1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,920 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 2 00:00:03,160 --> 00:00:08,880 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 3 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:17,440 Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello everyone, 4 00:00:17,480 --> 00:00:19,680 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Polette 5 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: and I am an editor at how stuff works dot com. 6 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:25,320 Speaker 1: Sitting across from me as usual, senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 7 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: Hey there, all right, so today we are going to 8 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:32,879 Speaker 1: talk about stuff what beepsy stuff? What beeps? What we 9 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,839 Speaker 1: shoot off into space to hit the red planet that 10 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: is near us sometimes near us And well it's funny 11 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:43,760 Speaker 1: because there there is another science podcast around here somewhere. 12 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:48,560 Speaker 1: Stuff to blow your mind. Yeah, we're not talking about 13 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:52,320 Speaker 1: them because we decided, well occasionally we talked about the 14 00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: same stuff because we're fascinated by it, and we decided 15 00:00:55,960 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: that we didn't care if they talk about this. There's overlap, 16 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:04,200 Speaker 1: because we wanted to talk about the Mars rover. Yes, 17 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:07,479 Speaker 1: and and specifically we're talking about the Curiosity rover, which 18 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:12,080 Speaker 1: successfully touched down on the surface of Mars, despite the 19 00:01:12,120 --> 00:01:14,959 Speaker 1: fact that the way of delivering said rover to the 20 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:18,280 Speaker 1: surface of Mars was I think the scientific term is 21 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:23,040 Speaker 1: absolutely freaking crazy. I was gonna say nuts, but that'll work. 22 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:28,479 Speaker 1: That's that's the short version of the full scientific term. Um. Yeah, 23 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 1: And we want to talk about why is it such 24 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,319 Speaker 1: a big deal, why is it so hard to get 25 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: to Mars and sort of talk about some of the 26 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:38,720 Speaker 1: historical missions that led up to Curiosity as well as 27 00:01:39,120 --> 00:01:44,399 Speaker 1: the Curiosity mission itself. So, um, do you let's say that, 28 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:47,680 Speaker 1: let's say we're talking about the success failure rate of 29 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: missions to Mars. Um depending not pleasant to talk about, 30 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: depending upon how you define success or failure. Uh. One 31 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:02,040 Speaker 1: of the more common statistics I've seen, or are figures 32 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: I've seen, is that twenty three out of thirty eight 33 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:09,639 Speaker 1: missions sent to Mars failed in some way. Yeah, all right, 34 00:02:10,440 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 1: which gives it a pretty dismal success rate. Are you 35 00:02:13,480 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: Are you speaking of all missions to marrows? So anybody 36 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 1: who's ever shot something at the Red planet? Anyone anyone 37 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: on Earth? Okay, we just we can't just pointing that out. 38 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 1: We can't really talk about anyone from outside of Earth. 39 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: We don't know. Good point, but I meant not the 40 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: United States. Of course. We are located in the United States, 41 00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:34,680 Speaker 1: And I just wanted to point out that you're not 42 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 1: talking you're talking at Earthling. The United States success failure 43 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:43,359 Speaker 1: rate is better. It's thirteen successes out of eighteen tries 44 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:47,919 Speaker 1: prior to curiosity, I think it is. It is important 45 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 1: to point out too, that the United States has been 46 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: later to the let's throw stuff at the red planet party, 47 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 1: and so maybe part of the failures of the Soviet 48 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: Union is well, part of them is due to the 49 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: fact that the Soviet Union is no more. But when 50 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:07,680 Speaker 1: they were very active at this, they were maybe not 51 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:10,160 Speaker 1: so good at it. They were the probably be better 52 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:11,600 Speaker 1: at it now. They were the only ones doing it 53 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:13,799 Speaker 1: at the time they were. So you might say, well, 54 00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:16,480 Speaker 1: why is the why is this success rates so low? 55 00:03:16,720 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: On Mars is hard, it's it's hard to get to 56 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:22,560 Speaker 1: and and here's the Moon might be a little closer. Yeah, 57 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:25,560 Speaker 1: let's I'll give you some figures here. So the average 58 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:29,120 Speaker 1: distance between Earth and the Moon is about two hundred 59 00:03:29,120 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 1: thirty eight thousand, nine hundred miles or three four thousand, 60 00:03:33,680 --> 00:03:36,880 Speaker 1: four hundred kilometers. That's about how far it is from 61 00:03:36,880 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 1: Earth to the Moon. And it takes a few days 62 00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:42,680 Speaker 1: for us to send something to go land on the Moon. So, 63 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: for example, astronauts aboard and Apollo Capsule. Take a few 64 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:49,240 Speaker 1: days to get there, and to get there in a 65 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 1: few more days to get back. Um, but that's that's doable. 66 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 1: We did do it, so clearly it's doable. It's a vacation. 67 00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:03,520 Speaker 1: Getting someone to Mars, getting anything to Mars takes a 68 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: lot more time. Now. Part of that is because the 69 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 1: distance between Earth and Mars is not constant. And the 70 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: reason for that is that you know, both planets are 71 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:17,400 Speaker 1: going around the Sun, right, but they're going at different 72 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 1: speeds and their orbits are different sizes. So there are 73 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:27,480 Speaker 1: times when Earth and Mars are aligned and they are 74 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: about as close as they possibly can be. And there 75 00:04:31,120 --> 00:04:33,320 Speaker 1: are other times where Earth is on one side of 76 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:35,320 Speaker 1: the Sun and Mars is on the other side of 77 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:37,440 Speaker 1: the Sun and they're about as far apart as they 78 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:43,080 Speaker 1: possibly can be. So the distance varies dramatically. At the closest, 79 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:48,040 Speaker 1: Earth and Mars are about thirty three million, nine hundred 80 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:52,640 Speaker 1: thousand miles apart, or fifty four million, six hundred thousand kilometers, 81 00:04:52,680 --> 00:04:56,240 Speaker 1: So to compare again to the Moon, the Moon was 82 00:04:56,360 --> 00:05:00,800 Speaker 1: two eight thousand, nine hundred miles away, more Ours thirty 83 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:05,400 Speaker 1: three million, nine hundred thousand miles away. So that's not 84 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:08,600 Speaker 1: a day trip way further, and that's that it's closest 85 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:13,559 Speaker 1: at its furthest away Mars is about two hundred forty 86 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:18,280 Speaker 1: nine million, one hundred sixty thousand miles away or four 87 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:22,440 Speaker 1: hundred one million kilometers away. So if you're gonna make 88 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:26,200 Speaker 1: a mission to Mars of any kind, um, then you 89 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:29,359 Speaker 1: need to do a lot of thinking about it and 90 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:33,120 Speaker 1: and planning beforehand, because you need to decide, Okay, what 91 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: are we gonna send there. We're gonna send a rover, um, 92 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:38,840 Speaker 1: and how how much is that gone away? Well, it's 93 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: going to weigh about this much? How much you know? Rocketude? 94 00:05:42,279 --> 00:05:44,280 Speaker 1: Do we need to throw at it? Okay? So you 95 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:47,240 Speaker 1: got your You've got your rocket tude and your This 96 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:49,960 Speaker 1: just makesic me think like some sort of nineteen eighties 97 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:55,320 Speaker 1: side scrolling video games. I'm going to write that, um 98 00:05:55,560 --> 00:05:57,279 Speaker 1: and you're over. You know what, you know what you 99 00:05:57,320 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: wanted to do, you know how to get it there? Uh? 100 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:02,960 Speaker 1: You start having to think about all sorts of other stuff. Okay, well, 101 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:07,479 Speaker 1: so how much gravity? Uh does Mars have? How much 102 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:09,920 Speaker 1: difference in the weight is there going to be once 103 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:13,080 Speaker 1: this this rover gets there? How are you know how 104 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:16,360 Speaker 1: much atmospheric interference is going to be there. Okay, so 105 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:19,160 Speaker 1: you're gonna have to plan how long it's gonna take 106 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:22,839 Speaker 1: for you to shoot this thing into space and get 107 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:24,599 Speaker 1: to Mars, and how it's going to stop when it 108 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:26,480 Speaker 1: gets there. Oh, and then you have to take a 109 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 1: new account. If you know roughly how long it's going 110 00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:32,279 Speaker 1: to take, where are the two planets going to be. Yeah, 111 00:06:32,320 --> 00:06:35,240 Speaker 1: you have to figure out when it's from there and go, Okay, 112 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,120 Speaker 1: they're gonna be at their closest here, so we have 113 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:41,320 Speaker 1: to launch it then to make that happen. Technically, you 114 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:44,240 Speaker 1: even have to launch it before then because you have 115 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:48,000 Speaker 1: to do what's called a transfer orbit. So so by 116 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:50,279 Speaker 1: the let's let's say, let's say we've got to the point. 117 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:53,119 Speaker 1: By the way, it takes about two years for Earth 118 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:55,120 Speaker 1: and Mars to line up so that they are at 119 00:06:55,120 --> 00:06:57,520 Speaker 1: their closest, and then it will take another two years 120 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: before they are at that same position relative to one another. 121 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:06,720 Speaker 1: So there's a two year gap between when uh, your 122 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:09,279 Speaker 1: closest when you're not. And close is important because that 123 00:07:09,360 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: determines how much fuel you're going to need to get 124 00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: whatever it is you're sending to Mars. There, and fuel 125 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:20,120 Speaker 1: is heavy because we depend on you know, uh, these 126 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:24,480 Speaker 1: these chemical fuels that are you know, these solid chemical 127 00:07:24,520 --> 00:07:26,960 Speaker 1: fuels that that weigh a lot. They give off a 128 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:30,240 Speaker 1: lot of energy and they are about as efficient as 129 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:36,120 Speaker 1: we possibly can be with chemical uh fuel, But um yeah, 130 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:40,160 Speaker 1: their weight factors into the whole calculation. So you want 131 00:07:40,160 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: to use as as little fuel as possible to get 132 00:07:43,440 --> 00:07:48,000 Speaker 1: your your spacecraft to Mars to be as efficient as 133 00:07:48,000 --> 00:07:50,600 Speaker 1: you possibly can be. This is also why it's really 134 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:53,240 Speaker 1: difficult to talk about a manned mission to Mars. I'll 135 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,360 Speaker 1: get to that in a second. But um, so you 136 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:59,800 Speaker 1: when you when Earth and Mars are closest together, if 137 00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:02,920 Speaker 1: you were to launch at that point, well, you know, 138 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 1: you can't just point the rocket at Mars where Mars 139 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:08,520 Speaker 1: is right now, because it is not gonna be there 140 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:12,520 Speaker 1: by the time the spacecraft would have made its way 141 00:08:12,560 --> 00:08:15,520 Speaker 1: to that point. You know, both planets are still moving 142 00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:18,920 Speaker 1: around the Sun, so your spacecraft would be going to 143 00:08:18,960 --> 00:08:21,480 Speaker 1: where Mars used to be, not to wear Mars is 144 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:23,559 Speaker 1: going to be. So you actually have to planet out 145 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:27,000 Speaker 1: ahead of time to make sure you are being as 146 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:30,080 Speaker 1: economic as possible with your fuel use. So yeah, a 147 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: paraphrase the great one. You have to launch the rocket 148 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:34,079 Speaker 1: at where the planet's going to be. Yeah, yeah, you 149 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 1: gotta shoot for where it will be, not for where 150 00:08:36,160 --> 00:08:38,319 Speaker 1: it is. So I'm sorry, go ahead, I was just 151 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:41,880 Speaker 1: gonna say. So, essentially, there is a lot of thought 152 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:45,320 Speaker 1: that has to go into this before you even build 153 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:47,840 Speaker 1: the rocket, before you even build the rover. You really 154 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 1: have to think about what you need to do to 155 00:08:51,520 --> 00:08:55,320 Speaker 1: make it happen. And so you know, when you shoot 156 00:08:55,400 --> 00:08:59,840 Speaker 1: something at the Moon, the factors are lessened somewhat by 157 00:08:59,840 --> 00:09:03,800 Speaker 1: the distance and and the proximity of the moon. You 158 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:06,280 Speaker 1: know what, you that the orbit and all those things 159 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:11,520 Speaker 1: are are are lesser and the more complex a project gets, 160 00:09:11,640 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 1: you know, the more factors you have to deal with. 161 00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:15,680 Speaker 1: And it's just that that's going to make it more 162 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:19,000 Speaker 1: difficult to reach Mars than it is to reach the Moon. 163 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:21,680 Speaker 1: And if you were trying to reach Pluto, for example, 164 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:25,440 Speaker 1: the factors get even more difficult. I mean, Pluto's got 165 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: such an odd orbit anyway. So I mean this is 166 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:33,800 Speaker 1: this is you know, this isn't rockets. It is rocket science. 167 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:38,560 Speaker 1: So it's it's complex, not brain surgery. So the yeah, 168 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:40,800 Speaker 1: so it takes about it takes about between seven and 169 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:44,120 Speaker 1: eight months to get from Earth to Mars using the 170 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:47,720 Speaker 1: methods that we have available to us today. There are 171 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 1: scientists who have suggested that we look into using a 172 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:56,160 Speaker 1: nuclear powered propulsion system in order to get from Earth 173 00:09:56,240 --> 00:10:00,960 Speaker 1: to Mars, which would significantly reduce the way of your 174 00:10:01,400 --> 00:10:04,000 Speaker 1: vehicle because you wouldn't have to have so much chemical 175 00:10:04,040 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 1: fuel aboard. But then there are other problems of course 176 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:10,040 Speaker 1: with the idea of the nuclear propulsion system, especially if 177 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:12,520 Speaker 1: you're going to use some sort of chemical propulsion to 178 00:10:12,600 --> 00:10:15,760 Speaker 1: get you off the the surface of the Earth into 179 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:19,040 Speaker 1: low Earth orbit before you engage the nuclear propulsion system. 180 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:22,360 Speaker 1: Having explosives next to a nuclear device makes people nervous. 181 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:25,840 Speaker 1: I don't know why. There's also the possibility that people 182 00:10:25,880 --> 00:10:31,199 Speaker 1: have said of of building the spacecraft in lowerth orbit, 183 00:10:31,360 --> 00:10:33,400 Speaker 1: so you would have space missions that would go out 184 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:36,280 Speaker 1: build this craft and lower Earth orbit, and then you 185 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:40,080 Speaker 1: solve the problem of having to escape Earth's gravity. Uh. 186 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:44,120 Speaker 1: You engage the nuclear propulsion system then, and that also 187 00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:46,560 Speaker 1: gets around it. At any rate, so you've got about 188 00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:49,240 Speaker 1: seven to eight months to get to Mars, depending on 189 00:10:50,360 --> 00:10:55,479 Speaker 1: exactly what you're sending there and and the timing involved. Ah, 190 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:58,439 Speaker 1: this is and here's the reason why a manned mission 191 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:01,400 Speaker 1: to Mars would be really, really cult Let's say that 192 00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:04,040 Speaker 1: we sent Let's say we we built the spacecraft that 193 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:07,920 Speaker 1: that is capable of carrying a party of about six 194 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:11,360 Speaker 1: astronauts to Mars. That tends to be about the number 195 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 1: of crew members that is considered ideal. UH. This comes 196 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:18,520 Speaker 1: from NASA, and NASA says that ideal number is somewhat 197 00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:21,280 Speaker 1: reached by you want to have enough of mix of 198 00:11:21,280 --> 00:11:26,880 Speaker 1: people so that you can balance out any personality issues. 199 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:29,800 Speaker 1: You also want to have enough so that you can 200 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:34,559 Speaker 1: represent multiple nationalities because you have to have a lot 201 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:37,920 Speaker 1: of partnerships with other countries in order for these projects 202 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:40,920 Speaker 1: to come through. So there's a political element to it 203 00:11:40,960 --> 00:11:44,280 Speaker 1: as well. UM. So, let's say we've built the ship 204 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:47,959 Speaker 1: that could hold six people, UH, that can hold all 205 00:11:48,000 --> 00:11:51,080 Speaker 1: the supplies they would need to get to Mars and back. 206 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:55,880 Speaker 1: It would still take thirty two months from the time 207 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:58,520 Speaker 1: you launched to the time you touched down back on 208 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:01,240 Speaker 1: Earth to do am Ours mission. And the reason for 209 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:03,520 Speaker 1: that is that because it takes seven to eight months, 210 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:06,920 Speaker 1: you know, assuming that you're going for pure fuel economy. Again, 211 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:10,560 Speaker 1: to limit the weight of your spacecraft takes seven to 212 00:12:10,559 --> 00:12:12,200 Speaker 1: eight months for you to get to Mars. By the 213 00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:15,040 Speaker 1: time you land on Mars, the Mars and the Earth 214 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 1: are no longer in that ideal situation where you can 215 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:21,839 Speaker 1: easily get from one to the other. In fact, at 216 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:25,120 Speaker 1: that point, by the time the Curiosity Rover landed on 217 00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:28,040 Speaker 1: the surface of Mars, Mars was further away from the 218 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:32,520 Speaker 1: Earth than the Earth was to the Sun. So by 219 00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:35,160 Speaker 1: the time you land, the Earth is further away from 220 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:37,680 Speaker 1: you than the Sun would be if you were still 221 00:12:37,679 --> 00:12:40,840 Speaker 1: on Earth. So you have to wait for that timing 222 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:42,840 Speaker 1: to be right again so that you can launch from 223 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:46,240 Speaker 1: Mars and get back to Earth. That takes almost two years, 224 00:12:46,679 --> 00:12:48,679 Speaker 1: so from the time you leave to the time you 225 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:50,800 Speaker 1: get back thirty two months past, so that's a that's 226 00:12:50,840 --> 00:12:53,880 Speaker 1: a very long mission, and that during that whole time 227 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:56,360 Speaker 1: you would also have to be able to to not 228 00:12:56,440 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 1: only provide all the resources your astronauts would need to 229 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:03,360 Speaker 1: stay alive on the surface of Mars, which not a 230 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:07,920 Speaker 1: very friendly planet for us, not too terribly accommodating. It's 231 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:12,120 Speaker 1: not the worst, but it's not it's not the best either. 232 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:14,280 Speaker 1: You would also have to figure out how to protect 233 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:17,600 Speaker 1: them from things like radiation. The longer you're out in space, 234 00:13:18,040 --> 00:13:20,520 Speaker 1: the more likely you are to encounter various forms of 235 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:23,480 Speaker 1: radiation that we are protected from here on Earth due 236 00:13:23,520 --> 00:13:27,360 Speaker 1: to factors like their's atmosphere and its magnetic field. So 237 00:13:27,400 --> 00:13:28,800 Speaker 1: you'd have to figure out how do you protect the 238 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:31,280 Speaker 1: astronauts from things like gamma radiation out in space so 239 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:35,640 Speaker 1: that they don't turn into Incredible Hulk or cosmic race 240 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:38,680 Speaker 1: so they don't come back as the Fantastic Six, because 241 00:13:38,679 --> 00:13:41,440 Speaker 1: there would be two more than the four. Um. I 242 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:43,160 Speaker 1: also thought you were going to point out that there 243 00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:46,400 Speaker 1: need to be enough people aboard so that when the 244 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:50,280 Speaker 1: aliens do start bursting out of them that you know 245 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:52,160 Speaker 1: there's somebody left at the end of Yeah, you have 246 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:54,080 Speaker 1: to have that dramatic person at the end so they 247 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:56,040 Speaker 1: can come back and tell the story and and and 248 00:13:56,400 --> 00:14:01,920 Speaker 1: blame the corporation from the documentary Alien um the uh. Yes, 249 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:03,400 Speaker 1: So there are there are a lot of factors that 250 00:14:03,440 --> 00:14:05,400 Speaker 1: make it really really hard for us to send a 251 00:14:05,559 --> 00:14:09,680 Speaker 1: manned mission to Mars, which is why the missions that 252 00:14:09,679 --> 00:14:12,560 Speaker 1: we've sent to Mars so far have been unmanned missions. 253 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:18,240 Speaker 1: And uh even those have not had a great success rate. 254 00:14:18,679 --> 00:14:21,800 Speaker 1: Although again the United States success rate is significantly higher 255 00:14:21,840 --> 00:14:25,240 Speaker 1: than if you were to to think of the entire world, UH, 256 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:29,000 Speaker 1: which is mainly the USSR or SO Union at the time, 257 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:34,520 Speaker 1: UM now would be Russia and the various countries around Russia. UH. 258 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:39,160 Speaker 1: The Japan also has attempted to send missions to Mars, 259 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:42,520 Speaker 1: and there was I think a European mission as well. 260 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:49,920 Speaker 1: So the the first attempt to send a mission to Mars, 261 00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:53,320 Speaker 1: an unmanned mission to Mars was in nineteen sixty by 262 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:58,600 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union and it was called corrobl four KO R, A, B, 263 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:03,800 Speaker 1: L and R in the in our alphabet. I don't 264 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:06,280 Speaker 1: read Ceilic, so I couldn't tell you the other version. 265 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:09,560 Speaker 1: But um, yeah, that was in nineteen sixty. It did 266 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:12,280 Speaker 1: not even it didn't reach Earth orbit, so that was 267 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:17,240 Speaker 1: a failure early on. It did not um even make 268 00:15:17,280 --> 00:15:20,200 Speaker 1: it into lower orbit, much less out into Mars. I 269 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:23,120 Speaker 1: actually saw that one listed as Mars Nick Mars Nick 270 00:15:23,600 --> 00:15:27,160 Speaker 1: interest s n I k uh, so this is the 271 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:31,440 Speaker 1: information I got was from NASA, So I was going 272 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:33,680 Speaker 1: from an article and wired, so, yeah, this is this 273 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:36,480 Speaker 1: is from NASA. So they had to actually that went 274 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:40,640 Speaker 1: around the same time. Corrabl four and five according to NASA, 275 00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:43,120 Speaker 1: but I'm sure I had different names in the Wired article. 276 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:48,280 Speaker 1: The first attempt by the United States was in nineteen 277 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:52,320 Speaker 1: sixty four with the Mariner three UM, which was it 278 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:54,440 Speaker 1: was supposed to be a fly by mission. So this 279 00:15:54,520 --> 00:16:00,240 Speaker 1: is a spacecraft that's supposed to pass by Mars and 280 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:03,440 Speaker 1: take photos as it goes by. Uh. That one was 281 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 1: also a failure. The the shroud failed to jettison, so 282 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:13,000 Speaker 1: it did not make it to Mars. But shortly thereafter, 283 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:17,280 Speaker 1: the Mariner four was a successful fly by mission and 284 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 1: it returned twenty one images of Mars to Earth. So UH, 285 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:24,360 Speaker 1: the United States first attempt was a failure, but the 286 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:28,359 Speaker 1: second attempt succeeded. UM. There were a lot of attempts 287 00:16:28,400 --> 00:16:34,040 Speaker 1: since then. UH. Some of them, many of them were flybys, UM. 288 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:37,800 Speaker 1: Some of them were meant to be orbit ters. UH. 289 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:42,160 Speaker 1: A lot of launch failures, a lot of orbits that 290 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:48,400 Speaker 1: were obtained, but then the device failed before it could 291 00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:54,320 Speaker 1: really retrieve a lot of information. The first success really 292 00:16:54,480 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 1: for the Soviet Union UM was the Mars five which 293 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:04,520 Speaker 1: was in nineteen seventy three, and that was that returned 294 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:07,960 Speaker 1: sixty images of the planet and it but it only 295 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:13,040 Speaker 1: lasted nine days. Yeah, Mars to actually attempted to put 296 00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:17,040 Speaker 1: a lander on the surface, but not so much with 297 00:17:17,080 --> 00:17:21,160 Speaker 1: the success. Yeah, the orbiter actually arrived into the orbit 298 00:17:21,160 --> 00:17:25,240 Speaker 1: of Mars, but yeah, the lander did not did not 299 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:28,800 Speaker 1: land successfully. One of the challenges again that I had 300 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:32,120 Speaker 1: read about, especially with the recent coverage on curiosity again 301 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:35,040 Speaker 1: recent as of the time or recording this um, is 302 00:17:35,119 --> 00:17:40,160 Speaker 1: that the the atmosphere of Mars is very very unlike 303 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:44,280 Speaker 1: that of Earth. It's very thin. Yes, so you know, 304 00:17:44,359 --> 00:17:47,359 Speaker 1: if you think about, uh, for example, the Space Shuttle 305 00:17:47,440 --> 00:17:52,679 Speaker 1: coming back in or the Mercury and gemin emissions. I 306 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:55,639 Speaker 1: love doing that because Jonathan wins Is every time I 307 00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:58,840 Speaker 1: see geminy, some of the astronauts called it that though, Uh, 308 00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:01,480 Speaker 1: you know, using the heat sheet and coming in and 309 00:18:01,520 --> 00:18:03,800 Speaker 1: having the heat shield, you know, burning as it comes 310 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:07,600 Speaker 1: through the Earth's atmosphere. Uh, Mars's atmosphere does not act 311 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:11,800 Speaker 1: as a slower downer, not not as much. It does. 312 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:15,000 Speaker 1: It does slow down the vehicle, but not as much yet. 313 00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:17,119 Speaker 1: Think I was going to say that, Okay, well you 314 00:18:17,119 --> 00:18:18,840 Speaker 1: said and as you said that, you said it wasn't 315 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:21,119 Speaker 1: a slower downer. I went to correct, Well, not as 316 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:22,560 Speaker 1: I was going to say, not as much as it 317 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:28,440 Speaker 1: does here, and with gravity being so different there too. 318 00:18:29,359 --> 00:18:33,920 Speaker 1: Um it is those are our factors that the the 319 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:38,920 Speaker 1: scientists have to take into account. Um. I am not mistaken. 320 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:40,840 Speaker 1: You know there have been times when we tried to 321 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:44,240 Speaker 1: use a big cushiony bouncy ball to try to protect 322 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:46,960 Speaker 1: something and it didn't work out to But we have 323 00:18:47,119 --> 00:18:53,239 Speaker 1: had rovers land using that approach. Um, it's an air 324 00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:57,160 Speaker 1: airbag approach is really what it isn't airbags? Uh? Well, yes, 325 00:18:57,240 --> 00:18:59,639 Speaker 1: the the atmosphere on Mars is thinner that it is 326 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:03,000 Speaker 1: on Earth, and it does not slow entry vehicles down 327 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:05,160 Speaker 1: to the same extent as we would have here on Earth. 328 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:07,760 Speaker 1: So you have to come up with other ways of 329 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 1: slowing your injury vehicle entry vehicle down, uh, if you 330 00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:15,920 Speaker 1: don't want to go boom on the surface of the planet. 331 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:18,240 Speaker 1: And there have been a lot of different attempts to 332 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:22,040 Speaker 1: do that. So previous attempts involved using parachutes, which can 333 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:24,119 Speaker 1: slow you down a little bit, but even then the 334 00:19:24,160 --> 00:19:28,280 Speaker 1: atmosphere is so thin that you're going uh. They for example, 335 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:32,840 Speaker 1: the Curiosity rover deployed the largest supersonic parachute NASA has 336 00:19:32,840 --> 00:19:35,679 Speaker 1: ever built, which wayed I think a hundred pounds total 337 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:39,320 Speaker 1: that was that was able to slow down the vehicle 338 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:42,760 Speaker 1: to two miles per hour. Uh, And I don't have 339 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:46,040 Speaker 1: the kilometers per hour conversion. They're right in front of me. 340 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:50,040 Speaker 1: So I apologized for that. But anyway, even at that speed, 341 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:53,280 Speaker 1: there was no way the rover could land and maintain integrity. 342 00:19:53,280 --> 00:19:55,879 Speaker 1: It would have smashed to little, tiny pieces. So they 343 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:58,360 Speaker 1: had to find another way of slowing down. Uh. There 344 00:19:58,359 --> 00:20:02,560 Speaker 1: are other elements literally on Mars that make this difficult. 345 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,120 Speaker 1: One of the potential things you could do is use 346 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:10,760 Speaker 1: rockets to slow down your your entry vehicle. But the 347 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:13,200 Speaker 1: closer you get to the surface of the planet, the 348 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:16,160 Speaker 1: more those rockets are going to disturb the dust that's 349 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 1: on the surface. That dust can cause lots of problems. 350 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:24,080 Speaker 1: If you have sensitive scientific equipment. This equipment might get 351 00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:26,879 Speaker 1: gummed up by dust. The dust could damage it so 352 00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:30,960 Speaker 1: that it's unusable, which means that you might land successfully, 353 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:34,560 Speaker 1: but you can't actually retrieve any data because your instruments 354 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:37,920 Speaker 1: are fouled by dust. Um The dust itself could also 355 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:42,879 Speaker 1: be corrosive, so there's some real problems there. So you 356 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:44,800 Speaker 1: have to figure out, well, if you can't just use rockets. 357 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:49,000 Speaker 1: Then you have to find some other balancing features so 358 00:20:49,080 --> 00:20:53,200 Speaker 1: that you can lower the rover itself onto the surface 359 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:55,679 Speaker 1: without getting the rockets so close to the surface that 360 00:20:55,720 --> 00:21:00,040 Speaker 1: they start to disturb the dust about KOs peract of 361 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:04,360 Speaker 1: twenty two kilometers per hour, thank you so uh in 362 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,080 Speaker 1: some cases the way that the rovers we have landed. Now, 363 00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:11,320 Speaker 1: we we've also launched orbiters that just orbit Mars and 364 00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:15,480 Speaker 1: take uh scientific measurements from orbit. So we've got some 365 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:19,040 Speaker 1: of those in orbit already. UM. In fact, we've got 366 00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:21,760 Speaker 1: a couple that we launched not too long ago, we 367 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:27,040 Speaker 1: being the United States. UM. The the there's the Mars 368 00:21:27,080 --> 00:21:30,320 Speaker 1: Reconnaissance Orbiter, which was launched in two thousand five and 369 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:34,080 Speaker 1: uh it's already returned more than twenty six terra bits 370 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:40,600 Speaker 1: of data about the planet. There's also the Odyssey Mars Odyssey, 371 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:44,400 Speaker 1: which was launched in two thousand one, UM, and both 372 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:47,560 Speaker 1: of those have contributed a lot to our scientific knowledge. 373 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:51,639 Speaker 1: The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has aboarded a special camera called 374 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:55,960 Speaker 1: the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment or high RISE, and 375 00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:59,399 Speaker 1: the high Rise actually caught a great photo of the 376 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:02,680 Speaker 1: Curia the rover as it was landing with the parachute deployed, 377 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:06,080 Speaker 1: so you can actually see the parachute. You can see 378 00:22:06,119 --> 00:22:10,040 Speaker 1: the capsule that contained the rover. You can if you 379 00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:12,119 Speaker 1: look really carefully, you can even see the heat shield 380 00:22:12,200 --> 00:22:15,920 Speaker 1: that was jettisoned off the bottom of the rover. We'll 381 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:19,440 Speaker 1: talk more about that whole procedure in just a minute. UM. So, 382 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:22,240 Speaker 1: one of the things you could do is you use 383 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:25,840 Speaker 1: rockets to slow yourself down further from the parachute, so 384 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:28,440 Speaker 1: the parachute gets you down to a certain speed, the 385 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:30,199 Speaker 1: rockets can slow you down a little bit more. And 386 00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:32,840 Speaker 1: then as you get closer to the surface, you need 387 00:22:32,920 --> 00:22:35,320 Speaker 1: to find a way of lowering the rover itself so 388 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:39,600 Speaker 1: that the rockets don't disturb the dust too much. One 389 00:22:39,640 --> 00:22:42,719 Speaker 1: way of doing that is to lower the rover uh 390 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:45,760 Speaker 1: to essentially drop it with all these air bags around it, 391 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:47,679 Speaker 1: which cushioned the blow, and it lands and then it 392 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:50,240 Speaker 1: retrieves the air bags and or or emerges from the 393 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:53,879 Speaker 1: air bags and continues on its mission. That's how the 394 00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:59,000 Speaker 1: smaller rovers um landed from the smaller ones being things 395 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:02,240 Speaker 1: like the Spirit and the Opportunity, UH, the Phoenix Lander, 396 00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:07,600 Speaker 1: things like that used those sort of approaches because um, 397 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:09,919 Speaker 1: they were they were small enough where it wasn't that 398 00:23:11,240 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: it wasn't as huge a challenge. With the Curiosity Rover, 399 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:17,800 Speaker 1: you're talking about a one ton vehicle, and at that size, 400 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:20,760 Speaker 1: the size of the air bags you would need are 401 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:23,639 Speaker 1: so huge that you would really run the risk of 402 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:26,880 Speaker 1: even if everything worked properly, you would run the risk 403 00:23:26,920 --> 00:23:30,960 Speaker 1: of fouling the drive system of the Curiosity Rover because 404 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:33,760 Speaker 1: it has to get out of this enormous air bag. 405 00:23:34,720 --> 00:23:37,520 Speaker 1: So that was considered too risky. Another approach is to 406 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:42,560 Speaker 1: put uh these pretty much like stilts, like landing stilts, 407 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:47,520 Speaker 1: so that when the the rockets lower the the descent 408 00:23:48,800 --> 00:23:54,240 Speaker 1: vehicle down, the the stilts touch ground and keep the 409 00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:57,040 Speaker 1: rockets at an elevation high enough so that they aren't 410 00:23:57,080 --> 00:23:59,960 Speaker 1: disturbing the dust too much, and then the rover can 411 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:02,760 Speaker 1: dropped down from there. Again, with the Curiosity Rover, it 412 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:05,119 Speaker 1: was so large and heavy the stilts would have had 413 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:08,119 Speaker 1: to have been way too tall to do this in 414 00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:10,560 Speaker 1: a way that would have been easy to do, and 415 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:13,439 Speaker 1: also it would have really made it difficult to ensure 416 00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:16,920 Speaker 1: that the Curiosity would be undamaged as it came down, 417 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:18,760 Speaker 1: So they had to come up with a different way 418 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:21,520 Speaker 1: to get the Curiosity rover onto the surface of Earth. 419 00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:28,400 Speaker 1: And it was insane. A sky crane. Sky crane, Yeah, 420 00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:33,120 Speaker 1: sounds that sounds like some kind of strange, other worldly company. 421 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:37,200 Speaker 1: And so we'll walk you through how how this unfolded. 422 00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:39,560 Speaker 1: And it's still incredible to me that this worked well. 423 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,480 Speaker 1: I think, um, and I don't mean this in any 424 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:44,760 Speaker 1: way to be a slight to the scientists behind this. 425 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,879 Speaker 1: I think they were a little astonished. Well, the reaction 426 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:54,639 Speaker 1: that we saw at the and as we learned that 427 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:57,680 Speaker 1: the Curiosity had in fact landed successfully. And by the way, 428 00:24:57,720 --> 00:24:59,920 Speaker 1: by the time we knew that the Curiosity was succes 429 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:03,280 Speaker 1: us full in its landing, it had been on the 430 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:07,359 Speaker 1: surface of Mars for several minutes. Because again Mars is 431 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:11,280 Speaker 1: further away at the point of the Curiosity landing from 432 00:25:11,320 --> 00:25:13,240 Speaker 1: Earth than the Earth is to the Sun. It takes 433 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:15,400 Speaker 1: it takes about eight minutes for light from the Sun 434 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:20,399 Speaker 1: to get to Earth. It takes fourteen minutes for electromagnetic 435 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:25,399 Speaker 1: communication to get from Mars to the Earth. Internet now 436 00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:28,600 Speaker 1: fourteen minutes for that information to get to us. It 437 00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:33,119 Speaker 1: takes seven minutes from the time the landing capsule enters 438 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,480 Speaker 1: the Martian atmosphere to the point where curiosity would touch down. 439 00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:39,960 Speaker 1: That means there's a seven minute gap where things have 440 00:25:40,080 --> 00:25:43,639 Speaker 1: already happened and we do not know what they were. Yes, 441 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,560 Speaker 1: so it was seven minutes of terror, which is I 442 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: think brilliant. There was a wonderful video NASA put out 443 00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:55,040 Speaker 1: that was very dramatic, almost almost comedically so because it 444 00:25:55,080 --> 00:25:58,159 Speaker 1: was like it was like a thriller movie, right, But 445 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:00,399 Speaker 1: it was all about the seven minutes of terror. The 446 00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:04,399 Speaker 1: fact that you have to build a vehicle that's operating 447 00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:08,800 Speaker 1: autonomously for for you know, there's nothing you can do. 448 00:26:08,880 --> 00:26:11,800 Speaker 1: You can't make any adjustments because it's going to take 449 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:13,800 Speaker 1: fourteen minutes for that information to get to you, and 450 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:15,760 Speaker 1: then any information you send back it's going to take 451 00:26:15,760 --> 00:26:18,399 Speaker 1: fourteen minutes for it to get there. So by the 452 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:20,960 Speaker 1: time you send any sort of information, by the time 453 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:24,360 Speaker 1: you react to a changing condition, it doesn't matter. Things 454 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:29,040 Speaker 1: have changed too much for that to have any effect. So, uh, 455 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:33,000 Speaker 1: the capsule enters the Martian atmosphere, there's seven minutes until 456 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:35,879 Speaker 1: it touches down, and then seven more minutes before we 457 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:39,199 Speaker 1: find out that anything about it. The first thing that 458 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:42,960 Speaker 1: happens is the atmosphere starts to slow down the capsule, 459 00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:45,600 Speaker 1: and like we said, it's a thin atmosphere, so it 460 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:48,600 Speaker 1: doesn't slow down that much. It is, however, thick enough 461 00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:53,120 Speaker 1: to cause lots of heat from friction. So it's it's 462 00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:57,399 Speaker 1: a double whammy for NASA, right breaks exactly all the 463 00:26:57,440 --> 00:26:59,399 Speaker 1: heat none of the break. So you have to build 464 00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:02,040 Speaker 1: a device it's capable with standing the heat, but I 465 00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:04,280 Speaker 1: have to make you have to take into account the 466 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:06,240 Speaker 1: the fact that the atmosphere is not going to slow 467 00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:08,280 Speaker 1: it down sufficiently enough for it to make a safe landing. 468 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:13,200 Speaker 1: What a headache. So that's already tough capsule winners. The 469 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:14,879 Speaker 1: atmosphere starts to heat up, it has to have a 470 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:18,800 Speaker 1: heat shield to protect the innerds because electronics don't react 471 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:22,159 Speaker 1: well to heat. Said that a billion times, uh not literally. 472 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:27,040 Speaker 1: And then the once it reaches a certain altitude, uh, 473 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:31,679 Speaker 1: it deploys the parachute, which slows down the the vehicle 474 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:33,800 Speaker 1: even more. And so it started to slow down once 475 00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:36,120 Speaker 1: it hits the atmosphere. Actually takes a little while before 476 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:38,360 Speaker 1: it starts to slow down, but it does slow down 477 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:41,600 Speaker 1: hitting the atmosphere, the parachute slows it down further. Once 478 00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 1: it slows down as much as it possibly can with 479 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:48,440 Speaker 1: the parachute. It jettison the parachute, which is important because 480 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:52,320 Speaker 1: then it activates rockets. So if it activated the rockets first, 481 00:27:52,359 --> 00:27:56,359 Speaker 1: then there's the danger of actually colliding with the parachute 482 00:27:56,400 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 1: and fouling the whole system. So jettison's the parachute. Parachute 483 00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:06,080 Speaker 1: flies off, and then the rockets make a horizontal adjustment 484 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:09,760 Speaker 1: so that the descent vehicle is not going to be 485 00:28:09,800 --> 00:28:14,640 Speaker 1: in the same path as the parachute. UH, it ejects 486 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:19,760 Speaker 1: the it detaches the the heat shield as well. Actually 487 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:23,720 Speaker 1: I think that even detaches while the parachutes deployed. UH. 488 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:25,680 Speaker 1: And there are sensors on the bottom of the rover 489 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:29,399 Speaker 1: which can help guide the whole system so it lands 490 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:32,040 Speaker 1: in the best spot. Now, they were aiming for the 491 00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:35,560 Speaker 1: Gael Crater, which is was a it's a crater that 492 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:39,000 Speaker 1: was created on Mars about three billion years ago with 493 00:28:39,040 --> 00:28:43,640 Speaker 1: a meteor impact, so they wanted to land the rover 494 00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:47,160 Speaker 1: in there. So the the sensors on the bottom of 495 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:49,680 Speaker 1: the rover detect where the right landing area is, the 496 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:54,360 Speaker 1: rockets position it properly and start the descent, continuing to 497 00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:58,800 Speaker 1: slow that that the scent so that you're not plummeting 498 00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:04,920 Speaker 1: to the surface. At about twenty meters above the surface 499 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:10,720 Speaker 1: of the planet, the rover descends on a on a 500 00:29:10,760 --> 00:29:15,080 Speaker 1: set of cables from a crane that's in that descent vehicle. 501 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:20,280 Speaker 1: So you've got a crane essentially mounted on rockets lowering 502 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:24,640 Speaker 1: a one ton vehicle. The cables I think we're about 503 00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:27,880 Speaker 1: seven ms long, and so it would then the rockets 504 00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:31,120 Speaker 1: would then slowly allowed this entire thing to descend until 505 00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:34,840 Speaker 1: the wheels of the rover made contact with the Martian soil. 506 00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:38,320 Speaker 1: At that point, the bridles holding the cables to the 507 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:43,360 Speaker 1: rover were jettisoned, and then the the the descent vehicle 508 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:48,800 Speaker 1: with the rockets would then launch itself about four away 509 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:51,440 Speaker 1: to crash on the surface of the planet so that 510 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:55,000 Speaker 1: it would not um cause any problems to the rover 511 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:59,000 Speaker 1: because you don't want to tell just we've gently set 512 00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:01,760 Speaker 1: the rover down. Oh, and then our descent vehicle landed 513 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:04,760 Speaker 1: on our rover. That's a bummer. That would have been 514 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,520 Speaker 1: a bad thing. So the descent vehicle went about four 515 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:11,360 Speaker 1: away and crash landed. Uh, and the rover was safe 516 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:13,400 Speaker 1: on the planet. And we found out about it seven 517 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:15,920 Speaker 1: minutes after it happened, and everyone did a little dance 518 00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:19,920 Speaker 1: and cheered and jumped and hugged each other. I don't 519 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:21,440 Speaker 1: think they did a little dance. I think they did 520 00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:23,080 Speaker 1: a big dance. They did do a big dance. And 521 00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:26,360 Speaker 1: there are gifts out there that show this that were 522 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:30,160 Speaker 1: very very popular. As soon I mean like seconds after 523 00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:34,840 Speaker 1: the footage at the Internet, there were already memes about it. Yeah. Yeah, well, Um, 524 00:30:34,840 --> 00:30:36,520 Speaker 1: like I said, I think they were a little surprised, 525 00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:39,160 Speaker 1: but in a in a positive way, like they came 526 00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:43,320 Speaker 1: up with an excellent solution, but without ever you know, 527 00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:47,280 Speaker 1: trying it in practice. Um, you know it on Mars. 528 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:51,880 Speaker 1: They weren't certain, especially with their past success rate, whether 529 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:54,000 Speaker 1: it would work for sure or not, or would it 530 00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:57,600 Speaker 1: deliver the rover in excellent condition, which it did, so 531 00:30:57,640 --> 00:31:00,840 Speaker 1: they were they were very very happy out about that. 532 00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:03,520 Speaker 1: And it's it's something that you can't really test here 533 00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:05,560 Speaker 1: on Earth because the conditions here on Earth are so 534 00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:08,280 Speaker 1: different from on Mars that even if you were to 535 00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:12,440 Speaker 1: build something that works well on on here on our planet, 536 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:14,560 Speaker 1: you cannot be certain that the same thing is going 537 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:17,480 Speaker 1: to apply on Mars, because the conditions are too different. Yeah, 538 00:31:17,800 --> 00:31:20,520 Speaker 1: so you know it wasn't just engineered well on paper, 539 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:23,560 Speaker 1: it actually in practice did did very very well. And 540 00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:26,920 Speaker 1: there's quite a lot of equipment on on Curiosity as well. 541 00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:31,120 Speaker 1: I mean there's seventeen cameras alone, uh and most most 542 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:34,720 Speaker 1: of those are navigational and hazard cameras, but there is 543 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:38,120 Speaker 1: a mast. Uh. You know what my favorite piece of 544 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:40,400 Speaker 1: equipment aboard the Curiosity is, or do I have to 545 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:42,400 Speaker 1: ask what? What? What is your favorite piece of equipment? 546 00:31:42,440 --> 00:31:49,200 Speaker 1: It's a lady which the laser is used to concentrate 547 00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:54,840 Speaker 1: a very focused beam of of light on rocks in 548 00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:58,880 Speaker 1: the Martian soil. And uh, they does listen very very 549 00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:02,080 Speaker 1: short bursts, like five nano second long bursts, and after 550 00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:06,640 Speaker 1: about seventy bursts of this high powered intense laser, it 551 00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:11,560 Speaker 1: starts to a blate or evaporate the rock that it's 552 00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:14,880 Speaker 1: focused on. And then what happens is a special camera 553 00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:20,040 Speaker 1: actually three different cameras will get information from our three 554 00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:23,440 Speaker 1: different sensors will get information from a telescopic camera that 555 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:28,360 Speaker 1: will analyze the plasma this rock gives off. And by 556 00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:33,480 Speaker 1: analyzing the plasma through UH spectroscopes, they can determine what 557 00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:38,760 Speaker 1: chemical elements made up the rock itself. So essentially what 558 00:32:38,760 --> 00:32:41,920 Speaker 1: you're doing is you're burning something. Looking at burning is 559 00:32:42,640 --> 00:32:45,880 Speaker 1: an oversimplification, but you're burning something looking at the fumes 560 00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:48,880 Speaker 1: it gives off, and based upon those you determine what 561 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:51,440 Speaker 1: the stuff is made of. The reason for this is 562 00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:54,320 Speaker 1: one so we can learn more about the composition of Mars, 563 00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:58,520 Speaker 1: but to also look for things that could be foundational 564 00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:03,080 Speaker 1: building blocks to support life. Now, curiosity is not looking 565 00:33:03,200 --> 00:33:06,000 Speaker 1: for evidence of life itself. It is not looking for 566 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:11,160 Speaker 1: microscopic life because it doesn't have any equipment aboard the 567 00:33:11,280 --> 00:33:15,360 Speaker 1: rover itself capable of seeing things at that resolution. So 568 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:18,880 Speaker 1: it's not looking for evidence of microscopic life that's currently 569 00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:22,160 Speaker 1: there on Mars. It's really looking for all the elements 570 00:33:22,160 --> 00:33:24,720 Speaker 1: that would need to be in place for life to 571 00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:30,680 Speaker 1: have at least one at one time been supported on Mars. That, however, 572 00:33:30,960 --> 00:33:34,440 Speaker 1: has not stopped all the other memes that have gone 573 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:38,320 Speaker 1: around where there have been pictures circulated from curiosity, and 574 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:43,920 Speaker 1: of course uh these pictures of curiosities. Uh. From Curiosity's 575 00:33:43,960 --> 00:33:47,320 Speaker 1: point of view, across the surface of Mars is it's 576 00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:51,880 Speaker 1: big and flat. However, dust so far, the life forms 577 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:56,400 Speaker 1: I have seen superimposed over that landscape on social media 578 00:33:56,520 --> 00:34:01,560 Speaker 1: include Marvin the Martian from Q thirty two, Spaced Tour 579 00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:07,080 Speaker 1: from uh uh, the Looney Tunes cartoons, uh, the Muppets 580 00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:10,400 Speaker 1: from uh that that that go yep yep, yep, yep, 581 00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:15,600 Speaker 1: yep yep. And I did see a couple of days 582 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:19,200 Speaker 1: ago some adapts walking across the surface. So the Empire 583 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:24,400 Speaker 1: is apparently they're already um, very very amazing terrain attack 584 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:27,120 Speaker 1: transports or something like that. That's what it means. Yes, yes, 585 00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:32,560 Speaker 1: so from Star Wars UM documentary Star Wars. But but yeah, 586 00:34:32,640 --> 00:34:35,360 Speaker 1: they there are several different cameras. They're they're taking photos 587 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:40,680 Speaker 1: three d um so the James Cameron contingent is there 588 00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:44,000 Speaker 1: black and white, colorful. The avatars are running around of 589 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:48,319 Speaker 1: there yep yep. Um. So basically they're they're doing all 590 00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:53,640 Speaker 1: kinds of uh of imaging and analysis of the planet's surface. 591 00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:57,880 Speaker 1: Um and you know there it's it's pretty awesome to 592 00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:00,239 Speaker 1: be able to do this kind of work. This is, uh, 593 00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:04,640 Speaker 1: this is an evolutionary step from what the previous rovers 594 00:35:04,640 --> 00:35:07,880 Speaker 1: we've sent up there, like Phoenix and Spirit and Opportunity, 595 00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:14,040 Speaker 1: where they were all very much geologic uh, instruments, geological instruments, 596 00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:18,760 Speaker 1: really studying the geological formation of Mars and it's geological features. 597 00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:24,320 Speaker 1: Now the Curiosity is more of like a fully fledged 598 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:30,160 Speaker 1: scientific laboratory that is on wheels. It moves very very slowly. Uh, 599 00:35:30,280 --> 00:35:32,560 Speaker 1: it's got but it's got a lot of sophisticated equipment. 600 00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:35,040 Speaker 1: Like you said, it has that mast that projects above 601 00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:39,279 Speaker 1: the rover itself self gun arm Um. You mentioned the 602 00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:43,280 Speaker 1: chem cam, which is the laser. It's got a chemistry 603 00:35:43,280 --> 00:35:48,640 Speaker 1: and mineralogy experiment or instrument called kemen. They remember we 604 00:35:48,719 --> 00:35:52,640 Speaker 1: talked about the different parts of the Space Shuttle group. 605 00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:58,000 Speaker 1: They love love love acronyms. So the chemin instrument looks 606 00:35:58,040 --> 00:36:02,040 Speaker 1: at minerals to identify why whether water could have been there. 607 00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:07,439 Speaker 1: Then there's the rover Environmental Environmental Monitoring Station or MS, 608 00:36:08,680 --> 00:36:11,719 Speaker 1: which will give you the weather report. Yes it's not 609 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:19,200 Speaker 1: raining again. Uh. There there's so much aboard and um. 610 00:36:19,280 --> 00:36:20,919 Speaker 1: One of the other things I think has been really 611 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:25,239 Speaker 1: remarkable about the past few missions to Mars is NASA's 612 00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:30,279 Speaker 1: ability to communicate this information in a way that is 613 00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:35,360 Speaker 1: really exciting to people who otherwise might not really have 614 00:36:35,640 --> 00:36:42,840 Speaker 1: cared that much. The space exploration history in the in 615 00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:45,360 Speaker 1: the entire world has really gone through sort of a 616 00:36:45,480 --> 00:36:49,239 Speaker 1: roller coaster of as far as the public interest is concerned, right, 617 00:36:49,719 --> 00:36:53,319 Speaker 1: because you had the space race for the Moon, which 618 00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:57,560 Speaker 1: was politically motivated, I mean that was that was really 619 00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:04,120 Speaker 1: all uh yuled not literally but metaphorically by the political 620 00:37:04,800 --> 00:37:08,520 Speaker 1: opposition of the United States and the Soviet Union. And 621 00:37:08,640 --> 00:37:12,440 Speaker 1: so once we landed men on the Moon and got 622 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:17,960 Speaker 1: them back safely, uh, the political uh motivation to push 623 00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:21,320 Speaker 1: people out into space really diminished, which is part of 624 00:37:21,320 --> 00:37:24,560 Speaker 1: the reason why we didn't start immediately looking at Mars 625 00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:27,319 Speaker 1: as being the next step, because a lot of the 626 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:32,200 Speaker 1: excitement and enthusiasm and funding had gone away because we 627 00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:36,120 Speaker 1: already achieved this other amazing and insanely amazing goal of 628 00:37:36,239 --> 00:37:40,239 Speaker 1: landing people on the Moon. Um. Then, like we had 629 00:37:40,280 --> 00:37:45,160 Speaker 1: the Space Shuttle era, which started off with incredible interest. 630 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:50,400 Speaker 1: I mean, it was this amazing program, but then Shuttle mission. 631 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:53,359 Speaker 1: After Shuttle mission, people started to think of it more 632 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:57,120 Speaker 1: as something that just happens and less as something amazing 633 00:37:57,160 --> 00:38:01,319 Speaker 1: and special because it was you know, it just seemed like, oh, yeah, 634 00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:04,160 Speaker 1: another Shellow mission that's going up, which is when you 635 00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:06,759 Speaker 1: think about it, that's a crazy crazy thing to just 636 00:38:06,800 --> 00:38:08,879 Speaker 1: take for granted because the amount of work it takes 637 00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:13,160 Speaker 1: to get people into space is phenomenal. But it did happen. Uh, 638 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:16,359 Speaker 1: once we started sending missions to Mars and have them 639 00:38:16,440 --> 00:38:21,279 Speaker 1: be a success, you know, there were science fans who 640 00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:23,640 Speaker 1: really thought was interesting, but the general public, I don't 641 00:38:23,640 --> 00:38:26,640 Speaker 1: know that necessarily cut their attention. I think what really 642 00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:32,000 Speaker 1: turned things around was when NASA started to leverage social 643 00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:37,360 Speaker 1: media and began to use social media to to communicate 644 00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:42,000 Speaker 1: scientific facts, figures, discoveries to the general public. That got 645 00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:46,960 Speaker 1: people excited, and beyond that, they began to give almost 646 00:38:47,040 --> 00:38:50,120 Speaker 1: a personality to some of the equipment they sent out. 647 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:53,640 Speaker 1: That's that's funny. I don't know if Jonathan heard this. 648 00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:58,080 Speaker 1: This morning, UM, as I was driving to the train 649 00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:02,040 Speaker 1: station to come in for this podcast, I was listening 650 00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:04,920 Speaker 1: to National Public Radio NPR here in the United States 651 00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:09,200 Speaker 1: and there was an interview UM with Veronica McGregor now 652 00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:12,200 Speaker 1: Veronica McGregor. She was the person who was in charge 653 00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:17,600 Speaker 1: of updating a Twitter account for the Phoenix Mars Rover, 654 00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:23,000 Speaker 1: and the Phoenix Mars Rover ended up getting an enormous 655 00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:29,000 Speaker 1: number of fans following it and it was able to know. 656 00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:33,239 Speaker 1: Through the Phoenix Twitter feed, NASA was able to communicate 657 00:39:33,280 --> 00:39:36,279 Speaker 1: a lot of interesting scientific information, but Veronica went a 658 00:39:36,280 --> 00:39:39,640 Speaker 1: little step further and gave the Phoenix sort of again 659 00:39:39,760 --> 00:39:44,600 Speaker 1: a personality. And I'll never forget I mean, I remember 660 00:39:44,640 --> 00:39:47,799 Speaker 1: I followed the Phoenix rover and it was truly an 661 00:39:47,840 --> 00:39:52,280 Speaker 1: emotional moment when the second to last tweet that Phoenix 662 00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:56,600 Speaker 1: sent out during its official mission was It's very unlikely 663 00:39:56,640 --> 00:39:59,120 Speaker 1: I'll wake up next spring, but if I do, I'll 664 00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:03,200 Speaker 1: call home. Good luck with your project. And people thought 665 00:40:03,200 --> 00:40:09,399 Speaker 1: about that, like, there's this little robot all alone, not 666 00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:11,839 Speaker 1: really all alone. There are other robots on Mars too, 667 00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:14,680 Speaker 1: but they're really far away. So more or less, there's 668 00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:18,520 Speaker 1: this little robot all alone on the surface of this planet, uh, 669 00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:21,439 Speaker 1: you know, miles and miles and miles away from Earth, 670 00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:25,239 Speaker 1: and it is doing science for us, and it's doing 671 00:40:25,239 --> 00:40:29,200 Speaker 1: it selflessly, and it's about to die because it's solar 672 00:40:29,480 --> 00:40:32,480 Speaker 1: circuits aren't going to get enough juice to keep it going. 673 00:40:32,560 --> 00:40:35,799 Speaker 1: And there's and by the time it comes out of 674 00:40:35,840 --> 00:40:40,920 Speaker 1: that that essentially Martian Winter, for lack of a better term, 675 00:40:40,960 --> 00:40:42,600 Speaker 1: by the time it comes out, it will not be 676 00:40:42,719 --> 00:40:45,799 Speaker 1: able to reboot it system and it will be a 677 00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:50,000 Speaker 1: dead piece of technology. It impacted people, I mean people 678 00:40:50,120 --> 00:40:53,600 Speaker 1: got teary eyed over the idea because they yeah, people 679 00:40:53,719 --> 00:40:58,400 Speaker 1: had had humanized this inanimate well animated but on a 680 00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:02,879 Speaker 1: live object and has no actual feelings or personality. But 681 00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:07,560 Speaker 1: Veronica had really uh imbued this thing with that kind 682 00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:12,239 Speaker 1: of sense of purpose and and personality that people identified with. 683 00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:14,920 Speaker 1: And it made a powerful statement. And I think people 684 00:41:14,960 --> 00:41:18,520 Speaker 1: connected to the space mission in a way they hadn't 685 00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:22,440 Speaker 1: in many years. And NASA has continued that trend. And 686 00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:25,040 Speaker 1: uh the last Twitter post it posted was all in 687 00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:30,480 Speaker 1: binary and it's spelled out triumph ah making a note 688 00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:36,120 Speaker 1: here huge success. Well, they talked to Veronica McGregor this morning. 689 00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:39,879 Speaker 1: She is the social media manager UM and is at 690 00:41:39,920 --> 00:41:42,880 Speaker 1: it again. There there's a team of three women who, 691 00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:47,720 Speaker 1: according to NPR, who work on the Curiosity rovers Twitter 692 00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:51,840 Speaker 1: account UM, which has according to this uh UM Chicago Tribune, 693 00:41:51,880 --> 00:41:54,200 Speaker 1: I couldn't remember Veronica's last name, so I looked it 694 00:41:54,239 --> 00:41:57,279 Speaker 1: up and and this article posted earlier today. As of 695 00:41:57,360 --> 00:42:02,200 Speaker 1: right now, more than eight hundred thousand followers UM already 696 00:42:02,239 --> 00:42:04,440 Speaker 1: for Curiosity, so they will be following through the mission 697 00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:08,719 Speaker 1: just in case. You're curious. According to Veronica McGregor, the 698 00:42:09,080 --> 00:42:12,359 Speaker 1: Curiosity as as she and has a female, she said. 699 00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:14,520 Speaker 1: According to them, they had sort of talked about it 700 00:42:14,520 --> 00:42:17,080 Speaker 1: and they feel they get this feeling that it's a her. 701 00:42:18,680 --> 00:42:22,560 Speaker 1: So I don't know, you go, girl, it's interesting. But well, 702 00:42:22,600 --> 00:42:25,279 Speaker 1: if if you put yourself in the shoes of someone 703 00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:29,040 Speaker 1: who is talking about this, um, you know you you 704 00:42:29,120 --> 00:42:31,000 Speaker 1: kind of have to make a personality as you're building 705 00:42:31,000 --> 00:42:33,120 Speaker 1: your personality, like, you know what, I think, I think 706 00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:36,920 Speaker 1: it's a woman, but I do. I do remember listening 707 00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:39,759 Speaker 1: to or watching videos of the engineers talk about the 708 00:42:39,760 --> 00:42:44,560 Speaker 1: Curiosity and they referred to the entire vehicle as a she, 709 00:42:44,719 --> 00:42:47,239 Speaker 1: which at the time I didn't think unusual because I 710 00:42:47,400 --> 00:42:51,759 Speaker 1: like the votes ships not boats. Well, some boats I 711 00:42:51,800 --> 00:42:57,319 Speaker 1: think of I think of ships were hurricanes, Um, the Enterprise, Yeah, 712 00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:01,399 Speaker 1: the Star Trek, that's as she. Well, people have talked 713 00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:03,960 Speaker 1: about the expense of the mission, and I'm sure there 714 00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:07,400 Speaker 1: were people who are going, why on Earth or Mars 715 00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:10,440 Speaker 1: do you care if it's a male or a female? 716 00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:14,040 Speaker 1: Were over All these things personalize it somewhat, and they 717 00:43:14,080 --> 00:43:16,640 Speaker 1: do make it more accessible to us, and they also 718 00:43:16,719 --> 00:43:20,240 Speaker 1: get us inspired to to try new things, to find 719 00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:25,520 Speaker 1: ways to grow better crops or pure diseases, or launch 720 00:43:25,600 --> 00:43:27,799 Speaker 1: the next mission to space. They make us want to 721 00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:30,720 Speaker 1: try something that we haven't been able to do before, 722 00:43:30,840 --> 00:43:33,960 Speaker 1: and it's valuable. The the effects that come out of 723 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:39,200 Speaker 1: this are across so many different disciplines. So not only 724 00:43:40,239 --> 00:43:43,320 Speaker 1: one we're learning about Mars. Two, we're learning more about 725 00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:45,719 Speaker 1: our solar system. Three, we're learning more about the Earth 726 00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:49,360 Speaker 1: as we learn what things are similar versus dissimilar between 727 00:43:49,360 --> 00:43:53,719 Speaker 1: Mars and Earth. And and go ahead. Four We're inspiring 728 00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:58,759 Speaker 1: future generations of scientists and engineers because this is genuinely 729 00:43:58,800 --> 00:44:03,520 Speaker 1: exciting and people, little kids will think that is amazing. 730 00:44:03,840 --> 00:44:06,319 Speaker 1: Look at what can be accomplished. I want to do that. 731 00:44:06,880 --> 00:44:10,360 Speaker 1: And and five you're promoting science in general to the 732 00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:14,319 Speaker 1: general public. And again, you know, promoting science, I think 733 00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:16,839 Speaker 1: it's an incredibly important thing. It's not the easiest thing 734 00:44:16,840 --> 00:44:19,839 Speaker 1: in the world to do, especially you know, some scientists 735 00:44:19,880 --> 00:44:22,799 Speaker 1: are so focused on their field they may not be 736 00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:26,480 Speaker 1: the best at communicating that that passion and enthusiasm to 737 00:44:26,560 --> 00:44:30,920 Speaker 1: the general public. Even though they possess it themselves, they 738 00:44:30,960 --> 00:44:33,760 Speaker 1: might not be able to communicate it effectively. So bridging 739 00:44:33,800 --> 00:44:37,520 Speaker 1: that gap is really important so that the public understands 740 00:44:37,520 --> 00:44:40,200 Speaker 1: why this is important and gets excited. It also helps 741 00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:45,080 Speaker 1: with funding. Um it might inspire the next private company 742 00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:48,160 Speaker 1: to try and go into something that they wouldn't have 743 00:44:48,200 --> 00:44:52,759 Speaker 1: done before. So yeah, the the this is really a 744 00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:55,879 Speaker 1: true domino effect, right, I mean, it's amazing the sort 745 00:44:55,880 --> 00:44:58,000 Speaker 1: of stuff that can come out of a mission like 746 00:44:58,040 --> 00:45:04,600 Speaker 1: this that may not even be obvious at first glance. Yep. 747 00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:06,560 Speaker 1: And eventually we're gonna have to get off this rock. 748 00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:10,800 Speaker 1: Well yeah, and we should mention also, NASA currently only 749 00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:14,600 Speaker 1: has one other Mars mission planned, which is a launch 750 00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:21,319 Speaker 1: in the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution um SO or 751 00:45:21,400 --> 00:45:24,760 Speaker 1: MAVEN his name of that, And don't they have a 752 00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:27,880 Speaker 1: creative acronym for that? Would Who would have thunk it? 753 00:45:28,360 --> 00:45:33,440 Speaker 1: Maven's purpose is to study the atmosphere of Mars. So again, 754 00:45:33,480 --> 00:45:35,799 Speaker 1: the rovers we are sending are mostly looking at the 755 00:45:35,800 --> 00:45:40,239 Speaker 1: composition of the soil and the geological formations that are 756 00:45:40,239 --> 00:45:43,240 Speaker 1: on Mars and to really look at the various layers 757 00:45:43,239 --> 00:45:45,040 Speaker 1: that some One of the reasons why we landed uh 758 00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:47,440 Speaker 1: the curiosity and a crater is because it can look 759 00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:50,720 Speaker 1: at different layers on the surface of Mars and see 760 00:45:50,840 --> 00:45:54,400 Speaker 1: how it's how it has changed over time. But this 761 00:45:54,440 --> 00:45:56,319 Speaker 1: will be more to look at the atmosphere. We do 762 00:45:56,360 --> 00:46:00,439 Speaker 1: not have any manned missions to Mars planned, at least 763 00:46:00,440 --> 00:46:03,480 Speaker 1: not NASA UM and there are other nations in the 764 00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:06,239 Speaker 1: world that are also planning missions to Mars. NASA has 765 00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:10,919 Speaker 1: only got the one and then after that, who knows. UM. 766 00:46:10,960 --> 00:46:13,960 Speaker 1: We don't have any planned missions to Mars. There are 767 00:46:14,040 --> 00:46:18,200 Speaker 1: some companies. There are some companies that have talked about it, uh, 768 00:46:18,239 --> 00:46:20,880 Speaker 1: and some of the plans are kind of insane. But 769 00:46:20,920 --> 00:46:23,839 Speaker 1: if you really want to hear a pretty crazy idea 770 00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:28,080 Speaker 1: about landing on Mars, my favorite is the first one 771 00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:31,920 Speaker 1: that I could come across, the first published UM plan 772 00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:34,799 Speaker 1: or calculation of what it would take to to send 773 00:46:34,840 --> 00:46:39,360 Speaker 1: a manned mission to Mars, and it comes from Verna 774 00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:44,960 Speaker 1: Magnus Maximilian Friar von Brown or Verna von Brown, as 775 00:46:45,160 --> 00:46:48,959 Speaker 1: most people would know, who was a rocket scientist. Rocket 776 00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:51,719 Speaker 1: scientists during World War Two built rockets for the Germans. 777 00:46:52,920 --> 00:46:55,520 Speaker 1: After the end of World War Two, the United States 778 00:46:56,560 --> 00:47:00,600 Speaker 1: UM essentially took him and put him to work for 779 00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:05,000 Speaker 1: the US rocket program. UH. It was that's a political 780 00:47:05,120 --> 00:47:08,200 Speaker 1: story that is fascinating and you should all write to 781 00:47:08,320 --> 00:47:11,280 Speaker 1: stuff you missed in history class to talk about that. Actually, 782 00:47:11,280 --> 00:47:15,440 Speaker 1: that'd be a fascin fascinating podcast. But anyway, Van Brown 783 00:47:15,560 --> 00:47:18,120 Speaker 1: first made rockets for the Germans and then began to 784 00:47:18,160 --> 00:47:19,960 Speaker 1: make rockets for the United States. And one of the 785 00:47:20,000 --> 00:47:23,560 Speaker 1: things he thought of back in nineteen was what it 786 00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:26,799 Speaker 1: would take to send a manned mission to Mars. It 787 00:47:26,840 --> 00:47:30,400 Speaker 1: wasn't published till nineteen fifty two, eventually became an appendix 788 00:47:30,440 --> 00:47:32,920 Speaker 1: in a novel he wrote, which was a fictional account 789 00:47:32,960 --> 00:47:35,480 Speaker 1: of what that mission would be like. The novel, from 790 00:47:35,480 --> 00:47:40,920 Speaker 1: what I understand, is not um terribly good. I did 791 00:47:40,960 --> 00:47:44,680 Speaker 1: not publish until two thousand and six. But anyway, in 792 00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:47,840 Speaker 1: his in his version, it was going to be a 793 00:47:48,040 --> 00:47:54,400 Speaker 1: ten spacecraft mission where these ten spacecrafts would carry about 794 00:47:54,480 --> 00:47:59,000 Speaker 1: seventy crew members total, and the spacecraft would go into 795 00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:04,440 Speaker 1: orbit around Rs and then the mission the the ground 796 00:48:04,440 --> 00:48:09,880 Speaker 1: mission crews would detach from the orbiting UM spacecraft in 797 00:48:10,080 --> 00:48:14,759 Speaker 1: winged vehicles that had skis at the bottom of them 798 00:48:14,760 --> 00:48:18,680 Speaker 1: and would land at the polar caps on Mars. The 799 00:48:18,719 --> 00:48:22,200 Speaker 1: thought being that the polar caps would be flat and 800 00:48:22,320 --> 00:48:24,200 Speaker 1: so that would be the best place to land. Then 801 00:48:24,239 --> 00:48:28,160 Speaker 1: they would take Mars crawlers to the equator on Mars, 802 00:48:28,200 --> 00:48:31,640 Speaker 1: which would take about eighty days I think, and then 803 00:48:31,840 --> 00:48:35,840 Speaker 1: build base camp there and then would come back to 804 00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:40,960 Speaker 1: Earth when the those orbits would line up properly again. 805 00:48:41,440 --> 00:48:47,200 Speaker 1: So that was his idea. UM didn't happen. It was. 806 00:48:47,239 --> 00:48:54,160 Speaker 1: It was an incredibly um uh. I don't know difficult 807 00:48:54,920 --> 00:48:56,960 Speaker 1: I have difficult project. I mean it would have. It 808 00:48:56,960 --> 00:49:00,880 Speaker 1: would have been much harder than anything else we have 809 00:49:00,920 --> 00:49:05,040 Speaker 1: attempted so far. So but that that was my favorite 810 00:49:05,160 --> 00:49:08,759 Speaker 1: of the proposed Martian expeditions, although there are some other 811 00:49:08,760 --> 00:49:10,960 Speaker 1: ones there's been There was one that was more like 812 00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:16,280 Speaker 1: a reality television show, um which was a private endeavor 813 00:49:16,400 --> 00:49:18,600 Speaker 1: and I won't go into it, but it did sound 814 00:49:18,680 --> 00:49:23,000 Speaker 1: pretty crazy. So there have been some interesting proposals for 815 00:49:23,080 --> 00:49:27,160 Speaker 1: trips to Mars. Mostly it looks like for the foreseeable 816 00:49:27,200 --> 00:49:30,880 Speaker 1: future it's going to be unmanned missions from most of 817 00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:35,200 Speaker 1: the world unless some crazy person with lots of money 818 00:49:35,680 --> 00:49:38,160 Speaker 1: gets behind it and and and does what we think 819 00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:41,640 Speaker 1: is think of as the impossible, which after the curiosity 820 00:49:41,640 --> 00:49:44,000 Speaker 1: were overlanding, I'm not sure my my definition of the 821 00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:47,440 Speaker 1: impossible needs to be adjusted. It was certainly not a 822 00:49:47,440 --> 00:49:52,120 Speaker 1: mission impossible, that's true. So yeah, they I mean, I'm excited. 823 00:49:52,160 --> 00:49:54,840 Speaker 1: I'm I'm looking forward to seeing what other news. It's 824 00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:57,440 Speaker 1: it's funny now that we're again, as it the recording 825 00:49:57,440 --> 00:49:59,720 Speaker 1: of this podcast sort of coming down from the excitement 826 00:49:59,719 --> 00:50:01,960 Speaker 1: of act we're landing there. Now, it's going to be 827 00:50:01,960 --> 00:50:04,200 Speaker 1: fun to see what what they learned. And we've already 828 00:50:04,200 --> 00:50:07,120 Speaker 1: seen some pretty incredible stuff, like we saw there's there's 829 00:50:07,239 --> 00:50:10,719 Speaker 1: video of the landing from the bottom of the rover, 830 00:50:11,480 --> 00:50:14,000 Speaker 1: and they're they're all these great shots that have already 831 00:50:14,040 --> 00:50:16,160 Speaker 1: come back, and this is just the beginning, and of 832 00:50:16,160 --> 00:50:18,040 Speaker 1: course by the time this podcast comes out, I'm sure 833 00:50:18,040 --> 00:50:21,520 Speaker 1: we'll have much more information. I really look forward to 834 00:50:21,520 --> 00:50:27,120 Speaker 1: seeing what Curiosity digs up. Well, the video has already 835 00:50:27,120 --> 00:50:30,520 Speaker 1: been so much better quality. Yeah, that that it will 836 00:50:30,560 --> 00:50:33,120 Speaker 1: be at least inspiring for those of us who are 837 00:50:33,120 --> 00:50:36,759 Speaker 1: just sort of following peripherally rather than you know, um, 838 00:50:36,920 --> 00:50:39,040 Speaker 1: the scientists who are really looking for stuff. I think 839 00:50:39,040 --> 00:50:41,120 Speaker 1: it'll be uh be interesting to the rest of the 840 00:50:41,160 --> 00:50:45,440 Speaker 1: world as well. Agreed. So guys, if you have any 841 00:50:45,440 --> 00:50:48,400 Speaker 1: suggestions for topics we should cover in future episodes of 842 00:50:48,440 --> 00:50:50,759 Speaker 1: Tech Stuff, I invite you to write us and let 843 00:50:50,840 --> 00:50:54,960 Speaker 1: us know our email address is tech stuff at Discovery 844 00:50:55,080 --> 00:50:57,200 Speaker 1: dot com. Or let us know on Facebook or Twitter 845 00:50:57,280 --> 00:51:00,360 Speaker 1: or handle at both of those is text stuff H. S. W. 846 00:51:00,640 --> 00:51:03,000 Speaker 1: And Chris and I will talk to you again really 847 00:51:03,040 --> 00:51:06,880 Speaker 1: soon for more on this and thousands of other topics. 848 00:51:07,120 --> 00:51:13,200 Speaker 1: Is it how staff works dot com Brought to you 849 00:51:13,239 --> 00:51:16,600 Speaker 1: by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are 850 00:51:16,640 --> 00:51:16,799 Speaker 1: you