Van Allen Probe's Fiery Farewell and NASA's Mobile Launcher Setback

This is Spacetime Series twenty nine, Episode thirty four, for broadcast on the twentieth of March twenty twenty six. Coming up on Spacetime, NASA's Van Allen Proba comes to a fiery end, the agency's Mobile Launcher two project put on hold, and a spectacular failure for a Japanese rocket. All that and more coming up on Spacetime. Welcome to space Time with Stuart Gary. After a mission lasting some fourteen years, NASA's Van Allen Proba spacecraft has entered its atmosphere in the Fiery Death Plunge burning up over the Pacific Ocean between twenty twelve and twenty nineteen. The spacecraft, together with its twin Van Allen pro B, flew through through the Van Allen radiation belts, rings of charged particles trapped by its magnetic field. To understand how the ionized particles were gained and lost. The belt shield Earth and its inhabitants from cosmic radiation from solar storms and the constantly streaming solar wind, all of which can be halfled of humans and damage technology, so understanding these belts is important. Last week, the United States Space Force predicted that six hundred kilogram probe was experiencing enough orbital decay to re enter the Earth's atmosphere within a few days. As expected, most of the spacecraft burnt up as it passed through the atmosphere, but some components made out of titanium and stainless steel were expected to survive the heat of reentry splashing down in the ocean. Originally designed for just a two year mission, the Van Allen Probes A and B were launched back on the thirtieth of August twenty twelve and gathered unprecedented data for almost seven years on Earth's two permanent radiation belts. Named in honor of the scientist James Van Allen. NA surrendered the mission after the two spacecraft finally ran out of fuel and we're no longer able to orient themselves towards the Sun. The Van Allen Probes were the first spacecraft specifically designed to operate and gather scientific data for many years inside the radiation belts. It's a region around our planet where most spacecraft and astronaut missions try to minimize their time there in order to avoid damaging radiation. The NA submission, managed and operated by Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Lab made several major discourage about how the belts operate, including the first data showing the existence of a transient third radiation built which forms during times of intense solar activity. We're learning much more about the dynamics and the evolution of the radiation belts, why they're changing, how they're changing. We've seen them almost disappear completely. We've seen new belts that we didn't even know exist appear. Traditionally, we've always thought of an inner and an outer belt. What we found now is that the outer belt has much more structure in it, and there is a storage ring, a separate ring, almost a permanent third belt that's there that we think is actually the home to the particles that are filling the outer belt. This two year mission didn't quite get off the ground as originally expected. It was first delayed for twenty four hours for a technical issue, and then it was followed up by some bad weather which eventually led to another delay. Then Hurricane Isaac rolled in to the Cape that really put us back almost a full week. We actually had to roll the rocket back into the integration facility and shut the doors and protect it. But a few days later, we were back out again ready to go, and it was worth every second of the stress of waiting for it. We launched at the end of August, and it was almost like the Sun knew we'd launched and immediately switched on. We hadn't seen really any space weather events for really quite a long period of time, and yet within the first couple of days of the mission being up there, the sun through a beautiful event our way. We were able to see a lot of very very interesting science that we wouldn't have seen if we hadn't had this large event, and we certainly would never have seen it without the tremendous instrumentation on the two spacecraft. We've always known that there are waves and magnetic and electric fluctuations that go on in these belts, but with the more traditional one spacecraft, we could just see the wave and it would disappear. With the two spacecraft and also the most sophisticated instruments that we've flown in the belts, we're actually able to look at how these waves evolve, how they change, and how long they last. These waves are very important because they actually carry the particles that are in the belts. It's almost like the particles surf on these waves. That's Van Allen Probe's deputy project scientist Nikki Fox from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. When the mission finally came to an end in twenty nineteen, ELI suggested the space craft would re enter its atmosphere sometime around twenty thirty four. However, those calculations were made before the current solar cycle reached its climax, which has proven to be far more active than expected. The increased stream of particles flowing out from the Sun causes the atmosphere to wabble like a jellyfish, contracting in some places and expanding in others. In twenty twenty four, scientists confirmed the Sun had reached its solar maximum, triggering intense space weather events, and these conditions increased atmospheric drag on the spacecraft beyond the initial estimates, resulting in an earlier than expected re entry. While Van Allen Probe A is now down its twins still not expected to re enter before twenty thirty data from NASA's Van Allenprobe's mission still plays an important role in understanding space whether in its effects By reviewing the archived data from this mission, astronomers can study the radiation belt surrounding the Earth, which are key to predicting how solar storm activity impacts satellites, affects astronauts, and interferes with communication systems, navigation signals, and even power grids on the ground. By observing these dynamic regions, the Van Allen Probes contribute to improving forecasts for space weather events and their potential consequences. This is space time still to come, Mobile Launcher two project put on hold, and a spectacular failure for a Japanese rocket. All that and more still to come on space time. Last week's announcement of changes in the Artemis Moon launch schedule has now resulted in NASA pulling the plug on further work on its Morbile Launcher two project, which had been under construction at the Kennedy Space Entering, Florida over the past two years. While the current Mobile Launcher one was built for US Atomis one, two, and three Block one configurations of the SLS Space Launch System rockets, mobile Launcher two was intended for the taller rockets planned for Block one, B and Block two configurations, which would appear in the guise of Artemis four onwards, as well as changing the Atomis three mission from a mann lunar landing to a lower orbit practice and test flight. The change is also seen increased cadence in flights to the Moon, with launches now expected to take place roughly once every ten months, and importantly the scrapping of the new exploration upper stage intended for use on Artemis four onwards. The existing intram cryogenic propulsion upper stage, which was used on Artemis one and also be used on Artemises two and three, is based on the upper stage of the Delta three in Delta four launch vehicles built by the United Launch Alliance. It features a single error jet rocadim ROL ten engine and was meant to simply be a temporary solution until the new, bigger, purpose built Exploration upper stage was available. The Exploration upper stage was designed for use and Atomis for onwards, and was to be taller and more powerful, designed to carry far larger payloads into translunar orbit. To do this, instead of having just one, it was to be fitted with four RL ten C three engines, and it would have become standard for Blocks one B and Block two versions of the SLS. In order to accommodate the new larger rocket, NASA decided to rebuild one of its existing spare mobile launchers, Mobile Launcher two, to mate with the SLS equipped with this new taller upper stage, but now with the new purpose built exploration upper stage scrapped, NASA will instead is an upper stage based around the United Launch Alliances centaurs second stage, which is used on the Atlas five and Vulcan launch vehicles, known as the Centaur five. This upper stage will be equipped with two RL ten engines and will be able to be accommodated on the existing Morbile Launcher one structure. So what happens to Meurbile Launcher two? The problem is it's already ninety percent complete. Primary contractor Bechtel out of the last month module a block to the TARER in the middle of last year, bringing its total height to some sixty five meters, and construction on the entire project was expected to be complete before the end of this year. As to what happens now, well, that remains to be explained. This is space time still to come. A spectacular failure for a new Japanese rocket, and later in the Science report, while some domestic housecats are prone to chronic kidney disease. All that and more still to come on Space Time. Space one had failed in their third attempt to become the first private Japanese company to put a satellite into orbit. The eighteen meter tall solid fueled Carrious rocket fell just twenty nine seconds after launch from the Wakayama launch site in western Japan, spiraling back into the ground. The course of the failure is still being investigated. The company says no major anomalies were identified within the vehicle during the flight and it remained on course, suggesting the fault must have been with a flight termination self destruct system. The mission was carrying a number of small satellites, including one for a Tokyo High school project. The company's first launch attempt back in twenty twenty four ended in failure following an explosion seconds after launch. Then a second launch attempt ended. Mission managers were forced to issue a self destruct order following a technical problem aboard the vehicle. This is Space Time and Time Out of Tech, another brief look at some of the other stories making us in science this week with a science report. There are new warnings today that the rate of climate change has surged since twenty fifteen. The findings, reported in the journal's Geophysical Research Letters in Nature showed that the rate has now nearly doubled to what it was back in the nineteen seventies, and much faster than many estimates. The authors say their new analysis captures a more accurate picture because it accounts for the effects of natural factors such as the El Nina weather pattern. Most climate scientists agree that warming is accelerating, partly due to a reduction in sun reflecting air pollution. A fifty six year old man with liver failure has become the first patient to be sexually connected to a genetically modified pig liver. A report in the journal Nature claims the procedure, known as an excorporeal profusion, involved surgeons connecting the man to a pig liver outside his body so that it could filter harmful waste products from his bloodstream. The man was disconnected from the system after three days to reduce the risk of infection, but there were no signs of rejection while he was connected. He later received a human liver transplant and is now recovering. Scientists from the University of Nottingham have uncovered a surprising biological quirk in domestic housecats, which may help explain why some of them are so prone to chronic kidney disease. Unlike dogs and most other mammals, cats appear or cumulate unusual fats inside the cells of their kidneys, sometimes from a very young age. The new study, reported in the journal Frontiers of Veterinary Science, discovered that cats accumulate a rare group of modified triglycerides, the most common type of fat in the body essential for storing excess energy from food, and some of these triglycerides are showing unusual chemical bonds and branch structures which are very rarely observed in other mammals. Many of these fats have special ether linkages and behave differently from typical dietary fats. The authors propose that this distinctive lipid build up inside kidney cells could be an early sign of long term stress within the kidney, potentially contributing to tissue damage over time. Now is to developed a supplement or modified diet to help prevent these unusual lipid structures from accumulating. Time for another Bigfoot story and the one that's doing the rounds at the moment. It claims that the FBI are investigating possible existence of sasquatch, but is the skeptics. Timmendum points out that's not what's really happening. People are talking about in the news stories that recently declassified documents reveal that the US FBI had correspondence with a bigfoot hunter in seventy six seventy seven who offered out some hair and skin that he had collected to be tested by the FBI in labs. This has been around for a while. I mean I heard about this story bus and years ago. It tends to stop there, the story saying that FBI have tested quote bigfoot clothes, quote hair, you know, the material, et cetera. That's fantastic. If the FBI treat it seriously, it must be true. Well they didn't treat it seriously for a long long time. Now I'm finally persuaded by this rather annoying person who kept insisting that they tested it. They tested it, and they came back and said it deer hair. Right, it's not a big foot, it's dear. They say nothing there. So this hidden documentation that's been recently declassified, but not recently declassified proved nothing in fact, to prove the opposite of what this go saying the declassified documents, the pro people will say it's been tested by FBI, it must be true. People who look at it, say, tested by FBI and they found that it was a deer. Oh, grab what they can for of jitimacy, weren't they well. Take things out of context. They'll sort of snip and sort of chops, coming short without the obvious conclusion that would be there just by saying, like, CIA is a check have tested psychics? Yes, they have, and they found them to be useless. It's the second half of that judgment that the psychics don't like saying. The fact that FBI have checked the Bigfoot or that the CIA have checked out psychics trying to find something, some weapons that they can use, and in both cases they found nothing is indicative that the pro will always take a slipping of the other claims and the skeptics will go take up a few steps further and say, but hang on, what was the conclusion? Well, there was a bigfoot program was watching the other day on the Animal Planet. Not only did they talk about bigfoot, but they also talked about using remote readings it's. Also people in the UFO community who are doing the same sort of thing, using psychics to bring UFO down crash, just to bring them closer so they can look at them more closely. It doesn't help the case in it. There's no evidence. That's the skeptics timendum. And this is space Time, and that's the show for now. 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