1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:13,560 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,600 --> 00:00:16,680 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer and 4 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:21,119 Speaker 1: I love all things tech, and today we're going to 5 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:25,840 Speaker 1: start a week long journey to talk about a very 6 00:00:25,880 --> 00:00:31,200 Speaker 1: important agency that relates to technology. In many episodes of 7 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:34,559 Speaker 1: tech Stuff, I have referenced DARPA, also known as the 8 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 1: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. It is the research arm 9 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 1: of the United States Department of Defense, and DARPA projects 10 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:48,760 Speaker 1: have led to some pretty incredible technologies like the Internet 11 00:00:48,920 --> 00:00:52,879 Speaker 1: and autonomous cars spoiler alert for this week. But what 12 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 1: about the agency itself? What is its history? So in 13 00:00:56,920 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: the following episodes, I hope to give you guys an 14 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: insight into one of the most secretive organizations in the 15 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: United States. This agency hides in plain site, and it 16 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:12,880 Speaker 1: essentially advertises itself with some of its larger profile projects, 17 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: like the various Grand challenges that lead to things like 18 00:01:16,640 --> 00:01:21,240 Speaker 1: autonomous cars and UH and and more advanced humanoid robots. 19 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:23,679 Speaker 1: So I'll be talking more about some of those in 20 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:27,679 Speaker 1: my upcoming suite of episodes about autonomous cars. When I 21 00:01:27,680 --> 00:01:29,560 Speaker 1: get into that, I'll cover it a little bit in 22 00:01:29,600 --> 00:01:31,440 Speaker 1: these episodes, but I'll go into more detail when we 23 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:35,320 Speaker 1: get into the autonomous car suite. Ultimately, the purpose of 24 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:39,080 Speaker 1: DARPA is to make the United States technologically superior to 25 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:44,480 Speaker 1: other countries. Is to maintain technological superiority, and that includes 26 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: making high tech weaponry and military systems. It is part 27 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:51,639 Speaker 1: of the Defense Department. So while many of the stories 28 00:01:51,640 --> 00:01:54,680 Speaker 1: about DARPA have focused on the Gali g whiz that 29 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 1: texture is amazing kind of side of things, We're gonna 30 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 1: look at the whole picture, which sometimes gets pritty darn grim. 31 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:05,680 Speaker 1: But I think it's important to consider both the good 32 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:08,799 Speaker 1: and the bad. We shouldn't just, you know, focus on 33 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:11,359 Speaker 1: one at the expense of the other. So to understand 34 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: the climate that would create DARPA, we really need to 35 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:18,280 Speaker 1: think back to World War Two and the development of 36 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:22,000 Speaker 1: the atomic bomb. The Manhattan Project took advantage of some 37 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: of the most talented physicists and engineers in America, and 38 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,160 Speaker 1: during the course of the development of the atomic bomb, 39 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:33,119 Speaker 1: which was based off the process of nuclear fission splitting 40 00:02:33,120 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 1: the atom, the team also explored the possibility of a 41 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: fusion bomb a k A hydrogen bomb. Now during World 42 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:45,360 Speaker 1: War Two, the Manhattan Project focused mainly on vision bombs 43 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: because a lot more work was going to be needed 44 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: to make a fusion bomb possible. There was work being 45 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:54,320 Speaker 1: done on that, but it was trailing way behind. It 46 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:58,200 Speaker 1: was considered to be far more complicated and difficult to do, 47 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:02,079 Speaker 1: and therefore it was given low priority because of the 48 00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:06,520 Speaker 1: necessity to build a bomb in a wartime environment. So 49 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 1: some members of the team ended up being opposed to 50 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:13,320 Speaker 1: working on a fusion bomb, particularly once the atomic bombs 51 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:18,799 Speaker 1: dropped on Hiroshima, Nagasaki were deployed, because they were worried well. 52 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:22,120 Speaker 1: They said, the atomic bombs were already bad enough, the 53 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 1: fusion bomb would be much much more destructive. There was 54 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:30,840 Speaker 1: even a fear that such a device might ignite the atmosphere, 55 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: setting setting the atmosphere itself on fire, which would obviously 56 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 1: kill everyone all over the world after a single detonation. 57 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: The idea that you could have a world ending event 58 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: by detonating one of these bombs. But even without that 59 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:50,119 Speaker 1: doomsday scenario, the thought was that such a bomb would 60 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:53,600 Speaker 1: cause such widespread devastation that it would by its nature 61 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:58,160 Speaker 1: wipe out civilian populations that there'd be no dancing around 62 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: it that you could argue, well, these other bombs we've created, 63 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:06,560 Speaker 1: we meant for military installations, and tragically that also meant 64 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:10,320 Speaker 1: that civilian populations were affected because of their proximity to 65 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:14,119 Speaker 1: those military installations. With a fusion bomb, the effect would 66 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:16,800 Speaker 1: be so large that you couldn't really use that as 67 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:21,560 Speaker 1: a justification. It was going to affect millions of people, 68 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:25,479 Speaker 1: So it raised serious ethical concerns among many who were 69 00:04:25,480 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 1: working on the Manhattan Project. After World War Two and 70 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:33,719 Speaker 1: after the bombing of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, there was still ongoing 71 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 1: debate about whether or not any work should be done 72 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:40,159 Speaker 1: on creating a hydrogen bomb. Then, in nineteen forty nine, 73 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union would conduct its first test of an 74 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:47,279 Speaker 1: atomic bomb detonation, and that changed things in the US. 75 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: The General Advisory Committee of the US Atomic Energy Commission 76 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 1: unanimously recommended that the United States not pursue the development 77 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:59,920 Speaker 1: of a hydrogen bomb. This was all the conscientious objector 78 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:04,720 Speaker 1: who said such a technology is too terrible to even develop, 79 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:08,280 Speaker 1: let alone build and deploy. That group would include people 80 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:12,080 Speaker 1: like Jay Robert Oppenheimer, who was the chairman of the 81 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:17,560 Speaker 1: Manhattan Project. Also Enrico Fermi and Isadore Robbie. They argued 82 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:20,799 Speaker 1: that the hydrogen bomb would be a weapon so powerful 83 00:05:21,240 --> 00:05:23,600 Speaker 1: that it would just be an evil upon the world 84 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:28,120 Speaker 1: to build it. But there were other scientists like Edward 85 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:32,240 Speaker 1: Teller and Ernest Lawrence who were not on the General 86 00:05:32,240 --> 00:05:36,040 Speaker 1: Advisory Committee, but they were in favor of developing a 87 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:41,040 Speaker 1: hydrogen bomb. They argued that the Soviets would pursue developing 88 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:44,159 Speaker 1: the hydrogen bomb whether or not the United States did, 89 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:48,720 Speaker 1: and therefore there would be a gap in in capability 90 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:51,719 Speaker 1: if the US did not develop it first. There would 91 00:05:51,760 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 1: be nothing to stop the Soviet Union from threatening to 92 00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:57,400 Speaker 1: use such a bomb against the US and forced the 93 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:03,040 Speaker 1: US to surrender, because what country would allow its population 94 00:06:03,160 --> 00:06:06,800 Speaker 1: to be wiped out in such a way if they 95 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:11,560 Speaker 1: did not have that capability themselves. So President Truman agreed 96 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:17,039 Speaker 1: with Teller and Lawrence and said that the development of 97 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:19,880 Speaker 1: a hydrogen bomb should happen in In In nineteen fifty, he 98 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:23,360 Speaker 1: authorized an official program to develop such a bomb. As 99 00:06:23,360 --> 00:06:27,039 Speaker 1: part of that program, a second nuclear weapons development lab 100 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:30,920 Speaker 1: would be formed. The original one was the Los Alamos Lab. 101 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,840 Speaker 1: That's where the Manhattan Project tests took place, where the 102 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:39,560 Speaker 1: atomic bombs were born. The second lab was founded in Livermore, California, 103 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:42,960 Speaker 1: at the University of California's Radiation Lab, later known as 104 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:46,679 Speaker 1: the Livermore Lab and later still as the Lawrence Livermore Lab. 105 00:06:47,360 --> 00:06:50,560 Speaker 1: The Los Alamos Group built a bomb based off a 106 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:54,280 Speaker 1: design that Edward Teller had worked on, and they tested 107 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:57,560 Speaker 1: this hydrogen bomb in nineteen fifty four. It was a 108 00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:01,480 Speaker 1: proof of concept hydrogen bomb that had been tested two 109 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:03,960 Speaker 1: years earlier, actually in nineteen fifty two. That was a 110 00:07:03,960 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 1: smaller one, but that was based off an impractical design 111 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:09,280 Speaker 1: for an actual weapon. It was more of a proof 112 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:12,000 Speaker 1: of concept. This one in nineteen fifty four was a 113 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:15,320 Speaker 1: working hydrogen bomb. It was part of a test called 114 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:20,080 Speaker 1: Operation Castle, and it ended up detonating with fifteen mega 115 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:24,640 Speaker 1: tons of force, which was far far more powerful than 116 00:07:24,680 --> 00:07:28,880 Speaker 1: the group had anticipated. Uh there were stories about during 117 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:33,280 Speaker 1: the detonation the initial reaction from the observers was one 118 00:07:33,360 --> 00:07:36,920 Speaker 1: of panic that the explosion, because it was so huge 119 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:41,640 Speaker 1: and the the fire cloud was growing so quickly, that 120 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,280 Speaker 1: there was at least a moment where people began to 121 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:48,440 Speaker 1: worry that perhaps they had in fact ignited the atmosphere 122 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,280 Speaker 1: and that this was the end. Ended up not being 123 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:54,080 Speaker 1: quite that bad, but it was much much stronger than 124 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:59,000 Speaker 1: they had thought. Meanwhile, the Livermore group to which Teller belonged, 125 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:02,720 Speaker 1: had failed to deuce a working nuclear bomb. When the 126 00:08:02,800 --> 00:08:05,320 Speaker 1: lab was at risk of being shut down, Teller and 127 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: his team presented designs for a mega super bomb. This 128 00:08:09,360 --> 00:08:12,840 Speaker 1: would be capable, according to the design, of delivering a 129 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 1: ten thousand megaton yield. Keep in mind, the big one 130 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:20,200 Speaker 1: that was so big that the scientists were scared of 131 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:24,400 Speaker 1: it was fifteen mega tons. Teller's proposal was for a 132 00:08:24,520 --> 00:08:28,840 Speaker 1: ten thousand mega ton hydrogen bomb. A single bomb of 133 00:08:28,880 --> 00:08:33,400 Speaker 1: that power would be capable of wiping out an entire continent, 134 00:08:34,120 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: not just a region, an entire continent with one bomb. 135 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:41,440 Speaker 1: HERB York, who was a member of this team, would 136 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:44,480 Speaker 1: later explain the reasoning for that design. He said that 137 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:48,080 Speaker 1: the US had to employ a really aggressive research and 138 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: development practice to maintain its technological advantage against adversaries, and 139 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:57,560 Speaker 1: that this unfortunately also meant an escalation of an arms race, 140 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:00,000 Speaker 1: but that without it, the U s would be endanged 141 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:03,560 Speaker 1: of being vulnerable to enemy attack. The Livermore Lab would 142 00:09:03,559 --> 00:09:07,560 Speaker 1: continue developing bomb technology, particularly after the Soviet Union tested 143 00:09:07,640 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 1: its first hydrogen bomb, and the nuclear arms race was 144 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:14,640 Speaker 1: picking up speed very very quickly, and the Livermore Group 145 00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:18,280 Speaker 1: was relying upon computer systems based off John von Neumann's 146 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:21,040 Speaker 1: designs to speed things up. I talked about him very 147 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:25,280 Speaker 1: recently and in tech stuff. Meanwhile, as engineers were finding 148 00:09:25,320 --> 00:09:29,080 Speaker 1: new and exciting ways to potentially kill millions of people, 149 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:33,080 Speaker 1: and yes that's me being sardonic, there there was a 150 00:09:33,160 --> 00:09:36,720 Speaker 1: growing concern about what the citizens of the United States 151 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:39,840 Speaker 1: could do in the event of a nuclear strike on 152 00:09:40,040 --> 00:09:44,239 Speaker 1: the US. So the US had formed a Civil Defense Agency, 153 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:47,080 Speaker 1: but it became clear early on, at least to the 154 00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:50,559 Speaker 1: people running that agency, that the options open to US 155 00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:53,920 Speaker 1: if a nuclear strike were to be carried out against 156 00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:58,120 Speaker 1: the United States would be limited at best and completely 157 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:02,199 Speaker 1: ineffective at worst. Concern and fear about nuclear war was 158 00:10:02,240 --> 00:10:06,080 Speaker 1: growing as the Cold War continued. Some people like von Neumann, 159 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: felt that a nuclear confrontation was pretty much a guarantee 160 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:12,440 Speaker 1: at some point in the future. Now it was that 161 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:16,680 Speaker 1: philosophy that would become a cornerstone of DARPA. But the 162 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:20,600 Speaker 1: historical event that would really lead to DARPA's founding happened 163 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 1: on October fourth, nineteen fifty seven. That's when the Soviet 164 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:29,480 Speaker 1: Union successfully launched Sputnik, the first man made satellite to 165 00:10:29,559 --> 00:10:33,640 Speaker 1: go into orbit around Earth. Sputnik was transmitting a simple 166 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:37,319 Speaker 1: signal over radio waves, which meant the US didn't have 167 00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:40,559 Speaker 1: to take the Soviets at their word about launching a 168 00:10:40,640 --> 00:10:44,439 Speaker 1: satellite into orbit. They could pick it up themselves. Ham operators, 169 00:10:44,640 --> 00:10:47,920 Speaker 1: even amateur ones, could pick up the beeping transmission as 170 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:51,000 Speaker 1: the satellite passed overhead. In fact, my old co host 171 00:10:51,120 --> 00:10:54,000 Speaker 1: Chris Palette would refer to spot Nick as the ball 172 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:59,640 Speaker 1: what beeps. Spot Nik was launched from an intercontinental ballistic 173 00:10:59,760 --> 00:11:03,000 Speaker 1: miss SOUL and ICBM, and while spot Nik was a 174 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:06,800 Speaker 1: primitive and limited satellite couldn't do much other than transmit 175 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:09,640 Speaker 1: this signal, it did mean the Soviets would be able 176 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:12,959 Speaker 1: to launch payloads across the world to hit a distant 177 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:16,600 Speaker 1: target such as the United States, and those payloads might 178 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:20,440 Speaker 1: include something like a hydrogen bomb, and the US population 179 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:24,719 Speaker 1: was beginning to panic. For years, Americans were convinced that 180 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:29,320 Speaker 1: their country was well ahead of all others scientifically and technologically, 181 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:33,079 Speaker 1: and in military matters as well. But the Soviets had 182 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:37,679 Speaker 1: launched a satellite first, and now that belief in America's 183 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:43,280 Speaker 1: capabilities was shaken, and that anxiety that citizens were feeling 184 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:45,839 Speaker 1: was shared by branches of the US military. The Air 185 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 1: Force and the Navy were both developing long range missiles 186 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:52,199 Speaker 1: that could be used for weapons or for sending payloads 187 00:11:52,200 --> 00:11:57,080 Speaker 1: to space. The American approach to developing this technology was fractured. 188 00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:00,840 Speaker 1: These branches were working independently to varying greece of success, 189 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:04,120 Speaker 1: whereas in the Soviet Union it was more focused. Although 190 00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:07,920 Speaker 1: changes at the top of the administration level would make 191 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:11,600 Speaker 1: setbacks happen in that country, but let's focus on the 192 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:14,960 Speaker 1: United States. So the nationwide anxiety in the in the 193 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:19,559 Speaker 1: States grew. On December twentieth, nineteen fifty seven, President Eisenhower 194 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:24,119 Speaker 1: had previously rejected a report that had the title Deterrence 195 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:27,360 Speaker 1: and Survival in the Nuclear Age, better known as the 196 00:12:27,480 --> 00:12:31,280 Speaker 1: Gaither Report after h Rowan Gaither, one of the people 197 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:33,679 Speaker 1: who was working on the panel that produced it. This 198 00:12:33,800 --> 00:12:37,960 Speaker 1: report concluded that there was no effective way to protect 199 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:41,560 Speaker 1: US civilians from a nuclear war in the case of 200 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:44,680 Speaker 1: an all out strike from the Soviets, and so the 201 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:48,679 Speaker 1: United States should produce more nuclear warheads to act as 202 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:52,160 Speaker 1: a deterrent to say, you don't want to attack us, 203 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:54,679 Speaker 1: because we'll attack you back, and we'll destroy each other. 204 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:59,920 Speaker 1: This is that mutually assured destruction strategy. The report also 205 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:02,920 Speaker 1: warned that the Soviet Union was possibly on the verge 206 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:06,079 Speaker 1: of producing thousands of I c b ms that might 207 00:13:06,080 --> 00:13:10,000 Speaker 1: deliver a nuclear payload across the world, but Eisenhower knew 208 00:13:10,040 --> 00:13:12,400 Speaker 1: that wasn't the case. He knew something the expert panel 209 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:15,600 Speaker 1: didn't know because he had access to top secret spy 210 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:19,120 Speaker 1: information from You two spy planes, which were still highly 211 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:22,000 Speaker 1: classified at that time. No one outside of a small 212 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:25,480 Speaker 1: group of people knew that they even existed, but Eisenhower didn't. 213 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:28,720 Speaker 1: He also knew that information from those You two spy 214 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:32,400 Speaker 1: planes had shown the Soviets were not ramping up for 215 00:13:32,520 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: an all our assault. They were not building out an 216 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:38,319 Speaker 1: infrastructure at a furious pace the way the reports suggested. 217 00:13:38,440 --> 00:13:42,160 Speaker 1: So he rejected this report. He said, this, this does 218 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:45,840 Speaker 1: not reflect reality. But then someone leaked that report to 219 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:49,920 Speaker 1: the Washington Post, which then published parts of the report, 220 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:52,920 Speaker 1: and the subsequent articles sent the United States public into 221 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:56,160 Speaker 1: a panic that made the Spotnik event look tiny in comparison. 222 00:13:56,559 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 1: People were freaking out. The president saw the need for 223 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:05,400 Speaker 1: action on multiple fronts, including in research and design and innovation. 224 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:08,680 Speaker 1: So he turned to an unlikely hero. He turned to 225 00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:12,480 Speaker 1: the guy who invented soap operas. I'll explain more in 226 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:14,720 Speaker 1: a second, but first let's take a quick break to 227 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:25,480 Speaker 1: thank our sponsor. So the person that we often credit 228 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:28,440 Speaker 1: as being the inventor or the father of the soap 229 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:33,240 Speaker 1: opera was Neil H. McElroy, who had been president of 230 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:36,960 Speaker 1: the consumer goods company Proctor and Gamble. He had started 231 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:39,360 Speaker 1: off in advertising at the company before he rose to 232 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:42,520 Speaker 1: the role of president, and in his career he made 233 00:14:42,520 --> 00:14:46,440 Speaker 1: several innovative changes in the way the company would market 234 00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:52,120 Speaker 1: to consumers, including creating ads designed to run during daytime television. 235 00:14:52,200 --> 00:14:55,840 Speaker 1: Because his research showed that many women in the United 236 00:14:55,880 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 1: States were watching daytime TV, so he decided that each 237 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:03,440 Speaker 1: product within Procter and Gamble would have its own marketing 238 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:08,000 Speaker 1: team creating ads aimed at women to air on daytime TV, 239 00:15:08,400 --> 00:15:11,720 Speaker 1: and they would be inserted into shows that would have 240 00:15:12,000 --> 00:15:16,400 Speaker 1: ongoing storylines from show to show soap operas. In other words, 241 00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:20,520 Speaker 1: he directed those teams to uh do this, and they did, 242 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:23,520 Speaker 1: and he sold a lot of soap. In his own words, 243 00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:27,040 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty seven, just two days after Sputnik went 244 00:15:27,040 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: into orbit, he was sworn in as the Secretary of 245 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:35,200 Speaker 1: Defense in President Eisenhower's administration, an interesting move to go 246 00:15:35,360 --> 00:15:39,400 Speaker 1: from president of Procter and Gamble to the Secretary of Defense. 247 00:15:39,920 --> 00:15:43,400 Speaker 1: McIlroy proposed that the United States form a new agency 248 00:15:43,440 --> 00:15:47,520 Speaker 1: called the Advanced Research Projects Agency or ARPA. The DARPA 249 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:50,960 Speaker 1: name would come later, and go and then come back 250 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:55,600 Speaker 1: again anyway. McIlroy's vision was for an agency that would 251 00:15:55,680 --> 00:16:00,000 Speaker 1: oversee scientific and technological research and development in multiple fields 252 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:03,320 Speaker 1: and applications, all with an eye towards securing the United 253 00:16:03,360 --> 00:16:07,240 Speaker 1: States as the most technologically advanced and capable country in 254 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:10,280 Speaker 1: the world. He was advocating that the U s invest 255 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:13,920 Speaker 1: not just in the immediate crisis of answering the Soviets 256 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:18,760 Speaker 1: displays of technological capabilities and the uh space race that 257 00:16:18,800 --> 00:16:23,120 Speaker 1: would soon follow, but also to constantly work toward the 258 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:26,800 Speaker 1: future of innovation, not just to focus on a single 259 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:29,360 Speaker 1: problem and once that was solved, to finish, but to 260 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:33,640 Speaker 1: be an ongoing concern. The agency's job was to future 261 00:16:33,680 --> 00:16:39,760 Speaker 1: proof weapons and defense technologies. McIlroy's proposal one support from politicians, 262 00:16:40,280 --> 00:16:43,560 Speaker 1: but it won a lot of criticism from military officers. 263 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:46,880 Speaker 1: Part of what McIlroy was proposing was using area to 264 00:16:46,960 --> 00:16:50,320 Speaker 1: advance the US's efforts to exploit outer space, and the 265 00:16:50,400 --> 00:16:53,200 Speaker 1: various branches of the armed forces all claimed that that 266 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:56,320 Speaker 1: was their domain. They didn't want to surrender it. They 267 00:16:56,360 --> 00:17:00,000 Speaker 1: all had their own projects in line, and they were 268 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:03,720 Speaker 1: worried about money being diverted from their efforts into some 269 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:06,000 Speaker 1: other one. They were thinking it was all going to 270 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:09,600 Speaker 1: dilute the field. The Joint chiefs of Staff didn't want 271 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:13,000 Speaker 1: to see this agency form, but Eisenhower, who himself was 272 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:16,879 Speaker 1: a former five star general, was out of patients. He 273 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:20,920 Speaker 1: did not like the constant disagreements between the various military branches, 274 00:17:21,400 --> 00:17:24,560 Speaker 1: or the fact that different branches were independently pursuing similar 275 00:17:24,600 --> 00:17:28,080 Speaker 1: goals but not sharing resources. He felt there was too 276 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:31,800 Speaker 1: much waste, not enough focused, enough cooperation, and so on 277 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:35,440 Speaker 1: January seven, nineteen fifty eight, Eisenhower authorized a budget to 278 00:17:35,520 --> 00:17:38,280 Speaker 1: McElroy for the founding of our PA. Now, the initial 279 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:42,280 Speaker 1: budget for the founding was about ten million dollars, but 280 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:46,000 Speaker 1: over the course of nineteen fifty nine, the first full 281 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:50,080 Speaker 1: year of our PA really running projects, it would have 282 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:53,840 Speaker 1: a budget of more than half a billion dollars, which 283 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:58,800 Speaker 1: in the late nineteen fifties was an incredible, incredibly huge 284 00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:01,080 Speaker 1: amount of money. It's huge. Now, don't get me wrong. 285 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:04,680 Speaker 1: I would not refuse half a billion dollars, but back 286 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:10,600 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty nine that was even more of an enormous, 287 00:18:10,720 --> 00:18:15,119 Speaker 1: unimaginably huge sum Eisenhower revealed the need for ARPA to 288 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:19,440 Speaker 1: the United States and his nine State of the Union address, 289 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:25,720 Speaker 1: he said, we need an organization dedicated to this pursuit 290 00:18:26,359 --> 00:18:29,879 Speaker 1: of innovation. He laid out the case, and he simultaneously 291 00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:32,520 Speaker 1: casted a lot of shade on the top officials of 292 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:34,520 Speaker 1: the various military branches. There was a bit of a 293 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:38,359 Speaker 1: reprimand in that State of the Union address. Meanwhile, the 294 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:40,680 Speaker 1: U S Army was preparing to answer the U S 295 00:18:40,680 --> 00:18:43,320 Speaker 1: s RS spot Nick with the launch of the first 296 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:47,360 Speaker 1: U S satellite called Explorer one. Now, unlike spot Nick, 297 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:50,160 Speaker 1: which really just orbited the Earth and beeped a lot, 298 00:18:50,440 --> 00:18:53,399 Speaker 1: the Explorer one was packed with instruments meant to do 299 00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:56,800 Speaker 1: some serious research. And the Explorer one would detect the 300 00:18:56,920 --> 00:19:00,080 Speaker 1: Van Allen radiation belts around the Earth, making it the 301 00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:05,120 Speaker 1: first space instrument to produce a major discovery, but Eisenhower 302 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:09,080 Speaker 1: felt the task of developing, building, launching, and administering space 303 00:19:09,119 --> 00:19:12,400 Speaker 1: missions should not fall to the army, so that would 304 00:19:12,400 --> 00:19:16,080 Speaker 1: be at least initially part of ARPA's domain. To head 305 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:20,119 Speaker 1: up the new ARPA agency, McElroy would name Roy W. 306 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:23,760 Speaker 1: Johnson as director. Johnson had been a vice president of 307 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:27,919 Speaker 1: General Electric, and the deputy director would be Rear Admiral 308 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:31,760 Speaker 1: John Clark. McIlroy whittled down the list of candidates for 309 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:35,200 Speaker 1: chief Scientists to two people. One of those two people 310 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:38,159 Speaker 1: was Herb York, the guy who was part of Edward 311 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:43,199 Speaker 1: Teller's team. The other was Werner von Brown, the German 312 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:47,240 Speaker 1: scientist who had been a prominent figure in Germany's rocketry 313 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:50,280 Speaker 1: program during World War Two. The United States had brought 314 00:19:50,359 --> 00:19:53,919 Speaker 1: Von Brown over as part of Operation paper Clip, in 315 00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:56,960 Speaker 1: which the United States would put to work many former 316 00:19:57,040 --> 00:20:01,600 Speaker 1: Nazi scientists on US projects. Not all those scientists were 317 00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:05,320 Speaker 1: necessarily sympathizers with the Nazis, I should add some of 318 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:08,280 Speaker 1: them probably were, but not all of them were. But 319 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:09,920 Speaker 1: all of them ended up being put to work in 320 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:12,359 Speaker 1: the US, and or at least all the ones that 321 00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:15,440 Speaker 1: the US picked up and Van Brown had a condition 322 00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:17,760 Speaker 1: that if he were to be offered the role of 323 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:21,000 Speaker 1: Chief Scientists over at ARPA, he also wanted to bring 324 00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:23,480 Speaker 1: over a dozen or so of his peers who had 325 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:26,680 Speaker 1: been brought over an Operation paper Clip, and ultimately McElroy 326 00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:29,399 Speaker 1: decided that this was probably not a good move for 327 00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:32,280 Speaker 1: the young agency. It might look really bad to have 328 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:37,160 Speaker 1: a government agency merely completely staffed with former Nazi scientists, 329 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:39,520 Speaker 1: so he chose to put herb York in the role 330 00:20:39,640 --> 00:20:43,160 Speaker 1: of chief Scientists instead. The two major areas that ARPA 331 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:47,920 Speaker 1: would initially focus on were military space activities and anti 332 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:51,840 Speaker 1: missile strategies. Essentially, how can the US rapidly match the 333 00:20:51,840 --> 00:20:56,760 Speaker 1: Soviets capabilities while simultaneously counteracting any possible advantage they might 334 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:00,720 Speaker 1: have attained over the United States? And it would be 335 00:21:00,760 --> 00:21:03,439 Speaker 1: a good time to talk about how the agency worked 336 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:06,720 Speaker 1: in general. So our path is not some big, super 337 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:11,600 Speaker 1: secret laboratory with scientists and engineers pouring out various liquids 338 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:15,040 Speaker 1: into other various liquids, or running electricity through stuff and 339 00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:19,679 Speaker 1: shouting it's alive. It's more like an RFP and funding operation. 340 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:23,040 Speaker 1: So an RFP as a request for proposal. It's where 341 00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:26,200 Speaker 1: an organization states a goal that it wants to achieve, 342 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:31,199 Speaker 1: maybe some general guidelines on how it it assumes this 343 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:35,080 Speaker 1: goal will be achieved, and then invites qualified organizations or 344 00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:39,880 Speaker 1: individuals to apply to be part of this project, essentially 345 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:43,560 Speaker 1: to receive funding from our PA in order to pursue 346 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:46,440 Speaker 1: these goals and to achieve them. So with our path, 347 00:21:46,560 --> 00:21:49,480 Speaker 1: these were proposals to develop technologies that would contribute to 348 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:51,800 Speaker 1: the defense of the United States in some way, shape 349 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:55,119 Speaker 1: or form. These r fps can arrange from very specific 350 00:21:55,359 --> 00:22:00,880 Speaker 1: to extremely broad. Our PA tends to work with research facilities, universities, 351 00:22:01,040 --> 00:22:05,119 Speaker 1: and defense contractors a lot. The agency can set parameters 352 00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:08,639 Speaker 1: and collaborate with these parties, but ultimately it exists to 353 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:11,560 Speaker 1: a minister those programs. And a lot of stuff was 354 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:15,040 Speaker 1: happening all at once at this time. In fact, this 355 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:17,760 Speaker 1: episode and the next one in particular, are going to 356 00:22:17,800 --> 00:22:21,880 Speaker 1: have a lot of concurrent things happening. And it's because 357 00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:25,679 Speaker 1: it's very hard to jump around. If I were to 358 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:28,640 Speaker 1: go just chronologically, I would have to switch gears so 359 00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 1: frequently that it would be Oh and by the way, 360 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:33,840 Speaker 1: you remember when I was talking about twenty minutes ago 361 00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:36,040 Speaker 1: about such and such, Well, here's what was happening then, 362 00:22:36,080 --> 00:22:38,520 Speaker 1: and I thought that would be too confusing, so instead 363 00:22:38,520 --> 00:22:41,280 Speaker 1: I'm going to try and focus project by project. In general, 364 00:22:41,680 --> 00:22:44,840 Speaker 1: so ARPA was gearing up to develop space technologies and 365 00:22:44,920 --> 00:22:48,439 Speaker 1: an umbrella of programs dedicated to bringing down missiles that 366 00:22:48,560 --> 00:22:51,199 Speaker 1: was called Project Defender that was starting to shape up. 367 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,920 Speaker 1: That would become the biggest project of ARPA at least 368 00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:57,520 Speaker 1: in those early years. But while all that was going on, 369 00:22:57,600 --> 00:23:00,720 Speaker 1: President Eisenhower was also exploring the possible ability of a 370 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:05,439 Speaker 1: nuclear test ban. The fallout, both literal and figurative, of 371 00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:10,359 Speaker 1: the Castle Operation tests was catastrophic, and things were bound 372 00:23:10,400 --> 00:23:12,760 Speaker 1: to get worse as both the US and the Soviet 373 00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:16,800 Speaker 1: Union continued to build up nuclear arsenals and test nuclear warheads. 374 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,439 Speaker 1: Eisenhower wanted to arrive in an agreement with the USSR 375 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:25,240 Speaker 1: and with Khrushchev to bring nuclear weapon tests to an end, 376 00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:27,960 Speaker 1: but there was a big concern what if one side 377 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:30,920 Speaker 1: stuck to the agreement while the other one didn't. How 378 00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:33,200 Speaker 1: could the United States be certain that the Soviets would 379 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:35,760 Speaker 1: stay true to such an agreement. And so one of 380 00:23:35,800 --> 00:23:38,840 Speaker 1: the big projects that area would launch, in addition to 381 00:23:38,920 --> 00:23:42,880 Speaker 1: the Defender and military space projects, would be called VILA 382 00:23:43,119 --> 00:23:45,679 Speaker 1: v E l A. Now, the purpose of VILA or 383 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:49,000 Speaker 1: VELA if you prefer, was to create systems that could 384 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:53,119 Speaker 1: detect a nuclear weapons test. VILA had three sub programs. 385 00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:57,640 Speaker 1: They were codenamed Hotel, Uniform, and Sierra. These programs sought 386 00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:01,440 Speaker 1: to design and build technology that could detect a nuclear 387 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:06,800 Speaker 1: explosion through atmospheric sensing or seismic sensing, so in other words, 388 00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:11,160 Speaker 1: testing for radioactive isotopes that are perhaps airborne, or looking 389 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:13,560 Speaker 1: for any tremors in the Earth that could indicate the 390 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:18,399 Speaker 1: detonation of a nuclear warhead. That way, the United States 391 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:22,119 Speaker 1: could say, hey, we picked up the evidence that you 392 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:25,320 Speaker 1: in fact did detonate nuclear war warhead despite the fact 393 00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:28,399 Speaker 1: that we've agreed to this. This test band back to 394 00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:32,000 Speaker 1: space for a second. So ARPA came into being shortly 395 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:38,159 Speaker 1: before NASA. ARPA NASA both were launched figuratively speaking, the 396 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:42,480 Speaker 1: same year nineteen. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration became 397 00:24:42,480 --> 00:24:45,840 Speaker 1: official on October one, nineteen fifty eight, so several months 398 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:51,600 Speaker 1: after ARPA had begun. ARPA, therefore was the agency responsible 399 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,000 Speaker 1: for overseeing the development of space technologies like launch vehicles 400 00:24:55,119 --> 00:24:58,240 Speaker 1: for those first several months, and ARPA began to fund 401 00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:01,639 Speaker 1: programs dedicated to developing different types of rockets. One of 402 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:05,080 Speaker 1: those was designed from vor von Brown's team. Von Brown 403 00:25:05,320 --> 00:25:10,119 Speaker 1: had led the development of a booster rocket technology that 404 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:14,440 Speaker 1: his team called the Juno five. This design, which was 405 00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:18,399 Speaker 1: never built as the actual design was made, would find 406 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:22,080 Speaker 1: itself it's it's design would find itself as the basis 407 00:25:22,119 --> 00:25:24,800 Speaker 1: for future rockets. It was a multi stage approach and 408 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:28,800 Speaker 1: essentially it evolved into what would become the Saturn launch vehicle. 409 00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:32,399 Speaker 1: In addition to the Juno five program, ARPA authorized the 410 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:36,000 Speaker 1: development of a liquid oxygen slash hydrogen upper stage rocket. 411 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:39,639 Speaker 1: This one was called Centaur, and the upper stage design 412 00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:43,520 Speaker 1: would become part of launch vehicles like Atlas the Titan three. 413 00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:46,479 Speaker 1: In the Titan four, it was intended to fly on 414 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:50,560 Speaker 1: Saturn launch vehicles, but that never actually happened. While ARPA 415 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:54,360 Speaker 1: began those programs, the agency would eventually transfer them over 416 00:25:54,400 --> 00:25:57,520 Speaker 1: to NASA in nineteen fifty nine as that agency began 417 00:25:57,560 --> 00:25:59,879 Speaker 1: to take on the role of developing the non military, 418 00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:03,680 Speaker 1: civilian US space program. I've got more to say about 419 00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:06,320 Speaker 1: the earliest days of Darba, but before I get to that, 420 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:16,879 Speaker 1: let's take another quick break to thank our sponsor. Before 421 00:26:16,920 --> 00:26:20,240 Speaker 1: I jump off the topic of space for a little bit, 422 00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:23,919 Speaker 1: another ARPA initiated project I should mention is the Television 423 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:28,840 Speaker 1: and Infrared Observations Satellite Program or TYROS t I r 424 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:33,480 Speaker 1: O S. TYROS would be the prototype satellite for weather reporting, research, 425 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:36,280 Speaker 1: and forecasting. It grew out of an older Army project 426 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:39,879 Speaker 1: called Janus, which is making me think of James Bond 427 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:42,720 Speaker 1: type stuff. But the project was not just about sussing 428 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:45,320 Speaker 1: out the technology we would need to design and build 429 00:26:45,359 --> 00:26:47,760 Speaker 1: to achieve the goal. It was also about the process 430 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:50,760 Speaker 1: of bringing together all the pieces that you would need 431 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:56,920 Speaker 1: to make it happen, which included scientists, engineers, contracting firms, 432 00:26:57,000 --> 00:27:00,359 Speaker 1: federal agencies. So it was a real practical test of 433 00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:06,480 Speaker 1: the administration side of URPA, not just its scientific prowess, 434 00:27:06,520 --> 00:27:10,280 Speaker 1: but how could it bring together all these different components 435 00:27:10,640 --> 00:27:14,320 Speaker 1: to work towards a unified goal. It was really complicated. 436 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:16,840 Speaker 1: So it's one thing to build brand new technology that 437 00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:19,000 Speaker 1: no one's made before, but it's another to navigate all 438 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:23,440 Speaker 1: the various bureaucracies in the academic, industrial and political worlds. 439 00:27:23,640 --> 00:27:26,200 Speaker 1: TYROS would become the first weather satellite to be placed 440 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:30,080 Speaker 1: in orbit, and it happened on April first, nineteen sixty. 441 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:32,960 Speaker 1: It sent back messages as a television signal to a 442 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:36,720 Speaker 1: ground station at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. The mission wasn't 443 00:27:36,760 --> 00:27:39,000 Speaker 1: meant to last a super long time. I want to 444 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:42,920 Speaker 1: say Tyros was an operation for like seventy six days, 445 00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:44,840 Speaker 1: but in the course of those seventy six days it 446 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:48,520 Speaker 1: would send back twenty two fifty two images via TV 447 00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:52,440 Speaker 1: signal back to Earth. In addition to transferring the civilian 448 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:56,399 Speaker 1: based space projects to NASA, ARPA would transfer the military 449 00:27:56,480 --> 00:27:59,200 Speaker 1: projects to the various branches of the U. S Military, 450 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:02,240 Speaker 1: which of the agency to focus on other programs like 451 00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:05,960 Speaker 1: nuclear test detection technology of the Vela project and the 452 00:28:06,080 --> 00:28:10,320 Speaker 1: anti missile technologies in the Defender project. So in order 453 00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:14,240 Speaker 1: to counteract missiles, first you gotta know where those missiles are. 454 00:28:14,520 --> 00:28:19,080 Speaker 1: So before McElroy and Eisenhower had established ARPA, the President's 455 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:22,920 Speaker 1: Science Advisory Committee produced a report calling for the need 456 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:27,080 Speaker 1: for technologies that could detect, track, and identify a large 457 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:30,439 Speaker 1: number of objects moving at high altitudes and speeds. In 458 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:35,200 Speaker 1: n ARPA would respond to that need by holding a competition, 459 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:38,320 Speaker 1: and the goal was to design a two dimensional phased 460 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:42,760 Speaker 1: array radar that had automatic beam steering control. Now that 461 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:46,520 Speaker 1: sounds complicated, but the basic idea is actually pretty simple 462 00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:50,120 Speaker 1: to grasp. Radar sends out radio waves and then it 463 00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:52,880 Speaker 1: listens for the returning echoes after the radio waves have 464 00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:55,600 Speaker 1: bounced off something and come back to the transmitting area 465 00:28:55,800 --> 00:29:00,120 Speaker 1: for being received by a new antenna. The timing on 466 00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:02,560 Speaker 1: those echoes you know how long it went out versus 467 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:05,520 Speaker 1: came back, and the frequency of the returning waves will 468 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:08,720 Speaker 1: tell the radar operator how far away something is and 469 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:11,880 Speaker 1: whether it's moving toward or away from the radar station. 470 00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:15,040 Speaker 1: The thing about waves, though, is that you can combine 471 00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:18,400 Speaker 1: them in different ways to either boost the signal in 472 00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:22,200 Speaker 1: certain directions or to cancel out the signal in certain directions. 473 00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:26,240 Speaker 1: Noise canceling headphones do this, so we're going with sound 474 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:30,800 Speaker 1: waves here instead of radar waves or radio waves, but 475 00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:34,880 Speaker 1: stick with me. Noise canceling headphones will produce sound waves 476 00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:38,400 Speaker 1: that are in one eighty degrees out of phase with 477 00:29:38,480 --> 00:29:42,600 Speaker 1: incoming noise. So if you were to graph out the 478 00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:45,120 Speaker 1: sound waves of the ambient noise in the room, you 479 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:48,520 Speaker 1: would have peaks and valleys. Right, you've seen sound waves 480 00:29:48,600 --> 00:29:52,600 Speaker 1: or depictions of sound waves before, the noise cancelation technology 481 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:57,440 Speaker 1: will produce troughs and peaks that are in one degrees 482 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:01,480 Speaker 1: out of phase, so the peak on one on the 483 00:30:01,520 --> 00:30:04,360 Speaker 1: ambient sound will match up with the trough of the 484 00:30:04,480 --> 00:30:08,480 Speaker 1: sound produced by the noise canceling headphones, and ultimately those 485 00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:13,600 Speaker 1: two opposing waves cancel each other out. The phased array 486 00:30:13,960 --> 00:30:17,240 Speaker 1: would do something similar. You would have a transmitter or 487 00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:20,920 Speaker 1: lots of transmitters actually sending out a signal to a 488 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:24,720 Speaker 1: series of radar antenna. Between the transmitters and the antenna, 489 00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:27,920 Speaker 1: you would have a phase shifter which can change the 490 00:30:27,960 --> 00:30:30,720 Speaker 1: signal slightly before it gets to the respect of antenna. 491 00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:33,960 Speaker 1: The phase shifters are controlled by a computer, and the 492 00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:37,400 Speaker 1: computer runs calculations so that the phase of the signals 493 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:40,520 Speaker 1: going to each antenna are such that the computer can 494 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:45,000 Speaker 1: electronically steer the direction of the radar beams. That eliminates 495 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:48,360 Speaker 1: the need to actually physically turn the antenna. You don't 496 00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:51,480 Speaker 1: need to mechanically move them at all. Using the physics 497 00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:54,880 Speaker 1: of waves, the computer can strengthen the signal in certain 498 00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:59,200 Speaker 1: directions and eliminate it in others, effectively pointing the beam 499 00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:03,480 Speaker 1: electronically just by tweaking those phases. It's pretty cool. The 500 00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:07,440 Speaker 1: project became known as the Electronically Steered Array Radar or 501 00:31:07,760 --> 00:31:10,520 Speaker 1: s R E s a R. It was a success. 502 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:14,600 Speaker 1: The Bendix Corporation built it and it was a proven technology. 503 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:17,960 Speaker 1: Star would lead to the development of the FPS eight 504 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:22,080 Speaker 1: five and extremely powerful radar that became part of the 505 00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:25,440 Speaker 1: Space Track system overseen by the Air Force. The FPS 506 00:31:25,480 --> 00:31:30,360 Speaker 1: E D five is thirteen stories tall. The radar consists 507 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:34,280 Speaker 1: of five thousand, one hundred thirty four transmitters, four thousand, 508 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:38,960 Speaker 1: six hundred sixty receivers, five thousand, nine hundred twenty eight 509 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:44,080 Speaker 1: transmitter antennas. It's truly enormous. Construction on the FPS A 510 00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:46,640 Speaker 1: D five began in nineteen sixty two. It was meant 511 00:31:46,680 --> 00:31:49,880 Speaker 1: to go into operation in nineteen sixty five, but there 512 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:52,600 Speaker 1: was a fire at the facility that pushed everything back 513 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:55,200 Speaker 1: and it wasn't ready to go until nineteen sixty nine. 514 00:31:55,560 --> 00:31:59,200 Speaker 1: But it can track up to two hundred objects simultaneously. 515 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:03,200 Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty ARPA and the c i A partnered 516 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:07,280 Speaker 1: to fund another program. This one was called Corona, which 517 00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 1: used to be a top secret classified project that's since 518 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:14,120 Speaker 1: been declassified. Now it's no surprise as to why it 519 00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:17,680 Speaker 1: used to be top secret. Corona was a series of 520 00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:21,920 Speaker 1: spy satellites. The original Corona satellite was the first imaging 521 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:26,200 Speaker 1: reconnaissance satellite, meaning it would take actual photographs of the 522 00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:29,440 Speaker 1: areas that would pass over to collect intelligence on behalf 523 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:31,840 Speaker 1: of the United States. So the idea was you would 524 00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:34,680 Speaker 1: make this satellite. It was only designed to go into 525 00:32:34,760 --> 00:32:38,240 Speaker 1: orbit for a relatively short amount of time, going over 526 00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:43,160 Speaker 1: the Earth maybe a dozen two dozen times, collecting images 527 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:46,880 Speaker 1: as it goes along, and then ejects a capsule that 528 00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:49,800 Speaker 1: contains the film because it was actually shot on film. 529 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:53,280 Speaker 1: They used a film camera and have that returned to 530 00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:56,680 Speaker 1: Earth where the United States military officials would retrieve it, 531 00:32:57,000 --> 00:32:59,440 Speaker 1: and then you could go over all the images. So 532 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:02,480 Speaker 1: the early history of Corona actually predates the founding of 533 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:06,080 Speaker 1: our PA. The US recognized the need to develop reconnaissance 534 00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:09,640 Speaker 1: satellites in the nineteen fifties. The YOU two spy plane, 535 00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:12,640 Speaker 1: which was effective over much of the world, was not 536 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:15,520 Speaker 1: as useful when it came to the Soviet Union because 537 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:19,600 Speaker 1: the USSR had developed high quality radar systems capable of 538 00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:22,760 Speaker 1: picking up the U two. So initially the hope was 539 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:24,719 Speaker 1: that the YOU two would only be needed for a 540 00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:28,240 Speaker 1: year or so before a satellite solution could take its place, 541 00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:31,360 Speaker 1: because the satellite would pass at an altitude so great 542 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:34,160 Speaker 1: that radar would probably not be able to pick it up. 543 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:37,800 Speaker 1: But setbacks and bottlenecks kept all of that from happening quickly, 544 00:33:38,200 --> 00:33:40,840 Speaker 1: and so the YouTube had to stay in operation longer 545 00:33:40,880 --> 00:33:44,680 Speaker 1: than they had intended, including over the USSR and whenever 546 00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:48,040 Speaker 1: soviets would detect a YouTube that would raise danger of 547 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:51,600 Speaker 1: a confrontation, one that might begin with shooting down a plane, 548 00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:55,880 Speaker 1: possibly end with escalating tensions, and it could potentially result 549 00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:59,440 Speaker 1: in armed conflict. So there was a need to find 550 00:33:59,520 --> 00:34:02,880 Speaker 1: a sneak kere way to spy on people. On May one, 551 00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:06,480 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty the U S s R did shoot down 552 00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:10,080 Speaker 1: a YouTube plane, which justified those fears that people had 553 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:13,200 Speaker 1: had in the fifties. By that time, the Corona project 554 00:34:13,200 --> 00:34:15,359 Speaker 1: had been in development for quite a bit but had 555 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:18,960 Speaker 1: yet to have a successful flight. Now I could do 556 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:22,520 Speaker 1: a full episode about Corona in the future. It was 557 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:25,560 Speaker 1: a fascinating project, but we're gonna skip ahead a little bit. 558 00:34:25,840 --> 00:34:30,080 Speaker 1: So the project had numerous early failures. You had one 559 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:33,800 Speaker 1: attempt was a misfire on the launchpad. Three attempts failed 560 00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:37,200 Speaker 1: to achieve orbit to went into orbit, but the orbit 561 00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:41,320 Speaker 1: was considered highly eccentric, in other words, not useful. UH. 562 00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:45,319 Speaker 1: One of them prematurely ejected its film capsule, which was 563 00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:49,640 Speaker 1: again meant to res atmosphere for a retrieval uh. But 564 00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:53,640 Speaker 1: there was another one that just the camera failed completely. 565 00:34:53,880 --> 00:34:55,840 Speaker 1: One of them the camera worked for a short while 566 00:34:55,840 --> 00:35:00,640 Speaker 1: but failed nearly immediately afterward. So from teen fifty eight 567 00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:04,200 Speaker 1: until nineteen sixty, the Corona project was a series of 568 00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:09,000 Speaker 1: misfortunes and failures, ranging from near success to total catastrophe. 569 00:35:09,719 --> 00:35:13,280 Speaker 1: This was the case until essentially August of nineteen sixty. 570 00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:15,920 Speaker 1: ARPA and the CIA had provided the funds needed to 571 00:35:16,480 --> 00:35:20,760 Speaker 1: push to actual success. So while the project predated Arba, 572 00:35:21,480 --> 00:35:24,600 Speaker 1: ARPA was able to put funds to it to keep 573 00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:27,879 Speaker 1: it going long enough for the team to actually get 574 00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:32,120 Speaker 1: it to work. So in August nineteen sixty, the Discoverer 575 00:35:32,360 --> 00:35:37,520 Speaker 1: thirteen spacecraft was a successful proof of concept. Discoverer, by 576 00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:40,719 Speaker 1: the way, was the public cover name for the Corona 577 00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:45,719 Speaker 1: classified missions, so the United States would admit that it 578 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:48,200 Speaker 1: was launching a payload into space. It was kind of 579 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:50,400 Speaker 1: hard to cover that sort of stuff. Up and they 580 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:54,279 Speaker 1: called it Discoverer, and they claimed it was a scientific 581 00:35:54,840 --> 00:35:58,080 Speaker 1: research satellite, but in fact it was a reconnaissance satellite. 582 00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:01,959 Speaker 1: So the Discoverer thirteen had a successful launch. I guess 583 00:36:01,960 --> 00:36:04,920 Speaker 1: that's ironic that it was thirteen and was lucky. It 584 00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:08,839 Speaker 1: orbited the Earth several times, it ejected its return capsule successfully. 585 00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:11,960 Speaker 1: The return capsule was retrieved, even though it landed hundreds 586 00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:13,960 Speaker 1: of miles away from where they had planned it to go. 587 00:36:14,680 --> 00:36:17,480 Speaker 1: But this particular satellite didn't have a camera aboard. It 588 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:20,800 Speaker 1: was really just a diagnostic flight to see if the 589 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:25,399 Speaker 1: tweaks that had been made to the spacecraft would actually work. Uh. 590 00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:28,400 Speaker 1: The hardware was delivered directly to the Smithsonian and the 591 00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:32,320 Speaker 1: well first the President, then the Smithsonian after retrieval, because 592 00:36:32,360 --> 00:36:35,000 Speaker 1: there was no need to cover it up. The secret 593 00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:39,279 Speaker 1: spy stuff hadn't been part of it. So everyone just thought, oh, well, 594 00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:42,080 Speaker 1: that's cool. We shot something up into space and then 595 00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:44,120 Speaker 1: we were able to retrieve it. That would obviously be 596 00:36:44,160 --> 00:36:46,920 Speaker 1: an important component when we get to the point when 597 00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:49,840 Speaker 1: we were ready to send people up there. So everyone 598 00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:53,400 Speaker 1: kind of bought that this was a step toward putting 599 00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:59,239 Speaker 1: people in space. In reality, the Discover fourteen project, the 600 00:36:59,280 --> 00:37:01,920 Speaker 1: one to follow of the first successful flight would be 601 00:37:01,960 --> 00:37:05,400 Speaker 1: the first to capture actual images on a successful launch 602 00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:08,640 Speaker 1: that happened on August eighth, nineteen sixty, It carried a 603 00:37:08,719 --> 00:37:12,320 Speaker 1: twenty pound load of film. It made seventeen orbits of 604 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:16,040 Speaker 1: the earth, including seven flyovers of Soviet territory, and it 605 00:37:16,080 --> 00:37:20,080 Speaker 1: took numerous images. In fact, it took enough images that 606 00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:24,600 Speaker 1: it produced more than all the YouTube missions that had 607 00:37:24,719 --> 00:37:28,680 Speaker 1: ever flown over the Soviet Union up to that point combined, 608 00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:33,360 Speaker 1: but at a lower resolution. The resolution was somewhere around 609 00:37:33,520 --> 00:37:36,480 Speaker 1: forty feet, meaning that was the smallest it could image, 610 00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:41,799 Speaker 1: so not super sharp pictures. Well, that wraps up this 611 00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:45,360 Speaker 1: first episode about DARPA the origins of DARPA. We have 612 00:37:45,960 --> 00:37:48,759 Speaker 1: tons more to cover, and I hope you will join 613 00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:51,839 Speaker 1: me for the next few shows where we look more 614 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:55,880 Speaker 1: into the UH, the history and evolution of the agency 615 00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:59,839 Speaker 1: and some of the technologies it was instrumental in pion 616 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:02,480 Speaker 1: you ring. It's a fascinating thing. I've got a few 617 00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:04,480 Speaker 1: other things I want to talk about. 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And you should know that 633 00:38:56,719 --> 00:38:59,320 Speaker 1: tech Stuff has been nominated for an I Heart Radio 634 00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:04,000 Speaker 1: Podcast Award in the category of best Science and Tech Podcast. 635 00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:09,000 Speaker 1: You can vote and decide who wins this amazing award. 636 00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:11,520 Speaker 1: You can do it on social media and you can 637 00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:15,359 Speaker 1: vote at I Heart Podcast Awards dot com right now. 638 00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:19,080 Speaker 1: The process is really easy. If you're voting on social media, 639 00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:22,759 Speaker 1: your tweet has to include the category so science and Tech, 640 00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:27,080 Speaker 1: the nominee that'd be tech Stuff, and hashtag i Heeart 641 00:39:27,200 --> 00:39:30,640 Speaker 1: Podcast Awards. You can use the hashtag for tech Stuff. 642 00:39:30,680 --> 00:39:35,160 Speaker 1: That's hashtag tech podcast or hashtag tech stuff. Either of 643 00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:37,840 Speaker 1: those work. You can vote once per day that way, 644 00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:40,879 Speaker 1: or if you go to I Heeart Podcast Awards dot com, 645 00:39:41,080 --> 00:39:44,000 Speaker 1: you can vote up to five times a day and 646 00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:47,360 Speaker 1: that would be swell Voting INDs on January six, so 647 00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:50,359 Speaker 1: go check that out. That's all for me. I'll talk 648 00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:59,480 Speaker 1: to you again really soon for more on this and 649 00:39:59,560 --> 00:40:02,120 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics. Does it how stuff works dot 650 00:40:02,120 --> 00:40:11,680 Speaker 1: com m