S02E34: Russian Lunar Crash, Martian Oxygen, and Pulsar Discoveries

*Hosted by Tim Gibbs with AI Assistant Hallie*
- **NASA's Lunar Trailblazer Satellite** - Mission: Search for water on the moon. - Details: Lockheed Martin built, measures 11.5 feet wide, weighs 440 pounds. - Launch: No earlier than 2024, alongside the Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission. - Instruments: Lunar Thermal Mapper (LTM) sensor from the University of Oxford. - Purpose: Map lunar surface temperature and variations in minerals. - **Oxygen Production on Mars** - Need: 30 metric tons of oxygen for a crew of six astronauts. - Solution: Produce oxygen on Mars from its abundant CO2. - Recent Development: Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (Moxie) Project. - Research: Donald Rapp and Eric Hinderman's model for a full-scale Mars ISRU system. - **Discoveries with the FAST Telescope** - Led by: Professor H.A.N. Gene Lin from the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. - Findings: Distinct dwarf pulses from pulsar PSR B2111+46. - Observations: Galactic Plane Pulsar Snapshot Survey. - New Emission State: Dwarf pulses.
4. **Spotlight Story** - **Russia's Lunar 25 Probe Crash** - Incident: Lunar 25 crashed during pre-landing maneuvers. - Last Contact: 2.57 pm on a Saturday. - Background: Russia's first moon mission in almost 50 years. - Mission Goal: Soft landing on the Lunar South Pole. - Historical Context: Last attempt in 1989 with the Phobos 2 probe. - Statement: Roscosmos Boss Yuri Borosov had estimated a 70% success rate.
5. **Hallie's Joke of the Week** - "Why did the scarecrow win an award? “
6. **Closing Remarks** - Find all episodes and the parent podcast, SpaceNuts, at spaceknuts.io or bitesz.com. - Join the conversation on the Facebook page: SpaceNuts podcast group. - Weekly Schedule: Steve Dunkley on Mondays and Tim Gibbs on Fridays. - See you next week!
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