December 30, 2025 • 25 mins
SpaceTime with Stuart Gary - Series 28 Episode 154
In this episode of SpaceTime, we explore significant milestones in lunar exploration and the latest challenges in space technology.
Accelerated Launch for Artemis 2
NASA has moved up the launch date for the historic Artemis 2 manned moon mission to early February, marking the first human journey to the moon in over 50 years since Apollo 17. The Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, will embark on a 10-day mission, completing a free return trajectory around the moon. This episode discusses the mission's objectives, including in-space demonstrations and the deployment of five cubesats, as well as the importance of this mission for future lunar exploration and potential Mars missions.
New Insights from Lunar Rock Samples
Recent studies of lunar rock samples have revealed a new timeline for lunar impacts, pushing back the history of Earth's nearest celestial neighbour by 300 million years. The Apollo 17 rock sample, known as 76535, has provided crucial insights into the moon's formation and its geological history. Advanced computer simulations suggest that the impact that formed the Serenitatis Basin may have brought this rock to the surface, reshaping our understanding of the moon's bombardment history and its implications for Earth.
Japan's H3 Rocket Failure
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has faced a setback with the failure of its new H3 rocket during a satellite launch. This follows a previous failure during its maiden flight. The H3 rocket, designed to replace the H2, aims to enhance Japan's capabilities in the global space market but has encountered significant technical challenges.
www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com
✍️ Episode References
Geophysical Research Letters
NASA Reports
JAXA Updates
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-your-guide-to-space-astronomy--2458531/support.
(00:00:00) This is Space Time Series 28, Episode 154 for broadcast on 31 December 2025
(00:00:47) NASA accelerates Artemis 2 moon mission launch
(00:12:30) New lunar rock samples shift timeline of impacts
(00:20:10) Japan's H3 rocket fails to deploy satellite
(00:25:00) Study reveals links between social media use and cognitive performance in children
(00:27:30) Coffee and tea's effects on bone health in older women
In this episode of SpaceTime, we explore significant milestones in lunar exploration and the latest challenges in space technology.
Accelerated Launch for Artemis 2
NASA has moved up the launch date for the historic Artemis 2 manned moon mission to early February, marking the first human journey to the moon in over 50 years since Apollo 17. The Orion spacecraft, named Integrity, will embark on a 10-day mission, completing a free return trajectory around the moon. This episode discusses the mission's objectives, including in-space demonstrations and the deployment of five cubesats, as well as the importance of this mission for future lunar exploration and potential Mars missions.
New Insights from Lunar Rock Samples
Recent studies of lunar rock samples have revealed a new timeline for lunar impacts, pushing back the history of Earth's nearest celestial neighbour by 300 million years. The Apollo 17 rock sample, known as 76535, has provided crucial insights into the moon's formation and its geological history. Advanced computer simulations suggest that the impact that formed the Serenitatis Basin may have brought this rock to the surface, reshaping our understanding of the moon's bombardment history and its implications for Earth.
Japan's H3 Rocket Failure
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has faced a setback with the failure of its new H3 rocket during a satellite launch. This follows a previous failure during its maiden flight. The H3 rocket, designed to replace the H2, aims to enhance Japan's capabilities in the global space market but has encountered significant technical challenges.
www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com
✍️ Episode References
Geophysical Research Letters
NASA Reports
JAXA Updates
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-your-guide-to-space-astronomy--2458531/support.
(00:00:00) This is Space Time Series 28, Episode 154 for broadcast on 31 December 2025
(00:00:47) NASA accelerates Artemis 2 moon mission launch
(00:12:30) New lunar rock samples shift timeline of impacts
(00:20:10) Japan's H3 rocket fails to deploy satellite
(00:25:00) Study reveals links between social media use and cognitive performance in children
(00:27:30) Coffee and tea's effects on bone health in older women
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Spacetime Series twenty eight, episode one hundred and
fifty four, for broadcast in the thirty first of December
twenty twenty five. Coming up on space Time, the Artemis
two man Moon mission now slated for launch in February
instead of April, rewriting a chapter of the Moon's early history,
consequently that of the Earth as well, and failure for
(00:21):
Japan's new flagship Age three rocket. All that and more
coming up on Spacetime.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Welcome to space Time with Stuart Gary.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
NASA has accelerated the launch of the historic Artemis two
man Moon mission from mid April to early February. The
agency has tentatively slated the week of February sixth with
a two hour launch window. This will be an historic
mission because it will be the first time humans have
traveled to the Moon in more than half a century,
ever since the days of Apollo seventeen back in nineteen
(01:10):
seventy two. The ten day mission aboard the Orion Spacecraft Integrity,
will launch aboard NASA's ninety eight meter tall three stage
SOLS super heavy Lift rocket from Space Launch Complex thirty
nine B at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Space
Force Space in Florida. The crew will complete one swing
around the Moon on what's known as a free return trajectory.
(01:32):
The mission profile calls for a multi translunar injection with
modible departure burns. Orion will initially be sent on a
highly eccentric Earth orbit with a period of roughly twenty
four hours by comparison, the International Space Station orbits much
closer to the planet, taking just on ninety minutes to
complete each orbit. During Orion's highly eccentric orbit, the spacecraft's
(01:53):
crew will perform various checkouts of the vehicle, its life
support systems, its ancillary components, and it will to take
an in space rendezvous and proximity operation demonstration using the
spent Intraimcryogenic Propulsion or upper stage as a target. The
mission will also carry five cube SATs, which will be
attached to the inside of the stage adapted between the
(02:14):
SOLS upper stage and the Orion spacecraft. These will be
deployed during Earth orbit and once oryan riches perigy after
completing its orbit, it'll fire its main engines for its
translunar injection burn that'll send the spacecraft on a lunar
free return or gravity assist trajectory, swinging around the Moon
with the closest approach to the lunar surface of approximately
(02:36):
seven four hundred kilometers. Another burn maneuver will then send
the spacecraft returning to Earth and ultimately splashing down in
the Pacific Ocean. This report on Artemis two from nass
A TV.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
So the most exciting thing to me about Artemis two
is just the return to the Moon. We haven't been
there in fifty years. Human eyes are going to see
parts of the Moon that haven't been seen by anyone before.
It also recommits us to exploring the Solar System in
a way that we haven't in a long time, and
I think it provides an opportunity for younger generations to
(03:11):
understand the excitement of doing that kind of exploration. The
Moon is this great sort of cherisciro subject because the
most recognizable thing about it is the changing sun angles
and how that brings out the shape of craters near
the terminator, which is the day night line. Because there aren't,
(03:32):
you know, oceans and clouds and all the things that
you see on Earth. The Moon is really all about
its shape, and the shape is telling you something about
its long history and the history of the entire Solar System.
All the things that have happened to the Earth have
been erased by geologic processes and weather and climate, and
(03:53):
that doesn't happen on the Moon. The Moon has recorded
everything that's happened since its formation almost four and a
half million years ago. That tells us a lot about
where we came from, where the Solar System came from.
It also reveals something about the composition of the Earth
that we can't see because it's buried beneath the crust.
Some of that is on the surface of the Moon
(04:14):
because it's been excavated by all the impacts. Artemis is
our return to the Moon after fifty years. The emphasis
of Artemis is going to be first of all science,
but second of all learning to sustain a presence on
another world. First on the Moon, but we're hoping that
that's a stepping stone to Mars and other destinations in
the Solar System. Eventually, Artemis two will be a fly
(04:38):
by mission. It's not going to land. We're testing all
of the technology that we've created for flying to the
Moon since Apollo. A lot of systems have been modernized,
and we need to make sure that all of those work.
The astronauts will be looking out the window at parts
of the Moon that have never been seen by human
eyes before. They will be flying by the Moon at
(04:59):
an out that's much higher than Apollo's orbits, and so
they will see the entire disk of the Moon, including
areas that are closer to both the North and South
Pole that astronauts from Apollo never saw. All of that
depends on the lighting, which we really won't know until
launch day, but we can practice with different lighting scenarios.
(05:20):
It's hard for people to sort of picture that in
their mind. If you can make a visualization of it,
show them a movie that helps everybody choose the targets
and also practice aiming at those targets. The astronauts have
actually been looking at these visualizations through the lens of
the camera and practicing aiming at the various targets. All
(05:41):
of the Apollo flights orbited the Moon at a distance
of about one hundred and ten kilometers. Because the astronauts
were flying at such a low altitude, their horizon was
actually quite close and they couldn't see the North and
South poles. And it includes this amazing impact piece called Oriental.
Oriental is a very large impact feature. It's about six
(06:05):
hundred and fifty kilometers wide. It's got multiple rings. These
are rings that form like ripples in a pond from
the impact, but of course it's on a huge scale.
The middle of Oriental has that sort of dark basalt
lava covering it, like the dark spots that we see
on the near side. It's one of the biggest ones
(06:26):
that's more on the far side than near So seeing
it with human eyes and sort of picking out features
that maybe you don't even see in robotic cameras is
an important goal for the mission. One of the photographic
targets that is on everybody's list is pictures of the
Earth beyond the limb of the Moon. During Apollo eight,
on their fourth orbit, they finally turned their spacecraft around
(06:49):
so that they could see in the direction of the Earth.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Oh okay, look at that picture over there.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
Coming up.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
Hey, I'll take that. I'm judgle you get a color
filmed gym.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I think it surprised all of them how beautiful and
how human it was to see the entire planet Earth
from behind the horizon of another celestial body. That photograph
called Earth Rise had a huge impact on the public
because from space, you don't see country boundaries, you don't
see some of the human problems that we deal with
(07:22):
on the surface, and you also recognize that the Earth
is a finite place. It's not infinite, it's not everything.
It is a pale blue dot in the vastness of space.
Artemis is going to have that opportunity once again. I
anticipate that the astronauts will have the same feeling that
the apolloid astronauts did, and I think it will have
(07:43):
a similar effect on a new generation of people who
are watching this mission unfold.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
And in that report on atomist too from mess A TV,
we heard from Ernie Wright from NASA's god Had Space
Flight Center in Greenville, Maryland. And this is space time
still to come. A new study of lunar rock samples
paints a different picture of the tortured history of Earth's
nearest celestial companion, and it's a big fail for Japan's
(08:10):
new flagship H three rocket. All that and more still
to come on space time. A new study of lunar
(08:32):
rock samples is painting a very different picture of the
tortured history of Earth's near a celestial companion. The findings,
reported in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, pushes back the
timeline of lunar at consequently Earth impacts by some three
hundred million years. When the Apollo seventeen astronauts elected a
small rock from the Moon more than fifty years ago,
(08:54):
they had no way of knowing that it would still
be challenging sciences understanding of luner history today. The fragment,
simply known as Sample seven six five three five, formed
nearly fifty kilometers under the lunar surface, but it shows
no signs of the violent shocks usually expected when deep
rocks are blasted up to the surface, and that puzzle
(09:14):
has been intriguing centers for decades. Many believe the rock
was blasted to the surface by the same massive impact
that formed the Moon's largest crater, the giant South Pole
Achin Basin, but new research is now offering a simpler explanation,
but one with very broad implications. By running advanced computer
simulations of giant lunar impacts, the authors has shown that
(09:37):
the asteroid impact, which from the sor any tight space
and a massive impact crater on the Moon's kne side,
could have lifted our rock sample to the surface during
the latest stages of its formation. The finding suggested the
impact could about four point two five billion years ago.
That's roughly three million years earlier than previously thought, in
the process pushing the timeline of lunar impacts further back
(10:00):
in history. Of course, that shift, reported in the journal
Geophysical Research Letters, also reshapes how scientists estimate the bombardment
history of Earth and other Inner Solar System planets. The
studies lead author, Evan Johns from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,
says this rock may be small, but it carries a
huge story about the Moon's early history. He says, it's
(10:22):
sort of like a time capsule dating back four point
two five billion years now. Scientists have long agreed on
two key aspects about the Apollo sample. Its chemistry and
its texture show that it formed deep inside the lunar crust,
and it lacks the strong shock features a typically a
company a violent trip to the surface. Earlier studies proposed
(10:44):
that only an enormous impact like the one which created
the South Pole Aiken Basin could have excavated rock from
such depths, but there's a catch carrying the rock from
that far side. Based into the Apollo seventeen landing site
would likely require an additional impact while avoiding shocks strong
enough to leave telltale scars. Shones and colleagues found a
(11:05):
more direct path, using their computer simulations of large lunar
impacts to get with models of the Moon's crust. They
showed that during the later collapse stage of forming a
giant crater, material from tens of kilometers down can be
drawn upwards gently enough to preserve rock samples like seven
six five three five. In those simulations, a certain to
(11:27):
tellus type impact can move deep material to within just
a few kilometers of the surface, precisely the kind of
process that could place the sample where Apollo seventeen find it.
The author's models kept showing the same thing. Big impacts
can lift rocks to the surface without overshocking them, and
if sample seven sixty five three five dates the serenotoitous
(11:48):
impact at four point twenty five billion years ago, other
major lunar basins may also be far older than currently dated,
and that moves scientists to rethink how quickly the Moon
cooled and how frequently large impacts struck the Inner Solar System.
Because Earth's earliest surface record has been largely erased by
erosion play. Tectonics and geology scientists often calibrate Earth's impact
(12:11):
history Using the Moon and redating a cornerstone of lunar
impact would recalibrate our picture of the early Earth as well,
and also how other inner Solar System planets may have evolved.
By pushing through a tatus back in time, astronomers are
shifting the entire timeline of when big impacts happened right
across the Solar System, so it has ripple effects for
(12:33):
understanding not just Earth's early environment, but that of our
entire place in the universe. This is space time still
to calme failure for Japan's new flagship AGE three rocket.
Later in the Science report, how to of the world's
most popular beverages coffee and tea influence burn health in
older women. All that and more still to come on
(12:55):
space time. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency JACKSA has suffered
a major setback with its new flagship H three rocket,
(13:18):
failing to place its satellite payload into orbit. The launch
had already been delayedded technical issues with the rocket, and
at about just seventeen seconds before liftoff due to an
anomaly with the water sound suppression system on the launch pad.
The H three was carrying the MICKEYPIKI five Satellite navigation
System spacecraft from the Tanegashima Space Center southwest of Tokyo. However,
(13:40):
as the rocket launched into the sky, its second stage
engine burns suddenly cut off unexpectedly far earlier than planned,
and that resulted in the failure of the satellite's deployment.
This is the second failure for the new H three
launch vehicle. It also failed on its maiden flight back
in March twenty twenty three, the second stage engine failed
(14:01):
to ignite, but in between there have been six successful
launch missions. The H three rocket is designed to replace
the earlier H two, a workhourse of Japan's growing space industry,
which has had a near perfect success record. The new
AGE three is meant to be more modular and more
cost effective in the global space market. This Space Time
(14:39):
and Time Out of Tech another brief look at some
of the other stories making news and science this week.
With a science report. Researchers say both small and big
increases in social media use between the ages of nine
and thirteen are linked with lower overall performance in tests
of cognitive abilities. Findings reported in the Journal of the
American Medical Association tacked increases in social media use of
(15:02):
some six thousand, five hundred and fifty four kids over
four years, categorizing them into three groups no or very
low social use, low increasing social use, and high increasing
social use. The kids completed a range of cognitive tests,
including tests in reading, memory, and vocabulary. The authors found
that both small and big increases in social media use
(15:25):
were linked to lower scores in all these tests. They
speculate that it could simply be because kids are spending
more time on social media, they end up spending less
time on their school work. A new studies offering fresh
insights into how two of the world's most popular beverages,
coffee and tea, influenced bone health in older women. The research,
(15:45):
reported in the journal Nutrients, followed nearly ten thousand women
aged sixty five and older over a decade to explore
whether their daily habits of sipping coffee or tea were
in any way linked to changes in bone mineral density,
a key indicator of osteoporosis. Ory They found that tea
drinkers had a slightly higher hip bone mineral density suggesting
modest benefits for bone health. A new study has shown
(16:10):
that artificial intelligence systems huge massive amounts of energy to operate,
in fact, more energy than it takes to light up
New York City. A report of the journal Patterns claims
AI chatbots like Chat GTP are environmentally quite destructive, with
a carbon footprint between thirty two point six and seventy
nine point seven million tons of carbon dioxide over a
(16:31):
single twelve month period. That is not just pollution and
greenhouse gases. The findings also show AI is consumed between
three hundred and twelve point five and seven hundred and
sixty four point six billion liters of water every year
just for cooling. Androids and robots will be dominating news
that the world's biggest consumer and electronics show CES, which
(16:53):
will be held in Las Vegas next week. With the details,
we're joined by Technology editor Alex Harrolroyt from Tech Why start.
Speaker 6 (17:00):
Lie The past couple of years, of course, has been
AI AI AI and the thing that has always stopped
home robots from being real.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
Besides the fact that it's difficult.
Speaker 6 (17:11):
To make a humanoid robot that can easily glide around,
walk around, deal with stairs, and have the dexterity needed
to handle plates, or help your feeniors or handle babies.
Is the fact that you need a robot with an
AI brain to be able to talk to you like
a human could reason, ask questions, decide to do things autonomously.
(17:33):
And so we finally live in an era where we
have at least llm AI systems that can pretend to think.
I mean, I don't really think they can think the
way that humans thinks yet, but.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
They are showing up language models.
Speaker 6 (17:44):
Right large language model, which is a way of predicting
what the next word will be in the answer that
it gives you to a question you've posed by comparing
the words that appear.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
In other answers across the entire.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
Corpus of the Internet that it's been able to ingest.
Speaker 5 (17:57):
And so that's not really thinking, that's just.
Speaker 6 (17:59):
Predicting what the next word would be. And of course
we've seen AI systems get things completely wrong, very confidently,
giving us incorrect answer and hallucinating. And if robots trying
to think whether to put an ingredient or use a
particular mushroom that it may have foraged in your back
garden that may or may not be poisonous. I mean
you'd have to really be sure to trust the AI
(18:19):
brain that it's doing the right thing. Well, the long
the shot is that we now live in an era
where you can have robots that have this manual dexterity
and can look like robots and can handle things. I've
seen a humanoid style robot driving a car, for example,
anything that can be handled by a human. If the
robot looks and acts like a human, then it can
(18:39):
be handled by that robot. And we did see earlier
this year the one x dot Tech robot called Neo,
and it was a humanoid robot of just thought you
would expect from all the sci fi dreams.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
I mean, it looked like a human.
Speaker 6 (18:51):
It could load the washing machine full of dishes or clothes,
It could put clothes into the dry could water your
plants outside, It could help you bring things in from
the car. I mean it was a robot of the
sort you would expect from sci fi. And that robot
goes on sale if we're twenty thousand dollars, or you
can lease it for four.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
Hundred nine nine US a month.
Speaker 6 (19:09):
Now CES is meant to be all about robots, and
I have read a number of companies already emailing me
years saying we're going to have humanoid robots on display,
But where is someone like a Samsung or an LG. Now,
back in I think twenty twenty one, we did see
Samsung had a what looked like a tower fan with
this arm coming out.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Of the top.
Speaker 6 (19:27):
It's kind of a comical robot that looked nothing like
the robot you would expect, but at least it could
move around it and had the arm that could do
things like pack the dishwasher, but it was definitely not humanoid.
Then we have Samsung with its Bally, which is a
bit like the BB eight from Star Wars, except that
don't you have the balls, didn't have the top section
which was the head with the camera as the eye,
(19:48):
and you know that can roll around and it can
projectings on walls and it can help you do things.
But it's very much a non humanoid robot.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
So LG has come out just on Christmas Day with.
Speaker 6 (19:58):
A press release saying that their robot will be call
LG Cloyd clo ID with I in lowercase and the
rest of the characters in upper case and sci fi.
They've just shown a hand they haven't shown the full
robot in any of the images they've shared, and the
hand looks like one of the hands you'd see on
those robots from Boston Dynamics or from Elon Musk, the
Optimus robots. That's so obviously a robotic can And they're
(20:20):
saying that this robot is designed to perform indoor household tasks.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
And they're calling the vision the zero.
Speaker 6 (20:26):
Labor home makes quality time. Now, this is a future
where technology helps reduce the burden of daily chores.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
It's of housework.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
And look, we have seen AI powered.
Speaker 6 (20:36):
Or intelligence washing machines. I remember the Fisher and Pikal
washing machine had some sort of fuzzy logic in the
systems to know whether it should apply more force or
less when it's washing certain types of clothes. And that
was around long before AI. Remember the Japanese talking about
fuzzy logic a couple of decades ago, which again is
an aiesque kind of move. But now we have devices
that you can talk to. You can talk to your fridge.
(20:57):
If you have a Samsung fridge, you can say, hey, Biggs,
you can ask it to look at the ingredients you.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
Have in the fridge. And suggests recipes, and this natural
language user interface with our appliances is going to become
more common. But the other end of that scale is
to have humanoid robots that can just use the appliances
that we use, and instead of having to talk to.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
The appliance, you talk to the robot and get it
to do things.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
So you know, this robot is built to perform.
Speaker 6 (21:20):
A variety of tasks within the home. And look, we
will talk more about this one. I've had a chance
to see it and we get to see the exact
image of what looks like. But it talks about two
articulated arms powered by motors and with seven degrees of freedom,
providing motion similar to natural movements, which by natural that
obviously needs human movements. And there are five individually actuated
fingers on each hand to provide dexterity so that kloid
(21:42):
can perform delicate and precise tasks that require FI and
motor control. So you can imagine that by twenty thirty
these sorts of robots will be on sale in the
Best Buys and the Harvey Normans and jbhigh fives and.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
Boots in the UK.
Speaker 6 (21:54):
And you know, the traditional electronics big box department type store.
They'll be selling these robot Butler's for your home. I mean,
they'll come with different names.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
Android Cloyd.
Speaker 6 (22:04):
I mean. The problem with the word droids is that
that is actually a term that's licensed to Lucasfilm because
of the droids that are in Star Wars. So yet
to see what's going to happen there, but I'm sure
people will have real life R two D two star robots,
except much less clumsier and much less dense than the
C three Po appeared to be at times, much less annoying.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
But this should be commonplace. Well, that's right.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
You want C three PO.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Because he is a human old robot.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
But if you had an R two D two that
could move.
Speaker 6 (22:32):
Around, sort of glide around, that then could grow arms
as needed to be able to help you with things
and even lift itself up.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
Couldn't have a robot.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
That they couldn't walk downstairs.
Speaker 5 (22:42):
Well, that is one of the problems. And in fact
I have heard on the quiet from one of the
vacuum cleaner makers they have a robot that can go
up and downstairs properly, so I'm being told.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
And yes, the.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
Daleks and also two D two they couldn't go upstairs,
and there was an episode of Doctor Who where the
dialect did have jet and could fly up the stairs.
And in the original prequel trilogy, not the original trilogy,
but in the prequel trilogy, I think in the Middle
movie there was a moment where Chid did indeed fly
to little jets.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
But those are the jets.
Speaker 6 (23:13):
Won't be appearing in Robots anytime soon for the home
because you can imagine those jets are going to blow
air everywhere, or if they are jets that have you
know the well, Rumor has actually gone out of I
think Rumor has gone out of business. I mean they're
being bought by somebody else, but they're one of the
original robot vacuum cleaner companies that no longer exists.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
So we're seeing kind of consolidation all over the place.
But having a robot, which is something Apple has spoken
of as well. But this next five years is going to.
Speaker 6 (23:40):
See robots and AI, which is basically a computer on
either legs or wheels, become autonomous and mobile and a
true robot sidekick. It's going to be something we'll see
over the next five years that's going to change the world.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
That's alexaharav Rouyt from Take Advice, Dart Life, and This
space Time and that's the show for now. Spacetime is
(24:14):
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(24:35):
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Speaker 2 (24:58):
You've been listening to Spacetime with Stuart Garry. This has
been another quality podcast production from bytes dot com.
This is Spacetime Series twenty eight, episode one hundred and
fifty four, for broadcast in the thirty first of December
twenty twenty five. Coming up on space Time, the Artemis
two man Moon mission now slated for launch in February
instead of April, rewriting a chapter of the Moon's early history,
consequently that of the Earth as well, and failure for
(00:21):
Japan's new flagship Age three rocket. All that and more
coming up on Spacetime.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Welcome to space Time with Stuart Gary.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
NASA has accelerated the launch of the historic Artemis two
man Moon mission from mid April to early February. The
agency has tentatively slated the week of February sixth with
a two hour launch window. This will be an historic
mission because it will be the first time humans have
traveled to the Moon in more than half a century,
ever since the days of Apollo seventeen back in nineteen
(01:10):
seventy two. The ten day mission aboard the Orion Spacecraft Integrity,
will launch aboard NASA's ninety eight meter tall three stage
SOLS super heavy Lift rocket from Space Launch Complex thirty
nine B at the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Space
Force Space in Florida. The crew will complete one swing
around the Moon on what's known as a free return trajectory.
(01:32):
The mission profile calls for a multi translunar injection with
modible departure burns. Orion will initially be sent on a
highly eccentric Earth orbit with a period of roughly twenty
four hours by comparison, the International Space Station orbits much
closer to the planet, taking just on ninety minutes to
complete each orbit. During Orion's highly eccentric orbit, the spacecraft's
(01:53):
crew will perform various checkouts of the vehicle, its life
support systems, its ancillary components, and it will to take
an in space rendezvous and proximity operation demonstration using the
spent Intraimcryogenic Propulsion or upper stage as a target. The
mission will also carry five cube SATs, which will be
attached to the inside of the stage adapted between the
(02:14):
SOLS upper stage and the Orion spacecraft. These will be
deployed during Earth orbit and once oryan riches perigy after
completing its orbit, it'll fire its main engines for its
translunar injection burn that'll send the spacecraft on a lunar
free return or gravity assist trajectory, swinging around the Moon
with the closest approach to the lunar surface of approximately
(02:36):
seven four hundred kilometers. Another burn maneuver will then send
the spacecraft returning to Earth and ultimately splashing down in
the Pacific Ocean. This report on Artemis two from nass
A TV.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
So the most exciting thing to me about Artemis two
is just the return to the Moon. We haven't been
there in fifty years. Human eyes are going to see
parts of the Moon that haven't been seen by anyone before.
It also recommits us to exploring the Solar System in
a way that we haven't in a long time, and
I think it provides an opportunity for younger generations to
(03:11):
understand the excitement of doing that kind of exploration. The
Moon is this great sort of cherisciro subject because the
most recognizable thing about it is the changing sun angles
and how that brings out the shape of craters near
the terminator, which is the day night line. Because there aren't,
(03:32):
you know, oceans and clouds and all the things that
you see on Earth. The Moon is really all about
its shape, and the shape is telling you something about
its long history and the history of the entire Solar System.
All the things that have happened to the Earth have
been erased by geologic processes and weather and climate, and
(03:53):
that doesn't happen on the Moon. The Moon has recorded
everything that's happened since its formation almost four and a
half million years ago. That tells us a lot about
where we came from, where the Solar System came from.
It also reveals something about the composition of the Earth
that we can't see because it's buried beneath the crust.
Some of that is on the surface of the Moon
(04:14):
because it's been excavated by all the impacts. Artemis is
our return to the Moon after fifty years. The emphasis
of Artemis is going to be first of all science,
but second of all learning to sustain a presence on
another world. First on the Moon, but we're hoping that
that's a stepping stone to Mars and other destinations in
the Solar System. Eventually, Artemis two will be a fly
(04:38):
by mission. It's not going to land. We're testing all
of the technology that we've created for flying to the
Moon since Apollo. A lot of systems have been modernized,
and we need to make sure that all of those work.
The astronauts will be looking out the window at parts
of the Moon that have never been seen by human
eyes before. They will be flying by the Moon at
(04:59):
an out that's much higher than Apollo's orbits, and so
they will see the entire disk of the Moon, including
areas that are closer to both the North and South
Pole that astronauts from Apollo never saw. All of that
depends on the lighting, which we really won't know until
launch day, but we can practice with different lighting scenarios.
(05:20):
It's hard for people to sort of picture that in
their mind. If you can make a visualization of it,
show them a movie that helps everybody choose the targets
and also practice aiming at those targets. The astronauts have
actually been looking at these visualizations through the lens of
the camera and practicing aiming at the various targets. All
(05:41):
of the Apollo flights orbited the Moon at a distance
of about one hundred and ten kilometers. Because the astronauts
were flying at such a low altitude, their horizon was
actually quite close and they couldn't see the North and
South poles. And it includes this amazing impact piece called Oriental.
Oriental is a very large impact feature. It's about six
(06:05):
hundred and fifty kilometers wide. It's got multiple rings. These
are rings that form like ripples in a pond from
the impact, but of course it's on a huge scale.
The middle of Oriental has that sort of dark basalt
lava covering it, like the dark spots that we see
on the near side. It's one of the biggest ones
(06:26):
that's more on the far side than near So seeing
it with human eyes and sort of picking out features
that maybe you don't even see in robotic cameras is
an important goal for the mission. One of the photographic
targets that is on everybody's list is pictures of the
Earth beyond the limb of the Moon. During Apollo eight,
on their fourth orbit, they finally turned their spacecraft around
(06:49):
so that they could see in the direction of the Earth.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Oh okay, look at that picture over there.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
Coming up.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
Hey, I'll take that. I'm judgle you get a color
filmed gym.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I think it surprised all of them how beautiful and
how human it was to see the entire planet Earth
from behind the horizon of another celestial body. That photograph
called Earth Rise had a huge impact on the public
because from space, you don't see country boundaries, you don't
see some of the human problems that we deal with
(07:22):
on the surface, and you also recognize that the Earth
is a finite place. It's not infinite, it's not everything.
It is a pale blue dot in the vastness of space.
Artemis is going to have that opportunity once again. I
anticipate that the astronauts will have the same feeling that
the apolloid astronauts did, and I think it will have
(07:43):
a similar effect on a new generation of people who
are watching this mission unfold.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
And in that report on atomist too from mess A TV,
we heard from Ernie Wright from NASA's god Had Space
Flight Center in Greenville, Maryland. And this is space time
still to come. A new study of lunar rock samples
paints a different picture of the tortured history of Earth's
nearest celestial companion, and it's a big fail for Japan's
(08:10):
new flagship H three rocket. All that and more still
to come on space time. A new study of lunar
(08:32):
rock samples is painting a very different picture of the
tortured history of Earth's near a celestial companion. The findings,
reported in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, pushes back the
timeline of lunar at consequently Earth impacts by some three
hundred million years. When the Apollo seventeen astronauts elected a
small rock from the Moon more than fifty years ago,
(08:54):
they had no way of knowing that it would still
be challenging sciences understanding of luner history today. The fragment,
simply known as Sample seven six five three five, formed
nearly fifty kilometers under the lunar surface, but it shows
no signs of the violent shocks usually expected when deep
rocks are blasted up to the surface, and that puzzle
(09:14):
has been intriguing centers for decades. Many believe the rock
was blasted to the surface by the same massive impact
that formed the Moon's largest crater, the giant South Pole
Achin Basin, but new research is now offering a simpler explanation,
but one with very broad implications. By running advanced computer
simulations of giant lunar impacts, the authors has shown that
(09:37):
the asteroid impact, which from the sor any tight space
and a massive impact crater on the Moon's kne side,
could have lifted our rock sample to the surface during
the latest stages of its formation. The finding suggested the
impact could about four point two five billion years ago.
That's roughly three million years earlier than previously thought, in
the process pushing the timeline of lunar impacts further back
(10:00):
in history. Of course, that shift, reported in the journal
Geophysical Research Letters, also reshapes how scientists estimate the bombardment
history of Earth and other Inner Solar System planets. The
studies lead author, Evan Johns from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,
says this rock may be small, but it carries a
huge story about the Moon's early history. He says, it's
(10:22):
sort of like a time capsule dating back four point
two five billion years now. Scientists have long agreed on
two key aspects about the Apollo sample. Its chemistry and
its texture show that it formed deep inside the lunar crust,
and it lacks the strong shock features a typically a
company a violent trip to the surface. Earlier studies proposed
(10:44):
that only an enormous impact like the one which created
the South Pole Aiken Basin could have excavated rock from
such depths, but there's a catch carrying the rock from
that far side. Based into the Apollo seventeen landing site
would likely require an additional impact while avoiding shocks strong
enough to leave telltale scars. Shones and colleagues found a
(11:05):
more direct path, using their computer simulations of large lunar
impacts to get with models of the Moon's crust. They
showed that during the later collapse stage of forming a
giant crater, material from tens of kilometers down can be
drawn upwards gently enough to preserve rock samples like seven
six five three five. In those simulations, a certain to
(11:27):
tellus type impact can move deep material to within just
a few kilometers of the surface, precisely the kind of
process that could place the sample where Apollo seventeen find it.
The author's models kept showing the same thing. Big impacts
can lift rocks to the surface without overshocking them, and
if sample seven sixty five three five dates the serenotoitous
(11:48):
impact at four point twenty five billion years ago, other
major lunar basins may also be far older than currently dated,
and that moves scientists to rethink how quickly the Moon
cooled and how frequently large impacts struck the Inner Solar System.
Because Earth's earliest surface record has been largely erased by
erosion play. Tectonics and geology scientists often calibrate Earth's impact
(12:11):
history Using the Moon and redating a cornerstone of lunar
impact would recalibrate our picture of the early Earth as well,
and also how other inner Solar System planets may have evolved.
By pushing through a tatus back in time, astronomers are
shifting the entire timeline of when big impacts happened right
across the Solar System, so it has ripple effects for
(12:33):
understanding not just Earth's early environment, but that of our
entire place in the universe. This is space time still
to calme failure for Japan's new flagship AGE three rocket.
Later in the Science report, how to of the world's
most popular beverages coffee and tea influence burn health in
older women. All that and more still to come on
(12:55):
space time. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency JACKSA has suffered
a major setback with its new flagship H three rocket,
(13:18):
failing to place its satellite payload into orbit. The launch
had already been delayedded technical issues with the rocket, and
at about just seventeen seconds before liftoff due to an
anomaly with the water sound suppression system on the launch pad.
The H three was carrying the MICKEYPIKI five Satellite navigation
System spacecraft from the Tanegashima Space Center southwest of Tokyo. However,
(13:40):
as the rocket launched into the sky, its second stage
engine burns suddenly cut off unexpectedly far earlier than planned,
and that resulted in the failure of the satellite's deployment.
This is the second failure for the new H three
launch vehicle. It also failed on its maiden flight back
in March twenty twenty three, the second stage engine failed
(14:01):
to ignite, but in between there have been six successful
launch missions. The H three rocket is designed to replace
the earlier H two, a workhourse of Japan's growing space industry,
which has had a near perfect success record. The new
AGE three is meant to be more modular and more
cost effective in the global space market. This Space Time
(14:39):
and Time Out of Tech another brief look at some
of the other stories making news and science this week.
With a science report. Researchers say both small and big
increases in social media use between the ages of nine
and thirteen are linked with lower overall performance in tests
of cognitive abilities. Findings reported in the Journal of the
American Medical Association tacked increases in social media use of
(15:02):
some six thousand, five hundred and fifty four kids over
four years, categorizing them into three groups no or very
low social use, low increasing social use, and high increasing
social use. The kids completed a range of cognitive tests,
including tests in reading, memory, and vocabulary. The authors found
that both small and big increases in social media use
(15:25):
were linked to lower scores in all these tests. They
speculate that it could simply be because kids are spending
more time on social media, they end up spending less
time on their school work. A new studies offering fresh
insights into how two of the world's most popular beverages,
coffee and tea, influenced bone health in older women. The research,
(15:45):
reported in the journal Nutrients, followed nearly ten thousand women
aged sixty five and older over a decade to explore
whether their daily habits of sipping coffee or tea were
in any way linked to changes in bone mineral density,
a key indicator of osteoporosis. Ory They found that tea
drinkers had a slightly higher hip bone mineral density suggesting
modest benefits for bone health. A new study has shown
(16:10):
that artificial intelligence systems huge massive amounts of energy to operate,
in fact, more energy than it takes to light up
New York City. A report of the journal Patterns claims
AI chatbots like Chat GTP are environmentally quite destructive, with
a carbon footprint between thirty two point six and seventy
nine point seven million tons of carbon dioxide over a
(16:31):
single twelve month period. That is not just pollution and
greenhouse gases. The findings also show AI is consumed between
three hundred and twelve point five and seven hundred and
sixty four point six billion liters of water every year
just for cooling. Androids and robots will be dominating news
that the world's biggest consumer and electronics show CES, which
(16:53):
will be held in Las Vegas next week. With the details,
we're joined by Technology editor Alex Harrolroyt from Tech Why start.
Speaker 6 (17:00):
Lie The past couple of years, of course, has been
AI AI AI and the thing that has always stopped
home robots from being real.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
Besides the fact that it's difficult.
Speaker 6 (17:11):
To make a humanoid robot that can easily glide around,
walk around, deal with stairs, and have the dexterity needed
to handle plates, or help your feeniors or handle babies.
Is the fact that you need a robot with an
AI brain to be able to talk to you like
a human could reason, ask questions, decide to do things autonomously.
(17:33):
And so we finally live in an era where we
have at least llm AI systems that can pretend to think.
I mean, I don't really think they can think the
way that humans thinks yet, but.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
They are showing up language models.
Speaker 6 (17:44):
Right large language model, which is a way of predicting
what the next word will be in the answer that
it gives you to a question you've posed by comparing
the words that appear.
Speaker 5 (17:53):
In other answers across the entire.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
Corpus of the Internet that it's been able to ingest.
Speaker 5 (17:57):
And so that's not really thinking, that's just.
Speaker 6 (17:59):
Predicting what the next word would be. And of course
we've seen AI systems get things completely wrong, very confidently,
giving us incorrect answer and hallucinating. And if robots trying
to think whether to put an ingredient or use a
particular mushroom that it may have foraged in your back
garden that may or may not be poisonous. I mean
you'd have to really be sure to trust the AI
(18:19):
brain that it's doing the right thing. Well, the long
the shot is that we now live in an era
where you can have robots that have this manual dexterity
and can look like robots and can handle things. I've
seen a humanoid style robot driving a car, for example,
anything that can be handled by a human. If the
robot looks and acts like a human, then it can
(18:39):
be handled by that robot. And we did see earlier
this year the one x dot Tech robot called Neo,
and it was a humanoid robot of just thought you
would expect from all the sci fi dreams.
Speaker 4 (18:49):
I mean, it looked like a human.
Speaker 6 (18:51):
It could load the washing machine full of dishes or clothes,
It could put clothes into the dry could water your
plants outside, It could help you bring things in from
the car. I mean it was a robot of the
sort you would expect from sci fi. And that robot
goes on sale if we're twenty thousand dollars, or you
can lease it for four.
Speaker 4 (19:07):
Hundred nine nine US a month.
Speaker 6 (19:09):
Now CES is meant to be all about robots, and
I have read a number of companies already emailing me
years saying we're going to have humanoid robots on display,
But where is someone like a Samsung or an LG. Now,
back in I think twenty twenty one, we did see
Samsung had a what looked like a tower fan with
this arm coming out.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
Of the top.
Speaker 6 (19:27):
It's kind of a comical robot that looked nothing like
the robot you would expect, but at least it could
move around it and had the arm that could do
things like pack the dishwasher, but it was definitely not humanoid.
Then we have Samsung with its Bally, which is a
bit like the BB eight from Star Wars, except that
don't you have the balls, didn't have the top section
which was the head with the camera as the eye,
(19:48):
and you know that can roll around and it can
projectings on walls and it can help you do things.
But it's very much a non humanoid robot.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
So LG has come out just on Christmas Day with.
Speaker 6 (19:58):
A press release saying that their robot will be call
LG Cloyd clo ID with I in lowercase and the
rest of the characters in upper case and sci fi.
They've just shown a hand they haven't shown the full
robot in any of the images they've shared, and the
hand looks like one of the hands you'd see on
those robots from Boston Dynamics or from Elon Musk, the
Optimus robots. That's so obviously a robotic can And they're
(20:20):
saying that this robot is designed to perform indoor household tasks.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
And they're calling the vision the zero.
Speaker 6 (20:26):
Labor home makes quality time. Now, this is a future
where technology helps reduce the burden of daily chores.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
It's of housework.
Speaker 5 (20:34):
And look, we have seen AI powered.
Speaker 6 (20:36):
Or intelligence washing machines. I remember the Fisher and Pikal
washing machine had some sort of fuzzy logic in the
systems to know whether it should apply more force or
less when it's washing certain types of clothes. And that
was around long before AI. Remember the Japanese talking about
fuzzy logic a couple of decades ago, which again is
an aiesque kind of move. But now we have devices
that you can talk to. You can talk to your fridge.
(20:57):
If you have a Samsung fridge, you can say, hey, Biggs,
you can ask it to look at the ingredients you.
Speaker 5 (21:02):
Have in the fridge. And suggests recipes, and this natural
language user interface with our appliances is going to become
more common. But the other end of that scale is
to have humanoid robots that can just use the appliances
that we use, and instead of having to talk to.
Speaker 4 (21:16):
The appliance, you talk to the robot and get it
to do things.
Speaker 5 (21:18):
So you know, this robot is built to perform.
Speaker 6 (21:20):
A variety of tasks within the home. And look, we
will talk more about this one. I've had a chance
to see it and we get to see the exact
image of what looks like. But it talks about two
articulated arms powered by motors and with seven degrees of freedom,
providing motion similar to natural movements, which by natural that
obviously needs human movements. And there are five individually actuated
fingers on each hand to provide dexterity so that kloid
(21:42):
can perform delicate and precise tasks that require FI and
motor control. So you can imagine that by twenty thirty
these sorts of robots will be on sale in the
Best Buys and the Harvey Normans and jbhigh fives and.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
Boots in the UK.
Speaker 6 (21:54):
And you know, the traditional electronics big box department type store.
They'll be selling these robot Butler's for your home. I mean,
they'll come with different names.
Speaker 4 (22:03):
Android Cloyd.
Speaker 6 (22:04):
I mean. The problem with the word droids is that
that is actually a term that's licensed to Lucasfilm because
of the droids that are in Star Wars. So yet
to see what's going to happen there, but I'm sure
people will have real life R two D two star robots,
except much less clumsier and much less dense than the
C three Po appeared to be at times, much less annoying.
Speaker 4 (22:24):
But this should be commonplace. Well, that's right.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
You want C three PO.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Because he is a human old robot.
Speaker 5 (22:30):
But if you had an R two D two that
could move.
Speaker 6 (22:32):
Around, sort of glide around, that then could grow arms
as needed to be able to help you with things
and even lift itself up.
Speaker 4 (22:40):
Couldn't have a robot.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
That they couldn't walk downstairs.
Speaker 5 (22:42):
Well, that is one of the problems. And in fact
I have heard on the quiet from one of the
vacuum cleaner makers they have a robot that can go
up and downstairs properly, so I'm being told.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
And yes, the.
Speaker 6 (22:53):
Daleks and also two D two they couldn't go upstairs,
and there was an episode of Doctor Who where the
dialect did have jet and could fly up the stairs.
And in the original prequel trilogy, not the original trilogy,
but in the prequel trilogy, I think in the Middle
movie there was a moment where Chid did indeed fly
to little jets.
Speaker 4 (23:12):
But those are the jets.
Speaker 6 (23:13):
Won't be appearing in Robots anytime soon for the home
because you can imagine those jets are going to blow
air everywhere, or if they are jets that have you
know the well, Rumor has actually gone out of I
think Rumor has gone out of business. I mean they're
being bought by somebody else, but they're one of the
original robot vacuum cleaner companies that no longer exists.
Speaker 5 (23:32):
So we're seeing kind of consolidation all over the place.
But having a robot, which is something Apple has spoken
of as well. But this next five years is going to.
Speaker 6 (23:40):
See robots and AI, which is basically a computer on
either legs or wheels, become autonomous and mobile and a
true robot sidekick. It's going to be something we'll see
over the next five years that's going to change the world.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
That's alexaharav Rouyt from Take Advice, Dart Life, and This
space Time and that's the show for now. Spacetime is
(24:14):
available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through at bites dot com, SoundCloud, YouTube,
your favorite podcast download provider, and from space Time with
Stuart Gary dot com. Space Time's also broadcast through the
National Science Foundation, on Science Own Radio and on both
iHeartRadio and tune In Radio. And you can help to
(24:35):
support our show by visiting the Spacetime Store for a
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(24:55):
with Stewart Gary dot com for full details.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
You've been listening to Spacetime with Stuart Garry. This has
been another quality podcast production from bytes dot com.
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The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.