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Bedtime Astronomy

JAXA’s Comet Mission: Unlocking the Origins of Life

4/24/202643 min

Japan’s space agency JAXA is developing the Next Generation Small-Body Return mission to collect samples from comet 289P/Blanpain.

By using an impactor to access pristine subsurface material, scientists aim to study ancient organics and the building blocks of planets. The mission will preserve samples with cryogenic systems during a 14-year journey, returning to Earth by 2048.

If successful, it could reveal how planets formed and whether the ingredients for life came from deep space.

Thank you for listening to Bedtime Astronomy — your guide to the cosmos. New episodes on space exploration, NASA missions & the latest astronomy breakthroughs.

This episode includes AI-generated content.

Clips

Did Space Pre-Bias Life?
Blasting A Comet On Purpose
Run And Hide From Debris
Seconds To Snatch The Sample
The Sample Fights To Survive
Lab-On-Comet Backup Plan
Why This ‘Quiet’ Comet
Hunting Life’s Building Blocks
Planetesimals Should Be Fluffy
Patience Across Generations

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

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  11. Speaker 30:29

    [gentle music] Welcome to Bedtime Astronomy. Explore the wonders of the cosmos with our soothing bedtime astronomy podcast. Each episode offers a gentle journey through the stars, planets and beyond, perfect for unwinding after a long day. Let's travel through the mysteries of the universe as you drift off into a peaceful slumber under the night sky.

  12. Speaker 1· Host0:53

    You know, for like 200 years, astronomers were basically tracking a ghost.

  13. Speaker 2· Host1:01

    Yeah, a literal ghost in the solar system.

  14. Speaker 1· Host1:03

    Right. So in 1819, observers cataloged this comet moving through the inner solar system, and then, um, it just vanished, completely gone.

  15. Speaker 2· Host1:14

    Just disappeared off the maps.

  16. Speaker 1· Host1:16

    Exactly.

  17. Speaker 2· Host1:16

    Yeah.

  18. Speaker 1· Host1:16

    Generation after generation mapped the skies with, you know, increasingly powerful telescopes. They were looking for the trajectory they had originally calculated, but nothing.

  19. Speaker 2· Host1:24

    Nothing at all.

  20. Speaker 1· Host1:25

    But then, when a robotic sky survey finally stumbled across it almost

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