Full Transcript for Cosmic time capsules: the search for pristine comets

00:03:22,169 an incredible opportunity to observe this object with 90 00:03:22,169 --> 00:03:23,930 our with our spacecraft. And so, 91 00:03:24,250 --> 00:03:26,569 we were excited and got busy right away 92 00:03:26,569 --> 00:03:27,849 because we only had a couple of weeks 93 00:03:27,849 --> 00:03:29,044 to plan the observations 94 00:03:29,425 --> 00:03:32,165 and get the commanding of the instrument onboard 95 00:03:32,465 --> 00:03:33,205 the spacecraft, 96 00:03:34,145 --> 00:03:35,905 in time for the observations that were gonna 97 00:03:35,905 --> 00:03:36,405 happen, 98 00:03:36,865 --> 00:03:38,004 in early November. 99 00:03:39,025 --> 00:03:41,264 So it it so it's Europa Clipper. Right? 100 00:03:41,264 --> 00:03:43,150 It's it's going tell us a bit about 101 00:03:43,150 --> 00:03:44,449 what it's going to do 102 00:03:44,750 --> 00:03:46,909 because I want to ask you next, how 103 00:03:46,909 --> 00:03:48,210 easy is it is to essentially 104 00:03:49,229 --> 00:03:50,990 turn it? I I do you have to 105 00:03:50,990 --> 00:03:53,330 turn it? How do you repurpose it all? 106 00:03:53,389 --> 00:03:55,805 That's a great question. So Europa Clipper was 107 00:03:55,805 --> 00:03:58,365 launched in October 2024, and it's on its 108 00:03:58,365 --> 00:03:58,865 way 109 00:03:59,245 --> 00:04:01,805 to, the Jupiter system to study Europa, which 110 00:04:01,805 --> 00:04:04,604 is this really interesting moon of Jupiter that 111 00:04:04,604 --> 00:04:06,145 is mostly an ice 112 00:04:06,830 --> 00:04:08,430 shell made out of water ice as we 113 00:04:08,430 --> 00:04:10,189 know it here on Earth, water ice. But 114 00:04:10,189 --> 00:04:12,049 underneath that icy shell is liquid 115 00:04:12,430 --> 00:04:14,269 is an ocean of liquid water, and there's 116 00:04:14,269 --> 00:04:16,110 more liquid water there than in all of 117 00:04:16,110 --> 00:04:17,410 Earth's oceans combined 118 00:04:18,029 --> 00:04:20,110 times two. And so if there's anywhere in 119 00:04:20,110 --> 00:04:22,735 the solar system to look for life, or 120 00:04:22,735 --> 00:04:24,675 the signs of the, habitability, 121 00:04:25,694 --> 00:04:27,694 that's the place to go and check. And 122 00:04:27,694 --> 00:04:29,535 so that mission is really designed with the 123 00:04:29,535 --> 00:04:31,694 goal of habitability in mind. It's it's meant 124 00:04:31,694 --> 00:04:33,629 to understand the conditions of 125 00:04:34,110 --> 00:04:37,230 of Europa, the the geology, the interior ocean. 126 00:04:37,230 --> 00:04:39,250 You know? Is the temperature? Is the salinity, 127 00:04:40,110 --> 00:04:43,069 sufficient to support life as we know it? 128 00:04:43,069 --> 00:04:45,389 We're not necessarily trying to say, yes. Life 129 00:04:45,389 --> 00:04:47,824 is there or not. But certainly understanding 130 00:04:48,125 --> 00:04:49,964 that first step of are the conditions there 131 00:04:49,964 --> 00:04:50,785 even favorable 132 00:04:51,404 --> 00:04:52,524 for

the existence of life. 133 00:04:53,805 --> 00:04:55,264 That's insanely exciting. 134 00:04:55,564 --> 00:04:56,384 Yes. Very. 135 00:04:57,004 --> 00:04:58,685 I know. 2001. 136 00:04:58,685 --> 00:05:00,285 Right? And then 2010, 137 00:05:00,285 --> 00:05:03,519 those science fiction books. Hands off, Europa. That's 138 00:05:03,980 --> 00:05:05,120 ever since then, 139 00:05:05,819 --> 00:05:07,500 I've wanted to get my hands on Europa, 140 00:05:07,500 --> 00:05:09,680 and you're actually doing it. Yeah. That's insane. 141 00:05:09,819 --> 00:05:11,420 Oh, yeah. When somebody says, you know, don't 142 00:05:11,420 --> 00:05:13,120 go there. That's where we're gonna go. 143 00:05:13,995 --> 00:05:15,754 And we do have a we have a 144 00:05:15,754 --> 00:05:18,254 monolith at every one of our, team meetings 145 00:05:18,875 --> 00:05:21,435 to, you know, commemorate where we're going. What 146 00:05:21,514 --> 00:05:23,275 sorry. When's it getting there? When's it when's 147 00:05:23,275 --> 00:05:25,115 it gonna arrive? Yeah. So it's it's on 148 00:05:25,115 --> 00:05:27,835 a on a six year journey. And, actually, 149 00:05:27,835 --> 00:05:30,060 the spacecraft will be doing a flyby of 150 00:05:30,060 --> 00:05:31,339 the Earth and the moon to get a 151 00:05:31,339 --> 00:05:33,919 gravity assist later this year in 2026. 152 00:05:34,219 --> 00:05:36,000 And then, and then it will be 153 00:05:36,379 --> 00:05:38,699 a direct shot out to the Jupiter system 154 00:05:38,699 --> 00:05:41,519 and is planned to arrive in 2030. 155 00:05:42,915 --> 00:05:43,415 Okay. 156 00:05:44,115 --> 00:05:45,714 And then the data will get to you 157 00:05:45,714 --> 00:05:46,214 when? 158 00:05:46,675 --> 00:05:48,595 Well, we'll start collecting data as soon as 159 00:05:48,595 --> 00:05:50,834 we get there, and, it takes just the 160 00:05:50,834 --> 00:05:51,334 time 161 00:05:51,714 --> 00:05:53,555 of the speed of light. So depending on 162 00:05:53,555 --> 00:05:55,680 where Jupiter is compared to the distance of 163 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:58,160 Earth anywhere between a half hour and two 164 00:05:58,160 --> 00:05:59,839 hours or something like that to get start 165 00:05:59,839 --> 00:06:01,920 getting some of those bits down. When you 166 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:03,839 say the data, has it also got cameras 167 00:06:03,839 --> 00:06:05,600 on it? Oh, yeah. There's a full suite 168 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:07,279 of instruments. This is a considered to be 169 00:06:07,279 --> 00:06:09,279 a NASA flagship mission, so it's kind of 170 00:06:09,279 --> 00:06:11,375 got all the things we could possibly fit 171 00:06:11,375 --> 00:06:13,774 on board and still launch the spacecraft. So 172 00:06:13,774 --> 00:06:14,354 it has 173 00:06:14,654 --> 00:06:16,894 a really powerful camera. We're gonna get images 174 00:06:16,894 --> 00:06:18,194 that are completely 175 00:06:18,894 --> 00:06:20,574 mind blowing compared to the images that we 176 00:06:20,574 -->

00:06:22,574 have from, for example, the Galileo spacecraft. We're 177 00:06:22,574 --> 00:06:24,194 gonna get some really, really beautiful 178 00:06:24,689 --> 00:06:27,729 shots. We have a magnetometer on board because 179 00:06:27,729 --> 00:06:29,750 that's one of the best ways to sense, 180 00:06:30,289 --> 00:06:32,930 the ocean underneath is to actually understand the 181 00:06:32,930 --> 00:06:35,189 magnetic field and how how Europa's 182 00:06:35,569 --> 00:06:37,829 induced magnetic field due to its ocean 183 00:06:38,814 --> 00:06:41,375 deflects the magnetic field of Jupiter. So that's 184 00:06:41,375 --> 00:06:42,574 actually one of the main ways we know 185 00:06:42,574 --> 00:06:44,115 about that ocean. So we have a magnetometer. 186 00:06:44,654 --> 00:06:46,894 We have a plasma instrument that also helps 187 00:06:46,894 --> 00:06:49,875 measure those kinda interactions with magnetic field. 188 00:06:50,439 --> 00:06:52,680 There's a radar, a ground penetrating radar to 189 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:54,360 try to pierce through the ice and maybe 190 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:56,620 hit where that, ocean deck starts 191 00:06:57,240 --> 00:06:57,639 and, 192 00:06:58,439 --> 00:07:00,839 an infrared spectrometer to understand the composition of 193 00:07:00,839 --> 00:07:03,960 Europa's ice. Because while it's mostly water ice, 194 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:06,335 we see these really interesting discolorations 195 00:07:06,795 --> 00:07:09,435 that we think, are generally they kind of 196 00:07:09,435 --> 00:07:12,235 fall line along these lines of cracks and 197 00:07:12,235 --> 00:07:14,395 and breakups of the ice that we see. 198 00:07:14,395 --> 00:07:16,154 So that might indicate that that water is 199 00:07:16,154 --> 00:07:18,235 coming from underneath that ocean up to the 200 00:07:18,235 --> 00:07:19,375 surface and refreezing. 201 00:07:19,729 --> 00:07:21,490 And so if we can understand the composition 202 00:07:21,490 --> 00:07:22,870 of those discolorations, 203 00:07:23,250 --> 00:07:25,729 maybe we can say something about the materials 204 00:07:25,729 --> 00:07:27,110 that are in that ocean underneath. 205 00:07:28,449 --> 00:07:29,889 Let's see. I don't wanna miss any oh, 206 00:07:29,889 --> 00:07:31,889 and then and then the instrument that I 207 00:07:31,889 --> 00:07:33,669 work on, of course, is the UV instrument, 208 00:07:34,274 --> 00:07:37,154 ultraviolet studies of Europa that are mostly focused 209 00:07:37,154 --> 00:07:38,915 on the atmosphere, the very thin atmosphere of 210 00:07:38,915 --> 00:07:41,175 Europa. And then we have two in situ 211 00:07:41,235 --> 00:07:42,214 instruments. One, 212 00:07:43,235 --> 00:07:45,235 one is a dust collector, and one is 213 00:07:45,235 --> 00:07:47,714 a gas sniffer, a mass spectrometer. And so 214 00:07:47,714 --> 00:07:49,095 from those, we can actually 215 00:07:50,189 --> 00:07:52,350 collect the dust the dust and collect the 216 00:07:52,350 --> 00:07:54,670 gas and analyze them on board and send 217 00:07:54,670 --> 00:07:56,509 that data back down. And that's a way 218 00:07:56,509 --> 00:07:59,490 to basically taste and sniff the the composition 219 00:07:59,550 --> 00:08:01,230 of whatever material might be up in the 220 00:08:01,230 --> 00:08:02,290 atmosphere of Europa. 221 00:08:03,389 --> 00:08:05,024 Oh, amazing. Listen. 222 00:08:05,485 --> 00:08:06,925 Can we make a promise that if I'm 223 00:08:06,925 --> 00:08:08,384 still making this podcast 224 00:08:08,764 --> 00:08:09,904 in 2030, 225 00:08:10,044 --> 00:08:11,724 you talk to me again about it then? 226 00:08:11,724 --> 00:08:12,224 Absolutely. 227 00:08:13,084 --> 00:08:15,164 Awesome. Let's do that. But you what you 228 00:08:15,164 --> 00:08:17,245 have done is and you and your team 229 00:08:17,245 --> 00:08:17,985 have turned, 230 00:08:18,660 --> 00:08:20,979 Europa Clipper. Did you turn it? It's going 231 00:08:20,979 --> 00:08:22,979 to do that. But while we're there, on 232 00:08:22,979 --> 00:08:24,759 the way, let's look at this comet. 233 00:08:25,060 --> 00:08:25,699 Yeah. So, 234 00:08:26,339 --> 00:08:28,100 on this as a scientist on the scientist 235 00:08:28,100 --> 00:08:29,459 side, we just kind of say, hey. We 236 00:08:29,459 --> 00:08:31,539 wanna look at it. Right? And and then 237 00:08:31,539 --> 00:08:33,299 the engineers have to go and figure out 238 00:08:33,299 --> 00:08:33,794 how to do it. 239 00:08:34,355 --> 00:08:36,754 But, yeah, the spacecraft was not necessarily meant 240 00:08:36,754 --> 00:08:37,975 to be pointing that direction. 241 00:08:38,514 --> 00:08:39,954 So they do have to take into a 242 00:08:39,954 --> 00:08:41,235 lot of they have to take a lot 243 00:08:41,235 --> 00:08:43,174 of things into account when turning the spacecraft. 244 00:08:43,394 --> 00:08:45,394 Things like where are the solar panels going 245 00:08:45,394 --> 00:08:46,914 to be pointing because we have these huge 246 00:08:46,914 --> 00:08:48,995 solar panels on board, but you don't want 247 00:08:48,995 --> 00:08:50,370 to point them away from the sun all 248 00:08:50,370 --> 00:08:51,990 of a sudden and then lose power. 249 00:08:52,769 --> 00:08:54,769 And so it is it's a very big 250 00:08:54,769 --> 00:08:56,610 spacecraft, and it's slow. It takes a while 251 00:08:56,610 --> 00:08:57,250 to slew. 252 00:08:57,570 --> 00:08:59,089 But we're kinda just, you know, on this 253 00:08:59,089 --> 00:09:00,690 journey out to Jupiter, and there's not much 254 00:09:00,690 --> 00:09:02,529 else not too much else going on, I 255 00:09:02,529 --> 00:09:03,894 would say. And so, 256 00:09:04,915 --> 00:09:05,575 it was 257 00:09:06,195 --> 00:09:08,355 feasible in that sense. We were in the 258 00:09:08,355 --> 00:09:10,054 middle of doing a lot of our calibrations. 259 00:09:10,195 --> 00:09:11,794 And so one of the things that actually 260 00:09:11,794 --> 00:09:14,035 worked out was that in our for our 261 00:09:14,035

--> 00:09:15,174 instrument in particular, 262 00:09:15,610 --> 00:09:17,549 we weren't going to be able to understand 263 00:09:17,610 --> 00:09:18,090 how, 264 00:09:18,410 --> 00:09:20,350 an object other than a star 265 00:09:20,730 --> 00:09:21,290 kind of 266 00:09:22,250 --> 00:09:24,090 what that data would look like in our 267 00:09:24,090 --> 00:09:26,250 detector. And so a star is a point 268 00:09:26,250 --> 00:09:28,910 source. It's very kinda sharp, clean signal, 269 00:09:29,274 --> 00:09:31,115 but we have this very narrow slit. And 270 00:09:31,115 --> 00:09:33,355 so Europa, when we get there, it's gonna 271 00:09:33,355 --> 00:09:35,674 be bigger than our slit size. And the 272 00:09:35,674 --> 00:09:38,495 effects of that on the detector are appreciable. 273 00:09:38,794 --> 00:09:40,475 And so we wouldn't be able to understand 274 00:09:40,475 --> 00:09:42,634 those until we already were at Europa already 275 00:09:42,634 --> 00:09:43,379 taking data. 276 00:09:43,940 --> 00:09:46,259 And so this actually presented an opportunity for 277 00:09:46,259 --> 00:09:48,039 what we call a calibration where we could 278 00:09:48,179 --> 00:09:49,940 look at an object that had an angular 279 00:09:49,940 --> 00:09:50,440 size, 280 00:09:50,980 --> 00:09:52,660 that would fill the slit and, 281 00:09:53,860 --> 00:09:55,299 use that as a way to start to 282 00:09:55,299 --> 00:09:56,740 already get a sense of how does our 283 00:09:56,740 --> 00:09:58,475 detector work when we're looking at a a 284 00:09:58,475 --> 00:10:00,634 big object other than a star. And so 285 00:10:00,634 --> 00:10:03,034 that kinda worked together. So we actually were 286 00:10:03,034 --> 00:10:04,955 able to move around some of our other 287 00:10:04,955 --> 00:10:05,695 planned calibrations 288 00:10:06,154 --> 00:10:08,554 and replace it with this with this special 289 00:10:08,554 --> 00:10:11,274 observation and still use it for calibration, but 290 00:10:11,274 --> 00:10:12,750 also get really, really cool science. 291 00:10:13,789 --> 00:10:16,029 Okay. So what have you seen by looking 292 00:10:16,029 --> 00:10:16,850 at it then? 293 00:10:17,470 --> 00:10:19,789 That's a good question, and we're still figuring 294 00:10:19,789 --> 00:10:23,090 it out. So we we the UV instrument, 295 00:10:23,230 --> 00:10:25,149 it's interesting, right, because it's designed to look 296 00:10:25,149 --> 00:10:27,794 at Europa, but mostly Europa's atmosphere. And so 297 00:10:27,875 --> 00:10:29,154 one of the things that it's meant to 298 00:10:29,154 --> 00:10:30,615 do is understand how, 299 00:10:31,475 --> 00:10:31,975 molecules 300 00:10:32,434 --> 00:10:34,914 in in the gas form kind of break 301 00:10:34,914 --> 00:10:36,855 up, and they they send out a signal. 302 00:10:37,394 --> 00:10:39,154 When when you have a breakdown of any 303 00:10:39,154 --> 00:10:40,615 kind of compound 304 00:10:40,995 --> 00:10:41,815 or or, 305 00:10:42,639 --> 00:10:43,940 yeah, elemental material, 306 00:10:44,399 --> 00:10:47,279 it releases light at a certain wavelength. And 307 00:10:47,279 --> 00:10:48,980 so, for example, if you have 308 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:51,519 o two, two oxygen molecules, and they break 309 00:10:51,519 --> 00:10:53,199 up, they're gonna send out a signal at 310 00:10:53,199 --> 00:10:55,440 a very, very specific wavelength, and that is 311 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:57,495 a very strong signal at at UV wavelengths. 312 00:10:57,495 --> 00:10:59,735 Lengths. And so that's what we're planning to 313 00:10:59,735 --> 00:11:01,815 do at Europa. It happens to work out 314 00:11:01,815 --> 00:11:03,894 nicely for a comet where comets are also 315 00:11:03,894 --> 00:11:06,695 constantly getting interactions with the sunlight, and that's 316 00:11:06,695 --> 00:11:08,455 kind of breaking apart some of the molecules 317 00:11:08,455 --> 00:11:10,559 that are making up its gas coma. And 318 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:12,399 so as those molecules break apart, they send 319 00:11:12,399 --> 00:11:14,639 out these signals to us. Well, they just 320 00:11:14,639 --> 00:11:16,080 send out the signals, and we can capture 321 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:17,139 those with our cameras 322 00:11:17,519 --> 00:11:20,240 and understand basically what what that composition is. 323 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:22,160 So it's really a way of understanding what 324 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:24,184 the comet is made out of. And so 325 00:11:24,184 --> 00:11:24,764 it works 326 00:11:25,144 --> 00:11:26,904 really well as a as a comet instrument 327 00:11:26,904 --> 00:11:29,225 too. And, in fact, there are UV instruments, 328 00:11:29,545 --> 00:11:32,345 that are orbiting Mars and UV instruments on, 329 00:11:32,665 --> 00:11:36,125 the the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter around the moon 330 00:11:36,184 --> 00:11:39,129 that also tried to look at, at, at 331 00:11:39,129 --> 00:11:40,809 three I Atlas, and I'm not sure what 332 00:11:40,809 --> 00:11:42,889 all of those results are yet. But they 333 00:11:43,050 --> 00:11:44,970 and then in Hubble Hubble data and Swift 334 00:11:44,970 --> 00:11:46,570 data. So everything was kind of looking in 335 00:11:46,570 --> 00:11:48,330 the UV. It's really actually a a a 336 00:11:48,330 --> 00:11:50,410 perfect wavelength to be looking at and studying 337 00:11:50,410 --> 00:11:50,835 comets. 338 00:11:51,315 --> 00:11:53,715 And so what did we see so far? 339 00:11:54,035 --> 00:11:55,014 So we saw 340 00:11:55,634 --> 00:11:56,774 some really interesting 341 00:11:57,554 --> 00:11:59,634 signatures. The the main one is that we 342 00:11:59,634 --> 00:12:01,475 we definitely see lots and lots of hydrogen, 343 00:12:01,475 --> 00:12:04,210 which was not unexpected by any stretch. And 344 00:12:04,210 --> 00:12:05,970 we also see a lot of oxygen. Both 345 00:12:05,970 --> 00:12:08,129 of those are coming from the central coma, 346 00:12:08,129 --> 00:12:10,289 that gas that's kind of

sublimated off of 347 00:12:10,289 --> 00:12:12,450 the main comet and kinda hangs around the 348 00:12:12,450 --> 00:12:12,950 comet. 349 00:12:13,490 --> 00:12:16,529 That part is completely expected. We also definitely 350 00:12:16,529 --> 00:12:18,625 see other signatures of materials, but we're still 351 00:12:18,625 --> 00:12:21,105 trying to understand our detector because, remember, we 352 00:12:21,105 --> 00:12:22,784 were still in the calibration phase where we're 353 00:12:22,784 --> 00:12:23,284 understanding 354 00:12:23,985 --> 00:12:26,004 exactly how the detector works and what, 355 00:12:26,464 --> 00:12:28,704 the signal the signal's coming in, exactly what 356 00:12:28,704 --> 00:12:31,105 wavelengths they are, and then seeing how much 357 00:12:31,105 --> 00:12:32,909 of that might be carbon or might be, 358 00:12:33,549 --> 00:12:36,589 sulfur or argon or whatever other materials might 359 00:12:36,589 --> 00:12:38,909 be there. And so we are still in 360 00:12:38,909 --> 00:12:40,190 that process of figuring it out, but we 361 00:12:40,190 --> 00:12:41,870 do think we see a a bit of 362 00:12:41,870 --> 00:12:42,929 carbon and, 363 00:12:43,549 --> 00:12:45,009 probably a few other things. 364 00:12:45,335 --> 00:12:47,254 The other main thing that we see definitely 365 00:12:47,254 --> 00:12:49,014 in the data itself is sort of the 366 00:12:49,014 --> 00:12:50,554 scattered light coming from 367 00:12:50,934 --> 00:12:53,014 the from probably from the tail. So we 368 00:12:53,014 --> 00:12:55,254 think that the the dust tail that kind 369 00:12:55,254 --> 00:12:55,835 of gets, 370 00:12:56,695 --> 00:12:58,535 trails off of the edge of the the 371 00:12:58,535 --> 00:12:59,035 comet, 372 00:13:00,490 --> 00:13:02,910 that those different dust particles are basically 373 00:13:03,450 --> 00:13:06,170 scattering sunlight into our into our detector, and 374 00:13:06,170 --> 00:13:07,870 we're measuring those as well. 375 00:13:08,809 --> 00:13:10,809 The intriguing things that we're seeing is that 376 00:13:10,809 --> 00:13:13,529 we definitely see what's known as the tail, 377 00:13:13,529 --> 00:13:15,690 the ion tail, which is usually when the 378 00:13:15,690 --> 00:13:16,184 gas, 379 00:13:16,985 --> 00:13:18,904 sublimates when it when it comes off of 380 00:13:18,904 --> 00:13:19,884 the the comet, 381 00:13:20,424 --> 00:13:22,105 then it interacts with the sun. You have 382 00:13:22,105 --> 00:13:24,184 this pressure from the solar wind, and that 383 00:13:24,184 --> 00:13:25,965 usually makes an anti sunward 384 00:13:26,424 --> 00:13:28,345 tail. We see that one. That one kinda 385 00:13:28,345 --> 00:13:29,705 lines up with kind of all of the 386 00:13:29,705 --> 00:13:30,205 expectations. 387 00:13:30,879 --> 00:13:33,199 But we also see some tail structure going 388 00:13:33,199 --> 00:13:34,259 towards the sun, 389 00:13:34,799 --> 00:13:36,480 and we're not the only ones. Other people 390 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:38,159 have seen sort of this anti they call 391 00:13:38,159 --> 00:13:39,759 it the anti tail even though it's the 392 00:13:39,759 --> 00:13:41,299 tail that's going towards the sun. 393 00:13:42,159 --> 00:13:44,559 They're seeing other other instruments are seeing that 394 00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:46,339 as well, but we're still trying to figure 395 00:13:46,695 --> 00:13:48,295 the way we're seeing it out. We're seeing 396 00:13:48,295 --> 00:13:50,774 it from a very different perspective than most 397 00:13:50,774 --> 00:13:52,855 of the other spacecrafts that have looked at 398 00:13:52,855 --> 00:13:55,174 this object have seen it. They are you 399 00:13:55,174 --> 00:13:56,855 know, most of the objects most of the 400 00:13:56,855 --> 00:13:59,035 telescopes, the observations have come from, 401 00:13:59,980 --> 00:14:02,220 from Earth based telescopes. Right? It's from Hubble 402 00:14:02,220 --> 00:14:03,199 or from JWST 403 00:14:03,819 --> 00:14:05,279 or from ground based telescopes. 404 00:14:05,740 --> 00:14:07,339 Where we were, we're actually looking at the 405 00:14:07,339 --> 00:14:08,860 night side of the comet. So we're actually 406 00:14:08,860 --> 00:14:10,620 looking the comet is kind of in between 407 00:14:10,620 --> 00:14:12,615 us and the sun, more or less. And 408 00:14:12,615 --> 00:14:14,134 so we're getting it from a very different 409 00:14:14,134 --> 00:14:16,054 angle. And and so far, what we're seeing 410 00:14:16,054 --> 00:14:18,455 on that sunward facing tail and maybe that 411 00:14:18,455 --> 00:14:19,274 dust tail, 412 00:14:20,455 --> 00:14:23,095 is not lining up exactly with what would 413 00:14:23,095 --> 00:14:25,174 be predicted. And so we're trying to figure 414 00:14:25,174 --> 00:14:27,139 out, is it how we're viewing it? Is 415 00:14:27,139 --> 00:14:29,220 it geometry, or is it something that we're 416 00:14:29,220 --> 00:14:30,899 able to see that the other ones can't 417 00:14:30,899 --> 00:14:32,980 because of that unique lighting geometry that we 418 00:14:32,980 --> 00:14:33,480 have? 419 00:14:34,259 --> 00:14:36,899 Okay. I mean but that doesn't mean it's 420 00:14:36,899 --> 00:14:38,980 aliens. Right? No. It definitely does not mean 421 00:14:38,980 --> 00:14:39,639 it's aliens. 422 00:14:41,725 --> 00:14:43,485 I would expect something way more fun than 423 00:14:43,485 --> 00:14:43,985 just 424 00:14:44,365 --> 00:14:46,445 a just a a a tail that's in 425 00:14:46,445 --> 00:14:48,144 the wrong direction if it were aliens. 426 00:14:48,605 --> 00:14:50,205 I would hope it would spill out something 427 00:14:50,205 --> 00:14:51,804 or make it pretty drawing or something like 428 00:14:51,804 --> 00:14:53,884 that. Oh, hey. That would be cool, wouldn't 429 00:14:53,884 --> 00:14:55,169 it? Like, hello. 430 00:14:56,350 --> 00:14:57,950 That sort of thing. I've or maybe they 431 00:14:57,950 --> 00:14:59,710 wouldn't choose English. Who knows? But, well, I 432 00:14:59,710 -->

00:15:01,149 mean, it doesn't make a lot of sense, 433 00:15:01,149 --> 00:15:02,590 does it, that that there'd be a tail 434 00:15:02,590 --> 00:15:03,410 going that way? 435 00:15:04,669 --> 00:15:06,830 Yeah. I don't know. As a not comet 436 00:15:06,830 --> 00:15:08,509 person, as someone who's meant to be studying 437 00:15:08,509 --> 00:15:09,009 Europa, 438 00:15:09,615 --> 00:15:11,535 I think it's not completely unheard of to 439 00:15:11,535 --> 00:15:13,634 see some of these sunward facing 440 00:15:14,415 --> 00:15:16,575 tails, but they're yeah. And it's hard to 441 00:15:16,575 --> 00:15:18,014 say how much of what we're seeing is 442 00:15:18,014 --> 00:15:19,535 coming from the dust, how much of it 443 00:15:19,535 --> 00:15:21,634 is coming from a gas tail that somehow 444 00:15:21,695 --> 00:15:22,674 sunward facing. 445 00:15:23,949 --> 00:15:25,549 I don't know. I mean, it's it's fun 446 00:15:25,549 --> 00:15:26,669 to get to play with it, though, and 447 00:15:26,669 --> 00:15:28,129 try to figure out this mystery. 448 00:15:28,509 --> 00:15:29,949 I think that's probably the best part about 449 00:15:29,949 --> 00:15:30,449 it. 450 00:15:31,309 --> 00:15:32,990 So when you say what you've seen so 451 00:15:32,990 --> 00:15:35,149 far, does that mean because you're going through 452 00:15:35,149 --> 00:15:37,034 the data or you're gonna make more observations? 453 00:15:37,514 --> 00:15:39,834 We cannot make any more observations, so it 454 00:15:39,834 --> 00:15:42,475 really is about processing. It's really still trying 455 00:15:42,475 --> 00:15:44,235 to figure out how our detector is inter 456 00:15:44,554 --> 00:15:47,694 is collecting the data and what that means, 457 00:15:47,995 --> 00:15:49,534 in terms of the exact wavelengths. 458 00:15:50,509 --> 00:15:51,790 And, yeah, there's just a lot of data 459 00:15:51,790 --> 00:15:53,870 there. We did some really cool different types 460 00:15:53,870 --> 00:15:56,110 of studies of it. So we purposefully lined 461 00:15:56,110 --> 00:15:58,429 up our slit, which is very, very narrow 462 00:15:58,429 --> 00:15:59,870 slit, but it's long. It's seven and a 463 00:15:59,870 --> 00:16:02,565 half degrees long by point one degree wide. 464 00:16:02,965 --> 00:16:05,225 And we purposefully lined that up to be, 465 00:16:05,764 --> 00:16:08,004 where the long part was kind of in 466 00:16:08,004 --> 00:16:09,304 that sun, comet, 467 00:16:09,684 --> 00:16:10,504 anti sun 468 00:16:10,884 --> 00:16:13,044 tail direction so that we could capture that 469 00:16:13,044 --> 00:16:14,804 tail. It turns out the tail was even 470 00:16:14,804 --> 00:16:16,024 longer than we expected, 471 00:16:16,519 --> 00:16:18,120 and the coma was even bigger than we 472 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:19,720 expected. But what we did was that so 473 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:21,159 because it was narrow, that means we're only 474 00:16:21,159 --> 00:16:23,580 kinda getting a sliver of that sort of 475 00:16:24,039 --> 00:16:26,200 region of space that's the the comet and 476 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:27,820 the tail and the anti tail. 477 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:29,080 But then we took the instrument, 478 00:16:29,855 --> 00:16:31,695 well, we took the spacecraft, and and the 479 00:16:31,695 --> 00:16:33,774 the NASA team did a fantastic job planning 480 00:16:33,774 --> 00:16:34,834 this somewhat complicated 481 00:16:35,214 --> 00:16:36,434 movement of the spacecraft 482 00:16:36,815 --> 00:16:39,214 where they they moved our slit down off 483 00:16:39,214 --> 00:16:40,654 the target and then all the way back 484 00:16:40,654 --> 00:16:42,299 up over the target. And we did that 485 00:16:42,299 --> 00:16:44,080 a couple of times. So we actually have 486 00:16:44,379 --> 00:16:45,279 sort of different 487 00:16:45,660 --> 00:16:47,679 time domain data. We have different, 488 00:16:49,100 --> 00:16:51,420 different sort of views of different parts of 489 00:16:51,420 --> 00:16:53,100 the sky with that data. And so, yeah, 490 00:16:53,100 --> 00:16:54,620 there's still just a lot of data to 491 00:16:54,620 --> 00:16:56,399 play with and try to interpret, 492 00:16:56,865 --> 00:16:58,465 and then changes that we might be seeing 493 00:16:58,465 --> 00:16:59,745 over the couple of hours that we were 494 00:16:59,745 --> 00:17:01,825 pointing because I think we took observations over 495 00:17:01,825 --> 00:17:04,144 about eight hours. So any kind of changes 496 00:17:04,144 --> 00:17:06,244 in the emission rates of the gases, 497 00:17:06,625 --> 00:17:07,904 would be a little bit more subtle, and 498 00:17:07,904 --> 00:17:09,444 we have to kind of do the analysis 499 00:17:09,825 --> 00:17:10,964 a little bit more carefully. 500 00:17:11,430 --> 00:17:13,430 And while Europa Clipper isn't going to be 501 00:17:13,430 --> 00:17:16,390 collecting more data, we do have actually really 502 00:17:16,390 --> 00:17:18,250 cool data from the JUICE mission. 503 00:17:18,710 --> 00:17:20,869 The JUICE mission is a European Space Agency 504 00:17:20,869 --> 00:17:22,730 mission, and we have a sister 505 00:17:23,190 --> 00:17:26,410 instrument, another UV instrument, onboard that mission called 506 00:17:26,605 --> 00:17:27,424 Juice UVS. 507 00:17:27,804 --> 00:17:30,944 And so that telescope is actually observing, 508 00:17:31,644 --> 00:17:34,524 observed at the same time as the UV 509 00:17:34,524 --> 00:17:35,825 data from Europa Clipper. 510 00:17:36,204 --> 00:17:38,924 And more fast like, what's gonna be super 511 00:17:38,924 --> 00:17:40,524 cool about that data, we don't have that 512 00:17:40,524 --> 00:17:42,230 data yet. So there is still analysis to 513 00:17:42,230 --> 00:17:42,889 be done. 514 00:17:43,269 --> 00:17:45,750 That data, because of the geometry of where 515 00:17:45,750 --> 00:17:47,509 Juice is right now, it can't send back 516 00:17:47,509 --> 00:17:49,109 a lot of data just yet. So we're 517 00:17:49,109 --> 00:17:50,169

expecting that data, 518 00:17:50,470 --> 00:17:52,230 in the coming months to to come down, 519 00:17:52,230 --> 00:17:53,994 and then we can analyze it. But what's 520 00:17:53,994 --> 00:17:55,694 super cool about that is that 521 00:17:56,154 --> 00:17:58,714 JUICE was kind of positioned closer to the 522 00:17:58,714 --> 00:18:00,494 sun. So it's looking at the comet 523 00:18:00,875 --> 00:18:02,554 from the perspective of the sun. So it's 524 00:18:02,554 --> 00:18:04,315 gonna see sort of some of that reflected 525 00:18:04,315 --> 00:18:06,315 light as well as the light that's, 526 00:18:06,794 --> 00:18:08,974 still being emitted in that auroral fashion. 527 00:18:09,329 --> 00:18:11,669 And then Europa Clipper was looking at it 528 00:18:11,809 --> 00:18:14,049 almost completely from the night side. So they're 529 00:18:14,049 --> 00:18:16,289 from two totally different angles we're gonna be 530 00:18:16,289 --> 00:18:18,210 able to collect that data. And that's really 531 00:18:18,210 --> 00:18:19,109 important because 532 00:18:20,130 --> 00:18:22,869 things like dust, for example, if it's big 533 00:18:23,329 --> 00:18:25,805 chunks of dust, reflect light. But when you 534 00:18:25,805 --> 00:18:28,465 have, like, little tiny dust particles, they backscatter 535 00:18:28,525 --> 00:18:29,965 light. So just like when you're kind of 536 00:18:29,965 --> 00:18:31,884 in your kitchen or in your bedroom and 537 00:18:31,884 --> 00:18:33,805 you get that beautiful, like, sunbeam in and 538 00:18:33,805 --> 00:18:35,965 suddenly you realize, wow, my room's really dusty. 539 00:18:35,965 --> 00:18:38,500 Like, there's dust floating around everywhere. That's because 540 00:18:38,500 --> 00:18:41,380 those dust particles are backscattering light. You're not 541 00:18:41,380 --> 00:18:43,700 ever standing in the sunbeam. You're looking at 542 00:18:43,700 --> 00:18:45,619 the sun and the sunbeam, and that those 543 00:18:45,619 --> 00:18:47,700 dust particles get highlighted in that way. 544 00:18:48,019 --> 00:18:49,940 That's what Europa Clipper will be seeing, those 545 00:18:49,940 --> 00:18:51,765 smallest particles from that perspective. 546 00:18:52,164 --> 00:18:54,244 But Juice, looking at it from the other 547 00:18:54,244 --> 00:18:54,744 perspective, 548 00:18:55,045 --> 00:18:57,224 will see a different set of particle sizes, 549 00:18:57,684 --> 00:19:00,164 because it's got this different observing geometry. So 550 00:19:00,164 --> 00:19:01,785 that's one of the things that makes it 551 00:19:01,924 --> 00:19:03,684 really cool is looking at one thing from 552 00:19:03,684 --> 00:19:06,085 multiple angles gets us a lot more information. 553 00:19:06,085 --> 00:19:08,400 And so we will be able to do 554 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:10,480 a even better analysis of the CLIPr data 555 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:11,919 when we can also see what happened with 556 00:19:11,919 --> 00:19:12,819 the JUICE data. 557 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:14,960 You said there was carbon in it. Would 558 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:16,480 you expect to see that in comments? Yeah. 559 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:18,960 So from my understanding is that this object 560 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:20,500 in particular has actually 561 00:19:20,884 --> 00:19:22,744 shown way more carbon. 562 00:19:23,204 --> 00:19:25,204 It's had a higher carbon to water ratio 563 00:19:25,204 --> 00:19:27,944 than any than most or all, 564 00:19:29,684 --> 00:19:31,284 comets that have been observed from our own 565 00:19:31,284 --> 00:19:33,065 solar system. And that 566 00:19:33,679 --> 00:19:36,579 could be indicative of sort of what the 567 00:19:36,799 --> 00:19:39,359 chemical makeup of the solar system that this 568 00:19:39,359 --> 00:19:41,919 thing formed in is. Like, is it just 569 00:19:41,919 --> 00:19:44,000 a more carbon rich solar system? Is that 570 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:45,539 the norm, or is ours the norm? 571 00:19:46,744 --> 00:19:49,225 We don't know. And so we, we're not 572 00:19:49,225 --> 00:19:50,924 surprised to see carbon in general, 573 00:19:51,384 --> 00:19:53,625 but some of the observations have shown a 574 00:19:53,625 --> 00:19:55,945 really high percentage of carbon to oxygen or 575 00:19:55,945 --> 00:19:56,924 carbon to water. 576 00:19:57,225 --> 00:19:59,485 And I don't think our data is showing 577 00:19:59,545 --> 00:20:01,450 it to be quite that much, but we're 578 00:20:01,450 --> 00:20:03,130 also a lot closer to the sun now. 579 00:20:03,130 --> 00:20:04,910 So a lot of those observations started, 580 00:20:05,850 --> 00:20:07,289 when the comet was still pretty far out. 581 00:20:07,289 --> 00:20:08,650 It was out by the orbit of Jupiter. 582 00:20:08,650 --> 00:20:09,390 And so 583 00:20:10,090 --> 00:20:12,009 that's what's made this object so exciting is 584 00:20:12,009 --> 00:20:13,450 that we've known about it for a long 585 00:20:13,450 --> 00:20:15,505 time before we got to its, before it 586 00:20:15,505 --> 00:20:16,704 got close to the sun, and we were 587 00:20:16,704 --> 00:20:19,345 able to then see it start sublimating different 588 00:20:19,345 --> 00:20:19,845 materials, 589 00:20:20,704 --> 00:20:22,724 pretty early on in it on its pathway 590 00:20:22,785 --> 00:20:23,845 towards the sun. 591 00:20:24,384 --> 00:20:26,625 And even that part has been unique for 592 00:20:26,625 --> 00:20:28,484 it. Like, the fact that it started sublimating 593 00:20:28,704 --> 00:20:30,005 and being detectable 594 00:20:30,305 --> 00:20:32,380 that far out might be a sign that 595 00:20:32,380 --> 00:20:33,100 this object, 596 00:20:33,500 --> 00:20:35,279 has never been close to a star before. 597 00:20:35,340 --> 00:20:37,820 So this object could have been been formed 598 00:20:37,820 --> 00:20:39,660 pretty far out from its host star and 599 00:20:39,660 --> 00:20:41,259 launched out of the solar system before it 600 00:20:41,259 --> 00:20:42,460 ever had a chance to get close to 601

00:20:42,460 --> 00:20:44,304 it. And that might be why it started 602 00:20:44,304 --> 00:20:46,304 sublimating so early as it came into our 603 00:20:46,304 --> 00:20:48,704 solar system. And so it's a really unique 604 00:20:48,704 --> 00:20:50,804 opportunity to see some of the, like, primitive 605 00:20:51,664 --> 00:20:54,244 ices and volatiles that were on this object. 606 00:20:54,784 --> 00:20:58,000 Basically, some of the the most natural formed 607 00:20:58,059 --> 00:21:00,140 materials from its solar system as it comes 608 00:21:00,140 --> 00:21:02,559 into ours. And so that's a very rare, 609 00:21:02,940 --> 00:21:05,279 very cool opportunity for setting this object. 610 00:21:06,700 --> 00:21:07,575 Do you know, 611 00:21:08,294 --> 00:21:10,134 do people know do you know if if 612 00:21:10,694 --> 00:21:12,954 because of the trajectory it's come from, whereabouts 613 00:21:13,174 --> 00:21:15,815 in space it's coming? Not me personally. But, 614 00:21:16,454 --> 00:21:18,454 yeah, there is an there there have been 615 00:21:18,454 --> 00:21:21,255 studies on basically, its trajectory points to it 616 00:21:21,255 --> 00:21:24,099 being from a a pretty old portion of 617 00:21:24,099 --> 00:21:24,839 our galaxy. 618 00:21:25,299 --> 00:21:28,339 And so it's probably been traveling for billions 619 00:21:28,339 --> 00:21:30,660 and billions of years and probably came from 620 00:21:30,660 --> 00:21:32,980 a solar system that that was forget the 621 00:21:32,980 --> 00:21:34,740 exact age now, but much, much older than 622 00:21:34,740 --> 00:21:36,825 our own solar system. And so that's 623 00:21:37,304 --> 00:21:38,605 also very cool because 624 00:21:38,984 --> 00:21:40,904 that could indicate, you know, the way that 625 00:21:40,904 --> 00:21:42,585 we get a lot of the materials spread 626 00:21:42,585 --> 00:21:44,744 through the solar system is through supernova that 627 00:21:44,744 --> 00:21:46,904 kind of has some of that material. They 628 00:21:46,904 --> 00:21:48,904 burn the material. They create the next level 629 00:21:48,904 --> 00:21:50,264 up. Like, they burn the hydrogen and the 630 00:21:50,264 --> 00:21:51,724 oxygen the hydrogen and 631 00:21:52,769 --> 00:21:54,930 and, the helium, and then they can make 632 00:21:54,930 --> 00:21:56,390 the higher, the heavier, 633 00:21:56,690 --> 00:21:59,650 quote, unquote, elements like oxygen and carbons and 634 00:21:59,650 --> 00:22:01,410 and everything else that we have all comes 635 00:22:01,410 --> 00:22:03,090 from sort of you know, we're all made 636 00:22:03,090 --> 00:22:05,154 out of stardust. Right? And so that those 637 00:22:05,154 --> 00:22:06,914 materials are formed inside the star. So if 638 00:22:06,914 --> 00:22:08,994 this is a more ancient solar system, it 639 00:22:08,994 --> 00:22:10,375 may lack some of those, 640 00:22:10,835 --> 00:22:12,755 the or at least lack the, the same 641 00:22:12,755 --> 00:22:13,894 ratio or abundances 642 00:22:14,434 --> 00:22:15,875 that we have in our solar system, which 643 00:22:15,875 --> 00:22:17,894 is a more a younger, hipper 644 00:22:18,195 --> 00:22:20,599 solar system, so to speak. And so understanding 645 00:22:20,660 --> 00:22:23,240 those ratios even from just this one opportunity 646 00:22:23,299 --> 00:22:24,039 to see this 647 00:22:24,420 --> 00:22:25,720 semi pristine object, 648 00:22:26,420 --> 00:22:28,500 is a really cool opportunity to understand how 649 00:22:28,500 --> 00:22:31,299 other solar systems form and what's the genetic 650 00:22:31,299 --> 00:22:33,559 makeup of those solar systems compared to ours. 651 00:22:33,664 --> 00:22:35,424 So you say pristine, but it's it's traveled 652 00:22:35,424 --> 00:22:37,444 a long way through space. Right? So that's 653 00:22:37,585 --> 00:22:39,744 changed. That's a very good point. Yes. So 654 00:22:39,744 --> 00:22:42,944 it is being exposed to constant, cosmic ray 655 00:22:43,184 --> 00:22:45,265 radiation, and some of the observations have shown 656 00:22:45,265 --> 00:22:46,460 that that probably 657 00:22:47,079 --> 00:22:48,679 affects the outer parts of the, 658 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:51,319 of the comet itself as it's been traveling. 659 00:22:51,319 --> 00:22:53,319 And so there is definitely some alteration. It's 660 00:22:53,319 --> 00:22:56,039 not not oh, unfortunately, after billions of years, 661 00:22:56,039 --> 00:22:57,740 nothing's very, very pristine anywhere. 662 00:22:58,359 --> 00:22:58,839 But, 663 00:22:59,744 --> 00:23:01,825 but, yeah, it hasn't been from what we 664 00:23:01,825 --> 00:23:04,144 think, at least, it probably hasn't been heated 665 00:23:04,144 --> 00:23:06,305 the to the level that most of the 666 00:23:06,305 --> 00:23:08,545 comets that have kind of been on multiple 667 00:23:08,545 --> 00:23:10,785 journeys around our sun have or, like, the 668 00:23:10,785 --> 00:23:13,184 asteroids, for example, that are super overly heated. 669 00:23:13,184 --> 00:23:14,565 And so you really do lose 670 00:23:14,869 --> 00:23:15,930 some of those initial, 671 00:23:17,750 --> 00:23:19,830 compositions that were kind of frozen in in 672 00:23:19,830 --> 00:23:20,330 time, 673 00:23:20,710 --> 00:23:22,390 and can stay frozen if they don't get 674 00:23:22,390 --> 00:23:23,450 too too hot. 675 00:23:25,269 --> 00:23:27,269 And so it's very fast moving. Does that 676 00:23:27,269 --> 00:23:29,384 make it difficult to observe, or is it 677 00:23:29,625 --> 00:23:31,244 does that not make a difference? 678 00:23:32,265 --> 00:23:33,865 It does make a difference. Yeah. So it 679 00:23:33,865 --> 00:23:36,605 depends on your spacecraft or your telescope. 680 00:23:36,904 --> 00:23:38,585 The ones on Earth can track things pretty 681 00:23:38,585 --> 00:23:39,724 easily, I think, because, 682 00:23:40,025 --> 00:23:41,945 we have the mechanics to just keep, you 683 00:23:41,945 --> 00:23:42,445 know, 684 00:23:43,384 --> 00:23:44,960 track we just

say track, and it and 685 00:23:44,960 --> 00:23:45,619 it tracks. 686 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:47,460 Engineering's a wonderful thing. 687 00:23:47,759 --> 00:23:49,140 But some for some spacecraft, 688 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:52,160 moving targets are hard to do. For example, 689 00:23:52,160 --> 00:23:52,660 JWST 690 00:23:53,279 --> 00:23:54,740 was designed to study astrophysical 691 00:23:55,039 --> 00:23:57,220 objects. They're not supposed to move very fast. 692 00:23:57,825 --> 00:23:59,585 But I think it's gotten some incredible data 693 00:23:59,585 --> 00:24:00,784 of this target, so I don't think this 694 00:24:00,784 --> 00:24:02,464 one was moving too fast for it. But 695 00:24:02,464 --> 00:24:03,444 there are some, 696 00:24:04,065 --> 00:24:05,984 objects, for example, that would be moving too 697 00:24:05,984 --> 00:24:08,384 fast for Hubble or JWST or even for 698 00:24:08,384 --> 00:24:09,284 Europa Clipper. 699 00:24:09,585 --> 00:24:10,964 But we were able to, 700 00:24:11,690 --> 00:24:13,690 to hold on to it perfectly. Again, the 701 00:24:13,690 --> 00:24:15,769 the spacecraft team, the engineering team on Europa 702 00:24:15,769 --> 00:24:16,910 Clipper was able to 703 00:24:17,369 --> 00:24:19,210 set up this observation within two and a 704 00:24:19,210 --> 00:24:19,869 half months 705 00:24:20,170 --> 00:24:22,089 and figure out how to track it, and 706 00:24:22,089 --> 00:24:24,429 everything worked really, really well. So our observations 707 00:24:24,490 --> 00:24:25,470 are are beautiful. 708 00:24:25,849 --> 00:24:29,134 Europa, right, completely full of waters. Do I 709 00:24:29,375 --> 00:24:31,134 is it possible that that water came from 710 00:24:31,134 --> 00:24:31,634 comets? 711 00:24:32,494 --> 00:24:32,994 It's 712 00:24:33,295 --> 00:24:35,474 possible that some of the water there 713 00:24:35,775 --> 00:24:36,275 are 714 00:24:36,575 --> 00:24:39,934 contributions from comets, but the the place where 715 00:24:39,934 --> 00:24:41,555 Europa formed, it's actually 716 00:24:41,970 --> 00:24:43,509 just an area where water 717 00:24:44,289 --> 00:24:45,349 could be stable. 718 00:24:45,650 --> 00:24:47,970 And so water is very abundant across our 719 00:24:47,970 --> 00:24:50,210 solar system, and the reason we don't think 720 00:24:50,210 --> 00:24:51,429 Earth's water is 721 00:24:51,809 --> 00:24:54,289 sort of from the beginning is just that 722 00:24:54,289 --> 00:24:56,289 we're much closer to the sun. And so 723 00:24:56,289 --> 00:24:58,424 it should have all kind of heated off 724 00:24:58,424 --> 00:25:00,105 at some point in the in the multiple 725 00:25:00,105 --> 00:25:01,724 processes that the Earth underwent. 726 00:25:02,105 --> 00:25:03,944 Certainly, some of those major impacts, including the 727 00:25:03,944 --> 00:25:05,544 one that may have formed the moon. And 728 00:25:05,544 --> 00:25:07,224 so we don't think we could have held 729 00:25:07,224 --> 00:25:09,164 on to the sort of initial 730 00:25:09,704 --> 00:25:11,304 inventory of water that would have been in 731 00:25:11,304 --> 00:25:13,509 the solar system. But Europa is further out. 732 00:25:13,509 --> 00:25:15,369 It's past what we call the snow line, 733 00:25:15,509 --> 00:25:16,330 which is where, 734 00:25:17,830 --> 00:25:20,390 liquid or solid water ice could kind of 735 00:25:20,390 --> 00:25:23,670 still stay stable. And so Europa probably formed 736 00:25:23,670 --> 00:25:25,454 with most of the water that it has. 737 00:25:26,095 --> 00:25:28,894 And then, certainly, it's probably been bombarded by 738 00:25:28,894 --> 00:25:30,894 other objects, asteroids that are water rich or 739 00:25:30,894 --> 00:25:33,154 comets that may contribute and change, 740 00:25:33,615 --> 00:25:34,914 its overall water 741 00:25:35,214 --> 00:25:37,294 con like, water amount or, 742 00:25:38,015 --> 00:25:39,690 style of water too because it can have 743 00:25:39,769 --> 00:25:41,529 different sort of what we call d to 744 00:25:41,529 --> 00:25:44,009 h ratio, the different kind of, levels of 745 00:25:44,009 --> 00:25:45,769 hydrogen, types of hydrogen that make up the 746 00:25:45,769 --> 00:25:46,589 h two o. 747 00:25:47,849 --> 00:25:49,210 So, yeah, I mean, it it can be, 748 00:25:49,210 --> 00:25:51,049 but most of it's water. It's it's a 749 00:25:51,049 --> 00:25:52,694 natural comet in that sense. 750 00:25:53,255 --> 00:25:54,474 I've spoken to, 751 00:25:55,815 --> 00:25:58,615 scientists involved in in in sort of distant 752 00:25:58,615 --> 00:25:59,434 space missions 753 00:26:00,294 --> 00:26:02,534 over the years, and I don't think I've 754 00:26:02,534 --> 00:26:05,034 ever spoken to somebody who's kind of, 755 00:26:05,654 --> 00:26:07,580 you know, done this. Or they're on the 756 00:26:07,580 --> 00:26:09,900 way somewhere, and then they've just thought, yeah, 757 00:26:09,900 --> 00:26:12,299 we could look at that. So let's see 758 00:26:12,299 --> 00:26:14,299 if we can. Is is it normal, this 759 00:26:14,299 --> 00:26:15,119 kind of behavior? 760 00:26:15,740 --> 00:26:17,820 It can be. So I think it's more 761 00:26:18,619 --> 00:26:21,019 we don't usually get surprise visitors or that 762 00:26:21,019 --> 00:26:22,525 we know about at least. So that part's 763 00:26:22,525 --> 00:26:23,424 been really exciting. 764 00:26:23,805 --> 00:26:26,684 There is often the opportunity to observe maybe 765 00:26:26,684 --> 00:26:28,684 an asteroid that we're passing close to on 766 00:26:28,684 --> 00:26:30,224 our way out. So there have been 767 00:26:30,605 --> 00:26:33,164 observations of asteroids in the main belt, or 768 00:26:33,164 --> 00:26:35,484 even near Earth asteroids as a spacecraft is 769 00:26:35,484 --> 00:26:36,785 kind of on its main journey. 770 00:26:38,069 --> 00:26:40,309 But, again, it makes such a good opportunity 771 00:26:40,309 --> 00:26:41,990 to test out how all the instruments work 772 00:26:41,990 --> 00:26:44,230 when you

can observe something two years before 773 00:26:44,230 --> 00:26:45,609 you get to your main target. 774 00:26:46,069 --> 00:26:48,069 Once we get to Europa, it's gonna be 775 00:26:48,069 --> 00:26:50,730 rapid fire. We're gonna be doing, 50 flybys 776 00:26:50,869 --> 00:26:52,904 within three and a half years. And so 777 00:26:52,904 --> 00:26:55,224 we're gonna be getting data, looking at the 778 00:26:55,224 --> 00:26:56,345 data. As soon as we get the data, 779 00:26:56,345 --> 00:26:57,944 we were gonna wanna figure out how we 780 00:26:57,944 --> 00:26:59,865 wanna, you know, set up our detector for 781 00:26:59,865 --> 00:27:01,704 the next observation. And it's gonna be so, 782 00:27:01,704 --> 00:27:03,404 so fast that we're not gonna have 783 00:27:03,784 --> 00:27:05,404 that much time to sit and 784 00:27:06,105 --> 00:27:09,200 work and fully understand how the detector itself 785 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,440 is. You know, all of these detectors have 786 00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:12,579 little quirks, and, 787 00:27:13,679 --> 00:27:15,759 they're complicated. Right? You're they're not just your 788 00:27:15,759 --> 00:27:17,119 cell phone camera. And even your cell phone 789 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:18,720 camera has a lot of calibration that goes 790 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:20,079 into it before it ends up in your 791 00:27:20,079 --> 00:27:21,974 cell phone. And so you have to figure 792 00:27:21,974 --> 00:27:24,154 it out. It's these are all custom designed 793 00:27:24,215 --> 00:27:26,055 specifically for the missions that they're on. And 794 00:27:26,055 --> 00:27:26,555 so, 795 00:27:27,654 --> 00:27:29,494 yeah, we will it it's much better when 796 00:27:29,494 --> 00:27:31,595 you can get one of these kinda surprise 797 00:27:31,654 --> 00:27:32,154 or 798 00:27:32,535 --> 00:27:33,355 or fortuitous 799 00:27:33,980 --> 00:27:35,820 opportunities to observe on your way to the 800 00:27:35,820 --> 00:27:37,900 target rather than waiting until you get there. 801 00:27:38,140 --> 00:27:40,220 So it's been done before, but I don't 802 00:27:40,220 --> 00:27:42,480 know of one where it's like, oh, surprise. 803 00:27:42,539 --> 00:27:44,480 We just found found the object. 804 00:27:45,259 --> 00:27:47,259 One, actually, one I'll take that back. So 805 00:27:47,259 --> 00:27:48,720 one other example would be, 806 00:27:49,294 --> 00:27:51,294 in some ways, is the New Horizons mission, 807 00:27:51,294 --> 00:27:53,294 which I also work on. But, you know, 808 00:27:53,294 --> 00:27:55,214 that one was destined to go to Pluto 809 00:27:55,214 --> 00:27:56,734 and then to go and explore the Kuiper 810 00:27:56,734 --> 00:27:58,115 Belt, but it wasn't guaranteed 811 00:27:58,654 --> 00:28:00,914 that there would be an object for it 812 00:28:01,534 --> 00:28:03,214 to do a second flyby of. Once it 813 00:28:03,214 --> 00:28:05,509 got past Pluto, there wasn't a guarantee of 814 00:28:05,509 --> 00:28:07,029 finding something else that

it could look at. 815 00:28:07,029 --> 00:28:09,450 And then, fortunately, through lots of, 816 00:28:10,149 --> 00:28:12,389 observations and surveys of the Kuiper Belt, then 817 00:28:12,389 --> 00:28:13,529 they were able to find, 818 00:28:14,230 --> 00:28:16,230 Arrokoth, which ended up being the next flyby 819 00:28:16,230 --> 00:28:18,964 target, for New Horizons. So that one may 820 00:28:18,964 --> 00:28:20,644 be less of a surprise in that sense. 821 00:28:20,644 --> 00:28:22,404 Like, they wanted to do that anyway, but 822 00:28:22,404 --> 00:28:23,765 they had to look for it before they 823 00:28:23,765 --> 00:28:26,164 could. Is it all solar powered? Have you 824 00:28:26,164 --> 00:28:27,365 used some of the battery that you'd be 825 00:28:27,365 --> 00:28:28,724 able to use elsewhere, or is it all 826 00:28:28,724 --> 00:28:31,299 solar powered? Yeah. Europa Clipper has these huge 827 00:28:31,299 --> 00:28:33,700 solar panels that are when when you fold 828 00:28:33,700 --> 00:28:34,900 them all the way out, they're the size 829 00:28:34,900 --> 00:28:36,039 of a basketball court. 830 00:28:36,500 --> 00:28:39,400 So it's a massive spacecraft, massive solar panels. 831 00:28:39,460 --> 00:28:42,019 That's where, most of the power is coming 832 00:28:42,019 --> 00:28:43,320 from. We don't have anything 833 00:28:43,934 --> 00:28:45,855 like, RTGs that have been on some of 834 00:28:45,855 --> 00:28:47,875 the more deep space missions. 835 00:28:49,134 --> 00:28:51,534 There's also some forms of propellant on there, 836 00:28:51,534 --> 00:28:52,115 I think. 837 00:28:52,575 --> 00:28:53,075 But, 838 00:28:53,855 --> 00:28:56,014 the majority of the powering of the of 839 00:28:56,014 --> 00:28:58,034 the spacecraft comes from the solar 840 00:28:58,380 --> 00:29:01,099 power generated power. Right. So just quickly on 841 00:29:01,099 --> 00:29:03,180 the horizon because it can't not. 842 00:29:03,980 --> 00:29:06,559 Amazing images of Pluto that came from that. 843 00:29:06,700 --> 00:29:08,299 That's kind of the thing that caught the 844 00:29:08,299 --> 00:29:09,680 public attention particularly 845 00:29:10,140 --> 00:29:12,075 after that sort of thing. Does that you 846 00:29:12,075 --> 00:29:14,075 know, as a UV specialist, do you do 847 00:29:14,075 --> 00:29:15,914 you want people to be more focused on 848 00:29:15,914 --> 00:29:16,654 the UV? 849 00:29:17,434 --> 00:29:20,075 I think any interest in a planetary body 850 00:29:20,075 --> 00:29:21,615 is a good thing to have. 851 00:29:22,234 --> 00:29:23,835 I do try to talk up the UV. 852 00:29:23,835 --> 00:29:25,970 I think people don't think about the world 853 00:29:25,970 --> 00:29:27,490 in the UV. Right? I mean, our eyes 854 00:29:27,490 --> 00:29:28,930 see in the visible, so it makes sense 855 00:29:28,930 --> 00:29:31,110 to want to see those visible color images. 856 00:29:31,650 --> 00:29:33,090 But one of the powers of the UV 857 00:29:33,090 --> 00:29:34,150 is that it is 858 00:29:34,610 --> 00:29:37,890 seeing, you know, information that our eyes and 859 00:29:37,890 --> 00:29:41,115 our regular visible cameras can't see, especially when 860 00:29:41,115 --> 00:29:42,894 it comes to those kind of elemental 861 00:29:43,195 --> 00:29:44,795 materials like I was saying in the in 862 00:29:44,795 --> 00:29:45,535 the atmospheres. 863 00:29:46,075 --> 00:29:47,755 One of the main ways we study in 864 00:29:47,755 --> 00:29:50,474 the UV these bodies, not so much Pluto, 865 00:29:50,474 --> 00:29:53,434 but Europa has an atmosphere. The comet is 866 00:29:53,434 --> 00:29:56,220 obviously emitting light. It's it's those auroral emissions. 867 00:29:56,700 --> 00:29:58,460 So you're actually seeing the aurora in many 868 00:29:58,460 --> 00:29:59,440 ways with the UV 869 00:29:59,900 --> 00:30:01,919 of of these different bodies. And so, 870 00:30:02,299 --> 00:30:03,740 and the aurora that you see in the 871 00:30:03,740 --> 00:30:05,900 UV is gonna be slightly different, than the 872 00:30:05,900 --> 00:30:07,819 aurora that you would see in the visible. 873 00:30:07,819 --> 00:30:09,339 And so it could tell you either you 874 00:30:09,339 --> 00:30:10,140 can kinda get, 875 00:30:10,654 --> 00:30:12,414 you know, oxygen has a rural emissions in 876 00:30:12,414 --> 00:30:14,894 both UV and in oxygen, but you can 877 00:30:14,894 --> 00:30:16,034 understand more about 878 00:30:16,414 --> 00:30:18,174 how much oxygen must be there if you're 879 00:30:18,335 --> 00:30:19,934 depending on the ratio you see in the 880 00:30:19,934 --> 00:30:21,855 UV versus the visible. But then there are 881 00:30:21,855 --> 00:30:24,174 other materials that won't have a rural emissions 882 00:30:24,174 --> 00:30:26,029 in the visible that do in the UV 883 00:30:26,029 --> 00:30:27,950 and vice versa. And so you kind of 884 00:30:27,950 --> 00:30:29,009 want to look at everything, 885 00:30:29,869 --> 00:30:32,349 from as many different eyes and eye styles 886 00:30:32,349 --> 00:30:34,029 as you can to get the full picture 887 00:30:34,029 --> 00:30:36,109 of what's going on with any object in 888 00:30:36,109 --> 00:30:37,950 the solar system. So we don't see the 889 00:30:37,950 --> 00:30:39,170 UV, but there are, 890 00:30:39,869 --> 00:30:41,704 creatures on Earth that do. Right? 891 00:30:42,724 --> 00:30:43,865 Yeah. I think bees 892 00:30:45,044 --> 00:30:46,505 and probably some other ones, 893 00:30:46,964 --> 00:30:48,484 but these are the ones that I know. 894 00:30:48,484 --> 00:30:50,164 But it's cool. Yeah. Because and I don't 895 00:30:50,164 --> 00:30:52,164 know the extent of what bees can see. 896 00:30:52,164 --> 00:30:54,710 Like, do they see the UV and all 897 00:30:54,710 --> 00:30:56,230 of the colors that we see, or does, 898 00:30:56,230 --> 00:30:58,250 like, their eyes cut off at, 899 00:30:59,269 --> 00:31:00,629 green? I I don't know. 900 00:31:01,190 --> 00:31:03,029 But it could be. And

so, yeah, and 901 00:31:03,029 --> 00:31:04,789 some animals can see into the infrared, which 902 00:31:04,789 --> 00:31:06,629 is also a really powerful part of the 903 00:31:06,629 --> 00:31:09,184 of of the spectrum for understanding, like, mineralogy 904 00:31:09,325 --> 00:31:12,125 of of rocks and and materials. Because it's 905 00:31:12,125 --> 00:31:13,964 it's tempting to think of the visual from 906 00:31:13,964 --> 00:31:16,045 our perspective as being the world as it 907 00:31:16,045 --> 00:31:18,204 is, but, you know, there are literally things 908 00:31:18,204 --> 00:31:21,090 flying around us that that see the UV 909 00:31:21,090 --> 00:31:22,869 that you're studying. It's brilliant. 910 00:31:23,170 --> 00:31:25,250 Yeah. And it makes sense for humans' eyes 911 00:31:25,250 --> 00:31:27,890 to be focused on the visible because the 912 00:31:27,890 --> 00:31:29,349 UV is very hard. 913 00:31:29,809 --> 00:31:31,454 We don't get a lot of UV light 914 00:31:32,015 --> 00:31:33,794 through our atmosphere. Our atmosphere 915 00:31:34,414 --> 00:31:36,255 absorbs most of the sunlight that's coming in 916 00:31:36,255 --> 00:31:38,255 the UV. The stuff that does get through, 917 00:31:38,255 --> 00:31:39,774 of course, burns our skin and things like 918 00:31:39,774 --> 00:31:41,154 that, so we have to be careful. 919 00:31:41,615 --> 00:31:44,414 But we can't do UV observations from Earth 920 00:31:44,414 --> 00:31:46,414 based telescopes, which is also why you don't 921 00:31:46,414 --> 00:31:47,009 hear about, 922 00:31:47,490 --> 00:31:49,410 UV data as often, I think, because the 923 00:31:49,410 --> 00:31:51,490 only way to collect UV data is from 924 00:31:51,490 --> 00:31:53,329 space. You have to be up above the 925 00:31:53,329 --> 00:31:53,829 atmosphere. 926 00:31:54,130 --> 00:31:54,869 And so, 927 00:31:55,410 --> 00:31:57,109 assets like the Hubble Space Telescope 928 00:31:57,410 --> 00:31:59,250 observing the UV and then all of these 929 00:31:59,250 --> 00:32:01,329 spacecraft observing the UV, but you can't go 930 00:32:01,329 --> 00:32:02,975 to, like, a a nice telescope at the 931 00:32:02,975 --> 00:32:03,795 top of a mountain 932 00:32:04,335 --> 00:32:06,174 and get UV data. It's harder to get. 933 00:32:06,174 --> 00:32:08,355 It's rarer to get, but it's still extremely 934 00:32:08,414 --> 00:32:10,575 powerful. We'll hear more from Michelle later in 935 00:32:10,575 --> 00:32:12,654 the podcast. But I wanted to know more 936 00:32:12,654 --> 00:32:14,515 about this fascinating mission, 937 00:32:15,029 --> 00:32:18,150 comet interceptor, one of the most audacious wait 938 00:32:18,150 --> 00:32:21,190 and see projects in the history of space 939 00:32:21,190 --> 00:32:21,690 exploration. 940 00:32:22,230 --> 00:32:25,049 With the famous Rosetta mission to 67 p, 941 00:32:25,269 --> 00:32:26,330 we had years, 942 00:32:26,789 --> 00:32:29,609 even decades to study the target from afar. 943 00:32:29,684 --> 00:32:31,545 We know the orbit, the size. 944 00:32:32,005 --> 00:32:34,005 But the thing with those comets is that 945 00:32:34,005 --> 00:32:37,045 they are short period comets. They've been around 946 00:32:37,045 --> 00:32:39,384 the sun many times, and therefore, 947 00:32:39,684 --> 00:32:40,424 they're weathered, 948 00:32:41,045 --> 00:32:44,265 heat blasted, and altered. And that's why scientists 949 00:32:44,404 --> 00:32:46,710 really want the sort of comet that they'd 950 00:32:46,710 --> 00:32:49,369 be able to catch with comet interceptor. 951 00:32:50,630 --> 00:32:52,869 If a comet that had spent a long 952 00:32:52,869 --> 00:32:55,529 time in deep freeze in space, 953 00:32:55,990 --> 00:32:58,230 perhaps somewhere in the Oort Cloud got nudged 954 00:32:58,230 --> 00:33:00,045 out and towards us, 955 00:33:00,424 --> 00:33:01,805 then lying in wait 956 00:33:02,424 --> 00:33:03,805 will be comet 957 00:33:04,184 --> 00:33:04,684 interceptor. 958 00:33:05,305 --> 00:33:08,525 Now in this conversation, you'll hear the term 959 00:33:08,664 --> 00:33:12,025 Lagrange points. They're named after the mathematician, Joseph 960 00:33:12,025 --> 00:33:12,845 Louis Lagrange, 961 00:33:13,359 --> 00:33:14,819 and they are gravitational 962 00:33:15,119 --> 00:33:18,159 sweet spots in space where something like a 963 00:33:18,159 --> 00:33:21,839 small satellite or indeed the comet interceptor project 964 00:33:21,839 --> 00:33:24,500 spacecraft can stay in a fixed position 965 00:33:25,039 --> 00:33:28,179 relative to the Earth and the sun, enabling 966 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:28,899 the spacecraft 967 00:33:29,325 --> 00:33:33,105 to effectively hover in space using very little 968 00:33:33,164 --> 00:33:37,164 fuel. Here's ESA scientist, Michel Kuepes. I'm working 969 00:33:37,164 --> 00:33:39,184 on the comet interceptor mission, 970 00:33:39,884 --> 00:33:40,625 which is 971 00:33:41,005 --> 00:33:42,464 an ESA mission incorporation 972 00:33:42,765 --> 00:33:44,464 with JAXA, the Japanese 973 00:33:44,970 --> 00:33:46,109 aerospace agency, 974 00:33:47,369 --> 00:33:49,390 and it's currently being built. 975 00:33:50,410 --> 00:33:53,609 Launch is foreseen in late twenty eight or 976 00:33:53,609 --> 00:33:54,910 early twenty nine, 977 00:33:56,490 --> 00:33:56,990 and 978 00:33:57,450 --> 00:33:57,950 Comet 979 00:33:59,015 --> 00:34:01,494 interceptor will be parked in the L two 980 00:34:01,494 --> 00:34:02,714 Lagrange point 981 00:34:03,174 --> 00:34:05,414 behind the Earth as seen from the sun, 982 00:34:05,414 --> 00:34:07,654 roughly a million and a half kilometers behind 983 00:34:07,654 --> 00:34:09,894 the Earth as seen from the sun, and 984 00:34:09,894 --> 00:34:11,434 they'll wait on its target. 985 00:34:12,869 --> 00:34:13,369 And, 986 00:34:13,909 --> 00:34:15,289 essentially, then where, 987 00:34:16,150 --> 00:34:18,469 when it's time to to to leave to 988 00:34:18,469 --> 00:34:20,869 to encounter the target, leave

L two and 989 00:34:20,869 --> 00:34:22,949 be transferred to the target, which it will 990 00:34:22,949 --> 00:34:26,085 meet most likely at the point where the 991 00:34:26,324 --> 00:34:29,364 target comet causes a eclipse. Okay. What l 992 00:34:29,364 --> 00:34:32,565 s l s s Oh, sorry. LSST is 993 00:34:32,565 --> 00:34:33,304 a legacy 994 00:34:33,925 --> 00:34:36,184 survey in space and time, 995 00:34:37,284 --> 00:34:40,505 and it's essentially the the Vera Rubens telescope, 996 00:34:40,565 --> 00:34:43,090 a new eight meter survey telescope 997 00:34:44,590 --> 00:34:45,489 that's currently 998 00:34:46,269 --> 00:34:47,730 starting to operate 999 00:34:48,110 --> 00:34:49,250 in in Chile, 1000 00:34:49,550 --> 00:34:50,610 and it will 1001 00:34:50,989 --> 00:34:51,489 image 1002 00:34:52,269 --> 00:34:54,289 the sky visible from roughly 1003 00:34:54,590 --> 00:34:56,210 once every three days. 1004 00:34:57,425 --> 00:34:59,905 And the last I heard is actually that 1005 00:34:59,905 --> 00:35:01,364 the survey will 1006 00:35:02,625 --> 00:35:05,184 that the survey will start mid mid this 1007 00:35:05,184 --> 00:35:05,684 month. 1008 00:35:07,505 --> 00:35:09,824 I'll get an update actually today or tomorrow 1009 00:35:09,824 --> 00:35:11,585 on that, but the survey is now going 1010 00:35:11,585 --> 00:35:14,280 to to start very soon. Now the sparking 1011 00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:17,420 is done because for those comets are typically 1012 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:19,640 detected only a couple of months or a 1013 00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:20,780 year before they 1014 00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:23,579 before they before they perihelion. Now 1015 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:27,260 comet interceptor relies that with LSST, this 1016 00:35:27,994 --> 00:35:31,114 time increases to several years, but even several 1017 00:35:31,114 --> 00:35:33,315 years is not enough to def to to 1018 00:35:33,315 --> 00:35:33,855 to define, 1019 00:35:34,954 --> 00:35:36,094 design, build, 1020 00:35:36,635 --> 00:35:39,375 and fly a space mission. Therefore, comet interceptor 1021 00:35:39,434 --> 00:35:41,630 is being built now and waits 1022 00:35:42,250 --> 00:35:44,349 in l two. And then with a typical 1023 00:35:44,409 --> 00:35:46,989 transfer time of one or two years, 1024 00:35:47,849 --> 00:35:50,809 it's feasible to fly by a reachable comet 1025 00:35:50,809 --> 00:35:51,710 if it's detected 1026 00:35:52,010 --> 00:35:53,630 on time by by LSSD. 1027 00:35:54,204 --> 00:35:57,984 You've got your spacecraft parked at Lagrange 0.2. 1028 00:35:58,444 --> 00:35:59,744 There's a comet coming. 1029 00:36:00,045 --> 00:36:00,944 If it was 1030 00:36:01,885 --> 00:36:03,264 three I Atlas, 1031 00:36:03,565 --> 00:36:06,385 would you have been able to use interceptor 1032 00:36:06,525 --> 00:36:07,019 on that? 1033 00:36:08,059 --> 00:36:09,039 No. It's, 1034 00:36:10,300 --> 00:36:13,019 it's it's would not have been reachable with 1035 00:36:13,019 --> 00:36:15,280

a fuel available on Comet Interceptor, 1036 00:36:16,219 --> 00:36:18,460 and it's still a little bit far out. 1037 00:36:18,460 --> 00:36:19,760 So the Comet Interceptor 1038 00:36:20,140 --> 00:36:20,640 spacecraft 1039 00:36:24,035 --> 00:36:26,454 is able to to encounter 1040 00:36:27,075 --> 00:36:29,235 targets, well, which can be reached with the 1041 00:36:29,235 --> 00:36:31,555 fuel and also has to be relatively close 1042 00:36:31,555 --> 00:36:34,914 to Earth's orbit, ideally between point nine and 1043 00:36:34,914 --> 00:36:36,615 one point two AU. 1044 00:36:36,929 --> 00:36:38,929 There is maybe a little bit of margin 1045 00:36:38,929 --> 00:36:39,589 of it, 1046 00:36:39,969 --> 00:36:42,449 but, see, I was already too far out 1047 00:36:42,449 --> 00:36:43,109 from that. 1048 00:36:43,969 --> 00:36:45,670 And the other aspect 1049 00:36:45,969 --> 00:36:46,469 is 1050 00:36:47,170 --> 00:36:48,230 comet interceptor 1051 00:36:48,530 --> 00:36:49,429 is designed 1052 00:36:50,144 --> 00:36:53,925 against flyby velocities of up to 70 kilometers 1053 00:36:54,224 --> 00:36:54,885 per second. 1054 00:36:57,105 --> 00:36:58,085 And ATLAS, 1055 00:36:58,385 --> 00:37:00,164 I don't know what's the hypothetical 1056 00:37:00,465 --> 00:37:03,344 velocity. Flyby velocity would have been as kind 1057 00:37:03,344 --> 00:37:05,445 of worst case in terms of 1058 00:37:06,079 --> 00:37:07,059 flyby velocity 1059 00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:08,179 as an 1060 00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:11,300 interstellar object with a very high eccentricity 1061 00:37:11,760 --> 00:37:12,260 and 1062 00:37:12,719 --> 00:37:15,840 on a nearly retrograde orbit. So most likely, 1063 00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:17,840 also, the flyby velocity would have been too 1064 00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:18,340 high. 1065 00:37:18,719 --> 00:37:21,875 Okay. But it so you're looking at comets 1066 00:37:21,934 --> 00:37:22,835 which are, 1067 00:37:23,375 --> 00:37:24,994 within our solar system, 1068 00:37:25,454 --> 00:37:28,175 born in our solar system. So Yes. And, 1069 00:37:28,494 --> 00:37:30,414 so have you got particular targets that you're 1070 00:37:30,414 --> 00:37:32,015 looking at? No. We do not. I mean, 1071 00:37:32,015 --> 00:37:33,954 the target still has to be detected. 1072 00:37:36,140 --> 00:37:36,880 In the 1073 00:37:37,500 --> 00:37:38,559 unlikely case 1074 00:37:38,940 --> 00:37:39,440 that 1075 00:37:40,140 --> 00:37:42,800 no comet will be found that can be 1076 00:37:42,860 --> 00:37:45,500 encountered in the up to six years in 1077 00:37:45,500 --> 00:37:47,680 space for comet interceptor, 1078 00:37:48,344 --> 00:37:50,684 We have a list of short period comets 1079 00:37:51,224 --> 00:37:52,605 as backup targets. 1080 00:37:53,144 --> 00:37:54,364 So for for 1081 00:37:55,065 --> 00:37:56,125 for each launch, 1082 00:37:56,505 --> 00:37:57,704 yeah, we we we have, 1083 00:37:58,184 --> 00:38:00,585 depending on the exact launch date, we have 1084 00:38:00,585

--> 00:38:02,125 two or three backup targets 1085 00:38:03,670 --> 00:38:05,510 that could be reached in case we do 1086 00:38:05,510 --> 00:38:07,769 not find a a long period, Comet. 1087 00:38:08,070 --> 00:38:10,890 Okay. Fair enough. And so when, when you 1088 00:38:11,110 --> 00:38:13,289 do get your target, you fly your spacecraft 1089 00:38:13,590 --> 00:38:14,250 to it. 1090 00:38:14,710 --> 00:38:15,769 What happens then? 1091 00:38:16,070 --> 00:38:16,570 Okay. 1092 00:38:18,315 --> 00:38:19,614 So comet interceptor, 1093 00:38:19,994 --> 00:38:21,295 actually, three spacecraft. 1094 00:38:22,074 --> 00:38:25,355 So the main comet interceptor spacecraft and two 1095 00:38:25,355 --> 00:38:28,394 small spacecraft that we call probes b one 1096 00:38:28,394 --> 00:38:29,454 and b two, 1097 00:38:29,859 --> 00:38:31,480 with probe b one contributed 1098 00:38:31,940 --> 00:38:32,679 by YAXA 1099 00:38:33,380 --> 00:38:35,159 and probe b two by ESA. 1100 00:38:36,820 --> 00:38:39,859 And one one to two days before the 1101 00:38:39,859 --> 00:38:41,880 flyby, the probes will separate 1102 00:38:43,964 --> 00:38:46,444 and approach the nucleus a bit closer than 1103 00:38:46,444 --> 00:38:47,424 the main spacecraft. 1104 00:38:48,764 --> 00:38:49,505 And then 1105 00:38:50,125 --> 00:38:52,684 the actual science mission out as a prime 1106 00:38:52,684 --> 00:38:55,484 science mission is is is essentially only a 1107 00:38:55,484 --> 00:38:58,239 few minutes when the spacecraft are close to 1108 00:38:58,239 --> 00:38:59,780 the close to the comet. 1109 00:39:02,239 --> 00:39:05,519 And space the main spacecraft will fly by 1110 00:39:05,519 --> 00:39:07,699 at a nominal distance of 1,000 1111 00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:10,260 kilometers, which may be a little bit modified 1112 00:39:10,335 --> 00:39:11,714 based on comet activity. 1113 00:39:12,175 --> 00:39:14,815 And based on the flyby velocity, it may 1114 00:39:14,815 --> 00:39:15,954 get a bit closer. 1115 00:39:17,534 --> 00:39:18,755 And we'll essentially 1116 00:39:19,054 --> 00:39:20,994 collect all the data. It can 1117 00:39:21,614 --> 00:39:23,775 in the time of the closest approach and 1118 00:39:23,775 --> 00:39:26,360 afterwards use up to half a year for 1119 00:39:26,360 --> 00:39:27,660 the downlink of the data. 1120 00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:31,320 The small sats will go closer with a 1121 00:39:31,320 --> 00:39:32,380 nominal distance 1122 00:39:32,680 --> 00:39:33,180 of, 1123 00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:36,360 400 kilometers for one of them and around 1124 00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:37,900 800 for the other. 1125 00:39:38,574 --> 00:39:40,494 We'll do the same. We'll take all the 1126 00:39:40,494 --> 00:39:42,894 data they can in the hours before closest 1127 00:39:42,894 --> 00:39:45,775 approach and during closest approach and send the 1128 00:39:45,775 --> 00:39:48,255 data back to the main spacecraft through an 1129 00:39:48,255 --> 00:39:49,635 inter satellite link. 1130 00:39:50,510 --> 00:39:52,829 And then everything will be downloaded from the 1131 00:39:52,829 --> 00:39:53,569 main spacecraft 1132 00:39:53,869 --> 00:39:56,589 to Earth. What does the having the three 1133 00:39:56,589 --> 00:39:58,130 different spacecraft bring? 1134 00:39:58,909 --> 00:40:00,210 One thing is, 1135 00:40:01,230 --> 00:40:03,489 that we get multipoint observations. 1136 00:40:03,789 --> 00:40:05,329 So we sample different 1137 00:40:07,045 --> 00:40:09,285 areas of the coma at the same time 1138 00:40:09,285 --> 00:40:11,445 with the three spacecraft, and we also get 1139 00:40:11,445 --> 00:40:13,625 some stereo view on the nucleus. 1140 00:40:14,644 --> 00:40:17,204 And the other aspect is with the small 1141 00:40:17,204 --> 00:40:17,704 satellites, 1142 00:40:18,244 --> 00:40:20,164 we are willing to take a little bit 1143 00:40:20,164 --> 00:40:21,059 more of a risk 1144 00:40:21,940 --> 00:40:24,260 and to get closer to the nucleus of 1145 00:40:24,260 --> 00:40:25,880 the comet. Bit more disposable. 1146 00:40:26,420 --> 00:40:28,599 Yeah. More disposable in a sense. Yeah. 1147 00:40:29,059 --> 00:40:30,519 Imagine that you could 1148 00:40:30,820 --> 00:40:31,320 use, 1149 00:40:32,579 --> 00:40:35,320 interceptor to look at three I Atlas. 1150 00:40:36,464 --> 00:40:36,964 What, 1151 00:40:37,744 --> 00:40:39,045 what would it what 1152 00:40:39,744 --> 00:40:42,144 extra information would it give us? Yes. One 1153 00:40:42,144 --> 00:40:45,664 thing is we would get high resolution. High 1154 00:40:45,664 --> 00:40:48,304 resolution, meaning a couple a couple of meters 1155 00:40:48,304 --> 00:40:49,045 per pixel 1156 00:40:49,505 --> 00:40:50,964 images of the nucleus. 1157 00:40:55,929 --> 00:40:59,070 We would also get a much more detailed 1158 00:40:59,210 --> 00:41:00,429 coma composition 1159 00:41:00,969 --> 00:41:04,170 mainly because comet interceptor is flying a mass 1160 00:41:04,170 --> 00:41:04,670 spectrometer 1161 00:41:05,050 --> 00:41:06,429 that's similar to receptor. 1162 00:41:07,184 --> 00:41:08,085 So to reset 1163 00:41:08,864 --> 00:41:11,425 up, can get many observations at the same 1164 00:41:11,425 --> 00:41:11,925 time. 1165 00:41:14,625 --> 00:41:16,724 Many molecules at the same time. Sorry. 1166 00:41:18,144 --> 00:41:18,644 And 1167 00:41:19,344 --> 00:41:22,305 we get some some the soft also infrared 1168 00:41:22,305 --> 00:41:23,590 spectra that show 1169 00:41:23,969 --> 00:41:26,849 the the variation of composition over the surface 1170 00:41:26,849 --> 00:41:29,730 that shows the thermal properties, some, yeah, some 1171 00:41:29,730 --> 00:41:31,670 physical properties of the surface. 1172 00:41:35,570 --> 00:41:36,070 And, 1173 00:41:38,594 --> 00:41:40,215 we we get a lot of information 1174 00:41:40,515 --> 00:41:43,094 also about the the plasma environment 1175 00:41:44,434 --> 00:41:46,594 and the and the outer commas who the 1176 00:41:46,594 --> 00:41:47,494 who the

spacecraft 1177 00:41:47,875 --> 00:41:50,130 observing at at the same time between the 1178 00:41:50,130 --> 00:41:52,130 case of an interstellar object may not be 1179 00:41:52,130 --> 00:41:53,109 the highest priority. 1180 00:41:54,369 --> 00:41:55,889 Just talking about this, there's there's there's there's 1181 00:41:55,889 --> 00:41:57,829 there's been three interstellar objects. 1182 00:41:58,449 --> 00:42:00,389 I presumably, there have been 1183 00:42:00,769 --> 00:42:02,929 many more interstellar objects. And the reason we've 1184 00:42:02,929 --> 00:42:04,905 seen three is because we now have the 1185 00:42:05,304 --> 00:42:08,025 instrumentation, whatever it is, to to be able 1186 00:42:08,025 --> 00:42:10,105 to detect Indeed. There are many more of 1187 00:42:10,105 --> 00:42:11,324 them, and 1188 00:42:11,625 --> 00:42:12,844 we only detect, 1189 00:42:13,144 --> 00:42:15,065 let's say, the brighter ones and the ones 1190 00:42:15,065 --> 00:42:16,204 that come in close. 1191 00:42:17,599 --> 00:42:19,300 And, yeah, as I already indicate, 1192 00:42:19,599 --> 00:42:22,160 also, the reason that all three have been 1193 00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:22,660 detected 1194 00:42:23,039 --> 00:42:25,599 in the last ten years is simply because 1195 00:42:25,599 --> 00:42:26,260 of more 1196 00:42:27,119 --> 00:42:28,179 of more advanced 1197 00:42:28,559 --> 00:42:29,059 instrumentation. 1198 00:42:30,914 --> 00:42:31,894 And with LSST, 1199 00:42:32,195 --> 00:42:34,515 we get we hope to get get more. 1200 00:42:34,515 --> 00:42:35,655 Maybe, I don't know, 1201 00:42:35,954 --> 00:42:38,434 maybe 10 or 100 more. It's really very 1202 00:42:38,434 --> 00:42:40,755 difficult to predict on the small statistics and 1203 00:42:40,755 --> 00:42:42,994 objects we are having. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, 1204 00:42:42,994 --> 00:42:44,614 I was gonna ask you a silly question. 1205 00:42:44,750 --> 00:42:46,909 But, like, do you do you think that 1206 00:42:46,909 --> 00:42:48,369 Oumuamua, for example, 1207 00:42:48,670 --> 00:42:50,210 is is actually common, 1208 00:42:50,750 --> 00:42:52,750 relatively common, or do you think that was 1209 00:42:52,750 --> 00:42:54,349 really a a one off? I mean, we 1210 00:42:54,349 --> 00:42:55,789 don't know right now. Is that what? Sorry. 1211 00:42:55,789 --> 00:42:57,045 Oumuamua. Yeah. 1212 00:42:57,605 --> 00:42:59,924 Was it I don't know. No. I mean, 1213 00:42:59,924 --> 00:43:02,184 with with I mean, it was its properties 1214 00:43:02,324 --> 00:43:03,144 were unexpected. 1215 00:43:04,644 --> 00:43:07,045 And, of course, based on the discovery of 1216 00:43:07,045 --> 00:43:07,944 one object 1217 00:43:08,724 --> 00:43:11,045 and the total of three, it's very hard 1218 00:43:11,045 --> 00:43:12,505 to say if it's. So 1219 00:43:13,099 --> 00:43:15,119 so my guess is as good as yours. 1220 00:43:15,420 --> 00:43:17,920 It's it sounds like to me 1221 00:43:18,219 --> 00:43:20,079 that this is going to become, 1222 00:43:21,019 --> 00:43:23,340 the it's it's a very exciting area of 1223 00:43:23,340 --> 00:43:25,500 science. If you're interested in in space, which 1224 00:43:25,500 --> 00:43:27,844 I certainly am, then this is a very 1225 00:43:27,844 --> 00:43:29,704 interesting area of science. You know? Interstellar, 1226 00:43:31,605 --> 00:43:34,405 objects coming through our solar system, comets within 1227 00:43:34,405 --> 00:43:36,724 our solar system, flying spacecraft to comets within 1228 00:43:36,724 --> 00:43:38,964 our solar system. It sounds like it's an 1229 00:43:38,964 --> 00:43:40,469 area of science which is 1230 00:43:41,510 --> 00:43:43,349 developing more and more. If we've only found 1231 00:43:43,349 --> 00:43:44,969 three so far, it's a bit like exoplanets. 1232 00:43:45,109 --> 00:43:46,389 Right? There was a time when we thought 1233 00:43:46,389 --> 00:43:48,150 they were going to be exoplanets, and now 1234 00:43:48,150 --> 00:43:50,409 there's thousands and thousands that we know of. 1235 00:43:50,630 --> 00:43:52,969 Yeah. In a sense, it's maybe like exoplanets 1236 00:43:53,190 --> 00:43:54,409 since the nineteen nineties. 1237 00:43:55,164 --> 00:43:55,664 Obviously, 1238 00:43:55,964 --> 00:43:57,724 ESA had the Rosetta mission that go into 1239 00:43:57,724 --> 00:43:59,025 a comet ten years ago. 1240 00:43:59,804 --> 00:44:02,444 Why do we need comet interceptor as well 1241 00:44:02,444 --> 00:44:04,525 on top of that? The other thing is 1242 00:44:04,525 --> 00:44:06,960 we had comet 67 p, which is a 1243 00:44:07,039 --> 00:44:09,760 small period comet that orbits the sun every 1244 00:44:09,760 --> 00:44:10,659 six years. 1245 00:44:13,679 --> 00:44:15,460 And did and and and 1246 00:44:15,839 --> 00:44:18,000 and, yeah, observed it and its evolution in 1247 00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:20,505 very much detail. But the interesting thing is 1248 00:44:20,585 --> 00:44:23,065 for some of the large structures like the 1249 00:44:23,065 --> 00:44:24,684 the supposed layers, 1250 00:44:25,545 --> 00:44:26,284 the two 1251 00:44:26,824 --> 00:44:28,984 there's a two bodies, the the kind of 1252 00:44:28,984 --> 00:44:31,644 by contact binary structures, the big, 1253 00:44:34,550 --> 00:44:36,650 the the big holes that we have seen. 1254 00:44:38,469 --> 00:44:40,489 There are still a discussion ongoing 1255 00:44:40,949 --> 00:44:43,190 for many of those things to which extent 1256 00:44:43,190 --> 00:44:44,090 they are primordial. 1257 00:44:44,630 --> 00:44:47,349 They are remnants of the formation and to 1258 00:44:47,349 --> 00:44:48,170 which extent 1259 00:44:48,785 --> 00:44:50,164 they have been created 1260 00:44:50,465 --> 00:44:52,704 by the many orbits around the sun and 1261 00:44:52,704 --> 00:44:54,164 the many warming up, 1262 00:44:55,344 --> 00:44:55,844 periods 1263 00:44:56,224 --> 00:44:57,125 in the sun. 1264 00:44:57,905 --> 00:44:59,985 And they are a mission that gets at 1265 00:44:59,985 -->

00:45:02,989 least those large structures also on a on 1266 00:45:02,989 --> 00:45:03,489 a 1267 00:45:04,110 --> 00:45:06,110 on a new comet that comes into the 1268 00:45:06,110 --> 00:45:08,690 inner solar system for the very first time 1269 00:45:09,150 --> 00:45:10,449 will help to distinguish 1270 00:45:11,070 --> 00:45:13,329 which of those structures have been, 1271 00:45:14,925 --> 00:45:16,844 yeah, are there as well. And if they're 1272 00:45:16,844 --> 00:45:18,364 on the new comet as well, they are 1273 00:45:18,364 --> 00:45:19,265 indeed primordial. 1274 00:45:19,565 --> 00:45:20,945 If they are not there, 1275 00:45:21,325 --> 00:45:22,224 they may be 1276 00:45:23,164 --> 00:45:24,465 they may be a consequence 1277 00:45:24,844 --> 00:45:27,325 of the of the evolution due to the 1278 00:45:27,325 --> 00:45:29,565 formations for the inner solar system of a 1279 00:45:29,565 --> 00:45:31,039 comet like 67 1280 00:45:31,420 --> 00:45:33,420 b. So in those sense, those missions are 1281 00:45:33,420 --> 00:45:37,180 complementary, and comet interceptor may also help with 1282 00:45:37,180 --> 00:45:39,760 an with the analysis or reanalysis 1283 00:45:40,300 --> 00:45:42,059 of the of the of the results from 1284 00:45:42,059 --> 00:45:42,559 Rosetta. 1285 00:45:42,905 --> 00:45:44,344 Now I did mention at the start of 1286 00:45:44,344 --> 00:45:46,105 this podcast, and you'll no doubt be aware, 1287 00:45:46,105 --> 00:45:48,344 there is speculation in the press that maybe 1288 00:45:48,344 --> 00:45:50,925 three I Atlas is some sort of alien 1289 00:45:51,065 --> 00:45:53,484 spacecraft or something to do with alien technology, 1290 00:45:53,784 --> 00:45:55,324 which has been sent to 1291 00:45:55,679 --> 00:45:58,000 our solar system. Now we don't want to 1292 00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:00,079 get into conspiracy theories here on the Physics 1293 00:46:00,079 --> 00:46:02,719 World Stories podcast. Of course, we're far more 1294 00:46:02,719 --> 00:46:05,359 interested in the universe as it actually is. 1295 00:46:05,359 --> 00:46:07,679 But from a science communication point of view, 1296 00:46:07,679 --> 00:46:09,280 it's something that I wanted to talk to 1297 00:46:09,280 --> 00:46:12,635 Tracy Becker about. Because doctor Tracy Becker was 1298 00:46:12,635 --> 00:46:14,635 the winner of the Carl Sagan Award for 1299 00:46:14,635 --> 00:46:17,594 the Public Appreciation of Science in 2023. 1300 00:46:17,594 --> 00:46:20,074 And I wondered what her take was on 1301 00:46:20,074 --> 00:46:22,655 this story of fascinating story of an interstellar 1302 00:46:22,715 --> 00:46:25,599 comet being mixed up in the media, in 1303 00:46:25,599 --> 00:46:28,639 some cases inspired by comments from scientists who, 1304 00:46:28,639 --> 00:46:31,780 for whatever reason, seem to say that anything 1305 00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:33,780 that is slightly peculiar 1306 00:46:34,159 --> 00:46:35,940 might well be alien technology. 1307 00:46:37,134 -->

00:46:38,574 My feelings can be mixed. I mean, I 1308 00:46:38,574 --> 00:46:40,815 think that anything that gets people excited and 1309 00:46:40,815 --> 00:46:43,634 talking about space and focused on space and 1310 00:46:43,775 --> 00:46:46,014 understanding that there's all these really cool phenomena 1311 00:46:46,014 --> 00:46:48,255 happening all the time around us and and 1312 00:46:48,255 --> 00:46:49,650 focusing on the science, 1313 00:46:50,609 --> 00:46:53,329 that's all exciting. So I'm, in some ways, 1314 00:46:53,329 --> 00:46:55,809 glad to have so much interest generated in 1315 00:46:55,809 --> 00:46:57,329 this object. We don't get a lot of 1316 00:46:57,329 --> 00:47:00,210 interest generally just from a an average comet 1317 00:47:00,210 --> 00:47:01,029 passing by. 1318 00:47:01,650 --> 00:47:03,924 This object, of course, is spectacular in the 1319 00:47:03,924 --> 00:47:05,364 sense that it's only the third time we've 1320 00:47:05,364 --> 00:47:08,164 ever known about an interstellar visitor. Right? This 1321 00:47:08,164 --> 00:47:10,164 is an object that came from outside of 1322 00:47:10,164 --> 00:47:11,844 our solar system, and it's in our solar 1323 00:47:11,844 --> 00:47:13,704 system. And so it rightfully deserves 1324 00:47:14,005 --> 00:47:15,284 a lot of talk and a lot of 1325 00:47:15,284 --> 00:47:17,599 press. And so from that perspective, it's good 1326 00:47:17,599 --> 00:47:18,180 to see, 1327 00:47:20,160 --> 00:47:22,400 so much interest in it. What I hope 1328 00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:24,099 that the public does is 1329 00:47:24,480 --> 00:47:26,800 take that initial, you know, a little bit 1330 00:47:26,800 --> 00:47:28,844 of bait, I guess, in terms of 1331 00:47:29,885 --> 00:47:31,344 of what is this thing 1332 00:47:31,804 --> 00:47:33,244 and and then go look at it more 1333 00:47:33,244 --> 00:47:35,344 carefully and see, wow. This is really cool 1334 00:47:35,565 --> 00:47:36,304 even though 1335 00:47:36,844 --> 00:47:38,844 the bait was this kind of alien thing 1336 00:47:38,844 --> 00:47:40,465 that people like to throw out there. 1337 00:47:41,244 --> 00:47:42,925 But the the actual science behind it is 1338 00:47:42,925 --> 00:47:45,000 interesting. The part that I waiver on a 1339 00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:46,460 little bit is that, you know, 1340 00:47:47,160 --> 00:47:49,160 the public we want the public to trust 1341 00:47:49,160 --> 00:47:49,660 scientists. 1342 00:47:50,039 --> 00:47:52,599 There's already a lot of, erosion of trust 1343 00:47:52,599 --> 00:47:53,340 in scientists 1344 00:47:53,719 --> 00:47:55,019 and science in general 1345 00:47:55,400 --> 00:47:57,260 in multiple fields. And so 1346 00:47:59,474 --> 00:48:01,554 experts kind of throw out claims that are 1347 00:48:01,554 --> 00:48:02,054 not 1348 00:48:02,835 --> 00:48:03,335 backed 1349 00:48:03,635 --> 00:48:05,494 by empirical evidence, 1350 00:48:06,914 --> 00:48:09,635 can further tarnish and further hurt sort of 1351 00:48:09,635 --> 00:48:11,494 that goal of making sure we're communicating, 1352 00:48:12,909 --> 00:48:15,329 good science and making sure that that people 1353 00:48:15,630 --> 00:48:17,949 understand the science and trust the science and 1354 00:48:17,949 --> 00:48:18,849 trust the scientists. 1355 00:48:19,150 --> 00:48:20,590 I hope that people use it as a 1356 00:48:20,590 --> 00:48:22,670 launching point of saying, what? Aliens? Oh, no. 1357 00:48:22,670 --> 00:48:24,675 That's it's not aliens, but this is cool. 1358 00:48:24,675 --> 00:48:26,594 And not the other way, which could be, 1359 00:48:26,594 --> 00:48:27,574 oh, it's aliens. 1360 00:48:28,275 --> 00:48:30,035 Oh, wait. No. All these other scientists are 1361 00:48:30,035 --> 00:48:32,195 saying no. I guess science never can con 1362 00:48:32,275 --> 00:48:34,675 can come to a conclusion on anything, and 1363 00:48:34,675 --> 00:48:35,954 now I don't believe any of it. You 1364 00:48:35,954 --> 00:48:37,094 know? That's a harmful, 1365 00:48:37,635 --> 00:48:38,789 response to it. So, 1366 00:48:39,510 --> 00:48:40,710 yeah, I think a mix. 1367 00:48:41,349 --> 00:48:44,469 But, hopefully, again, people just appreciate how how 1368 00:48:44,469 --> 00:48:46,230 cool this is. And I think the images 1369 00:48:46,230 --> 00:48:46,550 that, 1370 00:48:47,030 --> 00:48:49,210 Hubble and other telescopes have been producing 1371 00:48:49,590 --> 00:48:51,590 and the results that hopefully we'll be publishing 1372 00:48:51,590 --> 00:48:53,449 with Europa UBS and other spacecraft 1373 00:48:53,885 --> 00:48:55,344 will keep that interest alive, 1374 00:48:55,804 --> 00:48:57,244 and just show how cool it is to 1375 00:48:57,244 --> 00:48:59,664 be able to have this fleet of spacecraft 1376 00:48:59,885 --> 00:49:02,125 all be able to turn and point at 1377 00:49:02,125 --> 00:49:03,105 this one really 1378 00:49:03,405 --> 00:49:03,905 special, 1379 00:49:04,605 --> 00:49:07,500 interstellar object that serendipitously came through our solar 1380 00:49:07,500 --> 00:49:09,340 system at the right time. Stay tuned for 1381 00:49:09,340 --> 00:49:11,900 whatever for the results that we do publish 1382 00:49:11,900 --> 00:49:14,380 with this instrument and with the various other 1383 00:49:14,380 --> 00:49:15,519 spacecraft and, 1384 00:49:16,140 --> 00:49:18,619 telescope ground based telescope observations that are happening 1385 00:49:18,619 --> 00:49:20,934 because I think we're just scratching the surface. 1386 00:49:20,934 --> 00:49:22,695 We just kind of are taking images right 1387 00:49:22,695 --> 00:49:24,695 now and and getting some of that initial 1388 00:49:24,695 --> 00:49:26,614 data out there, but this is our first 1389 00:49:26,614 --> 00:49:28,474 real opportunity to understand 1390 00:49:29,175 --> 00:49:30,635 and kind of put into 1391 00:49:31,655 --> 00:49:33,494 context what our solar system is. You know? 1392 00:49:33,494 --> 00:49:35,170 When we look at we

can look at 1393 00:49:35,170 --> 00:49:36,130 planets now. 1394 00:49:36,769 --> 00:49:38,769 We can see these exoplanets around other stars, 1395 00:49:38,769 --> 00:49:39,590 which is fantastic. 1396 00:49:39,890 --> 00:49:41,969 But it's hard to get any compositional information 1397 00:49:41,969 --> 00:49:43,969 about those, and and even then, it's some 1398 00:49:43,969 --> 00:49:45,590 of the usually the biggest ones. 1399 00:49:46,614 --> 00:49:48,614 It's hard to get information about comets in 1400 00:49:48,614 --> 00:49:50,454 our own solar system that don't come close 1401 00:49:50,454 --> 00:49:51,275 to the Earth, 1402 00:49:51,815 --> 00:49:53,914 or come close to the sun, let alone 1403 00:49:53,974 --> 00:49:56,295 comets from other solar systems. So this is 1404 00:49:56,295 --> 00:49:58,875 really one of those extremely rare opportunities 1405 00:49:59,760 --> 00:50:02,480 to potentially understand sort of that reservoir of 1406 00:50:02,480 --> 00:50:03,860 materials that form 1407 00:50:04,640 --> 00:50:05,140 the 1408 00:50:05,760 --> 00:50:08,739 the basic building blocks of another solar system 1409 00:50:08,880 --> 00:50:10,880 and ask those questions. You know? How unique 1410 00:50:10,880 --> 00:50:13,199 is our solar system, or how common is 1411 00:50:13,199 --> 00:50:14,905 it? And are we the weird ones? Is 1412 00:50:14,905 --> 00:50:16,424 that solar system the weird one? We won't 1413 00:50:16,424 --> 00:50:17,944 know that until we start getting more and 1414 00:50:17,944 --> 00:50:19,784 more of these objects. And I think what's 1415 00:50:19,784 --> 00:50:21,464 really exciting is that we do have these 1416 00:50:21,464 --> 00:50:23,784 powerful telescopes like Vera Rubin and others coming 1417 00:50:23,784 --> 00:50:26,125 online where we're gonna be able to see 1418 00:50:26,664 --> 00:50:29,230 and detect some of these objects way earlier 1419 00:50:29,230 --> 00:50:30,670 out. You know, this is the third one 1420 00:50:30,670 --> 00:50:32,349 we've known about, but it's certainly not the 1421 00:50:32,349 --> 00:50:33,869 third one that's ever come through our solar 1422 00:50:33,869 --> 00:50:34,369 system. 1423 00:50:34,829 --> 00:50:36,989 But having the opportunity to detect them in 1424 00:50:36,989 --> 00:50:37,489 advance 1425 00:50:37,869 --> 00:50:40,055 and seeing the results of and the the 1426 00:50:40,055 --> 00:50:42,695 power of having gotten these observations and working 1427 00:50:42,695 --> 00:50:44,474 together across all these missions, 1428 00:50:45,255 --> 00:50:47,575 and across the ground based telescope network to 1429 00:50:47,575 --> 00:50:48,394 study it, 1430 00:50:49,015 --> 00:50:50,454 I think that we're gonna see this more 1431 00:50:50,454 --> 00:50:52,630 and more and more, and that's something exciting. 1432 00:50:52,630 --> 00:50:54,250 We're on the precipice of understanding 1433 00:50:54,710 --> 00:50:56,469 other solar systems in a way that we 1434 00:50:56,469 --> 00:50:58,889 weren't really expecting to do. Right? We're trying 1435 00:50:59,190 --> 00:51:01,349 to understand you know, build a bigger telescope 1436 00:51:01,349 --> 00:51:02,329 so that we can, 1437 00:51:03,510 --> 00:51:05,590 see further further and further out. But this 1438 00:51:05,590 --> 00:51:07,349 is an opportunity to make sure we're also 1439 00:51:07,349 --> 00:51:07,724 ready 1440 00:51:08,285 --> 00:51:10,125 to see the things that come come into 1441 00:51:10,125 --> 00:51:12,045 our backyard and actually get to play with 1442 00:51:12,045 --> 00:51:12,785 a little bit. 1443 00:51:13,244 --> 00:51:15,085 I'd like to thank Tracy and Michelle for 1444 00:51:15,085 --> 00:51:16,605 talking to me for this episode of the 1445 00:51:16,605 --> 00:51:20,125 Physics World Stories podcast. Don't forget that physicsworld.com 1446 00:51:20,125 --> 00:51:22,065 is an excellent resource for everything 1447 00:51:22,550 --> 00:51:24,650 to sate your desire for the latest 1448 00:51:24,949 --> 00:51:25,690 and greatest 1449 00:51:26,070 --> 00:51:29,190 of astronomy and space news. I hope 2026 1450 00:51:29,190 --> 00:51:30,710 has been treating you well so far, and 1451 00:51:30,710 --> 00:51:32,710 we'll be back next month with something else 1452 00:51:32,710 --> 00:51:34,710 from this wonderful world of physics. And thank 1453 00:51:34,710 --> 00:51:36,329 you very much for listening.