Welcome to another episode of the Astronomy Daily Podcast with your host, Steve Dunkley, and the AI assistant, Hallie. In this episode, we chat about meteor showers, a historical event involving the lunar roving vehicle, and the current state of space exploration. Here's what we covered:
- We start off with a casual conversation about current meteor showers. Steve shares his disappointment in not being able to spot the meteors due to cloud cover in his area.
- Our fun fact of the day looks back to July 31, 1971, when the lunar roving vehicle was first used on the moon during the Apollo 15 mission by astronauts James B. Irwin and David Scott.
- We move on to a concerning update about NASA's Voyager 2, which has temporarily lost contact with Earth due to an accidental deviation of the antenna's alignment. Despite this, Voyager 2 continues along its planned trajectory, with the next automatic antenna reset scheduled for October 15th.
- We discuss the promising future of lunar mining, exploring how private firms and international space agencies plan to extract resources like oxygen, water, and other materials from the moon to support life and build infrastructure.
- The construction of a new spaceport in Scotland has been temporarily halted due to the discovery of archaeological findings at the building site, including shiny quartz, giant granite stones, and evidence of cremations from the Bronze Age.
- For our science fiction fans, we look at upcoming space missions including the x-ray imaging and spectroscopy mission "Chrism" scheduled for launch from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center and the European Space Agency's "Platoh" mission set to launch in 2026, aiming to find Earth-like planets.
- Steve wraps up the episode with a fun surprise story for fans of the 1960s cartoon "The Jetsons," discussing a meme that suggests George Jetson's birthday would be July 31, 2022.
Join us again on Friday with Tim in Bath, England, and catch up with Steve and Hallie again on Monday for more Astronomy Daily.
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