WEBVTT - TechStuff Gets Curious About Mars 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.920 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:08.880 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:17.440 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello everyone, 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:19.680 and welcome to tech Stuff. My name is Chris Polette 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:21.880 and I am an editor at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:21.880 --> 0:00:25.320 Sitting across from me as usual, senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:28.960 Hey there, all right, so today we are going to 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:32.879 talk about stuff what beepsy stuff? What beeps? What we 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:35.839 shoot off into space to hit the red planet that 0:00:36.080 --> 0:00:39.440 is near us sometimes near us And well it's funny 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:43.760 because there there is another science podcast around here somewhere. 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:48.560 Stuff to blow your mind. Yeah, we're not talking about 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:52.320 them because we decided, well occasionally we talked about the 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:55.920 same stuff because we're fascinated by it, and we decided 0:00:55.960 --> 0:01:01.120 that we didn't care if they talk about this. There's overlap, 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:04.200 because we wanted to talk about the Mars rover. Yes, 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:07.479 and and specifically we're talking about the Curiosity rover, which 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:12.080 successfully touched down on the surface of Mars, despite the 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:14.959 fact that the way of delivering said rover to the 0:01:14.959 --> 0:01:18.280 surface of Mars was I think the scientific term is 0:01:18.720 --> 0:01:23.040 absolutely freaking crazy. I was gonna say nuts, but that'll work. 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:28.479 That's that's the short version of the full scientific term. Um. Yeah, 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:31.000 And we want to talk about why is it such 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:33.319 a big deal, why is it so hard to get 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:35.840 to Mars and sort of talk about some of the 0:01:35.880 --> 0:01:38.720 historical missions that led up to Curiosity as well as 0:01:39.120 --> 0:01:44.399 the Curiosity mission itself. So, um, do you let's say that, 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:47.680 let's say we're talking about the success failure rate of 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:52.200 missions to Mars. Um depending not pleasant to talk about, 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:59.120 depending upon how you define success or failure. Uh. One 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.040 of the more common statistics I've seen, or are figures 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:05.240 I've seen, is that twenty three out of thirty eight 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:09.639 missions sent to Mars failed in some way. Yeah, all right, 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:13.480 which gives it a pretty dismal success rate. Are you 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:17.000 Are you speaking of all missions to marrows? So anybody 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:20.520 who's ever shot something at the Red planet? Anyone anyone 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:22.760 on Earth? Okay, we just we can't just pointing that out. 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:25.880 We can't really talk about anyone from outside of Earth. 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:29.440 We don't know. Good point, but I meant not the 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:32.480 United States. Of course. We are located in the United States, 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:34.680 And I just wanted to point out that you're not 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:38.560 talking you're talking at Earthling. The United States success failure 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:43.359 rate is better. It's thirteen successes out of eighteen tries 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:47.919 prior to curiosity, I think it is. It is important 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:51.160 to point out too, that the United States has been 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:54.760 later to the let's throw stuff at the red planet party, 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:58.880 and so maybe part of the failures of the Soviet 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:01.040 Union is well, part of them is due to the 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:03.560 fact that the Soviet Union is no more. But when 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:07.680 they were very active at this, they were maybe not 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:10.160 so good at it. They were the probably be better 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:11.600 at it now. They were the only ones doing it 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:13.799 at the time they were. So you might say, well, 0:03:13.800 --> 0:03:16.480 why is the why is this success rates so low? 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:19.200 On Mars is hard, it's it's hard to get to 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:22.560 and and here's the Moon might be a little closer. Yeah, 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:25.560 let's I'll give you some figures here. So the average 0:03:25.600 --> 0:03:29.120 distance between Earth and the Moon is about two hundred 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:33.600 thirty eight thousand, nine hundred miles or three four thousand, 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:36.880 four hundred kilometers. That's about how far it is from 0:03:36.880 --> 0:03:38.960 Earth to the Moon. And it takes a few days 0:03:39.200 --> 0:03:42.680 for us to send something to go land on the Moon. So, 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:46.720 for example, astronauts aboard and Apollo Capsule. Take a few 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:49.240 days to get there, and to get there in a 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:54.080 few more days to get back. Um, but that's that's doable. 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:58.720 We did do it, so clearly it's doable. It's a vacation. 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:03.520 Getting someone to Mars, getting anything to Mars takes a 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:07.240 lot more time. Now. Part of that is because the 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:10.320 distance between Earth and Mars is not constant. And the 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:13.360 reason for that is that you know, both planets are 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:17.400 going around the Sun, right, but they're going at different 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:21.960 speeds and their orbits are different sizes. So there are 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:27.480 times when Earth and Mars are aligned and they are 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:31.080 about as close as they possibly can be. And there 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:33.320 are other times where Earth is on one side of 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:35.320 the Sun and Mars is on the other side of 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:37.440 the Sun and they're about as far apart as they 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:43.080 possibly can be. So the distance varies dramatically. At the closest, 0:04:43.960 --> 0:04:48.040 Earth and Mars are about thirty three million, nine hundred 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:52.640 thousand miles apart, or fifty four million, six hundred thousand kilometers, 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:56.240 So to compare again to the Moon, the Moon was 0:04:56.360 --> 0:05:00.800 two eight thousand, nine hundred miles away, more Ours thirty 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:05.400 three million, nine hundred thousand miles away. So that's not 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:08.600 a day trip way further, and that's that it's closest 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:13.559 at its furthest away Mars is about two hundred forty 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:18.280 nine million, one hundred sixty thousand miles away or four 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:22.440 hundred one million kilometers away. So if you're gonna make 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:26.200 a mission to Mars of any kind, um, then you 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:29.359 need to do a lot of thinking about it and 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:33.120 and planning beforehand, because you need to decide, Okay, what 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:36.120 are we gonna send there. We're gonna send a rover, um, 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:38.840 and how how much is that gone away? Well, it's 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:42.240 going to weigh about this much? How much you know? Rocketude? 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:44.280 Do we need to throw at it? Okay? So you 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:47.240 got your You've got your rocket tude and your This 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:49.960 just makesic me think like some sort of nineteen eighties 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:55.320 side scrolling video games. I'm going to write that, um 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:57.279 and you're over. You know what, you know what you 0:05:57.320 --> 0:05:59.520 wanted to do, you know how to get it there? Uh? 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:02.960 You start having to think about all sorts of other stuff. Okay, well, 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:07.479 so how much gravity? Uh does Mars have? How much 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:09.920 difference in the weight is there going to be once 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:13.080 this this rover gets there? How are you know how 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:16.360 much atmospheric interference is going to be there. Okay, so 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.160 you're gonna have to plan how long it's gonna take 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:22.839 for you to shoot this thing into space and get 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:24.599 to Mars, and how it's going to stop when it 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:26.480 gets there. Oh, and then you have to take a 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:29.200 new account. If you know roughly how long it's going 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:32.279 to take, where are the two planets going to be. Yeah, 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:35.240 you have to figure out when it's from there and go, Okay, 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:38.120 they're gonna be at their closest here, so we have 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.320 to launch it then to make that happen. Technically, you 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:44.240 even have to launch it before then because you have 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:48.000 to do what's called a transfer orbit. So so by 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:50.279 the let's let's say, let's say we've got to the point. 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:53.119 By the way, it takes about two years for Earth 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:55.120 and Mars to line up so that they are at 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:57.520 their closest, and then it will take another two years 0:06:57.520 --> 0:07:01.440 before they are at that same position relative to one another. 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:06.720 So there's a two year gap between when uh, your 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:09.279 closest when you're not. And close is important because that 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:12.160 determines how much fuel you're going to need to get 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:15.360 whatever it is you're sending to Mars. There, and fuel 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:20.120 is heavy because we depend on you know, uh, these 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:24.480 these chemical fuels that are you know, these solid chemical 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:26.960 fuels that that weigh a lot. They give off a 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:30.240 lot of energy and they are about as efficient as 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:36.120 we possibly can be with chemical uh fuel, But um yeah, 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:40.160 their weight factors into the whole calculation. So you want 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.320 to use as as little fuel as possible to get 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:48.000 your your spacecraft to Mars to be as efficient as 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:50.600 you possibly can be. This is also why it's really 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:53.240 difficult to talk about a manned mission to Mars. I'll 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:56.360 get to that in a second. But um, so you 0:07:56.480 --> 0:07:59.800 when you when Earth and Mars are closest together, if 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:02.920 you were to launch at that point, well, you know, 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:05.680 you can't just point the rocket at Mars where Mars 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:08.520 is right now, because it is not gonna be there 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:12.520 by the time the spacecraft would have made its way 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:15.520 to that point. You know, both planets are still moving 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.920 around the Sun, so your spacecraft would be going to 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:21.480 where Mars used to be, not to wear Mars is 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:23.559 going to be. So you actually have to planet out 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:27.000 ahead of time to make sure you are being as 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:30.080 economic as possible with your fuel use. So yeah, a 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:32.160 paraphrase the great one. You have to launch the rocket 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:34.079 at where the planet's going to be. Yeah, yeah, you 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:36.120 gotta shoot for where it will be, not for where 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:38.319 it is. So I'm sorry, go ahead, I was just 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:41.880 gonna say. So, essentially, there is a lot of thought 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.320 that has to go into this before you even build 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:47.840 the rocket, before you even build the rover. You really 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:51.240 have to think about what you need to do to 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:55.320 make it happen. And so you know, when you shoot 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:59.840 something at the Moon, the factors are lessened somewhat by 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:03.800 the distance and and the proximity of the moon. You 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:06.280 know what, you that the orbit and all those things 0:09:06.360 --> 0:09:11.520 are are are lesser and the more complex a project gets, 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:13.160 you know, the more factors you have to deal with. 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:15.680 And it's just that that's going to make it more 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:19.000 difficult to reach Mars than it is to reach the Moon. 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:21.680 And if you were trying to reach Pluto, for example, 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:25.440 the factors get even more difficult. I mean, Pluto's got 0:09:25.440 --> 0:09:28.920 such an odd orbit anyway. So I mean this is 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:33.800 this is you know, this isn't rockets. It is rocket science. 0:09:33.920 --> 0:09:38.560 So it's it's complex, not brain surgery. So the yeah, 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:40.800 so it takes about it takes about between seven and 0:09:40.840 --> 0:09:44.120 eight months to get from Earth to Mars using the 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:47.720 methods that we have available to us today. There are 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:51.640 scientists who have suggested that we look into using a 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:56.160 nuclear powered propulsion system in order to get from Earth 0:09:56.240 --> 0:10:00.960 to Mars, which would significantly reduce the way of your 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:04.000 vehicle because you wouldn't have to have so much chemical 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:07.120 fuel aboard. But then there are other problems of course 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:10.040 with the idea of the nuclear propulsion system, especially if 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:12.520 you're going to use some sort of chemical propulsion to 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.760 get you off the the surface of the Earth into 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:19.040 low Earth orbit before you engage the nuclear propulsion system. 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:22.360 Having explosives next to a nuclear device makes people nervous. 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:25.840 I don't know why. There's also the possibility that people 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:31.199 have said of of building the spacecraft in lowerth orbit, 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:33.400 so you would have space missions that would go out 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:36.280 build this craft and lower Earth orbit, and then you 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:40.080 solve the problem of having to escape Earth's gravity. Uh. 0:10:40.240 --> 0:10:44.120 You engage the nuclear propulsion system then, and that also 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:46.560 gets around it. At any rate, so you've got about 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:49.240 seven to eight months to get to Mars, depending on 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:55.479 exactly what you're sending there and and the timing involved. Ah, 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:58.439 this is and here's the reason why a manned mission 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:01.400 to Mars would be really, really cult Let's say that 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:04.040 we sent Let's say we we built the spacecraft that 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:07.920 that is capable of carrying a party of about six 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:11.360 astronauts to Mars. That tends to be about the number 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:15.720 of crew members that is considered ideal. UH. This comes 0:11:15.760 --> 0:11:18.520 from NASA, and NASA says that ideal number is somewhat 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:21.280 reached by you want to have enough of mix of 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:26.880 people so that you can balance out any personality issues. 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:29.800 You also want to have enough so that you can 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:34.559 represent multiple nationalities because you have to have a lot 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:37.920 of partnerships with other countries in order for these projects 0:11:37.960 --> 0:11:40.920 to come through. So there's a political element to it 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:44.280 as well. UM. So, let's say we've built the ship 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.959 that could hold six people, UH, that can hold all 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:51.080 the supplies they would need to get to Mars and back. 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:55.880 It would still take thirty two months from the time 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:58.520 you launched to the time you touched down back on 0:11:58.640 --> 0:12:01.240 Earth to do am Ours mission. And the reason for 0:12:01.280 --> 0:12:03.520 that is that because it takes seven to eight months, 0:12:03.800 --> 0:12:06.920 you know, assuming that you're going for pure fuel economy. Again, 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:10.560 to limit the weight of your spacecraft takes seven to 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:12.200 eight months for you to get to Mars. By the 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:15.040 time you land on Mars, the Mars and the Earth 0:12:15.080 --> 0:12:18.800 are no longer in that ideal situation where you can 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:21.839 easily get from one to the other. In fact, at 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:25.120 that point, by the time the Curiosity Rover landed on 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:28.040 the surface of Mars, Mars was further away from the 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:32.520 Earth than the Earth was to the Sun. So by 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:35.160 the time you land, the Earth is further away from 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:37.680 you than the Sun would be if you were still 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:40.840 on Earth. So you have to wait for that timing 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:42.840 to be right again so that you can launch from 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:46.240 Mars and get back to Earth. That takes almost two years, 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:48.679 so from the time you leave to the time you 0:12:48.720 --> 0:12:50.800 get back thirty two months past, so that's a that's 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:53.880 a very long mission, and that during that whole time 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:56.360 you would also have to be able to to not 0:12:56.440 --> 0:13:00.000 only provide all the resources your astronauts would need to 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:03.360 stay alive on the surface of Mars, which not a 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:07.920 very friendly planet for us, not too terribly accommodating. It's 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:12.120 not the worst, but it's not it's not the best either. 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:14.280 You would also have to figure out how to protect 0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:17.600 them from things like radiation. The longer you're out in space, 0:13:18.040 --> 0:13:20.520 the more likely you are to encounter various forms of 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:23.480 radiation that we are protected from here on Earth due 0:13:23.520 --> 0:13:27.360 to factors like their's atmosphere and its magnetic field. So 0:13:27.400 --> 0:13:28.800 you'd have to figure out how do you protect the 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:31.280 astronauts from things like gamma radiation out in space so 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:35.640 that they don't turn into Incredible Hulk or cosmic race 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:38.680 so they don't come back as the Fantastic Six, because 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:41.440 there would be two more than the four. Um. I 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:43.160 also thought you were going to point out that there 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:46.400 need to be enough people aboard so that when the 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:50.280 aliens do start bursting out of them that you know 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:52.160 there's somebody left at the end of Yeah, you have 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:54.080 to have that dramatic person at the end so they 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:56.040 can come back and tell the story and and and 0:13:56.400 --> 0:14:01.920 blame the corporation from the documentary Alien um the uh. Yes, 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:03.400 So there are there are a lot of factors that 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:05.400 make it really really hard for us to send a 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:09.680 manned mission to Mars, which is why the missions that 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:12.560 we've sent to Mars so far have been unmanned missions. 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:18.240 And uh even those have not had a great success rate. 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:21.800 Although again the United States success rate is significantly higher 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:25.240 than if you were to to think of the entire world, UH, 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:29.000 which is mainly the USSR or SO Union at the time, 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:34.520 UM now would be Russia and the various countries around Russia. UH. 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:39.160 The Japan also has attempted to send missions to Mars, 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:42.520 and there was I think a European mission as well. 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:49.920 So the the first attempt to send a mission to Mars, 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:53.320 an unmanned mission to Mars was in nineteen sixty by 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:58.600 the Soviet Union and it was called corrobl four KO R, A, B, 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:03.800 L and R in the in our alphabet. I don't 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:06.280 read Ceilic, so I couldn't tell you the other version. 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:09.560 But um, yeah, that was in nineteen sixty. It did 0:15:09.560 --> 0:15:12.280 not even it didn't reach Earth orbit, so that was 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:17.240 a failure early on. It did not um even make 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:20.200 it into lower orbit, much less out into Mars. I 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.120 actually saw that one listed as Mars Nick Mars Nick 0:15:23.600 --> 0:15:27.160 interest s n I k uh, so this is the 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:31.440 information I got was from NASA, So I was going 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:33.680 from an article and wired, so, yeah, this is this 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:36.480 is from NASA. So they had to actually that went 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:40.640 around the same time. Corrabl four and five according to NASA, 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:43.120 but I'm sure I had different names in the Wired article. 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:48.280 The first attempt by the United States was in nineteen 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:52.320 sixty four with the Mariner three UM, which was it 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:54.440 was supposed to be a fly by mission. So this 0:15:54.520 --> 0:16:00.240 is a spacecraft that's supposed to pass by Mars and 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:03.440 take photos as it goes by. Uh. That one was 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:08.440 also a failure. The the shroud failed to jettison, so 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:13.000 it did not make it to Mars. But shortly thereafter, 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:17.280 the Mariner four was a successful fly by mission and 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:22.480 it returned twenty one images of Mars to Earth. So UH, 0:16:22.560 --> 0:16:24.360 the United States first attempt was a failure, but the 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:28.359 second attempt succeeded. UM. There were a lot of attempts 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:34.040 since then. UH. Some of them, many of them were flybys, UM. 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:37.800 Some of them were meant to be orbit ters. UH. 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:42.160 A lot of launch failures, a lot of orbits that 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:48.400 were obtained, but then the device failed before it could 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:54.320 really retrieve a lot of information. The first success really 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:59.960 for the Soviet Union UM was the Mars five which 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:04.520 was in nineteen seventy three, and that was that returned 0:17:05.000 --> 0:17:07.960 sixty images of the planet and it but it only 0:17:08.040 --> 0:17:13.040 lasted nine days. Yeah, Mars to actually attempted to put 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:17.040 a lander on the surface, but not so much with 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:21.160 the success. Yeah, the orbiter actually arrived into the orbit 0:17:21.160 --> 0:17:25.240 of Mars, but yeah, the lander did not did not 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:28.800 land successfully. One of the challenges again that I had 0:17:28.800 --> 0:17:32.120 read about, especially with the recent coverage on curiosity again 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:35.040 recent as of the time or recording this um, is 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:40.160 that the the atmosphere of Mars is very very unlike 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:44.280 that of Earth. It's very thin. Yes, so you know, 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:47.359 if you think about, uh, for example, the Space Shuttle 0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:52.679 coming back in or the Mercury and gemin emissions. I 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:55.639 love doing that because Jonathan wins Is every time I 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:58.840 see geminy, some of the astronauts called it that though, Uh, 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.480 you know, using the heat sheet and coming in and 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:03.800 having the heat shield, you know, burning as it comes 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:07.600 through the Earth's atmosphere. Uh, Mars's atmosphere does not act 0:18:08.000 --> 0:18:11.800 as a slower downer, not not as much. It does. 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:15.000 It does slow down the vehicle, but not as much yet. 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:17.119 Think I was going to say that, Okay, well you 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:18.840 said and as you said that, you said it wasn't 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:21.119 a slower downer. I went to correct, Well, not as 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:22.560 I was going to say, not as much as it 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:28.440 does here, and with gravity being so different there too. 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:33.920 Um it is those are our factors that the the 0:18:34.080 --> 0:18:38.920 scientists have to take into account. Um. I am not mistaken. 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:40.840 You know there have been times when we tried to 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:44.240 use a big cushiony bouncy ball to try to protect 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:46.960 something and it didn't work out to But we have 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:53.239 had rovers land using that approach. Um, it's an air 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:57.160 airbag approach is really what it isn't airbags? Uh? Well, yes, 0:18:57.240 --> 0:18:59.639 the the atmosphere on Mars is thinner that it is 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:03.000 on Earth, and it does not slow entry vehicles down 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:05.160 to the same extent as we would have here on Earth. 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:07.760 So you have to come up with other ways of 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:13.080 slowing your injury vehicle entry vehicle down, uh, if you 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:15.920 don't want to go boom on the surface of the planet. 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:18.240 And there have been a lot of different attempts to 0:19:18.280 --> 0:19:22.040 do that. So previous attempts involved using parachutes, which can 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:24.119 slow you down a little bit, but even then the 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:28.280 atmosphere is so thin that you're going uh. They for example, 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:32.840 the Curiosity rover deployed the largest supersonic parachute NASA has 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:35.679 ever built, which wayed I think a hundred pounds total 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:39.320 that was that was able to slow down the vehicle 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:42.760 to two miles per hour. Uh, And I don't have 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:46.040 the kilometers per hour conversion. They're right in front of me. 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:50.040 So I apologized for that. But anyway, even at that speed, 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:53.280 there was no way the rover could land and maintain integrity. 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:55.879 It would have smashed to little, tiny pieces. So they 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:58.360 had to find another way of slowing down. Uh. There 0:19:58.359 --> 0:20:02.560 are other elements literally on Mars that make this difficult. 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:06.120 One of the potential things you could do is use 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:10.760 rockets to slow down your your entry vehicle. But the 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:13.200 closer you get to the surface of the planet, the 0:20:13.320 --> 0:20:16.160 more those rockets are going to disturb the dust that's 0:20:16.240 --> 0:20:19.600 on the surface. That dust can cause lots of problems. 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:24.080 If you have sensitive scientific equipment. This equipment might get 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:26.879 gummed up by dust. The dust could damage it so 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:30.960 that it's unusable, which means that you might land successfully, 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:34.560 but you can't actually retrieve any data because your instruments 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:37.920 are fouled by dust. Um The dust itself could also 0:20:37.960 --> 0:20:42.879 be corrosive, so there's some real problems there. So you 0:20:42.920 --> 0:20:44.800 have to figure out, well, if you can't just use rockets. 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:49.000 Then you have to find some other balancing features so 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:53.200 that you can lower the rover itself onto the surface 0:20:53.280 --> 0:20:55.679 without getting the rockets so close to the surface that 0:20:55.720 --> 0:21:00.040 they start to disturb the dust about KOs peract of 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:04.360 twenty two kilometers per hour, thank you so uh in 0:21:04.440 --> 0:21:07.080 some cases the way that the rovers we have landed. Now, 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:11.320 we we've also launched orbiters that just orbit Mars and 0:21:11.359 --> 0:21:15.480 take uh scientific measurements from orbit. So we've got some 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:19.040 of those in orbit already. UM. In fact, we've got 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:21.760 a couple that we launched not too long ago, we 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:27.040 being the United States. UM. The the there's the Mars 0:21:27.080 --> 0:21:30.320 Reconnaissance Orbiter, which was launched in two thousand five and 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:34.080 uh it's already returned more than twenty six terra bits 0:21:34.080 --> 0:21:40.600 of data about the planet. There's also the Odyssey Mars Odyssey, 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:44.400 which was launched in two thousand one, UM, and both 0:21:44.440 --> 0:21:47.560 of those have contributed a lot to our scientific knowledge. 0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:51.639 The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has aboarded a special camera called 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:55.960 the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment or high RISE, and 0:21:56.000 --> 0:21:59.399 the high Rise actually caught a great photo of the 0:21:59.520 --> 0:22:02.680 Curia the rover as it was landing with the parachute deployed, 0:22:03.200 --> 0:22:06.080 so you can actually see the parachute. You can see 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:10.040 the capsule that contained the rover. You can if you 0:22:10.119 --> 0:22:12.119 look really carefully, you can even see the heat shield 0:22:12.200 --> 0:22:15.920 that was jettisoned off the bottom of the rover. We'll 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:19.440 talk more about that whole procedure in just a minute. UM. So, 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:22.240 one of the things you could do is you use 0:22:22.320 --> 0:22:25.840 rockets to slow yourself down further from the parachute, so 0:22:25.880 --> 0:22:28.440 the parachute gets you down to a certain speed, the 0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:30.199 rockets can slow you down a little bit more. And 0:22:30.240 --> 0:22:32.840 then as you get closer to the surface, you need 0:22:32.920 --> 0:22:35.320 to find a way of lowering the rover itself so 0:22:35.400 --> 0:22:39.600 that the rockets don't disturb the dust too much. One 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:42.719 way of doing that is to lower the rover uh 0:22:42.880 --> 0:22:45.760 to essentially drop it with all these air bags around it, 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:47.679 which cushioned the blow, and it lands and then it 0:22:47.720 --> 0:22:50.240 retrieves the air bags and or or emerges from the 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:53.879 air bags and continues on its mission. That's how the 0:22:54.040 --> 0:22:59.000 smaller rovers um landed from the smaller ones being things 0:22:59.040 --> 0:23:02.240 like the Spirit and the Opportunity, UH, the Phoenix Lander, 0:23:02.800 --> 0:23:07.600 things like that used those sort of approaches because um, 0:23:07.680 --> 0:23:09.919 they were they were small enough where it wasn't that 0:23:11.240 --> 0:23:13.840 it wasn't as huge a challenge. With the Curiosity Rover, 0:23:13.920 --> 0:23:17.800 you're talking about a one ton vehicle, and at that size, 0:23:18.320 --> 0:23:20.760 the size of the air bags you would need are 0:23:20.800 --> 0:23:23.639