1 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:06,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff to blow your mind from housetop were 2 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 1: On September eight, Osirius REX will launch from Cape Canaveral. 3 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:26,000 Speaker 1: It will orbit the Sun for a year, then use 4 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 1: Earth's gravitational field to assist it on its way to 5 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:34,160 Speaker 1: the asteroid Bayning, utilizing a complex thruster array to match 6 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:38,600 Speaker 1: its speed, rendezvous with the ancient rock and steal a sample, 7 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:43,720 Speaker 1: and then return home. The name OSIRIS stands for Origins 8 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:51,040 Speaker 1: Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security Regular Explorer or Osiris REX. 9 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:54,280 Speaker 1: But you really can't name a craft like this after 10 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 1: the ancient Egyptian god of the afterlife and transition and 11 00:00:57,920 --> 00:01:01,320 Speaker 1: not expect us to ruminate on it. A god torn 12 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:05,319 Speaker 1: to pieces and scattered across the cosmos by set, forced 13 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:08,679 Speaker 1: to descend into the underworld, but not before conceiving a 14 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 1: miraculous child with isis ensuring the birth of Horace, God 15 00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 1: of Kings, for ages to follow. Because what are asteroids 16 00:01:18,040 --> 00:01:21,080 Speaker 1: but the scattered remnants of the building blocks that are 17 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: created into planetary form and eventually planetary life as we 18 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:29,120 Speaker 1: know it. They're shards of the nether age in our 19 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:32,320 Speaker 1: Solar system, and in the case of the Venue asteroid 20 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: a shard that has been witnessed to the Solar System's birth, 21 00:01:35,920 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: and a shard that might even bring death or at 22 00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:48,040 Speaker 1: least phoenix like rebirth to life on Earth. Hey, welcome 23 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:49,760 Speaker 1: to Stuff to blow your mind. My name is Robert 24 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:52,040 Speaker 1: Lamb and my name is Christian Sager. We have a 25 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:54,320 Speaker 1: special episode for you today where we are going to 26 00:01:54,360 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 1: be talking about the NASA Osyrius REX mission. For the 27 00:01:58,160 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: first part of the episode, Robert and I are going 28 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:02,920 Speaker 1: to present to you the information about this mission. Uh 29 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:07,120 Speaker 1: and in particular asteroid Baynu, which is traveling to and 30 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:09,799 Speaker 1: then the latter half, we were lucky enough to get 31 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 1: Dr Amy Simon to do an interview with us. She's 32 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: a senior scientist at NASA on planetary atmospheres and she's 33 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 1: working on the Osiris REX mission, and she gave us 34 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: some really good answers to some complex questions. Yeah, and 35 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: you know, we in the intro here we hit a 36 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:30,239 Speaker 1: little bit on the the Egyptian mythology tie and both words, 37 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:32,359 Speaker 1: you know, one is the god of the of transition 38 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 1: and the underworld, and the other is kind of the 39 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:38,079 Speaker 1: menu is the name of kind of an Egyptian phoenix creature. 40 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:41,680 Speaker 1: So that the question that instantly enters everyone's mind. I 41 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: think when you encounter acronyms like this is uh, is 42 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 1: it really as cool as Osiris rex sounds because it 43 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:50,840 Speaker 1: sounds amazing. Cyrus Rex sounds like what the next dinosaur 44 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:53,799 Speaker 1: in Jurassic World too will be called? Yeah, and I think, 45 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:55,600 Speaker 1: but I think the answer is yes. This is a 46 00:02:55,639 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: really fascinating mission. I think it actually holds up rather 47 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:02,679 Speaker 1: well to the mythic expectations are presented by the name. 48 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 1: And that's why we're discussing it here on the show. 49 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: So let's start off by getting into Beanu. What is 50 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: this thing? You may have heard about it recently, because 51 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 1: in the last two to three days before we're recording this, 52 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 1: there has been a flurry on the internet, especially on 53 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:20,880 Speaker 1: science sites, of oh, is this asteroid going to hit 54 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:23,680 Speaker 1: Earth in like a century or two, right, and then 55 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:27,960 Speaker 1: the the counter headlines that are like, no, stupid, this 56 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: asteroid is not definitely gonna hit Earth. Yeah. Um. And 57 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:37,160 Speaker 1: it's interesting because in those headlines you see our fear 58 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: rising up about the threat of near Earth objects. And 59 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: on one hand, I feel like people should be more fearful, 60 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: but people should I mean more to the point people 61 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:49,640 Speaker 1: should be more aware of the long term risk posed 62 00:03:49,640 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 1: by near earth objects, like it should be a talking 63 00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:58,680 Speaker 1: point for for all political candidates and not just transhumanist candidates. Interesting. Yeah, 64 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:01,320 Speaker 1: well especially at don't if you remember, but earlier this 65 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:05,960 Speaker 1: year there was a meteoroid caught on film, like on camera. 66 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:09,040 Speaker 1: Somebody whipped out their smartphone and caught one crashing into 67 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: Earth and it killed a person. And it was wow, 68 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,800 Speaker 1: like just seeing something like that that was just so real, 69 00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 1: really jaw dropping. Uh. And this is I mean, that 70 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:24,120 Speaker 1: was tiny compared to Benu Benu is uh. Let me 71 00:04:24,160 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: see here a thousand, six hundred and fifty ft wide 72 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:31,839 Speaker 1: or five meters. But according to the people at NASA, 73 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:35,840 Speaker 1: we don't need to worry because that is well below 74 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:40,080 Speaker 1: their calculations for what would cause like a mass extinction event. Yeah, 75 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: this isn't gonna be to the twenty till the twenty 76 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:43,839 Speaker 1: second century, so there's plenty of time for us to 77 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:46,360 Speaker 1: not worry about it. And it's gonna be a one 78 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:50,320 Speaker 1: chants that it'll impact the Earth. But but more to 79 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 1: the point, it's just the general idea I think of, 80 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:55,440 Speaker 1: like being aware of near earth objects in the threat 81 00:04:55,480 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 1: they posed learning more about those objects so that we 82 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:03,320 Speaker 1: we we can potentially intercede and protect ourselves. I think 83 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:08,479 Speaker 1: that is a very important issue for for humans in general. Yeah. 84 00:05:08,480 --> 00:05:10,880 Speaker 1: And when we talked to Dr Amy Simon later in 85 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:13,559 Speaker 1: this episode, you know, she makes it clear this isn't 86 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:17,719 Speaker 1: why they chose this particular asteroid, but yes, planetary defense 87 00:05:17,960 --> 00:05:19,880 Speaker 1: is a part of their mission. It is something that 88 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,039 Speaker 1: the people that has to think about. So what do 89 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:26,240 Speaker 1: we know about this asteroid? Well, near Earth asteroid is 90 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:28,719 Speaker 1: a is a weird term, but it's It was formally 91 00:05:28,760 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: called it had a very generic name r Q thirty six. Uh. And, 92 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:39,279 Speaker 1: as Amy tells us later on, they renamed it Banu 93 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,279 Speaker 1: after a contest with students coming up with names. Yeah, 94 00:05:42,440 --> 00:05:45,000 Speaker 1: and uh. And I think there's one one in large 95 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:51,120 Speaker 1: part because it ties into the Egyptian themes President Osiris. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Uh. 96 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:55,480 Speaker 1: And what's important about it is it's carbon rich. Uh. 97 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 1: And because of that, it may contain clues to the 98 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:02,720 Speaker 1: origins of life in the universe and especially here on Earth. 99 00:06:03,400 --> 00:06:06,000 Speaker 1: It's thought to be the remnant of the building blocks 100 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 1: that formed planets, so it might contain natural resources like water, organics, 101 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:14,920 Speaker 1: or metals. Uh, and I realized as we were talking 102 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:18,160 Speaker 1: to Amy, because she she reminded us that it's so black, 103 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 1: it's blacker than like black ink here on Earth. It 104 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:24,280 Speaker 1: only reflects three percent of the light that comes at it. 105 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 1: So this is really I mean, if it's made of metal, 106 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 1: it is the blackest of metals. It is the most 107 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 1: metal thing in space. Like imagine wearing all black on 108 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:34,360 Speaker 1: a really hot day. You're getting a sense of the 109 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:38,480 Speaker 1: of the situation that's going here and the resulting Yarkovsky 110 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:43,960 Speaker 1: effect that that gradually pushes it, and this gradually changes 111 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:47,479 Speaker 1: the the orbit of this asteroid over time, pushes it 112 00:06:47,520 --> 00:06:52,560 Speaker 1: causes them to migrate until it encounters the gravitational residents 113 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:56,279 Speaker 1: of Saturn, and the regular tugging effective effect here eventually 114 00:06:56,279 --> 00:06:59,480 Speaker 1: pushes Banu into the inner Solar System, where the experience 115 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 1: is close encounters with Venus and Earth, encounters that then 116 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 1: pull apart the rubble kind of reshape it, turn it 117 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:09,800 Speaker 1: inside out. Because it's worth mentioning here that it's dark, yes, 118 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: but it's also just kind of a loose collection of 119 00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 1: boulders and rock and dust, And there's actually a theory. 120 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 1: I don't know if you ran across this one and 121 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: the Nathi materials that a billion years ago, the venue 122 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:24,440 Speaker 1: was part of a larger proto planet and he got 123 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:27,200 Speaker 1: shattered by a space collision with another asteroid. And this 124 00:07:27,280 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 1: is just kind of the rough remnants of that. Yeah. 125 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 1: The theory that I read was that it was thought 126 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:35,880 Speaker 1: to have been the material of a nebula and that 127 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:38,760 Speaker 1: was disrupted by an exploding star. Yeah, well that was 128 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:41,160 Speaker 1: the original. Yeah. Basically, if you go back far enough, 129 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:43,320 Speaker 1: about four point five billion years, you just have a 130 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:46,360 Speaker 1: stellar nursery of hydrogen, helium, and dust and this is 131 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:49,680 Speaker 1: the birthplace of our son. The surrounding solar system. A 132 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:53,200 Speaker 1: supernova of a nearby star stirs all of this into action, 133 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:57,440 Speaker 1: spinning off the cretion disc that births the star and 134 00:07:57,600 --> 00:07:59,520 Speaker 1: uh yeah, and so everything else is in this mix 135 00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: as well. And this uh, this asteroid Ben who was 136 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:05,440 Speaker 1: essentially you know, a call back to these earlier Yeah, 137 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:07,360 Speaker 1: and the idea is essentially right like that. It's just 138 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 1: bits of dust that were like super flash heated together 139 00:08:11,600 --> 00:08:14,320 Speaker 1: into this molten rock that like you you refer to 140 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:16,400 Speaker 1: it's sort of like a rubble pile. They think it's 141 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:18,640 Speaker 1: not like one big rock. It's just like a bunch 142 00:08:18,640 --> 00:08:22,400 Speaker 1: of stuff fused together. Uh, and it's being propelled by 143 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:25,680 Speaker 1: the Rakovsky effect that you mentioned earlier. Now, okay, just 144 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:28,680 Speaker 1: real quick, some numbers on the whole, whether it's going 145 00:08:28,720 --> 00:08:32,480 Speaker 1: to hit us thing or not. NASA does officially classify 146 00:08:32,559 --> 00:08:36,800 Speaker 1: it as quote potentially dangerous, but there's only a point 147 00:08:37,040 --> 00:08:40,319 Speaker 1: zero three seven percent chance that it will strike Earth 148 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:42,480 Speaker 1: according to their calculation. So, like, if you think about 149 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:46,440 Speaker 1: this in terms of say Batman's rogue gallery, this is 150 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 1: not the Joker um, but this is also maybe not 151 00:08:50,120 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: what's the Vincent Price character Egghead? Yeah, it's not Egghead. 152 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 1: It would be somewhere you tell me you're the comics, 153 00:08:57,559 --> 00:09:02,679 Speaker 1: a real rare Batman villain like that. But the threat threat, uh, 154 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: one that I would immediately go to would be a 155 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:08,000 Speaker 1: character named Anarchy. And the anarchy is spelled with the K. 156 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:14,480 Speaker 1: It's a teenager. He's just running around Gotham causing chaotic anarchy. Yeah, 157 00:09:14,559 --> 00:09:17,600 Speaker 1: so that's pretty low on Batman's road gallery. That's not 158 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:20,000 Speaker 1: one of his priorities. He lets Robin handle that, right. 159 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:22,520 Speaker 1: But if that, but if that particular villain is just 160 00:09:22,559 --> 00:09:25,319 Speaker 1: going to be close enough for study, then it might 161 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:29,240 Speaker 1: be a way to additionally learn how you handle villains 162 00:09:29,240 --> 00:09:31,520 Speaker 1: and what how villains are put together? Right? Yeah, and 163 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:36,200 Speaker 1: so according to Scientific American, if Benu did hit Earth, 164 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:38,920 Speaker 1: even if we did get within that very very tiny 165 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:42,680 Speaker 1: window of probability, yes, it would devastate a local area, 166 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:45,440 Speaker 1: but it's not gonna wipe out civilization. It's something we 167 00:09:45,440 --> 00:09:47,920 Speaker 1: would know is coming. We would be able to evacuate people. 168 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:52,760 Speaker 1: Is to do something like on a large level, uh, 169 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:57,200 Speaker 1: that would possibly cause mass extinction. The asteroid has to 170 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:00,960 Speaker 1: be at least point six miles wide or out one kilometer, 171 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:05,080 Speaker 1: So Bannu is nowhere near that. Um, don't worry about it, 172 00:10:05,120 --> 00:10:08,320 Speaker 1: no matter what headlines you see this week. All right, 173 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:10,280 Speaker 1: we're gonna take a quick break and when we come back, 174 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 1: we will dive into the mission itself. Osiris Rex. Okay, 175 00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:24,680 Speaker 1: so we're back now, Osiris Rex. What is this all about? 176 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:27,360 Speaker 1: What's the goal? Let's start there. It's a spacecraft, but 177 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:30,199 Speaker 1: let's start with why they're building this spacecraft. What's the 178 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:33,760 Speaker 1: whole point of it? Right? Uh? They want to take 179 00:10:33,800 --> 00:10:37,520 Speaker 1: this spacecraft to Banu and bring back at least two 180 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:42,319 Speaker 1: point one ounces or around four pounds of sample soil 181 00:10:42,400 --> 00:10:46,560 Speaker 1: and rock from Banu to bring back to Earth. And 182 00:10:46,679 --> 00:10:50,400 Speaker 1: it's the first mission to ever try this with an asteroid, right, 183 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:53,640 Speaker 1: and I want to stress it in the name itself. 184 00:10:53,679 --> 00:10:57,400 Speaker 1: That's the REX Regular Explore and that's all about documenting 185 00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:00,320 Speaker 1: the regular the layer of loose outer material at the 186 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:03,920 Speaker 1: sampling site. Uh and you know, scaling down from there. 187 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:06,320 Speaker 1: So you might be asking yourself, well, why do these 188 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:08,960 Speaker 1: scientists just want to get this little tiny piece of 189 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:11,440 Speaker 1: soil and rock bring it back here? What good is 190 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:14,280 Speaker 1: that going to do us? Right? Well, the answer is 191 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:17,400 Speaker 1: they think it will help us investigate how planets formed 192 00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:20,079 Speaker 1: and how life began because of you know that origin 193 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 1: story that we gave you earlier about Benu, and it's 194 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:27,040 Speaker 1: uh history going so far back, you know, there may 195 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:29,480 Speaker 1: be traces there. Yeah, there was a period of time 196 00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:31,800 Speaker 1: where the asteroid, these asteroids are just like pushed back 197 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:34,880 Speaker 1: into the inner sellular system and they're just crashing into everything, 198 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 1: crashing into Earth. And this could have been a way 199 00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:40,000 Speaker 1: that some of these vital materials that would lead to 200 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:43,600 Speaker 1: a life on Earth might have gotten here. Yeah, And 201 00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:47,040 Speaker 1: so this mission, it's the mission is there's so many 202 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:52,200 Speaker 1: people contributing to there's NASA, there's several universities involved. Lockheed 203 00:11:52,240 --> 00:11:54,760 Speaker 1: Martin built some of the materials that are on the spacecraft, 204 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:58,959 Speaker 1: but it's managed out of NASA's Godard's Space Flight Center, 205 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:02,520 Speaker 1: which is up in Green Maryland for us here in America. Uh. 206 00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:05,440 Speaker 1: In fact, the how Stuff Works team visited there, I 207 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:07,520 Speaker 1: want to say, like six months ago and shot a 208 00:12:07,520 --> 00:12:10,320 Speaker 1: bunch of videos just talking to different scientists there about 209 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:14,240 Speaker 1: the missions that they were performing. Uh. The thing is 210 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:16,960 Speaker 1: too about this is like they can look at Banu 211 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 1: with a telescope and they have lots of interpretations about 212 00:12:20,240 --> 00:12:23,120 Speaker 1: what its composition is. Uh, but they want to be 213 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:26,640 Speaker 1: able to prove that. So part of sending the spacecraft 214 00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:31,160 Speaker 1: there is also to confirm or maybe deny some of 215 00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:34,800 Speaker 1: their interpretations and observations from a telescope. Uh. So they're 216 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:37,960 Speaker 1: gonna be doing things like measuring the effect of sunlight 217 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:40,760 Speaker 1: on the orbit of the asteroid. And we've mentioned this before. 218 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:44,200 Speaker 1: Let me clarify this is the Yarkovsky effect. What it 219 00:12:44,280 --> 00:12:48,120 Speaker 1: is is when the asteroid absorbs sunlight then re emits 220 00:12:48,120 --> 00:12:50,560 Speaker 1: that sunlight as heat and it gets a slight push. 221 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:53,160 Speaker 1: And Amy talks with us about that later. But can 222 00:12:53,200 --> 00:12:55,599 Speaker 1: do all sorts of things that change the trajectory of 223 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:57,880 Speaker 1: the asteroid. So I think we've hit on all of 224 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:00,400 Speaker 1: the key points in the name of the craft. We 225 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:04,920 Speaker 1: have the origins the sea of the spectral interpretation, resource identification, 226 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:08,400 Speaker 1: security and that actually refer that actually deals with the 227 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:10,840 Speaker 1: measure of the measuring the effect of the sunlight on 228 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:14,240 Speaker 1: the orbit and the Acosmy effect. And then the regular explore. 229 00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:17,000 Speaker 1: Now regulthe was a term I wasn't familiar with. It 230 00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:20,440 Speaker 1: means the layer of loose outer material that's on the 231 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 1: asteroid that they're going to sample, basically, right, That's that's 232 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:26,920 Speaker 1: why it's a regular if explorer. Here's the real quick, 233 00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:30,400 Speaker 1: down and dirty stats on the spacecraft. Spacecraft of os 234 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:33,920 Speaker 1: Iris REX. Uh. It's twenty point to five feet long, 235 00:13:34,280 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 1: eight feet wide, and ten point three three ft tall, 236 00:13:37,600 --> 00:13:41,760 Speaker 1: so it's no small thing. Uh. It weighs a thousand, 237 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:45,200 Speaker 1: nine forty pounds, but that's without fuel. When you put 238 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:48,440 Speaker 1: fuel into this thing, it weighs four thousand, six hundred 239 00:13:48,440 --> 00:13:51,720 Speaker 1: and fifty pounds. They're also going to have two solar 240 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:54,720 Speaker 1: panels on it to generate wattage to power the thing 241 00:13:54,760 --> 00:13:57,960 Speaker 1: as well as the fuel that's in there. And in addition, 242 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:01,760 Speaker 1: it has this y it array of communication systems so 243 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:04,959 Speaker 1: that it can relay back to Earth both its scientific 244 00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:08,160 Speaker 1: findings and what they refer to as its health status. 245 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:11,360 Speaker 1: So basically you know whether it's malfunctioning or not. Uh. 246 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:14,600 Speaker 1: So they perform a lot of detailed tests on these 247 00:14:14,600 --> 00:14:16,880 Speaker 1: system to make sure that they survived the journey. That's 248 00:14:16,880 --> 00:14:19,440 Speaker 1: something we talked to Amy about later. But everything from 249 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:23,480 Speaker 1: vibrational testing to heat and cold uh and then um 250 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:27,480 Speaker 1: loud loud noises. They literally blast these things with air horns. Yeah, 251 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:30,120 Speaker 1: they've really put it through hell, because that's that's kind 252 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:33,400 Speaker 1: of what leaving the planet it amounts to. And the 253 00:14:33,440 --> 00:14:36,800 Speaker 1: reason why it has to have so many communication systems 254 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:39,000 Speaker 1: on board is that it's going to be communicating not 255 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 1: just with NASA, but with three different facilities on Earth, 256 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:49,000 Speaker 1: one in Goldstone, California, one in Spain, and one in Canberra, Australia. Uh. 257 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:53,040 Speaker 1: They each have huge two and thirty foot diameter dishes 258 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:55,920 Speaker 1: for communication, so they can talk to things like this 259 00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:00,280 Speaker 1: up to the size of a pizza box. Now, uh 260 00:15:00,400 --> 00:15:02,840 Speaker 1: osiris Rex is much bigger than that, obviously given the 261 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,200 Speaker 1: stats I just gave you. But you know, the communication 262 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: systems on board might not be all right, So what 263 00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 1: kind of payload are we we're talking about here. They've 264 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:13,000 Speaker 1: built a lot of different little I'm gonna just call 265 00:15:13,040 --> 00:15:16,280 Speaker 1: him gizmos and widgets to put on board the spacecraft 266 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:19,120 Speaker 1: for its mission. And the first one that the one 267 00:15:19,160 --> 00:15:20,600 Speaker 1: that said they seem the most proud of. There's a 268 00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:23,200 Speaker 1: lot of material on Nassa's side about This is called 269 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:27,440 Speaker 1: oviars UH and it is the Osiris REX Visible and 270 00:15:27,520 --> 00:15:30,880 Speaker 1: infrared spectrometer UH. So basically, this is going to look 271 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:34,880 Speaker 1: at the asteroids spectral signature and detect whether there's organics 272 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:39,160 Speaker 1: or other mineral materials there. It measures visible and near 273 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:44,720 Speaker 1: infrared light that's reflected and emitted from BEANU and it's key. 274 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:48,400 Speaker 1: It is key to their search for organics. This is 275 00:15:48,440 --> 00:15:52,440 Speaker 1: because minerals and other materials have unique what they refer 276 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:55,560 Speaker 1: to as fingerprints within these spectrums, so they'll hopefully be 277 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 1: able to see these things even before they actually touched 278 00:15:58,920 --> 00:16:01,760 Speaker 1: down for that brief second with their arm. UH. It 279 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:05,200 Speaker 1: only operates. This is OVIRS an auto cyrus rex at 280 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:09,560 Speaker 1: ten watts. It's less power than your standard household light bulb, 281 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:12,640 Speaker 1: and they've built it with no moving parts to reduce 282 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:15,000 Speaker 1: the risk of malfunctions. So this is like a pretty 283 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:18,680 Speaker 1: pared down invention for them to measure these things and 284 00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:22,520 Speaker 1: to avoid it getting overheated by all the light and 285 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:25,040 Speaker 1: thermal radiation that's going to be bombarding them while they're 286 00:16:25,040 --> 00:16:28,120 Speaker 1: out there. The whole thing has been analyzed to scatter 287 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:31,280 Speaker 1: light around it and make it resistant to corrosion as well. 288 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:35,520 Speaker 1: Now I have to admit, when it comes to space missions, UM, 289 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:38,200 Speaker 1: I always returned to like the eight year old me 290 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:41,840 Speaker 1: and UH and assembling Lego kits, And maybe part of 291 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:44,600 Speaker 1: that is also also that I'm now assembling Lego kits 292 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:47,880 Speaker 1: with with my son. But I get excited about little 293 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:51,560 Speaker 1: robot arms, h any kind of grabb or any type 294 00:16:51,680 --> 00:16:54,880 Speaker 1: type of you know, UM, fine manipulation device on a 295 00:16:55,000 --> 00:16:57,960 Speaker 1: land or a spacecraft. And there is a really cool 296 00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:01,840 Speaker 1: one here with a very fun name. It's called togasm 297 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:06,280 Speaker 1: or tagasm or tag asm. Tag as definitely an ASTHM 298 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:10,120 Speaker 1: in there, the touch and go sample acquisition mechanism. So 299 00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:12,320 Speaker 1: we kind of joke with Amy later on when we 300 00:17:12,359 --> 00:17:15,040 Speaker 1: talked to her about all these acronyms that NASA comes 301 00:17:15,080 --> 00:17:16,480 Speaker 1: up with, and she was a good sport about it, 302 00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:20,600 Speaker 1: and explained why. But yet, So the arm it has 303 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:24,200 Speaker 1: a sample return capsule that's attached to it to protect 304 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:27,880 Speaker 1: the sample that with both a heat shield and parachutes 305 00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:31,240 Speaker 1: upon reentry. And that's important because we we talk about 306 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:35,320 Speaker 1: um planetary contamination as a possibility with amy, So they 307 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:37,280 Speaker 1: really want to seal this thing up tight. The arm 308 00:17:37,359 --> 00:17:40,600 Speaker 1: reaches out, grabs it, seals it within this capsule, and 309 00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:42,359 Speaker 1: then keeps it safe all the way back to its 310 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:47,120 Speaker 1: journey to Earth through our our atmosphere. And then they're 311 00:17:47,119 --> 00:17:51,640 Speaker 1: gonna put it into a very high security laboratory here 312 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:54,439 Speaker 1: on Earth because the sample retrieval aspects of this. And 313 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:56,040 Speaker 1: we get into this little bit in the interview whether 314 00:17:56,040 --> 00:17:59,560 Speaker 1: here it's just amazing here this is it's quite a 315 00:17:59,560 --> 00:18:02,119 Speaker 1: feat to to send this device reach out into the 316 00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:05,080 Speaker 1: void with your technology, pinch off a little bit of 317 00:18:05,160 --> 00:18:07,360 Speaker 1: rock and bring it back. Yeah. Yeah, I mean we've 318 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 1: never done it before. It sounds it sounds easy when 319 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:12,399 Speaker 1: you think about like sci fi type stuff, right, like 320 00:18:12,400 --> 00:18:15,080 Speaker 1: like just take your average summer blockbuster movie, Like if 321 00:18:15,080 --> 00:18:17,320 Speaker 1: you saw something like this happen in it, you'd go, sure, 322 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:19,480 Speaker 1: I happen all the time. You can do that. But no, 323 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:22,120 Speaker 1: we haven't done it yet before, Yeah, not not in 324 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:25,000 Speaker 1: the the exact way that this one is carrying it out. 325 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:31,639 Speaker 1: So they have another really high tech acronym device on 326 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:35,520 Speaker 1: board this ship. It's called oh cams uh, and this 327 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:38,320 Speaker 1: is the camera suite of three cameras that are going 328 00:18:38,359 --> 00:18:43,000 Speaker 1: to allow them to globally image and map Banu. There's 329 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:46,480 Speaker 1: also a laser altimeter on board that they'll use to 330 00:18:46,520 --> 00:18:49,600 Speaker 1: measure the distance between the craft and Banu as it 331 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:52,879 Speaker 1: gets closer. Uh. Now, the point of these tools is 332 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:56,120 Speaker 1: to help them map the asteroid and recon for possible 333 00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:59,960 Speaker 1: sampling sites as they get closer. This is so detailed 334 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:04,160 Speaker 1: that they can spot individual pebbles on its surface. Now, 335 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:07,080 Speaker 1: remember Banu we referred to it before. It's just like 336 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:10,280 Speaker 1: a pile of rubble in space, right. It's not smooth. 337 00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:13,400 Speaker 1: It's a lumpy, irregular shape. So it's going to need 338 00:19:13,440 --> 00:19:16,160 Speaker 1: this kind of data before they approach it. They also 339 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:19,359 Speaker 1: have a thermal emission spectrometer that just provides them, you know, 340 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:22,280 Speaker 1: standard temperature information. And then this is cool. M I. 341 00:19:22,320 --> 00:19:25,959 Speaker 1: T And Harvard students and some faculty got together and 342 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:29,639 Speaker 1: put together an X ray imaging spectrometer that will observe 343 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:32,880 Speaker 1: the X ray spectrum around Benu as well, So there's 344 00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:35,480 Speaker 1: some involvement there. And you know what, I'm gonna add 345 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:36,879 Speaker 1: this here. I was gonna save it from the end 346 00:19:36,880 --> 00:19:38,840 Speaker 1: of the episode, but you mentioned, uh, you know the 347 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:41,199 Speaker 1: fun part about playing with legos and kind of building 348 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 1: your own thing. So one of the project scientists on 349 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:48,280 Speaker 1: the Osiris REX mission, his name is Jason Dwarkin, and 350 00:19:48,359 --> 00:19:51,240 Speaker 1: there's a video game called Cerbal Space Program. I hadn't 351 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:53,080 Speaker 1: heard about it before this, but it's basically like a 352 00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:57,600 Speaker 1: simulator for building devices that you would launch into space 353 00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:01,040 Speaker 1: and see how they react. Right. He presented to the 354 00:20:01,040 --> 00:20:03,680 Speaker 1: fans of the video game in their forum. He said, hey, 355 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:05,480 Speaker 1: I got a challenge for you. Can you build a 356 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:10,760 Speaker 1: replica of Osiris Rex and successfully return an asteroid sample 357 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:13,360 Speaker 1: to Earth? And he himself tried to do it over 358 00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:16,200 Speaker 1: and over again and he didn't have very good results. Uh. 359 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:19,359 Speaker 1: The game essentially simulates what it's like running a space 360 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:23,440 Speaker 1: agency on like a a sort of like alternate version 361 00:20:23,480 --> 00:20:26,440 Speaker 1: of Earth. Uh. And he found that within the game 362 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:30,280 Speaker 1: he couldn't get the spacecraft or launch using the realistic matches, 363 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:34,160 Speaker 1: uh sorry, masses that they're using in real time here 364 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:36,800 Speaker 1: on Earth. But still he said, hey, I want to 365 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:38,240 Speaker 1: see you guys do it. And there is a big 366 00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:40,639 Speaker 1: response and lots of people have been attempting this in 367 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:44,640 Speaker 1: this video game. So this is a very fact based, 368 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,400 Speaker 1: science based video game on games. That's what it sounded like. Yeah, 369 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:49,479 Speaker 1: so you wouldn't be able to pull off what I 370 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:52,760 Speaker 1: instantly think about, and this kind of unreal reality would 371 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:56,720 Speaker 1: be to actually put the ghost of Wu tang Rapper 372 00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:00,200 Speaker 1: d ak O Cyrus. He would power it the stead 373 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:03,040 Speaker 1: of the Yarkovsky effect. It's the big baby Jesus effect. 374 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,560 Speaker 1: That would be pretty cool. Uh yeah, yeah, So, I 375 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:11,440 Speaker 1: mean they're they've they've got so many collaborators on this thing. 376 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:15,160 Speaker 1: They've got m I T, the multiple universities that contributed 377 00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:19,680 Speaker 1: to the research, NASA, Lockeed Martin, other companies. It's we 378 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:22,040 Speaker 1: We asked her about this later, but I can't imagine 379 00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:24,879 Speaker 1: being the project manager on this thing, just trying to 380 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:28,879 Speaker 1: keep everybody in uh communication and and and keep this 381 00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:33,400 Speaker 1: on track. Yeah. Indeed, now we've already touched a little 382 00:21:33,440 --> 00:21:36,560 Speaker 1: bit on the itinerary. It's gonna launch September eight, two 383 00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:40,880 Speaker 1: thousand and sixteen. It's seven oh five pm eastern daylight time. 384 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:42,919 Speaker 1: It will be a position on the nose of an 385 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:47,440 Speaker 1: Atlas five rocket for launch, and it's going to orbit 386 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:49,960 Speaker 1: the Sun for a year, using Earth's gravitational field to 387 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:53,199 Speaker 1: help assess its journey to being. The only thing that 388 00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:55,840 Speaker 1: I like immediately think of when I hear something like 389 00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:57,880 Speaker 1: that is the old thing they do in Star Trek 390 00:21:57,920 --> 00:22:00,040 Speaker 1: whenever they travel back in time, and they like it 391 00:22:00,200 --> 00:22:03,639 Speaker 1: them around the Sun and somehow that works and then 392 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,320 Speaker 1: they go back. Yeah, this one will not be going 393 00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: back in time though, it's traveling through spacetime as everything is. 394 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:13,320 Speaker 1: So you want to get technical about it. Yes, Uh, 395 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:16,880 Speaker 1: it's not going to reach Banu though until and it's 396 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 1: going to approach in August of that year. It's got 397 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,320 Speaker 1: rocket thrusters that will help slow it down over the 398 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:25,879 Speaker 1: course of that year, and then it will briefly touch it, 399 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:29,280 Speaker 1: like very briefly to retrieve that sample. So it's just 400 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:32,399 Speaker 1: gonna come up very slowly, touch it, grab a sample 401 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:35,199 Speaker 1: of that arm, and then move away. And it's the 402 00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:38,000 Speaker 1: arm is built to release nitrogen gas that will stir 403 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:40,600 Speaker 1: up the rocks so that the surface sample will be 404 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:44,760 Speaker 1: easier to grab. And it has about three attempts worth 405 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:47,399 Speaker 1: of nitrogen on it. But obviously they're hopening, you know, 406 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:49,800 Speaker 1: just right on the first try it we'll get it 407 00:22:50,119 --> 00:22:53,720 Speaker 1: all right. So that's then when did when do we 408 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:56,920 Speaker 1: get it back? One is when it's going to have 409 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:00,000 Speaker 1: a window for departure and then it's going to return 410 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:04,679 Speaker 1: to Earth in three uh And as we talk about 411 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:08,080 Speaker 1: with Amy, the sample will come back. It will be 412 00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:11,200 Speaker 1: taken to the Utah Test and Training Range where it 413 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:14,520 Speaker 1: will be studied, and then after it's vigorously studied, probably 414 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:16,240 Speaker 1: for a couple of years, it will then be moved 415 00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:21,280 Speaker 1: to NASA's Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston. So get ready, 416 00:23:21,560 --> 00:23:24,639 Speaker 1: I mean, uh, mark your calendars because that might be 417 00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:29,000 Speaker 1: when it comes back. And then we'll do another episode. Yeah, exactly, 418 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:31,760 Speaker 1: we'll talk about how everything panned out. Yeah, it's assuming 419 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:34,040 Speaker 1: I'm still alive. I don't know. Three feels like a 420 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:36,520 Speaker 1: long ways away. I know, you start looking at That's 421 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:39,000 Speaker 1: one of the fascinating things about these missions, right, is 422 00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:42,000 Speaker 1: their their long form missions. Yeah, and I guess it's 423 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:45,560 Speaker 1: always been the case. Really, I mean look back to 424 00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:49,080 Speaker 1: to to any of the the large scale mega projects 425 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:51,919 Speaker 1: in space. You know, some of the earlier ones definitely 426 00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 1: had a more accelerated time frame in many respects, but 427 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:58,960 Speaker 1: still things like like the Voider and Pioneer missions, those 428 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:02,400 Speaker 1: were those were in for the long haul. Yeah, absolutely, um, 429 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:04,880 Speaker 1: and I would imagine that if you're on these teams too, 430 00:24:04,920 --> 00:24:08,080 Speaker 1: you have to think in longitudinal terms like that too. 431 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:11,439 Speaker 1: Is even in terms of staffing, right, like like some 432 00:24:11,520 --> 00:24:13,800 Speaker 1: of the staff members may be older now and may 433 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:16,439 Speaker 1: not be expecting to be on the team when it 434 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:20,080 Speaker 1: comes back. They may be retired by them. So that's 435 00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:22,679 Speaker 1: what we've got for you on Osiris. Those are the 436 00:24:22,720 --> 00:24:26,160 Speaker 1: general facts. That's the plan, the mission, the itinerary, all 437 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:28,440 Speaker 1: the stuff that's on board it. Now we're going to 438 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:31,480 Speaker 1: talk to Dr Amy Simon and she's going to fill 439 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:36,159 Speaker 1: us in on the war complicated scientific matters behind the mission. 440 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:48,320 Speaker 1: What is it about Benner that makes the team think 441 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,200 Speaker 1: that it may contain clues to the origins of life? 442 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:55,159 Speaker 1: So when we were proposing the Osiros rets mission, you know, 443 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:57,960 Speaker 1: we had a choice of hundreds of thousands of asteroids 444 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:00,920 Speaker 1: to pick from, and the reason that menu stuck out 445 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:02,919 Speaker 1: in the first place is, for one thing, it's a 446 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:07,040 Speaker 1: very very dark asteroid. It's extremely black. It only reflects 447 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:10,720 Speaker 1: about three of the sunlight that that hits it UM. 448 00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:12,520 Speaker 1: So you know, if you look around your room at 449 00:25:12,520 --> 00:25:14,840 Speaker 1: black things, so the blackest paint at your ink to 450 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:18,760 Speaker 1: owner um, that's probably still about five six percent reflectants, 451 00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:21,760 Speaker 1: so it's even blacker than that. And the reason that 452 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:24,480 Speaker 1: color is so important is that things that are black 453 00:25:24,520 --> 00:25:26,719 Speaker 1: tend to have a lot of carbon on them, and 454 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:28,399 Speaker 1: most of the building blocks of life, I mean no 455 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:32,920 Speaker 1: acids um involves hydrocarbons, and so we want to find 456 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:34,600 Speaker 1: something that has a lot of carbon on it because 457 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:37,160 Speaker 1: that's our best chance of looking for those building blocks, 458 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:41,800 Speaker 1: and so that's why it was particularly interesting this asteroid UM. 459 00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:44,080 Speaker 1: It was also nice because this asteroid is an Earth 460 00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:47,439 Speaker 1: crossing asteroid. It's a near Earth asteroid, so it's easier 461 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:48,879 Speaker 1: to get to than some of the ones farther out 462 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:52,359 Speaker 1: in the Solar system UM. And you know, it's just 463 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:55,840 Speaker 1: an interesting object because it does cross the Earth's path 464 00:25:56,200 --> 00:25:58,080 Speaker 1: and so this is the type of thing we think 465 00:25:58,119 --> 00:26:00,679 Speaker 1: back in the formation of the planet and Earth that 466 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:03,480 Speaker 1: might have helped put those hydrocarbons and things that we 467 00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:05,560 Speaker 1: needed for life here. So that's why we want to 468 00:26:05,560 --> 00:26:08,760 Speaker 1: study this particular asteroid Okay, so, so to clarify, you 469 00:26:08,840 --> 00:26:14,720 Speaker 1: mean asteroids like this potentially impacted with Earth bringing materials 470 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:17,879 Speaker 1: like this here. That's right. We we certainly know that 471 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:20,560 Speaker 1: at various points in the Solar System history and the 472 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:23,280 Speaker 1: formation of the planets, that all these bodies were floating 473 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:24,720 Speaker 1: around and a lot of them would have hit the 474 00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:27,680 Speaker 1: surfaces of the planets as they were forming. Um. And 475 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:30,040 Speaker 1: we think commets brought water, for example, but we think 476 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:33,240 Speaker 1: that asteroids in particular, because those are the primitive leftover 477 00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:36,400 Speaker 1: pieces from forming the Solar System, will tell us about 478 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:40,000 Speaker 1: those things that hint very early on. Okay, uh So, 479 00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:42,359 Speaker 1: one of the things that I read about in the 480 00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:44,560 Speaker 1: fact sheets and the research that NASA has put up 481 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:48,120 Speaker 1: online about this mission was that you're hoping that this 482 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:51,560 Speaker 1: will affect the future of space exploration as well, because 483 00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:54,520 Speaker 1: you may rely on the materials that are found on 484 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:59,200 Speaker 1: asteroids like this. Can you explain that a little bit further? Sure, So, 485 00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:01,160 Speaker 1: as we want to go farther out in the Solar System, 486 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:03,679 Speaker 1: particularly with people, we run into the problem that you 487 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:06,480 Speaker 1: can't bring everything with you that you need because humans 488 00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:09,960 Speaker 1: require a lot of resources water for example. UM. So, 489 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:12,040 Speaker 1: what we want to do is study these objects that 490 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:14,200 Speaker 1: are on the way to more distant places and see 491 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:16,800 Speaker 1: what's on their surfaces. So, for example, if there was 492 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:19,280 Speaker 1: a big cache of water ice, that's something that a 493 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 1: mission could go pick up and bring its water along 494 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:23,879 Speaker 1: the way instead of having to carry everything from launch 495 00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:26,240 Speaker 1: all the way out. Got it, Okay? Like to look 496 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:30,880 Speaker 1: for those resources, okay, And so I'm imagining that you 497 00:27:30,960 --> 00:27:35,920 Speaker 1: would either have previously identified these asteroids as water sources 498 00:27:36,119 --> 00:27:40,080 Speaker 1: through telescopic means or maybe with the spectrometer like likes 499 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:44,080 Speaker 1: on Osiris Rex. Well, ideally we would have mapped out 500 00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:46,639 Speaker 1: a whole bunch of near Earth asteroids so that we 501 00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:49,120 Speaker 1: know those were great stopping points essentially you know, gas 502 00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:51,879 Speaker 1: stations on the way. Um. But the reality is we 503 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:54,320 Speaker 1: won't be able to send a mission to every possible asteroids. 504 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:56,280 Speaker 1: So what we can also do is look at the 505 00:27:56,320 --> 00:27:59,639 Speaker 1: class of asteroid. So from Earth based observations, we've been 506 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:02,600 Speaker 1: able to put asteroids in different categories, and so if 507 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:04,720 Speaker 1: we go to one and realize this category tends to 508 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:07,200 Speaker 1: have a lot of water, that's probably a good stopping point. 509 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 1: So this is a kind of an odd ball question, 510 00:28:10,880 --> 00:28:15,240 Speaker 1: But I was going through all the literature about this 511 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:18,560 Speaker 1: mission and all the devices that are part of its payload, 512 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:21,320 Speaker 1: and I have to ask, why is it that NASA 513 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:24,760 Speaker 1: loves acronyms so much. Is there a specific kind of 514 00:28:25,280 --> 00:28:28,479 Speaker 1: you know, work operating procedure that makes them useful for 515 00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:33,320 Speaker 1: your classification systems? So that's that's kind of a funny question. Um. 516 00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:35,439 Speaker 1: There's no official policy that says everything has to be 517 00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:38,440 Speaker 1: an acronym. UM, But I was thinking about this, and 518 00:28:38,480 --> 00:28:41,240 Speaker 1: I think there's two different categories of why this happens. 519 00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:43,600 Speaker 1: And one is of course that we like catching names, 520 00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:47,120 Speaker 1: you know, and and early missions Apollo Gemini, those had 521 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:50,720 Speaker 1: obvious names. But you know, as scientists and engineers, we 522 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:53,320 Speaker 1: tend to be pretty practical when we name things, and 523 00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:56,720 Speaker 1: so that the names get very complicated very quickly. And 524 00:28:56,840 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: so that's sort of the practical reason for doing an 525 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:02,440 Speaker 1: acronym is that we can take something that you know, 526 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:04,440 Speaker 1: would take forever to spill out and say every time 527 00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:06,720 Speaker 1: we say it, condense it down into an acronym, and 528 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:08,760 Speaker 1: then just use that as a word going forward. So 529 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:10,680 Speaker 1: that's kind of what you're seeing. And then if it 530 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:12,840 Speaker 1: happens to be catchy at the same time, even better too. 531 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:14,880 Speaker 1: For one so whose job is it to do that? 532 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:18,200 Speaker 1: Is it like somebody's sitting down and has come up 533 00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:20,000 Speaker 1: with the long name and they just make it into 534 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:22,600 Speaker 1: an acronym or they try to find like like for instance, 535 00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:26,160 Speaker 1: so cyrus obviously has some symbolic meaning to it. Is 536 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:28,160 Speaker 1: there like a I don't know, like some kind of 537 00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:31,320 Speaker 1: public relations team that works together with you on that. 538 00:29:32,400 --> 00:29:35,360 Speaker 1: Um No. A lot of times early on the names 539 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:37,320 Speaker 1: like O cyrus, you know, the science team comes up 540 00:29:37,360 --> 00:29:40,640 Speaker 1: with it or the principal investigator does. But sometimes we 541 00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:43,959 Speaker 1: do have naming contests. Um Benu, for example, was actually 542 00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:46,479 Speaker 1: part of a contest where students got to write in 543 00:29:46,840 --> 00:29:49,200 Speaker 1: what they thought it should be named and why, and 544 00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:51,280 Speaker 1: you know they could have chosen an acronym in this case, 545 00:29:51,320 --> 00:29:54,400 Speaker 1: they pick something along the same. Uh. You know mythology 546 00:29:54,520 --> 00:29:57,560 Speaker 1: is a cyrus That worked out very well. But there's no, 547 00:29:57,680 --> 00:29:59,520 Speaker 1: like I said, no official policy and you know we 548 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:02,880 Speaker 1: have fun. It cool. Yeah, that sounds great. Now, there 549 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:05,360 Speaker 1: are a lot of outside partners involved in this mission, 550 00:30:05,440 --> 00:30:09,600 Speaker 1: university's companies, students, and many of NASA's own separate units. 551 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:14,120 Speaker 1: How do you manage the project between so many entities? Yeah, 552 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:16,680 Speaker 1: that can be pretty complicated. Um, the reason, you know, 553 00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:18,760 Speaker 1: there's so many entities. In the first places, this is 554 00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:21,040 Speaker 1: a rather big mission and there are so many parts 555 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:24,120 Speaker 1: to it, so anyone group probably couldn't handle the whole 556 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:26,320 Speaker 1: thing by themselves, so you bring in the experts for 557 00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:29,800 Speaker 1: each different area. Uh. The entire mission gets managed by 558 00:30:29,880 --> 00:30:32,480 Speaker 1: NASA Goddard and so our folks are in charge of 559 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:35,240 Speaker 1: making sure everything keeps running. And then on the science 560 00:30:35,280 --> 00:30:38,360 Speaker 1: and the mission is really managed by University of Arizona, 561 00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:41,200 Speaker 1: so they're in charge of making sure that we're going 562 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:42,760 Speaker 1: to do all the right science and that all the 563 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:45,440 Speaker 1: instruments are going to meet their requirements. So it's it's 564 00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:48,160 Speaker 1: even a little bit of a distributed management actually, just 565 00:30:48,240 --> 00:30:52,160 Speaker 1: to keep it all running and all the parts going smoothly. Uh. 566 00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:55,440 Speaker 1: So getting back to you were talking about how heavily 567 00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:59,080 Speaker 1: carbon based venu is, can you talk us through how 568 00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:02,640 Speaker 1: it is that you interpret what the asteroids composition is 569 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:07,400 Speaker 1: just based on telescopic observations and then when Osirius rex 570 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:11,200 Speaker 1: get that gets there, how will the spectrometer observations either 571 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:16,280 Speaker 1: confirm or refute the interpretations you've made from telescopes. So 572 00:31:16,320 --> 00:31:19,479 Speaker 1: with telescope observations even though it is an earth crossing asteroid, 573 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:21,720 Speaker 1: it doesn't get that close to us. So when we 574 00:31:21,760 --> 00:31:24,640 Speaker 1: observe it from a ground based telescope, we don't see 575 00:31:24,680 --> 00:31:28,040 Speaker 1: the surface in detail, and so we'll get say, for example, 576 00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:31,480 Speaker 1: spectrum or imaging in different colors, and we can get 577 00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,400 Speaker 1: some sense of what's probably on the surface. Again that 578 00:31:34,480 --> 00:31:37,480 Speaker 1: this object is very black, it probably has carbon, but 579 00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:40,640 Speaker 1: what we can't see is a very fine composition. So 580 00:31:40,720 --> 00:31:44,320 Speaker 1: if there is that little pocket of hydrocarbons or water 581 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:47,000 Speaker 1: or some other mineral that we're interested in, we can't 582 00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:49,479 Speaker 1: see that from the ground based observations because we're not 583 00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:51,920 Speaker 1: really resolving the surface. We just don't have that kind 584 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:56,080 Speaker 1: of spatial resolution. So when we get there with our spectrometers, 585 00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:58,520 Speaker 1: we're going to map out the entire surface, and so 586 00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:01,440 Speaker 1: for example, if there's small craters, or there's little pockets 587 00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:04,120 Speaker 1: of of soil and regulars that are really rich in 588 00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:06,400 Speaker 1: some mineral, we'll see that when we can't see that 589 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:09,360 Speaker 1: from the earth based observation. So it's kind of taking 590 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:12,040 Speaker 1: that really distant view and zooming in now and now 591 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:14,040 Speaker 1: we're gonna look at it very up close and try 592 00:32:14,120 --> 00:32:18,200 Speaker 1: to find those little pockets of of interesting material. Okay, 593 00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:21,920 Speaker 1: so I'm particularly interested in the testing. I watched a 594 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:24,160 Speaker 1: video that I think you you might have been featured 595 00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:28,680 Speaker 1: in actually talking about UM the spaceship, sorry, the spacecraft 596 00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:30,360 Speaker 1: and how it's going to survive its journey and the 597 00:32:30,440 --> 00:32:33,160 Speaker 1: vibration tests you've put it through. But through other research 598 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:35,760 Speaker 1: we've done here at how stuff works, I know about 599 00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:40,040 Speaker 1: like creating really loud air horns to test space machinery. 600 00:32:40,280 --> 00:32:42,760 Speaker 1: So what other stuff have you done to torture this 601 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:45,920 Speaker 1: thing and make sure that it can survive its journey. Yes, 602 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,640 Speaker 1: we we torture these spacecraft and the instruments pretty hard, 603 00:32:48,760 --> 00:32:50,800 Speaker 1: um in part because you know, they have to survive 604 00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:52,840 Speaker 1: the launch, and once they're out there, we can't go 605 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:56,040 Speaker 1: back and fix them. And so what we do is, UM, 606 00:32:56,080 --> 00:32:58,400 Speaker 1: this is a case where we have these crazy test 607 00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:01,240 Speaker 1: procedures written up where we're going to test everything to 608 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:03,240 Speaker 1: the limits we think is going to see in space, 609 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:06,000 Speaker 1: and then a little bit beyond that. And so one 610 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:09,080 Speaker 1: of the first things we do is vibration testing. And 611 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:11,400 Speaker 1: in that case, what we do is basically we're gonna 612 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:13,520 Speaker 1: shake the instrument or the spacecraft as hard as we 613 00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:16,600 Speaker 1: expect to see it launch because that's typically your your 614 00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:20,520 Speaker 1: biggest vibration sources, that that huge launch vehicle. So we'll 615 00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:22,600 Speaker 1: shake it really hard to make sure nothing falls off, 616 00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:25,840 Speaker 1: nothing breaks, everything is still working. So that's that's one 617 00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:28,880 Speaker 1: of the critical tests that we do. Another one we 618 00:33:28,920 --> 00:33:32,720 Speaker 1: do is is basically electromagnetic interference. So we want to 619 00:33:32,760 --> 00:33:35,760 Speaker 1: make sure that none of the different instruments or spacecraft 620 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:38,000 Speaker 1: systems are going to interfere with each other, and so 621 00:33:38,080 --> 00:33:42,080 Speaker 1: we'll basically blast it with different uh types of electromagnetic 622 00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:45,080 Speaker 1: radiation and make sure nothing breaks. And so that's probably 623 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:47,680 Speaker 1: when you don't hear is much about make sure they 624 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:52,360 Speaker 1: electronics don't get affected by each other. Essentially, um we 625 00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:55,080 Speaker 1: do as the thermal testing. That one is actually quite interesting, 626 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:58,360 Speaker 1: thermal vacuum testing, and so you know, we take things 627 00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:02,400 Speaker 1: to very extremely cold temperatures hundreds of degrees below zero. 628 00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:04,880 Speaker 1: And most people would probably believe that about space, that 629 00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:07,280 Speaker 1: it gets that that cold, but what they don't probably 630 00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:09,239 Speaker 1: consider is that we also take it to you know, 631 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:13,359 Speaker 1: four hundred degrees above zero, because things also get very 632 00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:16,520 Speaker 1: hot in space, and that's because you're directly exposed to 633 00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:18,839 Speaker 1: the sun with no atmosphere in between. So we don't 634 00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:20,840 Speaker 1: tend to think about those temperatures here on Earth, but 635 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:23,879 Speaker 1: that atmosphere protects you from cold and hot and so 636 00:34:24,760 --> 00:34:27,960 Speaker 1: we take it, you know, ridiculously cold temperatures and extremely 637 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:30,480 Speaker 1: hot temperatures and we make sure again nothing breaks. We 638 00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:33,520 Speaker 1: have you know, special epoxies and seals and things like 639 00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:35,799 Speaker 1: that on different parts of the spacecraft and instruments, so 640 00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:37,359 Speaker 1: you want to make sure that those things aren't going 641 00:34:37,400 --> 00:34:40,000 Speaker 1: to be affected by the temperature. So you know, we 642 00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:42,160 Speaker 1: do this in stages. You'll do one of these tests 643 00:34:42,239 --> 00:34:45,719 Speaker 1: UM for example, uh, this thermal tests, and then you'll 644 00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:47,520 Speaker 1: take it's a vibration, and then you'll take it back 645 00:34:47,520 --> 00:34:49,399 Speaker 1: to the thermal tests. So we do it a couple 646 00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:51,359 Speaker 1: of different ways to make sure none of these things 647 00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:54,440 Speaker 1: have affected any part of the spacecraft. Okay, wow, so 648 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:57,040 Speaker 1: that's yeah, that's like years of work, I would assume, 649 00:34:57,160 --> 00:34:59,320 Speaker 1: doing all of that testing and making sure that it 650 00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:02,799 Speaker 1: can survive all those scenarios. It is and when you know, 651 00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:05,640 Speaker 1: this testing is fairly complicated. To get to those cold temperatures, 652 00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:08,280 Speaker 1: we use liquid nitrogen and in some cases liquid helium 653 00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:11,280 Speaker 1: even UM, and that sort of test is is fairly 654 00:35:11,320 --> 00:35:14,520 Speaker 1: complicated and expensive. So it's not something that you just 655 00:35:14,560 --> 00:35:17,000 Speaker 1: do during normal work hours. You have to do this 656 00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:19,720 Speaker 1: testing seven because when you're in the chamber and running 657 00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:22,080 Speaker 1: those things, you don't want to stop the test. So 658 00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:23,880 Speaker 1: so not only is it long, it's also you know, 659 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:26,440 Speaker 1: very long hours. We have people working over night ships 660 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:30,960 Speaker 1: to do this testing. Okay, yeah that I remember reading 661 00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:33,360 Speaker 1: about one of the air horns that the European Space 662 00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:36,200 Speaker 1: Agency has and that could just like absolutely annihilate a 663 00:35:36,280 --> 00:35:39,319 Speaker 1: human being if you were exposed to it. So we 664 00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:43,440 Speaker 1: have warning like fall over the place during testing. Yeah, 665 00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:45,319 Speaker 1: all right, we're gonna take a quick break and we'll 666 00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:49,800 Speaker 1: be right back with Dr Amy A. Simon. Hey, everybody, 667 00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:51,479 Speaker 1: you know the feeling you get when you can get 668 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:54,240 Speaker 1: things done just one click of your mouth. I can't 669 00:35:54,239 --> 00:35:56,719 Speaker 1: get more convenient than that. 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So 690 00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:52,560 Speaker 1: the planetary defense angle of the mission has received a 691 00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:57,080 Speaker 1: lot of attention recently due to frankly hysterical reports in 692 00:36:57,120 --> 00:36:59,520 Speaker 1: the media about to ben whose a slim chance of 693 00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:02,759 Speaker 1: hitting our then I believe the century. How big of 694 00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:05,239 Speaker 1: a factor is that in this mission? And can you 695 00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:08,080 Speaker 1: explain to our audience why it is a ultimately a 696 00:37:08,160 --> 00:37:12,400 Speaker 1: slim chance? Right? So you know, it was not a 697 00:37:12,400 --> 00:37:15,279 Speaker 1: deciding factor in which asteroid we went to um. It 698 00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:17,600 Speaker 1: is an Earth crossing asteroid and it turns out it 699 00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:22,400 Speaker 1: does have currently about a one um of impacting. But 700 00:37:22,480 --> 00:37:24,600 Speaker 1: what people need to understand is how we come up 701 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:27,920 Speaker 1: with that number. And so when an asteroids first discovered, 702 00:37:27,960 --> 00:37:29,640 Speaker 1: we have one point of data where it was in 703 00:37:29,680 --> 00:37:33,080 Speaker 1: the sky, and to actually make it a discovery, we 704 00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:35,760 Speaker 1: need a second point. So we follow it up. Um, 705 00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:38,120 Speaker 1: we take those two points or three points however a 706 00:37:38,239 --> 00:37:40,080 Speaker 1: few we have, and we actually run it through a 707 00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:42,640 Speaker 1: model assuming all the gravity we know about from the 708 00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:45,960 Speaker 1: planets in the Sun, and we run it forward and 709 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:49,480 Speaker 1: we basically see when it would cross the Earth orbit 710 00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:52,880 Speaker 1: at the same time the Earth is nearby, and we 711 00:37:52,880 --> 00:37:54,719 Speaker 1: put error bars on that, and that's how we come 712 00:37:54,760 --> 00:37:58,360 Speaker 1: up with a number. And basically what happens is going forward, 713 00:37:58,400 --> 00:38:00,759 Speaker 1: people take more and more observation, and so every once 714 00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:02,480 Speaker 1: in a while, I see about an asteroid that has 715 00:38:02,520 --> 00:38:04,680 Speaker 1: a one and one chance, one and two chance of 716 00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:07,120 Speaker 1: hitting us, and then we take some more observations and 717 00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:09,319 Speaker 1: suddenly it's one in a million. And it's because these 718 00:38:09,320 --> 00:38:11,719 Speaker 1: things don't move in a straight line, right, So so 719 00:38:11,760 --> 00:38:14,600 Speaker 1: we need more observations to basically fill in that curve 720 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:17,479 Speaker 1: and figure out where it's going to go. But there's 721 00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:20,120 Speaker 1: one other factor that we don't know about, and that's 722 00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:26,759 Speaker 1: how the asteroid is reacting to being pushed by sunlight effect, right, 723 00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:29,759 Speaker 1: the Arkowski effect, which is actually kind of complicated where 724 00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:32,719 Speaker 1: you have sunlight and in this case that the photons 725 00:38:32,760 --> 00:38:35,440 Speaker 1: coming out the sun act as particles, so they exert 726 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:37,880 Speaker 1: a pressure. They're pushing on the asteroid in one direction, 727 00:38:38,760 --> 00:38:42,080 Speaker 1: but especially these very black asteroids, they heat up. Now 728 00:38:42,080 --> 00:38:45,879 Speaker 1: they're also rotating, so as it turns and it's cooling off, 729 00:38:45,920 --> 00:38:48,200 Speaker 1: it radiates to space. Well, now it's going to get 730 00:38:48,200 --> 00:38:50,879 Speaker 1: pushed in a different direction. And so it's a very 731 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:53,560 Speaker 1: very very tiny effect, but it adds up over a century, 732 00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:57,719 Speaker 1: and that's a tiny little tweak on that orbit that's 733 00:38:57,719 --> 00:38:59,640 Speaker 1: really hard to quantify. And so that's one of the 734 00:38:59,640 --> 00:39:02,360 Speaker 1: goals of our mission is to actually measure that effect, 735 00:39:02,680 --> 00:39:04,880 Speaker 1: be able to look at the incoming and outgoing radiation 736 00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:07,400 Speaker 1: and figure out how much does that work, because that 737 00:39:07,560 --> 00:39:09,560 Speaker 1: that's one big unknown and a lot of our models 738 00:39:09,560 --> 00:39:12,799 Speaker 1: of these asteroid trajectories. It was kind of fascinating to 739 00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:16,160 Speaker 1: me Amy because you know, I spent time researching all 740 00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:19,040 Speaker 1: about the mission, and then it wasn't until after I 741 00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:21,520 Speaker 1: had read probably for like three hours about your mission 742 00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:26,040 Speaker 1: that I googled asteroid Benu, and just every news story 743 00:39:26,080 --> 00:39:28,440 Speaker 1: that came up was like, oh my god, this asteroid 744 00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:30,680 Speaker 1: may hit Earth, and you know, and it just was 745 00:39:30,719 --> 00:39:33,520 Speaker 1: so interesting to me that to see how the media 746 00:39:33,560 --> 00:39:36,640 Speaker 1: had absolutely like blown this so out of proportion for 747 00:39:36,680 --> 00:39:40,640 Speaker 1: a good click baby headline. It does happen. But but 748 00:39:40,680 --> 00:39:44,440 Speaker 1: again typically, and you know, we we scientists, reports the numbers, 749 00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:47,520 Speaker 1: and what people do with those numbers is always you know, 750 00:39:47,640 --> 00:39:51,000 Speaker 1: hard and hard to predict, I guess, but again, they 751 00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:53,800 Speaker 1: tend to come out with with a very higher number, 752 00:39:53,840 --> 00:39:56,320 Speaker 1: you know, one and three thousand chance, but if you 753 00:39:56,520 --> 00:39:58,960 Speaker 1: looked at the uncertainty on that, it's huge, and as 754 00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:00,920 Speaker 1: the uncertainty comes down on you know, it becomes that 755 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:04,319 Speaker 1: one in a million probability. So you know, we're we're 756 00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:07,319 Speaker 1: again just reporting numbers and people don't necesarily understand how 757 00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:10,160 Speaker 1: we interpret that. But as we get more information, typically 758 00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:13,799 Speaker 1: that chance goes way down. So one last question, and 759 00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:16,440 Speaker 1: this is kind of a weird one, but I'm curious 760 00:40:16,680 --> 00:40:21,040 Speaker 1: is the Cyrus rex team at all concerned about the hypothetical, 761 00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:26,640 Speaker 1: sort of science fiction possibility of planetary contamination from the 762 00:40:26,719 --> 00:40:31,080 Speaker 1: sample being brought back to Earth from Benu. That's actually 763 00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:34,160 Speaker 1: a very good question. Um. So when we have Mars missions, 764 00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:36,600 Speaker 1: we worry about forward contamination. We don't want to bring 765 00:40:36,680 --> 00:40:40,000 Speaker 1: Earth stuff to Mars and which would basically make it 766 00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:42,360 Speaker 1: difficult for us to interpret anything we found on Mars 767 00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:45,360 Speaker 1: in this case, because that surface has been exposed you 768 00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:48,680 Speaker 1: know for um, you know, many millions, billions of years. 769 00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:51,239 Speaker 1: We're not too worried about Earth contamination, although we do 770 00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:53,839 Speaker 1: have a requirement on our spacecraft to keep it very 771 00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:56,279 Speaker 1: very clean because again we want to interpret anything we 772 00:40:56,320 --> 00:40:59,319 Speaker 1: see or find there um. But on the other hand, 773 00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:02,560 Speaker 1: coming back act, so that's you know, backwards contamination Earth 774 00:41:02,920 --> 00:41:06,000 Speaker 1: is important on every sample return mission, and so this 775 00:41:06,080 --> 00:41:09,520 Speaker 1: actually goes into a Level four biohazard lab. It'll be 776 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:13,680 Speaker 1: yet basically a sealed container and it won't be opened 777 00:41:13,719 --> 00:41:16,840 Speaker 1: until it's in a very special safe lab. Not because 778 00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:19,880 Speaker 1: we're worried about space microbes or anything really, but mostly 779 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:22,480 Speaker 1: we don't want to contaminate our sample. Um. But we 780 00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:25,960 Speaker 1: we do have requirements on how the sample is handled. 781 00:41:26,160 --> 00:41:28,560 Speaker 1: And there's a whole Planetary Protection office that now, so 782 00:41:28,600 --> 00:41:30,800 Speaker 1: that's dedicated to this topic and tells us what we 783 00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:33,480 Speaker 1: must do to make sure that we don't have contamination 784 00:41:33,520 --> 00:41:36,080 Speaker 1: in either direction. Oh okay, wow. I thought that this 785 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:38,640 Speaker 1: was just maybe some kind of thing that I had 786 00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:41,360 Speaker 1: cooked up in my own head that would be like 787 00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:43,640 Speaker 1: a problem. But it seems like it's a very realistic 788 00:41:43,680 --> 00:41:46,680 Speaker 1: thing that you have your best people working on. Oh. Absolutely, 789 00:41:46,719 --> 00:41:48,720 Speaker 1: you know, And again I wasn't classified as a problem 790 00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:51,360 Speaker 1: so much as we we do have people that that 791 00:41:51,520 --> 00:41:55,120 Speaker 1: worry about such things and and have very strict protocols 792 00:41:55,120 --> 00:41:58,440 Speaker 1: and procedures in place, just even to ensure the integrity 793 00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:01,680 Speaker 1: of the science. That's great now in terms of of 794 00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:05,640 Speaker 1: missions that have essentially you reached out into space and 795 00:42:05,719 --> 00:42:09,200 Speaker 1: brought back material samples. Just to give everyone a little 796 00:42:09,239 --> 00:42:11,600 Speaker 1: little more scope, like how does that how does this 797 00:42:11,680 --> 00:42:13,719 Speaker 1: fit in with the with the collection of samples, Like 798 00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:17,160 Speaker 1: how how many different samples roughly have been brought back 799 00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:23,200 Speaker 1: from asteroids or the moon, et cetera. So during the 800 00:42:23,239 --> 00:42:25,440 Speaker 1: Apollo years we brought back quite a few moon rocks. 801 00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:28,040 Speaker 1: So that's that's a pretty big cache of of samples 802 00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:29,440 Speaker 1: right there. But in that case, you know, we had 803 00:42:29,440 --> 00:42:31,560 Speaker 1: astronauts who could pick them up and bring them back, 804 00:42:31,600 --> 00:42:34,879 Speaker 1: so we could bring back um, I want to stay 805 00:42:34,920 --> 00:42:37,520 Speaker 1: on the order of of rocks. I'm not sure the 806 00:42:37,520 --> 00:42:41,000 Speaker 1: exact number, but in terms of actually doing this robotically, 807 00:42:41,120 --> 00:42:42,840 Speaker 1: that's been a lot more of a challenge because you 808 00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:44,120 Speaker 1: have to figure out how are you going to pick 809 00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:47,000 Speaker 1: these things up. And so we have samples from the 810 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:49,880 Speaker 1: Stardust mission, which essentially used what's called aero jail to 811 00:42:49,960 --> 00:42:53,560 Speaker 1: catch dust screens that flew into the spacecraft. Um, it's 812 00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:58,120 Speaker 1: very tiny, tiny amounts. Uh in Genesis also did something similar, 813 00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:01,600 Speaker 1: and then the Japanese mission how Abusa, brought back some 814 00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:04,080 Speaker 1: grains from an asteroid surface, but again it was kind 815 00:43:04,080 --> 00:43:07,680 Speaker 1: of just what they could capture without touching. Uh. This 816 00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:09,360 Speaker 1: is the first mission that's actually going to try to 817 00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:11,560 Speaker 1: touch the surface and pick up a pretty big sample, 818 00:43:11,680 --> 00:43:13,440 Speaker 1: and so we can bring up we have a requirement 819 00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:16,560 Speaker 1: for sixty grams, but we can pick up to two 820 00:43:17,040 --> 00:43:19,960 Speaker 1: of soil and rocks at small rocks, and so you 821 00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:21,840 Speaker 1: know that's our goal is to have a pretty big sample. 822 00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:23,960 Speaker 1: This will be the first time we've done that robotically. 823 00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:27,439 Speaker 1: All right, Amy, Well, thank you for joining us here 824 00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:30,400 Speaker 1: on Stuffed to Boil your Mind. We really enjoyed getting 825 00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:32,719 Speaker 1: to pick your brain a bit about this. Uh, this 826 00:43:33,040 --> 00:43:35,880 Speaker 1: just really fascinating mission. Well, thank you so much for 827 00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:47,239 Speaker 1: having me on. All right, so there you have it, 828 00:43:47,280 --> 00:43:51,319 Speaker 1: an introduction to this fascinating mission o Cyrus Rex. We've 829 00:43:51,360 --> 00:43:53,920 Speaker 1: got to discuss the craft, the destination and we got 830 00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:56,040 Speaker 1: to talk to an expert about it. And if you 831 00:43:56,120 --> 00:43:58,759 Speaker 1: want more information about it, if you want to just 832 00:43:58,840 --> 00:44:01,239 Speaker 1: really get into the nitty ready and just follow the 833 00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:05,239 Speaker 1: Osiris Rex odyssey, you can head on over to Asteroid 834 00:44:05,360 --> 00:44:09,360 Speaker 1: Mission dot org. Yeah, they have tons of materials on 835 00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:12,440 Speaker 1: their NASA's public relations team is working over time to 836 00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:15,880 Speaker 1: educate us the public about what they're doing with this mission. 837 00:44:15,880 --> 00:44:18,200 Speaker 1: They have like stream of blog posts up to the 838 00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:21,840 Speaker 1: Dave videos and it's it's really cool. Uh And I, 839 00:44:22,239 --> 00:44:24,239 Speaker 1: you know, honestly wish that we had had more time 840 00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:26,399 Speaker 1: with it, but I took a good three or four 841 00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:28,880 Speaker 1: hours with it to get us prep to talk to Amy. 842 00:44:29,120 --> 00:44:32,600 Speaker 1: So if you have, you know, maybe some more ideas 843 00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:35,480 Speaker 1: about Osiris Rex, or maybe maybe there's a mission that 844 00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:37,600 Speaker 1: NASA is doing that you think we should cover, or 845 00:44:37,640 --> 00:44:40,120 Speaker 1: there's something more space related that you'd like us to cover, 846 00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:43,120 Speaker 1: because we just did uh moons of Saturn. We've talked 847 00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:47,440 Speaker 1: about Jupiter before I personally would love to take a 848 00:44:47,480 --> 00:44:51,319 Speaker 1: look at Mars' moon Phobos. Oh yeah, there are more 849 00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:53,960 Speaker 1: moons out there, so we have to go check those 850 00:44:54,000 --> 00:44:56,279 Speaker 1: out as well. But if you've got suggestions like that, 851 00:44:56,400 --> 00:44:58,000 Speaker 1: or you just want to reach out to us, you 852 00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:02,719 Speaker 1: can do that on social media. We are on on Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, 853 00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:07,000 Speaker 1: and Instagram, all those platforms. Pretty much our handle is 854 00:45:07,040 --> 00:45:09,040 Speaker 1: blow the Mind. It might be a little bit different, 855 00:45:09,080 --> 00:45:12,120 Speaker 1: but you'll find us if you search for that. Uh, 856 00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:14,719 Speaker 1: and you can always go to stuff to Blow your 857 00:45:14,719 --> 00:45:18,960 Speaker 1: Mind dot com. That is the mothership where we have everything, 858 00:45:19,080 --> 00:45:22,719 Speaker 1: every podcast, every video, every article that we work on 859 00:45:22,719 --> 00:45:25,480 Speaker 1: on these things. Not to mention that those social media 860 00:45:25,560 --> 00:45:29,120 Speaker 1: feeds have us sharing all the weird science stuff that 861 00:45:29,160 --> 00:45:32,279 Speaker 1: we come across throughout the week as well. Indeed, and 862 00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:33,520 Speaker 1: if you want to get in touch with us the 863 00:45:33,560 --> 00:45:35,120 Speaker 1: old fashioned way, if you want to hit us up 864 00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:37,759 Speaker 1: with an email, you can find us at blow the Mind, 865 00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:49,040 Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com well more. Almost the 866 00:45:49,120 --> 00:45:51,479 Speaker 1: path ands over their topics is a house stoff works 867 00:45:51,480 --> 00:46:11,160 Speaker 1: dot com. The point four point four proper part