Lost Wanderer Podcast: 01/26/25

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Yeah, I'm talking of my breast leaping up behind into
the stars of the centuries.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Of the centaury, my color on the space ship night too,
man with the stars and the US, But I'm not

(00:51):
Friends and family on.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
The stars screen road.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Time for this station to take a clearly leading role
in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the
key to our future on Earth.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Arm All Firm.

Speaker 4 (02:15):
On Bio.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Today is a day from morning and remember Nancy and
I are gained the cores, but the tragedy of the
Shuttle challenge.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
The following program may contain clause language, adult teens, and
bad attempts. A human listener discretion is it by?

Speaker 5 (02:56):
What is President Trump's goal?

Speaker 6 (02:59):
What is his vision?

Speaker 5 (03:00):
He wants to put an American flag.

Speaker 7 (03:02):
On Mars.

Speaker 8 (03:17):
Griffin, aquality baser the ankle.

Speaker 7 (03:20):
I have landed.

Speaker 5 (03:23):
Happy Sunday evening, everyone. I hope everyone has had a
fantastic weekend. I am your host Jef also known as
a Cosmic Bard over on Twitter slash x and this
is the Lost Wonder Podcast for January twenty sixth, twenty

(03:43):
twenty five. Welcome aboard the ACS serenade as we look
down at the glowing blue ball that is Earth. We
are reminded sometimes just how great the new year of
twenty twenty five has allready been. And really it is

(04:05):
like this year it's just giving me some great material.

Speaker 9 (04:11):
To run with.

Speaker 5 (04:12):
It's been kind of awesome. And as is the case
whenever a new country signs on to the Artemis Chords,
we always start there. And because twenty twenty five is
going to be an amazing year, we have a very

(04:33):
special addition to the Artemis Accords. Tevatool Artemis Sophamus san

(05:29):
welcome Finland to the Artemis Accords. God, I've been waiting
for this one. Finland joined NASA's Artemis Accords on January
twenty first through a signing ceremony that took place on
the sidelines of the Winter Satellite Workshop twenty twenty five,

(05:51):
and as Fou Finland, the signing makes the Nordic country
the latest to commit to the safe and responsible exploration
of space that benefits you man. According to a NASA statement, quote,
Finland has been part of the space exploration community for decades,
with finished companies and research institutes producing many innovations and technologies,

(06:13):
said Finland's Minister of Economic Affairs. While Rideman via a
different statement. NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free and a pre
recorded remark, said, today Finland is joining a community of
nations that want to share scientific data freely, operates safely,
and preserve the space environment for the Artemis generation. Now

(06:38):
this one actually makes more sense than well, I'm going
to say it makes more sense than actually some of
the more recent signees. That is, you know, if you
have entered dimensional travel capabilities and actually know, you know, Finland.

Speaker 7 (06:51):
Is real.

Speaker 5 (06:54):
And despite knowing you have ever known, ever met, or
ever will know not having a Nokia phone. I have
covered on the show before. Some Nokia aka Finland has
been quite active in the space industry. For example, in
twenty twenty, Nokia was awarded a fourteen point one million

(07:14):
dollars contract by NASA under the Tipping Point Selections to
develop and deployee the first LTE four G communications system
in space, specifically for the lunar surface. And it's kind
of crazy to think Nokia was found in eighteen sixty
five as a pulp midal in Nokia Finland, which is
also how of course it got its name. Over the years,

(07:36):
Nokia has transformed from a conglomerate involved in various industries
like rubber, cables, and electronics into a company primarily known
for its telecommunications equipment and services, and its headquarters are
still located in Spo, Finland and those for have the
interdimensional travel and know how to play the stock market.
It's currently sitting at around four dollars and fifty one cents,

(07:58):
as you happen to be curious. Now, I could make
one hell of an inappropriate segue joke here, but I'm
going to I'm just going to jump right into it
and not mention the whiteness of Finland. NASA's acting administrator
is moving swiftly to remove Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility

(08:20):
or DEEIA programs from the Space Agency. Am I the
only one that's hearing de IA for the first time
and already?

Speaker 9 (08:31):
Yes?

Speaker 5 (08:32):
Yes, they are real. I promise you I'll take you
there sometime now. In an email sent to agency employees
Wednesday afternoon, Acting Administrator Janet Petrow wrote, quote, we are
taking steps to close all agency DEIA offices and end
all DEIA related contracts in accordance with President Trump's executive

(08:53):
orders titled ending radical and Wasteful government DEI programs in
preferencing and initial recessions of harm for executive orders and actions. Now,
during his second run as president, Trump did campaign on
ending programs in the federal government that promoted so called diversity, equity,
and inclusion, and he signed an executive order to that

(09:15):
effect shortly after his inauguration on Monday. And of course,
the programs see this as divisive. And let's face that
these programs had their roots and affirmative actions, but exploded
in popularity half a decade ago, right around Trump's beginning
of first presidency. And of course the me too movement

(09:36):
in black lives matter of movements and DEI programs and
officers became commonplace in academia and major US corporations. However,
before the election of Trump, the DEI movement appeared to
have crested and started to disappear. We can thank Robbie
Starbuck for that. For example, last year, the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology ended the use of diversity statements for faculty hiring. Now,

(09:59):
I want explain that this position, Petro said, of the
agency's existing DEIA activities. Quote, these programs divided Americans by race,
wasted taxpayer dollars and resulted in shameful discrimination unquote. Now,
Petro's email was notable for its suggestion that some civil

(10:19):
servants at NASA may have sold two shrouded DEIA programs
from the Trump administration since the presidential election in early November. Quote,
we are aware of efforts by some in government to
disguise these programs by using coded or more imprecise language.
If you are aware of a change in any contract

(10:40):
description or personnel position description since November fifth, twenty twenty four,
to obscure the connection between the contract and the DEIA
or similar ideologies, please report all facts and circumstances unquote.
Then on top of it, Petro's message includes an email
address to report such activities and ask NASA employees to

(11:03):
do so within ten days.

Speaker 9 (11:07):
Quote. There will be no adverse.

Speaker 5 (11:10):
Consequences for timely reporting this information. However, failure to report
this information within ten days may result in adverse consequences.

Speaker 7 (11:21):
Unquote.

Speaker 5 (11:24):
Holy, how inject this straight into my veins?

Speaker 4 (11:28):
Now?

Speaker 5 (11:28):
And it's not just quote unquote communication, it is actually happening.
One researcher said that an NIH workshop was canceled mid presentation.
Others have reported that all evaluations of grant proposals by
the NIH are now.

Speaker 7 (11:46):
On hold indefinitely.

Speaker 5 (11:48):
Should the whole last for any significant amount of time,
it will have severe ripple effects, as arranging the peer
review panels that evaluate grants involves complicated scheduling and travel,
so the delays persists.

Speaker 9 (12:02):
For considerably longer.

Speaker 7 (12:07):
Okay, okay, I.

Speaker 9 (12:11):
Have just one thing to say.

Speaker 5 (12:14):
Looks like merit is back on the menu, boys, which
conveniently leads us to SpaceX, where Starship launched from space Sex,
a starbas site in South Texas, kicking off the seventh
flight test of the four hundred and three foot tall

(12:37):
mega rocket. Things they went well initially. The two vehicle stages,
the super heavy booster and the ship upper spacecraft separated.

Speaker 9 (12:47):
On time and the super heavy return to starbas as.

Speaker 5 (12:50):
Planned, where it was caught by the launch towers chopstick arms,
but the ship ran into problem shortly after its partner's
big moment. However, the one hundred and seventy one foot
tall spacecraft prowic apart over the Atlantic Ocean roughly eight
point five minutes after left offing guys, we've all been there, right,
creating a sky show seen by observers in the Turks

(13:12):
and Kyaukis Islands and other nearby locales. And by god,
I know most of you listening to this program have
probably seen the images on on X, Slash, Twitter and
other media sources, But god, those images were amazing. They
were terrifying, and I had a lot of people maybe
saying whipsies. Though it's still early in the anomaly investigation,

(13:37):
SpaceX has already identified a likely cause. According to must
the company's founder and CEO, quote, preliminary indication is that
we had an oxygen fuel leak in the cavity above
the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build
pressure in excess of the vent capacity. Apart from obviously
double checking for leaks, we will add fire suppression to

(14:00):
that volume and probably increase the vent area. Nothing so
far as to just pushing next launch past next month.

Speaker 6 (14:10):
And then.

Speaker 5 (14:12):
The FAACE has stepped in it is requiring an investigation
into what went wrong during the seventh ever test flight
of space Ex's Starship. They had the following to say.
During the event, the FAA activated a debris response area
and briefly slowed aircraft outside the area where space vehicle

(14:34):
debris was falling or stopping aircraft at their departure location.
Several aircraft requested to divert due to low fuel levels
while holding outside impacted areas. Now, I haven't searched for
any yet. Can you imagine if there's like footage from
an airplane of the ship debris and the magnificent colors
at that caused, because that would be an awesome.

Speaker 7 (14:57):
Photo to see.

Speaker 5 (15:00):
Now, SpaceX will lead the mishap investigation, but the FAA
must approve the company's final report, according to the agency,
which of course grants launch license for US vehicles. The
agency also wrote a return to flight is based on
the FAA determining that any system process or procedure related
to the mishap does not affect public safety. Now, SpaceX,

(15:23):
where it's part, wants to get Starship back on the
pad quickly. The company intends to make big strides this
year with the Mega Rocket, which is which it is
developing to help humanity settle Mars, among other exploration feats.
SpaceX wrote, quote, the ship and booster for Starship's eighth
play test are built and going through pre launch testing

(15:44):
and preparing to fly as we continue a rapid teared
in our mind development processed to building pool in rapidly
reusable space transfer patient system, and I guess we just
found a new word to replace habitability. Great now once again,
though the chopstick catch was chef's kiss, just wonderful to watch.

(16:11):
Landing a rocket on a ship at sea, old my beer,
mister chopstick arms, for he has entered the arena. And
though landing a rocket on a ship has become somewhat
pedestrian to some, let us take a moment to celebrate
a milestone unfathomed ten years ago, five years ago, maybe

(16:35):
even three years ago. Her SpaceX made some history Tuesday,
January twenty one from a Starlink satellite launch in California.
On that mission, a Falcon nine rocket sent twenty seven
Starlink broadbandcraft to low Earth worb it from Vandenberg Space
Force Space. About eight minutes after lift off, the Falcon

(16:55):
nine's first age returned to Earth as planned, facing its
landing one Hey Drone ship at sea.

Speaker 9 (17:03):
SpaceX has made.

Speaker 5 (17:04):
Such pinpoint touchdowns commonplace, pulling them off hundreds of times
to date. In fact, Tuesday's success brought the number of
its orbital class rocket landings to an even.

Speaker 7 (17:17):
Four hundred times.

Speaker 5 (17:22):
The vast majority of these touchdowns have been achieved by
the Falcon nine, SpaceX's workhorse rocket, and the company reflies
Falcon nine boosters repeatedly and on one first stage, for
ex instance, now has twenty five launches in landings under
its belt. Now the rest of the four hundred landings
have become courtesy of SpaceX's powerful Falcon Heavy, whose first

(17:43):
stage consists of well basically three modified Falcon nine boosters,
and the Heavy cannot shree landings on a single mission,
but has flown just eleven times to date. And not
included in the overall tally is the landings for next
gen Starship Mega Rocket, of course, the fully reusable vehicle
that SpaceX is developing, because it's really not in production,

(18:05):
it really hasn't aced everything perfectly yet, so let's not
even count that. But it's not just SpaceX that it's
giving us stories to celebrate. And I can't believe I'm
going to even mention this next story, but here we
are Blue Origins New Glen Rocket has just earned its wings.

(18:28):
New Glenn launched for the first time ever January sixteen,
rising off a pad at Cape Canaverra Space Fores Station
at Florida Space Coast at two three am. About twelve
point five minutes later, the rocket's upper stage reached orbit,
which was the main goal of the test flight, which
is a company called n G one. Arian Cornell, vice

(18:50):
president of in Space Systems that Blue Origin, said, quote,
we got two orbits safely. Congratulations everybody, what a day now.
Blue Origin also tried to land New Glenn's reusable first
stage on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean, which is
nicknamed Jacqueline, after company founder Jeff Bezos's mother. The booster
managed to fire up three of its engine in a

(19:12):
re entry burn his plan, but it just didn't quite
stick the landing. Like I said, landing a rocket is
not pedestrian. Cornell would add, quote, we didn't have a
booster landing, but man, we got close. We collected so
much data unquote. Now a successful landing actually would have

(19:34):
been something of a surprise. The company stressed repeatedly in
the lead up to launch that it was a secondary
or even maybe a tertiary goal that was unlikely to
be achieved on NG one. Like many rockets, the three
hundred and twenty foot tall New Glenn took a long
road to the launch pad. Its first flight was initially
projected to take place in twenty twenty, but development of

(19:57):
the rocket's powerful VE four first dage engines slowed the timeline.
There were even more delays in the home stretch. The
lift off was originally planned for January tenth, but Blue
Origin pushed back seventy two hours due to rough seas
and the projected landing area. A launch a tip on
January thirteenth was actually scrubbed due to ice built up

(20:20):
in one of the rocket power units, and Blue Origin
then pushed the next tribe back another day. And New
Glenn's reusable first stage could help it compete with SpaceX's
venerable thalcand nine, the world's first orbital class reusual rocket,
and Blue Origin aims to launch each New Gland booster
at least twenty five times and already has customers ranging

(20:42):
from NASA, various US government agencies, AST, Space Mobile, and
other telecommunications companies. Now New Glenn has also been tapped
to help launch Amazon's Project hyper Broadband Internet satellites, which
could become a competitor SpaceX's Starlink, and Amazon has a
license already to launch over three thousand typer satellites. For

(21:07):
those interested, New Glen is capable of carrying fifty tons
of payload to low Earth orbit, and Space Ex's Falcon
Heavy rocket, for example, which features the three the first
reusable stage boosters, can lift around seventy tons if all
goes to plan n G one will help certify the
rocket for the US based Forces National Security Space Launch Program,

(21:28):
which pairs US military and intelligence spacecraft with commercial launch providers,
and SSL launches also include GPS, communications and weather satellites
to provide data and services to the United States government.
So that said, congrats to the Blue Origin team. Nicely,

(21:50):
nicely done, and may you get to where you want
to go. But lest you think we are actually done
with milestone events, hold on to your curry. India continues

(22:11):
to prove out the abilities of its increasingly robust space program.
The two satellites of the Indian Space Research Organization's Space
Docking Experiment or spot X, successfully met up in Earth
orbit January fifteenth, making India just the fourth country fourth

(22:32):
to pull off an in space docking. The other three,
of course, are all the heavy hitters in the space game,
the US, Russia, and China quote, spacecraft docking successfully completed
a historic moment. Congratulations to the entire team. Congratulations to India,
said the isro Via and Twitter slash x post. Sped

(22:56):
X launched on an Indian PSLV rocket on December thirtieth
and embarking on a mission to demonstrate the nation's homegrun
automated docking tech quote. This technology is essential for India
space and ambitions such as Indian missions on the Moon,
sample returns from the Moon and building an operating of

(23:18):
the Baharati Atikhirish station and etc. And space docking technology
is essential when multiple rocket launches are required to achieve
common mission objectives. The ISR also wrote of the Spaedex
mission description now bas is an Earth orbiting space station
that India is actually planning to assemble by about twenty

(23:43):
thirty five, give or take. The nation is already working
on a robotic lunar sample return mission Chandrayan four, which
is targeted to launch in twenty twenty eight. Spedex consists
of two satellites known as Target and Chaser, each of
which weighs four hundred and eighty five pounds. The duo
were originally to link up on January sixth, but ISRO

(24:04):
pushed the attempt back several times to perform further tests
and simulations. Everything finally fell into place, and target and
Chas are successfully maneuvered from fifty feet apart to just
ten feet apart, held at that close separation for a spell,
and then completed the docking process and things are still

(24:24):
looking good according to the agency.

Speaker 7 (24:31):
So congrats to India.

Speaker 5 (24:38):
But I have a question, whom does India place a
call for support if something goes wrong? And on that
incredibly racist comment, let's take them out of the three
plus minute break.

Speaker 3 (25:02):
Bob alone, Me and the stars and a silver glow.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
I'll cast the planets, cast Gravity's whole through endless light.

Speaker 3 (25:12):
Through silence, and I live behind the world and new
tracing a tree, the only few pursuing.

Speaker 10 (25:19):
Now a drifting the Black Tree beyond all time through
galaxies strange on a journey sublime plus the stars of
flight free through policies, just thanking me, Solis result and
the sh so small lying away where the galaxy is
called nebulous bloom like flowers and flame, each one wasps.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
A different name of class, like years and an age
is gone.

Speaker 10 (25:51):
Racing the light by journey on every plants, the story
of forcing the dark of memory and hasted, a blowing spark, nor.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
No self, just distant suns.

Speaker 10 (26:02):
I'm forever address my voice begun fucking stars.

Speaker 3 (26:07):
I'm flying free.

Speaker 10 (26:08):
Through proSP sees, just staicing me a solitary soul and
a shift so small.

Speaker 3 (26:14):
Running aways let the galaxies call, cross the stars.

Speaker 10 (26:30):
I'm flying free through cosmic seas, just spacally.

Speaker 3 (26:34):
A solitary soul in a shift so small, riding the
waves with the galaxies call of what side of things?
He starts toms in every s bedrunk.

Speaker 10 (26:58):
I'm part of the cosmos, the stream, I say, the
stars chasing the tree. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever return,
or will I burn like a comic.

Speaker 3 (27:13):
Turn by turn, But the thrill of the journey, the
great unknown just be worn.

Speaker 10 (27:18):
When I be a alone, I'm a wonder frae, the
fastest gance, dancing darkness, a cosmic chance, with nothing.

Speaker 3 (27:26):
But stars ling my way. I'll keep you on the forward.
Come let me let the stars.

Speaker 10 (27:33):
I'm flying free through cosmic sees, just basically a solitary soul.

Speaker 3 (27:39):
And it's just so small, lying away where the galaxies
call the love of galaxies call, as a drift further
from all ive known the universe whispers, I'm never lone.

Speaker 2 (28:00):
The voyage is hard, a soul unbound, lost in the
stars where my home is found.

Speaker 7 (28:07):
Oh, welcome back and thank you, Aggie.

Speaker 5 (28:10):
I've been writing a lot of songs lately and updating
the ACS serenade aoh two dash.

Speaker 7 (28:17):
For make it a little more comfy and homie for me.

Speaker 9 (28:22):
Now, for those.

Speaker 5 (28:26):
That were offended at my.

Speaker 7 (28:27):
Curry or it support joke, let me.

Speaker 9 (28:32):
Let me say.

Speaker 5 (28:34):
With my deepest, dearest, most heartfelt expression.

Speaker 9 (28:40):
Go fuck yourself.

Speaker 5 (28:45):
Look, I love India and and they gave my my
my other show it TC huge numbers. I still have
no understanding why.

Speaker 6 (28:57):
But it is what it is.

Speaker 7 (29:00):
Take the joke, laugh and move on. There is absolutely
no reason to be like these guys.

Speaker 3 (29:09):
And now assholes in space.

Speaker 6 (29:20):
China.

Speaker 3 (29:23):
China's China's ass.

Speaker 5 (29:33):
And of course he's not here to enjoy this, or
if he's not, he's not in chat. But we have
a counter update for Andrew. But I was watching live.
If you look on the left screen, you will see
a number that will be explained shortly after this next story.
China successfully launched a classified satellite on Thursday, Jane Ruary

(30:00):
twenty third, but he spent booster from the mission fell
shockingly close.

Speaker 7 (30:07):
To a family home.

Speaker 5 (30:10):
The TJS fourteen satellite launch on a Long March three
D rocket from Shishang Satellite Launch Center on Thursday at
ten thirty two am Eastern Standard time. The satellite is
safely on its way to geostationary orbs, but one of
the rocket's forced trap ons side boosters fell to earth
in a populated area of Xinyaoung County and Galzhou Province.

(30:33):
Security camera footage posted on the social media platform sanawebo
after the scene of two family members reacting to an
explosion near their home, but lit up the night sky. Unfortunately,
the booster, which exploded on impact, fell in what appeared
to be the hills above the house. Now and it

(30:56):
is the latest in a long line of close calls
involving China and his Long March rockets, particularly the Long
March three B, and it launches regularly from Hinchang, a
spaceport that was established deep inland for security reasons during
the Cold War. This means the early stages the rockets
fall on land whereas most nations launches their rockets from

(31:20):
coastal area, seeing stages fall harmlessly mostly into the ocean.
Now the three B is one of China's older workhorse rockets.
It uses toxic hyperglic propellant mix of hydrozene and nitrogen tetroxide.
The rockets first stage is accompanied by four seven point
four foot wide boosters. These often have residual propellant, which

(31:44):
means the stages explode on impact with the ground while
remaining fuel and oxidizer could harm people or animals. Now no,
because he's not here and it can't hear this part
talking about you, Andrew, I took some time asking various

(32:06):
AI to speculate on a total number of cows that
coulde have been killed by Chinese rocket launches so that
we could start an official tally. Now Chat GPT gave
a range of twenty to fifty. ROC gave a range
of thirty to one hundred. Microsoft Co pilots said one

(32:29):
an oddly specific number perplexity AI has a range of
one to five. In meta at one to one hundred
with some very specific math involved in hey guess what
it's Sunday, So math, we will do.

Speaker 6 (32:49):
So I asked it.

Speaker 7 (32:50):
Well, that's a unique question to ask.

Speaker 5 (32:52):
While I don't have the Zach figures, I can provide
some context and make an educated estimate. China has experi
and several rocket launch failures in recent years, some of
which have resulted in debris falling to Earth, and a
few instances this debris has landed in populated areas or
rural regions. To make an estimate, let's consider the following factors. One,

(33:19):
the number of failed rocket launches. According to publicly available information,
China has experienced around ten to fifteen notable rocket launch
failures since twenty twenty. Second three impact zones. Assuming an
average impact zone of approximately one hundred square kilometers per
failed launch, we can estimate the total area affected. Third,

(33:43):
cow population density. The global average cow population density is
around ten to twenty cows per square kilometer. However, this
number can very greatly depending, of course, on the region,
agricultural practices, and other factors. So based on these factors,
let's make a rough estimate. So Meta said ten to

(34:06):
fifteen failed rocket launches with the average impact zone of
ten kilometers per launch means the total affected area is
one thousand to one hundred and fifty or one thousand
to one thousand, five hundred square kilometers with the average
cow population density of fifteen cows per kilometer squared, which
means the estimated number of cows in the affected area

(34:26):
could be fifteen to twenty two thousand cows.

Speaker 9 (34:31):
So it gets weirder.

Speaker 5 (34:35):
So I asked groc and Meta, based on the questions
that I've asked leading up to this, to generate a
number between zero and one hundred, and I sent already
the proof of this. After asking them about the number
of potential cows that could have been killed and get

(34:57):
generating a random number based on that between zero and
one hundred. They both answered forty seven. So we are
going to start the tally moving forward at forty seven.
And now on the left hand screen, rate above the

(35:19):
ACS serenade eight oh two dha. We now have an
official cows killed by China counter. But here's the weird part.
When co pilot referenced one which was oddly specific. They

(35:42):
were telling the story of a nineteen sixty incident where
an American rocket failure resulted in the breed killing a
Cuban cow named Rowhena.

Speaker 9 (35:57):
You can't make this up, folks. I would love to
say I'm one. I'm not on any of this. This
is this is hilarious to me. So I mean, I
guess good news for the Moon.

Speaker 5 (36:12):
Right now there are no cows on the Moon, so
China can't kill any there yet. That said, research work
has begun on building China's Changese seven lunar exploration mission,
including now it will have a flag that can flutter

(36:33):
in the Moon's thin and tenuous atmosphere.

Speaker 6 (36:36):
Quote.

Speaker 5 (36:37):
We know that the Moon is vacuum with no air,
so it is difficult to make a flag flutter by
wind like when Earth, said Zang Tenzu, deputy head of
the Institute of Future Technology. That's a deep space exploration laboratory.
That lab was co established by the China National Space
Administration and the University of Science and Technology of China

(36:57):
and began operations in June of twenty two. It is
headquartered in a high the capital city of Anu, which
has a branch in Beijing. Xiang said the flag fluttering
solution is based on arranging closed loop wires on the
surface of the flag with access to two way positive
and negative current, which will quote make the flag flutter
through the interaction of electromagnetic fields unquote. I'll China plans

(37:24):
to launch its Chang East seven lunar lander to find
traces of water ice at the Moon's southern pole around
twenty twenty six or so, and if successful, the deployed
flag will be the first to actually flutter on the
lunar surface, you know. Or they could just do the
American route and make it on a movie set. Hitting
that was for my flat earthers and moonlanding hoaxers now think,

(37:50):
you know, hmm, yeah, while we're here, while we're talking conspiracy,
let's go. Let's go with this story about hidden worlds
inside the Earth.

Speaker 9 (38:02):
That's still a.

Speaker 6 (38:03):
Hoax, right Wait, what's that EP really? Really?

Speaker 7 (38:12):
Okay?

Speaker 6 (38:12):
Yeah, okay, yeah, okay, Okay, here we go.

Speaker 5 (38:22):
Potential patches of Earth's ancient crust, sometimes called sunken worlds,
may have just been discovered deep within the mantle thanks
to a new way of mapping the inside of our planets. However,
these mysterious blobs appear in places they should not, leaving
researchers scratching their heads. For decades, scientists have been building

(38:44):
up a better picture of Earth's interior by using seismograss
three D images created by measuring how seismic waste from
earthquakes reverberate deep within the planet. This method has helped
scientists identify ancient sections of the planet's crust, known as
the subducted slabs, that have been pulled into the mantle
through subduction zones where teutonic plates meet.

Speaker 7 (39:05):
For example, when.

Speaker 5 (39:05):
October of twenty twenty four, researchers announced the discovery of
the section of seafloor that had sunk deep into the
mantle below Eastern Island. Now in a study published November four,
twenty twenty four, in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers revealed
that they had discovered numerous potential subdacted slates throughout Earth's

(39:30):
mantle using a new type of seismograph imaging. And I'm
hoping it's only Al that has lost song it sound.
If anyone else could type in chat let me know,
I would appreciate it. However, unlike previously identified uh, I
actually lost where I was one here Well anyway, researchers

(39:52):
think that the new discovered blobs are the subdacted slabs,
largely because seismic waves. Okay, we got good sound travel
through them both at the same speed, but this does
not guarantee that they are the same thing, and more
researchers needed to assess whether they actually are alike. Quote,
we have to calculate the different material parameters that could

(40:12):
generate the observed speed of the different wave types. Essentially,
we have to dive deeper into the material properties beyond
the wave speed. So the story what I'm hearing is
the possibility of more people existing is now officially greater
than zero percent, from life inside of Earth to life

(40:42):
inside our solar system. Well, maybe that will be possible
to see and discover with the help of a new supercomputer.
Giving an old idea a slight updated researchers think the
newly discovered blobs and why is that?

Speaker 6 (41:06):
Okay?

Speaker 5 (41:06):
Sorry about that copy pasted wrong places. According to Sir
Isaac Newton's third law of motion, every action has an
equal in opposite reaction. The plume of ion jets jetting
out from the spacecraft therefore acts to provide thrust. It
takes a while to build up momentum because despite moving
in high velocity, the ion plume is pretty sparse. The

(41:27):
impulse generated is not immediately forceful as a chemical rocket,
but ion engines require less fuel and therefore less mass,
which reduce launch costs, and ion engines don't use up
all their fuel as quickly as chemical rockets do, so
a supercomputer is going to be helping. The energy for
the electromagnetic field is often provided by solar arrays, and

(41:50):
hence the technology is sometimes referred to as solar electric propulsion,
a formissions farther from the Sun where the siron sunlight
is fainter. Nuclear power in the form of radioisop thermoelectric
generators can also be used to drive the electric propulsion.
The electric propultion is now maturing and is being used
in a variety emissions. It's not a perfect technology. One

(42:12):
problem in particular is that the ion plume can damage
a spacecraft. Although the plume is pointed away from a probe,
electrons in the plume can find themselves redirected, moving against
the plume's direction of travel and impacting the spacecraft itself,
damaging solar arrays, communication antennas, and really any other exposed components.
Suffice to say, this isn't really good for the probe

(42:38):
quote for missions that could last year's electric propulsion thrusters
must operate smoothly and consistently over long periods of time,
said Chen Coup of the University of Virginia School of
Engineering and Applied Sciences. Before solutions can be put in
place to protect a spacecraft from these back scattered electrons,
their behavior and an ion engine plume must first be understood.

(43:00):
This is where Coup and Joseph Wang of the University
of Southern California come in. They have performed supercomputer simulations
of an ion engine's exhaust, modeling the thermodynamic behavior of
the electrons and how they affect the overall characteristics of
the plume.

Speaker 6 (43:18):
Quote.

Speaker 5 (43:19):
These particles may be small, but their movement and energy
play an important role in determining the macroscopic dynamics of
the plume emitted from the electric propulsion thruster. Uote of
what Ku and Wang found was that the electrons in
the plume behave differently depending upon their temperature and their velocity.
See they're embracing the power of van kind of nice

(43:41):
to see in the scientific field. The electrons in the
core of the beam that are moving fastest have a
more or less constant temperature, but those on the outside
cool off way faster, they slow down and move out
of the beam, potentially being backscattered and impacting the spacecraft.
Now that scientists better understand the behavior of the electrons
in the ion plume, that can incorporate this into designs

(44:04):
for future electric propulsion engines looking for ways to limit
the backscatter, or perhaps can find the electrons more to
the core of the beam. Ultimately, this could help missions
powered by electric propulsion to fly further and for longer,
being pushed by the gentle blue breeze of the ion plume.

Speaker 7 (44:26):
But what if.

Speaker 5 (44:29):
That just isn't far enough of a dream. Well, we've
got good news here as well. Researchers have proposed a
new propulsion method that could make covering the vast distances
required for interstellar missions feasible within a human lifetime. Let

(44:51):
me repeat that, feasible within a human lifetime. The fundamental
challenge in reaching a different star system lies in figuring
out how to generate and transfer enough energy to a
spacecraft both efficiently and affordably. The physical limitations of modern
spacecraft pose significant challenges for reaching interstellar space in human life,

(45:14):
especially with the limited room on boardforesay carrying propellant or batteries.
If we ever want to achieve the tremendous speeds necessary
to cross interstellar distances in a human lifetime, we need
to find outside the box solutions. Enter relativistic electron beams
made up of electrons moving close to the speed of light.

Speaker 9 (45:35):
Quote.

Speaker 5 (45:37):
Beaming power to the ship has long been recognized as
one way to get more energy than we carry with us,
said Jeff Greeson, chief technology technologist of Electric Sky Incorporated
and Chairman of the TAWL Zero Foundation. You would go on,
energy is power multiplied by time. So to get a
given amount of energy from a beam, you need either

(45:58):
very high power to stay in the beam a long time.

Speaker 9 (46:04):
Now.

Speaker 5 (46:04):
One such solution that was recently proposed us as electron
beams accelerated to near the speed of light to propel spacecraft,
something that could overcome the vast distances between Earth and
the next closest star for interstellar flight. The primary challenges
that the distances are so great. So let's I don't know,
pick something at complete random here. Let's say Alpha Centauri,

(46:29):
which is four point three light years away, about two
thousand times further away from the Sun and the Voyager
one spacecraft has reached to date, which of course is
the further spacecraft we've ever set in the U space
so far, and no one is likely to fund a
scientific mission that takes much longer than thirty years to
retain data, so that means they need to fly fast.

Speaker 4 (46:50):
Now.

Speaker 5 (46:50):
A study by Greason and Garrett Bruhag, a physicist at
Los Alamos National Laboratory, published in the journal Acta Astronautica,
highlights that reaching practical interstellar speeds hinges on the ability
to deliver sufficient amounts of kinetic energy to the spacecraft
in an economic way. Reason would say interstellar flight requires

(47:11):
us to collect and control vast amounts of energy to
achieve speeds fast enough to be useful. Chemical rockets that
we use today, even with the extra speed boost fromplying
by planets or from swinging by the Sun for a boost,
just don't have the ability to scale to useful interstellar speeds.
Most theoretical studies on beam riders for interstellar travel have

(47:32):
focused on laser beams, which are composed of particles of
light called photons. Notable examples include laser powered interstellar ramjets
and laser sales ramjets propel spacecraft by compressing hydrogen gas
collected from the interstellar medium with energy supplied by laser
beam transmitted from a distant source. In contrast, laser sales

(47:54):
use the momentum of photons from the laser beam to
push the spacecraft forward. Now, while both concepts appear to
be ideal solutions, several limitations hinder their application. Interstellar ramjets
face challenges such as sparse density of the interstellar medium
itself and immense energy and fusion requirements. Laser sales, though

(48:17):
quite simple in design, struggle with maintaining beam alignment and
intensity over vast distances to ensure adequate power delivery. Electrons,
by contrast, are far more easier to accelerate to near
light speeds and offer unique advantages, though they remain less

(48:38):
explored due to their own set of limitations. Since the
electrons are always negatively charged, they repel each other, which
spreads the beam apart. But Greason and Brewhak argue there
are ways to counteract that. At relativistic speeds. That is,
near the speed of light moves more slowly, which would

(49:02):
mean the electron beam wouldn't have enough time to spread
out keeping the beam focused. The other advantage lies in
the fact that space is not empty, Greason would explain, quote,
there's a very thin spread of ionized gases called plasma
that fills space, which has its own electrons and ions

(49:23):
drifting around. When the electron beam passes through this plasma,
it repels the later electrons from the background gas, but
the ions, which are heavy, move more slowly and are
left behind.

Speaker 6 (49:36):
Now.

Speaker 5 (49:36):
In their paper, the duo calculated that an electron beam
traveling at the speeds could generate enough power to propel
a two two hundred pounds probe about the same size
as Voyager one, up to ten percent of the way
to speed of light. This would enable it to reach
Alpha Centauri once again just a random random system and

(50:01):
roughly forty years, a significant improvement over the current seventy
thousand years.

Speaker 6 (50:11):
It would take now.

Speaker 5 (50:14):
Grayson argues that examples of these pinched relativistic beams already
exist in deep space so sad, such as jets of
charged particles released by black holes, indicating it is hypothetically possible.
But can we produce these kinds of conditions artificially? He asked,
will the Sun's own magnetic field break up the beam,

(50:37):
How could we get the electron beam started? He would
go on to say, these are questions that remain in
the paper. The team suggests placing a beam generating spacecraft
close to the sun, where the intense sunlight could provide
the power needed for the beam.

Speaker 7 (50:55):
Quote.

Speaker 6 (50:56):
While there is.

Speaker 5 (50:56):
Engineering work to do and making such a high powered
beams not especially difficult compared to other challenges, Greason would comment,
and projecting the electron beam out to spacecraft is also
only the challenge. The power generated needs to be able
to propel a spacecraft. This means converting the energy of
the beam into ejecting some kind of propellant or reaction mass.

(51:20):
This beam would be transmitting a lot of power in
that conversion to have to put the very little waste
heat into the spacecraft so it doesn't melt.

Speaker 9 (51:29):
He says.

Speaker 5 (51:29):
They do have some ideas for how this could be
accomplished are but they are all currently hypothetical and to
require more work to figure out. They also need to
do more computer modeling studies to better understand the beam's
behavior and how it might be initiated, and then space
based experiments would provide concrete data to work from For example,

(51:49):
a satellite from Earth could transmit a beam to the
Moon to experimentally confirm that the resource match that is
predicted by the modeling. The ability to beam power over
long disas since this has wide ranging implications, not just
enabling faster travel within the Solar System, but through transmitting
power from the Sun to other locations, say the Moon.

(52:13):
Though it remains a distant goal, lowering the cost of
interstellar transportation could one day allow humans to make voyages
to other stars, pushing the boundaries of what was ever
thought possible in space exploration. And remember, as ridiculous as
this sounds, ten years ago, could you have imagined a

(52:37):
a rocket landing on a ship twenty five different times
at sea, or giant mental arms catching a rocket as
it comes back from orbit. It's all not as far
fetched as.

Speaker 7 (52:51):
Maybe it sounds.

Speaker 5 (52:53):
And the good news is I may now be one
step closer than going back home. And with that thought
in your head, it is time to grab a drink
on a seat by the camp fire and lose yourself
in the stars. Thursday, January thirtieth, The motion of the

(53:19):
distant blue green planet Uranus through the back ground stars
of Eastern Ares was slow to a stop, completing a
westward retrograde loop that it began in early September. After
to night, the planet will begin to creep eastward once more.
At magnitude plus five point seven. Urinus can be seen

(53:41):
in binoculars and backyard telescopes, and even possibly with the
unaided eyes under a dark sky in mid evening, the
planet small blue green dot will be shining less than
a fist diameter to the lower rate of the bright
ple eightes star cluster MESA forty five. Place the medium

(54:03):
bright star boutine or Delta Artitis in the upper right
part of your binoculars field of your view, and Uranus
will be the aall blue star position about half the
field to Boutin's lower left. And once you have identified
Uranus and large the planet with your telescope.

Speaker 9 (54:20):
And yes, yes, I I did just pick.

Speaker 5 (54:26):
This story to play the following clip because I haven't
played it in forever. Hey, as long as you don't
make me smell Uranus, I don't get it.

Speaker 4 (54:34):
I'm sorry, Fry, But astronomers renamed Uranus in twenty six
twenty to end that stupid joke once and for all.

Speaker 3 (54:41):
Oh what's it called?

Speaker 9 (54:42):
Now your rectum.

Speaker 5 (54:47):
We do have some upcoming launches. January twenty seventh, the
Falcon nine Starlink. January twenty eighth, the Isro is launching
the GSLV Mark two and it will be launching a
GPS satellite. Then on the twenty eighth as well, we
have a Falcon nine doing a Spain sat in G
one launching a Spanish communications satellite. On the thirtieth, we

(55:10):
have a Falcon nine launching Starlink again. February first, Japan
is back in the game with a launch of the
Mitchiviki sixth mission carrying the Quasi Zenith satellite system aboard
the fifth H three launch vehicle. And on February third,
rocket Lab electron IoT for You and Me, which will

(55:33):
launch the company's mission, which will be the fourth of
the French satellite operator Canisse, and we'll place the final
five satellite to the company's twenty five satellite nano consolation
to enable quote tracking, monitoring and real time alerts anywhere
on Earth. So that's it for tonight's show. Thank you
for tuning in when and however you do. Special thanks

(55:56):
to NASA, SpaceX, space dot Com, our Technica, NASA spaceflight,
popular mechanic, and more of the great information on the
stories Tonight, stay tuned for Sunday Night with Alan Ray.
Thanks to my executive producer as always, or your help
and inspiration. I hope you enjoyed the show, learned a

(56:17):
little bit, and maybe had a laugh or two as well.
Is a pretty big place.

Speaker 4 (56:26):
It's bigger than anything anyone has ever dreamed of before.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
So if it's just us, it seems like an awful
waste of space.

Speaker 5 (56:40):
Right when I was.

Speaker 4 (56:46):
Young, it seemed that I was so wonderful, a miracle.
Oh it was beautiful, magical. Duh the butts in the
trees will they'd be singing so happy, oh joyfully, oh
playfully watching me? But the missabilay to teacher, how to

(57:09):
be sensible?

Speaker 3 (57:12):
Logical?

Speaker 8 (57:13):
Oh, responsible, practical? The initial world where RECOGNI so deep
and able? Or clinical? Intellectual, cynical? There are times when
no world see

Speaker 2 (57:34):
The quie