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Astronomy Daily: Space News Updates

Astronomy Daily: Space News Updates

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Episodes
  • NASA's Moon Base Revolution: Gateway Cancelled, Nuclear Mars Mission Announced & More

    NASA's Moon Base Revolution: Gateway Cancelled, Nuclear Mars Mission Announced & More
    Mar 25 2026
    Wednesday, March 25, 2026 In today's episode of Astronomy Daily, Anna and Avery cover six major stories from the last 24 hours in space and astronomy — including two landmark NASA announcements that could reshape the future of human space exploration. Story 1: NASA Cancels Lunar Gateway — Pivots to $20 Billion Moon Base NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced at the agency's 'Ignition Day' event that the Lunar Gateway orbital space station has been paused, with resources redirected toward a phased $20 billion base on the lunar surface. The three-phase plan runs from 2026 to beyond 2032 and involves international partners including JAXA, the Italian Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency. Source: https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/nasas-lunar-gateway-space-station-is-out-moon-bases-are-in Story 2: NASA's SR-1 Freedom — The First Nuclear-Powered Interplanetary Spacecraft Also announced at Ignition Day, Space Reactor-1 Freedom is planned for a December 2028 launch to Mars. It will use Nuclear Electric Propulsion and carry the Skyfall payload — three Ingenuity-class helicopters designed to scout future human landing sites and map subsurface water ice. Source: https://www.space.com/astronomy/mars/nasas-1st-nuclear-powered-interplanetary-spacecraft-will-send-skyfall-helicopters-to-mars-in-2028 Story 3: Two Planets Forming Around Infant Star WISPIT 2 Astronomers using the ESO's Very Large Telescope have directly imaged two gas giant planets forming around the 5.4-million-year-old star WISPIT 2, located 437 light-years away in Aquila. The system is described as a mirror of our early solar system, with potential for more planets yet to be discovered. Published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Source: https://www.space.com/astronomy/exoplanets/scientists-discover-mirror-of-our-solar-system-in-2-exoplanets-forming-around-a-star Story 4: Hubble Revisits the Crab Nebula — 25 Years On NASA has released new Hubble Space Telescope images of the Crab Nebula, taken 25 years after the telescope first observed the object. The images reveal the nebula's continued expansion — the still-evolving remnant of a supernova first observed by astronomers in 1054 AD. Source: https://www.space.com/astronomy/hubble-revisits-a-cosmic-crab-after-25-years-space-photo-of-the-day-for-march-23-2026 Story 5: Fiber-Optic Cables Could Detect Moonquakes Two new studies from Los Alamos National Laboratory suggest that fiber-optic cables deployed directly on the lunar surface could detect moonquakes using Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS). The technique could replace expensive individual seismometers, with a single cable acting as thousands of sensors across hundreds of kilometres of lunar terrain. Source: https://www.space.com/astronomy/moon/future-artemis-missions-could-use-fiber-optic-cables-to-monitor-moonquakes Story 6: Rocket Lab 'Daughter of the Stars' — Europe's First Celeste Navigation Satellites Rocket Lab's Electron rocket launched the first two satellites for ESA's Celeste LEO-PNT constellation from Māhia, New Zealand on March 25. The mission is ESA's first foray into low-Earth orbit navigation, designed to complement and strengthen Europe's Galileo system. The constellation is named after Maria Celeste, daughter of Galileo Galilei. Source: https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/rocket-lab-electron-launch-european-space-agency-celeste-navigation-satellitesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support.Sponsor Details:Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN. To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit www.bitesz.com/nordvpn. You'll be glad you did!Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click HereThis episode includes AI-generated content.
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    20 mins
  • Artemis II Countdown, Auroras Over Sydney, and the Lava World That Broke the Rules

    Artemis II Countdown, Auroras Over Sydney, and the Lava World That Broke the Rules
    Mar 24 2026
    Thank you for listening to Astronomy Daily! Here's everything from today's episode: Story 1: Artemis II — T-Minus Days to Launch NASA is targeting April 1, 2026 for the launch of Artemis II — the first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo 17 in 1972. The crew of Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen will fly a 10-day free-return trajectory around the Moon aboard the Orion spacecraft on the SLS rocket from Kennedy Space Center. The six-day launch window runs April 1–6. Meanwhile, a new analysis suggests the mission could face elevated solar superflare risk, though NASA is proceeding after a successful Flight Readiness Review. Source: NASA — https://www.nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii/ Solar risk analysis: https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/artemis-2-moon-mission-shouldnt-launch-until-late-2026-new-analysis-of-solar-superflares-suggests Story 2: G3 Geomagnetic Storm & Aurora Australis Multiple coronal mass ejections from the Sun triggered a G3 (strong) geomagnetic storm, producing vivid auroral displays from New York to Scotland to — remarkably — Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe storm warning for March 23. Conditions are easing on March 24 (Kp 3–4) but some aurora activity may continue. March is historically the best month for auroras due to the equinox effect, and with Solar Cycle 25 at its peak, scientists say this could be the best aurora viewing period until the mid-2030s. Aurora forecast: https://earthsky.org/sun/sun-news-activity-solar-flare-cme-aurora-updates/ Aurora Australis guide: https://www.elle.com.au/culture/news/aurora-australis-southern-lights-march-2026-tonight-alert/ Story 3: JWST Finds 'Impossible' Atmosphere on Lava World TOI-561 b A Carnegie Institution-led team used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to detect the strongest evidence yet for an atmosphere around a rocky exoplanet. TOI-561 b — an ultra-hot super-Earth about twice Earth's mass, orbiting its star every 10.56 hours — was expected to be a bare rock. Instead, JWST measured a dayside temperature far cooler than a bare rock would produce, indicating a thick atmosphere redistributing heat above a global magma ocean. The findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Source: Carnegie Institution for Science — https://carnegiescience.edu/ultra-hot-lava-world-has-thick-atmosphere-upending-expectations ScienceDaily: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260322020255.htm Story 4: Sealed Apollo 17 Moon Rocks Reveal Surprise Sulfur Signal Sealed lunar samples from Apollo 17 (collected 1972, opened through NASA's ANGSA program) have revealed unexpected sulfur isotope signatures. A Brown University-led team found volcanic material from the Taurus-Littrow region is strongly depleted in sulfur-33 — unlike anything found on Earth. Possible explanations include ancient lunar atmospheric chemistry or a legacy of the Theia impact that formed the Moon. Published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. Source: Brown University — https://www.brown.edu/news/2025-10-06/sulfur-isotopes-apollo-samples SciTechDaily: https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-open-moon-rocks-locked-away-since-1972-and-find-something-totally-unexpected/ Story 5: This Week in Global Rocketry An exceptional week of launches spanning five countries and seven rocket types: SpaceX Falcon 9 (Starlink 17-17, Tuesday; Starlink 10-44, Thursday — B1067's record 34th flight; Transporter 16, Sunday), Rocket Lab Electron (ESA Celeste demo sats, Wednesday, NZ), Isar Aerospace Spectrum (Onward and Upward, Wednesday, Norway), Chang Zheng 2C (Wednesday, China), CAS Space Kinetica 1 (Friday, China), Russia's debut Soyuz-5 (Friday, Baikonur), and ULA Atlas V (Amazon Leo batch, Sunday). The 73rd orbital launch attempt of 2026 worldwide. Full preview: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/03/launch-preview-032326/ Update: Progress MS-33 & Spectrum Rocket Progress MS-33 (also known as Progress 94) launched from the newly-repaired Site 31/6 at Baikonur on March 22 carrying 2,509 kg of supplies for the ISS Expedition 74 crew. A KURS antenna failure required ISS commander Sergei Kud-Sverchkov to dock the vehicle manually using the TORU backup system, scheduled for 13:34 UTC on March 24. Separately, Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket remains on the pad at Andøya, Norway, with a new launch window on March 25 (20:00–21:00 UTC) after weather delays. Progress MS-33: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/03/progress-ms33/ Spectrum launch info: https://isaraerospace.com/mission-updates-overview 🌐 astronomydaily.io | 🎙️ Part of the Bitesz.com Podcast Network 📱 @AstroDailyPod on Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube & TumblrBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support.Sponsor Details:Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN. To get our ...
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    21 mins
  • Europe's Rocket Moment, A Hidden Cosmic Explosion, and Brown Dwarfs in Love

    Europe's Rocket Moment, A Hidden Cosmic Explosion, and Brown Dwarfs in Love
    Mar 23 2026
    Astronomy Daily — Season 5, Episode 70 Monday, March 23, 2026 In today's episode, Anna and Avery cover six stories spanning a live European rocket launch attempt, a sixty-year-old NASA emergency brought back to life through newly surfaced photographs, a cosmic explosion caught only by its echo, the fight to preserve the night sky, a supply run to the ISS with an unexpected complication, and a first-of-its-kind discovery involving brown dwarf stars. Story 1: Europe's Spectrum Rocket — Bid for Orbit Today Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket is attempting its second test flight today — its qualification mission for ESA's European Launcher Challenge. Launching from Andøya Spaceport in Norway, the mission carries five CubeSats and one experiment from European universities and companies, all supported by ESA's Boost! program. If successful, it would mark a landmark moment for European sovereign access to space. Source: ESA — Spectrum's Qualifying Second Launch Story 2: Neil Armstrong — The Gemini 8 Emergency Sixty years ago this month, Neil Armstrong and David Scott survived one of NASA's most dangerous pre-Apollo emergencies aboard Gemini 8. A spacecraft malfunction sent the capsule into an uncontrolled spin reaching one revolution per second. Never-before-seen photographs of Armstrong's recovery have been donated to the Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta, Ohio. Source: Phys.org — Space News Story 3: Astronomers Catch the Echo of a Billion-Sun Explosion Using the ASKAP radio telescope in Western Australia, astronomers identified ASKAP J005512-255834 — a radio signal representing the most convincing "orphan afterglow" of a gamma-ray burst ever detected. The original explosion went unseen because its jet wasn't aimed at Earth, but the lingering radio echo has been detectable for over 1,000 days. Research published in The Astrophysical Journal. Source: The Conversation — A Cosmic Explosion With the Force of a Billion Suns Story 4: The Fight to Save the Night Sky The Royal Astronomical Society, ESA, and the International Astronomical Union have filed formal objections to the FCC over two proposed satellite constellations: SpaceX's application for up to one million orbiting AI data centre satellites, and Reflect Orbital's proposal for 50,000 space mirrors each four times brighter than the full Moon. Experts warn the proposals could permanently transform humanity's view of the night sky. Source: Space.com — Astronomers Protest Giant Orbiting Mirror Project Story 5: Progress 94 Launches to ISS — With a Glitch Russia's Progress 94 cargo spacecraft launched successfully from Baikonur on March 22, carrying around three tonnes of food, fuel, and supplies to the ISS. One of its KURS automated docking antennas failed to deploy after launch. Docking at the Poisk module is scheduled for March 24. If the antenna issue isn't resolved, commander Sergei Kud-Sverchkov will conduct a manual docking. Source: NASA — Progress Cargo Craft Launches to Resupply Station Crew Story 6: First-Ever Brown Dwarf Pair Caught in Mass Transfer Caltech researchers using the Zwicky Transient Facility have discovered ZTF J1239+8347 — the first-ever observed brown dwarf binary undergoing mass transfer. The pair orbit each other every 57 minutes at a separation smaller than the Earth-Moon distance. The system will eventually either merge into a single star or one dwarf will accrete enough mass to ignite fusion. Research published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Source: Universe Today — This Pair of Brown Dwarfs Can't Get Enough of Each Other Find us everywhere: astronomydaily.io | @AstroDailyPodBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support.Sponsor Details:Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN. To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit www.bitesz.com/nordvpn. You'll be glad you did!Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click HereThis episode includes AI-generated content.
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    16 mins
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