1 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:06,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:06,080 --> 00:00:15,360 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, we wasn't the stuff to blow 3 00:00:15,400 --> 00:00:19,040 Speaker 1: your mind. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Julie Douglas. Julie, 4 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 1: our good world are good culture. We have something of 5 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:24,480 Speaker 1: an addiction going on right now. We could say we're 6 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:30,440 Speaker 1: junkies and are junk that we're hooked on satellite. That's right, 7 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:33,800 Speaker 1: those eyes and the sky looking down at us, we 8 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:36,080 Speaker 1: need them. It's the good stuff. It's the bad stuff 9 00:00:36,360 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 1: fuelled every aspect of our life. Our phones are GPS systems, 10 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:46,920 Speaker 1: our Internet. Yeah, we grow increasingly dependent upon satellites to 11 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,520 Speaker 1: the point where to really understand all that they provide 12 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:52,280 Speaker 1: us with, you have to take them out of the equation. 13 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:55,080 Speaker 1: You have to sort of go the the go the 14 00:00:55,080 --> 00:00:58,200 Speaker 1: way of spring fever. That's short, where the guy wishes 15 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:02,240 Speaker 1: that springs didn't exist, and uh, and really the spring 16 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:05,040 Speaker 1: comes and says, all right, there are no springs, and 17 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:07,399 Speaker 1: and then the world falls apart. Uh. And it's a 18 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:11,960 Speaker 1: similar thing happens with satellites. So using this addiction model, uh, 19 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:14,640 Speaker 1: a junkie depends on his junk, and when that junk 20 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:17,640 Speaker 1: is no longer available, perhaps uh the supplier of said 21 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:21,040 Speaker 1: junk has been arrested, or um junkie has run out 22 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 1: of money with which to purchase said junk. Uh, then 23 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:27,919 Speaker 1: things began to fall into ruin and go into uh 24 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:31,440 Speaker 1: into into withdrawals and uh. And that's what we're gonna 25 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:33,559 Speaker 1: talk about in this episode. We're going to talk about 26 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:38,360 Speaker 1: what the would withdrawals would look like should our satellites 27 00:01:39,319 --> 00:01:41,600 Speaker 1: vanish from the sky. Yeah. I mean essentially we're talking 28 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: about is the day that the satellites died? Yes, and 29 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:46,840 Speaker 1: we're gonna get there. We're gonna talk about what that 30 00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:49,360 Speaker 1: might look like. But of course before we do that, 31 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:52,160 Speaker 1: we need to talk a little bit about satellites because 32 00:01:52,160 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: they really have changed the face of communication. They've helped 33 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 1: us to network in ways that we could have really 34 00:01:56,960 --> 00:02:01,000 Speaker 1: never dreamed of previous to nineteen five d seven, when 35 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:03,600 Speaker 1: it was still just an inkling of the possibilities of 36 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:05,800 Speaker 1: what satellite could do for us, what sort of information 37 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: and data they could provide us with. So you can say, 38 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 1: as a species, it's sort of upp to our game 39 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:15,239 Speaker 1: in terms of communication. Yeah, definitely. Now what is a satellite? 40 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: There's of course natural satellites, Uh, the moon is a satellite. 41 00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:21,840 Speaker 1: It's true. The Earth is essentially a satellite. I mean, 42 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:23,880 Speaker 1: all of this is fair game. But what we're talking 43 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 1: about here, of course, are artificial satellites. They performed some 44 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 1: sort of function for us. Yeah, I mean, satellite could 45 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:32,880 Speaker 1: be a machine that's uh, that's that's launched into space, 46 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 1: and it could be so massive, such as like say 47 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:39,680 Speaker 1: the International Space Station, or it could be a three 48 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 1: pound box that's sent up there for for a various 49 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:46,360 Speaker 1: data collection. Yeah, it could be something that's doing nothing 50 00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: other than sending a signal back to Earth and saying, hey, 51 00:02:48,560 --> 00:02:50,040 Speaker 1: look at me, I'm in space. Or it could be 52 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:53,480 Speaker 1: something that is doing some some really heavy analysis of 53 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:57,880 Speaker 1: weather patterns or even you know, analyzing the the the 54 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:02,399 Speaker 1: Earth's gravitational changes. It's true, um, and it's definitely given 55 00:03:02,480 --> 00:03:04,639 Speaker 1: us a deeper understanding of Earth. I mean, you had 56 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:07,720 Speaker 1: SPUNTI being the first satellite that was launched in seven 57 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: by the Soviet Union, and uh, since then, every satellite 58 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,040 Speaker 1: that has gone up has accumulated more and more data. 59 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: In fact, now we know what our atmosphere is truly 60 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: composed of satellite satellites absolutely, Uh, the amount of radiation 61 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,400 Speaker 1: that a manned or unmanned space flight would have to 62 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:29,520 Speaker 1: contend with. So this really was the precursor of the 63 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: space Age. It allowed us to collect enough information to 64 00:03:33,400 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: really plan for for for flights into space. Yeah, we 65 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: had to figure out what was out there. We had 66 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:40,680 Speaker 1: to we had to do the all these test runs. 67 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:42,640 Speaker 1: We had to. In other way, it's kind of like 68 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:45,560 Speaker 1: the anchor that we climbed up that we ascended to 69 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,640 Speaker 1: beginner space Age in earnest And it did kind of 70 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:52,240 Speaker 1: give us this big picture of what the Earth looks like, 71 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:54,640 Speaker 1: because again, previous to this, we just sort of had 72 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:57,720 Speaker 1: an inkling of what the Earth might look like, you know, 73 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,520 Speaker 1: suspended out there in space. But all sudden you had 74 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 1: satellites that were transmitting back data streams that could be 75 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 1: converted into colored pictures, and you get this blue marble 76 00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:13,840 Speaker 1: concept of Earth, this lustrous blue swirl that's just hanging 77 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 1: out there, and all of a sudden, we do have 78 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 1: a different picture of what it is to be hanging 79 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:20,960 Speaker 1: out in the universe. So let's talk a little bit 80 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:24,280 Speaker 1: about the the spent needles of our dependency. I stole 81 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:28,279 Speaker 1: that from you, but I think it's an apt metaphor because, uh, 82 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:32,080 Speaker 1: in an addics home, you may see various signs of 83 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 1: their addiction piling up in the corners. They're even addicted to, say, twinkies. 84 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:40,560 Speaker 1: You'll see Twinkie rappers just covering every available surface. And 85 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:42,440 Speaker 1: if you travel into orbit, you will of course find 86 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:46,839 Speaker 1: plenty of orbital and suborbital Twinkie rappers. It's true, there 87 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: are Twinkie rappers all over. We've littered them all over 88 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:51,919 Speaker 1: the place. Yes, we've gotten our data, and we love it, 89 00:04:51,960 --> 00:04:53,840 Speaker 1: and we need it, and we will continue to want it. 90 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:57,080 Speaker 1: In fact, it's pretty it's a growing business. Um But 91 00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: according to Richard mancowitz And is drawing on data from 92 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 1: Seller's Track, which is funded by the Center for Space 93 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:08,200 Speaker 1: Standards and Innovation. As of December, there are over thirteen 94 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:12,040 Speaker 1: thousand satellites in orbit and over twenty thousand, five hundred 95 00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 1: satellites have been decaying since nineteen fifty seven. So he 96 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:19,040 Speaker 1: says that if you look at the data carefully, they're 97 00:05:19,080 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: just under thirty satellites that are both functioning and in 98 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:26,160 Speaker 1: their correct orbit, compared to nearly ten thousand that are 99 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,719 Speaker 1: classed as debris, but they haven't decayed yet. So his 100 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:33,320 Speaker 1: estimate is that about seventy of the satellites orbiting the 101 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,280 Speaker 1: Earth are junk. Yeah, I mean if easy to fall 102 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:38,640 Speaker 1: into the trap of thinking that they're all going to 103 00:05:38,760 --> 00:05:42,200 Speaker 1: just eventually re enter the atmosphere. And you know, eventually 104 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:45,000 Speaker 1: is a big word. That's the thing. Um Spotnik one, 105 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:49,480 Speaker 1: for instance, UM burned up on January four night, so 106 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: it didn't stay up there that long. But then you 107 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:54,160 Speaker 1: have other bits that are that are that have stayed 108 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:55,680 Speaker 1: up there for a while and may continue to stay 109 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:58,680 Speaker 1: up there for uh centuries or even decades. Anything above 110 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: two thousand kilometers. They say we'll take a thousand years 111 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: to return to Earth. Think about that long since uh decayed, 112 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:08,840 Speaker 1: I mean in terms of its usefulness, but the orbit 113 00:06:08,880 --> 00:06:11,680 Speaker 1: itself will not decay for a thousand years, It's true. 114 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:14,160 Speaker 1: And you have a couple of choices. When you decommission 115 00:06:14,360 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 1: a satellite. You can move it into um an upper orbit, 116 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:22,039 Speaker 1: which is called the graveyard orbit, because you want it 117 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:25,600 Speaker 1: because farther away from from the planet. You want to 118 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:28,120 Speaker 1: get it away from the more useful orbits. Yeah, you 119 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:29,840 Speaker 1: want to get it out of the way of basically 120 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 1: other satellites, So you kick it up. There are a 121 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 1: couple of hundred kilometers and UM. This is also known 122 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:39,159 Speaker 1: as the L two lagrange point. So you can hang 123 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:40,920 Speaker 1: out there or and it can decay, or you can 124 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: move it into lower orbit and eventually it will just 125 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:47,359 Speaker 1: move into Earth and something like ten to its mass 126 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:51,400 Speaker 1: is going to um survive re entry. The most of 127 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:54,479 Speaker 1: it though, is just gonna blow up. And then there's 128 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:56,919 Speaker 1: you know, vast stretches of the Earth where there's no 129 00:06:57,000 --> 00:06:59,600 Speaker 1: danger of it actually hitting anybody that didn't make it 130 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:01,640 Speaker 1: all the way right because you have to do. There 131 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:03,920 Speaker 1: are ways to maneuver into positions so that it is 132 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:08,400 Speaker 1: as safe as possible. So that's a good indications. You 133 00:07:08,440 --> 00:07:12,040 Speaker 1: say the swinky wrappers that the evidence of our our 134 00:07:12,080 --> 00:07:17,480 Speaker 1: dependency on satellites. Now, what could possibly knock out all 135 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:19,800 Speaker 1: the satellites or knocked out a majority of the satellites 136 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:23,800 Speaker 1: are in some way impact our satellite array in a 137 00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: mean in a way that would actually impact life here 138 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 1: on Earth. There are basically three main scenarios. First, of course, 139 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:34,679 Speaker 1: is a massive solar store um. We've talked about this before. 140 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:37,800 Speaker 1: The the Sun is continually pumping out all of these 141 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:40,040 Speaker 1: waves going out of this energy, and then it new 142 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: and undergoes flares and surges, and it's possible for that 143 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:48,200 Speaker 1: material to impact the satellites themselves. Yeah, these are called 144 00:07:48,320 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 1: coronal mass ejections. We're talking about clouds of particles in 145 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:56,440 Speaker 1: the form of sometimes very rare ten billion ton ball 146 00:07:56,760 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 1: of plasmas just being injected out worthy Earth. So when 147 00:08:01,960 --> 00:08:04,280 Speaker 1: solar storms hit the Earth in a certain way, it 148 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:08,320 Speaker 1: can disrupt our magnetic field, and then that allows for 149 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:11,800 Speaker 1: strong electric currents in the upper atmosphere to induce currents 150 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:13,920 Speaker 1: on the ground. So that's when you begin to see 151 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 1: some sort of failures in our electrical grid happen. Yeah, 152 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:23,400 Speaker 1: so obviously also take out a majority of those satellites. Now, well, 153 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:27,440 Speaker 1: we'll talk more about, um the plausibility of this later. Yeah, 154 00:08:27,440 --> 00:08:30,960 Speaker 1: but that's definitely the extraterrestrial threat satellites. I mean, not 155 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:33,640 Speaker 1: counting an alien attack that watches them out. I like 156 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:35,120 Speaker 1: that one too, but we kind of have to loot 157 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:38,240 Speaker 1: that in into the same area, right. So Yeah, that's 158 00:08:38,240 --> 00:08:41,480 Speaker 1: one way that we could decrease our stash of satellites here. 159 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:45,960 Speaker 1: Another is a cyber attack. Yeah, definitely a terrestrial version 160 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:48,600 Speaker 1: of the threat, and certainly more in line with aliens 161 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:52,720 Speaker 1: attacking us, except us attacking ourselves. Uh, there's really not 162 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:54,440 Speaker 1: much you have to say about this one as to 163 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:57,440 Speaker 1: why it would happen. Packers attack stuff all the time 164 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 1: for varying numbers of reasons, ranging from you know, nationalistic 165 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:05,680 Speaker 1: reasons to um, you know, civil rights issues or you know, 166 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:08,800 Speaker 1: what have you, often just because they can. And we 167 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 1: have this h We have all these satellites up there, 168 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:15,000 Speaker 1: many of which are looped into a network. It's unvarying 169 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:17,960 Speaker 1: levels susceptible to attack, right because some of those satellites 170 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,839 Speaker 1: are are used by the military, UM, and they're they're 171 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:25,960 Speaker 1: streaming back data that's pretty sensitive, and so it goes 172 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:28,520 Speaker 1: without reason that a hacker could want to get into 173 00:09:28,559 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 1: that and and not only access that information, but maybe 174 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 1: even decommission that satellite. U the Terra e O s 175 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:38,120 Speaker 1: a M one satellite, which is used to study climate 176 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:42,440 Speaker 1: environmental changes, experienced nine or more minutes of interference in 177 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:44,720 Speaker 1: October two thousand eight. And this is according to a 178 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:49,559 Speaker 1: draft report by the US China Economic and Security Review Commission. 179 00:09:49,679 --> 00:09:51,839 Speaker 1: And apparently this has happened a couple of times since 180 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: where some of the satellites have been taken over by 181 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:57,040 Speaker 1: cyber hackers. So we know it's possible. There you go, 182 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:02,000 Speaker 1: and then of course another more or less terrestrial threat 183 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:05,079 Speaker 1: to our satellites space debris. And this just falls back 184 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:07,720 Speaker 1: in line again with not only the twinkies, but all 185 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:09,280 Speaker 1: the other stuff that ends up up there. We talked 186 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:11,400 Speaker 1: about space junk in the past. We just have a 187 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:14,960 Speaker 1: growing amount of kibble up there in orbit, speeding around 188 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:17,800 Speaker 1: at incredible speeds, and when it when they crash into 189 00:10:17,920 --> 00:10:20,920 Speaker 1: each other, stuff happens. You can also have a killer 190 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:25,680 Speaker 1: asteroid here take out satellites. Apotheus, which Neil de Grasse 191 00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:28,120 Speaker 1: Tyson has talked a lot about, is one of those 192 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:31,360 Speaker 1: asteroids that people are keeping an eye up because, as 193 00:10:31,400 --> 00:10:34,480 Speaker 1: he says, um it is large enough to fill the 194 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:38,839 Speaker 1: Rose bowl and on Friday, April nine, it will dip 195 00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:42,480 Speaker 1: below the altitude of our communication satellites. He says, if 196 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:45,920 Speaker 1: it's trajectory on that day passes within a narrow range 197 00:10:45,960 --> 00:10:49,440 Speaker 1: of altitudes called the keyhole, then the influence of the 198 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:52,240 Speaker 1: Earth's grabbing on his orbit will guarantee that seven years later, 199 00:10:52,360 --> 00:10:58,400 Speaker 1: in six it will hit the Earth. No that let's 200 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:00,120 Speaker 1: just kind of you know, look at this in a 201 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:03,160 Speaker 1: positive light. He says, there's a possibility it won't reach 202 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:07,760 Speaker 1: that keyhole area and and mess with the orbit. But 203 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: it's something to keep an eye on. Yeah, and certainly 204 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:12,360 Speaker 1: another reason that we have to track all of the 205 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:15,640 Speaker 1: near Earth objects that could potentially pose a threat to 206 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:19,040 Speaker 1: the planet itself or our satellite array. Um now, as 207 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:23,079 Speaker 1: far as space debric gosh, as far as terrestrial space degregos. 208 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:24,520 Speaker 1: It's also worth pointing out that a lot of these 209 00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:28,280 Speaker 1: satellites are also explosive. They have fuel on board because 210 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 1: they need to have a means of of going to 211 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:33,640 Speaker 1: a higher orbit or descending to a lower one, and 212 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:35,960 Speaker 1: therefore there's stuff on there that could blow up. And 213 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:37,920 Speaker 1: it does blow up sometimes, Yeah, they do, and they're 214 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:39,959 Speaker 1: not supposed to. But the fact of the matter is, 215 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:42,480 Speaker 1: if you're going to maneuver it into the graveyard orbit, 216 00:11:42,559 --> 00:11:44,439 Speaker 1: you need some fuel to get in there. So it 217 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:47,560 Speaker 1: stands to reason that there might be some fuel left over. Yeah, 218 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:49,520 Speaker 1: all right, we're gonna take a quick break and when 219 00:11:49,520 --> 00:11:52,320 Speaker 1: we come back, we'll actually run through some possibilities of 220 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:54,960 Speaker 1: how this would break down in the course of a 221 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:58,640 Speaker 1: day as satellites uh blink out in the sky above. 222 00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:09,400 Speaker 1: All right, we're back, and we are discussing what happens 223 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:12,520 Speaker 1: when the satellites fall? What happens when the satellites fail? Uh, 224 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:16,280 Speaker 1: we've grown so dependent upon them, on the data they 225 00:12:16,280 --> 00:12:19,920 Speaker 1: provide us with, on the on the communications network that 226 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:23,880 Speaker 1: they enable around the world. What happens when that goes away? Luckily? Uh, 227 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:26,520 Speaker 1: there's a wonderful article that we found that we're gonna 228 00:12:26,559 --> 00:12:29,959 Speaker 1: be referencing here. Uh, and it's by Richard Hollingham of 229 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:33,680 Speaker 1: BBC titled what would happen if all satellites stopped working? 230 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:36,920 Speaker 1: That's right. He actually went to an international conference on 231 00:12:36,960 --> 00:12:39,640 Speaker 1: space hazards and he listened to a series of speakers 232 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:43,840 Speaker 1: outlined doomsday scenarios, and so he thought, you know what, 233 00:12:45,200 --> 00:12:47,600 Speaker 1: to a nod to all of those out there who 234 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:54,199 Speaker 1: are in charge of space chunk and satellite communications, UM, 235 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:57,920 Speaker 1: I'm going to, like orson well, sort of compose this 236 00:12:58,559 --> 00:13:02,400 Speaker 1: article about if scenario what would happen if all the 237 00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:06,920 Speaker 1: satellites were wiped out? What would that withdrawal look like? 238 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:09,319 Speaker 1: And the first thing that he points out is it's 239 00:13:09,320 --> 00:13:11,880 Speaker 1: eight am that on the day that the satellites died. 240 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:14,160 Speaker 1: What happens you go to turn on the television set, 241 00:13:14,559 --> 00:13:17,960 Speaker 1: there's no Fox and Friends. Where Steve Doocey, where are 242 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:20,560 Speaker 1: the said these familiar faces of the two men and 243 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:23,600 Speaker 1: the blonde lady that that provide us with our mornings 244 00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:27,440 Speaker 1: joy and news, They're gone, just static. There should be 245 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:30,240 Speaker 1: a new show called Two Men and a Blonde Lady. 246 00:13:31,240 --> 00:13:34,400 Speaker 1: I'd watch that one. Uh. Yeah, email would work in 247 00:13:34,559 --> 00:13:38,480 Speaker 1: the Internet would seem okay, but your international phone calls 248 00:13:38,520 --> 00:13:42,960 Speaker 1: would fail. And uh, this this communication systems that ties 249 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:47,480 Speaker 1: the world together would begin to unravel. Um, so as 250 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:51,120 Speaker 1: he says, Hollingham Hands says, rather than shrinking, it would 251 00:13:51,160 --> 00:13:54,320 Speaker 1: seem as if the Earth was getting larger. Yeah. I 252 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:56,520 Speaker 1: thought that was a wonderful way to put it, because 253 00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:59,320 Speaker 1: in a sense, all of the satellites tying us together 254 00:13:59,440 --> 00:14:02,560 Speaker 1: do give us, uh a sense that we have a 255 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:07,000 Speaker 1: location that we're Um, there's a center to all of this. 256 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:11,360 Speaker 1: But take that away in its Yeah, and a number 257 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:14,240 Speaker 1: of things that would occur. For in since uh drones, 258 00:14:14,320 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 1: military drones flying overhead, they suddenly their operators lose contact 259 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:21,600 Speaker 1: with them. That's right. As you pointed out, there'd be 260 00:14:21,600 --> 00:14:26,160 Speaker 1: that loss of television radio programming, some radio programming. Um, 261 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:29,440 Speaker 1: there would be a failure of secure satellite communication systems 262 00:14:29,520 --> 00:14:33,280 Speaker 1: left for soldiers and ships and aircraft would be cut 263 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:36,480 Speaker 1: off from their commanders and vulnerable to attack. Yeah, and 264 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:39,360 Speaker 1: then as they suddenly find themselves vulnerable to attack, they 265 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:43,440 Speaker 1: might think, oh, who did this. I'm close to Nation X, 266 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:46,280 Speaker 1: maybe I should we should contact Nation X and find 267 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:47,800 Speaker 1: out what the deal is. You can't really get in 268 00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:50,120 Speaker 1: touch with Nation X because the satellites are down, so 269 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:53,440 Speaker 1: you end up you're not able to immediately diffuse potentially 270 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:57,040 Speaker 1: volatile situations. It's true you have world leaders who are 271 00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:00,000 Speaker 1: unsure of what steps to take or even what has happened. 272 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:04,920 Speaker 1: And and also think about those UM airline flights. They're 273 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:08,000 Speaker 1: in mid air at that very moment, the pilots aren't 274 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:11,720 Speaker 1: able to reach anybody. Uh, they know that something is awry, 275 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:15,120 Speaker 1: and then the passengers would be completely oblivious. Yeah, they 276 00:15:15,160 --> 00:15:17,840 Speaker 1: would just be happily oblivious on the plane while the 277 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: pilots trying to figure out how they're gonna land and 278 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:23,280 Speaker 1: where they're gonna land these things. Um. Meanwhile, down below, 279 00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:26,120 Speaker 1: you're gonna have without satellite phones, You're gonna have containerships 280 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:29,080 Speaker 1: in the Arctic, fishermen in the China see aid workers 281 00:15:29,080 --> 00:15:31,360 Speaker 1: in the Sahara. All of them just suddenly isolated from 282 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:34,880 Speaker 1: the rest of the world. There's one electronic lifeline that 283 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:37,920 Speaker 1: they had, you suddenly cut off from them. Um. Now, 284 00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:40,680 Speaker 1: as you said, email is gonna continue to work, Internet's 285 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:43,800 Speaker 1: gonna seem to work okay, but international phone calls are 286 00:15:43,800 --> 00:15:46,400 Speaker 1: gonna start failing. If you've gone into work that morning, 287 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:48,840 Speaker 1: your email is gonna still work all right, But if 288 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:51,400 Speaker 1: you had a call with somebody in the UK, call 289 00:15:51,520 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 1: with somebody even across the country, you're not necessarily gonna 290 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:57,480 Speaker 1: be able to make any contact with them. Now at 291 00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:01,360 Speaker 1: eleven o'clock, Hollingham says that we need to start thinking 292 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:04,480 Speaker 1: about how our infrastructure is held together by time. He's 293 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:08,880 Speaker 1: saying from time stamps on financial transactions to the protocols 294 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:12,200 Speaker 1: that hold the Internet together. Uh. He says, when these 295 00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:15,200 Speaker 1: packets of data passed between computers and they get out 296 00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:18,600 Speaker 1: of sink, the system starts to break down, and then 297 00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:23,120 Speaker 1: without accurate time, every network controlled by computers is at risk. 298 00:16:23,640 --> 00:16:26,200 Speaker 1: This talks about everything. Yeah, this falls into a line 299 00:16:26,200 --> 00:16:27,520 Speaker 1: with some of the stuff we talked about in our 300 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:31,600 Speaker 1: Nature of Time and Clocks episode. We're talking about how 301 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:34,320 Speaker 1: there are individuals out there who say we we really 302 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:36,560 Speaker 1: need to have like an Earth time, a solid Earth time, 303 00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:39,560 Speaker 1: And even though we don't have that in place, we 304 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:42,360 Speaker 1: essentially have it, or at least our machines essentially have 305 00:16:42,440 --> 00:16:45,360 Speaker 1: it in their ability to sink everything together and look 306 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:49,000 Speaker 1: at it in a given timescape. And as the satellites 307 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:52,520 Speaker 1: break down here, um Hollingham is is stating that you 308 00:16:52,520 --> 00:16:56,280 Speaker 1: would see the cracks appear, and then the cracks grow larger. 309 00:16:56,400 --> 00:17:00,000 Speaker 1: Suddenly all those lines on the map um suddenly may 310 00:17:00,120 --> 00:17:02,280 Speaker 1: since again in terms of what time it is here 311 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:06,719 Speaker 1: versus what time it is there. A drift begins to occur, right, 312 00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:09,560 Speaker 1: And that just reminded me about the time dilation that's 313 00:17:09,560 --> 00:17:13,440 Speaker 1: built into the algorithms for satellites when when they're trying 314 00:17:13,480 --> 00:17:16,040 Speaker 1: to sink everything together. So yeah, as you say, this 315 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:19,080 Speaker 1: drift begins. He says the first power cuts would come 316 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:22,800 Speaker 1: later in the evening as a transmission network struggled to 317 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:27,679 Speaker 1: balance the demand, and he says computerized water treatments, they 318 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:31,400 Speaker 1: would have engineers switching to manual backup systems, and then 319 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:35,199 Speaker 1: in major cities, traffic lights and railway signals would be 320 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:38,119 Speaker 1: defaulted to red. So all of a sudden, you know, 321 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:40,919 Speaker 1: you really get these very obvious signals that the world's 322 00:17:40,960 --> 00:17:43,159 Speaker 1: out of whack. So so the traffic is just going 323 00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:45,760 Speaker 1: to come to a standstill or it's gonna be a 324 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:48,640 Speaker 1: quagmire and uh, and people are gonna have trouble getting 325 00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:52,120 Speaker 1: to and from work that day. Then your phone service, 326 00:17:52,480 --> 00:17:55,600 Speaker 1: which was already kind of acting patchy, would finally fail 327 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:58,960 Speaker 1: in the late evening. So when we take away the phone, 328 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:01,400 Speaker 1: then you begin to cut a lifeline off of people here. 329 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:03,280 Speaker 1: That's when you begin to really see that this is 330 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 1: a very serious situation, um which meanwhile, our web searches 331 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:14,200 Speaker 1: are growing slower and slower for real. That's that's another 332 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:16,639 Speaker 1: thing that starts to happen. Well, because that's the interesting 333 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:19,280 Speaker 1: thing about those information packets, right because if you take 334 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:24,080 Speaker 1: down with satellite, that's um that that's influencing some Internet connections, 335 00:18:24,119 --> 00:18:27,640 Speaker 1: that Internet connection will find a different route to get 336 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:30,800 Speaker 1: that information to you. But as the system continues to 337 00:18:30,920 --> 00:18:35,040 Speaker 1: fail across the board, it has fewer and fewer resources 338 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:37,960 Speaker 1: or areas to connect to. And that's where you begin 339 00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:41,280 Speaker 1: to see, Um, the Internet and email began to fail 340 00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:46,520 Speaker 1: in a in a very big way, right all Right. 341 00:18:46,760 --> 00:18:51,840 Speaker 1: Obviously aircraft have been grounded at this point because hopefully 342 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:54,679 Speaker 1: anybody in the air has that they've actually landed somewhere, 343 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:57,879 Speaker 1: they've landed, but if they're not, if they haven't landed, uh, 344 00:18:58,040 --> 00:19:00,560 Speaker 1: they don't have access to the information that there could 345 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:03,160 Speaker 1: be some severe weather going on. That's right. We really 346 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:07,199 Speaker 1: grow to to depend upon accurate understandings of what the 347 00:19:07,240 --> 00:19:10,879 Speaker 1: weather is doing now. Certainly our prediction models continue to 348 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:13,680 Speaker 1: improve and have a fair amount of room for improvement, 349 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:17,240 Speaker 1: but we really grow to depend upon this this accurate 350 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:19,919 Speaker 1: snapshot of what the weather is doing now providing us 351 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:22,159 Speaker 1: with some some rather dependable data about what it's going 352 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:25,120 Speaker 1: to do in the immediate future. And that that affects 353 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:28,639 Speaker 1: everything from from what is the storm system doing that 354 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:31,800 Speaker 1: might turn into a hurricane, as to what storm systems 355 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:34,200 Speaker 1: may be in the in the path of a given flight. 356 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:36,560 Speaker 1: So how are you going to get into the airport 357 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:38,919 Speaker 1: when you don't know what kind of storm systems may 358 00:19:38,920 --> 00:19:40,520 Speaker 1: be in the path. And you take it for granted 359 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:43,280 Speaker 1: because everybody has heard that message that comes on the 360 00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:47,880 Speaker 1: pilots is using driven whom we are approaching some touches 361 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:52,200 Speaker 1: of turbulence. We're gonna take it down a couple of thousand, 362 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:56,320 Speaker 1: you know, and they don't have that information. They're flying 363 00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:59,119 Speaker 1: right into the eye of the hurricane or to some 364 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:02,560 Speaker 1: other storm, and as a result, you know, you're gonna 365 00:20:02,600 --> 00:20:07,560 Speaker 1: be jostled around. And assuming that you could survive that, 366 00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:10,199 Speaker 1: because I'm sure that there are many instances that a 367 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:12,280 Speaker 1: flight could go through the center of restorm and survive it, 368 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:16,200 Speaker 1: you're still gonna have passengers who are severely injured. Yeah, 369 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:17,920 Speaker 1: and then what if you have to land in Nebraska 370 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:20,840 Speaker 1: and then you're you're there forever because there's no taken 371 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:22,560 Speaker 1: back off again because the sate lights are down. How 372 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:24,920 Speaker 1: are you You're gonna have to walk? I guess you're 373 00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:28,119 Speaker 1: in that corn field. You can't take a train, It's true, 374 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:33,399 Speaker 1: But at least you've landed, presumably safely. Yeah. Now on 375 00:20:33,440 --> 00:20:36,240 Speaker 1: the other end of the world, you have travelers who 376 00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:38,399 Speaker 1: are stranded thousands of miles from home. And then we 377 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:40,879 Speaker 1: saw some of this at play, at least in the 378 00:20:40,920 --> 00:20:43,600 Speaker 1: grounding of flights with not eleven yes, and then again 379 00:20:43,640 --> 00:20:46,639 Speaker 1: to a very limited amount of time with the volcano 380 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:52,359 Speaker 1: eruptions in Iceland. People who grow to depend on a 381 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:55,840 Speaker 1: pretty systematic international travel and suddenly there's a halt, and 382 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:59,399 Speaker 1: people are just stuck somewhere, right, and the communication is 383 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:04,480 Speaker 1: completely out. So you you have um survived this harrowing 384 00:21:04,560 --> 00:21:08,200 Speaker 1: journey on the plane and you're in Nebraska in the cornfield, 385 00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:10,600 Speaker 1: or you're sitting somewhere on the other side of the 386 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:15,760 Speaker 1: world wondering what's going on with your friends and your families. Alright, 387 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:20,720 Speaker 1: things are beginning to look look pretty grim. And again 388 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:22,480 Speaker 1: it's not even a whole day that's past yet in 389 00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:25,600 Speaker 1: the scenario, uh that that the author lays out here. 390 00:21:25,640 --> 00:21:30,119 Speaker 1: So communications, transport, power, computer systems all been severely disrupted. 391 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,960 Speaker 1: Global businesses ground to a halt. Uh, and it's reaching 392 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:37,480 Speaker 1: the point where uh leaders and organizers having to worry 393 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:41,520 Speaker 1: about food supply chains. Yeah, because your food supply chains 394 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:44,160 Speaker 1: would begin to break down there and people are going 395 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:47,360 Speaker 1: to panic and they are going to try to get 396 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:51,080 Speaker 1: their food supplies for themselves built up. I imagine that 397 00:21:51,119 --> 00:21:53,680 Speaker 1: you begin to see some looting at this point, because 398 00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:57,879 Speaker 1: again you have uncertainty and uh, you know, there's there's 399 00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:03,120 Speaker 1: the point that this is the actual complete systems failure. 400 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:08,720 Speaker 1: So in the void of information, chaos begins to rain. Yeah. 401 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:13,840 Speaker 1: For instance, suddenly we can't monitor illegal logging in the Amazon, 402 00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:17,240 Speaker 1: you know, so it's suddenly, uh, you can just go 403 00:22:17,280 --> 00:22:19,639 Speaker 1: out and cut down whatever. And then it's also this 404 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:22,720 Speaker 1: has brought up in another article, but GPS technology is 405 00:22:22,800 --> 00:22:26,080 Speaker 1: used to uh used often by farmers nowadays to track 406 00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:28,720 Speaker 1: where their cows are. Suddenly these cows just can roam 407 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:32,640 Speaker 1: wherever they want. And also, uh, thirty rock yours think 408 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:36,119 Speaker 1: back to Tracy Jordan's and his his his ankle band 409 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:39,520 Speaker 1: that keeps him from leaving his house. Suddenly everyone that 410 00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:42,320 Speaker 1: is on the house arrest with their with their electronic 411 00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:45,000 Speaker 1: GPS bands, They're free to just roam the streets and 412 00:22:45,000 --> 00:22:49,040 Speaker 1: do whatever. But more to the point, civil unrest as 413 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,359 Speaker 1: food supply chains grow uncertain and uh and those in 414 00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:57,400 Speaker 1: power having to uh introduce emergency measures to maintain order. 415 00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:01,160 Speaker 1: So in the course of just uh under a day, 416 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:04,280 Speaker 1: we've already descended into kind of a new dark nag. Yeah, 417 00:23:04,320 --> 00:23:06,639 Speaker 1: I mean we haven't even really extrapolated that to to 418 00:23:06,760 --> 00:23:09,480 Speaker 1: what what might mean, you know, weeks from that period, 419 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:13,240 Speaker 1: because you would have backup generators that nuclear power plants 420 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:16,000 Speaker 1: that would have run down, and the electric pumps that 421 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:19,000 Speaker 1: supply water to cooling ponds where radioactive spent fuels are 422 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:22,440 Speaker 1: stored which shut off, So within weeks you would really 423 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:27,399 Speaker 1: begin to see, um, the entire infrastructure crumble. And what 424 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:29,760 Speaker 1: would that mean. I mean, in terms of dollars, it 425 00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:31,840 Speaker 1: would be I don't even think you could put a 426 00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:36,000 Speaker 1: price on that. But um, a rebuilding effort would take 427 00:23:36,119 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 1: years with that sort of full scale wipe out of satellites. Yeah, 428 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:43,760 Speaker 1: because again, we've built this system kind of piece by piece, 429 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:48,400 Speaker 1: and the elaborate system that we've grown to depend on. Absolutely. Yeah, 430 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:50,919 Speaker 1: and if that's and if that's taken away from us, 431 00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:54,880 Speaker 1: if if that fails due to some sort of extraterrestrial 432 00:23:54,920 --> 00:24:00,640 Speaker 1: accident or terrestrial accident or terrestrial attack, then the consequences 433 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:03,080 Speaker 1: could be pretty dire. Okay, So if you're feeling a 434 00:24:03,080 --> 00:24:06,720 Speaker 1: little bit freaked out, rest assured that this is highly 435 00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:10,080 Speaker 1: unlikely that every single satellite would be wiped out and 436 00:24:10,240 --> 00:24:17,080 Speaker 1: one fell swoop. So, yeah, we the coronal massage accidents 437 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:19,440 Speaker 1: are there or there a problem right because everyone's while 438 00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:22,399 Speaker 1: they do mess with the electromagnetic field, and they do 439 00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:26,800 Speaker 1: disrupt some satellite, but you would really have to have 440 00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:31,160 Speaker 1: a doomsday wad of plasma coming at you. And some 441 00:24:31,200 --> 00:24:34,040 Speaker 1: people say, hey, we're about do because something like a 442 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:37,240 Speaker 1: there was something called the Carrington event in which a 443 00:24:37,320 --> 00:24:40,960 Speaker 1: huge ball plasma came shooting at the Earth and um. 444 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:44,919 Speaker 1: So that was a really powerful coronal mass ejection, and 445 00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:48,600 Speaker 1: it over overloaded the telegraph wires, actually setting paper messages 446 00:24:48,640 --> 00:24:52,000 Speaker 1: on fire. So you imagine what it would do then 447 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:54,840 Speaker 1: to all of our various electronic devices. Yeah, but you 448 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:58,600 Speaker 1: can take comfort in knowing that for the most part, Uh, 449 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:02,080 Speaker 1: you know, these ejection sort of shoot out harmlessly into 450 00:25:02,119 --> 00:25:04,159 Speaker 1: other parts of the Solar System and they tend not 451 00:25:04,280 --> 00:25:07,440 Speaker 1: to hit the Earth. Yes, space is big, and the 452 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:10,080 Speaker 1: chances of us being right there in the bull's eye 453 00:25:10,280 --> 00:25:13,280 Speaker 1: pretty slim. Yeah. And then in terms of you know, 454 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:18,800 Speaker 1: cyber hacking, to have a across the board concerted effort 455 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:22,000 Speaker 1: that would take down every single satellite would would be 456 00:25:22,720 --> 00:25:25,719 Speaker 1: I would say, incredibly hard to pull off. Yeah, I'm 457 00:25:25,720 --> 00:25:27,879 Speaker 1: not going to see impossible there No, But the idea 458 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:30,159 Speaker 1: of like like a soul individual or even just a 459 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:34,920 Speaker 1: few individuals carrying out such a massive hacking, um too. 460 00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:38,199 Speaker 1: It's just it's it's not likely. And I have to 461 00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:40,280 Speaker 1: say in that instance, that would definitely be cutting off 462 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:42,560 Speaker 1: your nose despite your face if you are a cyber hacker, 463 00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:45,200 Speaker 1: because what do you have left to hack after that? Yeah? 464 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:47,400 Speaker 1: I mean I could see where somebody could you know 465 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:49,720 Speaker 1: where that would be their aim? You know, maybe your 466 00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:53,080 Speaker 1: your whole of things. You want to expose the vulnerability 467 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:55,520 Speaker 1: of our satellite dependency. Maybe you want us to go 468 00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:57,920 Speaker 1: cold turkey. You realize we've got a problem. So what 469 00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:00,640 Speaker 1: you're doing is gonna take all the twinkies away from 470 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:03,440 Speaker 1: it and then teach us some tough love. But but still, 471 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:05,480 Speaker 1: the chances of it happening are probably pretty slim. The 472 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:07,159 Speaker 1: chances of it of them being able to carry it 473 00:26:07,160 --> 00:26:09,560 Speaker 1: out are pretty slim, right, Or maybe you're just trying 474 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:15,840 Speaker 1: to get one million dollars. Yes, that's so restore satellite 475 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:18,919 Speaker 1: functionality exactly. That would would be a great Bond movie 476 00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:23,439 Speaker 1: uh plot, But like all great movie blond Bond movie plots, 477 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:26,119 Speaker 1: it doesn't necessarily match up with reality. True and space 478 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:30,320 Speaker 1: junk uh space debris asteroids. Again, you'd have to have 479 00:26:30,359 --> 00:26:33,359 Speaker 1: something that would wipe out every single style. It would 480 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:35,040 Speaker 1: be difficult to do. It would have to be like 481 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:39,159 Speaker 1: the ultimate pool crack shot. You know where you know 482 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:40,800 Speaker 1: where the where they're just able to sink all the 483 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:43,280 Speaker 1: balls at once. It's just in there are a lot 484 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:46,040 Speaker 1: of balls up there, so it would it would be 485 00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:48,640 Speaker 1: rather difficult to pull that off. It would be I'd 486 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:52,320 Speaker 1: be a lot of trigonometry there, left pocket, right pocket, 487 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:55,679 Speaker 1: left pocket. So there you have it. Um. I think 488 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:57,680 Speaker 1: it's it's fascinating to look at this data and to 489 00:26:57,880 --> 00:26:59,960 Speaker 1: and to really think long and hard about our depend 490 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:03,720 Speaker 1: that's the on technology, what vulnerabilities are there. It reminds 491 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:07,359 Speaker 1: me a lot of Stephen King's short story Trucks, but 492 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:10,680 Speaker 1: more to the point, Stephen King's movie adaptation, his own 493 00:27:10,720 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: movie adaptation, Maximum Overdrive, in which all the vehicles and 494 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:19,840 Speaker 1: the electronics and and all Man's technological devices rise up, 495 00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:23,760 Speaker 1: uh and and revolt and start running him over, at 496 00:27:23,760 --> 00:27:26,680 Speaker 1: which point I said, oh, yeah, that kids movie cars. Yeah, 497 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:28,439 Speaker 1: well it's kind of it's kind of like cars, except 498 00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:31,760 Speaker 1: with more uh yeah, except less believable. I guess that's 499 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:33,960 Speaker 1: the thing, because it was it's a rather silly movie. 500 00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:35,679 Speaker 1: I love the short story that the movie is is 501 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:37,920 Speaker 1: just is wonderful in its own right, but very silly. 502 00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:39,439 Speaker 1: But it but it gets down to some of the 503 00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:42,000 Speaker 1: same stuff here. We grow to depend up on all 504 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:45,320 Speaker 1: of this uh, these these artifacts that we've created, and 505 00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:47,119 Speaker 1: then what happens when they fail us, what happens when 506 00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:49,639 Speaker 1: they turn against us, or that there is quit obeying 507 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 1: us all together. Well, one of the things that I 508 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:54,280 Speaker 1: won't go too deeply into because it could be a 509 00:27:54,280 --> 00:27:57,560 Speaker 1: podcast episode onto itself. But the fact of the matter 510 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:01,160 Speaker 1: is that US satellites are in rapid decline and there 511 00:28:01,200 --> 00:28:04,159 Speaker 1: are very few plans to replace them. And some of 512 00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:07,639 Speaker 1: this has to do with UM governmental red tape, and 513 00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:10,080 Speaker 1: some of it just has to do with budget cuts. 514 00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:12,159 Speaker 1: But the fact of the matter is is that we 515 00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:15,119 Speaker 1: will begin to see a huge decline in the amount 516 00:28:15,119 --> 00:28:17,760 Speaker 1: of satellites, and some of those satellites are weather satellites, 517 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:20,520 Speaker 1: and we'll have to start to depend on other countries 518 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:24,200 Speaker 1: for that information. And moreover, there may not be as 519 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:29,680 Speaker 1: sophisticated UM satellites going up or satellite information coming back 520 00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:34,119 Speaker 1: at US. So again that's for another doomsday scenario, but 521 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:39,600 Speaker 1: it's probably worth mentioning as we extrap late what satellites 522 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:43,080 Speaker 1: might mean to us in fifty years. All right, well, 523 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:46,720 Speaker 1: let's call the robot over and uh, assuming that the 524 00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:48,920 Speaker 1: satellites still work, then the road it should be able 525 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:53,400 Speaker 1: to provide us with some listener mail. All right, So 526 00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:57,520 Speaker 1: we recently did an episode about cubicles, cube death, open 527 00:28:57,560 --> 00:28:59,959 Speaker 1: floor office plans, and we receive a lot of replies 528 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,680 Speaker 1: from people that that do work in cube farms, UH, 529 00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:04,920 Speaker 1: several of which mentioned that they listened to our podcast 530 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:07,320 Speaker 1: on the way to work and we're very depressed rolling 531 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:11,160 Speaker 1: into their their cubicles. So I wanted and we received 532 00:29:11,160 --> 00:29:12,920 Speaker 1: a lot of cool emails from people where they're just 533 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:15,000 Speaker 1: laying out with their workspaces. But this one, I think 534 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:18,040 Speaker 1: is UH is worth reading UH and sharing with everyone 535 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:21,440 Speaker 1: because it provides kind of a possibility of hope for 536 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:24,840 Speaker 1: anyone in a cube environment. So we heard from Joseph. 537 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:27,640 Speaker 1: Joseph writes in and he's from Jonesboro, Arkansas. Rights and 538 00:29:27,640 --> 00:29:30,000 Speaker 1: this is Hi, Robert and Julie touching on the last 539 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:32,640 Speaker 1: two podcasts. While at my day Jibe, I work in 540 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 1: a five by four work area cleaning screens used for 541 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:39,440 Speaker 1: screen printing. The only way I keep from going insane 542 00:29:39,720 --> 00:29:42,360 Speaker 1: is drink a bunch of coffee, listen to allowed music 543 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:44,800 Speaker 1: or stuff to blow your mind, and use the ink 544 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:47,320 Speaker 1: from the screens to paint the wall behind me. I 545 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:50,240 Speaker 1: have painted the whole wall and need suggestions on what 546 00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:52,320 Speaker 1: to do next. Uh. And he sent a picture with 547 00:29:52,360 --> 00:29:54,160 Speaker 1: this too, where it's like all these different like cubes 548 00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:57,600 Speaker 1: and then some like red handprints as well, and it 549 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:00,440 Speaker 1: looks really really cool. Uh. And I think that that's 550 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:03,960 Speaker 1: just one cool idea if your employers allow you to 551 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:07,840 Speaker 1: do everything you can to transform that workspace into some 552 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:12,640 Speaker 1: sort of a personal space that means something and it's beautiful. Yeah, 553 00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:14,560 Speaker 1: I mean some self expression going on there. I don't 554 00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:16,720 Speaker 1: think we could get away with that. With the painting, yeah, 555 00:30:16,880 --> 00:30:18,400 Speaker 1: I don't know we could get away with a lot. 556 00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:20,200 Speaker 1: I think at this point we don't. I mean, you 557 00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:23,320 Speaker 1: don't really have a paintable surface in our every surface 558 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:27,720 Speaker 1: is paintable. Now you're you're breaking out the fabric paint here. No, yeah, 559 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:31,040 Speaker 1: every surface is paintable. Okay, Yeah, I think it could 560 00:30:31,080 --> 00:30:34,840 Speaker 1: work all right, Yeah, ask for suggestions about what to paint. Um, 561 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:37,400 Speaker 1: I don't know. I mean I feel like his aesthetic 562 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:39,760 Speaker 1: is kind of uh, you know, abstract and minimalists, so 563 00:30:39,760 --> 00:30:42,000 Speaker 1: I don't feel like I can suggest, hey, why don't 564 00:30:42,040 --> 00:30:44,160 Speaker 1: you paint a squid attacking a bone because the boat, 565 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:46,360 Speaker 1: because that's not really what he's doing. But what about 566 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:51,760 Speaker 1: a concept like love or time, or a particular place, 567 00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:54,680 Speaker 1: a particular vista. I remember in the Silence of the Lambs. 568 00:30:54,680 --> 00:30:57,600 Speaker 1: Remember Hannibal Elector's painting like scenes of Florence in his 569 00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:00,720 Speaker 1: cell I remember, like he paints a window looking out, 570 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:05,760 Speaker 1: So you could always do that. Um but but no, 571 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:08,520 Speaker 1: uh yeah, I think I think the important thing about 572 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:10,920 Speaker 1: about your cube is to is to give it some 573 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:13,959 Speaker 1: sort of personality, make it a little less dreadful and 574 00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,160 Speaker 1: and and more to the point, get out of it. 575 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:18,600 Speaker 1: Whenever you can go out for a walk, go smell 576 00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:21,240 Speaker 1: some dirt. As we discuss in the other episode from 577 00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:24,160 Speaker 1: that week. That's right, that that there is highly important 578 00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:28,680 Speaker 1: for your body to try to actually fortify itself against 579 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,280 Speaker 1: the world, strengthen itself. All right, let's hear from one 580 00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:35,440 Speaker 1: other listener. Rachel writes in and says, Robert and Julie, 581 00:31:35,480 --> 00:31:37,200 Speaker 1: I was listening to some older episodes when I heard 582 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:41,200 Speaker 1: your episode Unfinished Education. Wow, what a fascinating educational system 583 00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:43,800 Speaker 1: and podcast. I played it from my thirteen year old daughter, 584 00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:45,720 Speaker 1: who now wants to move to Finland. She had a 585 00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:48,560 Speaker 1: project this past school year for seventh grade called do Something, 586 00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:50,520 Speaker 1: in which she had to do something about an issue 587 00:31:50,560 --> 00:31:53,640 Speaker 1: she felt strongly about is about created a survey about 588 00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:56,200 Speaker 1: homework and had fifty kids take it. She found that 589 00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:59,520 Speaker 1: the amount of homework correlated to the average income in 590 00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:02,880 Speaker 1: the town and the graduation rate. She studied those results 591 00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:06,160 Speaker 1: and then wrote a letter to the President, Secretary of Education, 592 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:09,440 Speaker 1: and govern superintendent and principle. She has heard back from 593 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:12,200 Speaker 1: our governor, but no one else. Isabel's conclusions match a 594 00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:15,760 Speaker 1: lot of what sin Finland has implemented. I'm inserting her 595 00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:18,160 Speaker 1: letter now. Thank you for continuing to give us great 596 00:32:18,160 --> 00:32:23,360 Speaker 1: discussion topics, Rachel. And that letter is beautifully written and 597 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:26,960 Speaker 1: it makes the point so well about how teaching needs 598 00:32:27,000 --> 00:32:29,280 Speaker 1: to be done in the schools and kids need to 599 00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:32,680 Speaker 1: be supported in schools and you can't just rely on 600 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:35,720 Speaker 1: the families to essentially enhance the learning for a child. 601 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:37,600 Speaker 1: Because what she said is that if you look at 602 00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:39,880 Speaker 1: the study, and you look at the informal study that 603 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:43,040 Speaker 1: she took, that it does correlate with this idea that 604 00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:47,560 Speaker 1: families that are living in um higher scio economic brackets 605 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:52,600 Speaker 1: are able to provide more opportunity outside of school for 606 00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:55,760 Speaker 1: for for better learning. And again her point is really 607 00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:58,640 Speaker 1: well taken that the learning should take place in school, 608 00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:02,320 Speaker 1: and I was just I have to say, um, really 609 00:33:02,360 --> 00:33:05,880 Speaker 1: inspired by that and very impressed. And now I feel 610 00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:09,280 Speaker 1: like I should do something excellent. Well mission accomplished then 611 00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:12,640 Speaker 1: all right. Well, as for the rest of you, if 612 00:33:12,640 --> 00:33:14,400 Speaker 1: you have something you would like to add, we would 613 00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:16,760 Speaker 1: love to hear from you being about a past episode. 614 00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:19,200 Speaker 1: Those are always up for a discussion, or if you 615 00:33:19,280 --> 00:33:23,080 Speaker 1: have something you want to share about satellite doom scenarios, 616 00:33:23,680 --> 00:33:26,760 Speaker 1: about our dependency on satellites. But how prepared are you 617 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:30,160 Speaker 1: for the loss of satellites? How would it impact your life? 618 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:32,360 Speaker 1: You know, I couldn't help but think about that. As 619 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:35,560 Speaker 1: we were preparing this, uh this podcast episode, I would 620 00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:37,240 Speaker 1: started thinking like how much food do I have in 621 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:42,560 Speaker 1: the house? Um? Not enough to survive the Santa scenario? 622 00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:44,120 Speaker 1: I think so? Yeah. And I think that if you 623 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:46,560 Speaker 1: look at the sort of scenario a year out, you 624 00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:48,840 Speaker 1: will see that there is a measure of stability that 625 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,320 Speaker 1: comes online with people. But it wouldn't be Corna McCarthy's 626 00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:55,520 Speaker 1: the road like the next day, No, but you would 627 00:33:55,760 --> 00:33:57,600 Speaker 1: you know, a year year out you would be living 628 00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:02,040 Speaker 1: an entirely different life that was probably more community driven, 629 00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:05,560 Speaker 1: because that's when you really began to see that the 630 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:09,360 Speaker 1: human species has been so successful because of the cooperative effort. 631 00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:14,680 Speaker 1: It's not rugged individualism that has allowed us to to 632 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:17,960 Speaker 1: take our position in the world. Yeah, and what would 633 00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:19,719 Speaker 1: happen to the last season of Magnet? Would we ever 634 00:34:19,719 --> 00:34:21,600 Speaker 1: get to see it? No? Man? Or would it? Would 635 00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:23,840 Speaker 1: it just be like a story that would be told 636 00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:27,160 Speaker 1: in different towns, and like John Ham would travel around 637 00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:30,360 Speaker 1: from village to village with a with a bindle stick 638 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:32,400 Speaker 1: and he would he would tell you the tale of 639 00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:35,600 Speaker 1: the final since Magnet. That would be pretty great. Uh yeah, 640 00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:37,200 Speaker 1: I was about to say that there would probably be 641 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:39,920 Speaker 1: some sort of myth making going on about what happened. 642 00:34:41,680 --> 00:34:43,880 Speaker 1: All right, So where do you find us? All the 643 00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:46,000 Speaker 1: usual places you go Stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. 644 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:48,080 Speaker 1: That's our main website is when we throw everything we do. 645 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:50,480 Speaker 1: You can find us in social media. We're on Facebook, 646 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:52,480 Speaker 1: We're on Tumbler, Stuff to Blow your Mind on both 647 00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:54,000 Speaker 1: of those, and on Twitter we go by the handle 648 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:56,120 Speaker 1: blow the Mind. And you can also drop us a 649 00:34:56,160 --> 00:35:03,840 Speaker 1: line and below the mind at Discovery dot com. For 650 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:06,440 Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics, visit how 651 00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:13,240 Speaker 1: staff works dot com.