Interstellar Insights: Tracking Comet 3I/Atlas and the Ganon Superstorm's Impact on Earth

This is Spacetime Series twenty eight, episode one hundred and forty, for broadcast on the twenty eight of November twenty twenty five. Coming up on space Time, interstellar Comet three I outlass monitored from Mars, how the geomagnetic superstorm Gannon squeezed the Earth's plasmosphere into just a fifth of its normal size, and more delays for the futuristic dream chase of space plane. All that and more coming up on space Time. Welcome to space Time with Stewart Gary. The European Space Agency has pinpointed the position and trajectory of the interstellar Comet three I outlas, and they did it from Mars. Since through our outlas, the third known interstellar object travel through our Solar System was discovered back on July, the first, astronomers worldwide have been working to predict its exact trajectory. ESA has now improved the comet's predicted location by a factor of ten thanks to the innovative use of observational data from its exo mass trace gas orbit of spacecraft, which is circling the Red planet until September. Figuring out the location and trajectory of three I outlasts relied purely on Earth based telescopes. The end between October the first and the seventh isa's EXO mass trace gas orbit, it turned its eyes towards the interstellar comet from its orbit in Mars. See the comet passed relatively close to Mars, approaching the red planet at a distance of just twenty nine million kilometers. That was on October the third, So the mass probe got about ten times closer to three hour outlasts than telescopes on Earth could. And also it was observing the comet from a completely new viewing angle. The triangulation of its data, combined with data from Earth, has now helped astronomers make the comet's predicted path much more accurate. And yes, it's still acting like a comet, not like some sort of alien spacecraft. While astronomers initially anticipated a modest improvement in their observations, the result was an impressive tenfold leap inaccuracy, reducing the uncertainty of the comet's location. Because through our OUTLS is passing through our Solar system extremely fast, traveling at speeds of up to two hundred and fifty thousand kilometers an hour, it'll soon vanish back into interstellar space, never to return. The improved trajectory allows astronomers to aim their instruments with more confidence, enabling more detailed science of this mysterious object. But it was quite a challenge to use the Mars orbiter's data to refine the interstellar comet's path through space. You see, the spacecraft's instruments are designed to point towards the nearby Martian surface, studying it in high resolution. This time, the camera was aimed at the skies above Mars in order to catch the tiny distant comets sweeping across the starry backdrop. Astronomers and the punetary Defense team at IS's nearest object, called Nation Center, who were used to a determined that trajectories of asteroids and comets had to account for the spacecraft's special location. Usually, trajectory observations are made from fixed observatories on the Earth and occasionally from spacecraft in near Earth orbit like Hubble or web So this new resulting data represents the first time that asteometric measurements from a spacecraft orbiting another planet have been officially submitted and accepted into the Minor Planet centered database. The database acts as a central clearing house for asteroid and cometary observations, streamlining the data collected by different telescopes radar stations than spacecraft. Even the three outlass poses no threat to the Earth, it's still a valuable exercise for planetary defense. The routinely monitors near Earth asteroids and comets, calculating orbits to provide warnings as required, and as this rehearsal with three our outlets shows, it can be very useful to triangulate data from Earth observations from a second location in space, and the observations don't end there. The comets currently being observed, but iss Jupiter icy muons explore a juice space craft. The juice is much further from three Atlas than the Mars orbiter. It's seen the comet just after its closest approach to the Sun, at a time when it's in a far more active state, therefore releasing more volatiles into its coma and tail. Those volatiles can then be studied to work out more about what the comet's made from. Needless to say, well keep you informed this space time still to come. How the geomagnetic superstorm Gannon squeezed Earth's plasmosphere and more delays for the futuristic dream Chaser space plane. All that and more still to come on space time. A new study shows how a major space weather event back in May last year dramatically shrank Earth's protective plasma layer and slowed its recovery. The findings are reported in the General Earth, Planets and Space will help improve solar storm forecasts and protect key space infrastructure. Adduming that superstorm is an extreme space weather event, occurs when the Sun releases massive amounts of energy in charged particles, which are then flung towards the Earth. These sorts of storms are fairly rare, occurring maybe once every twenty to twenty five years. So back on May the tenth and eleventh last year, the strongest superstorm in over twenty years, known as the gan And Event or Mother's Day storm, slammed into planet Earth. Astronomers captured direct measurements of this extreme event and have now provided the first detailed observations of how a superstorm compresses Earth's plasmosphere, a protective layer of charged particles encircling the planet. The findings show how the plasmosphere and the ionosphere react during these most violent of solar storms, and it will help orcast disruptions to satellites, GPS, navigation systems, and communications networks during extreme space weather events. Launched by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency Jackson back in twenty sixteen, the ERAYSE satellite orbit through its plasmosphere, measuring plasma waves and magnetic fields, and during the May twenty twenty fourth superstell it was positioned perfectly to observe in the extreme compression and slow recovery of the plasmosphere in unprecedented detail. In fact, this was the first time scientists obtained continuous direct measurements of the plasmosphere shrinking to such a low altitude during a superstall. The studies lead author at Sukishin Bori from the Nagoya University says, astronomers tract changes in the plasmosphere using the array satellite and then use ground based GPS receivers to monitor the IMO sphere, the source of the charged particles that eventually refilled the plasmosphere. Monitoring both layers showed how dramatically the plasmosphere contracted and why recovery took so long. The plasmosphere worked with Earth's magnetic field to help limit the effect of harmful charged particles from the Sun in space, protecting satellites, and supporting Earth's natural shielding system against intense radiation. It normally extends far beyond the Earth, but during the May superstorm, the arter boundary moved from approximately forty four thousand kilometers above Earth's surface to just nine six hundred kilometers. The superstorm was triggered by many massive eruptions from the Sun that flung billions of tons of charged particles towards Earth within nine hours. The storm squeezed the plasmosphere to just a fifth of its normal size, and recovery was extremely slow, taking more than four days to refill. That's the longest recovery scientists have seen since they started monitoring the plasmosphere with the Arraysed satellite back in twenty seventeen. The authors found the storm first caused intense heating near the poles, but this later led to a big drop in charged particles across the ionosphere, which slowed the recovery. Now this prolonged disruption, it can affect GPS accuracy, it can interfere with satellite operations, and it complicate space where the forecasting. During the most intense phase of the superstorm, extreme solar activity compressed Earth's magnetic field, allowing charged particles to travel much further along magnetic field lines towards the equator. The result produced some impressive auroral activity at unusually low latitudes. Auroras typically occurred near the polar regions. That's because Earth's magnetic field guide solar particles into the atmosphere there, but the strength of the May twenty twenty four storm shifted the auroral zone from its usual position near the Arctic and Antarctic circles down to far more mid latitude regions such as Japan, Mexico, and southern Europe, places where aura are normally rarely seen. It's a clear case of the stronger the geomagnetic storm, the further towards the equator the auroras will appear. About an hour after the storm struck, charged particles in Earth's upper atmosphere had surged at high latitudes near the poles began streaming towards the polar caps. When the storm began to subside, the plasmosphere started to refill with particles from the ionosphere, and normally this process only takes a day or two, but in this case recovery stretched over four days because of a phenomenon called a negative storm. Now, during a negative storm, particle levels in their Hono Spheed dropped sharply across wide areas. When intense heating changes the atmospheres chemistry, this decreases oxygen ions that help produce hydrogen particles needed to refill the plasmosphere. These storms are invisible and detected only by satellites. The negative storm slowed recovery by altering atmospheric chemistry and cutting off the supply of particles to the plasmosphere. This link between negative storms and delayed recovery had never been clearly observed before, so the new findings are giving astronomers the clearer picture how the plasmosphere changes and how energy moves through it. During the storm, numerous satellites experienced electrical issues or stop transmitting all together. This included GPS signals being disrupted, radio communications being affected, and high radiation levels affecting astronauts. Knowing how long as plasma laya takes to recover after such events is key to forecasting space weather events and safeguarding space technology. That's why there's a matter of spacecraft studying the Sun to try and better understand geomagnetic storms and how they impact the Earth. For example, NASSAS Parker Solar Probe is studying our local star, monitoring everything from its atmosphere to its surface. Other active spacecraft monitoring the Sun include, but are not limited to, Solar Orbiter SOHO, ACE, IRIS, Wind in No Day, the Solo Dynamics Observatory, and Stereo. This report from is a TV. The Sun a four and a half billion year old nuclear fusion reactor at the heart of our solar system. This glowing ball of plasma, with a core temperature of fifteen million in degrees celsius, is a yellow dwarf star. In cosmic terms, it's nothing special, but for us on Earth, the Sun is vital. It holds the planets in their orbits and provides heat, light, and the energy for life. ESA's first mission to the Sun, ULYSSES, was launched from Space Shuttle Discovery in October nineteen ninety a joint mission with NASA. It was the first spacecraft to fly over the Sun's poles. Ulysses investigated the solar wind, the stream of charged particles emitted by the Sun. It envelops the Solar system in a bubble known as the heliosphere. The mission discovered that the solar wind weakened over time, and that the Sun's magnetic field reverses every eleven years. Three two one. Ignition and liftoff of SOHO and the atmosphicle on an International Mission of Solar Physics. One of the longest and most successful scientific missions of all time, SOHO was launched in nineteen ninety five and it's still going strong. SOHO has given us a new insight into the Sun's structure and interior, monitoring the output of solar radiation and providing the first images of the star's turbulent outer shell. SOHO has also transformed space weather forecasting, helping us to monitor violent solar activity from flares and coronal mass ejections. A major space weather event has the potential to damage satellites, communications, and power grids on the ground. Another mission that's helping us better understand the relationship between the Sun and Earth is Cluster Flying in formation and in orbit from MOOST twenty years. The four Cluster satellites are giving us a three dimensional view of the Earth's magnetic environment and its interaction with the solar wind. Now it's a turn of Solar Orbiter with its advanced suite of scientific instruments. It'll build on the work of these past ISA missions. Our scientists have designed this mission so that they improve significantly their knowledge of the solar wind and what drives the solar wind, and as well what creates and generates the solar cycles. The eventual aim of all these missions is to not only better understand our nearest star, but also predict its behavior, knowledge that will help protect all of us back here on Earth. And in their report from eastv Weird from Solar Orbit of project manager Caesar Gasia, this is space time still the calm, more delays for the futuristic dream Chase of space plane, and later in the science report, any study is shown that dogs already came in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, long before modern breeding pens being established or that and more still the calm on space time, there's news of more delays for Sierra Space's Dream Chaser space plane, which now won't launch on its first orbital flight before about a year from now. The reusable spacecraft will eventually be used to carry supplies and equipment to and from the International Space Station, but the vehicle is years behind schedule. Its first flight had been scheduled for twenty twenty one, but it's been postponed a multiple times since then. In fact, the space plane's lifting body design it's been under development for decades, going all the way back into the sixties. The Sierra Nevada Corporation now Sierra Space, purchased the design in twenty oh eight. NASA funding then allowed the company to continue developing the spacecraft as part of the agency's Commercial Crew Development program see dream Chaser was originally designed to carry crew of up to seven astronauts to and from the space station. The vehicle was ultimately passed over in twenty fourteen when NASA selected SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner for its manned space station missions. Crew Dragon's been a huge success, Starliner not so much. In fact, it's yet to start regular services, but eventually Dreamchaser was selected as part of the NASA's second Commercial Resupply Services contract to send equipment and supplies to the International Space Station. Along with the existing service providers, the SpaceX Cargo Dragon and Northrop Grumman signas. Right now, at least seven Dreamchaser missions are scheduled for the space station, and the United Nations is paying to use dream Chaser for at least one mission. The first operational dream Chaser spacecraft, named Tenacity, has now successfully completed a series of critical pre flight tests at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in preparation for its first unmanned mission. The comprehensive testing campaign involves finalization of the electrical system build, including electromagnetic interference and compatibility test that NASA Space System's processing facility. These verify the spacecraft's ability to operate with an expected electromagnetic environments throughout various mission scenarios. Dreamchaser also completed vigorous tow testing at the Kennedy Space Center and Space Florida's launch and landing facility, using a truck to tow the space plan at high speeds in order to simulate critical dynamics and validate autonomous navigation parameters during runway landing operations. Once operational, dream Chaser will launch on a conventional rocket, but return to worth as a glider with the aid of parasales Landing on a conventional runway. Dream Chasers also successfully demonstrated its ability to receive telemetry and distribute commands between the spacecraft and mission control and Colorado of the NASA's tracking and data relay satellite system. That's a key milestone test for the spacecraft's readiness for real time command and control communications during flight operations. The current test and campaign concluded with a post landing rec covery rehearsal which demonstrated the safing of the spacecraft systems and quick access to time sensitive payloads. Dreamchaser will now move on to its final round of acoustic testing next month, together with integrated hardware and software testing and the all important hot fire test. Despite reports of problems with its propulsion systems, Sierra Space says its tri mode thrusters have completed qualification acceptance testing at the company's Badger Propulsion Test facility in Wisconsin. Following this, modifications for national security applications will be applied, allowing dream Chaser to demonstrate its ability to fulfill a wide array of mission requirements, including those essential for national security. Dream Chaser is now expected to undertake its first launch to low Earth orbit by this time next year, with a runway landing plan for the Vanderberg Space Force Base in California as part of NASAs sira's to contract. But there's still a problem. You see, there are only five years of operations left for the International Space Station before it's retired by NASA, so the long term future of dream Chaser will involve funding other customers. There are other privately operated space stations in the offing, and a deadly Seera space We'll be looking to service them, but for now, at least, construction of a second dream Chaser named Reverence has been put on hold. The news of dream Chasers delays came as rumors reported by Political warned that the ongoing delays and development of SpaceX's Starship Mega Rocket could mean the Artemis three mission, which will return humans to the lunar surface, will now not fly until at least September twenty twenty eight. That's more than a year later than currently planned. You see, a version of Starship called the HLS needs to be operational so it can be used to transport crew to and from the Artemis three Orion spacecraft, which will be in lunar orbit, down to the Moon's surface and then back up again, but SpaceX still needs to refine its inflight refueling capabilities for this mission. It's currently slated for testing in due next year, and early after that's perfected, can they attempt the first unmanned lunar landing demonstration flight by the HLS that's currently slated for June twenty twenty seven, which is close to the time when the Artemis three mission was meant to launch. But only when these HLS milestones have been successfully achieved can the historic Artemis three mission proceed. And, of course, sitting back watching all this is Beijing, China's proceeding with its own man Moon mission that's now expected to see the first tiger notts walking on the lunar South Pole sometime before twenty thirty and a permanent joint lunar base with the Russians established at the lunar South Pole within five years of that. This is space time, and time that to take another brief look at some of the other stories making news in science this week with the Science Report. Scientists from the University of Warwick and Monash University have discovered a promising new antibiotic that shows activity against drug resistant bacterial pathogens, including MRSA and Vre. A report in the Journal of the American Chemical Society was that antimicrobial resistance remains one of the world's most urgent health challenges, with the Wealth Health Organization's new report showing there are too few antibacterials in the pipeline, most of the low hanging fruit has already been found, and the limited commercial incentives that terror investment in antibiotic discovery. New research suggests that the cir called Band of Whole's archeological site in the Andes may have actually been an ancient marketplace. The findings reported in the journal Antiquity followed detailed studies by scientists from the University of Sydney. Officially known as Mighty Serapi or Serpent Mountain. The features located in the Pisco Valley of southern Peru and consists of over five thousand precisely aligned holes, striking it puzzling site has been baffling archaeologists in the wider public for decades. A new study shows that dogs already came in a wide variety of shapes and sizes long before modern breeding patterns were established. A report in the journal Science use three dimensional analysis to examine six hundred and forty three skulls spanning fifty thousand years, finding that distinct dog like skull traits first appeared around ten thousand years ago. They found that dogs from this period had roughly the same range of head shapes and sizes which are seen in modern dogs today, but they had twice that of their more ancient ancestors. The research contributes to a wider understanding of the domestication of dogs as a complex, multifaceted biological and cultural process in which thousands of years of human and canine history were intertwined. Well, you can forget about monsters under your bed. There's a medium out there who claims the real threat are demons in your bedroom. Mirror. Timendum from a Strands skeptic says it's wacky woman who claims to speak to the dead, warns never have a mirror facing your bed because the demons will get you. This is a psychic and a clearance person who clease goes out it looks after you who's made the claim that if you have a mirror in your bedroom facing the bed, you're likely to allow demons to enter your room. I think you have misunderstanding of what a mirror does actually as the thing painted on the back that stops the light going straight through I believe energy going straight through. It's supposed to be a portal, right that the mirror on your wall, on your dressing table, on a wardrobe, and not just having to face the bed anywhere. And I don't know why the bedroom necessarily could be the bathroom. They have mirrors, A lot of homes have mirrors in living rooms and that sort of stuff anyway, So I mean apparently if you're doing this, something that isn't particularly nice, which is the wording that was used, is going to come through. And you can even sort of point the mirror in different directions, even actually shutting it reflecting out the window, it's still going to invite unwanted spirits. But you can cover the mirror to the cloth. I don't know how that works, but you can cover the mirror with a clock and that sort of keeps the demon out of brother weak demon. You can't even get a secondhand mirror because they have withheld energy and that's why they drag up the evil spirits associated with the previous owner. So basically, get rid of mirrors tests and you won't get demons entering your bedroom is about mirrors. I mean seven years bad luck. Portals to the underworld. Will through the looking class. It's supposedly a reflection of another world, but of course it's not the other world. It's the world you're in, because there's just a reflection that's not a doorway, but it is reversed, of course. And the funny thing is most of us when we look at a mirror, we think that's what we look like. Actually, back to front, you look. At yourself like TV, you realize, hey, that's. What looks like. That must play why we always think they look worse on tip here in Fatas, I don't know what it's a bad mirror? You know you break in mirror seven years bad luck? Is that because you're breaking a portal through to another world? Is a mirror just a window the same as this world just reversed? Or are there awful things on the outside like this case, there's demons and things that it's a strange thing that's has associated with a mirror and other world storeways and portals and that sort of stuffs quite fascinating. I'm sure we have someone to a study on it, but I don't think having a mirror facing your bed is actually going to be the major issue in your life. That's Timidum from Australian Skeptics and that's the show for now. Space Time is available every Monday, Wednesday and Friday through a bytes 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 support our show by visiting the space Time Store for a range of promotional merchandising goodies, or by become I being a Spacetime Patron, which gives you access to triple episode commercial free versions of the show, as well as lots of burnus audio content which doesn't go to weir, access to our exclusive Facebook group, and other rewards. Just go to space Time with Stewart Gary dot com for full details. You've been listening to space Time with Stuart Gary. This has been another quality podcast production from bytes dot com