Ep. 582: Building Bigger Black Holes

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Did you hear the news? Nobel Prizes for black holes. We know there are stellar mass black holes and supermassive black holes, but how do you get from one to the other? How do black holes get more massive?

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Ep. 581: Other Kinds of Novae

Don’t ever accuse us of not comprehensively covering every kind of exploding star. This week we gather up all the leftover ways that stars partially or fully explode, or don’t. Probably. Enjoy.

Ep. 580: Exploding Dwarfs

You’d think that a white dwarf star is the end of a stellar life. It’s all downhill from there. A long, slow cool down towards the end of everything. But in some situations, even dead stars can get exciting again, briefly becoming some of the brightest objects in the Universe. And just maybe, the last exciting thing that ever happens in the Universe.

Ep. 579: White and Black Dwarfs

I’ve got some bad news for you: stars die. At some point in the next few billion years or so, our Sun is going to start heating up, using up all the fuel in its core, and then eventually die, becoming a white dwarf. It will then slowly cool down to the background temperature of the universe, becoming a black dwarf.

Ep. 578: Life on Venus?!?

Have you heard the big news? Of course you have, evidence of phosphine on Venus which could be a biosignature of life on our evil twin planet. There have been a lot of surprising stories about Venus, so let’s get you all caught up.

Ep. 577: Mars in Opposition

Every two years or so, Mars lines up nicely with the Earth. It only takes two minutes to communicate with rovers, you can see the polar ice caps in a small telescope, and it’s the best time to send spacecraft to the red planet.

Ep. 576: Summer Stargazing Special

It’s time, once again, for Astronomy Cast to go on hiatus. You’ve got a couple of months on your own to explore the night sky. Before we say goodbye, though, we’d like to make a few suggestions.

Ep. 575: Observing the Moon

As amateur astronomers, we curse the Moon every month. Seriously, why doesn’t someone get rid of that thing? This week, something occurred to us. What if we actually pointed our telescopes at the Moon? What would we see?

Ep. 574: Trojan Asteroids

We imagine the asteroid belt as the place where all the rocks hang out in the Solar System, but there are two huge bands of asteroids that orbit the Sun with Jupiter called the Trojans. And soon, we might actually get a chance to see them up close.

Ep. 573: Exoplanet Atmospheres

Not only have astronomers discovered thousands of exoplanets, but they’re even starting to study the atmospheres of worlds thousands of light-years away. What can we learn about these other worlds, and maybe even signs of life.

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A U.S. Navy Boeing EA-18G Growler has carried Raytheon’s ALQ-249 pod aloft for the first time. The ALQ-249 is also known as the Next Generation Jammer Mid-Band (NGJ-MB), and is the first of three systems that will eventually make up the Growler’s NGJ electronic attack suite. The pod features opening side doors to admit air for power generation and cooling.

The single NGJ-MB pod was test-flown from NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, on August 7, carried under the starboard outer wing pylon of a Growler from the Navy’s Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX)-23 “Salty Dogs.” The initial sortie was a Safety of Flight (SOF) trial to check that the pod could be carried safely by the EA-18G, in turn permitting follow-on testing of the system itself.

“There was a lot of discussion on how the NGJ-MB pod would affect how the Growler handles, and it was exciting to have the jet feel like any other flight,” reported Lieutenant Jonathan Williams, VX-23 test pilot. “We have a great test team to thank for making today happen and I look forward to seeing how the Growler team brings out the full potential of the NGJ-MB pod.”

Development of the NGJ is managed by Naval Air Systems Command’s PMA-234 Airborne Electronic Attack (AEA) systems program office. The goal is to replace the current ALQ-99 Tactical Jamming System (TJS), which first saw action in 1972 during the Vietnam War when carried by Grumman EA-6B Prowlers. The EA-18G can carry up to five TJS pods and, while the system has been regularly updated, it has limitations when faced with modern air defense systems such as the Russian S-400.

“The AEA community has been relying on the ALQ-99 TJS for decades,” said Lieutenant Jonathon Parry, NGJ-MB Aeromechanical Project Officer. “Gone are the days of isolated surface-to-air missile systems that operate on a small frequency spectrum and do not integrate into a larger integrated air defense system. Modern adversaries are developing complex emitters that use advanced techniques to defeat legacy jamming. NGJ-MB will provide new capabilities to the fleet to ensure spectrum dominance against current and future threats.”

NGJ is based on the latest digital technologies and employs directional jamming by active electronically scanned array (AESA) antennas. Raytheon’s NGJ-MB is the first of the new systems to enter testing. When it is fielded it is expected that one ALQ-249 will be carried under each wing, with a single TJS pod remaining on the centerline until the second element of NGJ is ready for service.

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That element—the low-band NGJ-LB pod—is under development by Northrop Grumman and L3Harris, with preliminary demonstration of existing technology ground trials having begun in May. The Northrop Grumman pod design appears visually similar to the TJS, including a ram air turbine on the front. A contract for further development is expected in the fall, as is the selection of a prime contractor. Australia—currently the only other operator of the Growler—joined the NGJ project in July, signing cooperation agreements that covered both NGJ-MB and NGJ-LB.

Fielding of the low-band pod has been accelerated through additional development funding. It has significant application in disrupting and jamming emerging low-band sensors that are being developed to counter stealthy aircraft. The final increment of the NGJ system—the high-band NGJ-HB pod—has yet to be contracted.