1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:03,440 Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from Coast to Coast AM on 2 00:00:03,560 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and welcome back to Coast to Coast George Nori 3 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:09,800 Speaker 1: with you physicists. Les Johnson with US serves as a 4 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:15,600 Speaker 1: principal investigator for NASA's first interplanetary solar sale space missions, 5 00:00:16,160 --> 00:00:19,840 Speaker 1: Near Earth Asteroid Scout and Solar Cruiser. He also led 6 00:00:19,880 --> 00:00:23,639 Speaker 1: research on various other advanced space propulsion technologies at the 7 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. During 8 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:30,400 Speaker 1: his career at NASA, he served as the manager for 9 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 1: the Space Science Programs and Project's Office and the in 10 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: Space Propulsion Technology Program. Last, welcome to the program with 11 00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:41,559 Speaker 1: your great book, A Traveler's Guide to the Stars. I 12 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: had fun reading it. Well, that's what every author wants 13 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:47,519 Speaker 1: to hear. Thank thanks for having me. Glad to be here. 14 00:00:47,560 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 1: I want to get your reaction to the Dart mission 15 00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: before we get into this budging that asteroid. It seems 16 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:56,600 Speaker 1: to have been very successful. Well. First thing I have 17 00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: to say, though, whenever I'm being interviewed about anything related 18 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: to my book, is anything I say is my personal opinion. 19 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:06,040 Speaker 1: I'm not here representing NASA. That said, I thought it 20 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: was exciting. You know, whenever you look out and you 21 00:01:09,080 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 1: look at hitting a rock with a dart you throw 22 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:17,039 Speaker 1: at those speeds and distances, you've got to be impressed. 23 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 1: And the capability to deflect an asteroid hopefully is not 24 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:23,800 Speaker 1: something we're going to need anytime soon. But you know, 25 00:01:23,920 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: looking back on it, we've had some closed calls in 26 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:29,040 Speaker 1: the past, and it's nice to know that capability is 27 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 1: there if we need it absolutely. And what is the 28 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: solar sales space mission program? Well, solar sales are one 29 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:39,400 Speaker 1: of many advanced propulsion technologies I've worked on in my career, 30 00:01:39,560 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 1: But a solar sale is a way to move a 31 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:45,720 Speaker 1: spacecraft through space without using any fuel. That's a big 32 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:48,800 Speaker 1: limitter for how we currently do all of our space missions. 33 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 1: Most of them are limited and where we can go, 34 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:53,160 Speaker 1: how quickly we can get there, how long we can 35 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:55,000 Speaker 1: stay when we get there, by how much fuel you 36 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: can carry on board. And for missions that right now anyway, 37 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 1: as far as the technology go, that are nearer the Sun, 38 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 1: like at the distance of Mars or closer, you can 39 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:07,920 Speaker 1: use a large lightweight reflector like a sail on a 40 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:10,600 Speaker 1: sailing ship, only it's kind of a it's aluminum. It 41 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:14,919 Speaker 1: looks like a silvered mirror. It's extremely thin. Think about 42 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:16,960 Speaker 1: the thickness of a human hair. Looks like a big 43 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:19,720 Speaker 1: sheet of aluminum foil. And what that does is it 44 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:23,640 Speaker 1: reflects light, and as light reflects from it, it pushes 45 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,280 Speaker 1: on it. It's not much of a push, but it's constant, 46 00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:31,040 Speaker 1: and that constant push can be translated into speed. So 47 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:33,560 Speaker 1: you don't really realize it. But when you're outside during 48 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:36,320 Speaker 1: the day and the sunlight's reflecting from you, those little 49 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:39,280 Speaker 1: photons don't have any rest mass, but they have momentum. 50 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:41,440 Speaker 1: It's sort of like little beebes bouncing off of you. 51 00:02:41,960 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: And the Earth's gravity is much much stronger, the wind 52 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:47,360 Speaker 1: currents are much much more force. But when you get 53 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: away from all that and you get out in space 54 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:51,960 Speaker 1: and you've got that relentless sun pushing on you, you 55 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:55,119 Speaker 1: can use that push as a way to propel your spacecraft, 56 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:58,240 Speaker 1: and that's what a solar sail does. Last year book 57 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: title and Traveler's Guide to the Star as kind of 58 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:02,760 Speaker 1: implies we're all going to get in spaceships one day 59 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:07,040 Speaker 1: and go traveling. Is that conceivable? It is absolutely conceivable, 60 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,079 Speaker 1: Although I wouldn't count on it happening anytime soon, at 61 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: least based on our current understanding of the laws of nature. 62 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:18,200 Speaker 1: But solar sales and their cousins, laser sales, where you 63 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:20,040 Speaker 1: could have a big sale and get it to go 64 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:23,799 Speaker 1: faster than sunlight can propel it by shining extremely high 65 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:27,320 Speaker 1: energy lasers on it have the capability, at least from 66 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: a physics point of view, to carry a spacecraft pretty 67 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 1: rapidly out of the Solar system and on to the 68 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 1: nearby stars. The technologies, and we can talk about whichever 69 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:40,320 Speaker 1: ones you like, There are several that nature looks like 70 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: will allow us to develop. We just don't know how 71 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: to do the engineering yet. We've got a long way 72 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 1: to go to take the fundamental physics which says, you know, 73 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:52,560 Speaker 1: this might actually be possible to wow, how do you 74 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:55,680 Speaker 1: build that? And that's the phase we're in right now. 75 00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:58,360 Speaker 1: We're taking the baby steps toward the future. And so 76 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:00,080 Speaker 1: one of these days, yeah, I think our descend and 77 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: so be able to do that. So you're seeing a 78 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 1: different propulsion system from what we know now. Obviously, absolutely, 79 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:09,240 Speaker 1: chemical rockets are really good for getting off the ground. 80 00:04:09,320 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: They have what's called a high thrust mass, which means 81 00:04:12,320 --> 00:04:15,080 Speaker 1: you get a lot of force out of them very quickly, 82 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: and that allows you to get out of the Earth's gravity. Well, 83 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:19,599 Speaker 1: or let's say we have something on the Moon, we 84 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 1: want to launch it from the Moon. You can get 85 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:24,400 Speaker 1: out of the gravity pretty easily. But they're terribly inefficient. 86 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:27,960 Speaker 1: There's a measure of the efficiency of a propulsion system. 87 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:30,719 Speaker 1: It's called the specific impulse, and I won't go into 88 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 1: its derivation, but it's kind of the rocket scientists equivalent 89 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: to miles per gallon on a car, how far you 90 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:38,279 Speaker 1: can go on a charge on an electric car, or 91 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: how many how many how many miles you get per 92 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:44,880 Speaker 1: gallon of fuel, And the chemical rockets have pretty low 93 00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:49,120 Speaker 1: specific impulse. They're terribly inefficient. And what you need in 94 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:51,479 Speaker 1: order to get to the stars is you need a 95 00:04:51,480 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: propulsion system that gives you as much push as possible 96 00:04:55,240 --> 00:04:58,120 Speaker 1: propound of propellant, which means it has to be very 97 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: efficient quick I'm go ahead, borrowing a phrase from Star Trek, 98 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 1: what will it take to get this warp speed? Well, unfortunately, 99 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:13,400 Speaker 1: from our current understanding of how nature works, doesn't look 100 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,480 Speaker 1: like a space warp. The Star Trek warp drive is 101 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 1: going to be possible. Now, I always have to give 102 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:21,320 Speaker 1: the caveat from based on what we know now and 103 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:23,719 Speaker 1: what we understand. You know, if I were a physicist 104 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:26,680 Speaker 1: one hundred years ago, I might not see things are 105 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:28,920 Speaker 1: possible that are today because we've had the breakthrough in 106 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:32,919 Speaker 1: quantum mechanics and everything else since then. But warp drive, 107 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:36,760 Speaker 1: really it looks good in the mathematics. There are some 108 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:40,720 Speaker 1: interesting papers following the Kuba came up with a concept 109 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:43,640 Speaker 1: for a warp drive that looks really good until you 110 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:45,599 Speaker 1: get down in the math and you figure out he 111 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:48,680 Speaker 1: needs something called negative mass, and we have no idea 112 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:51,600 Speaker 1: what that is. If somebody discovers it or figures out 113 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: how to get to it and that's not the same 114 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:56,799 Speaker 1: thing as antimatter, it's something negative mass, then we won't 115 00:05:56,800 --> 00:06:00,360 Speaker 1: have a warp drive. I wish we could what other 116 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:04,160 Speaker 1: kinds of propulsion systems are viable less in the next 117 00:06:04,160 --> 00:06:07,159 Speaker 1: well fifty years, let's say, yeah, in the next fifty 118 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: years to get us to the stars. I think we 119 00:06:09,839 --> 00:06:13,159 Speaker 1: could think about sending a spacecraft much faster than Voyager. 120 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:17,599 Speaker 1: Voyager spacecraft spacecraft were launched in the seventies and have 121 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:19,599 Speaker 1: left the Solar System, and if they were going in 122 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 1: the right direction, they'd reach the nearest star in about 123 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:25,960 Speaker 1: seventy thousand years. So they're not moving nearly fast enough. 124 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:31,160 Speaker 1: So we could use electric propulsion electric rockets, which are 125 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:34,479 Speaker 1: about ten times more efficient than chemical rockets, so you 126 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:36,520 Speaker 1: might get that trip time down to less than ten 127 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:39,320 Speaker 1: thousand years, But for you and me, that's still pretty 128 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:43,440 Speaker 1: darn slow. I think if we had a crash program 129 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:47,920 Speaker 1: in laser and solar sales, and we built big lasers 130 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 1: not on the Earth but out in deep space so 131 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:52,920 Speaker 1: people wouldn't think they were a weapon, then you might 132 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:55,440 Speaker 1: be able to launch your probes alpha Centauri that would 133 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:57,520 Speaker 1: have a trip time of less than a thousand years. 134 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:00,680 Speaker 1: But that would be a small robotic probe. It wouldn't 135 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 1: be anything big enough for people. Yet. We're a long 136 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 1: way from that technology. The excitement those people, isn't it. Well, 137 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:12,120 Speaker 1: that's what gets people excited, that's right. My experience, and 138 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:15,600 Speaker 1: I think the experience of space exploration in general, is 139 00:07:15,760 --> 00:07:17,960 Speaker 1: we want to send people to these places. We wanted 140 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:21,680 Speaker 1: to send people into orbit and into space, but before 141 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 1: we risk that, we sent robotic probes Sputnik and Explorer, 142 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 1: Before we went to the Moon and put people there, 143 00:07:28,600 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 1: we sent the surveyors. Right now, we're sending robots to Mars. 144 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:35,200 Speaker 1: Eventually we'll send people, so I think it'll be a 145 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 1: kind of a two step process. But actually going and 146 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:42,000 Speaker 1: having boots on the ground, people experiencing things for themselves. 147 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:44,120 Speaker 1: That's really, I think, deep down, what a lot of 148 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:46,320 Speaker 1: us want to see. That's what I'd like to see. 149 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:49,680 Speaker 1: I'd like to be that tourist who goes out and 150 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 1: is a part of exploring the universe, and I'd like 151 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:57,520 Speaker 1: to do it in person. Would you go? The answer 152 00:07:57,560 --> 00:08:00,280 Speaker 1: I'll give you is that depends if it was the 153 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: capability of being a round trip. Probably yes. If I 154 00:08:03,760 --> 00:08:05,880 Speaker 1: could go as a tourist, I don't know if I'd 155 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:07,960 Speaker 1: have the guts to take a one way trip to 156 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:13,640 Speaker 1: uncertain destination that might not even be habitable Georgia. You know, 157 00:08:13,680 --> 00:08:17,280 Speaker 1: I go out today here in Alabama. We had a 158 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: beautiful blue sky, a little bit of rain, great temperature. 159 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:23,040 Speaker 1: I was out on my deck. It'd be a tough 160 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:25,520 Speaker 1: call to give that up forever. I love it. There's 161 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:29,600 Speaker 1: something very special less about this planet. We need to 162 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:32,280 Speaker 1: protect it. And that's one thing I want to say 163 00:08:32,320 --> 00:08:36,160 Speaker 1: about my vision for the future of the human race 164 00:08:36,240 --> 00:08:38,840 Speaker 1: and life on Earth in general. Going to the stars, 165 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:41,559 Speaker 1: we shouldn't view that as escaping the Earth. We need 166 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 1: to solve problems here on the home planet and spread 167 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:48,200 Speaker 1: life throughout the universe. But this is a special place 168 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:50,080 Speaker 1: and we need to take care of it. Yeah, there's 169 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:52,920 Speaker 1: no question about it. We talk a lot about travel 170 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:55,560 Speaker 1: space travel on this program, and one of the things 171 00:08:55,559 --> 00:08:59,120 Speaker 1: that comes up quite a bit is bending space and 172 00:08:59,320 --> 00:09:02,120 Speaker 1: time in order to get to where you have to go. 173 00:09:02,440 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 1: It's so we'll use an example less put put a 174 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:09,800 Speaker 1: dot at the end of a piece of paper and 175 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:13,800 Speaker 1: put another dot on the opposite end and fold it over. 176 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 1: Were they two dots hit? Can we can we ever 177 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:21,440 Speaker 1: get to that point where we travel like that? Now? 178 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:23,800 Speaker 1: I'll be the first person, as I've kind of hinted 179 00:09:23,920 --> 00:09:28,440 Speaker 1: previously in this call to not say anything unequivocally is 180 00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:31,560 Speaker 1: forever being impossible. But I don't think we have a 181 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:35,199 Speaker 1: clue how to do that today. I mean, there are 182 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:37,240 Speaker 1: some smart people out there that are looking at the 183 00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 1: challenges um that the Alcoubi a warp drive is one 184 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:43,800 Speaker 1: thing that's not really doing what you just described. I 185 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:46,640 Speaker 1: think the closest thing that I can think of to 186 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 1: what you described as the theory that you can have 187 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:52,080 Speaker 1: a have a black hole and a white hole, create 188 00:09:52,160 --> 00:09:54,880 Speaker 1: this passageway a wormhole from one part of space time 189 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:57,560 Speaker 1: to the next and just appear huh yeah, and just 190 00:09:57,679 --> 00:10:01,160 Speaker 1: get there. But you know, that's all theoretical, and being 191 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:04,480 Speaker 1: someone who's in their day job has to translate theory 192 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 1: into practice. If someone were to come to me and say, 193 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:09,320 Speaker 1: how do we build a way to do that? I 194 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:12,880 Speaker 1: would just scratch my head, have no idea. How many 195 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:15,880 Speaker 1: extra planets have we discovered so far outside of our 196 00:10:15,880 --> 00:10:22,080 Speaker 1: Solar system? Oh? Wow? Over five thousand, five thousand? Wow? Wow, 197 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:26,000 Speaker 1: that's right. Yeah, there are a lot. And what's exciting 198 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:28,079 Speaker 1: about that to me, I've been in this business for 199 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:31,640 Speaker 1: many years, is all those have been discovered really after 200 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:36,200 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety two, that's right. Then we had no direct 201 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:39,079 Speaker 1: evidence that there were any planets beyond the Solar System. Now, 202 00:10:39,080 --> 00:10:42,640 Speaker 1: planetary scientists really suspected there were, and those of us 203 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:47,600 Speaker 1: watching star trek knew there were, but in reality there 204 00:10:47,640 --> 00:10:49,920 Speaker 1: was no good data to support that. And there's just 205 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:55,440 Speaker 1: been an explosion of discovery of extra planets and big ones, 206 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:57,959 Speaker 1: small ones, sums that are in the habitable zone where 207 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:01,520 Speaker 1: you could have liquid water, be no shortage of destinations 208 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:03,800 Speaker 1: if we develop a space drive. I was going to say, 209 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:06,320 Speaker 1: can we tell if there are any earthlike planets there? 210 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:12,280 Speaker 1: Not really yet. I think there are a lot of 211 00:11:12,440 --> 00:11:16,360 Speaker 1: planets that are that are similar to Earth in size, 212 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:21,280 Speaker 1: that are located at a distance from their parents starve 213 00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:23,679 Speaker 1: where they could have liquid water like we have here 214 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:28,000 Speaker 1: on Earth. But to determine that they have an atmosphere 215 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:31,120 Speaker 1: that might be similar to ours, we don't really have 216 00:11:31,240 --> 00:11:35,160 Speaker 1: the instrumentation yet to do that definitively. Now we're getting close, 217 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:38,840 Speaker 1: and there are a lot of scientists who are proposing 218 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:42,360 Speaker 1: new telescopes and new missions and new techniques to do, 219 00:11:42,679 --> 00:11:46,200 Speaker 1: say spectroscopy to determine, you know, if we can maybe 220 00:11:46,240 --> 00:11:51,000 Speaker 1: the atmosphere composition of some of the planet's atmospheres out there. 221 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:53,360 Speaker 1: But at this time we don't really know if there's 222 00:11:53,840 --> 00:11:56,520 Speaker 1: Earth two point zero or something similar to it out there. 223 00:11:57,720 --> 00:12:01,360 Speaker 1: What are your thoughts less on privatization. I think it's 224 00:12:01,440 --> 00:12:06,079 Speaker 1: it's exciting. Well, it is exciting, and one of the 225 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:09,599 Speaker 1: things that I think is lost as a as a 226 00:12:09,679 --> 00:12:16,040 Speaker 1: notion that most governments, NASA, the Europeans and otherwise have 227 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:21,000 Speaker 1: been using commercial companies to launch their robotics spacecraft for decades. 228 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:26,040 Speaker 1: The US, for NASA and DD, starting in the mid 229 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:30,120 Speaker 1: to late eighties, started basically hiring private launch services for 230 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:33,840 Speaker 1: taking their spacecraft up and stop doing it themselves. With 231 00:12:33,920 --> 00:12:37,120 Speaker 1: the exception of human space flight until recently, that was 232 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:39,600 Speaker 1: pretty much the sole province of governments, but now that's 233 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:44,640 Speaker 1: being commercialized. So it's really a good transition for lowers 234 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:48,400 Speaker 1: orbit and hopefully beyond, and lets those of those of 235 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:51,240 Speaker 1: us who develop payloads concentrate on, you know, going where 236 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:55,040 Speaker 1: no one's gone before, right um, and let the private 237 00:12:55,080 --> 00:12:57,960 Speaker 1: companies take it and make it more affordable. It's a 238 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:01,160 Speaker 1: great idea. Listen to our Coast to Coast AM every 239 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:04,280 Speaker 1: weeknight at one a m Eastern and go to Coast 240 00:13:04,320 --> 00:13:06,160 Speaker 1: to Coast am dot com for more