{"podcast":{"title":"Astronomy Daily: Space News Updates","slug":"astronomy-daily-space-news-updates-5658676","podcast_index_feed_id":5658676,"rss_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/show/5648921/episodes/feed","website_url":"http://www.astronomydaily.io","image_url":"https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/02745632cd7290e11e1db551f5b33f1c.jpg","author":"bitesz.com","episode_count":822,"summary":"Join hosts Anna & Avery for daily Space & Astronomy news, insights, and discoveries. Give us 10 minutes and we'll give you the Universe! For more visit, our website and sign up for the free daily newsletter and check out our continually updated newsfeed. www.astronomydaily.io . Follow us on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, YouTube and TikTok ...just search for AstroDailyPod . Enjoy! Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates--5648921/support .","last_synced_at":"2026-06-18T00:17:09.380827+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates-5658676"},"episode":{"title":"Artemis II: Three Days to Go — Plus Mars Sample Return Is Officially Dead","slug":"artemis-ii-three-days-to-go-plus-mars-sample-return-is-officially-dead","published_at":"2026-03-30T09:25:02+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates-5658676/artemis-ii-three-days-to-go-plus-mars-sample-return-is-officially-dead","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates-5658676","url":"http://astronomydaily.io","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/mgln.ai/track/op3.dev/e/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/70989534/artemis_ii_three_days_to_go_plus_mars_sample_return_is_officially_dead.mp3","summary":"Episode Summary With Artemis II just three days from launch, today's episode delivers a landmark space moment alongside the sad news that Mars Sample Return's Earth Return Orbiter has been formally cancelled by ESA. We also cover SpaceX's enormous Transporter-16 rideshare launch, Cornell's definitive list of 45 best-bet habitable exoplanets, a paradigm-shifting discovery about pulsar radio emissions, and the first confirmed evidence of lightning-like activity on Mars. Stories Covered • Artemis II — NASA confirms zero technical issues, launch on track for April 1 at 6:24 p.m. EDT • ESA Earth Return Orbiter — formally cancelled after ESA member states vote to end the programme; Airbus in transition talks • SpaceX Transporter-16 — 119 payloads launched to Sun-synchronous orbit from Vandenberg this morning • 45 Habitable Exoplanets — Cornell/Carl Sagan Institute catalog published in MNRAS; TRAPPIST-1, Proxima Centauri b among top targets • Millisecond Pulsar Radio Emissions — signals confirmed originating beyond the light cylinder for the first time • Martian Lightning — MAVEN data reveals whistler wave consistent with electrical discharge during a 2015 dust storm Source URLs • Artemis II launch updates: https://www.space.com/news/live/artemis-2-nasa-moon-mission-launch-updates-march-29-2026 • ESA Earth Return Orbiter cancellation: https://europeanspaceflight.com/esa-member-states-call-for-cancellation-of-earth-return-orbiter/ • SpaceX Transporter-16: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/03/transporter-16/ • 45 Habitable Exoplanets (ScienceDaily): https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260325005926.htm • Millisecond Pulsar discovery (Phys.org): https://phys.org/news/2026-03-radio-edge-extreme-stars-surfaces.html • Mars Lightning / MAVEN (Phys.org): https://phys.org/…","meta_description":"Episode Summary With Artemis II just three days from launch, today's episode delivers a landmark space moment alongside the sad news that Mars Sample Retu…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":855,"processing_state":"processed","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates-5658676/episodes/artemis-ii-three-days-to-go-plus-mars-sample-return-is-officially-dead/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-space-news-updates-5658676/artemis-ii-three-days-to-go-plus-mars-sample-return-is-officially-dead.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}