1 00:00:04,440 --> 00:00:12,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Text Stuff production from I Heart Radio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:19,479 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. And how 4 00:00:19,560 --> 00:00:23,760 Speaker 1: the tech are you. Well, We're finally ready to wrap 5 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:27,080 Speaker 1: up our episodes. Looking back on the big text stories 6 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:32,879 Speaker 1: that unfolded during twenty two, there was so much stuff, 7 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: and a lot of it was really dramatic. Too much 8 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:40,800 Speaker 1: of it was just upsetting. So today we're going to 9 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:44,840 Speaker 1: mostly focus on cool science and tech stuff and that's 10 00:00:44,840 --> 00:00:48,400 Speaker 1: a big old yea. We do what we must because 11 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:54,680 Speaker 1: we can. So let's start with the James Web Space Telescope. 12 00:00:55,080 --> 00:01:00,280 Speaker 1: After many many delays, in fact years of delay days 13 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:04,480 Speaker 1: because the telescope was originally intended to launch into space 14 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:09,880 Speaker 1: way back in two thousand seven, it finally shuffled off 15 00:01:09,920 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 1: its earthly coil last Christmas, it lets slip the bonds 16 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:19,319 Speaker 1: of Earth, and last Christmas, I gave you James Webb. 17 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:22,600 Speaker 1: The very next day, you said, change that darn name. 18 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: Just a quick word on that. James Webb is the 19 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: name of a former NASA administrator. In fact, he was 20 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:35,319 Speaker 1: the second ever administrator of NASA, but he had previously 21 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: served as an under Secretary of State at the you know, 22 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 1: State Department, and he served in that capacity from nineteen 23 00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:45,640 Speaker 1: to nineteen fifty two. Now, this was during a time 24 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 1: in the US known as the Lavender Scare that refers 25 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:54,559 Speaker 1: to an erab an ugly era in US history when 26 00:01:54,600 --> 00:01:58,800 Speaker 1: the federal government discriminated against anyone who falls under the 27 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:04,240 Speaker 1: scope of lgbt Q plus. Essentially, the government would exclude 28 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:08,440 Speaker 1: or expel people that were known or suspected to not 29 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: be heterosexual, claiming that it was like a national security issue, 30 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: and the State Department in particular was a real target 31 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,639 Speaker 1: of this kind of witch hunt. Congress launched an investigation 32 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty into the State Department, and President Eisenhower 33 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:28,320 Speaker 1: would later sign an executive order essentially putting an exclamation 34 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 1: mark at the end of this pernicious practice. And yeah, 35 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:36,600 Speaker 1: this is one of the many periods of American history 36 00:02:36,639 --> 00:02:41,799 Speaker 1: that are ugly and hateful, and ultimately they are self 37 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 1: defeating because you can only imagine how many qualified, dedicated 38 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:51,040 Speaker 1: folks were denied employment simply because they didn't fit the 39 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:56,520 Speaker 1: extremely narrow set of beliefs of a bunch of old people. Anyway, 40 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: that policy was in place when Webb took the position 41 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 1: of now administrator in nineteen sixty one, and in fact, 42 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:07,600 Speaker 1: one NASA budget analyst named Clifford J. Norton was fired 43 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:12,720 Speaker 1: because of his sexual orientation that happened in nineteen sixty three. Well, 44 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: because of these events and because of concerns about James 45 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:22,920 Speaker 1: Webb and his potential role in perpetuating this practice, NASA 46 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: was pressured to conduct a research study into the matter 47 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: to find out what, if any involvement James Webb had 48 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:33,080 Speaker 1: in carrying out Congress's desires at the State Department, or 49 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:35,880 Speaker 1: if in fact, he was part of Norton getting fired 50 00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:39,080 Speaker 1: at NASA later on, and the investigation said that there 51 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:42,160 Speaker 1: was no evidence to show Webb did either of those things. 52 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: In fact, according to their investigation, Webb purposefully limited the 53 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 1: amount of information that Congress could access relating to State 54 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:54,800 Speaker 1: Department employees. And as for Norton at NASA, he was 55 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:59,000 Speaker 1: fired and he was fired because he was gay, But 56 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: there was no evidence that Webb was even aware of 57 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:05,480 Speaker 1: Norton being fired at all. Because keep in mind, Webb 58 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:09,800 Speaker 1: was the leader of NASA, Norton was a budget analyst, 59 00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 1: so it's not like nor like Webb had direct oversight 60 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 1: over every single employee at NASA. So the report found 61 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:20,880 Speaker 1: that there was no evidence that was clearly showing Web 62 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 1: participating in the persecution of lgbt Q plus personnel. There 63 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:28,920 Speaker 1: was a tiny bit of evidence suggesting that he did 64 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:33,480 Speaker 1: limit Congress's reach into the State Department, potentially protecting people. 65 00:04:34,040 --> 00:04:37,240 Speaker 1: So NASA decides that it's gonna stick with the James 66 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:42,040 Speaker 1: Webb name. Now, y'all, I personally don't know if James 67 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: Webb was a decent guy, or maybe maybe he wasn't. 68 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:48,839 Speaker 1: Maybe he just had so much on his plate he 69 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 1: didn't worry about a policy that perhaps he didn't even 70 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:54,600 Speaker 1: believe in. I have no clue. I just don't know. 71 00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 1: The NASA report came from the agency's chief historian, so 72 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 1: it came from NASA's chief His story in You could 73 00:05:01,160 --> 00:05:04,320 Speaker 1: argue that, you know, the fact that it was NASA's 74 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:07,320 Speaker 1: own chief historian might mean that it could be a 75 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: biased report. But anyway, that's the story behind the name 76 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:15,360 Speaker 1: and the controversy around it, which flares up every now 77 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: and again. It's not like this is the first time 78 00:05:17,080 --> 00:05:20,640 Speaker 1: we've heard about it, but in two uh that story 79 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:23,320 Speaker 1: did start making the rounds again. But let's get to 80 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:29,039 Speaker 1: the telescope itself. Now, NASA launched the James Webb Telescope 81 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:33,359 Speaker 1: in on Christmas Day, as it turns out, but it 82 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:36,840 Speaker 1: would take the telescope a month to get to its 83 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:42,280 Speaker 1: orbital point and to fully deploy, and it took more 84 00:05:42,360 --> 00:05:45,279 Speaker 1: months beyond that for it to actually start doing science. 85 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:47,880 Speaker 1: And so all of that is really the domain of 86 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:52,840 Speaker 1: twenty two baby. So one month after launch, in January two, 87 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 1: the telescope arrived at a point in space we call 88 00:05:56,120 --> 00:06:01,799 Speaker 1: L two. The L stands for lagrange, more specifically lagrange point. 89 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,760 Speaker 1: Some people may say lagrange, which is probably the more 90 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 1: correct pronunciation, but you know, I've also heard NASA folks 91 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 1: called Gemini geminy, so I guess it's all up for 92 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:18,880 Speaker 1: grabs anyway. A L Grange point is a position in 93 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 1: space where an object will stay put relative to the 94 00:06:22,440 --> 00:06:27,800 Speaker 1: rest of its surroundings, like you know, a two body system. 95 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:30,400 Speaker 1: And so it's a point in space where the gravitational 96 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:35,120 Speaker 1: forces from nearby bodies like say the Sun and the 97 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:39,719 Speaker 1: Earth are effectively holding the object in that part of space. 98 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:43,159 Speaker 1: It can't move away from that because it's being held 99 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:48,920 Speaker 1: gravitationally by these other bodies. There are five such points 100 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:52,279 Speaker 1: around the Earth or between the Earth and Sun where 101 00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:54,840 Speaker 1: an object can do this, and the one that the 102 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 1: James Webb Telescope is in is called L two. That's 103 00:06:58,120 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 1: in an orbit that's on the opposite side of the 104 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 1: Earth from the Sun. So, in other words, this orbit 105 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:08,320 Speaker 1: is shaded from much of the Sun's light, which is 106 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:13,720 Speaker 1: important for the telescope's extremely sensitive detectors when it's making observations. Uh, 107 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:16,600 Speaker 1: it does still get some light. Otherwise it wouldn't be 108 00:07:16,640 --> 00:07:19,720 Speaker 1: able to collect light through its solar panels, and the 109 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: solar panels would be for decorative use only, and that 110 00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:25,920 Speaker 1: would be ridiculous. It is a very sensitive telescope. That 111 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: James Webb Space Telescope is about seven times more powerful 112 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:34,720 Speaker 1: than the venerable Hubble Space Telescope, and it has already 113 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:39,840 Speaker 1: returned some truly spectacular data, including images such as a 114 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 1: shot of the Pillars of Creation. This is a dust cloud. 115 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: There's really compelling shape to it. I'm sure you've seen 116 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:50,160 Speaker 1: pictures of it. If not, you should look up Pillars 117 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:53,800 Speaker 1: of Creation on an image search because they it really 118 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:58,000 Speaker 1: is a spectacular site. We've seen some pictures of early 119 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:01,360 Speaker 1: star formation, which is great. It's having astronomers more information 120 00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:05,440 Speaker 1: about how stars form. We've looked at galactic black holes 121 00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:08,560 Speaker 1: that are far across the universe from our own galaxy. 122 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 1: We've looked at exo planets orbiting a star, and these 123 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:17,520 Speaker 1: exo plants potentially could have viable atmospheres and so could 124 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:22,880 Speaker 1: possibly support life. And we're just getting started and considering 125 00:08:23,120 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 1: how complicated the telescope is. This was never a guarantee. 126 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:32,000 Speaker 1: I mean, the massive eighteen solar panels had to unfold 127 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:35,120 Speaker 1: as the telescope made its way to L two over 128 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:38,440 Speaker 1: the course of a month, and just one failure would 129 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:41,920 Speaker 1: have brought the entire mission into jeopardy or at least 130 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:47,199 Speaker 1: severely limited its use. And since NASA had spent decades 131 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:51,560 Speaker 1: and like ten billion dollars on this thing, it would 132 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:56,040 Speaker 1: be really bad if things hadn't worked out. But it did, 133 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:59,840 Speaker 1: so good news there. It did have a little bit 134 00:08:59,880 --> 00:09:03,959 Speaker 1: of hiccup recently, so on December seven two, just a 135 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:08,440 Speaker 1: few weeks ago, several of its instruments aboard the telescope 136 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:13,080 Speaker 1: went into safe mode, so that means they temporarily shut 137 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:16,960 Speaker 1: down in order to protect delicate hardware. The source of 138 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:20,120 Speaker 1: the problem turned out to be a software fault, So 139 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:23,480 Speaker 1: this software was essentially generating errors that related to the 140 00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:28,200 Speaker 1: telescope's attitude control. Now, in this sense, attitude control isn't 141 00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:30,680 Speaker 1: about making sure the telescope doesn't act out like a 142 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:34,360 Speaker 1: hormonal teenager. I wish we had that kind of attitude 143 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:37,640 Speaker 1: control here on Earth. No, we're talking about the telescope's 144 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:41,920 Speaker 1: physical orientation in space, like where it is pointed that 145 00:09:42,040 --> 00:09:45,640 Speaker 1: kind of attitude. So the software was generating an error 146 00:09:45,679 --> 00:09:48,640 Speaker 1: that suggested something was wrong with this system when nothing 147 00:09:48,679 --> 00:09:52,560 Speaker 1: actually was. The shutdowns affected some, but not all, of 148 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:56,160 Speaker 1: the experiments that the telescope was involved in. Work had 149 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:59,520 Speaker 1: to pause on certain projects while engineers back on Earth 150 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:03,640 Speaker 1: sused what was going on. But by December twenty those 151 00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:06,000 Speaker 1: engineers had figured out a solution. They were able to 152 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:09,319 Speaker 1: essentially patch the software, and now the telescope is back 153 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:13,040 Speaker 1: doing science in space full time. NASA reports the telescope 154 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:15,600 Speaker 1: is in great condition and the agency is working to 155 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:19,880 Speaker 1: reschedule the affected projects that had to delay as the 156 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,640 Speaker 1: software was glitching out. The telescope is bound to tell 157 00:10:23,760 --> 00:10:26,920 Speaker 1: us about the early stages of the universe already. It 158 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,199 Speaker 1: has captured images of systems that are like only four 159 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:34,520 Speaker 1: hundred million years younger than the universe itself, Like, in 160 00:10:34,559 --> 00:10:38,679 Speaker 1: other words, the universe comes into existence, and then these 161 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:43,680 Speaker 1: systems started within four hundred million years of that. And yes, 162 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:46,679 Speaker 1: four hundred million years as an astoundingly long time on 163 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:51,960 Speaker 1: our scale, right, Yes, that's that's unfathomable. However, when we 164 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:55,160 Speaker 1: consider the universe is somewhere in the neighborhood of thirteen 165 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:59,000 Speaker 1: point seven billion years old, it's really just a fraction 166 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:05,560 Speaker 1: a moment after the big bang, uh banged. The telescope 167 00:11:05,679 --> 00:11:09,959 Speaker 1: is creating new possibilities in the fields of astronomy and cosmology, 168 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:12,880 Speaker 1: and my guess is we're going to learn a ton 169 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:16,920 Speaker 1: of fascinating stuff about our universe and by extension, our 170 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:21,719 Speaker 1: own solar system in history. And that's just plain cool. Now, 171 00:11:21,760 --> 00:11:24,360 Speaker 1: sticking with NASA, we have a related topic that's been 172 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:28,400 Speaker 1: somewhat controversial in multiple spheres, and I'm talking about the 173 00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:32,280 Speaker 1: Artemists program. This is NASA's plan to return to the Moon. 174 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:35,280 Speaker 1: And to be clear, it's not just NASA. NASA's working 175 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:39,760 Speaker 1: in conjunction with other space agencies out there, and by return, 176 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:43,520 Speaker 1: I am including the goal of actually landing people on 177 00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:46,320 Speaker 1: the Moon's surface. This would be the first time we 178 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:50,040 Speaker 1: have done that since nineteen seventy two in the Apollo 179 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:56,240 Speaker 1: seventeen mission. So the Artemist program has a pretty complicated history. 180 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:59,320 Speaker 1: Back in the mid two thousand's, during the George W. 181 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:03,000 Speaker 1: Bush and sistration in the United States, NASA initiated a 182 00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:06,600 Speaker 1: program called Constellation. This had the goal of returning to 183 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:09,760 Speaker 1: the Moon, among other things. This program was linked with 184 00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:13,280 Speaker 1: a couple of related but distinct projects that were really 185 00:12:13,320 --> 00:12:16,200 Speaker 1: focused on building the next generation of spacecraft that would 186 00:12:16,200 --> 00:12:20,400 Speaker 1: turn out into the Orion and the Space Launch System. 187 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:23,240 Speaker 1: Keep in mind, this was all going on while the 188 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:27,800 Speaker 1: Space Shuttle was still in service, but it's retirement date 189 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:31,240 Speaker 1: was coming up, So this was work that was being 190 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:34,120 Speaker 1: done with the knowledge that the Space Shuttle program was 191 00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:37,440 Speaker 1: going to be sunset. Now when Barack Obama won the 192 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:41,560 Speaker 1: election to president, things changed, and this frequently happens with NASA. 193 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:43,840 Speaker 1: It's actually one of the really big challenges that the 194 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:48,439 Speaker 1: agency faces because there's no guarantee that an incoming administration 195 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:51,319 Speaker 1: will continue to support the efforts that were begun under 196 00:12:51,400 --> 00:12:55,800 Speaker 1: a previous administration. So not only do you have the 197 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:59,760 Speaker 1: technical challenges of creating the spacecraft that will complete a mission, 198 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:03,760 Speaker 1: or the engineering challenges of planning out the mission itself 199 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:06,079 Speaker 1: and the various processes that the mission is gonna have 200 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:10,439 Speaker 1: to follow. You also have the political reality that you're 201 00:13:10,440 --> 00:13:13,800 Speaker 1: funding can change dramatically year to year, depending upon the 202 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:17,000 Speaker 1: makeup of Congress, and it can change even more so 203 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 1: from presidential administration to administration. Obama effectively canceled Constellation. He 204 00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:27,439 Speaker 1: said the program was behind schedule and it was over budget. 205 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:30,840 Speaker 1: It was both of those things. Further, he said the 206 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:34,640 Speaker 1: program was leaning too hard on the Apollo program of 207 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:38,120 Speaker 1: the sixties and seventies, that the Orion spacecraft it does, 208 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:40,400 Speaker 1: I mean, essentially look like a larger version of the 209 00:13:40,440 --> 00:13:44,120 Speaker 1: Apollo capsule. The launch vehicle looks like an update to 210 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:47,200 Speaker 1: the launch vehicles that we used fifty years ago, and 211 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:51,480 Speaker 1: Obama criticized the program for lacking in innovation. A committee 212 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:55,840 Speaker 1: found that Constellation, despite being over budget, was also underfunded, 213 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:58,640 Speaker 1: and that there was no chance the program would be 214 00:13:58,720 --> 00:14:01,320 Speaker 1: able to achieve a moon land by twenty which was 215 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:04,400 Speaker 1: one of its goals, and so rather than pouring more 216 00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:09,280 Speaker 1: money into this program that the administration saw as sort 217 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:13,720 Speaker 1: of bleeding cash, Obama chose to essentially freeze it out. 218 00:14:14,559 --> 00:14:18,239 Speaker 1: The focus began to shift toward commercial space companies, primarily 219 00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:21,520 Speaker 1: SpaceX as carrying the load for the near term, although 220 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:27,359 Speaker 1: work would continue on developing the next generation of spacecraft 221 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:31,320 Speaker 1: for NASA itself, so Oriyan and the Space Launch System 222 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:35,520 Speaker 1: We're not scrapped. They continued on. And the benefit I 223 00:14:35,560 --> 00:14:38,280 Speaker 1: guess of that was that or the reason they were 224 00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:41,400 Speaker 1: able to do this, I guess was because they were not, uh, 225 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:47,280 Speaker 1: intrinsically part of Constellation. Okay, this will bring us up 226 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:50,400 Speaker 1: to two thousand seventeen, and the Artemis program it got 227 00:14:50,400 --> 00:14:52,960 Speaker 1: its start under the administration of Donald Trump, and it 228 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:55,160 Speaker 1: picked up some of the threads that were dropped when 229 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:58,640 Speaker 1: Constellation got the AX. We'll talk more about that in 230 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:11,760 Speaker 1: just a moment after we come back from this quick break. So, 231 00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:15,960 Speaker 1: the Artist program is a joint effort between NASA and 232 00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:19,000 Speaker 1: other space agencies like the e s A, the European 233 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:23,280 Speaker 1: Space Agency, and its main goals to establish a permanent 234 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: presence on the Moon and a lunar orbital station meant 235 00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:31,160 Speaker 1: to help stage further human exploration of space. So the 236 00:15:31,200 --> 00:15:34,800 Speaker 1: primary spacecraft for this mission is the Orion and the 237 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:38,800 Speaker 1: launch vehicle is the Space Launch System or s l S. Now, 238 00:15:38,840 --> 00:15:41,400 Speaker 1: the SLS alone has been the subject of a lot 239 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:45,280 Speaker 1: of controversy, mostly stemming from the contractors that NASA has 240 00:15:45,280 --> 00:15:49,160 Speaker 1: relied upon during the very long development process for this 241 00:15:49,280 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: launch system. So yeah. Another big challenge with NASA is 242 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:56,880 Speaker 1: that the agency does a lot of contracting with massive 243 00:15:56,920 --> 00:16:02,200 Speaker 1: aerospace companies to produce various components for stuff like spacecraft, spacesuits, 244 00:16:02,520 --> 00:16:05,240 Speaker 1: launch vehicles, that kind of thing. So it's not like 245 00:16:05,360 --> 00:16:10,359 Speaker 1: NASA has some sort of foundry where it just um 246 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:14,640 Speaker 1: use as a massive blacksmiths who create rockets and stuff. 247 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:19,840 Speaker 1: They contract with these very big companies that specialize in 248 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:26,160 Speaker 1: aerospace uh technologies. So these contracts can get really expensive. 249 00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:30,120 Speaker 1: Sometimes individual projects will take more time than was estimated 250 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:33,280 Speaker 1: and cost more than was estimated during the proposal phase, 251 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:37,080 Speaker 1: and frequently NASA becomes the subject of scrutiny when various 252 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:41,600 Speaker 1: analysts and journalists and politicians and others ask, hey, did 253 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 1: you really pick the best contractor to do this because 254 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:50,800 Speaker 1: it's running over budget and behind deadline. The problem is, 255 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:54,200 Speaker 1: we usually don't know the answer to the question is 256 00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:56,960 Speaker 1: this the best contractor for the job until it's too late. 257 00:16:57,120 --> 00:16:59,280 Speaker 1: But yeah, NASA often gets put in the spotlight for 258 00:16:59,320 --> 00:17:02,880 Speaker 1: budget issue and contractor choices. There's always the question of 259 00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:06,520 Speaker 1: was the choice of contractor a political choice or was 260 00:17:06,560 --> 00:17:09,119 Speaker 1: it the best choice for the mission? Like there are 261 00:17:09,119 --> 00:17:11,040 Speaker 1: a lot of these issues that NASA has to contend 262 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 1: with as well. Anyway, all of this plagued the SLS 263 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:17,439 Speaker 1: and it took years and years and years for it 264 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:20,359 Speaker 1: to finally get to the point where they could launch 265 00:17:20,560 --> 00:17:24,919 Speaker 1: the darned thing. Uh So, it was first proposed to 266 00:17:25,080 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 1: launch way back in sixteen, but it took six years 267 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:31,919 Speaker 1: to get to where NASA could actually do a a 268 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:36,640 Speaker 1: full launch of the SLS, And within those six years 269 00:17:36,640 --> 00:17:39,560 Speaker 1: there were multiple launch dates that had been proposed and postponed. 270 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:42,040 Speaker 1: It led some to question if the whole thing was 271 00:17:42,080 --> 00:17:43,800 Speaker 1: just going to be a bust, if it's just gonna 272 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:47,800 Speaker 1: be a massive failure. But this year we finally got 273 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:51,080 Speaker 1: a launch. Now it was meant to launch in August, 274 00:17:51,160 --> 00:17:53,399 Speaker 1: but then one of the sensors of the launch vehicle 275 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:56,560 Speaker 1: indicated that part of the engine was warmer than it 276 00:17:56,600 --> 00:17:59,119 Speaker 1: should be and it put it outside the parameters of 277 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:03,440 Speaker 1: safe operation, so the launch was scrubbed. NASA would try 278 00:18:03,440 --> 00:18:06,920 Speaker 1: again the following month in September, but then we got 279 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:09,639 Speaker 1: word that there was some sort of hydrogen leak in 280 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:13,199 Speaker 1: part of the system and that necessitated canceling that launch. 281 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:16,840 Speaker 1: Then it got pushed October, but this time it wasn't 282 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:19,880 Speaker 1: NASA's fault. We had a hurricane, actually had a couple 283 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:22,639 Speaker 1: of them, but Hurricane Ian was the big one. I 284 00:18:22,720 --> 00:18:26,160 Speaker 1: was actually on a ship that was at sea when 285 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:29,800 Speaker 1: Ian hit. We were supposed to return to Cape Canaveral 286 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:34,439 Speaker 1: Port Canaveral, and we couldn't because of Ian, and I 287 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:36,880 Speaker 1: was stuck at sea for a few days more than 288 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:41,000 Speaker 1: was my original plan. That was exciting. But finally on 289 00:18:41,119 --> 00:18:45,200 Speaker 1: November sixteenth, NASA was able to launch the Space Launch 290 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:49,880 Speaker 1: System the SLS, and attached to it was an oryon spacecraft. 291 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:54,040 Speaker 1: Now there was no human crew aboard that capsule, but 292 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:57,480 Speaker 1: there were some mannequins and a plush toy or two, 293 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:01,919 Speaker 1: and it also carried a biology experiment designated Biology Experiment 294 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:06,480 Speaker 1: One that aimed to study space radiations effects on fungi 295 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:10,320 Speaker 1: and yeast and seeds and such, because obviously any kind 296 00:19:10,400 --> 00:19:14,960 Speaker 1: of prolonged human activity in space means that humans are 297 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:19,320 Speaker 1: potentially going to be uh exposed to various types of 298 00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:22,320 Speaker 1: radiation that otherwise they'd be protected from here on Earth. 299 00:19:22,760 --> 00:19:25,199 Speaker 1: So that was the goal of that particular experiment was 300 00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:27,960 Speaker 1: to learn a little bit more about that. The s 301 00:19:28,119 --> 00:19:33,119 Speaker 1: l s successfully attained orbit. The Orion spacecraft successfully separated 302 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 1: from the launch vehicle, and it went on a twenty 303 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:39,600 Speaker 1: six ish like twenty five and a half day long 304 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:42,720 Speaker 1: trip that took it all the way around the back 305 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:46,360 Speaker 1: side of the Moon and returned to Earth. So on Sunday, 306 00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:51,600 Speaker 1: December eleven two, the Orion capsule from Artemis one returned 307 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:55,240 Speaker 1: to Earth. Its splashed down in the Pacific Ocean and 308 00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:58,639 Speaker 1: a Navy crew retrieved the capsule and it will be 309 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:04,200 Speaker 1: transported back to UH to Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 310 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,280 Speaker 1: So that concluded the Artemis one mission. And it was 311 00:20:07,359 --> 00:20:11,359 Speaker 1: an enormous achievement. And yes it was an achievement that 312 00:20:11,400 --> 00:20:16,000 Speaker 1: had been long delayed, but it's still demonstrated this capability 313 00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:19,240 Speaker 1: that humanity can return to the Moon, and it's a 314 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:23,280 Speaker 1: type of space exploration the humans just haven't engaged in 315 00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:27,240 Speaker 1: in fifty years, so it was a really big deal. 316 00:20:28,280 --> 00:20:30,480 Speaker 1: Analysts are going to look over the data from the 317 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:33,760 Speaker 1: Artemis one mission and use that data to help prepare 318 00:20:33,800 --> 00:20:37,560 Speaker 1: for Artemis two. This will be the first mission in 319 00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:41,199 Speaker 1: the Artemis program to include a human crew aboard and 320 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:46,600 Speaker 1: Orion spacecraft, but this mission will not include a lunar landing. 321 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 1: The mission will go into outer space and the crew 322 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:54,159 Speaker 1: will pilot the Orion capsule and put it through its paces, 323 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:56,760 Speaker 1: but it will not land on the Moon. That won't 324 00:20:56,760 --> 00:21:00,680 Speaker 1: happen until Artemis three. The Artemis two mission will happen 325 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:04,640 Speaker 1: no earlier than and then Artemis three will happen at 326 00:21:04,640 --> 00:21:08,679 Speaker 1: some point after that, maybe as early as but I 327 00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:12,720 Speaker 1: would be a little cautious to put that as the 328 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:17,160 Speaker 1: actual date when it will happen. As I mentioned earlier, 329 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:21,399 Speaker 1: there's actually disagreement regarding whether the Artemis program is a 330 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:25,240 Speaker 1: worthy use of time, money, and resources. Some would prefer 331 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:27,760 Speaker 1: more of a focus on Mars rather than the Moon. 332 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:31,520 Speaker 1: Some question the value of sending humans at all, and 333 00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:36,040 Speaker 1: we can rely more on robots and unscrewed missions. Then 334 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:38,480 Speaker 1: there are critics who think going back to the Moon 335 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 1: is a good idea, but they don't agree with the 336 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:45,240 Speaker 1: way Artemis programs process has that laid out. They don't 337 00:21:45,280 --> 00:21:49,119 Speaker 1: agree with that plan. As for myself, I'm actually conflicted. 338 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:52,359 Speaker 1: I'm not really sure how to feel about it. I 339 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:55,560 Speaker 1: do think these missions can be inspiring. I think there's 340 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:58,320 Speaker 1: always benefits that emerge as a result of the work 341 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:01,159 Speaker 1: that is necessary to make these mission as possible. You know, 342 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:03,480 Speaker 1: engineers have to figure out how to make this work, 343 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:06,959 Speaker 1: and in the process they create things that can have 344 00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:11,040 Speaker 1: other uses here on Earth. So we can have real 345 00:22:11,160 --> 00:22:15,600 Speaker 1: benefits to the advancements that people make just in order 346 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:19,920 Speaker 1: to accomplish the goals of these missions. So that's good. 347 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:22,760 Speaker 1: I just I don't know. I don't know how I 348 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:27,080 Speaker 1: feel about Artemis, but it's I certainly want to see 349 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:31,480 Speaker 1: more people inspired to pursue science and engineering and that 350 00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:35,440 Speaker 1: sort of thing. And there is no doubt that stories 351 00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:38,439 Speaker 1: about astronauts going back to the Moon is a really 352 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:43,119 Speaker 1: inspiring story. Another great NASA story for two was the 353 00:22:43,160 --> 00:22:46,760 Speaker 1: success of the DART mission. You might recall that DART 354 00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:51,680 Speaker 1: stands for double Asteroid Redirection Test, and that this mission 355 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:55,399 Speaker 1: was to test whether or not smashing a spacecraft into 356 00:22:55,440 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: something like an asteroid could divert its path sufficiently sufficiently 357 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:02,920 Speaker 1: so that you can move it out of the way of, say, 358 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,000 Speaker 1: a trajectory that would take it towards Earth. Uh. The 359 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 1: reason that this is important is that on occasion, fairly 360 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:16,320 Speaker 1: sizeable stuff does smash into our planet and have catastrophic consequences. Uh. 361 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:20,719 Speaker 1: You can ask the dinosaurs about that. Oh wait, you can't, 362 00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:24,399 Speaker 1: because they're all dead because of a celestial object that 363 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:27,840 Speaker 1: smashed into the Earth and made it uninhabitable for Donna Sawas. 364 00:23:28,680 --> 00:23:32,480 Speaker 1: So for years there have been folks wondering about how 365 00:23:32,560 --> 00:23:36,560 Speaker 1: we might be able to alter the trajectory of something 366 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:39,480 Speaker 1: that otherwise could be on a collision course with the Earth, 367 00:23:40,280 --> 00:23:42,800 Speaker 1: and there's been a lot of proposals. Of course, you've 368 00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:45,560 Speaker 1: got the Hollywood version in which we send Bruce Willis 369 00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:48,520 Speaker 1: up there to blow up an incoming asteroid. This, by 370 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:52,720 Speaker 1: the way, would be a very bad idea because instead 371 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:56,520 Speaker 1: of one huge rock hurdling at us, you would create 372 00:23:56,680 --> 00:24:00,119 Speaker 1: a bunch of slightly smaller rocks hurtling at us d 373 00:24:00,280 --> 00:24:03,960 Speaker 1: like turning a bullet into a cloud of shotgun pellets. 374 00:24:04,760 --> 00:24:08,280 Speaker 1: And some of those might incenterate upon entering the Earth's atmosphere, 375 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:09,920 Speaker 1: but a lot of them would make it down to Earth, 376 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:12,440 Speaker 1: and essentially all you would be doing is increasing the 377 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:15,880 Speaker 1: surface area of impact. It would not be a good 378 00:24:15,880 --> 00:24:19,720 Speaker 1: idea anyway, One of the possible solutions that is considered 379 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:21,720 Speaker 1: to be a good idea is to send up a 380 00:24:21,760 --> 00:24:24,720 Speaker 1: spacecraft to act as a sort of battering ram and 381 00:24:24,800 --> 00:24:27,680 Speaker 1: to nudge and object like a meteor or an asteroid 382 00:24:27,800 --> 00:24:31,040 Speaker 1: enough so that it doesn't hit our planet. But how 383 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:34,080 Speaker 1: do you test that. You don't wait for the day 384 00:24:34,160 --> 00:24:37,480 Speaker 1: when you definitely have to do something because something's heading 385 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:40,960 Speaker 1: our way, because if it doesn't work, well that's bad. 386 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:43,480 Speaker 1: So you need to test it in advance. So what 387 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:47,960 Speaker 1: NASA did was it identified a couple of asteroids or 388 00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:52,920 Speaker 1: if you prefer an asteroid, and it's quote unquote moonlit, 389 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,840 Speaker 1: and the Dart spacecraft crashed into the moonlight, which has 390 00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:00,359 Speaker 1: a name, thank you very much, it's dimorphous. So the 391 00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:04,320 Speaker 1: goal was to alter dimorphoses orbit around its asteroid and 392 00:25:04,359 --> 00:25:08,080 Speaker 1: reduce the orbit by at least seventy three seconds. So 393 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:15,520 Speaker 1: on September twenty two, Dart makes contact with Dimorphous and 394 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:18,960 Speaker 1: then astronomers are surprised to see that the orbit did shorten, 395 00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:21,520 Speaker 1: but it shortened way more than seventy three seconds. It 396 00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:26,160 Speaker 1: became thirty two minutes shorter. So this was a huge success. 397 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:30,760 Speaker 1: Dart showed that using a bit of percussive maintenance, we 398 00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:34,200 Speaker 1: can change the flight path of a small body in space, 399 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:36,760 Speaker 1: and that kind of knowledge can end up being really 400 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:39,760 Speaker 1: important should we detect such a small object that is 401 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:42,400 Speaker 1: on a collision course with our planet, And the earlier 402 00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:45,240 Speaker 1: we detected, the better our chances are, and also the 403 00:25:45,320 --> 00:25:47,720 Speaker 1: less we need to actually move the object to put 404 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:50,480 Speaker 1: it on a different path. Right like if if it's 405 00:25:50,480 --> 00:25:53,959 Speaker 1: far enough out, you just have to alter its course 406 00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:57,480 Speaker 1: by a couple of degrees and it will completely miss 407 00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:01,040 Speaker 1: the Earth. So that shows that it's really important one 408 00:26:01,080 --> 00:26:03,159 Speaker 1: to have the solution of how you move it, and 409 00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:06,760 Speaker 1: too that you're able to identify these objects as early 410 00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:10,639 Speaker 1: as possible, because not only do you have to you know, 411 00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:14,439 Speaker 1: find it, but you also have to prepare the mission 412 00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:17,600 Speaker 1: and launch it in time for it to make a difference. 413 00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:22,399 Speaker 1: So very important work. Here one more space thing I 414 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:24,840 Speaker 1: want to talk about before I go to break, So 415 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:29,120 Speaker 1: I covered in yesterday's episode the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 416 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:32,359 Speaker 1: Well clearly that has had a big effect on space 417 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:38,200 Speaker 1: efforts as well as terrestrial technology matters. Russia has facilities, 418 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:41,560 Speaker 1: it has launch vehicles, it is a space capable nation 419 00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:44,359 Speaker 1: one of the few on Earth. There's only like half 420 00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:47,480 Speaker 1: a dozen of them on Earth, and a lot of 421 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:51,760 Speaker 1: space agencies in in Europe and elsewhere depend upon Russia 422 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:56,480 Speaker 1: as the staging grounds for their own space missions. But 423 00:26:56,760 --> 00:27:01,680 Speaker 1: with the world placing sanctions on Russia, this became untenable politically, 424 00:27:02,119 --> 00:27:05,240 Speaker 1: and so several missions had to be postponed or outrights 425 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:09,919 Speaker 1: canceled scrapped. So, for example, the European Space Agency, the 426 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:13,639 Speaker 1: e s A, had a Mars mission planned, but it 427 00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:17,880 Speaker 1: was going to use Russian hardware and a Russian launch facility, 428 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:20,800 Speaker 1: and the e s A subsequently chose to postpone the 429 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:26,600 Speaker 1: mission and instead they will end up reconfiguring the entire 430 00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:29,320 Speaker 1: mission so that it will not rely on Russian hardware 431 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:32,800 Speaker 1: and launch facilities. That will take about three years and 432 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:39,359 Speaker 1: something like seventeen billion euro an incredible decision like to 433 00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:44,639 Speaker 1: to make that choice sends a pretty powerful message. Or 434 00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:48,359 Speaker 1: take the story of one Web. Now, I'll have to 435 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:50,879 Speaker 1: do a full episode about One Web in the future, 436 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:55,199 Speaker 1: because that company has had a dramatic history. Technically you 437 00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:59,080 Speaker 1: could say companies, because really it it was like the phoenix, 438 00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:03,040 Speaker 1: It collapsed and burnt up, and then a new version 439 00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:05,960 Speaker 1: of one Web rose from the ashes. It started off 440 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:08,960 Speaker 1: in America as a company aiming to bring satellite based 441 00:28:08,960 --> 00:28:12,040 Speaker 1: broadband internet connectivity to the market. And it'll be clear 442 00:28:12,080 --> 00:28:15,840 Speaker 1: there already were satellite based internet companies in place, but 443 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:18,960 Speaker 1: one Web's goal was to use very small or relatively 444 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:23,919 Speaker 1: small and relatively inexpensive satellites and then create constellations of 445 00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:27,080 Speaker 1: the satellites that would provide uninterrupted service to customers on 446 00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:30,439 Speaker 1: the ground. And you might be thinking, ha, this sounds 447 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:33,040 Speaker 1: a bit like starlink, and you would be right. In fact, 448 00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:36,239 Speaker 1: very early on, one Web was working with SpaceX on 449 00:28:36,359 --> 00:28:39,760 Speaker 1: plans for this service to use SpaceX to help launch 450 00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:42,720 Speaker 1: the satellites up into space. And then a year or 451 00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:47,080 Speaker 1: so later, Elon Musk announced SpaceX is competing business Starlink 452 00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:51,400 Speaker 1: that had a very familiar business plan to it. I'm 453 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:55,160 Speaker 1: not saying anything happened, I'm just saying that's a fact. 454 00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: So anyway, the US based one web actually went bankrupt 455 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:04,400 Speaker 1: in twenty Winny. The pandemic killed that business, and a 456 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:09,400 Speaker 1: consortium that included the UK government purchased the company's assets 457 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:14,480 Speaker 1: in auction bankruptcy auction in November. So the one Web 458 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:19,400 Speaker 1: of today is a different company than the original one Web. Anyway, 459 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:22,400 Speaker 1: One Web had planned to launch more than thirty satellites 460 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:26,080 Speaker 1: on a Russian launch vehicle earlier this year in two 461 00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:29,760 Speaker 1: but then Russia invaded Ukraine and there was pressure on 462 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:35,240 Speaker 1: the UK government to scrap the mission. Russia told one Web, hey, 463 00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:38,400 Speaker 1: this thing is paid for, so if you pinky swear 464 00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:41,240 Speaker 1: that none of these satellites will ever be used by militaries, 465 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:44,760 Speaker 1: then we're good. Ski. Also, the UK government needs to 466 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:49,440 Speaker 1: sell off its interest in one Web, but the UK 467 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:51,360 Speaker 1: government was not ready to do that. It did not 468 00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:53,680 Speaker 1: want to give up ownership of one Web. It did 469 00:29:53,720 --> 00:29:56,600 Speaker 1: not want to guarantee that it would not use the 470 00:29:56,640 --> 00:30:01,440 Speaker 1: satellite communication system for military purposes, so they refused to 471 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:06,000 Speaker 1: acquiesce to the request, and Russia scrapped the mission and 472 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:12,240 Speaker 1: kept the satellites woof. Also, Russia announced in the summer 473 00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:15,080 Speaker 1: of this year that it will leave the International Space 474 00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:19,000 Speaker 1: Station in four and will prepare to launch its own 475 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:22,560 Speaker 1: independent space station. The i s S has already served 476 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:26,800 Speaker 1: well pasted its initial estimated decommissioned date, but the hope 477 00:30:26,840 --> 00:30:29,880 Speaker 1: in the US was to continue operations until twenty thirty 478 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,920 Speaker 1: or so. This will be a lot harder to do 479 00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:36,600 Speaker 1: without the cooperation of the Russians, who handle a lot 480 00:30:36,680 --> 00:30:39,360 Speaker 1: of the propulsion systems aboard the I S S. So 481 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:41,520 Speaker 1: unless they hand those over, it's going to be real 482 00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:43,920 Speaker 1: hard to keep the I S S an operation not 483 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:48,400 Speaker 1: necessarily impossible, but really hard. But this announcement struck some 484 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:50,640 Speaker 1: as being another attempt by Russia to kind of strike 485 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:55,560 Speaker 1: a blow to the West, and maybe it was all right, 486 00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:57,680 Speaker 1: we're gonna take another quick break when we come back. 487 00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:11,520 Speaker 1: It's grab bag time. Okay. Like I said before the break, 488 00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:13,880 Speaker 1: we're in a kind of grab bag situation of various 489 00:31:13,880 --> 00:31:17,360 Speaker 1: scientific and technological advancements that we saw in two. And 490 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:20,720 Speaker 1: let's get our start with nuclear fusion. So to recap, 491 00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:24,240 Speaker 1: fusion is when two atoms fuse together and they form 492 00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:28,320 Speaker 1: a heavier atom. And it's the process that happens in 493 00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:31,680 Speaker 1: the Sun where hydrogen is built into helium at a 494 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:35,840 Speaker 1: temperature of millions of degrees. See in the Sun, you've 495 00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:40,040 Speaker 1: got incredible forces of gravity and heat that allow for 496 00:31:40,080 --> 00:31:44,280 Speaker 1: this nuclear process to happen. And an output of this process, 497 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:48,160 Speaker 1: besides helium, is a huge release of energy, and that 498 00:31:48,320 --> 00:31:51,120 Speaker 1: energy is what we here on Earth receive and it 499 00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:56,640 Speaker 1: makes life possible. Now contrast this with nuclear fission. This 500 00:31:56,720 --> 00:31:59,480 Speaker 1: is the process where we take a heavy atom, such 501 00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:02,760 Speaker 1: as your neum, and we use some force to split 502 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:06,680 Speaker 1: this atom into two or more lighter atoms and possibly 503 00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:11,520 Speaker 1: some other byproducts. This process also releases energy. In fact, 504 00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:14,480 Speaker 1: this is the process that our nuclear power plants use 505 00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:19,320 Speaker 1: here on Earth. There are some drawbacks to this approach, however, Namely, 506 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,640 Speaker 1: you end up with some radioactive byproducts that are dangerous 507 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:26,040 Speaker 1: to organic critters like us. So you have to figure 508 00:32:26,040 --> 00:32:29,720 Speaker 1: out what are you gonna do with these byproducts. Typically 509 00:32:29,760 --> 00:32:33,480 Speaker 1: it involves putting nuclear waste in dry casks and then 510 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:37,840 Speaker 1: storing those on site that the nuclear power plants. And 511 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:40,400 Speaker 1: meanwhile the world debates on where to put the stuff 512 00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:44,160 Speaker 1: long term. And here in the United States there was 513 00:32:44,200 --> 00:32:46,960 Speaker 1: a proposal for a really long time to store it 514 00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:52,840 Speaker 1: under Yucka Mountain in Nevada, But those plans have encountered 515 00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:56,280 Speaker 1: lots of opposition. It turns out folks are not keen 516 00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:59,920 Speaker 1: on the idea of having material that emits invisible dead 517 00:33:00,120 --> 00:33:03,800 Speaker 1: lee levels of radiation anywhere close to them, or even 518 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:07,200 Speaker 1: not that close to them, like a decent distance from them, 519 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:11,600 Speaker 1: is still not far enough at least in their minds. 520 00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:14,080 Speaker 1: And that's kind of understandable. I mean, like I said, 521 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:18,840 Speaker 1: nuclear radiation is invisible, and unless there's a really intense 522 00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:22,560 Speaker 1: amount of it, it's undetectable to your typical person unless 523 00:33:22,560 --> 00:33:24,840 Speaker 1: they have to be carrying a Geiger counter or something 524 00:33:24,880 --> 00:33:29,680 Speaker 1: like that. Anyway, while proponents and opponents of nuclear power 525 00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:32,440 Speaker 1: argue about whether or not there is a truly safe 526 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:36,560 Speaker 1: way to store nuclear waste long term, there's this tempting 527 00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:42,080 Speaker 1: possibility of nuclear fusion. Fusion doesn't create the same kind 528 00:33:42,080 --> 00:33:46,880 Speaker 1: of radioactive materials that fission does. Uh. It does have 529 00:33:47,000 --> 00:33:49,800 Speaker 1: some byproducts to some waste that we'd have to deal with, 530 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:53,640 Speaker 1: but nothing on the level of nuclear fission, and that 531 00:33:53,840 --> 00:33:57,600 Speaker 1: gives it a really attractive uh slant. Another is that 532 00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:01,320 Speaker 1: the main fuel source, we would use hydrogen as the 533 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:04,400 Speaker 1: most plentiful stuff on the planet. There, but there are 534 00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:07,040 Speaker 1: some catches. Uh. One of the big catches is that 535 00:34:07,080 --> 00:34:09,319 Speaker 1: to initiate fusion, you have to use a lot of 536 00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:13,760 Speaker 1: energy to get things started. Remember, the reason this happens 537 00:34:13,760 --> 00:34:16,120 Speaker 1: in the sun is because you have this incredible force 538 00:34:16,160 --> 00:34:22,279 Speaker 1: of gravity and this intense heat that provides the ignition 539 00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:27,520 Speaker 1: energy needed to keep this process going, So we have 540 00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:30,200 Speaker 1: to do sort of the same thing here on Earth 541 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:33,359 Speaker 1: somehow without you know, turning the Earth into the sun. 542 00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:37,840 Speaker 1: So meanwhile, if you get less energy out than what 543 00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:40,400 Speaker 1: you got putting into it, well that means you're spending 544 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:43,680 Speaker 1: more energy than you're getting back. This is a bad investment. 545 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:48,000 Speaker 1: But then we saw some exciting progress in this field 546 00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:51,720 Speaker 1: this year. Not too long ago, scientists at the Lawrence 547 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:56,560 Speaker 1: Livermore National Laboratory held a fusion experiment in which the 548 00:34:56,640 --> 00:35:00,359 Speaker 1: energy emitted was greater than the laser energy g that 549 00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:03,960 Speaker 1: was used to generate the reaction in the first place. Specifically, 550 00:35:04,320 --> 00:35:08,080 Speaker 1: the lasers delivered two point zero five mega jules of 551 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:14,040 Speaker 1: energy to the little fusion pellet, and the reaction generated 552 00:35:14,280 --> 00:35:17,200 Speaker 1: three point one five mega jules of energy. So two 553 00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:20,480 Speaker 1: point oh five in three point one five out, So 554 00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:25,160 Speaker 1: we get more out than we put in sort of. Now, 555 00:35:25,200 --> 00:35:28,040 Speaker 1: I say sort of because this only works if we're 556 00:35:28,080 --> 00:35:30,760 Speaker 1: just looking at the amount of energy that the lasers 557 00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:34,920 Speaker 1: delivered versus the amount of energy released by the fusion 558 00:35:35,080 --> 00:35:39,239 Speaker 1: inside the pellet. However, if we then consider how much 559 00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:43,800 Speaker 1: energy we needed to consume to generate that laser power 560 00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:48,520 Speaker 1: in the first place things change because unfortunately, lasers are 561 00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:52,640 Speaker 1: not particularly energy efficient devices. So in order to generate 562 00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:55,600 Speaker 1: that two point oh five mega jules of laser energy, 563 00:35:56,040 --> 00:35:59,360 Speaker 1: the lab actually had to pull three hundred mega jules 564 00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:02,960 Speaker 1: of energy on the electrical grid. So when you think 565 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:05,200 Speaker 1: about it in that respect, you see they had to 566 00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:07,640 Speaker 1: use a hundred times the amount of energy they got 567 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:11,880 Speaker 1: out of that reaction, and yeah, taking them into account 568 00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:15,800 Speaker 1: as a bummer, but this experiment is still really encouraging, 569 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:19,040 Speaker 1: and that's partly because this is not the only way 570 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:22,520 Speaker 1: we can achieve fusion. It's just one of them. Lasers 571 00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:25,359 Speaker 1: are just involved in in a couple of the different ways. 572 00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:29,000 Speaker 1: There are other ways as well, and if we can 573 00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:32,239 Speaker 1: get the same sort of results that the scientists got 574 00:36:32,239 --> 00:36:36,120 Speaker 1: out of this experiment, then we might be on the 575 00:36:36,239 --> 00:36:39,440 Speaker 1: right track here on Earth. It's pretty hard to replicate 576 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:42,040 Speaker 1: the conditions of the Sun, but this experiment brought us 577 00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:44,279 Speaker 1: a little step closer to doing it. And if we 578 00:36:44,280 --> 00:36:46,440 Speaker 1: can get nuclear fusion to work out for us in 579 00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:49,400 Speaker 1: the long run, it will really address our energy needs 580 00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:53,719 Speaker 1: for well for our lifetimes and well beyond our lifetimes, 581 00:36:53,719 --> 00:36:57,000 Speaker 1: and that's exciting. It would let us move off of 582 00:36:57,040 --> 00:37:00,440 Speaker 1: fossil fuels entirely, and that would be great for the planet. 583 00:37:00,960 --> 00:37:02,680 Speaker 1: But we still have a lot of work to do 584 00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:06,200 Speaker 1: before any of this becomes practical, and my guess is 585 00:37:06,320 --> 00:37:08,319 Speaker 1: it's still going to take some decades to get there. 586 00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:12,320 Speaker 1: I should also mention that in China, scientists were able 587 00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:16,360 Speaker 1: to create a sustained nuclear fusion reaction and it lasted 588 00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:19,880 Speaker 1: for more than seventeen minutes, because another big challenge with 589 00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:23,080 Speaker 1: fusion here on Earth is not just getting the reaction started, 590 00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:25,960 Speaker 1: but it's keeping a reaction going so that you can 591 00:37:26,040 --> 00:37:29,320 Speaker 1: continue to release energy that you can harness and convert 592 00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:32,440 Speaker 1: into electricity. It doesn't do you a whole lot of 593 00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:35,880 Speaker 1: good if you do release a lot more energy than 594 00:37:35,920 --> 00:37:39,279 Speaker 1: you put in, but only lasts for an instant. That's 595 00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:41,600 Speaker 1: not really enough for us to make practical use out 596 00:37:41,600 --> 00:37:45,960 Speaker 1: of it. So this news from China about how they 597 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:48,880 Speaker 1: created a superheated plasma and they were able to maintain 598 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:52,279 Speaker 1: it for more than seventeen minutes, that is just as 599 00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:57,680 Speaker 1: exciting as this other announcement of the experiment that generated 600 00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:00,960 Speaker 1: or released more energy than was put in. So these 601 00:38:00,960 --> 00:38:03,680 Speaker 1: are all pieces that are necessary for us to have 602 00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:09,960 Speaker 1: a working nuclear fusion uh process in the future. We 603 00:38:10,040 --> 00:38:14,600 Speaker 1: also saw advancements in quantum computing in two. IBM recently 604 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:19,480 Speaker 1: announced a four hundred thirty three cubit quantum computer called 605 00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:23,520 Speaker 1: the Osprey, which is the largest of its quantum computers 606 00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:27,200 Speaker 1: to date. So you might think, what does any of 607 00:38:27,239 --> 00:38:30,279 Speaker 1: that mean. Well, my guests, as you probably know, your 608 00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:35,480 Speaker 1: basic computers ultimately rely on bits or binary digits, and 609 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:38,319 Speaker 1: this is what is used to run computations at the 610 00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:42,280 Speaker 1: machine level. So a bit can have one of two values. 611 00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:44,920 Speaker 1: It can either be a zero or it can be 612 00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:48,160 Speaker 1: a one. You can think of it like a light 613 00:38:48,239 --> 00:38:52,640 Speaker 1: switch which can be off or on. And all computations, 614 00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:55,760 Speaker 1: when you really break them down to their most basic level, 615 00:38:56,239 --> 00:39:00,040 Speaker 1: boiled down to mathematic operations on big old groups of 616 00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:05,520 Speaker 1: zeros and ones of bits. Well, a quantum computer relies 617 00:39:05,600 --> 00:39:12,040 Speaker 1: on quantum bits or cubits, and cubits have some odd behaviors, so, 618 00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:16,239 Speaker 1: for example, they can exist in superposition. This means a 619 00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:19,640 Speaker 1: cubit can effectively behave as though it is both a 620 00:39:19,760 --> 00:39:25,120 Speaker 1: zero and a one, and technically all values in between simultaneously. 621 00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:30,120 Speaker 1: This means that if you design a proper algorithm to 622 00:39:30,239 --> 00:39:33,680 Speaker 1: take advantage of the cubits, and you have enough cubits 623 00:39:33,719 --> 00:39:37,239 Speaker 1: to do it, you can tackle a subset of computational 624 00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:41,319 Speaker 1: problems that are very difficult for classical computers and then 625 00:39:41,320 --> 00:39:43,440 Speaker 1: solve them in a fraction of the time that you 626 00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:48,000 Speaker 1: would need otherwise, because essentially what the quantum computer can 627 00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:52,760 Speaker 1: do is run all the different variations of that problem 628 00:39:52,800 --> 00:39:56,520 Speaker 1: in parallel with one another, and then compare all the 629 00:39:56,560 --> 00:39:59,840 Speaker 1: outputs at the end and give you the one that 630 00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:02,640 Speaker 1: is most likely to be correct. We also talk more 631 00:40:02,640 --> 00:40:07,040 Speaker 1: about probabilities with quantum computers rather than uh like like 632 00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:13,520 Speaker 1: specific confirmed results. It does get way more complicated from there. 633 00:40:13,560 --> 00:40:16,799 Speaker 1: I mean, quantum computers are very delicate systems. It's very 634 00:40:16,840 --> 00:40:20,319 Speaker 1: easy for them to be upset, and then you end 635 00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:25,360 Speaker 1: up with a very pathetic classical computer system instead of 636 00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:30,080 Speaker 1: quantum computer system. It's important to remember that quantum computers 637 00:40:30,120 --> 00:40:33,399 Speaker 1: will not be good for all computational problems. Instead, they'll 638 00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:38,080 Speaker 1: be well suited for a specific group of computational problems. 639 00:40:38,680 --> 00:40:41,279 Speaker 1: One set of computational problems that is quite relevant to 640 00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:46,279 Speaker 1: us today relates to cryptography and encryption. So at a 641 00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:49,640 Speaker 1: very simple level, you can kind of think of encryption 642 00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:54,880 Speaker 1: involving two very very large prime numbers, like hundreds of 643 00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:58,400 Speaker 1: digits long, but their prime numbers. You take these two 644 00:40:58,960 --> 00:41:02,320 Speaker 1: different very big prime numbers and you multiply them together, 645 00:41:02,920 --> 00:41:06,359 Speaker 1: and then you get a product. And everyone can see 646 00:41:06,400 --> 00:41:10,440 Speaker 1: the product essentially, but only the people who hold the keys, 647 00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:13,759 Speaker 1: those being the prime numbers, know what was used to 648 00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:18,800 Speaker 1: make that product. So if you wanted to decrypt something 649 00:41:18,840 --> 00:41:23,680 Speaker 1: that was used using this particular encryption process, you would 650 00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:26,440 Speaker 1: first need to determine what were those two large prime 651 00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:28,480 Speaker 1: numbers that were used to make this product in the 652 00:41:28,480 --> 00:41:32,880 Speaker 1: first place. What were those two And this is the 653 00:41:32,920 --> 00:41:35,640 Speaker 1: type of problem that would make a classical computer take, 654 00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:38,239 Speaker 1: you know, thousands or maybe even tens of thousands of 655 00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:42,360 Speaker 1: years to solve, because it would go through every single 656 00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:46,479 Speaker 1: prime number in order to determine whether or not this 657 00:41:46,560 --> 00:41:50,640 Speaker 1: is the solution, and that would just take thousands of years. 658 00:41:50,840 --> 00:41:54,080 Speaker 1: But the quantum computer, with a suitable program written for 659 00:41:54,160 --> 00:41:57,200 Speaker 1: it and with enough cubits to run it could potentially 660 00:41:57,280 --> 00:42:00,080 Speaker 1: come back with a solution much much more quickly. And 661 00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:02,839 Speaker 1: this tells us that eventually quantum computers will make our 662 00:42:02,880 --> 00:42:07,520 Speaker 1: current encryption methods totally pointless. But the National Institute of 663 00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:12,040 Speaker 1: Standards and Technology has been reviewing proposed post quantum cryptography 664 00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:16,800 Speaker 1: methods in anticipation of tackling this problem before all secrets 665 00:42:16,840 --> 00:42:20,480 Speaker 1: are revealed, which is really exciting. Stuff like you started 666 00:42:20,520 --> 00:42:23,000 Speaker 1: again the kind of like a spy mentality. You're thinking, 667 00:42:23,520 --> 00:42:26,680 Speaker 1: it's a race against the clock. Eventually, we're going to 668 00:42:26,760 --> 00:42:31,120 Speaker 1: have quantum computer systems that are sufficiently powerful enough and 669 00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:35,280 Speaker 1: have a sufficient algorithm designed for it to reverse certain 670 00:42:35,280 --> 00:42:39,000 Speaker 1: types of encryption and make it a trivial task, which 671 00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:42,600 Speaker 1: means the stuff that we count upon as being encrypted, 672 00:42:42,640 --> 00:42:47,319 Speaker 1: like like like really sensitive information things like your your 673 00:42:47,680 --> 00:42:51,120 Speaker 1: your financial information, maybe your credit card numbers, that kind 674 00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:54,399 Speaker 1: of stuff could just be revealed totally because you could 675 00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:59,160 Speaker 1: reverse that encryption process using this methodology. So there is 676 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:03,360 Speaker 1: a necessity to develop the next generation of cryptographic techniques 677 00:43:03,920 --> 00:43:08,640 Speaker 1: that will work both with classical computers and with quantum computers. 678 00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:13,040 Speaker 1: That's really important to say, because there was one proposed 679 00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:17,719 Speaker 1: post quantum cryptographic method that proved to be uh solvable 680 00:43:17,840 --> 00:43:23,880 Speaker 1: using classical computers, and that obviously doesn't solve the problem. 681 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:28,600 Speaker 1: And in two we also saw some pretty amazing developments 682 00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:33,560 Speaker 1: in AI. I'm specifically thinking about how several different AI 683 00:43:33,600 --> 00:43:39,880 Speaker 1: image generating tools really emerged this year or became famous 684 00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:44,320 Speaker 1: this year, where you would type a prompt into a field, 685 00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:48,439 Speaker 1: and then an AI program generates an image based upon 686 00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:52,239 Speaker 1: your prompt, and you can tweak your prompt and put 687 00:43:52,239 --> 00:43:56,400 Speaker 1: in different adjectives or different guidelines and get new images 688 00:43:56,440 --> 00:43:59,399 Speaker 1: that continue to try and develop this idea you've had. 689 00:44:00,280 --> 00:44:03,319 Speaker 1: Then there's the story of chat GPT, the AI that 690 00:44:03,360 --> 00:44:07,960 Speaker 1: can compose responses to text queries and it can give 691 00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:11,680 Speaker 1: you a text answer. Both of these applications of a 692 00:44:11,920 --> 00:44:16,000 Speaker 1: I got a lot of attention and criticism this year. 693 00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:19,520 Speaker 1: For one thing, the capabilities of AI have improved tremendously 694 00:44:19,840 --> 00:44:23,239 Speaker 1: over recent years, but they still show that there are 695 00:44:23,280 --> 00:44:28,200 Speaker 1: some interesting and sometimes humorous or even disturbing gaps between 696 00:44:28,239 --> 00:44:30,600 Speaker 1: the way AI goes about doing something and the way 697 00:44:30,680 --> 00:44:34,080 Speaker 1: humans do. Some of the AI generated images I have 698 00:44:34,239 --> 00:44:38,760 Speaker 1: seen appear to have spawned from the fever fueled brain 699 00:44:38,920 --> 00:44:42,120 Speaker 1: of a mad genius. If you look at that and think, yeah, 700 00:44:42,120 --> 00:44:47,839 Speaker 1: no human would ever do this. Others seem hopelessly misguided. 701 00:44:47,840 --> 00:44:49,719 Speaker 1: You'll look at an image and say, I can't even 702 00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:53,840 Speaker 1: tell you what words were used to prompt this image. 703 00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:59,080 Speaker 1: As for the text, the text can span between being helpful, concise, 704 00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:03,279 Speaker 1: and accurate to being very much inaccurate but presented in 705 00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:06,440 Speaker 1: such a way as to seem really confident, so it 706 00:45:06,520 --> 00:45:09,839 Speaker 1: might make the reader feel, oh, I can depend upon 707 00:45:09,840 --> 00:45:12,279 Speaker 1: this answer, when in fact you might not be able to, 708 00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:18,360 Speaker 1: and that serves as a potential problem. Now, these instances 709 00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:22,960 Speaker 1: of AI have launched multiple conversations in different contexts. Right, 710 00:45:22,960 --> 00:45:26,840 Speaker 1: you've got the trustworthiness of AI? For example, how do 711 00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:30,960 Speaker 1: we know the answers we get are accurate, are correct, 712 00:45:31,480 --> 00:45:34,840 Speaker 1: are unbiased? And in a lot of cases we don't 713 00:45:34,920 --> 00:45:39,319 Speaker 1: know the answer to that because the AI isn't revealing 714 00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:43,040 Speaker 1: what sources it draws from in order to compose the 715 00:45:43,120 --> 00:45:46,200 Speaker 1: responses that we get, So without being able to check 716 00:45:46,239 --> 00:45:50,359 Speaker 1: the AI's work, we can't be certain that it's reliable. 717 00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:53,720 Speaker 1: And in fact, we have seen stories about how chat 718 00:45:53,760 --> 00:45:59,719 Speaker 1: GPT in particular could sometimes generate unreliable responses. Uh So 719 00:46:00,120 --> 00:46:03,200 Speaker 1: that is one of the concerns. But there are other 720 00:46:03,560 --> 00:46:07,440 Speaker 1: conversations we've heard too. We've heard debates about whether or 721 00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:10,040 Speaker 1: not AI is going to have a negative impact on 722 00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:14,400 Speaker 1: artistic efforts going forward. If you train an AI to 723 00:46:14,520 --> 00:46:18,560 Speaker 1: generate images that can mimic the style of working artists. 724 00:46:19,200 --> 00:46:22,600 Speaker 1: Does that not threaten those artists livelihoods? I mean, if 725 00:46:22,600 --> 00:46:26,680 Speaker 1: you're thinking, gosh, I really would love a sketch by 726 00:46:26,719 --> 00:46:29,120 Speaker 1: this one artist, but I can't afford their rates. But 727 00:46:29,160 --> 00:46:33,840 Speaker 1: I could just use this AI to create a a 728 00:46:34,320 --> 00:46:37,520 Speaker 1: mimic of what this artist would do based upon what 729 00:46:37,640 --> 00:46:39,880 Speaker 1: I want, and I don't have to pay anyone anything. 730 00:46:40,360 --> 00:46:46,239 Speaker 1: That definitely is a concern in the creative world. Then 731 00:46:46,760 --> 00:46:49,719 Speaker 1: there's also the concern that if an AI like chat 732 00:46:49,760 --> 00:46:53,840 Speaker 1: GPT could potentially create an essay on any given subject, 733 00:46:54,360 --> 00:46:57,640 Speaker 1: then what's going to stop students from cheating on their 734 00:46:57,640 --> 00:47:00,320 Speaker 1: homework by giving it to a I Now, I have 735 00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:02,319 Speaker 1: a solution to that, by the way, which is to 736 00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:05,439 Speaker 1: eliminate homework. Just get rid of it. I mean, I've 737 00:47:05,760 --> 00:47:09,080 Speaker 1: I've seen studies that show that homework doesn't do much 738 00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:12,760 Speaker 1: good anyway, and so it ends up being a big 739 00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:17,560 Speaker 1: time killer for both students and teachers who have to 740 00:47:17,600 --> 00:47:23,160 Speaker 1: grade the stuff. So yeah, you know, maybe maybe get 741 00:47:23,239 --> 00:47:26,279 Speaker 1: rid of the homework. Um, I don't really have a 742 00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:28,920 Speaker 1: dog in that fight. I don't have kids, and I 743 00:47:28,960 --> 00:47:33,600 Speaker 1: haven't been in school for a few decades, so I 744 00:47:33,600 --> 00:47:35,480 Speaker 1: don't really have to worry about that. I mean, I 745 00:47:35,480 --> 00:47:37,879 Speaker 1: have to generate essays every single week, because that's kind 746 00:47:37,880 --> 00:47:42,560 Speaker 1: of what these podcasts are, right, So hey, maybe I'll 747 00:47:42,560 --> 00:47:45,719 Speaker 1: do an episode that was completely written by AI, which 748 00:47:46,120 --> 00:47:48,160 Speaker 1: I don't think I will do because one, I don't 749 00:47:48,200 --> 00:47:51,120 Speaker 1: think AI will be able to produce an episode that 750 00:47:51,320 --> 00:47:54,520 Speaker 1: is in my style, and two, if it does, I'm 751 00:47:54,560 --> 00:47:57,799 Speaker 1: out of a job. So forget I said that. Okay, 752 00:47:57,840 --> 00:48:00,680 Speaker 1: that's it. I am done looking act on the news 753 00:48:00,680 --> 00:48:04,000 Speaker 1: stories of two. There were other ones, obviously, there were 754 00:48:04,040 --> 00:48:06,160 Speaker 1: tons of things that happened in the tech world this 755 00:48:06,239 --> 00:48:10,640 Speaker 1: past year, but I wanted to tackle the really impactful 756 00:48:10,680 --> 00:48:13,359 Speaker 1: ones I had been keeping an eye on throughout the year. 757 00:48:13,920 --> 00:48:18,520 Speaker 1: And while there are others, I feel like six or however, 758 00:48:18,560 --> 00:48:21,760 Speaker 1: many episodes we've done that have been retrospectives on two 759 00:48:22,120 --> 00:48:26,880 Speaker 1: are plenty. So tomorrow's episode will be something else. What 760 00:48:27,760 --> 00:48:30,920 Speaker 1: Who knows. I haven't really decided yet. I think I 761 00:48:30,960 --> 00:48:33,279 Speaker 1: have an idea, but we will see. It will also 762 00:48:33,320 --> 00:48:37,799 Speaker 1: be the last episode of tech Stuff for at least 763 00:48:37,840 --> 00:48:41,560 Speaker 1: the last new one. Friday's episode will be a classic episode. 764 00:48:42,000 --> 00:48:45,759 Speaker 1: Then on Monday. The following Monday, we have a holiday 765 00:48:45,800 --> 00:48:49,279 Speaker 1: here at my heart, so it will be probably a 766 00:48:49,320 --> 00:48:52,080 Speaker 1: rerun of some sort I have not decided on that yet, 767 00:48:52,360 --> 00:48:55,520 Speaker 1: and then starting on Tuesday of next week, we'll be 768 00:48:55,560 --> 00:48:58,440 Speaker 1: back with all new episodes of tech Stuff, looking forward 769 00:48:58,480 --> 00:49:02,719 Speaker 1: to three and the brave new world we will be 770 00:49:02,800 --> 00:49:05,640 Speaker 1: in by then. I guess. I hope you are all well. 771 00:49:05,719 --> 00:49:09,800 Speaker 1: I hope you are enjoying your time with friends and family. 772 00:49:10,800 --> 00:49:13,719 Speaker 1: I wish you the best. We'll be back tomorrow with 773 00:49:13,800 --> 00:49:16,000 Speaker 1: some more. If you have suggestions, you know how to 774 00:49:16,040 --> 00:49:18,320 Speaker 1: reach me. I'm running out of time, so I'm not 775 00:49:18,360 --> 00:49:20,480 Speaker 1: going to go through that whole spiel, but I will 776 00:49:20,920 --> 00:49:29,480 Speaker 1: taught to you again really soon. Tech Stuff is an 777 00:49:29,520 --> 00:49:33,360 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, 778 00:49:33,680 --> 00:49:36,880 Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 779 00:49:36,960 --> 00:49:38,480 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows