Perseverance Rover Gets Busy

SpaceTime S24E107 AI TRanscript

[00:00:00] Stuart: This is space time series 24 episode, 107 for broadcast on the 22nd of September, 2021. Coming up on space time. The perseverance Rover collects a second sample of marsh in history. Europe's XO Mars, 2020 on track for launch exactly a year from now and the hay pith one rocket inflames on its Whalers Way launch pad. .All that and more coming up on Space Time.

[00:00:28] VO Guy: Welcome to space time with Stuart Gary.

[00:00:48] Stuart: NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover has success with collected its first pair of rock samples and scientists say they're already gaining you insights into the GEs road crater region of the red planet. After collecting its first sample on September the sixth, the six wheel car sized Rover coked at a second sample from the same rock two days later.

And analysis of the rock samples together, the rovers previous failed sampling attempt we'll hope scientists piece together. The timeline for the area's past, which we now know is marked by volcanic activity and periods of this system. Water project lead scientists can fairly from NASA jet propulsion laboratory in Pasadena, California says that looks like these first rocks are revealing a potentially habitable sustained environment in which water was present for a long time.

The rock that's provided the mission's first core samples is basaltic in composition and maybe the product of lava flows, not surprising considering gesture as an impact. Crater, the presence of crystalline minerals in the volcanic rocks is especially helpful for radiometric dating and the volcanic origin of the rock could upside as accurately date.

When it formed in this way, every sample collected can serve as part of a larger chronological. Put them all together in the right order and scientists have a timeline for the most important event in the Crater's history. Some of these events obviously include when the creator was formed, the emergence and disappearance of Jess rose lake and changes in the planet's climate.

In the ancient past importantly, scientists have also spotted salts within these rocks, or these salts may have formed when ground water flow through the area, altering the original minerals in the. Or more likely when liquid water evaporated leaving the salts behind. Now, it's also possible that the salt minerals in these first two rock cores may have also trapped tiny bubbles of actual ancient mash in water.

If water is present, they could serve as microscopic time capsules offering clues about the ancient climate and habitability of Mars. Importantly, salt minerals are also well-known here on earth, at least for their ability to preserve signs of ancient life. So fingers crossed the perseverance science team already near a lake once filled the crater.

But the length of time, the lake was there has been uncertain scientists couldn't dismiss the possibility that just rose lake was simply a flash in the pan. Floodwaters could have rapidly filled the impact greater than dry it up just as quickly in the space of years. But the level of alteration scientist have sitting in the rock that provided the core samples, as well as the rock, the team targeted on their first sample acquisition attempt, all suggests that groundwater must have been present for a long time.

This groundwater could be related to the lake that one's fill jazz row, or it could have traveled there through rocks long after the lake dried. Site is still can say whether there any of the water that altered these rocks was present for tens of thousands or for millions of years, but they feel more certain now that it was there long enough to make the area welcoming to any microscopic life that might've existed there.

In the past, of course, perseverance is searching the crater floor for samples that can be brought back to earth to answer profound questions about marsh and history. The collected samples they're being sealed in titanium tubes, which are then carried in a special storage cache inside perseverance.

Eventually there'll be a retrieve from the red planet surface by a future joint NASA ISA mission probably in the early 2030s. Perseverance is next likely sample site is some 200 meters away in an area known as south SITA. A series of ridges covered by sand dunes, boulders and rock shards, looking a lot like a stack of broken dishes.

Well, the Rover's recent drill sample represents. What's likely to be one of the youngest rock lays found and just wrote greater south. Cedar is likely to be much older and will provide the science team with a better timeline to understand events that shaped the crater floor, including at slake. However, nothing is going to be happening for a while.

Now, you see at the start of October, all Mars missions will be standing down from commanding their spacecraft for several weeks. That's because the red planet is now entering Mars, solar conjunction. That's when Mars is orbit, takes it to the opposite side of the sun from where the earth is. And consequently out of communication's reach perseverance.

Isn't likely to drill the south Cedar region until sometime after this period, the Rover is characterizing the red planet's geology and past climate paving. The way for eventual human exploration during the 2030s. It landed in just row credited, mid February in an ancient dried-out river Delta, where sediment from further upstream would have washed down and settled an ideal place to search for signs of past microbial life.

This is space time still the calm Europe's ExoMars 2020 on track for launching a year from now and space X and the takes its 16th launch this year while China launches its 33rd rocket of the year. All of that and more stores. On space-time

well, it was slated to fly in 2020. But ongoing technical delays and the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic of all combined the force, the XO Mars, 2020 mission to miss its original launch window. That mission managers with the European space agency and the Russian federal space, ed zeros, cosmos, and now saying all is back on track for a launch sometime between August some October next year.

That's when Mars will be in its closest orbital position to the. Now all the flight hardware needed for the launch of the XMS mission has been integrated into the spacecraft. The primary goal of this mission is to determine once and for all, whether or not there's ever been any life on Mars and to better understand the history of water on the red planet, the XO Mars Rover named Rosalind Franklin includes a drill to investigate beneath the red planet surface.

It contains miniature life search Labar. That's been stored for the past few years in an ultra clean zone, just to make sure it's not contaminated by any earth microbes. The European carrier module has now met all its test milestones are Russian Casa Chuck landing platforms been equipped with its 13 science instruments and the Roslyn Franklin rovers nine instruments have all passed their final thermal vacuum tests.

The new schedule for Caesar launch windows sometime between August and October, 2022. So estriol mechanics defined that only relatively short launch windows every two years existing in which masks can be reached relatively quickly from the earth. XMS will be the first mission of the red planet. The search for science of life at depths of up to two meters below the surface, a place where biological signatures of life may be uniquely well-preserved of course, as well as next year's mission.

The XMS project also includes the Mars trace gas orbiter, which was launched back in 2016. It's currently orbiting the red planet and is delivering important scientific results obtained by its own Russian and European science instruments. It's also used to relay data from this is Mars curiosity Rover, and the insight Lander insight will also relay data from the XO Mars 2020.

Now, I guess XML is 2022 mission. Once it arrives at the red planet. This report from TV, the XO

[00:08:30] Guest: Mars missions began in 2016 with a successful launch and deployment of the trace gas orbiter. This first exome, our spacecraft is now a nicely orbiting. Your own mass. It's fulfilling a very weighted scientific means.

And it has proven as well its capability to relate data, uh, from, uh, mass assets, uh, to the earth. And we use for that. I mean, he can overt

[00:08:56] Alex: this

[00:08:56] Guest: proven capability will be needed to communicate with Europe's first Mars Rover, Rosalind Franklin, a landing site in an area called Oxy. A Planum has been recommended for this joint ISA and Russian mission, which has four elements.

We

[00:09:12] Stuart: have a

[00:09:15] Guest: Uh, we have a decent module, uh, to bring the lending assets. Uh, so hopefully of course, the European in the lending platform for the Russian partner down to mass, and we have the hover, which is the main interest of the Europeans into the mission. This whole worker is nine payload instruments, uh, that will fulfill basically the main mission to discover, uh, traces of life on the planet, uh, which was built at Airbus.

UK is now undergoing final tests and to lose. The European carrier module and the Russian landing platform we delivered earlier this year and together with the descent module are undergoing final environmental tests in Cannes France, but there are challenges ahead for the descent module in 2016, the ExoMars entry, descent and land the demonstrator.

Crashed. This was due to a problem with the onboard computer ending, the descent sequence prematurely, but in recent high altitude drop tests for the XMLs 2020 Lander, the main parachutes suffer damage before fully inflating. This will require further crucial. This go, no go situation means it's a challenging time ahead for the mission, a race against the clock.

Also Russian and European teams are focused at completing the vilification program of the spacecraft. And the next launch opportunity would only they appear on August, 2022. So you can imagine that we are all very mobilized to his daughter, the last risk which we are facing. So parachute is one. So completion of the system test program is another.

Uh, in order to get ready to catch this opportunity, as well as the science landing platform, the Russians are providing XO Mazda's ride to Mars on a proton rocket.

[00:11:01] Stuart: And that report from ISA TV, we heard from the European space agencies, XMS team leader, Francis Spoto. This is space time. It's still the cam the happy with one rocket in flames on its.

Well, as way launchpad and space X undertakes its 16th launch this year. Well, China launches its 33rd rocket of the year or that are more store to calm on space time.

[00:11:38] VO Guy: Taiwanese

[00:11:39] Stuart: company tie spaces attempt to launch its new hypoth. One rocket has ended in flames with a rocket catching, a light on that's. A launchpad. The fire was apparently sparked by an internal fault in the rocket. During ignition Southern Lord says no one was injured in the blaze, which was contained to the launch pad itself.

Witnesses reported seeing flames and black smoke rising from the launch facility, followed by an explosion and then white smoke and steam. Southern launches attempt to conduct a test flight of a 10.2 meter two stage rocket over the past week have been played with problems. The first launch attempt was scrubbed because of high altitude wins.

A second launch attempt days later was aborted seconds before lift off. When one of the rockets load sequence systems fell to come online, forcing launch control to place the rocket into safe mode. The flight from the new whale is way over the launch complex was to be the first of three test flights this year for the facility on the south Australian air peninsula, just south of port Lincoln.

The mission would have monitored the effect of the launch on the local environment and tested Thai spaces, styrene beauty dine at nitric oxide hybrid propulsion system. The hypoth or flying squirrel rocket uses for hybrid engines on its first stage and a single hybrid murder for the upper stage.

Southern launch completed its first rocket launch in September last year from its current test range in the south Australian west coast needs to Juna launching a Netherlands dot rocket on a scientific suborbital flight. This space time still the comm space X successfully launches another 51. Starlink broadband, internet satellites and China successfully launches and new direct broadcast telecommunication satellite for the 2022 winter Olympics.

Oh, that are more store to come on. Space, time.

space X has successfully launched another 51. Starlink broadband, internet satellites, a board, one of its Falcon nine rocket. The flight from space launch complex four 80 at the Vanderberg space for a space in California was the 32nd Starling flight. But only the second from the west coast rocket range.

The mission was also the 10th launch for the same first stage booster, which then successfully landed a, bought the drone ship. Of course, I still love you, which was pre-positioned down range in the north Pacific ocean.

5 4 3, 2 1 0

[00:14:29] VO Guy: Falcon

[00:14:30] Guest: nine, as it successfully lifts off from pad 40 at Vandenberg spaceport space carrying our stack of 51 Sterling satellites to orbit. Now moments ago, we throttled the engines down in preparation for max. Or maximum aerodynamic pressure on the engines. And that is coming up in just about 10 seconds here.

We did just pass through max queue and in a minute we will have three events happening in back-to-back in rapid succession. That's main engine cutoff or Mikko stage separation, and second engine startup one. Now first main engine cutoff or Mikko. This is where all nine M one D engines will shut off to slow the vehicle down in preparation for stage separation, where the, where the first and second stage we'll separate what the first stage making its way back down to earth for landing and the second stage continuing on Instagram.

To the third event or second engine startup one. And this is where the check engine lights up and propels the second stage, along with the Starling satellites to orbit the light from that first stage engine cutoff. Remain engine cutoff, successful stage separation. And the second stage engine has started up that isn't could Merlin vacuum engine and fearing separation.

The two fairing halves separating from the Starlink satellites today's flight marks. The 24th times base X has reflowing the Falcon fairing house since November of 2019. And again, this was our second flight for one of the. And a third for the other half will be attempting to recover the halves again today using our recovery vessel in RC quest, which previously supported dragon recovery mission stage one, we'll be executing to burns in order to make its way back down to earth.

The first is the entry burn where three of the M one D engines will reignite. And this helps to slow the stage down as it reenters the upper part of the Earth's atmosphere. The second burn is the landing burn. And this is a single engine burn that brings the vehicle speed down rapidly in order to land on the drone ship, the following

[00:16:39] Alex: nominal

[00:16:40] Guest: trajectories for the stage one and stage two are on nominal trajectories right now with stage one is cruising back to our drone ship.

Of course I still love. Re usability is critical to what we do at space X. It allows us to re re fly the most expensive parts of the rocket, which in turn drives down the cost of space access. Now, the stage one entry burn should be coming up here in a little under a minute, and this will be a 22nd burn of that first stage.

Some of you may know that Falcon nine is named after the millennium Falcon from star wars and the number nine indicates the number of Merlin one D engines on the first day. The Merlins on the first stage are optimized for C-level and these achieve 190,000 pounds of thrust during a scent in descent.

And the back engine or Merlin vacuum engine is optimized for 220,500 pounds of thrust in vacuum stage one entry burn startup. This is a 22nd burn of three of the Merlin one D engines of the first stage. Shut down.

[00:17:44] Alex: We did have beautiful nominal trajectory.

[00:17:48] Guest: Yes, we did have a successful stage one entry burn.

There is a lot of set on that first stage of the booster. And that is because the rocket grade kerosene or RP one that is used as a fuel and Vulcan nine is carbon carbon-based. And when it burns a generator and then as the booster approaches its landing site during descent, it does this long re-entry burn.

That slows its. Uh, prior to reentering the atmosphere and when it reenters, uh, with its engines first, the booster actually flies through its own plume, which deposits the circuit on the rocket stage. One landing burn should be starting here very shortly. Stage

[00:18:27] VO Guy: two FTS.

[00:18:33] Guest: Stage one, having landed on our drone ship for the 10th time. This marks our nine years overall successful recovery of a Falcon nine first stage and the 124 successful launch of the Falcon nine. We just missed it, but we did have a successful second engine cutoff, one and a confirmation of a good. Up next, we will have a coast phase followed by the second version of our second stage engine.

These additional burns allows us to modify the orbits of our payloads more efficiently than launching directly into the final orbit. So today our second stage we'll post for about 35 minutes until we reach Apogee or the highest point of the orbit, but we will conduct that second

[00:19:16] Stuart: stage. The satellites were all successfully placed into a 570 kilometer, high orbit, 30 minutes after law.

This mission brings to 1,740. The total number of Starling satellites launched by space X. So far, the 260 kilogram spacecraft are each equipped with K U K a in a band phased array, antennas space, X plans to eventually launch some 30,000 of these satellites. That's raised serious concerns among astronomers who say the styling constellations are already effecting vital scientific research.

This is space time still the com China successfully launches a new direct broadcast telecommunication satellite, and later in the science report and yeast study confirms that the son's 11 year solar cycle cannot explain global warming. All that and more still to come of space time.

China. I successfully launched a new direct broadcast telecommunication satellite. The China Seto Zhang G nine bay was launched about a long March three bay rocket from the GI Chang satellite launch center in Southwest and China's Sichuan province. The 5,100 kilogram satellite has been placed into a GA stationary transfer orbit.

The charging nine B's equipped with specially designed transponders to support high definition for an eight K transmissions. It will be used for major events such as next year's Beijing, winter Olympics. The spacecrafts carrying enough fuel to run for 15 years, the launch mark, the 388th flight of a long March series rocket.

And Beijing's 33rd launch this year. This is space time,

and I'm out of take another brief look at some of the other stories making, using science this week with the science. And you study as confirmed that the son's 11 year solar cycle cannot explain global warming. The new analysis reported in the journal. Climate dynamics shows that Earth's global climate system fluctuates in 11 and three and a half year cycle.

Now the 11 year cycle periodically matches the son's 11 year solar cycle and climate change denies repeatedly. Use this coincidence to argue that this rather than the use of fossil fuels plays a major role in global warming. But the new analysis, which was coordinated with the university of Copenhagen supports a large body of earlier research showing that fluctuations between its climate system and the sun's solar cycle are out of.

They simply don't line up over the long term. The author say this new study confirms that the sun's fluctuations play little, if any role in current global warming and thus refutes the climate change deniers campaign of major solar affects on recent climate evolution. It's been revealed that 26 out of the 27 scientists to wrote an open letter in the Lancet medical journal rejecting the claim that the COVID-19 Corona virus had leaked out of the Whitehead Institute of virology lab.

We're actually linked to that laboratory, the letter strongly condemn conspiracy theories, suggesting that COVID-19 does not have a natural origin. It went on to claim that scientists had concluded that the Corona virus originated in the wild. The letter, which we reported at the time, shut down much of the scientific debate about the origins of the virus, but it was later discovered that this letter was orchestrated by British sociologist.

Peter desig is president of the American based EcoHealth Alliance, which has been funding research at the Wuhan Institute of neurology. Now an investigative report by journalists at the daily Telegraph using freedom of information details. It's uncovered that 26 of those 27 signatories to the letter also had connections to the Institute of neurology.

The world health organization says more than 8 million people have been killed by the COVID-19 Corona virus with almost 4.7 million confirmed fatalities and some 230 million people. In fact, Paleontologist have discovered the fossils of a new species of mediating theropod dinosaur in south Eastern Brazil named groupie it tartar the bipedal predator roam the earth some 70 million years ago during the late Cretaceous a report in the journal of south American earth sciences says the new discoveries based on three vertebra and a partial pelvic girdle.

The author say muscle attachment scars on the burns suggest the five meter long predator would have been well adapted for running and chasing down its prey. And you study as identified seven K personality traits of Katz scientist at the university of Helsinki stated some 4,316 cats from 56 different breeds ranching from pure breds to regular everyday.

Housecat. And just like humans and other higher intelligence animals, it seems cats have distinct personalities each with their own stable behavioral differences. Understanding a cat's individual personality is important for providing kitty with the right environmental needs for a good quality of life.

For example, active cats may need more enrichment, such as lots of play things compared to less active individuals who just need a good place to sit back and watch the world run by. And faithful cats may need extra hiding places and owners who have a more peaceful lifestyle. The study reported in the journal animals focused on five specific personality and two problematic behavioral related factors.

These were activity in playfulness, faithfulness aggression towards humans, sociability towards humans, social ability towards other cats, litter box issues and excessive grooming. The last two being linked to sensitivity distress. In addition to individual personality traits, there are also clear personality differences between the different breeds.

For example, Russian blues tended to be the most fearful or Abyssinians tended to be the least the being gold turns out to be the most active breed while the Persian and exotic other most passive the same Eason bond is exhibited the most excessive grooming. All Turkish van scored considerably higher and aggression towards humans and lower and sociability towards other cat.

Well, in case you missed it, the eyes of the tech world this week have been on apple and the launch of their new iPhone 13, which comes with longer battery life, better cameras, and the option of even more. With the details with joined by technology editor, Alex from 80 wide duck.

[00:26:15] Alex: Okay. So apple is launched four new iPhone, 13 models, two new iPads, a new apple watch series seven and new apple fitness workout routines.

So with the new. So attain models. There's the 13 Minnie and the 13. There's also the 13 pro and the pro max. Now the 13 Minnie and the 13 pro have one and a half hours of extra battery left to pitch, the 12 mini and the 12 pro and the 13 and the 13 pro max have two and a half hours of battery life more than their 12 equivalent.

So it is a bigger battery inside. Camera's inside. They've got, for example, this new cinematic mode, which is quite impressive because it delivers the technique that filmmakers called rec focus, which is shifting focus from one subject to another, which gods the audience's attention in their movies. But also when you macro mode on the iPhone 13 and 13 pro, which allows you to look post up at B's and files.

But you also have the faster eight, 15 bionic processor, which is faster than last year's model and faster than just about every other Android processor out there. A lot of the Android guys are still trying to catch up to Apple's process from last year and on the pro models of which there's now a one terabyte capacity model.

They can record in 4k progress video format at 30 frames per second. This is the video format that is used by the filming. You know, you've got more 5g beds. Dominium cases are completely made from a hundred percent recycled Ella minium or aluminum as the Americans would say, the little bands that are on the sides of the phone, the little antenna bats are made from recycled plastic bottles.

But you know, if you have an iPhone 10 tennis, 11 or 12, and you have. I was 15 is coming out on the 21st or September. And as well as I paddle with Christine and watch USA, and TBOs 15, and there are heaps of great features in those operating systems that will make your existing phone for like a brand new phone.

So a lot of people are not upgrading year by year, they're upgrading every three or four or five

[00:28:08] Stuart: years.

[00:28:11] Alex: I mean, you know, the iPhone 12, the 12th pro that is gone, it's now replaced by the 13 pro, but the iPhone 12 and the iPhone 11, I still have of the cheaper. Apple has a range of different price points available.

Now they also launched the iPad generation 10.2 inch screen, a 13 body processor, true tone display. And it's got the center stage camera on the front, you know, when you're using the FaceTime camera. So with FaceTime or with. WebEx or, or similar applications. It's like having a camera person in the iPad.

Who's following you around. It'd be like a gimbal, the gimbal. So if you're in front of a bench and you're cooking some stuff, or you're working on something and you move to one side that the camera pans towards with you, it's really quite spectacular. And so that is still in Australia, $499 in the U S 3 29.

And the. The capacity from this entry level model from 32 to 64 gig, you can pay more for the cellular version, but that's a whole lot of power that's compatible with the pencil. If you get a pencil and keyboards and mice, it's an incredibly powerful iPad, but then also the new iPad mini 8.3 inches, it looks like a shrunken version of the iPad air with the touch ID on the.

And the paint process or the center stage, it's so small and cute and powerful. And so it's really an excellent update. And for those who are listening, if you don't get one to upgrade to iOS 15 or iPad, , there is an extremely important iOS update to 14.8 and iPad or 14.9. What show is to 7.6 0.2 to 11.6 there's yet another externally exploited vulnerability that can allow hackers to load software onto your devices and take over your computers.

[00:29:52] Stuart: Unlike Samsung. Well,

look,

[00:29:56] Alex: there's no folding phone. There was talk that there would be a satellite capability inside for emergency calls, not to making corporate emergency texts that apparently. The switched on nexus that might still be there. There was no stylist. I thought that might be a stylist, but the iPads are stylist.

There's no millimeter wave bands for 5g outside of the U S everyone puts them

[00:30:17] Stuart: in Japan.

[00:30:18] Alex: Well, the thing is, although Australia now has five G millimeter wave available in Australia. Flashback of coverage in comparison to the rest of 5g and 4g. And this time next year, that much more millimeter wave 5g, and there'll be other devices from Samsung and others that will be using it.

[00:30:35] Stuart: That’s Alex Zaharov-Reutt from Itwire.com

[00:30:56] Stuart: And that’s the show for now? The space-time is available every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday through apple podcasts, iTunes, Stitcher, Google podcasts, pocket casts, Spotify, a cast, Amazon music bites.com. SoundCloud, YouTube. Your favorite podcast, download provider and from space-time with Stuart, gary.com space times also broadcast through the national science foundation on science own radio and on both iHeart, radio and tune in re.

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[00:32:35] VO Guy: You've been listening to Space-Time with Stuart Gary. This has been another quality podcast production and from bitesz.com