WEBVTT - Can NASA predict natural disasters? 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:04.640 Brought to you by the all New Toyota Corolla. Welcome 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:14.080 to Stuff you should know from House Stuff Works dot com. Hey, 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:17.120 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, and there's 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:20.560 Charles Bryant Chuckers. You might know him. An Sure, there's 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:23.560 a w in there somewhere at sure for the Wayne. Yeah, 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:32.440 named after Wayne coyn Right, No, we talked about that before. Yeah, John, Wayne, 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:37.680 how are you doing. I'm great, man, Um, I am 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:43.040 all over this NASA activity. Oh yeah, yeah, good because 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:44.959 it seems like i'll we hear about NASA these days 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:49.239 is how they're having to shut down uh space programs, Right, 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:52.239 that's the other stuff is cool. Well, that's the impression 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:56.200 I have is that they're kind of taking their um, 0:00:56.240 --> 0:00:59.360 their field of vision the mountain to outer space and 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:02.640 turning it planet word towards Earth. Why not, That's where 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:06.320 all the people are that are buying Big Max. Right. Well, 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:10.440 if if space exploration is going private, you got the 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:15.120 Elon Musk's and the Richard Branson's of the world saying 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:18.360 we got this, NASA, you go do something else with 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:21.760 all of your high tech remote sensing equipment, then it 0:01:21.840 --> 0:01:24.640 makes sense that NASA would say, Okay, we'll become the 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:29.559 watchdog guardian of the planet. And that's what they've they've become. Plus, also, 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:33.640 if you're the United States using NASA's remote sensing equipment 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:38.760 on Earth, is a dynamite cover for intelligence gathering? Well yeah, 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:41.960 I mean you have all sorts of satellites carrying out 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:45.000 different functions, but really all of them are taking pictures 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:49.800 of the Earth, highly detailed ones too. You want to 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:57.680 know about Russian troops formation as NASA yet of volcano? Sure? 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:02.440 If you want to know what kind of sand way? Uh, 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:07.320 Julian Assange had today, asked NASA, Well, that's NASA. Everyone 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:10.360 knows that what Juna fish is, That what his thing is. 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:14.440 Sure every day, that's how he keeps his white main white. 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:18.919 Him and Michio Kaku. Yeah, the white mullet. Actually it's 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:21.720 not so mellody. It's just more of a main main 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:24.839 for sure. Both of them have a main, a big 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:29.639 helmet of hair. So chuck um. But I guess the 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:32.040 question we've posed today I feel like we need to 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:37.040 answer is can NASA predict natural disasters? I think we 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:39.280 can go ahead and answer and say not yet. Right, 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:44.960 But now that again, they've kind of mothballed space exploration 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:47.960 to an extent. I mean we're still hitting Mars. Yeah, yeah, 0:02:48.000 --> 0:02:50.760 we're not. They're not mothballing it, but they're they're they've 0:02:50.760 --> 0:02:52.480 reached the point where they're like, Okay, we've got all 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:55.160 this really good equipment, let's start monitoring Earth a little 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.560 more because there's a lot of questions we have. Um. Now, 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.720 they've reached this point where since the beginning of twenty 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:04.880 one century, they've started conducting missions. They have planned ones 0:03:04.919 --> 0:03:08.440 that are just being started now, some that are coming 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:10.600 in the next couple of years, and from all this 0:03:10.760 --> 0:03:13.800 data they'll be able to analyze it and start to 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:16.840 be able to predict natural disasters. So they have this 0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:19.480 whole like toolbox. I guess if you wanted to go 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:23.519 into like corporate buzz speak of of programs and missions 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:26.359 that they're carrying out that will help them predict natural 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:30.639 disasters pretty soon. That's right, not the low hanging fruit, right, 0:03:31.520 --> 0:03:33.959 they're just trying to reach out and play together with 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:37.080 the Earth in the same in the same space, in 0:03:37.120 --> 0:03:41.920 the same space. Maybe Java storm boy at the corporate talk, Yeah, 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:46.120 we shunned that at all costs here, Um, all right, 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:48.400 so let's talk about this. We talked about remote sensing. 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:54.880 That is UM basically detecting energy reflecting from something UM 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:57.640 when it's pointed out in space, like when you're looking 0:03:57.640 --> 0:04:01.640 for new planets, it's pointed out in space. When you 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:04.920 pointed on Earth, it's a heck of a lot closer, right, 0:04:05.080 --> 0:04:07.400 And to get more detail. And they're they're using different 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:10.760 kinds of UM detectors. They're detecting different kinds of energy 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:14.560 I should say, like microwave, radiation, X rays. It's not 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:19.000 just like using your peepers. That information can be translated 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:21.520 into something we use our peepers to look at, but 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:24.640 for they can use this equipment to sense all sorts 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:26.960 of different stuff. Yeah. And like you said, it's UM. 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:29.320 It's like mounted on aircraft or it's part of a 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:33.520 satellite or is a satellite and um, yeah, it's all up. 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:37.080 They're looking back at you right now, yes, the wave. Yeah, 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:40.360 or it's looking at the Earth where we're just the 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:44.880 insignificant tiny specs crawling around on the Earth. Yeah. And 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:46.679 this is this is a kind of a big deal. 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.240 You know, it makes sense, it's sensible what they're doing. 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:53.080 It's a smart thing. To do with NASA's department, but 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:57.240 it also really is, um, we're at the threshold of 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:01.560 like a really big change in our understanding of our planet, 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:03.600 you know, Like I think there's kind of a lot 0:05:03.680 --> 0:05:06.919 of assumptions that people make about our understanding of the 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:09.680 planet that are just totally incorrect. Like, for example, I 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:15.080 would have guessed that meteorologists and climatologists knew how tropical 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:19.799 storms form. They do not, uh, And from using things 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.720 like well, there's actually a project that was carried out 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:25.479 in the summer of two thousand ten UM that was 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:30.679 dedicated to studying this is called grip genesis and rapid 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:35.960 intensification processes. And for a couple of a couple of months, 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:39.000 some NASA scientists flew around on a Gulf Stream jet 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:44.080 and took really precise measurements of what they believed were 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:48.479 the beginnings of tropical storms to see how they form exactly. Yeah, 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:50.800 And the goal with pretty much everything that we're going 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:54.400 to talk about today is early detection. Because you can't 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:58.040 stop a hurricane, you can't stop a volcano or an earthquake. 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:01.359 But like the old saying, that's right, but if you 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:05.159 know it's coming, then you can get people out of 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:08.520 the way. You can thwart some of them to some degree. Yeah, 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:10.600 Like anybody can point to a hurricane be like, oh, 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:14.080 there's a hurricane. By then it's a little too late. 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:17.560 If you can point to the very beginnings the cradle 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:20.960 of the hurricane, the formation of a tropical storm. Now 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:23.839 you're talking about time that you have to warn people, 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:26.480 like you, guys need to get out of here. Yeah. 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:28.680 And there is one really cool program they've had going 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:32.400 since two thousand two called GRACE. There's gonna be a 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:37.560 lot of acronyms today, by the way, the UM the 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:41.160 Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, this is my favorite one. 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:44.880 It's it's really cool basically what they're doing. All right, Well, 0:06:44.920 --> 0:06:47.880 let's step back a minute. Let's talk about Newton. Okay, 0:06:48.080 --> 0:06:51.440 gravity depends on the mass of an object. In the 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:55.159 case of polar ice caps, the mass is changing. So 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:57.840 if the mass is changing, the gravity is changing. Right. 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:01.240 So when when the polar ice caps melt and turn 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:06.320 to water and then flow towards the equator, um they 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:09.960 are often so big that they left it in depression 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:14.440 on the Earth's surface. Once they're gone, that depression could 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:16.760 be filled in the mantle can fill back in in 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:20.080 the area, changing the mass in that particular part of 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:23.960 Earth and hence changing the gravity. Right, Yeah, it's one 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:26.320 estimate has between two thousand and ten and two thousand 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:30.160 and eleven UM, the Greenland ice Shield lost two hundred 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:34.040 and twenty four giga tons of mats. So not only 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:35.840 is that going to change the land formation in the mass, 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:39.000 it's gonna make the sea level rise at a rate 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:42.000 of about point seven millimeters a year. That's going to 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:45.680 change the makeup of the Earth. Um. And so they 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:50.000 have a couple of buddies, Tom and Jerry that are 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:53.960 in orbit satellites, twin satellites about a hundred and thirty 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:56.000 six miles apart from each other. Do you know why 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:58.280 they're called Tom and Jerry because they're chasing each other 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:01.040 and then only they're on the same orbit exactly a 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:03.960 polar orbit. Yeah, it's very cute. So they're constantly going 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:07.200 from the North pole to the South Pole um as 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:11.160 the Earth spins below them, right, that's right. And um 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:15.840 they're taking they're they're taking measurements, two different types of measurements, 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.840 but they're precisely separated from one another, and they're on 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:22.840 precisely the same orbit, so they can. Really what they 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:25.040 produce every thirty days is a full map of the 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:29.000 gravitational field of Earth. Yeah, and they've Nanasa. They always 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:30.720 work with other people, it seems like, which is a 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:32.760 good thing to work with people around the world. But 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:35.840 they worked with a company in Germany to develop UM 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:41.240 an ultra precise distance measuring system that basically can measure 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:43.960 within the precision what they say is one tenth of 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:47.679 the width of a hair. That's pretty precise. Yeah. So 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:51.240 basically these things are flying U and between the two 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:55.640 they're measuring the distances and discrepancies between these two identical 0:08:56.160 --> 0:09:00.800 twin satellites, and that's information is being relaid back analyze. Yeah, 0:09:00.840 --> 0:09:03.200 because the upside of this is number one, the Earth 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:05.280 is not a perfect sphere. We know that. I can't 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:09.439 remember what we talked about that in oh maps. Yeah potato. Yeah, 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:14.240 in the the the gravitational field is not perfectly round either. 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:18.040 It's lower in some places, higher in other places. The 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:22.439 force of gravity um. So yeah, it's formed what was 0:09:23.200 --> 0:09:26.880 coined the Potsdam gravity potato. And if you look it 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:30.240 up now there's some pretty cool UM artists rendering of 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:32.800 what the Earth's magnetic field looks like and as a 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:35.880 three dimensional model. Yeah, it's very cool. Um, so check 0:09:35.920 --> 0:09:39.880 that out. And that's been updated dramatically in the last 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:42.840 couple of years thanks to this GRACE project. Yeah, and 0:09:42.840 --> 0:09:46.800 the ultimate goal basically is to measure this gravitational field 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:50.040 over time see how it's changing with kind of accuracy 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:52.800 we've never had before, which will in turn inform us 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:57.840 on climate related uh drunk right, I mean and and 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:00.960 is it just a correlation between mean, like ice caps 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:03.160 melting in a change in a gravitational field, or does 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:07.760 that ice cap melting trigger that change in the gravitational field, 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:12.200 which in turn has some other effects. So, um, there's 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.080 a lot of I think understanding we can gain from 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:19.640 knowing what the gravitational field is changing, how it's changing. Yeah, 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:23.560 do you like using your GPS to get somewhere, Well, 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:26.320 then this kind of information can go on to help 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:31.160 GPS because basically it's just gonna improve the trajectories of 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:35.400 these UH satellites and everything is just more specific. It's 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:40.280 like a hundred times um more detailed than they've ever 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:43.280 had before. So that's gonna help everything out from detecting 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:47.760 climate change or temperature and in like potential hurricanes and 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:53.080 stuff too, like getting you to McDonald's, right, you know, 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:57.880 which is pretty important by the way, chuck. Um uh, 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:04.240 the tropical storms. You want to how they think they form? Now? Um, well, 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:06.560 I'm gonna tell you. So. The speed of waves on 0:11:06.640 --> 0:11:12.080 an ocean, um, if it matches the speed of the 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:16.880 movement of some air above it, and an umbilical cord 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:21.520 of warm, humid air can get into this little pillow sandwich. 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:27.360 It forms this protective pouch and from there a convection 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:30.760 current can start and form into a tropical storm, which 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:33.679 can then form into a hurricane. That's what they learned 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:36.000 from the GRIP program. Man, it seems like they would 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:38.600 have known this stuff before then, you think, so, you know, 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:41.959 but we're talking like two when they're I don't even 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:43.880 think it's been proven. I think that that's what they 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:46.679 think based on the data from the two thousand ten experiments. Yeah, 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:51.200 aren't they still analyzing that stuff? Alright? I imagine like 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:54.880 that's got to be a pretty good field to get 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:57.720 into now and in the next like five ten years, 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:02.240 analyzing NASA data. Yeah, and just anything to do with 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:05.920 the climate probably anything, Yeah, things that's changing. It's gonna 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:10.760 be gangbusters. There's a lot of money in the weather. Um. 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:13.840 All right, so that's tropical storms and hurricanes. We didn't 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:18.240 talk about the GPM project. Um. Yeah, that they're working 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:22.160 with UM. NASA's working with Japan and they're NASA, which 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:27.600 is called the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency or JACKSON, and 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:32.280 that is a Global Precipitation measurement and they are using 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:38.240 satellites to observe all kinds of participation precipitation patterns all 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:43.760 over the world. And basically, like before, we can only 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:46.840 place these things in certain spots that were easier to 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:48.680 get to, and you can't place them out of the ocean, 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:50.760 and you can't place them in the andies because it's 0:12:50.760 --> 0:12:54.199 too rocky. This allows us to study the entire globe 0:12:54.840 --> 0:12:57.439 for the first time. So they're following they're basically tracking 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:01.479 the movement of water around the planet on like a daily, seasonal, 0:13:01.640 --> 0:13:04.640 a yearly basis um. And what they hope to be 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:06.920 able to gain from this it's a predict when floods happened, 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:11.560 because apparently a major flood happens every day around the Earth. Yeah, 0:13:12.040 --> 0:13:14.839 and a lot of times those floods lead to landslides. 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:18.079 We saw firsthand in Guatemala what happens when a landslide 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:21.160 comes down. Remember, oh, yeah, we were standing there and 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:24.640 they said, this is literally twelve feet higher than it was. Yeah, 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:26.520 we were standing on the remains of a village that 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:29.000 got caught in the middle of the night and they're like, 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:31.240 there are people down there still. Yeah, you could still 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:33.520 see the swath that have been cut through the jungle 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:35.880 on the mountain side. Right. So they're hoping, okay, well, 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.600 if we can figure out when a flood's coming, we 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:42.840 can predict landslides in turns, So by tracking global precipitation, 0:13:43.200 --> 0:13:45.760 that's what they're hoping to be able to do with that. Yeah. 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:49.360 They're also using uh L I d a R at 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:52.880 the light R Surface topography system. This is my second 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:56.560 favorite one, the list one UM, and they're hopefully going 0:13:56.600 --> 0:14:00.000 to be able to attract things like volcanoes, earthquakes, landslide 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:04.240 us and erosion. But not wildfires. No, not wildfires. That's 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:06.840 crazy talk. That is crazy talk. But it's the same 0:14:06.880 --> 0:14:11.200 thing as with tracking precipitation. As of two years ago, 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:14.880 we had to physically put some sensor somewhere and there 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:17.640 are places we just couldn't get to, and now that 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:20.320 we have satellites, we can track that stuff. Same goes 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:22.240 with this, like we used to have to be able 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:26.200 to find a fault line, put sensors there and then 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:32.320 monitor that um with with the list program. With leader UM, 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:35.560 they're using lasers to monitor fault lines and find new 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:38.800 ones that we didn't know were there before, track their movement, 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:41.520 and then use those to predict earthquakes and then similarly 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:47.040 predict volcanoes. So listen to this. Okay. The resolution now 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:50.920 they have is five meter horizontal resolution with a precision 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:55.600 of four inches. Previously, the best data we could get 0:14:55.720 --> 0:15:01.480 was thirty meter resolution with a thirty to foot precision, 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:04.960 So went from thirty two to four inches. That's pretty good. 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.880 They'd be like, give it take thirty two ft. Yeah, 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:10.760 now let's give it take four inches with thanks to lasers, 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:16.240 so they could possibly detect volcanic activity before it happens. Right, 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:18.160 And the way that they're doing that, you would think, well, 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:20.880 they're using thermal cameras. You'd be wrong. What they're doing 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:25.400 is looking for land deformation. Apparently before a volcano goes off, 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:30.280 that land around it literally deforms, it swells due to pressure. 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:35.480 And since we are tracking topography now using this UM 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:40.280 this program, we can say, oh, well that that crater 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:44.920 wasn't three times larger than it is now like a 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:48.840 week ago, maybe a volcan is about to go off. Uh. 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:51.800 And it's not just volcanoes and natural disasters. They can 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:56.080 also monitor erosion and top soil loss, basically anything on 0:15:56.120 --> 0:16:00.640 the Earth that's interesting they can like really accurately closely monitor. 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:07.760 Now and this said two thousand sixteen, is it already underway? Um? No, 0:16:07.880 --> 0:16:11.720 it's two thousand thirteen. Chuck. Now that says it was 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:13.840 gonna launch in two thousand sixteen, but it's already Is 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:16.760 it already going Okay? I think it's launching in two 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:20.640 thousand sixteen. Okay, so this is just the plan, you're right, Yeah, 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:23.160 I know they have a lot of like this just started, 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:26.360 like the UM I think it might have been the 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:29.800 Grace Program started in two thousand two and it's been 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:32.360 going on. It is the Grace Program, the one with 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:34.600 Tom and Jerry. Right, Yeah, that was right, and it 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:37.360 had its tenth anniversary in two thousand twelve. I think 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:41.000 that might have been the first project like this and 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:43.880 now NASA's throwing like everything into this stuff, and we're 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:46.680 just at the at the forefront, at the very beginning 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:49.720 of this kind of thing. This is a very timely episode. Frankly, 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:54.520 it's actually um they have. In fact, I think these 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:58.120 new probes are even newer than the List program, right 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:00.800 that NASA is proposing to launch, the one we were 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:04.720 just talking about with the volcano deformation. Yeah, yeah, um 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:07.280 this is a pair of satellites that monitor little bitty 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:11.080 changes in the surface. And um, I guess it's a 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:14.199 funding thing because I don't think these two are even uh, 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:17.359 I think they're still just like in the proposition phase. 0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:19.680 So I guess we should say, like then they will 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:21.800 be doing this, this is coming yeah, and like this 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:25.040 particular project. Yeah, and the precipitation when his launches in 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:28.080 February of next year. So it sounds as though these 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:30.080 things are already happening. But I think it's just like 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:32.160 this is how it's gonna work. It sounds as though 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:36.840 they're already happening because of us. The tents were using 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:40.840 that's right, we're using present, we should be using future perfect. 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:43.560 One of the problems with the satellites, though, is um 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:47.879 and with lasers, is clouds right? Because clouds get in 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:49.320 the way. It's got to be a clear day to 0:17:49.400 --> 0:17:52.919 use most of this stuff. Hold on, I know you 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:54.960 love talking about clouds. I do too. But before we 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:57.359 go any further, what do you think about a message break? 0:17:57.600 --> 0:18:07.200 That's great? Okay, So back to clouds. They caused trouble 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:10.600 with lasers and with satellites. Yeah, so that you gotta 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:13.120 count on clear days. So it's not like these things 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:18.480 are humming seven. Weren't you surprised finding out that clouds 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:22.199 are still an impediment to lasers? No, I would have thought, like, 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:24.880 I mean, the projects we're talking about, so like, gee, whiz, 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:28.719 that can't cloud I thought that. It just seemed kind 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:30.480 of like, well, what are you guys gonna do about that? 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:33.880 Because that's a pretty big obstacle. Yeah, I guess you're right. Yeah, 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:39.080 maybe they could have an anti seating program, Oh yeah, 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:43.399 to disperse clouds. Nice. Um, so, chuck, NASA doesn't need 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:45.720 to turn its back fully on space, like we said, 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:50.280 it's still carrying out the Mars mission. Um, what was 0:18:50.320 --> 0:18:53.399 after that? Are they going to Saturn? I don't know, 0:18:53.760 --> 0:19:00.000 Saturn Uranus? Maybe they're they're exploring some moon I can't remember, 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:02.080 remember it's what They haven't turned their back on space, 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:04.320 and they don't need to because there's a huge threat 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:08.600 from space bearing down on us constantly. That's right near 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:12.159 Earth objects, which I feel like we should do a 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:15.560 podcast just on near Earth objects. If you want to 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:21.760 get here then some medium, go watch the movie Armageddon done. 0:19:22.800 --> 0:19:26.600 Although that is deep impact in armagedding. We're both um, 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:30.520 while fanciful, not too far off, and that there are 0:19:30.600 --> 0:19:33.159 objects that come near the Earth and we think if 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:35.720 we can detect them soon enough, that there is existing 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:38.239 technology now that can throw these things off course. Right, 0:19:38.240 --> 0:19:41.520 and Earth is constantly being bombarded every day about a 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:47.520 hundred hundred tons of material like rain down on the Earth. 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:52.400 We're talking little particles, things that break up in the atmosphere, um, 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:57.480 mostly like comment dust and stuff. Right, Um, But there 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:04.200 are uh NASA estimates about a thousand objects that could 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:08.359 collide with Earth that are kilometer or more in diameter. 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:11.959 It's point six two miles in diameter, and that if 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:15.080 any one of these impacted Earth, which they do about 0:20:15.119 --> 0:20:18.000 every ten thousand years, it would be what's called a 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:22.720 global catastrophe. Actually, good news, buddy, that is every several 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:26.640 hundred thousand years, So what comes down every ten years? 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:29.600 About every ten thousand years, asteroids um larger than about 0:20:29.640 --> 0:20:32.600 a hundred meters could hit the Earth and that would 0:20:32.640 --> 0:20:34.879 just be like a local disaster. So it would be 0:20:34.920 --> 0:20:37.520 like a one the size of a football field. Yeah, 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:39.479 and that I mean, that's not great if you're near it, 0:20:39.920 --> 0:20:42.600 but it's not like a what they would call a 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:45.040 global disaster, like the end of the world type scenario. 0:20:45.240 --> 0:20:48.120 And that's one that's like a kilometer in diameter. Yeah, 0:20:48.119 --> 0:20:50.480 And it says every several hundred thousand years or so. 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:54.360 I feel like, yeah, what are the chances that that's 0:20:54.359 --> 0:20:56.879 going to happen the next like forty years? I don't know, 0:20:56.920 --> 0:20:59.000 aren't we like on a when was the last one? 0:20:59.200 --> 0:21:02.680 It was about a quarter of a million years ago, 0:21:02.760 --> 0:21:05.080 wasn't it. I don't know. Was it the one that 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:09.480 formed the chit club creator? I don't think I've pronounced 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:11.480 that correctly, but you know what I'm talking about people 0:21:11.480 --> 0:21:14.919 who are familiar with that or they do. But the 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:17.720 point is we need a lead time on the stuff. 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:21.680 Chee Club, the Chicken Club. It's a there's an X 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:24.679 in there, but it's a. It's it's in Mesoamerica. So 0:21:24.760 --> 0:21:28.560 the X is like a hawk. Oh, it's pronounced cutulu. No, 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:34.960 it was close oak, it's like that. But there's a 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:38.080 chi and I believe a club afterwards. So I'm just 0:21:38.080 --> 0:21:41.560 gonna say, chee club creator. But I think that was 0:21:41.960 --> 0:21:48.560 longer ago than a hundred thousand years ago, that extinction event. Yes, okay, Well, 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:50.040 the good news is if we have a little bit 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:53.520 of lead time, like a few years, supposedly there are 0:21:54.080 --> 0:21:57.600 things that we can do to knock these asteroids off course, 0:21:58.600 --> 0:22:04.080 like what one is. Using nuclear fission weapons, you set 0:22:04.119 --> 0:22:06.119 it off and the trick is you don't want to 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:08.760 blow this thing up, no, because then you might have 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:12.040 a lot of problems. Yeah, that's even worse. But um, 0:22:12.080 --> 0:22:14.359 it would just set it off course. And even if 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:17.200 you set something off course by a few millimeters over 0:22:17.240 --> 0:22:19.560 the course of years, that could be enough. So it's 0:22:19.560 --> 0:22:22.000 not like they're looking to knock at miles away or anything, 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:24.840 although in the movies that's how they do it. Yeah, 0:22:24.920 --> 0:22:26.439 and the movies that's how they did do it. I think, 0:22:26.760 --> 0:22:29.600 of course, we may mind them, which we talked about. Yeah, 0:22:29.600 --> 0:22:34.600 asteroid mining, um and tracking these things has actually become 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:38.960 something of a crowdsource thing. There's NASA has this um 0:22:39.040 --> 0:22:43.560 All Sky Fireball Network that sounds so not real, yeah, 0:22:43.640 --> 0:22:46.200 but it is. It's a real program they have where 0:22:46.240 --> 0:22:48.960 they have cameras that are connected to the Internet that 0:22:49.000 --> 0:22:52.159 are constantly filming the night sky. Most of them are 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:55.160 along the Eastern Seaboard. We got one here in Georgia, yeah, 0:22:55.240 --> 0:23:00.480 and Alabama, HASM, Tennessee. Um. They're they're grouped in clusters. Um. 0:23:00.520 --> 0:23:04.399 And actually, if you want to propose your location as 0:23:04.720 --> 0:23:08.639 a place to host one of these cameras, typically they're 0:23:08.680 --> 0:23:12.159 like on schools or things like that, Yeah, you can. 0:23:12.200 --> 0:23:15.680 You can submit an application and if there's there's really 0:23:15.720 --> 0:23:18.119 just like four criteria. It's like there can't be a 0:23:18.119 --> 0:23:20.720 lot of light pollution or a light nearby, and that 0:23:20.800 --> 0:23:22.920 rules me out. You have to be able to um, 0:23:23.440 --> 0:23:26.520 you have to be connected to the internet, like a 0:23:26.560 --> 0:23:30.120 couple of a couple of other things. Um. But it's 0:23:30.240 --> 0:23:32.560 it's like you can get a camera set up and 0:23:32.760 --> 0:23:35.640 be part of the All Sky Fireball Network. That's pretty cool. 0:23:35.640 --> 0:23:38.159 I think the plan is to eventually have fifteen of 0:23:38.200 --> 0:23:44.160 these in place, and um, I guess tracking fireballs, Yeah, 0:23:44.720 --> 0:23:47.120 which were good, good things to keep TAM's on for sure, 0:23:48.040 --> 0:23:51.960 you got anything else? No, that's all the news about NASA. 0:23:52.960 --> 0:23:55.560 I wish NASA would sponsor US man, that'd be awesome. Yeah, 0:23:55.960 --> 0:24:00.920 talk talk about someone we could stump for NASA. Yeah, sure, 0:24:01.680 --> 0:24:04.200