WEBVTT - How Could We Get Into Space Without Big Rockets?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from how Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren vocal bomb here. Since humans began putting satellites into

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<v Speaker 1>orbit in the nineteen fifties, we've relied upon big, powerful

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<v Speaker 1>rockets to escape Earth's gravity and get into space. But

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<v Speaker 1>big rockets have a major downside in that they make

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<v Speaker 1>space launches expensive. For example, NASA's Space Launch System Heavy

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<v Speaker 1>Lift rocket, which is scheduled for its maiden flight in

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<v Speaker 1>December of twenty nineteen, will cost an estimated one billion

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<v Speaker 1>dollars per launch. Costs for space X is far more economical.

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<v Speaker 1>Falcon Heavy, which took off successfully from Kennedy Space Center

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<v Speaker 1>in February, still range from between ninety million and a

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and fifty million dollars per launch. For decades, however,

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<v Speaker 1>visionaries have looked for ways to get into space without relying,

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<v Speaker 1>at least not primarily upon rocket power. One such alternative

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<v Speaker 1>approach is air to orbit launches, and it seems to

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<v Speaker 1>be the verge of becoming a reality. Strato Launch, the

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<v Speaker 1>private space launch company started by Microsoft co founder Paul

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<v Speaker 1>Allen in eleven, has an ambitious plan to fly the

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<v Speaker 1>world's biggest airplane with its three five foot that's a

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and seventeen meter wingspan to an altitude of thirty

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<v Speaker 1>five thousand feet or about eleven thousand meters. There it

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<v Speaker 1>will serve as a high altitude launch platform for smaller

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<v Speaker 1>rocket powered vehicles. Once released from the airplane, those vehicles

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<v Speaker 1>won't have to overcome the drag caused by the thickness

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<v Speaker 1>of the lower atmosphere as a ground launched rocket would,

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<v Speaker 1>and they'll be able to get into orbit without having

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<v Speaker 1>to burn as much fuel. In August eighteen, the company

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<v Speaker 1>announced its lineup for four different types of launch vehicles,

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<v Speaker 1>one vehicle that's still in the design study phase, a

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<v Speaker 1>reusable space plane could transport either cargo or a human crew.

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<v Speaker 1>Strato Launch plans to begin offering regular service in It's

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<v Speaker 1>chief executive officer, Gene Floyd, said in a media release

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<v Speaker 1>that the company as mission is to make access to

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<v Speaker 1>space quote more convenient, affordable, and routine, and that scheduling

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<v Speaker 1>a satellite launch eventually will be as easy as booking

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<v Speaker 1>an airline flight. Meanwhile, another air to orbit outfit, Virgin Orbit,

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<v Speaker 1>plans to use a modified Bowing seven hundred as a

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<v Speaker 1>platform for its Launcher one rocket, which will propel satellites

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<v Speaker 1>into orbit, but several other, even more exotic concepts still

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<v Speaker 1>remain on the drawing board. James R. Powell, who co

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<v Speaker 1>invented superconducting maglev propulsion for trains back in the mid

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen sixties, has been advocating for years that the technology

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<v Speaker 1>be used for launching spacecraft as well. Instead of a

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<v Speaker 1>launching pad, this solution, called the Star Tram project, would

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<v Speaker 1>use a massive elevated launch tube, Powell explained via email.

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<v Speaker 1>Think of a magnetically levitated maglev train and a vacuum tunnel,

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<v Speaker 1>with no air drags slowing the vehicle down, and with

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<v Speaker 1>no need to carry large amounts of onboard propellant as

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<v Speaker 1>is the case with rockets. It's relatively easy to reach

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<v Speaker 1>orbital velocity of eighteen thousand miles per hour that's two

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<v Speaker 1>thousand nine kilometers per hour or greater. When the vehicle

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<v Speaker 1>exits the tunnel at high altitude, for example, at the

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<v Speaker 1>summit of a high mountain, the vehicle would be going

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<v Speaker 1>so fast that it basically coasts up to orbital altitude,

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<v Speaker 1>where a small rocket is used to circularize the orbit.

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<v Speaker 1>We've also designed several mechanisms to keep the vacuum in

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<v Speaker 1>the tunnel intact when the vehicle exits the tunnel, so

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<v Speaker 1>that the tunnel can be quickly reused to launch the

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<v Speaker 1>next vehicle. All the major components of the star trans

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<v Speaker 1>system exist already and are well understood. Powell first started

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<v Speaker 1>contemplating the use of super conducting maglev for launching spacecraft

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<v Speaker 1>at the suggestion of a colleague from NASA. Initially, he

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<v Speaker 1>and his engineering partner, George Mazie developed a concept for

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<v Speaker 1>a hundred billion dollar system suitable for manned space launches,

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<v Speaker 1>in which a tube would be levitated with massive super

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<v Speaker 1>conducting cables. They also designed a scaled down cargo only

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<v Speaker 1>tube system that would stretch up the slope of a

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<v Speaker 1>tall mouth town. They estimate that this cargo only system

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<v Speaker 1>could be built for just twenty billion dollars, less than

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<v Speaker 1>the cost of developing NASA's new heavy launch rocket. Once built,

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<v Speaker 1>star Tram could transport one hundred thousand tons of cargo

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<v Speaker 1>into space each year, many times what rocket launches currently carry,

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<v Speaker 1>and would put equipment into low Earth orbit for a

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<v Speaker 1>cost of about fifty dollars a pound. Powell says that

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<v Speaker 1>once built, star Tram could transport one hundred thousand tons

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<v Speaker 1>of cargo into space each year, many times what rocket

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<v Speaker 1>launches currently carry and put equipment into low Earth orbit,

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<v Speaker 1>for a cost of about fifty dollars a pound. That

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<v Speaker 1>would be a fraction of the thousands of dollars per

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<v Speaker 1>pound that it currently costs to get cargo into space.

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<v Speaker 1>Another idea that's been around for decades is construction of

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<v Speaker 1>a space elevator. A tall base tower near Earth's equator

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<v Speaker 1>would be attached by a cable to a satellite in

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<v Speaker 1>geosynchronous Earth orbit twenty two thousand miles that's thirty five

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<v Speaker 1>kilometers above sea level, which would act as a counterbalance.

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<v Speaker 1>Four to six elevator tracks would extend up the tower

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<v Speaker 1>and cable structure, going to platforms at various levels. Electromagnetic

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<v Speaker 1>powered vehicles would rise on the tracks, making the trip

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<v Speaker 1>into orbital space in about five hours. The concept dates

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<v Speaker 1>back to when Russian scientist Konstantine Silkovski suggested building a

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<v Speaker 1>celestial castle that would be attached to a similar structure

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<v Speaker 1>to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and the concept was

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<v Speaker 1>first popularized by science fiction author Arthur C. Clark in

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<v Speaker 1>his nineteen seventy nine novel the Fountains of Paradise. Since then,

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<v Speaker 1>space elevator adherents have continued to tout the concept, but

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<v Speaker 1>the feasibility of a space elevator took a hit in

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<v Speaker 1>twenty sixteen when Chinese researchers published a paper detailing their

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<v Speaker 1>findings that carbon nanotubes, the material earmarked for use in

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<v Speaker 1>creating that enormously long cable, are vulnerable to a flaw

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<v Speaker 1>that could reduce their strength significantly. Today's episode was written

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<v Speaker 1>by Patrick J. Kaiger and produced by Tyler Klang. Visit

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<v Speaker 1>our onlin in store it public dot com, slash brain

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<v Speaker 1>and of course, for more on this and other far

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