SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 27 *The asteroid that almost swallowed a spacecraft It sounds like something out of a 1950s sci-fi movie, but it seems that the asteroid Bennu almost swallowed NASA’s Osiris-Rex spacecraft during its sample collection maneuver. *59 new exoplanets discovered in our stellar neighbourhood A survey of nearby stars has discovered no less than 59 previously unknown exoplanets around a dozen of which are in their host star’s habitable zones. *Starship still planning to launc...
Mar 03, 2023•37 min•Season 26Ep. 27
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 26 *The Mars Curiosity rover finds surprising clues to the red planet’s watery past Among other discoveries being made by NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover as it continues to explore the foothills of Gale Crater’s Mount Sharp are strange rippled rock textures suggestive of lakes beds. *A monster attacks at the galactic centre Astronomers are watching a massive cloud being pulled apart as it accelerates toward the supermassive black hole at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy...
Mar 01, 2023•27 min•Season 26Ep. 26
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 25 *Discovery of massive early galaxies defies prior understanding of the universe Astronomers will have to rewrite their textbooks after NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope discovered the seemingly impossible – six massive galaxies at the beginning of time, each almost as big as the Milky Way. *An innermost inner core discovered at the centre of the Earth Scientists have detected what their describing as a distinct and separate innermost inner core at the centre of the...
Feb 27, 2023•30 min•Season 26Ep. 25
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 24 *A study of the complex Martian subsurface Ground-penetrating radar from China's Martian rover Zhurong has revealed shallow impact craters and other geologic structures in the top five meters of the Red Planet's surface. *Astronomers angry over commercial satellite pollution There’s growing concern in the scientific community about the number of commercial satellites now being launched into orbit – many of which are reflecting so much light they’re destroying impor...
Feb 24, 2023•32 min•Season 26Ep. 24
*JUICE arrives at Kourou for launch to Jupiter The European Space Agency’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer spacecraft –JUICE – has arrived at the Kourou Space Port in French Guyana where it will be mated to it Ariane 5 rocket in preparations for launch in April on an eight year grand odyssey of exploration to Jupiter. *The first asteroid to be visited by NASA's Lucy mission now has a name. The International Astronomical Union has approved the name (152830 -- Dinkinesh for the tiny main belt asteroid ...
Feb 22, 2023•23 min•Season 26Ep. 23
The Astronomy, Technology, and Space Science News Podcast. SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 22 *Could black holes be the source of dark energy Astronomers have discovered a possible link between a mysterious force called dark energy and the most powerful objects in the universe known as supermassive black holes. *Another strong solar flare blasts out from the Sun The Sun has emitted another strong solar flare as it increases activity in the build up to solar cycle 25’s solar maximum. *Moscow delays a...
Feb 20, 2023•37 min•Season 26Ep. 22
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 21 *New models explain canyons on Pluto’s binary partner Charon A new study claims giant seven kilometre high ancient chasms draped out along the surface of Pluto’s binary partner Charon are evidence of a once expansive sub surface liquid water ocean. *New main belt asteroid discovered. A previously unknown 100-to-200-meter asteroid—roughly the size of Rome's Colosseum—has been discovered by astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope. *Spectacular start to 2023 ...
Feb 17, 2023•30 min•Season 26Ep. 21
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 20 *A new ring system discovered in our Solar System Astronomers have discovered a planetary ring system around the Pluto-sized dwarf planet Quaoar. *A molten rock layer discovered just under the Earth’s crust Scientists have discovered a new layer of partly molten rock just under the Earth’s crust. *China unable to re-establish contact with their Mars rover China has lost contact with its Mars rover and has been unable to re-establish communications. *The Science Rep...
Feb 15, 2023•25 min•Season 26Ep. 20
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 19 *The distant galaxy that mirrors the early Milky Way Astronomers have discovered a distant galaxy that’s showing them what our own galaxy the Milky Way might have looked like early in its history. *12 new moons discovered around Jupiter Astronomers have discovered 12 new moons orbiting Jupiter bringing the solar system’s largest planet’s total tally to 92. *What caused Virgin Orbit’s Cornwall failure Early indications suggest last month’s multimillion dollar failur...
Feb 13, 2023•25 min•Season 26Ep. 19
*James Webb Space Telescope suffers a glitch One of the key instruments aboard NASA’s ten billion dollar James Web Space Telescope has suddenly gone off line. *NASA and the Pentagon to build nuclear-powered rockets for Mars NASA and the Pentagon are joining forces to develop a nuclear-powered rocket engine in preparation for sending humans to Mars. *The world’s largest aircraft takes to the skies The world’s largest aircraft Stratolaunch's Roc has successfully completed its second captive-carry ...
Feb 10, 2023•38 min•Season 26Ep. 18
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 17 *Discovery of two nearby exoplanets that might be habitable Astronomers have identified two Earth like planets orbiting in the habitable zone of a nearby star system. *All systems go for Psyche’s mission to an iron asteroid After a year long delay it now looks like all systems are go for the launch of NASA’s Psyche mission to the metallic asteroid Psyche in October. *More flights for the Mars Ingenuity helicopter NASA's Mars Ingenuity Helicopter has notched up anot...
Feb 08, 2023•22 min•Season 26Ep. 17
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 16 *Juno team assessing spacecraft camera issue Mission managers are evaluating an issue with NASA’s Juno spacecraft which is on an extended mission to the gas giant Jupiter. *NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover Completes Mars Sample Depot. Ten sample tubes containing an amazing variety of Martian geology samples have now been deposited on Martian surface as a back up to identical samples in the cache aboard the Mars Perseverance rover which are destined for eventual trans...
Feb 06, 2023•27 min•Season 26Ep. 16
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 15 *Milky Way found to be more unique than previously thought A new study has found that the Milky Way galaxy is too big for its cosmological wall – something not yet seen in any other galaxy. *Boeing Starliner Calypso to fly in April The Boeing CST-100 Starliner Calypso is now expected to carry its first human crew to the International Space Station in April. *The world’s biggest magnets One of the World's most powerful magnet is being slowly assembled at heart of IT...
Feb 03, 2023•29 min•Season 26Ep. 15
*First Brown Dwarf imaged in the Hyades open star cluster Astronomers have imaged a brown dwarf in the Hyades open star cluster for the first time. *BepiColombo and Solar Orbiter Compare Notes at Venus The convergence of two spacecraft at Venus back in August 2021 has given a unique insight into how the planet is able to retain its thick atmosphere without the protection of a global magnetic field. *Rocket Lab’s first launch from America New Zealand based company Rocket Lab has successfully laun...
Feb 01, 2023•23 min•Season 26Ep. 14
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 13 *Rubble pile asteroids older than thought A new study has found that so called rubble pile asteroids can be almost as old as the solar system. *Has the Earth’s core stopped spinning A new study claims the rotation of the Earth’s solid inner core may have recently paused and could even be reversing. *Asteroid near miss An asteroid the size of a truck has just swooped past the Earth making one of the closest approaches by a near-Earth object ever recorded. *The Scien...
Jan 30, 2023•33 min•Season 26Ep. 13
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 12 *James Webb sees clouds on Titan NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has turned focus onto the giant Saturnian moon Titan finding fluffy clouds in its atmosphere. *The red planet’s curiously sized sand dunes A new study has confirmed that the red sand dunes which dominate so much of the Martian landscape form the way they do because of the red planet’s thin and turbulent atmosphere. *A spectacular Falcon Heavy launch SpaceX has successfully launched its fifth Falcon ...
Jan 27, 2023•28 min•Season 26Ep. 12
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 11 *Martian moon Phobos starting to tear apart A new study suggests the 22 kilometre wide Martian moon Phobos is showing the first signs of the process that will eventually tear it apart. *Planet Earth’s latest climate report NASA says 2022 was Planet Earth’s fifth warmest year on record. Scientists with the Goddard Space Flight Centre say 2022 would have been even hotter were it not for the overall cooling effect of La Niña. *Russia to launch a rescue Soyuz to the IS...
Jan 25, 2023•27 min•Season 26Ep. 11
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 10 *What brought the dwarf planet Ceres to life A new study suggests radioactive decay of minerals could account for heat needed to drive active geology early in the history of the dwarf planet Ceres. *Lonsdaleite in the sky with diamonds Scientists searching for meteorites in outback South Australia are finding diamonds embedded in the space rocks. *Britain’s first orbital rocket launch on home soil fails Britain’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch will work with Wa...
Jan 23, 2023•27 min•Season 26Ep. 10
*Astronomers find the most distant stars in our galaxy halfway to Andromeda A new study shows the furthest reaches of the Milky Way galaxy – a region known as the galactic halo is so far away it almost touches the halo of our nearest galactic neighbour the Andromeda galaxy M31. *New evidence for habitability in Enceladus’s ocean The search for extraterrestrial life just got more interesting following the discovery of new evidence for a key building block for life in the subsurface oceans of Satu...
Jan 20, 2023•31 min•Season 26Ep. 9
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 8 *Discovering the origin of the solar wind Scientists with NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission have uncovered significant new clues about the origins of the solar wind – the continual stream of charged particles flowing out from the Sun which baths the Earth and other planets and fills the solar system. *Growing violence as the Sun moves into solar cycle 25 The Sun has begun displaying its anger with a string of powerful solar flare blasting intense radiation into spac...
Jan 18, 2023•33 min•Season 26Ep. 8
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 7 *Spinning stars shed new light on a strange signal coming from the galactic center Astronomers say a mysterious excess in gamma ray energy radiating out from the Milky Way’s galactic bulge which was long thought to be a potential signature of dark matter could actually be as a vast population of white dwarf stars which have collapsed to become millisecond pulsars. *Water-rich fracture halos discovered in Gale Crater Scientists have discovered fracture halos containi...
Jan 16, 2023•41 min•Season 26Ep. 7
*Big blast on the volcanic moon IO Astronomers has detected a massive eruption on the on the volcanic Jovian moon IO. *How the Sun’s activity influences deep space cosmic rays Astronomers have discovered how changes in the Sun’s eleven year solar cycle effect the high energy cosmic rays reaching the inner solar system. *Europe’s newest advanced weather satellite launched into space The European Space Agency has launched its first Meteosat Third Generation Imager satellite MTG-I1 – into geostatio...
Jan 13, 2023•24 min•Season 26Ep. 6
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 5 *Explaining the mysterious Fermi Bubbles at the centre of the Milky Way A new study has shown how the Fermi bubbles – a pair of massive gamma-ray emitting bubbles emanating from around the centre of our Milky Way Galaxy -- could have been produced by a super massive black hole. *Milky Way like Galaxies discovered in the early universe New images from NASA’s spectacular James Webb telescope has detected Milky Way-like galaxies in very early universe. *China launches ...
Jan 11, 2023•23 min•Season 26Ep. 5
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 4 *Uncovering the quantum mysteries of black holes A new study suggests that the universe’s most exotic objects -- black holes -- can have different masses simultaneously. *NASA’s angels do play this HAARP NASA has used the powerful HAARP array in the remote north of Alaska to study an asteroid. *Five new Australian satellites launched by SpaceX SpaceX starts the new year setting a new launch record with 114 satellites on a single rocket, including five Australian Spa...
Jan 09, 2023•43 min•Season 26Ep. 4
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 3 *Have astronomers just found the most exotic type of neutron star ever seen? Astronomers have identified an unusually small neutron star that could be the first ever confirmed detection of a strange star. *Japan’s lunar lander on its way to the Moon A Japanese spacecraft carrying a small lunar rover is on its way to the Moon following a spectacular night time launch aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida. *SpaceX wraps up a busy year December was a ...
Jan 06, 2023•45 min•Season 26Ep. 3
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 2 *Where did the first quasars come from? New computer simulations reported in the current issue of Australian sky and Telescope Magazine suggest the universe’s first quasars probably originated from supermassive black holes formed from the collapse of massive clouds of gas. *Why the Southern Hemisphere is stormier than the North For centuries, sailors who had been all over the world knew that the most fearsome storms of all lay in wait in the Southern Hemisphere – no...
Jan 04, 2023•36 min•Season 26Ep. 2
SpaceTime Series 26 Episode 1 *How spiral galaxies lose their arms A new study suggests spiral galaxies like our own galaxy the Milky Way lose their stunning spirals when they lose the molecular gas needed for star formation. *The asteroid Ryugu sheds new light on the solar system’s history Scientists studying samples returned to Earth from the asteroid Ryugu have found its composed of some of the first solid material in the solar system. *Solar Orbiter solves one of the Sun’s great magnetic mys...
Jan 03, 2023•30 min•Season 26Ep. 1
SpaceTime Series 25 Episode 142 *NASA’s Perseverance rover to start setting up the Martian sample depot NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover has started work to set up a Mars sample return depot on the red planet – the first to be established on another world. *A new satellite launched to monitor all the world’s water The joint Franco-American scientific satellite has been successfully launched into orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. *China sets a new re...
Dec 30, 2022•31 min•Season 25Ep. 142
*Vega C explodes in mid flight The European Space Agency has suspended all Vega flights and established an independent board of inquiry following the failure of a Vega C rocket during its ascent to orbit. *A violent leak threatens the space worthiness of a Soyuz capsule docked to the space station The Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos are trying to determine if the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft is safe to return crew to Earth after it sprung a violent coolant leak. *The space station forced to und...
Dec 28, 2022•30 min•Season 25Ep. 141
SpaceTime Series 25 Episode 140 *NASA’s Insight lander goes silent NASA’s Mars Insight lander has failed to respond to calls from mission managers back on Earth and may have gone silent after running out of power. *Biggest Marsquake ever recorded Insight scientists are reporting Insights detection of the largest marsquake ever recorded on the red planet – some five times bigger than any previously recorded event. *Stunning meteoroid Impacts detected on Mars Meanwhile, scientists sifting through ...
Dec 26, 2022•40 min•Season 25Ep. 140
