S03E120: China’s Constellation Project and Webb’s Stellar Surprise

Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your Daily dive into the latest space and astronomy news. I'm your host, Anna, and I'm excited to take you through some fascinating updates today. We've got riveting stories lined up for you from China's ambitious satellite constellation, launched to rival Starlink, to a groundbreaking revelation by the James Webb Space Telescope that has astronomers buzzing. Plus, we'll delve into NASA's educational screaming balloon demonstration involving pennies in space. It's going to be an enlightening and fun-filled journey through the cosmos, so let's get started.

• **China's Satellite Constellation to Rival Starlink**: A Chinese state-owned enterprise has launched the first batch of satellites designed to rival SpaceX's Starlink. This ambitious initiative aims to develop a robust broadband network with significant military implications. The launch, spearheaded by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST), is a major milestone in SSST's G60 Starlink plan, aiming to deploy over 15,000 low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites by the end of this decade.
• **James Webb Space Telescope's Twin Star Discovery**: The James Webb Space Telescope's mid-infrared instrument, MIRI, has revealed that what was long believed to be a single star, WL 20s, is actually a twin star system. This discovery opens new avenues in the study of stellar life cycles and planetary formation. Further observations by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) detected disks of gas and dust encircling both stars, suggesting the potential formation of planets.
• **NASA's Educational Screaming Balloon Demonstration**: NASA has sent two pennies into space as part of an educational project designed to engage grade school children in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). These pennies are crucial to an experiment called the screaming balloon demonstration, where one penny is inserted into a deflated balloon, inflated, and spun by an astronaut. The experiment will compare the motion of the penny to a hex nut spun inside a second balloon, making space science accessible and exciting for students.
• (00:00) Welcome to Astronomy Daily, your daily dive into the latest space and astronomy news
• (00:36) China launches first batch of satellites designed to rival SpaceX's Starlink
• (04:00) NASA's James Webb Space Telescope reveals twin star system
• (06:49) NASA has sent two pennies to the International Space Station for educational purposes
• (09:58) That's it for today's episode of Astronomy Daily
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