SpaceX's Million-Satellite Vision, Ancient Star Maps, and China's Solar Mission

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Welcome to astronomy daily.

Your source for the latest space in astronomy news.

I'm Anna.

And I'm Avery.

It's Monday, February 2nd, 2026.

And we've got a fantastic lineup of stories today,

exploring everything from SpaceX's audacious satellite plans

to ancient star maps hidden for centuries.

That's right, Avery.

Today, we're diving into SpaceX's jaw-dropping proposal

to launch up to 1 million solar-powered satellites.

A remarkable archaeological discovery revealing

Hipparcha's lost star catalog

and China's ambitious solar monitoring mission

heading to a unique point in space.

We'll also be discussing a giant star

that fulled astronomers worldwide.

Time magazine special tribute to the Artemis-2 crew

and remembering Gladys West, a hidden figure

who helps shape GPS technology.

It's going to be an incredible journey

through space history, present, and future.

Doe settle in and let's explore the cosmos together.

We're starting with what might be

the most ambitious satellite constellation proposal

ever conceived.

SpaceX has filed with the Federal Communications Commission

seeking approval to launch up to 1 million solar-powered

satellites that would function as data centers

for artificial intelligence.

1 million satellites, Avery.

That's absolutely staggering.

To put that in perspective, there are currently

around 15,000 man-made satellites orbiting Earth

according to the European Space Agency.

SpaceX is essentially proposing to increase that number

by several orders of magnitude.

The scale is mind-boggling, Anna, and SpaceX

isn't just framing this as a commercial venture.

They're filing describes these satellites

as the most efficient way to meet accelerating demand

for AI computing power.

But they go even further.

They're calling it a first step towards becoming

a Kardashev Type-2 civilization, one that can harness

the sun's full power.

That's quite the vision.

For our listeners who might not be familiar,

the Kardashev scale is a method of measuring

a civilization's technological advancement

based on energy consumption.

A Type-2 civilization would be able to harness

all the energy output of its star.

But let's talk practicalities here.

The verge has pointed out that the 1 million satellite number

is unlikely to be approved outright.

And it's probably a starting point for negotiation.

Exactly.

The FCC recently gave SpaceX permission

to launch an additional 7,575 star-linked satellites.

But the third authorization on the remaining 14,988

satellites proposed.

So there's clearly regulatory caution

about satellite proliferation.

And there are very real concerns about space

debris and light pollution that

come with such massive constellations.

The timing is also interesting.

Miss filing comes as Amazon is seeking an FCC extension

on a deadline to have more than 1,600 satellites

in orbit, citing a lack of available rockets.

Meanwhile, SpaceX is reportedly

considering a merger with two of Elon Musk's other companies,

Tesla and XAI, ahead of going public.

It really shows how the commercial space sector

is evolving, Anna.

What was once the domain of governments

is increasingly being driven by private companies

with enormous ambitions.

Whether SpaceX gets approval for anything

close to a million satellites remains to be seen,

but is certainly signals where they think the future is headed.

It's fascinating to think about,

but we'll have to see how regulators balance innovation

with the very real concerns about our orbital environment.

Now, let's move from the future to the distant past.

From cutting-edge satellite technology,

we're traveling back more than 2,000 years

to rediscover one of astronomy's greatest lost treasures.

Scientists have successfully recovered fragments

of the world's earliest star catalog

created by the ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus

from a 1,500-year-old manuscript.

This is absolutely remarkable, Avery.

Hipparchus is widely considered the father of astronomy.

He figured out how Equinox's shift created a magnitude scale

to rank star brightness and tracked planetary motion,

all more than 2,000 years ago without any telescopes,

but his actual star catalog had vanished from history, until now.

The manuscript is what's called a palimpsest,

which means its parchment that was wiped clean and reused.

In this case, Hipparchus's original Greek text was erased

and overwritten with Siriac religious writings

of St. John Clamacus.

The original work was literally buried

under six layers of ink.

So how did researchers manage to read text

that was intentionally erased centuries ago?

That used some pretty sophisticated technology.

A team led by Victor Geisenberg from Sorbonne University

used X-ray technology at the SALC National Accelerator Laboratory

to scan 11 pages of the manuscript.

The key was that Hipparchus's original ink

had a different chemical composition

than the later religious text.

The ancient ink was rich in calcium,

which showed up clearly under X-ray scanning.

They used extremely short X-ray pulses,

each just 10 milliseconds long,

focused on areas no wider than a human air.

And what they found is remarkable.

These aren't just historical curiosities.

The star positions Hipparchus recorded

are incredibly accurate for naked eye observations.

As Geisenberg said, the coordinates they're finding

are incredibly accurate for something done with the naked eye.

This gives us a window into how ancient people understood

and mapped the night sky.

It's also a testament to early scientific thinking.

Hipparchus was working without any optical instruments.

Yet he was able to create precise astronomical measurements

that laid the foundation for future astronomers.

This discovery, published in the journal

for the History of Astronomy,

helps us answer fundamental questions

about the birth of science itself.

And the manuscript now held at the Museum of the Bible

in Washington, D.C.

It's so delicate it had to be hand-carried

in climate-controlled boxes to the laboratory.

It's wonderful that modern technology

can help us recover these ancient insights.

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Speaking of technology and new vantage points,

let's turn to China's upcoming solar mission.

China is making major strides in solar exploration,

with plans to launch its first ever solar probe

to the Sun Earth L5 point.

The satellite, called Shihe II,

is scheduled to launch between 2028 and 2029.

And it will provide a unique perspective

on solar activity that we've never had before.

For our listeners who might not be familiar,

the L5 point, or Lagrange point five,

is one of five special locations in space

where the gravitational forces of the Earth and Sun balance out.

It's about 150 million kilometers from Earth

and spacecraft positioned there require minimal fuel

to maintain their orbit,

because they're in a stable gravitational equilibrium.

Exactly, Anna.

And L5 provides a direct, unobstructed view of the Sun

without Earth's atmosphere getting in the way.

This makes it ideal for capturing detailed data

on solar magnetic fields, flares, and eruptions.

Shihe II will be the first artificial probe ever

stationed at this location.

The mission has some impressive capabilities.

Shihe II is equipped with cutting edge technology

designed for high precision magnetic field detection.

This will help reveal the intricate dynamics of solar eruptions,

but here is what's really exciting.

The mission aims to predict solar activity

up to five days in advance.

That's a game changer for space weather forecasting.

Solar flares and coronal mass ejections

can have profound effects on Earth's magnetic field

and satellite systems.

We've seen how geomagnetic storms

can disrupt communication networks, GPS systems,

and even power grids.

Having five days advance warning

could help protect critical infrastructure.

It's worth noting this builds on China's previous solar mission.

In 2021, China launched Shihe,

their first solar exploration satellite,

which captured solar, H-Alpha spectral imaging

from low Earth orbit.

Shihe II represents a much more ambitious leap,

heading to a distant and challenging location.

The mission is a collaborative effort

between Nanjing University,

the China Meteorological Administration,

and the Shanghai Academy of Space Flight Technology.

It really demonstrates China's growing leadership

in space exploration and their commitment

to understanding space weather.

And as we become increasingly reliant

on space-based technologies,

understanding and predicting solar activity

becomes more crucial than ever.

This mission could significantly improve our ability

to protect satellites, astronauts,

and infrastructure on Earth.

Now, let's turn to a mystery

that had astronomers scratching their heads.

Here's a stellar detective story for you.

Astronomers thought they were watching a massive star

called WHOHG64 undergo its death throws,

possibly even transforming into a rare yellow hypergiant

before going supernova.

Turns out they were completely wrong.

This is such a great example of how science works, Avery.

WHOHG64 is located in the large Magellanic Cloud,

and is one of the most luminous, dust-en shrouded,

red supergiant in its galaxy.

In recent years, astronomers observed

unusual dimming and changing spectral features

that suggested the star was entering an extremely rare

and unstable phase.

In 2024, the appearance of a new dust cloud around the star

seemed to confirm that something dramatic was happening.

Many researchers thought they were witnessing

a massive star in its final moments.

But fresh observations from a team

led by Dr. Jocco Van Loon at Kill University

revealed a completely different story.

Between November 2024 and December 2025,

the team used the Southern African large telescope

to collect detailed optical spectra of WHOHG64.

But they found contradicted all the previous assumptions.

Instead of the temperature increase

you'd expect in a yellow hypergiant,

they found strong absorption bands

from titanium oxide molecules.

And here's why that matters.

Titanium oxide molecules can survive

in the hotter environment of a yellow hypergiant.

That meant WHOG64 hadn't undergone

the suspected transformation at all.

Something else was causing all those puzzling observations.

The answer turned out to be a companion star.

WHOH64 is actually part of a binary system.

A smaller hotter companion star orbits the red supergiant

and periodically interacts with its extended atmosphere.

As Van Loon explained,

the atmosphere of the red supergiant

is being stretched out by the approach of the companion star,

but it hasn't been stripped altogether.

So nearly every major indicator

that astronomers had interpreted

as signs of impending stellar death,

the fading light, the spectral shifts, the dust formation,

was actually caused by this companion star.

Some of the disrupted material even appears to form

a disc around the hot companion,

which contributed to those strange spectral emissions.

Van Loon described it beautifully.

We're essentially witnessing a phoenix rising from the ashes.

It's not that WHOG64 won't eventually go supernova,

it will, but that event is an imminent,

despite what all the evidence seemed to suggest.

This discovery highlights how binary interactions

can perfectly mimic the hallmarks of a dying star.

It's a humbling reminder that the universe

still has plenty of surprises for us.

Careful follow up observations

with attention to dust obscuration

revealed that earlier spectral signals were misleading.

Now, let's shift from stellar mysteries

to human achievements as Time Magazine celebrates

an historic moment.

As NASA's Artemis 2 mission sits poised

on Launchpad 39B at Kennedy Space Center,

Time Magazine has honored the crew

with a special commemorative cover issue

that draws powerful parallels

to one of history's most pivotal space missions.

The cover features the four Artemis 2 astronauts,

Reed Weissmann, Jeremy Hansen,

Victor Glover, and Christina Koch,

who are scheduled to launch as early as February 8th

for a 10-day lunar fly-by mission.

The article accompanying it was written by Jeffrey Kluger,

the best-selling author known for Apollo 13

and the Apollo murders.

What's particularly poignant

is the comparison Kluger draws to Apollo 8,

which orbited the moon in December 1968.

That was a year of tremendous turmoil

in the United States and around the world,

and Apollo 8's Christmas Eve broadcast

from lunar orbit provided a moment of unity

and inspiration that transcended borders and politics.

As Kluger writes in the article,

not every mission touches the collective soul,

but some do.

Apollo 8, Apollo 11, Apollo 13.

These were less American experiences than global dramas,

global triumphs, global joys.

And he suggests Artemis 2 could work similar magic today.

The mission itself will push human space flight

to new limits.

Artemis 2's trajectory will take the crew

4,700 miles beyond the far side of the moon.

Farther than our species has ever traveled.

That will break the old record of 158 miles past the moon,

which was held by the Apollo 13 astronauts

during that dramatic 1970 mission.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman

posted side-by-side Time Magazine covers

from 1968 and 2026 on social media.

Noting that 58 years after Apollo 8's historic trip,

NASA is heading back.

He emphasized that through the Artemis campaign,

the agency aims to maintain American leadership in space,

land astronauts on the moon,

and establish a lunar base all before the end of 2028.

What strikes me about both Apollo 8 and Artemis 2

is their role in opening new chapters.

Apollo 8 proved humans could safely journey to the moon

and return, paving the way for Apollo 11's landing.

Artemis 2 is similarly demonstrating the capabilities

that will enable Artemis 3 to put humans back

on the lunar surface.

And as Kluger points out, the mission

represents not just a technological achievement,

but a significant edge in any space race with China.

While also offering the kind of public uplift

that spaceflight has uniquely been able to provide

since the 1960s, it's a moment when four people serve

as emissaries for the 8.3 billion of us

who remain Earthbound.

With the wet dress rehearsal happening right now

and launched potentially just days away,

this time magazine issue captures

what could be one of 2026's most inspiring moments.

And speaking of inspiration, we need to remember someone

who made a profound but often overlooked contribution

to how we navigate our world.

We're closing today's show with a remembrance

of Dr. Gladys West, who passed away Saturday

at the age of 95.

West was one of the hidden figures

whose work fundamentally shaped modern GPS technology.

Yet her contributions went largely unrecognized

until recently.

Gladys West's story is one of extraordinary perseverance

and achievement in the face of significant obstacles.

She was born on October 27, 1930

in rural Sutherland, Virginia, south of Richmond.

Her parents had a small farm and most of the region's population

were tenant farmers known as sharecroppers.

She initially expected her future would lead to farm work

or a job at the tobacco processing plant

where her mother worked.

But she excelled academically,

becoming valedictorian of her high school graduating class.

She earned a full scholarship to Virginia State College,

which was a historically black institution

and went on to earn both her bachelor's

and master's degrees in mathematics.

This was during the Jim Crow era

of racial segregation, Avery.

After graduating in 1955,

the same year President Eisenhower banned

racial discrimination in federal hiring,

West began working at what was then called

the Naval Proving Ground in Dalgrin, Virginia.

She told NPR that there were three other black professionals

there and they tried to treat the leaders with respect

while hoping for the same treatment in return.

West stayed at Dalgrin for 42 years

and her contributions were remarkable.

In the 1960s, she participated in a study

showing that Pluto's motion is regular compared with Neptune.

But her most significant work came in the 1970s and 80s

when she helped develop the foundational mathematics for GPS.

What's fascinating is the complexity of what she accomplished.

West used intricate algorithms to account for variations

in gravitational, title, and other forces

that distort Earth's shape.

She programmed the IBM 7030 computer,

also known as stretch, to deliver increasingly refined calculations

for an extremely accurate model of Earth's shape,

specifically optimized for what ultimately

became the GPS orbit used by satellite.

Her work essentially created the mathematical framework

that allows GPS to function accurately.

Today, there are about 4 billion GPS users

worldwide according to Lockheed Martin.

Yet when asked about using GPS herself,

West told an MPR affiliate in 2020

that she used it on a minimal basis.

She preferred maps.

West's career wasn't widely recognized

until the 2016 publication of Margot Lee Shutterle's book Hidden Figures

and the Hollywood film based on it.

After that, the accolades came quickly.

To as inducted into the Air Force space

and missile pioneers Hall of Fame in 2018,

received the Webby Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021

and was honored with the Prince Philip Medal

by the UK's Royal Academy of Engineering.

She was pre-decessed last year by her husband of 57 years,

Ira, whom she met at the Naval Proving Ground.

The couple had three children and seven grandchildren.

Her family announced that she passed peacefully

alongside loved ones.

Gladys West's story reminds us that some

of the most important scientific contributions

come from unexpected places

and from people who had to overcome tremendous barriers.

From a childhood in Burl, Virginia during segregation

to reshaping how the entire world navigates.

Her legacy touches billions of lives every single day.

Every time someone uses GPS to find directions,

track a delivery, or navigate by sea or air,

they're benefiting from the mathematical foundations

Gladys West helped establish.

It's a powerful reminder that science is built

by people from all backgrounds

and that we should celebrate those contributions

while the pioneers are still with us.

And that wraps up today's episode of Astronomy Daily.

We've journeyed from SpaceX's ambitious satellite plans

to ancient star maps from solar observatories

at special points in space to stellar mysteries solved

from upcoming lunar missions to the legacy

of a GPS pioneer.

It's been quite a tour through the cosmos, Anna.

As always, we're grateful you joined us

for this exploration of space and astronomy news.

If you enjoyed today's episode,

please subscribe to Astronomy Daily

on your favorite podcast platform.

You can also find us on social media.

We're at Astro Daily Pod on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,

TikTok, YouTube, and Tumblr.

Visit our website at astronomydaily.io

for more space news and to explore our archive

of past episodes.

I'm Avery.

And I'm Anna.

Thank you for listening and we'll see you tomorrow

with more news from the final frontier.

Clear skies.

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