WEBVTT - Catching a Taxi to Space 0:00:03.880 --> 0:00:07.360 Boeing has begun assembling an Atlas five rocket in anticipation 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:10.000 of an historic launch of a new space capsule. In 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:13.520 will you soon be able to hail a space cab? 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:21.560 I'm Jonathan Strickland and this is text up daily. For years, 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:24.640 NASA has had to depend heavily upon Russia in order 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:28.479 to conduct missions into space. NASA started the Commercial Crew 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:32.080 Program in response to that dependence, looking to private companies 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:34.879 to fill the agency's needs and remove the necessity to 0:00:34.920 --> 0:00:38.440 rely upon foreign powers. Boeing was one of the companies 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:42.120 selected to participate in this program. Boeing's design is called 0:00:42.159 --> 0:00:46.680 the c ST one star Liner, or sometimes the space Taxi. 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:51.519 The CST stands for Crew Space Transportation. Boeing has designed 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:55.080 several different configurations of the capsule, including one that could 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:58.080 hold up to seven crew members or a combination of 0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:01.960 crew and cargo. According to Boeing, the craft's design allows 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:04.399 it to be reused up to ten times, with a 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:07.880 six month turnaround between trips. The capsule has some cool 0:01:08.000 --> 0:01:10.920 upgrades to the tech you'd find in historic spacecraft like 0:01:10.959 --> 0:01:14.880 the Apollo vehicles. Crew interfaces will include touchpad devices and 0:01:14.920 --> 0:01:19.520 wireless internet, and unlike other capsules, the CST one hundred 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:22.399 will be able to land on solid ground rather than 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:25.120 in the ocean. A combination of a parachute and an 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:28.960 air bag system provides the cushioning necessary for land based returns. 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:31.960 The original plan was to have the CST one hundred 0:01:32.000 --> 0:01:35.280 ready for use by ten. That was the purpose of 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:38.760 the Commercial Crew program, free NASA from dependence upon Russian 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:41.759 spacecraft by the end of sev As it turns out, 0:01:42.040 --> 0:01:46.960 designing space vehicles it's pretty hard. It requires precise engineering 0:01:46.959 --> 0:01:49.520 and manufacturing to ensure the safety of crew while giving 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:53.680 the best guarantee for mission success. Boeing discovered some design 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:56.560 flaws in the star Liner structural elements that delayed the 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:59.080 production of the spacecraft by more than a year. Some 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:01.600 of the more complicate at elements of the design required 0:02:01.600 --> 0:02:05.760 more time to troubleshoot than engineers originally anticipated. Boeing isn't 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:09.079 the only company that's been working on this project. Space X, 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:11.919 founded by Elon Musk, has also been hard at work. 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:15.239 SpaceX has already developed the Falcon nine rocket, a two 0:02:15.280 --> 0:02:17.920 stage launch vehicle that has already delivered cargo to the 0:02:17.919 --> 0:02:21.000 International Space Station. The first stage of the Falcon nine 0:02:21.120 --> 0:02:24.560 is reusable. SpaceX has demonstrated this by landing a first 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:29.040 stage Falcon nine rocket on special platforms. Reusing rockets creates 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.480 significant cost savings, but space x is also running a 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:35.560 little behind on its Dragon two capsule, which is the 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:38.360 one the company hopes will deliver astronauts to locations like 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:41.240 the International Space Station in the future. We may have 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:44.000 to wait until twenty nineteen or later to see people 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:48.400 flown into space aboard of private spacecraft. The private space 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:52.720 industry has created some interesting challenges. For example, one potentially 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:56.519 lucrative aspect is asteroid mining. With the right technology, it 0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:59.720 would be far more efficient and economical to mine resources 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:02.639 in space rather than to send them up via rocket 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:05.760 from Earth. Asteroid mining craft might be able to get 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:08.560 precious minerals that can serve as raw material for space 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:11.880 based construction, but until recently, there was a bit of 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:15.760 a sticky issue who would own the minerals. In two 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:19.880 thousand fifteen, United States President Barack Obama signed the Space 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:24.000 Act of into law. The Act, among other things, grants 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:27.000 companies the rights to whatever minerals they might mine on 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:30.480 asteroids or other celestial bodies. This appears to be a 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:34.120 direct contradiction to the Space Treaty of nineteen sixty seven, 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:36.560 in which countries around the world agreed that it would 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:40.120 be illegal to sell space based minerals for profit. Some 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:44.800 legal experts argue that these considerations apply only to government agencies, 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:47.680 not to private companies. In other words, the United States 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:51.080 has no legal authority to lay claim to a particular asteroid, 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:54.520 but Boeing or SpaceX or some company that doesn't even 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.920 exist yet might not have such a restriction. Asteroid mining 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.320 and trips to the space station are just the tip 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:03.640 of the celestial iceberg when it comes to private space travel. 0:04:03.960 --> 0:04:06.800 Some companies are already competing to become the number one 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:10.600 name in space tourism. The strategies range from taking high 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:14.760 altitude parabolic flights to simulate micro gravity to actual short 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:18.360 trips up into space but not quite low Earth orbit. 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:23.080 Then there are the plans for Mars. Several entrepreneurs, Elon 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:26.400 Musk included, have expressed interest in setting a course for 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:30.080 the red planet. But Mars is a particularly tricky destination. 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:32.520 It would take months of travel to get there, and 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:35.359 once you touch down, it would be pretty tricky getting back. 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.960 Then there's the cosmic radiation you'd encounter both along the 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:41.880 way and on the surface of Mars. Plus I forgot 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:44.400 to mention this, pretty much everything on Mars is trying 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:47.120 to kill you, but it might be cool to visit 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:49.840 it one day. We're still in the early stages of 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:52.760 the private space industry. Within a decade or two, who 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:55.159 knows where we might end up. To learn more about 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:58.760 space tech and companies like Boeing or SpaceX, subscribe to 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:01.359 the tech Stuff podcast. On that show, I take my 0:05:01.440 --> 0:05:04.440 time exploring subjects with my listeners and learning what makes 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:07.880 them work. That's all for today. I'll see you again soon.