1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,480 Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast AM on 2 00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and welcome back to Coast to Coast George, and 3 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:09,520 Speaker 1: are you with you Stephen Cage. Doctor Sky has been 4 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:13,000 Speaker 1: engaged in the science of astronomy, space, aviation, and weather 5 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:16,000 Speaker 1: since he was a little child. He's the president of 6 00:00:16,079 --> 00:00:20,200 Speaker 1: Doctor Sky Ink, which is a multimedia company producing audio 7 00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:23,799 Speaker 1: and video production from the realms of astronomy, space, aviation, 8 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:26,720 Speaker 1: and weather, and as a regular contributor to our news 9 00:00:26,720 --> 00:00:30,000 Speaker 1: hour on Mondays on Coast to Coast Doctor Sky, welcome 10 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:32,920 Speaker 1: to this program. This is going to be fun. Well, George, 11 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:34,920 Speaker 1: I look more to it. It's exciting to be with 12 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:37,320 Speaker 1: you on the great listeners of Coast to Coast AM. 13 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 1: Thank you for having me and I'm looking forward to 14 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:43,440 Speaker 1: our live appearance with you on October eighth in Everard, Washington. 15 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:45,760 Speaker 1: My friend, Oh, that's going to be very exciting. Can 16 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: wait just around the poorer. You're with us this hour. 17 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:50,920 Speaker 1: We're going to take calls in a few moments with 18 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: you about things going on in space. What is your 19 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:57,360 Speaker 1: great project that's out there? The Russians want to leave 20 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: the International Space Station. What's happening? Well, it's amazing, George. 21 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:03,240 Speaker 1: You know, we got word the other day that the 22 00:01:03,440 --> 00:01:07,440 Speaker 1: newly appointed I shouldn't say elected, but appointed head of 23 00:01:07,480 --> 00:01:10,360 Speaker 1: the Russian space program, Youriborosov, by the way, he was 24 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:14,440 Speaker 1: a jeputy prime minister before, made an announcement saying that they, 25 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:17,919 Speaker 1: the Russians, are going to look to abandon the International 26 00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:21,319 Speaker 1: Space Station, probably as early as the late part of 27 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, but as you just reported just a 28 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 1: few moments ago, that may be extended out so about 29 00:01:27,560 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 1: twenty twenty eight. And they were the real reason for 30 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:32,880 Speaker 1: this is, I mean, obviously with the tensions in the Ukraine, 31 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: those astronauts and cosmonauts have seemingly gotten along, okay, but 32 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:40,000 Speaker 1: simply this Russia wants to build its own space station, 33 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:44,160 Speaker 1: and this newly elected head of the Russian space program, Youriborisov, 34 00:01:44,240 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 1: actually put a paper in front of you, got it, 35 00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: Vladimir Putin and made the recommendation. And all Vladimir Putin 36 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:55,120 Speaker 1: said was good. So the space station has some issues. Obviously, 37 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:58,640 Speaker 1: it's getting old. And there's been cooperation, George, between US 38 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 1: and the Russians and other nations around the world since 39 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:04,559 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety eight. But it's interesting to see what will happen. 40 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:07,240 Speaker 1: What do you see as one of the most exciting 41 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: aspects of space right now? Steve isn't I'm so excited 42 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: about these projects. And we go back to NASA right now, 43 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:15,520 Speaker 1: and I want to highlight this is in my opinion, 44 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 1: I'm so how many people may agree or disagree, but 45 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 1: I prioritize these in my mind after talking to so 46 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: many of these individuals in the projects. And I start 47 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:26,880 Speaker 1: off with NASA's SLS project. This is the Space Launch 48 00:02:26,960 --> 00:02:29,880 Speaker 1: Systems or Ryan rocket that hopefully we'll get off the 49 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:34,000 Speaker 1: ground as early as late August, maybe into September, on 50 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:36,800 Speaker 1: its unmanned mission around the Moon, like a replicant of 51 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,480 Speaker 1: Apollo eight. This time, I'm put three anthropomorphic dummies in 52 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:43,120 Speaker 1: the seats instead of live astronauts to do some testing. 53 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:46,560 Speaker 1: But I think that's fascinating because that's the gateway literally 54 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:49,200 Speaker 1: to get to the Moon. And also on the agenda 55 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: is the building. This is not all dreaming. It's actually 56 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:56,080 Speaker 1: on paper of the gateway space station, which will be 57 00:02:56,120 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 1: another way for astronauts once they hopefully successfully land on 58 00:02:59,280 --> 00:03:02,679 Speaker 1: the Moon, maybe is early summer, saying by twenty twenty four, 59 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:05,200 Speaker 1: I kind of doubt that, but maybe as early as 60 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: twenty twenty eight. But the other projects that are fascinating 61 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 1: come about this. If you thought, folks that the ingenuity 62 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 1: space little little helicopter is fascinating, and it sure is. 63 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: Let's get set for a project called Dragonfly George, which 64 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: is actually a much more sophisticated robotic type helicopter which 65 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:26,920 Speaker 1: will also be working with artificial intelligence, to land on 66 00:03:26,960 --> 00:03:29,400 Speaker 1: the largest satellite of the Solar System, Titan, that has 67 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: an atmosphere that'll be good. And then to wrap it 68 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:34,760 Speaker 1: up in that area, we have the Europa Clipper, which 69 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 1: will go to that moon of the planet Jupiter that 70 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: in the movies two thousand and one and two and 71 00:03:40,840 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: ten it basically said stay away from Europa. But on 72 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:46,960 Speaker 1: a serious note, it could be some reason to explore 73 00:03:47,080 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: underneath the surface of Europa. There may be life under 74 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:53,200 Speaker 1: those oceans. And finally, how about this the Mars Sample 75 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:56,000 Speaker 1: Return mission, where we go back to the surface of 76 00:03:56,080 --> 00:03:58,840 Speaker 1: Mars and actually scoop up some of the product that 77 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:01,960 Speaker 1: the perseverance were over has collected and finally get to 78 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,240 Speaker 1: see what's in those organic materials that make up the 79 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:08,600 Speaker 1: Martian surface before humans go there. So I think that's 80 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:11,080 Speaker 1: pretty much in a nutshell, that's pretty exciting stuff, don't 81 00:04:11,120 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 1: you think. I sure do, Steve. What's going on with 82 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: the Sun. It seems to be throwing off flares all 83 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,960 Speaker 1: over the place. Temperatures across this planet have been zooming. 84 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:23,040 Speaker 1: I think the Sun is heating up. That's my guests. Well, 85 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 1: let me say this from the helio seismologist side, the 86 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:28,520 Speaker 1: ones that study the Sun like we would study earthquakes. 87 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: We know that the temperature in the core, and this 88 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 1: is all theoretical stuff, is alleged to be in that 89 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:37,760 Speaker 1: fusion core maybe thirty five million degrees fahrenheit. And to 90 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:40,760 Speaker 1: believe it or not, it takes these little photons sometimes 91 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:42,800 Speaker 1: millions of years to go from the core of the 92 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:45,800 Speaker 1: Sun to the surface. But what you're talking about is 93 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:49,680 Speaker 1: this solar cycle twenty five and astronomers and astrophysicists have 94 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:52,440 Speaker 1: predicted that it would be a kind of a mild uptick. 95 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: What does that mean, meaning that it wouldn't be some 96 00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:58,599 Speaker 1: spectacular solar cycle. But right now, George, we're way ahead, 97 00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:01,200 Speaker 1: so we're looking at this and we just have to 98 00:05:01,240 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 1: know this. I mean, the Sun is pretty quiet right 99 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:06,960 Speaker 1: this moment, as we're talking live here, but in weeks 100 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 1: to come, you're going to see much larger sunspot groups, 101 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:13,040 Speaker 1: the probability of higher levels of solar flares and the 102 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:16,039 Speaker 1: phenomenon called coronal mass ejections. And just to remind you 103 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:18,640 Speaker 1: in the audience that when you see a solar flare 104 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:21,760 Speaker 1: like the Great Carrington event, those flares are light. They 105 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:24,160 Speaker 1: travel from the Sun to the Earth in about eight minutes. 106 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:27,400 Speaker 1: But a coronal mass ejection with a whole different dynamic 107 00:05:27,480 --> 00:05:30,440 Speaker 1: moving this energy up through the Sun so called atmosphere 108 00:05:30,480 --> 00:05:34,840 Speaker 1: the corona, takes well over seventeen maybe eighteen hours. So George, 109 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: the Sun is going to be belching out so much. 110 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:39,800 Speaker 1: And in the last couple of weeks it's been really exciting. 111 00:05:39,839 --> 00:05:42,200 Speaker 1: I have a personal solar telescope that I kind of 112 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:45,240 Speaker 1: monitor the Sun and we do a lot of public programs. 113 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 1: And why I'm telling you that is it's very interesting 114 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:49,520 Speaker 1: to safety look at the Sun. What do we see 115 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 1: right on the edge of the Sun. We see these 116 00:05:52,279 --> 00:05:56,039 Speaker 1: large prominences. And if people go on to websites to 117 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:58,200 Speaker 1: see this in the safety of looking at the computer, 118 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:01,240 Speaker 1: the Earth would be this town. I need dot next 119 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:03,240 Speaker 1: to these things that are probably the distance of the 120 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:06,560 Speaker 1: Earth to the Moon. So let's hope and maybe also 121 00:06:06,640 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 1: prey that we don't get another one of those type events. 122 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:13,599 Speaker 1: But it's problematic, George, that it can happen and the 123 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:16,719 Speaker 1: effects are going to be much more, you know. Intent 124 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 1: Obviously we live in the computer and digital world, but 125 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:22,040 Speaker 1: back during the days of the Carrington event, I like 126 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:25,960 Speaker 1: to describe it as the analog Internet, which was the telegraph. 127 00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:29,159 Speaker 1: And even there, the Great Carrington Event allegedly set fire 128 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:32,599 Speaker 1: to telephone cables and not telephones, it guse me, telegraph cables. 129 00:06:33,080 --> 00:06:35,479 Speaker 1: So can you only imagine, not to be negative, what 130 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:38,880 Speaker 1: would happen if indeed another belching one comes from the sun. 131 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:41,159 Speaker 1: But we want to know, and we want to watch 132 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:43,240 Speaker 1: out the kill shot, and that's the one where it 133 00:06:43,279 --> 00:06:45,839 Speaker 1: comes from directly from the center of this tongue and 134 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:48,680 Speaker 1: sends most of its energy, not a glancing blow. We 135 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:52,080 Speaker 1: have been warning for years, Stephen, about the possibility of 136 00:06:52,120 --> 00:06:55,200 Speaker 1: an X flare from the sun like the Quarantine event, 137 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:59,320 Speaker 1: which could literally crush our power grid absolutely, and the 138 00:06:59,320 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 1: power grid you've been talking about for years that the 139 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 1: phenomenon of the mp I just want to remind people 140 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:08,479 Speaker 1: that the contiguous United States. Here we know that back 141 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:10,640 Speaker 1: in the Belde nineteen eighty nine we had a great 142 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:14,120 Speaker 1: solar flare activity event which took place over Quebec in 143 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:16,680 Speaker 1: Canada and wiped out the electric grid for a while. 144 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:19,680 Speaker 1: But most of the rock that's up in the northeastern 145 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:22,560 Speaker 1: part of the United States and up into Canada is 146 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:27,440 Speaker 1: that very hard, non porous, igneous rock, and that, unfortunately 147 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:30,480 Speaker 1: is the worst kind of receiver, or the best one 148 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:31,840 Speaker 1: if you want to look at it the other way 149 00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 1: when a solar flare or cime hits the earth, because 150 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: in other regions of the world, the soil or the 151 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 1: ground below it is much softer and it can absorb this. 152 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:42,840 Speaker 1: But in those parts of the country, not to alarm people, 153 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:46,520 Speaker 1: the potentiality of having much more damage from those similar 154 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:48,640 Speaker 1: type of times if it happened in a place where 155 00:07:48,640 --> 00:07:51,840 Speaker 1: the rocks weren't so let's say, hardened. So that's the 156 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:54,520 Speaker 1: problematic thing. If you look at the most populated areas 157 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:57,360 Speaker 1: better up in that area, that could cause, with the 158 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:00,800 Speaker 1: heavy density of population in the ground below, much more 159 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:03,160 Speaker 1: of an an effect from what we would consider to 160 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:06,080 Speaker 1: be the X flair that you're talking about. Listen to 161 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 1: more Coast to Coast a M every week night at 162 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 1: one a m. Eastern and go to Coast to Coast 163 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:12,960 Speaker 1: a M dot com for more