Space News Today

Space Nuts: Mars’ Moons, Martian Quakes, and the Search for ET

In this engaging episode of Space Nuts , Andrew Dunkley and Professor Fred Watson explore two mysteries from Mars, along with a new effort to listen for signs of life beyond Earth. First, they unpack Japan’s Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, which will study Phobos and Deimos, attempt a landing on Phobos and bring samples back to Earth. The discussion turns to a Marsquake traced to the immense Valles Marineris canyon, offering fresh clues that the Red Planet may still be geologically active. Finally, Andrew and Fred Watson examine Saudi Arabia’s plans for a major astronomical observatory, including a site for Laser SETI detectors searching for brief flashes of possible extraterrestrial communication. Join them for a cosmic tour filled with planetary puzzles, ambitious missions and a little speculation about how aliens might get in touch.

Key topics

- Japan’s MMX mission to investigate Mars’ moons and return samples from Phobos.

- The possible origins of Phobos and Deimos, and the challenges of landing on a world with almost no gravity.

- A Marsquake linked to Valles Marineris and what it suggests about the planet’s geological activity.

- Saudi Arabia’s planned observatory and the use of optical Laser SETI detectors in the search for extraterrestrial signals.

Timestamps

00:00 - Introduction and episode overview

01:20 - Japan’s MMX mission and the mysteries of Phobos and Deimos

06:00 - How the mission will study Phobos and attempt to collect samples

12:00 - The challenges of landing on Phobos and the planned sample return to Earth

15:45 - A Marsquake traced to Valles Marineris

19:30 - What the quake reveals about Mars’ geological activity

22:00 - Saudi Arabia’s new observatory and the Laser SETI search

26:00 - How optical detectors could look for signals from extraterrestrial intelligence

29:00 - Closing thoughts and listener engagement

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Show notes

Astronomy Daily S05E216 — A New World in the Crowd (Thursday 29 October 2026). Hosts Anna and Avery. Lead: the Vera C. Rubin Observatory has found its first dwarf-planet candidate. 2026 ED138 lies beyond Pluto, about 46 au from the Sun. Matthew Holman (CfA) found it on 13 October with a search code built with Kevin Napier, and it was announced on 27 October at the DPS meeting in Spokane (MPEC 2026-U85). Rubin caught it 30 times on 20 nights between March and July, and Dark Energy Camera precoveries extend the orbit back to 2016. Only nine known trans-Neptunian objects are intrinsically brighter. Its size is estimated at 600–1,500 km, depending on reflectivity, so it remains a candidate until infrared or occultation measurements pin it down. It hid near the plane of the Milky Way, about 43° south of the celestial equator. Also: JWST's 37-hour phase curve shows the lava world TOI-561 b reflecting about three-quarters of its starlight, possibly through silicate clouds, with University of Sydney co-authors. ESA's Hera resolves Didymos and Dimorphos separately for the first time, with detailed Dimorphos images due 25 November. NASA's Swift is in its final weeks before re-entry, and UVEX passes a key review. Skywatch for Sydney, Los Angeles, New York and London: Mars and Jupiter closing in the pre-dawn sky (1.2° on 16 November), Saturn in the evening, Mercury's last call from the south, the waning Moon through Taurus to Gemini, and the US clock change on 1 November.

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Show notes

Astronomy Daily S05E215 — The Star That Was Born Twice (Tuesday 27 October 2026). Hosts Anna and Avery. Lead: the Orion Nebula's age paradox. Its planet-forming discs and its expanding gas shell both look far younger than its million-year-old stars. Wilhelm, Trani and Portegies Zwart (Leiden / Universidad de Concepción) propose that the nebula's most massive star, θ1 Orionis C1, formed a few hundred thousand years ago when two stars merged, driven by their companion's gravity, suddenly switching on harsher radiation. We cover the caveats and the clean test that could falsify it. Also: WD J1328−1450, a white dwarf with two nested rings of gas that point to two hidden planetary bodies; China's AIMS telescope reads a solar flare's magnetic field directly in the mid-infrared; and a Yale study arguing giant impacts can help rocky planets keep hydrogen atmospheres. Quick hits: NASA's new Competition Model 2.0, Swift's mission formally ended ahead of re-entry, Hera's second braking burn, and the DPS meeting in Spokane. Skywatch: finding the Orion Nebula from Sydney, Los Angeles, New York and London; Saturn in the evening; Mercury's last call in the south; Mars and Jupiter converging before dawn. Sources · Wilhelm, Trani & Portegies Zwart, 'A triple-induced merger in θ1 Ori C solves the proplyd lifetime problem and the curiously young shell of M42', A&A, DOI 10.1051/0004-6361/202662018; arXiv 2609.38550 — https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.38550 · Leiden University release, 23 Oct 2026 — https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2026/10/leiden-astronomers-explain-the-orion-nebulas-age-paradox · Gentile Fusillo, Lagos-Vilches, Koester et al., 'A double debris disc around a white dwarf sculpted by two planetary bodies', Nature Astronomy, 26 Oct 2026, DOI 10.1038/s41550-026-03004-3 — https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-03004-3 · Deng, Bai, Wei et al., 'Apparent magnetic field decay in a solar flare from Zeeman splitting of the Mg I 12.32-µm line', Nature Astronomy, 23 Oct 2026, DOI 10.1038/s41550-026-03013-2; arXiv 2610.33502 — https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.33502 · Modirrousta-Galian & Korenaga, 'Retention of primordial atmospheres through giant impacts', Nature Astronomy, 26 Oct 2026, DOI 10.1038/s41550-026-03006-1 — https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-026-03006-1 · NASA Science, 'Faster to Science: A Letter to the Science Community' — https://science.nasa.gov/directorates/smd/faster-to-science-a-letter-to-the-science-community/ · NASA Science, 'NASA's Swift Mission Ends Ahead of Re-Entry', 23 Oct 2026 — https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/swift/2026/10/23/nasas-swift-mission-ends-ahead-of-re-entry/ · ESA Hera mission updates — https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Hera

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Wednesday SpaceTime 20261028 Series 29 Episode 129 Giant Valles Marineris canyon still tectonically active A new study claims the solar system’s largest canyon Valles Marineris is still active and reshaping the red planet Mars today. Our incredibly shrinking Moon A new study of young tectonic landforms on the lunar surface suggests the Moon’s shrunk by at least 90 metres over the past 400 to 800 million years. When was van Gogh's famous The Starry Night painted? A new study suggests that the position of the stars, planets, and the Moon in Vincent van Gogh's The Starry Night painting may have been painted before dawn on the 22nd of July 1889. The Science Report A new study warns of the health dangers of vaping for your heart. Discovery of a fossil of a Chinese Jurassic-era creature with features similar to a platypus. A fast, low-cost method for manufacturing wire-grid polarisers using laser-cut metal foil. People anxious about relationships are more likely to have problematic social media use. Alex on Tech: The PHP cyber threat. 🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ www.bitesz.com/nordvpn (http://www.bitesz.com/nordvpn) . The discounts and bonuses are incredible! And it’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ If you’d like to support the podcast and gain access to bonus content by becoming a SpaceTime crew member, you can do just that through The Big Bang editions on Patreon, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Details on the Support page on our website https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/ (https://www.bitesz.com/show/spacetime/support/) For more SpaceTime and show links: https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ (https://linktr.ee/biteszHQ) If you love this podcast, please get someone else to listen too. Thank you…

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Show notes In 2016, NASA's Swift caught a gamma-ray burst that came in two parts: a 1.7-second spike, four minutes of silence, then a 51-second burst from the same spot. A new Nature Astronomy paper finds that nearly every classification test labels the first part a merger and the second a collapsing star. It was published three days after Swift ended science operations. Also today: a black hole disc in MAXI J0637−430 that puffs up and shades itself at just a fifth of the Eddington limit; JWST finds methane in interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS with a deuterium ratio of 3.18%, the highest ever measured in methane anywhere in the solar system; and NASA's Psyche goes to near-continuous thrust and makes the first in-space measurement of Hall-thruster swirl torque. Quick hits: Hera's second braking burn, Dragonfly's first simulated Titan flight, and 20 years of STEREO. Skywatch for Sydney, Los Angeles, New York and London: the Hunter's Moon, Mars and Jupiter closing before dawn, Saturn in the evening and Mercury's last call.

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