: This is the clever bit. It's called
76
00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:08.640
electrohydrodynamic propulsion, or
77
00:03:08.640 --> 00:03:11.520
ehd. It's a solid state electric
78
00:03:11.520 --> 00:03:14.000
thruster, similar in principle to the ion
79
00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:16.040
windlifters people have been experimenting
80
00:03:16.040 --> 00:03:18.660
with here on Earth for years. Except this
81
00:03:18.660 --> 00:03:21.300
team is adapting it for Titan's specific
82
00:03:21.300 --> 00:03:23.940
atmosphere. Drew's own description of the
83
00:03:23.940 --> 00:03:26.620
advantage is basically the whole pitch. He
84
00:03:26.620 --> 00:03:28.700
says the design gives you persistence,
85
00:03:28.780 --> 00:03:31.300
manoeuvrability, robustness to the
86
00:03:31.300 --> 00:03:34.099
challenging near cryogenic conditions, and
87
00:03:34.099 --> 00:03:36.240
minimises downwash disturbance of, uh,
88
00:03:36.340 --> 00:03:38.780
scientifically important hydrocarbon
89
00:03:38.780 --> 00:03:39.260
layering.
90
00:03:39.740 --> 00:03:42.180
Avery: Break that last bit down for me. Downwash
91
00:03:42.180 --> 00:03:43.020
disturbance.
92
00:03:43.670 --> 00:03:46.230
Anna: So if you fly a normal propeller drone into
93
00:03:46.230 --> 00:03:48.950
one of these caves, the propwash, the air
94
00:03:48.950 --> 00:03:51.510
it's pushing down and around would stir up
95
00:03:51.510 --> 00:03:54.110
and disturb the very hydrocarbon layers on
96
00:03:54.110 --> 00:03:56.310
the ground that scientists want to study
97
00:03:56.470 --> 00:03:59.189
undisturbed. A solid state thruster
98
00:03:59.189 --> 00:04:01.390
barely moves the surrounding atmosphere in
99
00:04:01.390 --> 00:04:04.030
the same way, so it can hover and inspect a
100
00:04:04.030 --> 00:04:05.910
site without messing up the science.
101
00:04:06.630 --> 00:04:09.550
Avery: That's such a specific, very tightened
102
00:04:09.550 --> 00:04:11.030
problem to have to design around.
103
00:04:11.590 --> 00:04:14.390
Anna: It really is. And it's a good reminder that
104
00:04:14.390 --> 00:04:17.030
Titan is nothing like Mars M with the Moon.
105
00:04:17.030 --> 00:04:19.510
In terms of engineering constraints, it
106
00:04:19.510 --> 00:04:22.270
actually works in the aerobots favour in one
107
00:04:22.270 --> 00:04:25.230
big way, though. Titan's atmosphere is denser
108
00:04:25.230 --> 00:04:27.950
than Earth's at the surface and gravity is
109
00:04:27.950 --> 00:04:30.590
only about a seventh of Earth's. So flying
110
00:04:30.590 --> 00:04:33.550
there is weirdly easier than flying
111
00:04:33.550 --> 00:04:35.910
here. You get more lift for less power.
112
00:04:36.390 --> 00:04:38.750
Avery: So it's almost the perfect place to fly a
113
00:04:38.750 --> 00:04:41.310
fleet of tiny spherical drones. Other than
114
00:04:41.310 --> 00:04:43.260
the fact that it's over a billion kilometres
115
00:04:43.330 --> 00:04:45.450
kilometres away and colder than anywhere on
116
00:04:45.450 --> 00:04:46.450
Earth has ever been.
117
00:04:47.890 --> 00:04:50.290
Anna: Just a few small logistical issues.
118
00:04:50.610 --> 00:04:53.250
But it's not the first time JPL's circled
119
00:04:53.250 --> 00:04:55.730
this exact problem either. There was an
120
00:04:55.730 --> 00:04:58.050
earlier concept called shapeshifter
121
00:04:58.210 --> 00:05:00.930
cobots that could roll as a sphere, fly
122
00:05:00.930 --> 00:05:03.690
independently, link into daisy chains to
123
00:05:03.690 --> 00:05:06.490
descend into caves, or reconfigure into
124
00:05:06.490 --> 00:05:09.010
a swimming probe for the lakes. That one
125
00:05:09.010 --> 00:05:11.730
dates back to around 2019, led by
126
00:05:11.730 --> 00:05:14.450
JPL's Ali Aga, and it never
127
00:05:14.450 --> 00:05:17.310
fl but it shows. This has been a recurring
128
00:05:17.310 --> 00:05:19.670
puzzle for mission planners. How do you
129
00:05:19.670 --> 00:05:22.350
actually get eyes into Titan's caves
130
00:05:22.430 --> 00:05:24.350
and under its lake surfaces?
131
00:05:24.830 --> 00:05:27.350
Avery: So SPARC is sort of the next generation
132
00:05:27.350 --> 00:05:29.790
attempt at solving the same problem, right?
133
00:05:29.870 --> 00:05:32.710
Anna: A ah, more focused, more mature approach to a
134
00:05:32.710 --> 00:05:35.030
piece of that puzzle. And in terms of where
135
00:05:35.030 --> 00:05:37.870
this sits right now, this is a NIAC Phase
136
00:05:37.870 --> 00:05:40.310
1 award, which is nine months of funding to
137
00:05:40.310 --> 00:05:42.750
mature the concept and prove out the physics.
138
00:05:43.100 --> 00:05:45.700
If it clears that bar, it can apply for a two
139
00:05:45.700 --> 00:05:48.620
year phase two grant. This is very early
140
00:05:48.620 --> 00:05:51.100
stage. We're talking design studies and lab
141
00:05:51.100 --> 00:05:53.460
testing, not hardware headed to the launch
142
00:05:53.460 --> 00:05:53.900
pad.
143
00:05:53.980 --> 00:05:56.020
Avery: Is there any actual mission this could hook
144
00:05:56.020 --> 00:05:58.100
into or is it purely conceptual?
145
00:05:58.100 --> 00:06:00.620
Anna: For now, the obvious one people are asking
146
00:06:00.620 --> 00:06:03.140
about is Dragonfly. That's NASA's
147
00:06:03.140 --> 00:06:05.700
rotorcraft lander that's actually built and
148
00:06:05.700 --> 00:06:08.300
funded targeting a Titan launch around
149
00:06:08.380 --> 00:06:11.000
2028. Drew's been fairly
150
00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:13.640
upfront that integration with Dragonfly
151
00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:16.440
specifically isn't confirmed. This is really
152
00:06:16.440 --> 00:06:19.080
a technology maturation project first
153
00:06:19.320 --> 00:06:21.920
looking for a ride on whatever future Titan
154
00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:24.200
mission makes sense, which could be an add on
155
00:06:24.200 --> 00:06:26.840
to Dragonfly or something entirely separate
156
00:06:26.840 --> 00:06:27.480
down the line.
157
00:06:27.640 --> 00:06:30.080
Avery: Why does any of this matter? Beyond tiny
158
00:06:30.080 --> 00:06:32.120
robot spheres are cool though, like
159
00:06:32.360 --> 00:06:34.480
scientifically. What's actually at stake in
160
00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:35.080
those caves?
161
00:06:35.740 --> 00:06:38.700
Anna: A few things. One basic geology.
162
00:06:39.020 --> 00:06:41.660
Understanding how karst terrain forms in an
163
00:06:41.660 --> 00:06:44.500
entirely different chemical system tells us a
164
00:06:44.500 --> 00:06:46.980
lot about how erosion and landscape evolution
165
00:06:46.980 --> 00:06:49.420
work in general, not just on Titan
166
00:06:49.740 --> 00:06:52.700
2. And this is the bigger one. Titan's
167
00:06:52.700 --> 00:06:55.420
subsurface, especially anywhere liquid
168
00:06:55.420 --> 00:06:57.260
water might mix with those organic
169
00:06:57.260 --> 00:06:59.820
hydrocarbons, is one of the more interesting
170
00:06:59.900 --> 00:07:02.370
astrobiology targets in the solar system.
171
00:07:02.770 --> 00:07:05.650
It's not Europa or Enceladus with their
172
00:07:05.650 --> 00:07:08.370
subsurface oceans, but Titan has its
173
00:07:08.370 --> 00:07:11.050
own complex organic chemistry happening on
174
00:07:11.050 --> 00:07:13.650
the surface and possibly just beneath it.
175
00:07:13.890 --> 00:07:16.850
And caves are exactly the kind of sheltered,
176
00:07:16.930 --> 00:07:19.210
chemically rich environment where you'd want
177
00:07:19.210 --> 00:07:19.970
to look closely.
178
00:07:20.130 --> 00:07:22.650
Avery: Tiny spherical robots floating into
179
00:07:22.650 --> 00:07:25.010
alien sinkholes, hunting for the building
180
00:07:25.010 --> 00:07:27.170
blocks of life. When you put it that way,
181
00:07:27.170 --> 00:07:28.850
it's, uh, a pretty great pitch for nine
182
00:07:28.850 --> 00:07:30.210
months of NIAC funding.
183
00:07:30.530 --> 00:07:33.170
Anna: It really is. And this is exactly the kind of
184
00:07:33.170 --> 00:07:36.010
storey I love bringing you because 90%
185
00:07:36.010 --> 00:07:38.610
of these NIAC Phase 1 concepts never
186
00:07:38.610 --> 00:07:41.330
fly. But the ones that do reshape
187
00:07:41.330 --> 00:07:43.890
entire mission architectures years later.
188
00:07:44.130 --> 00:07:46.250
Worth keeping an eye on SPARC as it moves
189
00:07:46.250 --> 00:07:46.850
through a view.
190
00:07:47.330 --> 00:07:50.330
Avery: Okay, moving on from tiny robots on
191
00:07:50.330 --> 00:07:52.730
Titan to something happening a lot closer to
192
00:07:52.730 --> 00:07:55.730
home. SpaceX broke its own turnaround record
193
00:07:55.730 --> 00:07:56.370
this weekend.
194
00:07:56.910 --> 00:07:59.550
Anna: Twice in one night, and not by a little.
195
00:07:59.870 --> 00:08:02.790
Avery: So Saturday night, August 15th, SpaceX
196
00:08:02.790 --> 00:08:05.310
launched two separate Falcon 9 missions from
197
00:08:05.310 --> 00:08:07.950
opposite coasts just 38 minutes apart.
198
00:08:08.350 --> 00:08:11.150
First one lifted off at 9:12pm, um, eastern
199
00:08:11.150 --> 00:08:13.590
from Cape Canaveral's Space Force Station in
200
00:08:13.590 --> 00:08:15.910
Florida, carrying eight Global Star
201
00:08:15.910 --> 00:08:18.390
telecommunications satellites deployed over
202
00:08:18.390 --> 00:08:21.070
about a six minute span. Then at
203
00:08:21.070 --> 00:08:23.950
9:50pm Eastern. So barely more than half
204
00:08:23.950 --> 00:08:26.870
an hour later, A second Falcon 9 went up from
205
00:08:26.870 --> 00:08:29.590
Vandenberg Space Force Base in California,
206
00:08:29.750 --> 00:08:32.150
carrying a classified U.S. space Force
207
00:08:32.150 --> 00:08:35.030
mission called USSF 366.
208
00:08:35.590 --> 00:08:37.990
Anna: Classified as in we don't fully know what's
209
00:08:37.990 --> 00:08:38.390
on it.
210
00:08:38.950 --> 00:08:41.069
Avery: Right. Though the reporting suggests it's
211
00:08:41.069 --> 00:08:43.110
likely built on the Starshield platform.
212
00:08:43.110 --> 00:08:45.630
That's SpaceX's national security variant of
213
00:08:45.630 --> 00:08:48.230
Starlink. But the headline here isn't really
214
00:08:48.230 --> 00:08:50.960
the payloads, it's the timing. 38
215
00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:53.280
minutes between liftoffs from two different
216
00:08:53.280 --> 00:08:56.200
coasts beat SpaceX's own previous record
217
00:08:56.200 --> 00:08:59.056
of 65 minutes, which was set back in August
218
00:08:59.184 --> 00:08:59.760
2024.
219
00:09:00.160 --> 00:09:03.040
Anna: So they shaved 27 minutes off their
220
00:09:03.040 --> 00:09:05.520
Avery: own record, which doesn't sound like much
221
00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:07.880
until you think about what has to happen in
222
00:09:07.880 --> 00:09:10.080
that window. Different pads, different
223
00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:12.240
states, different mission control teams,
224
00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:15.120
weather, range, safety clearances, all of
225
00:09:15.120 --> 00:09:17.280
it lining up almost simultaneously.
226
00:09:17.720 --> 00:09:20.160
Anna: And both boosters landed successfully too,
227
00:09:20.160 --> 00:09:20.520
right?
228
00:09:20.920 --> 00:09:23.000
Avery: Both stuck the landing. The Global Star
229
00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:25.440
Booster completed its 14th flight and the
230
00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:28.440
USSF 366 booster landed on the drone
231
00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:30.720
ship. Of Course I Still Love youe Out in the
232
00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:33.400
Pacific. That one was on its 18th flight.
233
00:09:33.800 --> 00:09:36.520
Anna: 18 flights on a single booster is
234
00:09:36.520 --> 00:09:39.000
wild to say out loud. And now it's just
235
00:09:39.320 --> 00:09:41.160
Tuesday. Well, Saturday.
236
00:09:42.360 --> 00:09:44.680
Avery: Just another day at the office for Falcon 9.
237
00:09:45.110 --> 00:09:46.630
And that's really the bigger storey
238
00:09:46.630 --> 00:09:49.470
underneath the record. This pushes SpaceX's
239
00:09:49.470 --> 00:09:52.310
2026 tally to 96 Falcon
240
00:09:52.310 --> 00:09:54.870
9 launches so far this year, with
241
00:09:54.870 --> 00:09:57.070
roughly three quarters of those dedicated to
242
00:09:57.070 --> 00:09:58.870
building out the Starlink constellation.
243
00:09:59.430 --> 00:10:02.110
Anna: 96 launches and we're not even through
244
00:10:02.110 --> 00:10:02.630
August.
245
00:10:03.110 --> 00:10:04.870
Avery: At, uh, that pace, they're on track to
246
00:10:04.870 --> 00:10:07.390
comfortably beat last year's total. It's
247
00:10:07.390 --> 00:10:09.190
honestly gone to the point where a single
248
00:10:09.190 --> 00:10:11.830
Falcon 9 launch barely makes news anymore.
249
00:10:12.150 --> 00:10:14.750
It takes something like 2 and 38 minutes from
250
00:10:14.750 --> 00:10:16.590
opposite coasts to actually stand
251
00:10:16.590 --> 00:10:19.510
Anna: out, which says a lot about how normalised
252
00:10:19.510 --> 00:10:21.750
orbital class rocket launches have become in
253
00:10:21.750 --> 00:10:23.270
the space of about a decade.
254
00:10:23.590 --> 00:10:26.150
Avery: It really does. We'll keep watching to see
255
00:10:26.150 --> 00:10:28.790
how long that 38 minute record holds, because
256
00:10:28.790 --> 00:10:30.950
at, uh, this cadence, I wouldn't bet on it
257
00:10:30.950 --> 00:10:32.390
lasting past the end of the year.
258
00:10:32.950 --> 00:10:35.030
Anna: Speaking of defence contracts and companies
259
00:10:35.030 --> 00:10:37.710
racing to build out Constellations, Rocket
260
00:10:37.710 --> 00:10:39.750
Lab just landed its biggest one yet.
261
00:10:41.350 --> 00:10:43.470
Avery: I need everyone to appreciate that name for a
262
00:10:43.470 --> 00:10:43.750
second.
263
00:10:44.550 --> 00:10:47.110
Anna: It's a great name. So this is a
264
00:10:47.110 --> 00:10:50.030
$397 million contract from
265
00:10:50.030 --> 00:10:52.870
the US Space Force awarded earlier this month
266
00:10:52.950 --> 00:10:55.430
for Rocket Lab to build and launch a batch of
267
00:10:55.430 --> 00:10:57.990
satellites called Flat Alights. Flat
268
00:10:57.990 --> 00:11:00.350
Panel Satellites, hence the name for a
269
00:11:00.350 --> 00:11:02.430
programme called SBAMTI M
270
00:11:03.510 --> 00:11:05.910
Space based Airborne Moving Target
271
00:11:05.990 --> 00:11:06.630
Indicator.
272
00:11:07.160 --> 00:11:09.720
Avery: Which is exactly what it sounds like tracking
273
00:11:09.720 --> 00:11:11.560
moving airborne threats from space.
274
00:11:12.040 --> 00:11:13.920
Anna: Right. It's about building a space based
275
00:11:13.920 --> 00:11:16.000
sensing layer that can watch contested
276
00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:18.800
airspace in near real time. Rocket Lab
277
00:11:18.800 --> 00:11:21.720
CEO Peter Beck put it this way. He said
278
00:11:21.720 --> 00:11:23.880
we are proud to contribute to the deployment
279
00:11:23.880 --> 00:11:26.760
of a resilient space based sensing layer
280
00:11:26.760 --> 00:11:29.120
that will enhance the Joint Force's ability
281
00:11:29.120 --> 00:11:31.320
to operate in contested airspace.
282
00:11:31.640 --> 00:11:33.680
Avery: And um, the flat design is the interesting
283
00:11:33.680 --> 00:11:36.570
engineering choice here is flat
284
00:11:36.570 --> 00:11:36.970
panel
285
00:11:36.970 --> 00:11:39.650
Anna: satellites stack far more efficiently inside
286
00:11:39.650 --> 00:11:42.170
a rocket fairing than traditional boxy
287
00:11:42.170 --> 00:11:44.930
satellite designs. So you can pack a lot more
288
00:11:44.930 --> 00:11:47.810
of them per launch. It's the same basic logic
289
00:11:47.810 --> 00:11:50.530
SpaceX used when it redesigned Starlink into
290
00:11:50.530 --> 00:11:53.170
a flat pack form factor. Each flat
291
00:11:53.170 --> 00:11:55.930
alight is also fitted with low latency high
292
00:11:55.930 --> 00:11:58.370
bandwidth communications alongside its threat
293
00:11:58.370 --> 00:12:01.090
detection sensors. So the whole constellation
294
00:12:01.090 --> 00:12:03.530
can talk to itself and to the ground quickly.
295
00:12:03.870 --> 00:12:06.390
Avery: Um, and these are flying on Neutron Rocket
296
00:12:06.390 --> 00:12:08.430
Lab's new rocket, the one we were just
297
00:12:08.430 --> 00:12:10.790
talking about on Thursday's episode that's
298
00:12:10.790 --> 00:12:13.230
still hedging on a 2026 debut.
299
00:12:13.470 --> 00:12:16.230
Anna: Exactly the same Neutron. So there's a
300
00:12:16.230 --> 00:12:18.670
nice bit of continuity here. The rocket
301
00:12:18.670 --> 00:12:21.150
itself still doesn't have a confirmed first
302
00:12:21.150 --> 00:12:23.750
flight date, but customers keep signing up to
303
00:12:23.750 --> 00:12:26.470
fly on it anyway, stacked in a Starlink
304
00:12:26.470 --> 00:12:29.030
style configuration once it does get off the
305
00:12:29.030 --> 00:12:29.310
ground.
306
00:12:29.760 --> 00:12:32.400
Avery: That's either a huge vote of confidence or a
307
00:12:32.400 --> 00:12:34.680
slightly nerve wracking amount of manifests
308
00:12:34.680 --> 00:12:36.880
riding on a rocket that hasn't flown yet.
309
00:12:37.040 --> 00:12:39.680
Anna: A bit of both, honestly. But it does make
310
00:12:39.680 --> 00:12:42.320
sense in context. This is Rocket Lab's
311
00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:45.000
largest defence contract to date, and it's
312
00:12:45.000 --> 00:12:47.400
not their only one this year. Add up the
313
00:12:47.400 --> 00:12:49.000
other government contracts they've announced
314
00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:51.680
in 2026. 190 million,
315
00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:53.860
90 million and $266
316
00:12:54.060 --> 00:12:57.010
million. And combined with this deal of
317
00:12:57.010 --> 00:12:59.450
397 million, that's
318
00:12:59.450 --> 00:13:02.450
$943 million in defence
319
00:13:02.450 --> 00:13:04.610
funding secured this year alone.
320
00:13:05.010 --> 00:13:07.450
Avery: Just shy of a billion dollars all in
321
00:13:07.450 --> 00:13:08.290
2026.
322
00:13:08.610 --> 00:13:11.129
Anna: Which tells you Rocket Lab's strategy of
323
00:13:11.129 --> 00:13:13.490
leaning hard into national security work
324
00:13:13.810 --> 00:13:16.290
alongside Electron's commercial track record
325
00:13:16.530 --> 00:13:19.210
is really paying off. It's positioning them
326
00:13:19.210 --> 00:13:21.850
as a legitimate second option to the primes
327
00:13:21.850 --> 00:13:24.280
in this space, not just a smaller player
328
00:13:24.280 --> 00:13:26.040
nipping at SpaceX's heels.
329
00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:28.760
Avery: Reputation and revenue building up nicely
330
00:13:28.760 --> 00:13:31.000
while Neutron itself is still on the ground.
331
00:13:31.320 --> 00:13:33.480
We'll see if that first flight finally
332
00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:35.920
happens before the manifest gets too long to
333
00:13:35.920 --> 00:13:36.440
wait for.
334
00:13:36.600 --> 00:13:39.480
Okay, last storey for today and this one's
335
00:13:39.480 --> 00:13:41.920
genuinely live. As we're recording, there's a
336
00:13:41.920 --> 00:13:44.320
geomagnetic Storm expected to hit Earth
337
00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:45.720
today, August 17th.
338
00:13:45.960 --> 00:13:48.680
Anna: This is the space weather warning I teased at
339
00:13:48.680 --> 00:13:49.000
the top.
340
00:13:49.390 --> 00:13:52.310
Avery: It is. So the setup is a double coronal
341
00:13:52.310 --> 00:13:55.230
mass ejection, 2 CMEs combined with the high
342
00:13:55.230 --> 00:13:57.950
speed solar windstream all heading our way.
343
00:13:58.350 --> 00:14:00.870
Forecasters including the British Geological
344
00:14:00.870 --> 00:14:03.750
survey are predicting G1 to G2 level
345
00:14:03.750 --> 00:14:06.390
geomagnetic storming. So minor to
346
00:14:06.390 --> 00:14:08.670
moderate on the scale that runs up to G5.
347
00:14:08.910 --> 00:14:11.910
Anna: And the timing, when's this actually supposed
348
00:14:11.910 --> 00:14:12.430
to arrive?
349
00:14:12.670 --> 00:14:14.910
Avery: The geomagnetic background's already been a
350
00:14:14.910 --> 00:14:17.670
bit unsettled since yesterday the 16th. But
351
00:14:17.670 --> 00:14:19.670
the main impact is expected in the second
352
00:14:19.670 --> 00:14:22.030
half of today as the bulk of that solar
353
00:14:22.030 --> 00:14:23.390
material reaches Earth.
354
00:14:23.630 --> 00:14:26.110
Anna: So basically tonight, depending on your time
355
00:14:26.110 --> 00:14:28.990
Avery: zone, basically tonight, and the fun part for
356
00:14:28.990 --> 00:14:30.910
listeners is the aurora. Potential
357
00:14:31.150 --> 00:14:33.669
forecasters are calling for possible displays
358
00:14:33.669 --> 00:14:36.430
at high latitudes based on similar recent
359
00:14:36.430 --> 00:14:38.710
storms this season. Uh, that's put places
360
00:14:38.710 --> 00:14:41.230
like Scotland, Northern England, Northern
361
00:14:41.230 --> 00:14:44.030
Ireland, Alaska, Canada and the
362
00:14:44.030 --> 00:14:46.110
northern tier of the U.S. from Washington
363
00:14:46.110 --> 00:14:48.520
state to Maine in the potential viewing zone.
364
00:14:48.910 --> 00:14:50.870
And in the Southern hemisphere, keep an eye
365
00:14:50.870 --> 00:14:52.630
out if you're in southern New Zealand or
366
00:14:52.630 --> 00:14:53.390
Tasmania.
367
00:14:53.710 --> 00:14:55.990
Anna: Solid excuse to step outside tonight if
368
00:14:55.990 --> 00:14:57.470
you're anywhere in that band.
369
00:14:57.630 --> 00:15:00.510
Avery: Definitely worth a look. This is coming off a
370
00:15:00.510 --> 00:15:02.750
pretty active stretch from the sun generally
371
00:15:03.150 --> 00:15:05.790
one active region in particular. Sunspot
372
00:15:05.790 --> 00:15:08.670
AR4507 fired off
373
00:15:08.670 --> 00:15:11.310
at least 10 C class flares in a single
374
00:15:11.310 --> 00:15:13.910
24 hour window between the 15th and
375
00:15:13.910 --> 00:15:16.530
16th including the strongest one, a uh,
376
00:15:16.570 --> 00:15:19.010
C3.7 right around
377
00:15:19.010 --> 00:15:21.330
3:31 UTC on the 16th.
378
00:15:21.650 --> 00:15:24.450
Anna: O M, M or X class flares in that batch.
379
00:15:24.530 --> 00:15:27.490
So nothing extreme but a genuinely busy sun
380
00:15:27.890 --> 00:15:28.770
which tracks.
381
00:15:28.770 --> 00:15:30.969
Avery: We're in an active phase of the current 11
382
00:15:30.969 --> 00:15:33.050
year solar cycle and there's been a steady
383
00:15:33.050 --> 00:15:35.650
run of filament eruptions, flares and Earth
384
00:15:35.650 --> 00:15:38.410
directed CMEs over the past few months. This
385
00:15:38.410 --> 00:15:40.450
is very much part of that pattern, not uh, a
386
00:15:40.450 --> 00:15:41.010
one off.
387
00:15:41.520 --> 00:15:44.320
Anna: I did see one slightly funny detail
388
00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:46.800
in the coverage Space weather experts
389
00:15:46.800 --> 00:15:48.920
advising that people who are sensitive to
390
00:15:48.920 --> 00:15:51.520
weather changes or who have cardiovascular
391
00:15:51.520 --> 00:15:54.000
conditions might want to keep stress low,
392
00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:57.160
stay hydrated and go easy on caffeine and
393
00:15:57.160 --> 00:15:57.680
alcohol
394
00:15:57.680 --> 00:16:00.400
Avery: during the storm, which is genuinely sound
395
00:16:00.400 --> 00:16:02.480
advice regardless of what the sun's doing.
396
00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:04.400
But sure, blame uh, it on the cme.
397
00:16:05.760 --> 00:16:08.200
Anna: Also worth flagging. Forecast models don't
398
00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:11.000
fully agree yet on exact timing, so
399
00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:13.520
this could still arrive a little later or
400
00:16:13.520 --> 00:16:15.840
even end up being more of a glancing blow
401
00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:18.600
than a direct hit. Space weather forecasting
402
00:16:18.600 --> 00:16:21.160
is still much fuzzier than the terrestrial
403
00:16:21.160 --> 00:16:23.360
kind, so no guarantees,
404
00:16:23.520 --> 00:16:25.720
Avery: but if you're in the right latitude band and
405
00:16:25.720 --> 00:16:27.960
the sky's clear tonight. It's worth stepping
406
00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:29.040
outside and looking up,
407
00:16:29.280 --> 00:16:31.720
Anna: which is basically our whole show in one
408
00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:32.240
sentence.
409
00:16:32.640 --> 00:16:35.120
Alright, that's our four storeys for today.
410
00:16:35.440 --> 00:16:38.200
Quick recap. NASA's funded an early stage
411
00:16:38.200 --> 00:16:41.120
concept called Sparc. Spherical propeller
412
00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:43.860
free aerobots that one day fly into the
413
00:16:43.860 --> 00:16:45.980
methane carved caves of Titan.
414
00:16:46.380 --> 00:16:49.020
SpaceX broke its own launch turnaround record
415
00:16:49.100 --> 00:16:51.820
with two Falcon 9 missions just 38
416
00:16:51.820 --> 00:16:54.740
minutes apart from opposite coasts, Rocket
417
00:16:54.740 --> 00:16:57.300
Lab landed a $397 million
418
00:16:57.740 --> 00:17:00.740
Space Force contract to build flat satellites
419
00:17:00.740 --> 00:17:03.300
for airborne threat tracking. And there's a
420
00:17:03.300 --> 00:17:05.980
geomagnetic storm arriving today that could
421
00:17:05.980 --> 00:17:08.260
bring Aurora to parts of the northern and
422
00:17:08.260 --> 00:17:09.820
southern high latitudes tonight.
423
00:17:10.180 --> 00:17:12.180
Avery: If you enjoyed today's episode, the best
424
00:17:12.180 --> 00:17:14.260
thing you can do for us is leave a rating or
425
00:17:14.260 --> 00:17:16.300
review wherever you're listening and share
426
00:17:16.300 --> 00:17:18.780
the episode with a fellow space nerd. You can
427
00:17:18.780 --> 00:17:21.260
find full show notes, sources and links for
428
00:17:21.260 --> 00:17:22.980
every storey we covered today at
429
00:17:22.980 --> 00:17:25.700
astronomydaily IO and find us on social
430
00:17:25.700 --> 00:17:28.580
media. We're AstroDaily Pod pretty
431
00:17:28.580 --> 00:17:29.300
much everywhere.
432
00:17:29.460 --> 00:17:31.860
Anna: We'll be back tomorrow with another episode.
433
00:17:32.020 --> 00:17:34.500
Until then, keep looking up. Tonight
434
00:17:34.500 --> 00:17:34.820
especially.
435
00:17:35.300 --> 00:17:37.140
Avery: See you next then. Um, clear skies.