'Hey, Let's Go to the Moon' — Artemis II Launch Day

Launch day has arrived. In this episode of Astronomy Daily, Anna and Avery countdown to tonight's historic Artemis II launch — humanity's first crewed lunar mission since 1972 — and explore the dramatic stories unfolding alongside it: a sungrazing comet faces its moment of truth just three days from perihelion; astronomers raise urgent alarms over plans for one million new satellites; the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS leaves its open-data legacy; and fascinating new science unpacks the hellish reality of Venus and a creative low-tech solution for mapping the Moon's interior. Story References Story 1: Artemis II Launch •       NASA Artemis II Mission Hub: nasa.gov/mission/artemis-ii •       NASA Live Coverage (NASA+, YouTube, Amazon Prime) — begins 7:45 AM EDT April 1 •       Launch window: 6:24–8:24 PM EDT Wednesday April 1 (09:24–11:24 AEDT Thursday April 2) •       Crew: Reid Wiseman (Commander), Victor Glover (Pilot), Christina Koch, Jeremy Hansen (CSA) •       Mission duration: 10 days, splashdown April 10 off San Diego Story 2: Comet MAPS •       C/2026 A1 (MAPS) perihelion: April 4, 2026 at ~14:23 UTC •       Perihelion distance: ~160,000 km above Sun's surface (solar corona passage) •       Kreutz sungrazer family — related to Great Comet of 1106 •       Nucleus estimated ~400m diameter (JWST MIRI observation, Feb 7 2026) •       Best-case post-perihelion brightness: magnitude -5 to -10 •       Source: Sky & Telescope, EarthSky, Universe Today, Wikipedia Story 3: Satellite Megaconstellations •       SpaceX proposal: 1,000,000 satellites (AI orbital data centres) — FCC filing Jan 30, 2026 •       Reflect Orbital proposal: 50,000 mirror satellites — FCC filing July 31, 2025 •       IAU, RAS, and ESO have all filed formal FCC objections •       Nature study (Dec 2025): 96%+ of future space telescope exposures affected if constellations completed •       Hubble: up to 1/3 of images contaminated •       Source: Universe Today, Astronomy Magazine, Nature Story 4: 3I/ATLAS Open Data •       NASA open data archive now available: science.nasa.gov/solar-system/comets/3i-atlas •       Key finding: 3I/ATLAS unusually rich in methanol vs hydrogen cyanide •       Observed by 12+ NASA missions including Hubble, JWST, TESS, SPHEREx, MAVEN, Perseverance •       Jupiter flyby: March 16, 2026 at 0.358 AU •       Source: NASA Science, Space.com, NRAO Story 5: Venus •       Surface temperature: 464°C average •       Atmospheric pressure: 92× Earth (equivalent to ~1km ocean depth) •       Longest spacecraft survival: ~2 hours (Soviet Venera probes) •       Source: Universe Today, April 1 2026 Story 6: Lunar Optical Fibre •       Two new journal papers propose telecom-grade optical fibre for lunar seismic mapping •       Could map deep interior and identify lava tube locations •       Lava tubes: potential natural shelters for future astronauts •       Source: Universe Today, April 1 2026

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