1 00:00:08,680 --> 00:00:11,119 Speaker 1: Hey, Daniel, have you guys made any progress on the 2 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:15,200 Speaker 1: new spaceship engine that can cross the vast distances between stars? 3 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:19,400 Speaker 1: Nothing to report yet? Sorry? Oh man, I feel kind 4 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:21,639 Speaker 1: of cheated that I made that a rush order. Well, 5 00:00:21,720 --> 00:00:24,599 Speaker 1: no problem. You know, once we finished building it, delivery 6 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:26,720 Speaker 1: is going to be a snap. Yeah. Are you going 7 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 1: to deliver my spaceship on a spaceship now? It's sort 8 00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: of like when you buy a new car, it comes 9 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: on a huge truck. Oh nice, So I can expect 10 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: a huge giant space truck pulling up next to my 11 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 1: house soon. Absolutely. The kids are gonna love it. It's 12 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: gonna come with a nice big bowl tied around it. 13 00:00:43,360 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 1: For an extra twenty million dollars, I'll put a bowl 14 00:00:45,360 --> 00:01:02,640 Speaker 1: on it. Hi am more handmade cartoonists and the creator 15 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:06,720 Speaker 1: of PhD comics. Hi. I'm Daniel. I'm a particle physicist, 16 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:09,120 Speaker 1: and I've never actually bought a new car. You've never 17 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: bought a new car, Never bought a new car, always 18 00:01:11,840 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 1: a used car. Wow. I guess they are cheaper, right, 19 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:15,920 Speaker 1: because as soon as you buy a car and they 20 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 1: start depreciating. That's right. But I've never had that amazing 21 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:22,040 Speaker 1: experience of seeing your brand new, shiny zero miles car, 22 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:24,680 Speaker 1: pull up on the fancy truck. What's new to you? 23 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:28,039 Speaker 1: So it is technically a new car, that's right. And 24 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: we like to drive our cards into the ground until 25 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:33,120 Speaker 1: they're falling apart around us, like the podcast is that 26 00:01:33,200 --> 00:01:36,720 Speaker 1: what we're doing here now? Is this a used podcast? Technically? 27 00:01:36,800 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: It is right because we record this a few weeks 28 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: in the van, so by the time people listen to it, 29 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:43,520 Speaker 1: it's got some mileach on it, but it's new to them. 30 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:46,200 Speaker 1: That's right. Let's maybe spray some of that new car 31 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: smell around. That's right, new podcast smell yeah. Whip an 32 00:01:50,280 --> 00:01:53,120 Speaker 1: end people, But anyways, welcome to our podcast. Daniel and 33 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 1: Jorge explain the university production of I Heart Radio, in 34 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: which we take you around this very very old universe 35 00:01:59,840 --> 00:02:02,640 Speaker 1: that been around longer than we have and trying to 36 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 1: answer some questions about it and what questions do we ask? 37 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 1: We ask all the questions we asked, the biggest questions, 38 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: the hardest questions, the silliest questions, and the deepest questions, 39 00:02:12,200 --> 00:02:14,399 Speaker 1: and we try to find answers, and when we don't 40 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 1: find them, we are happy to admit what science doesn't know. 41 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 1: We take all that, we mix it around, we throw 42 00:02:19,480 --> 00:02:21,320 Speaker 1: in some bananas, and we serve it to you as 43 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 1: a podcast smoothie. That's right, because the universe might be 44 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:27,440 Speaker 1: old and it might be used. In fact, it's actually 45 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 1: a several billions of years old, but it's still full 46 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:33,640 Speaker 1: of amazing and new things to discover for us puny humans. 47 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: That's right. Do you think we have to pay full 48 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:37,600 Speaker 1: price for this universe? I mean it's like really pretty 49 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:39,200 Speaker 1: old by time we got it, we should have gotten 50 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:41,240 Speaker 1: some kind of discount. Really, did you think we have 51 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: an option? Do we have like other newer universe we 52 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:46,120 Speaker 1: could have bought. I guess you've got to have another 53 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:48,280 Speaker 1: option if your negotiation is gonna be credible, Right, you're 54 00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:50,600 Speaker 1: gonna be able to walk out of the universe dealership 55 00:02:50,639 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: and say, I'm just gonna go down the street and 56 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:56,600 Speaker 1: get a universe somewhere else. We have no leverage. We 57 00:02:56,680 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: have no leverage. We're stuck with this universe, and we 58 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:02,880 Speaker 1: love it. It's the only car and a lot, that's right, 59 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:05,880 Speaker 1: And let's not protect we don't love it. It's a wonderful, amazing, 60 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,080 Speaker 1: crazy place filled with all sorts of mysteries. I just 61 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 1: sometimes wish we could see more of it. Well, we 62 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 1: can see a lot of it, right, We can see 63 00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:16,639 Speaker 1: up to billions and billions and billions of light years away. 64 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:18,959 Speaker 1: But the hard part is getting to those places and 65 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:21,320 Speaker 1: seeing them up close. Yes, exactly. That's why I mean 66 00:03:21,360 --> 00:03:23,519 Speaker 1: that we could visit more than that, we could go there, 67 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:26,160 Speaker 1: that we could walk on the surface of Pluto, or 68 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 1: we could see what the atmosphere of Venus is like. 69 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:30,520 Speaker 1: It feels like there are so many amazing mysteries of 70 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:33,360 Speaker 1: science and physics that are right in our neighborhood, and 71 00:03:33,440 --> 00:03:36,560 Speaker 1: yet it's still so strangely hard to get there. Yeah, 72 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:39,119 Speaker 1: or not just even our Solar system. It'd be cool 73 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:41,400 Speaker 1: to travel to other galaxies and see if things are 74 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: quite the same as they are here in the Milky Way. 75 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 1: That's right. I'd like to be home before dinner, though, 76 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:46,680 Speaker 1: so I'm not sure I'm gonna join you on that 77 00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:50,880 Speaker 1: intergalactic voyage. But somebody should go, and somebody should report back. 78 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:52,920 Speaker 1: What if you make the spaceship your home, Daniel, and 79 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 1: then you'll always be home like a space RV. That 80 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:58,600 Speaker 1: sounds great. It's just a couch and a rocket and 81 00:03:58,720 --> 00:04:01,920 Speaker 1: rocket field. That's all. Well, if my family is going along, 82 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: then my kids definitely need their own rooms, because there's 83 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: no way they're getting along if they're sharing a room 84 00:04:06,240 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 1: in the space RV. Al right, we can at an addition, 85 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 1: but yeah, getting around space is difficult because space is 86 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:18,560 Speaker 1: so big. It's gigantic, it's ginormous, it's a pretty spacious. 87 00:04:18,680 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 1: It's hard to really wrap your mind around how big 88 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: space is. We have this image of the Solar System 89 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:25,839 Speaker 1: is sort of this cozy place where all the planets 90 00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: are zooming around the Sun and kind of near each other, 91 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:30,800 Speaker 1: but there are vast distances. You know, even just from 92 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 1: the Earth to the Moon is a much bigger distance 93 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:35,440 Speaker 1: than most people imagine. Did you know that if you 94 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: took all the planets in the Solar System you could 95 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:41,240 Speaker 1: fit them in the distance between the Earth and the Moon. Wow? 96 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 1: I take it that's a bad idea that you're not 97 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:45,360 Speaker 1: actually planning on doing that. You know what, I'd love 98 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: to see it. So if you have somehow the power 99 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:49,600 Speaker 1: to do that, go ahead from your underground layer. Well, 100 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: if you just want to see it, then you know, 101 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:54,560 Speaker 1: I can do that in photoshop easily. But the idea 102 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:56,400 Speaker 1: I think is that space is big right, like between 103 00:04:56,400 --> 00:04:59,240 Speaker 1: here and the Moon, it's several hundred thousand miles even 104 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:01,839 Speaker 1: right absolute, it's really really far. And you know, the 105 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:05,000 Speaker 1: outer planets are really really far away, Like we are 106 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:08,039 Speaker 1: much much closer to the Sun than we are to Jupiter, 107 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:10,640 Speaker 1: for example. Yeah, I think we're used to maybe thinking 108 00:05:10,640 --> 00:05:13,320 Speaker 1: of our Solar System is this cozy, little like collection 109 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 1: of planets, but really it's quite sparse. It's quite empty, 110 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:17,640 Speaker 1: like if you took a picture of it, you would 111 00:05:17,640 --> 00:05:20,680 Speaker 1: always see little tiny thoughts as the planets. Yeah, that's 112 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:23,640 Speaker 1: why Jupiter seems like almost a star because it's so big, 113 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 1: but it's so so far away, and so the Solar 114 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:29,560 Speaker 1: System is hard to get around because everything is so 115 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:32,039 Speaker 1: far away. And when we launch even robotic probes to 116 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:35,360 Speaker 1: the outer Solar System, it can take ten, fifteen, twenty 117 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:38,160 Speaker 1: years to reach those places. Yeah. I think the trip 118 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:40,960 Speaker 1: to Mars, just to Mars, it takes several months, right, Yeah, 119 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:43,400 Speaker 1: and that's if you're lucky, right Earth end Mars are 120 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:46,520 Speaker 1: near each other sometimes and far apart other times, and 121 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:49,719 Speaker 1: so the shortest trip to Mars is like more than 122 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:52,120 Speaker 1: half a year, and so it'd be awesome to be 123 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 1: able to get to Mars much faster and make it 124 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:56,960 Speaker 1: easier to explore the Solar System, to send people there 125 00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:59,000 Speaker 1: if they didn't have to spend like seven months in 126 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:01,960 Speaker 1: a tin can together. Yeah, I think the big question 127 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:04,040 Speaker 1: is like, how can we get to these planets faster? 128 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:06,440 Speaker 1: Like how can we you know, make a new kind 129 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:09,000 Speaker 1: of spaceship or a new kind of propulsion technology to 130 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:13,800 Speaker 1: basically pushes there faster, because traveling through space is really hard. 131 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,360 Speaker 1: It's all about the speed. You know. A hundred years ago, 132 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:19,040 Speaker 1: the Earth seemed much bigger because it was a bigger 133 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 1: deal to get to the other side of it. To 134 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:23,760 Speaker 1: go to China two or three hundred years ago was 135 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:26,919 Speaker 1: a days, weeks, months long endeavor. Now you can do 136 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:28,760 Speaker 1: it in just you know, eighteen hours or so on 137 00:06:28,800 --> 00:06:30,599 Speaker 1: an airplane. It's not that big a deal. And that 138 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:34,040 Speaker 1: transformation came because we had new technology, new engines that 139 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:36,360 Speaker 1: could take us there faster. And so we hope we 140 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:39,280 Speaker 1: fantasize about the technology that could take us around the 141 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:42,800 Speaker 1: Solar system faster, that could effectively compress the Solar system 142 00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:46,200 Speaker 1: so it doesn't seem so big to shrink the Solar system. 143 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 1: In a sort of metaphorical way of speaking, right, maybe 144 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:51,280 Speaker 1: when day you could buy a ticket to Jupiter and 145 00:06:51,320 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 1: all you have to worry about is like, how many 146 00:06:52,920 --> 00:06:55,040 Speaker 1: movies am I going to watch? Have they made enough 147 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:57,480 Speaker 1: Avengers movies so I could just watch them all between 148 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:01,480 Speaker 1: here and Jupiter. Well, by then they will make five 149 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:04,280 Speaker 1: months worth of Avenger movies. Yeah, and maybe by then 150 00:07:04,320 --> 00:07:07,840 Speaker 1: the Avengers movies will each be forty hours long. So right, yeah, 151 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:10,080 Speaker 1: they seem to be getting longer and longer. That's right. 152 00:07:10,080 --> 00:07:12,560 Speaker 1: It's the opposite of time dilation. It's movie dilation, which 153 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:16,600 Speaker 1: works in the opposite direction. It's marvel dilation. Marvel, it's 154 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: like the quantum realm. Yeah, well, what if I watched 155 00:07:19,360 --> 00:07:22,200 Speaker 1: the Avengers movies while moving at high speed? Maybe they'll 156 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:25,200 Speaker 1: shrink it back down to two hours long. Maybe you 157 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:30,160 Speaker 1: actually like them? I like those movies. Come on. But anyways, 158 00:07:30,200 --> 00:07:33,240 Speaker 1: there are people out there working on new technologies that 159 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:35,760 Speaker 1: might get us to other planets and other stars faster 160 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:38,160 Speaker 1: and faster. And in particular, there's kind of a new 161 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:41,280 Speaker 1: exciting technology with a pretty cool name. That's right. People 162 00:07:41,280 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: are working on this, People trying to develop ideas. People 163 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 1: have all sorts of different plans for how to develop 164 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:49,680 Speaker 1: new engines for spaceships. So today on the program, we'll 165 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 1: be asking the question how do plasma thrusters work? Now, Daniel, 166 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 1: I'd just like to say the word plasma thrusters. I 167 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:05,040 Speaker 1: feel like that's so you know, science fiction. I feel like, 168 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 1: you know, some some something out of a movie. I know, 169 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:10,240 Speaker 1: it sounds a lot like plasma blaster, right, it sounds 170 00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:12,920 Speaker 1: like a weapon you could use against something with like 171 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 1: lots of limbs and gooey insides. Yeah, some sort of 172 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:19,360 Speaker 1: glowing technology that you know, kind of like what you 173 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: see behind the starship Enterprise. Yes, but that's the exciting 174 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:25,560 Speaker 1: thing about science fiction is that it gives people ideas 175 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 1: and then we try to make it real. Scientists watch 176 00:08:28,360 --> 00:08:31,200 Speaker 1: science fiction and go, man, why can't we actually do that. 177 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:34,360 Speaker 1: We've got an idea, maybe we could actually do that, 178 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:36,040 Speaker 1: And then they go off into their laboratories and they 179 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 1: tinker until boom, it's a reality. And the funny thing 180 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:41,880 Speaker 1: is that those science fiction writers probably got these names 181 00:08:41,880 --> 00:08:45,079 Speaker 1: and these ideas from science itself, like plasma is a 182 00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:47,640 Speaker 1: real thing and thrusters are a real thing. They just 183 00:08:47,640 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: but hey, why don't we put the two together and 184 00:08:49,960 --> 00:08:52,480 Speaker 1: sell more books? Is that the process of science fiction. 185 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:54,839 Speaker 1: You're like, take two things sticking together. Can we get 186 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:58,280 Speaker 1: a banana thruster or a plasma banana? Yeah, it's like 187 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:01,120 Speaker 1: taking two words like science and fiction and then sticking 188 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:06,880 Speaker 1: them together and see what happens. Boom, new genre invented. Yeah, 189 00:09:06,920 --> 00:09:10,160 Speaker 1: I think that's the whole process. So plasma thrusters sounds cool, 190 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:13,480 Speaker 1: but what is it? So we were wondering what people 191 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:15,800 Speaker 1: out there knew about these two words stuck together and 192 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:18,760 Speaker 1: whether or not they can actually be real. As usual, 193 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:21,240 Speaker 1: Daniel went out there into the internet to ask people 194 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 1: if they knew how a plasma thruster works. And so 195 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:27,360 Speaker 1: my eternal gratitude to those of you who volunteered to 196 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:30,800 Speaker 1: answer random physics questions for the podcast and enjoy hearing 197 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:33,880 Speaker 1: your voice speculating on the podcast. If you'd like to 198 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:36,480 Speaker 1: contribute your voice as well, please write to me two 199 00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:39,840 Speaker 1: questions at Daniel and Jorge dot com. So think about 200 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:41,960 Speaker 1: it for a second. Do you know how a plasma 201 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:45,360 Speaker 1: thruster works? Here's what people had to say. I have 202 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:49,440 Speaker 1: absolutely no idea what a plasma thruster is or how 203 00:09:49,480 --> 00:09:54,640 Speaker 1: it works, but it sounds pretty naughty. Well, I don't 204 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:59,560 Speaker 1: know exactly, but it's way better than a chemical like 205 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:02,559 Speaker 1: we have now would luck to us. I'm guessing the 206 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:08,320 Speaker 1: plasma thrusters would work by igniting this ionized gas in 207 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:13,640 Speaker 1: one direction that causes a force that pushes whatever rocket 208 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:16,200 Speaker 1: or object it's in in the other direction. I'm a 209 00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:22,000 Speaker 1: hundred cent sure that the plasma thrust is a dance 210 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 1: move that particle physicists do at parties. Well, this is 211 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:30,880 Speaker 1: a guess on my part based on the words, but 212 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:35,880 Speaker 1: I assume that it excites an atom to the point 213 00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:39,400 Speaker 1: where the electron is stripped off, and it throws the 214 00:10:39,520 --> 00:10:46,920 Speaker 1: nucleus through some sort of magnetic or field at rather 215 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:50,640 Speaker 1: high velocity out the back, which gives you thrust the 216 00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:53,920 Speaker 1: same way any normal rocket motor would work, except instead 217 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:58,400 Speaker 1: of using chemical energy, you're using magnetic or electric energy 218 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:05,520 Speaker 1: to throw out plasma. Uh nuclear, All right, pretty cool answers. 219 00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:07,560 Speaker 1: I like the one that says it's a dance move 220 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:10,480 Speaker 1: that particle physicists do at parties. You like that? Do 221 00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:13,160 Speaker 1: you really want to imagine a bunch of particle physicists dancing? 222 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:14,640 Speaker 1: I mean, does that a mental image you want in 223 00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:17,000 Speaker 1: your mind? I've seen it, and trust me, you don't 224 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:21,760 Speaker 1: the particle physicists have party coal parties. There are particularly 225 00:11:21,800 --> 00:11:25,680 Speaker 1: good parties, yes, particularly awkward, as I think, when we 226 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:28,000 Speaker 1: discover a nice particle, then yes, we have a party. 227 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:30,200 Speaker 1: We celebrate, we drink champagne, we shake our booties just 228 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:34,480 Speaker 1: like everybody else. Wow. Sounds exciting, all right, And so 229 00:11:34,559 --> 00:11:36,079 Speaker 1: a lot of people don't seem to have a pretty 230 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:39,320 Speaker 1: good idea, although they definitely you know, I have some 231 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:41,680 Speaker 1: ideas of what plasma is, but maybe not what a 232 00:11:41,679 --> 00:11:44,800 Speaker 1: plasma thruster is. Yeah, but they're excited about it. They 233 00:11:45,000 --> 00:11:47,440 Speaker 1: want this thing to be a reality. That sounds like 234 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:50,080 Speaker 1: a promising step in the direction of getting us around 235 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 1: the Solar System. And so I think everybody is in favor. 236 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:55,120 Speaker 1: All right, Well, Daniel, let's talk about first why we 237 00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:58,960 Speaker 1: might need a plasma thruster. You know why this idea 238 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:02,640 Speaker 1: of creating something that can push you in the vacuum space, 239 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:04,600 Speaker 1: why is that so hard? Right? So, one of the 240 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:08,320 Speaker 1: reasons that this is a hard problem is that when 241 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:11,600 Speaker 1: you are in space, you need to push against something. Right, 242 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:13,640 Speaker 1: If you're in space and you want to get speed, 243 00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:16,640 Speaker 1: what you have to do is throw something out the 244 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:19,840 Speaker 1: back of your rocket ship. Because of conservation momentum. If 245 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:22,880 Speaker 1: you're going to go in one direction, something else has 246 00:12:22,920 --> 00:12:25,720 Speaker 1: to go in the other direction. So this is like 247 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:28,560 Speaker 1: the reaction. You know, you could like fire a bullet, 248 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:31,839 Speaker 1: for example, out the back of your spaceship and the 249 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:34,080 Speaker 1: gun will push you in one direction and the bullet 250 00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:36,800 Speaker 1: in the other direction. So the basic elements you need 251 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:40,360 Speaker 1: of any thruster are some energy and then something to 252 00:12:40,440 --> 00:12:42,960 Speaker 1: throw out the back, some reaction mass to push the 253 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:45,720 Speaker 1: other direction, right, Because I guess when you're in space, 254 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:47,800 Speaker 1: you're if you're out there floating, it's not like you 255 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:50,840 Speaker 1: can swim your way to Mars or to the moon. 256 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:53,760 Speaker 1: You can't just there's something to like push against, right, 257 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:56,080 Speaker 1: So you need to throw something out the back, and 258 00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:58,040 Speaker 1: for that you need energy. So that's what you're saying. 259 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:00,400 Speaker 1: You need energy and then something to throw out the bag. 260 00:13:00,559 --> 00:13:03,400 Speaker 1: Using that energy exactly, you have to carry with you 261 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:06,240 Speaker 1: stuff that you can throw away so that you can 262 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:08,880 Speaker 1: move along. As you say, you can't like grab space 263 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 1: and swim through space itself, right, it's not like air 264 00:13:12,120 --> 00:13:14,680 Speaker 1: or water that you can pull against, right. You can't 265 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:17,080 Speaker 1: just like blow out the back like or maybe you 266 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 1: can can you Yeah, actually that would work. I mean, 267 00:13:19,559 --> 00:13:22,280 Speaker 1: that is a form of a rocket engine, right, you 268 00:13:22,320 --> 00:13:24,480 Speaker 1: blow air out the back, and you can even use 269 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:26,640 Speaker 1: a flashlight. Right, if you turn on a flashlight on 270 00:13:26,679 --> 00:13:29,319 Speaker 1: a spaceship out the back of your spaceship, then that's 271 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:32,800 Speaker 1: a form of a thruster because you're shooting energy in 272 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: one direction and so the spaceship will go the other direction. Right, 273 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:38,800 Speaker 1: that would be a photon thruster. That's a different episode. 274 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:41,160 Speaker 1: That's a different episode. Yeah, exactly. But you know, it 275 00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:44,440 Speaker 1: reminds me some listener rode in and asked about their headlights. 276 00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:46,920 Speaker 1: Every time you turn on headlights in your car, are 277 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:50,320 Speaker 1: those effectively like photon brakes? And they kind of are, 278 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:53,839 Speaker 1: because you're like throwing energy forwards, sort of like having 279 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:57,680 Speaker 1: tiny little thrusters pointing forward. So every time you turn 280 00:13:57,679 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 1: on your headlights, your car slowed down the tiny a 281 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:02,040 Speaker 1: little bit. And it just made me think when you 282 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:04,200 Speaker 1: hit the brakes and you turn on the brake lights 283 00:14:04,200 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 1: in the back, and you're also sort of working against 284 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:10,040 Speaker 1: yourself there because you're breaking, but you're also kind of 285 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:12,800 Speaker 1: propelling yourself using photons. Yeah, brake lights should be in 286 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:15,840 Speaker 1: the front. Oh my god, it's so much better. I 287 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:18,800 Speaker 1: think that would defeat the purpose of brake lights. So 288 00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:21,480 Speaker 1: one of the problems with using a rocket is that 289 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:23,440 Speaker 1: you've got to have all this stuff on board. You're 290 00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:25,480 Speaker 1: gotta have the fuel, you've got to have the stuff 291 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:27,360 Speaker 1: to throw out the back, and then the further you 292 00:14:27,360 --> 00:14:29,640 Speaker 1: want to go, the more fuel you need, and the 293 00:14:29,640 --> 00:14:32,000 Speaker 1: more fuel you need, the more fuel you need to 294 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:34,840 Speaker 1: push that fuel, and so pretty quickly this is sort 295 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:37,360 Speaker 1: of like a runaway mass problem. You need to have 296 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:40,560 Speaker 1: a really really big ship to get anywhere at all 297 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:43,080 Speaker 1: because you need fuel to push all the fuel that 298 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:45,800 Speaker 1: you're pushing with all the fuel, right, And that's kind 299 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:48,600 Speaker 1: of how rockets work right now, right like the ones 300 00:14:48,680 --> 00:14:51,920 Speaker 1: on current spaceships and spacecraft and rockets, that's how they work. 301 00:14:51,960 --> 00:14:55,000 Speaker 1: They use a chemical reaction to explode something and then 302 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,760 Speaker 1: that explosion pushes the stuff out the back. That's right. 303 00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:01,520 Speaker 1: The fuel itself is the propellant and the source of energy, 304 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:05,120 Speaker 1: right Like, you have something along like diesel fuel or 305 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:08,680 Speaker 1: liquid oxygen or something that has energy stored inside of it, 306 00:15:08,760 --> 00:15:11,040 Speaker 1: and then you release that energy and at the same 307 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: time creates something at high velocity which can get thrown 308 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:17,520 Speaker 1: out the back. So most chemical rockets work in that way. 309 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:20,560 Speaker 1: They're both the propellant and the source of energy. And 310 00:15:20,600 --> 00:15:23,080 Speaker 1: that's how, for example, rockets lift off the Earth, and 311 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:26,000 Speaker 1: that's how the Space Shuttle maneuvers in space. All these 312 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:29,200 Speaker 1: are chemical rockets, right, And what makes it work, I 313 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:31,840 Speaker 1: think is the idea is this kind of this difference 314 00:15:31,920 --> 00:15:34,400 Speaker 1: or this ratio between the energy and the mass of 315 00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:36,960 Speaker 1: what you're throwing behind you. If your planets to like 316 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:40,240 Speaker 1: throw out you know, your trash or throughout your couch 317 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:42,720 Speaker 1: to propel yourself in space, that wouldn't last very long, right, 318 00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 1: because you would run out of couches. Yeah, and you 319 00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:50,440 Speaker 1: know maybe r vs and children you want to get 320 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:53,000 Speaker 1: very far. But the idea with the chemical fuel is 321 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:55,080 Speaker 1: that it has a lot of energy stored in it, right, 322 00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:57,840 Speaker 1: So like it you release that energy, it throws a 323 00:15:57,920 --> 00:15:59,480 Speaker 1: little bit of mass out there back, but with so 324 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:02,040 Speaker 1: much energy it actually pushes you forward, that's right. The 325 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:05,800 Speaker 1: key thing is having high exhaust velocity, so that those 326 00:16:05,840 --> 00:16:08,320 Speaker 1: particles you're throwing out, whatever they are, particles of couch 327 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:12,120 Speaker 1: or particles of smoke, or particles of burnt rocket fuel, whatever, 328 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,400 Speaker 1: are carrying a lot of momentum. Because any momentum that's 329 00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:17,960 Speaker 1: going at the back is equivalent to the momentum gained 330 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:21,000 Speaker 1: by your rocket ship. Right, This is all about conservation 331 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:23,840 Speaker 1: of momentum. And so the higher speed, the higher exhaust 332 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:26,560 Speaker 1: velocity that goes out the back, the more momentum you're 333 00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:29,200 Speaker 1: throwing away in your exhaust, and so the more momentum 334 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 1: your rocket ship is going to get. Right, because momentum 335 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 1: is like mass times velocity. So if you want to 336 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:36,160 Speaker 1: conserve on how much stuff you throw out the back 337 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:40,240 Speaker 1: the mass, then you just need a lot of velocity. Yeah, exactly, 338 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:42,520 Speaker 1: that's the way to do it. So those are chemical 339 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:44,560 Speaker 1: kind of rockets, and that's what we used to get 340 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:46,680 Speaker 1: off the Earth, but those are kind of tough for 341 00:16:46,880 --> 00:16:50,320 Speaker 1: going across to other planets or stars. Right. Yeah, if 342 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:53,520 Speaker 1: you wanted to travel, for example, to the nearest star 343 00:16:53,600 --> 00:16:57,320 Speaker 1: system like Alpha Centauri, and get up to a reasonable speed, 344 00:16:57,400 --> 00:16:59,520 Speaker 1: like you know, a few percent of the speed of light, 345 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:01,320 Speaker 1: so that a trip which is just a few light 346 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:04,080 Speaker 1: years would only take you know, fifty or a hundred years, 347 00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:06,960 Speaker 1: you would need an enormous amount of chemical fuel to 348 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:10,280 Speaker 1: accelerate you up to that speed. And because you need 349 00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:12,359 Speaker 1: so much fuel, you need a lot more fuel to 350 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:14,639 Speaker 1: push that fuel, and so you'd end up with like 351 00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:18,480 Speaker 1: a toothpick sized chip pushing a Jupiter sized gas tank. 352 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:22,320 Speaker 1: That sounds crazy. I think A good analogy I think 353 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:24,600 Speaker 1: we've read once was that it's sort of like if 354 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:29,159 Speaker 1: you're trying to drive a truck across the country without 355 00:17:29,240 --> 00:17:31,399 Speaker 1: stopping for fuel, you sort of need to bring all 356 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:35,320 Speaker 1: your fuel with you. But then the more fuel you bring, 357 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:38,160 Speaker 1: the more fuel you have to use because you're heavier, exactly. 358 00:17:38,160 --> 00:17:41,919 Speaker 1: And then pretty quickly you're driving basically like a stadium 359 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:45,119 Speaker 1: size gas tank behind you, and that's pretty inefficient and 360 00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:48,120 Speaker 1: takes a lot of fuel, so it really limits how 361 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:50,320 Speaker 1: far you can go, right, And that's kind of why 362 00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:52,439 Speaker 1: rockets are so big. Like if you look at a 363 00:17:52,520 --> 00:17:54,359 Speaker 1: rocket that goes to space, most of it is just 364 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:56,920 Speaker 1: a giant fuel tank. Right. Yeah, I'm not sure people 365 00:17:56,960 --> 00:18:00,320 Speaker 1: really understand how massive these things are. Like the Earned 366 00:18:00,320 --> 00:18:03,679 Speaker 1: five rockets, one of the workhorses of the American space program, 367 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:06,840 Speaker 1: is taller than the Statue of Liberty. Like, this thing 368 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 1: is enormous, but most of the actual active part of 369 00:18:09,880 --> 00:18:13,520 Speaker 1: it is this tiny little nose cone on the very top. Basically, 370 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:16,800 Speaker 1: it's a huge gas tank with a tiny little cab 371 00:18:16,880 --> 00:18:18,720 Speaker 1: on top, because you need to bring a lot of 372 00:18:18,760 --> 00:18:21,200 Speaker 1: that fuel with you. And so that's really the hard 373 00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:23,840 Speaker 1: part about space travel, is like bring all the fuel 374 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:25,720 Speaker 1: that you will need later because there are no gas 375 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:29,360 Speaker 1: stations in other planets. Right, there are no gas stations 376 00:18:29,359 --> 00:18:31,320 Speaker 1: out there in space. It sounds like you're identifying a 377 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:34,639 Speaker 1: business opportunity here, you know, rocket fuel for sale on 378 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:37,680 Speaker 1: Pluto or halfway between here and Alpha Centauri. You could 379 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:40,320 Speaker 1: sell a lot of slim gyms also, you know, yeah, 380 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:43,720 Speaker 1: there you go and and turkey turkey. But then what 381 00:18:43,760 --> 00:18:46,400 Speaker 1: do you do with the restroom waste? That's the hard part. 382 00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:48,640 Speaker 1: That's just more rocket fuel. Man, you can just mix 383 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:53,640 Speaker 1: it all in there you go, biomass, biomass fuel, biofuels 384 00:18:53,640 --> 00:18:56,760 Speaker 1: and solutions solved all at once. All right, Well, so 385 00:18:56,840 --> 00:18:59,879 Speaker 1: that's the main problem with thrusters and getting around the 386 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:02,879 Speaker 1: Solar system in space. And so there's this new idea 387 00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:06,239 Speaker 1: of using plasma based thrusters. So let's get into that 388 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:08,760 Speaker 1: and whether or not they're real and where they they 389 00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:24,359 Speaker 1: can work. But first let's take a quick break. Alright, 390 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:28,360 Speaker 1: we're talking about plasma based thrusters. Now, this sounds really 391 00:19:28,359 --> 00:19:31,080 Speaker 1: sci Fi Daniel, Plasma. Anything I think with the word 392 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:35,199 Speaker 1: plasma sounds cool, but it's the opposite. It's not cool, No, 393 00:19:35,359 --> 00:19:38,000 Speaker 1: it's not cool. It's very very hot, and it's actually 394 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:41,040 Speaker 1: one of the most common forms of matter in the universe. Right. 395 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:43,680 Speaker 1: People think of plasma is weird and rare and unusual, 396 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:46,200 Speaker 1: but it's really just weird and rare and unusual here 397 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:49,199 Speaker 1: on Earth, where it's sort of weirdly cold, Like the 398 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:52,680 Speaker 1: Sun is basically a huge ball of plasma. And since 399 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:54,760 Speaker 1: the Sun is most of the stuff in the Solar System, 400 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:57,359 Speaker 1: the Solar system is basically all plasma with a few 401 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:00,520 Speaker 1: crumbs like us, we should just call the Sun the 402 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:03,439 Speaker 1: plasma ball, the giant plasma ball in the sky. It 403 00:20:03,520 --> 00:20:06,359 Speaker 1: basically is, it's such a big, hot plasma that we 404 00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:08,919 Speaker 1: can feel it even ninety three million miles away, and 405 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:11,840 Speaker 1: thank goodness. But maybe step us through what is exactly 406 00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:14,640 Speaker 1: a plasma? You said, it's a state of matter. Yeah, 407 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,600 Speaker 1: you're familiar with several states of matter right there. Solids 408 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:20,200 Speaker 1: when the atoms are cool and sort of locking into 409 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:23,240 Speaker 1: a crystal structure, so they become solid and then liquid. 410 00:20:23,240 --> 00:20:25,720 Speaker 1: If you heat it up, then those atoms get liberated. 411 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:28,840 Speaker 1: From those bonds and squish around. Keep heating something and 412 00:20:28,880 --> 00:20:31,480 Speaker 1: it becomes a gas. As those atoms like to whizz 413 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:33,919 Speaker 1: around and aren't even connected to each other. If you 414 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:37,159 Speaker 1: keep heating it, then what happens is that the electrons 415 00:20:37,200 --> 00:20:40,280 Speaker 1: that are whizzing around those atoms get so much energy 416 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:44,239 Speaker 1: that they're no longer held on by the nucleus. So 417 00:20:44,280 --> 00:20:47,119 Speaker 1: you have a positive nucleus and a negative electron, and 418 00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:50,159 Speaker 1: usually the strength of that electromagnetic bond is enough to 419 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:53,119 Speaker 1: keep the electrons bound to the nucleus of the atom. 420 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:55,600 Speaker 1: But if you get them hot enough, then they escape, 421 00:20:55,840 --> 00:20:59,280 Speaker 1: and then you have something which has nuclei and electrons 422 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:02,920 Speaker 1: floating around, whizzing around. You have charged particles. So a 423 00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:05,520 Speaker 1: plasma is like a gas that's been heated up so 424 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:09,240 Speaker 1: much that it becomes ionized that the electrons are now free. Right, 425 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:13,080 Speaker 1: it's basically like just regular matter, right, that's heated up 426 00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:15,439 Speaker 1: so much that it breaks the atoms, like the items 427 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:18,320 Speaker 1: kind of break apart. Yeah, they're broken apart, and it's 428 00:21:18,359 --> 00:21:20,920 Speaker 1: sort of like the original state, you know, before things 429 00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:24,240 Speaker 1: cooled down the electrons got captured by the nuclei, they 430 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:27,679 Speaker 1: were free. Electrons were born free. They were captured, and 431 00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:29,960 Speaker 1: some of them have been in this state for billions 432 00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:32,120 Speaker 1: of years, and now if you heat something up, you're 433 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:35,679 Speaker 1: returning them back to their original state of freedom. Oh man, 434 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:37,320 Speaker 1: Now you make me sad for the atoms in my 435 00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:39,760 Speaker 1: body and the electrons in my body. You make it 436 00:21:39,800 --> 00:21:42,080 Speaker 1: sound like I'm trapping them and I'm keeping them from 437 00:21:42,080 --> 00:21:44,800 Speaker 1: being free. No, some atoms very happy to be married forever, 438 00:21:44,920 --> 00:21:46,679 Speaker 1: you know, but other ones want to be single, and 439 00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 1: so you know, there's good sides of both to each 440 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:53,160 Speaker 1: their own. But a plasma is basically like a singles 441 00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:55,720 Speaker 1: bar right now. It can anything be a plasma? Like 442 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:58,280 Speaker 1: can any kind of matter be a plasma if I 443 00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:00,760 Speaker 1: heated up enough, Yeah, anything can be a plasma. As 444 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:02,560 Speaker 1: long as you heat it up enough that it starts 445 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:04,520 Speaker 1: to lose its electrons and it is made out of 446 00:22:04,560 --> 00:22:07,199 Speaker 1: ions and its components are now charged instead of neutral, 447 00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:08,800 Speaker 1: then that's a plasma. So yeah, you can have a 448 00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:11,760 Speaker 1: plasma out of hydrogen. That's what most of the universe is. 449 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:13,879 Speaker 1: You can also have a plasma out of like iron. 450 00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:16,240 Speaker 1: You eat, have iron enough, you get an iron plasma. 451 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:18,160 Speaker 1: And you know you said it happens in the sun 452 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:19,680 Speaker 1: and it happens when you heat things up a love. 453 00:22:19,720 --> 00:22:21,640 Speaker 1: But there are other ways that you can make plasma 454 00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:24,359 Speaker 1: that doesn't heat them up that much, right, Like there's 455 00:22:24,480 --> 00:22:26,520 Speaker 1: I think you can use radio waves or some sort 456 00:22:26,520 --> 00:22:29,800 Speaker 1: of radiation to create a plasma, like in your desktop. Yeah, 457 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:32,639 Speaker 1: we have plasma all around us. Like fluorescent lights have 458 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:35,399 Speaker 1: a plasma in them, right, that's why they glow. You know, 459 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:38,240 Speaker 1: you can talk about the definition of temperature. I found 460 00:22:38,280 --> 00:22:41,080 Speaker 1: it's a little fuzzy. You are making those particles move 461 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:43,840 Speaker 1: fast enough. You're giving them enough energy to be released 462 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:46,560 Speaker 1: from their atoms, so they have that high velocity even 463 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:49,000 Speaker 1: if there's not that much actual heat. Right. A plasma 464 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:51,560 Speaker 1: doesn't have to be very very hot, even if it's 465 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:53,960 Speaker 1: high temperature because it doesn't store a lot of heat 466 00:22:54,000 --> 00:22:56,879 Speaker 1: because the gas is very diffuse and dilute. Then you 467 00:22:56,960 --> 00:22:59,600 Speaker 1: might not like burn yourself from touching a container that 468 00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:02,879 Speaker 1: has plasma in it, but it's still would be officially 469 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:07,440 Speaker 1: high temperature because the particles are moving fast. So fluorescent lights, 470 00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:09,480 Speaker 1: like the lights we all have in our offices and 471 00:23:09,520 --> 00:23:12,639 Speaker 1: in stores and stuff, that's plasma. That's like a canister 472 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:15,080 Speaker 1: of plasma, right, that's a canister of plasma and neon. 473 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:18,560 Speaker 1: For example, neon lights those have plasma inside them. So 474 00:23:18,600 --> 00:23:20,600 Speaker 1: those are atoms that are whizzing around. They have so 475 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:23,600 Speaker 1: much energy that they glow and they give off photons 476 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:26,879 Speaker 1: right there, just like shedding energy constantly. I wonder if 477 00:23:26,880 --> 00:23:30,200 Speaker 1: they had named those plasma lights, if we would feel 478 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:33,800 Speaker 1: the same way we feel about fluorescence lights right now, 479 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:37,320 Speaker 1: like they would be this name that's associated with something 480 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:43,520 Speaker 1: like unpleasant, boring, an unpleasant Yeah, yeah, a fluorescent blaster. 481 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:46,000 Speaker 1: I'm gonna shoot fluorescent light at you and give you 482 00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:49,399 Speaker 1: a headache. There you go. That will make for a 483 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:53,000 Speaker 1: Nokward science fiction marble, the headache gun. All right. So 484 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:56,040 Speaker 1: that's plasma. So how does the plasma thruster work? Like, 485 00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:58,560 Speaker 1: how would you use something like fluorescent light to push 486 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:02,919 Speaker 1: yourself through space? A plasma is glowing, it's giving off energy, 487 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 1: it's stuff moving around fast. The problem with the plasma 488 00:24:06,000 --> 00:24:08,680 Speaker 1: is that generally glows in every direction, and so it's 489 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:11,119 Speaker 1: sort of throwing momentum off in every direction. Like the 490 00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:14,280 Speaker 1: sun isn't an engine, it's not flying in one direction 491 00:24:14,359 --> 00:24:16,760 Speaker 1: because it's giving off energy in every direction. So if 492 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:19,400 Speaker 1: you want to take a plasma and turn it into 493 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:21,640 Speaker 1: a thruster or what you need to do is make 494 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:25,400 Speaker 1: it only point it's glow only shoot particles out, only 495 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:28,480 Speaker 1: send momentum away in one direction. And the way you 496 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:30,399 Speaker 1: do that is you just take a plasma and you 497 00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:32,879 Speaker 1: put it in basically a magnetic bottle. I mean, the 498 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:37,840 Speaker 1: plasmas are charged particles, and charge particles bend in magnetic fields, 499 00:24:37,960 --> 00:24:40,120 Speaker 1: and so it's hard to contain a plasma because has 500 00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:43,040 Speaker 1: so much energy. You'll basically eat through anything. It's sort 501 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:45,439 Speaker 1: of like acid. But if you could build a bottle 502 00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:48,400 Speaker 1: around it that bends the particles back into the plasma, 503 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:51,000 Speaker 1: but leave a hole in one side, then particles will 504 00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:53,920 Speaker 1: shoot out through that hole and effectively push the whole 505 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:56,760 Speaker 1: plasma the other direction. I see. It's like you're heating 506 00:24:56,800 --> 00:25:00,840 Speaker 1: a water, kind of like you're making a water a gun, 507 00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:03,600 Speaker 1: kind of like you heat up the water, it steams up, 508 00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:06,199 Speaker 1: becomes a high pressure gas, and then you shoot it 509 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:08,440 Speaker 1: on on one side, and that's kind of what would 510 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:10,840 Speaker 1: push you in space, but you're doing it with a 511 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:14,080 Speaker 1: plasma material. You take a water balloon, for example, if 512 00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:16,399 Speaker 1: you poke a water balloon on one side, then water 513 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:18,720 Speaker 1: is going to squirt out through the hole that you made, 514 00:25:18,720 --> 00:25:20,080 Speaker 1: and the rest of the balloon is going to go 515 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:23,000 Speaker 1: the other direction. And so that's basically what a plasma is. 516 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:25,840 Speaker 1: It's hot and high speed, and so it's always shooting 517 00:25:25,880 --> 00:25:29,000 Speaker 1: particles off. It's basically trying to expand. But if you 518 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:32,040 Speaker 1: contain it in every direction but one, but only where 519 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:34,640 Speaker 1: the hole is, can particles leave and they will carry momentum. 520 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:36,720 Speaker 1: And that's basically an engine. And so that's kind of 521 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:39,160 Speaker 1: the basic mechanism of a plasma thruster. It's like you're 522 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:41,960 Speaker 1: heating something up and then you're letting it escape out 523 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:44,520 Speaker 1: one end of your space. That's the basic mechanism. And 524 00:25:44,600 --> 00:25:47,000 Speaker 1: you remember once we talked on the podcast about using 525 00:25:47,040 --> 00:25:49,439 Speaker 1: the Sun as an engine, or building an engine that 526 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:52,479 Speaker 1: could move the whole Sun. It was the same basic idea. 527 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 1: It's to build something around the Sun that reflects its 528 00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:58,800 Speaker 1: energy back into the Sun, except in one direction. And 529 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:01,040 Speaker 1: so you can use this idea to move the whole Sun, 530 00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:03,800 Speaker 1: or you can build your own little mini plasma, your 531 00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:07,280 Speaker 1: mini sun, and reflect most of its energy back into itself, 532 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:10,320 Speaker 1: except in one direction. So that's the basic premise, right. 533 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:12,919 Speaker 1: It's kind of like a flashlight or even your headlights, right, 534 00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:15,200 Speaker 1: Like you're heating up an element, it's creating photons, but 535 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:18,840 Speaker 1: then you're focusing those photons to one side. Yeah, because 536 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:21,600 Speaker 1: flashlights usually have like a mirror on one side, so 537 00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:24,040 Speaker 1: the photons that are generated that come back towards the 538 00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:26,639 Speaker 1: handle get reflected to go the other direction, so it 539 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:29,840 Speaker 1: produces a more calmnated beam. So that's the basic principle. 540 00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:32,840 Speaker 1: If you can shoot off momentum in one direction, then 541 00:26:32,880 --> 00:26:35,040 Speaker 1: the rest of the engine goes the other way. And 542 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:37,639 Speaker 1: so what you need to do is get some cold stuff, 543 00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:40,720 Speaker 1: really almost anything, and heat it up until it becomes 544 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:43,679 Speaker 1: a plasma and confine it in all but one direction. 545 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,359 Speaker 1: I guess the tricky thing here that I'm not seeing 546 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:49,160 Speaker 1: is how is this better than a chemical reaction because 547 00:26:49,200 --> 00:26:51,199 Speaker 1: it seems like you're just you have to spend a 548 00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:53,959 Speaker 1: lot of energy to heat up this plasma as opposed 549 00:26:53,960 --> 00:26:56,919 Speaker 1: to like rocket fuel, which explodes because it has that 550 00:26:57,040 --> 00:27:00,000 Speaker 1: energy stored inside of it. Yeah, that's true. It's sometimes 551 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:02,960 Speaker 1: times can be an advantage to decouple those things. Like here, 552 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:05,320 Speaker 1: you're right that the source of energy is something else, 553 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:07,440 Speaker 1: and that means that you're sort of free to get 554 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:10,359 Speaker 1: that energy from another source. Like solar power. If you 555 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:13,400 Speaker 1: have huge solar cells, you can collect that energy, turn 556 00:27:13,440 --> 00:27:15,200 Speaker 1: it into electricity, and then hook it up to a 557 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:18,760 Speaker 1: plasma rocket and use it for propulsion. So that's one advantage, 558 00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:20,399 Speaker 1: sort of like the way you have an electric car. 559 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:22,480 Speaker 1: It's nice that you have an electric car because it 560 00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:24,359 Speaker 1: means that you can accept energy from lots of different 561 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:27,639 Speaker 1: kind of sources, not just dirty coal burning power plants, 562 00:27:27,640 --> 00:27:31,560 Speaker 1: but also clean solar panels. For example. Oh, I see, 563 00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:34,480 Speaker 1: they said, do you want to somehow collect solar energy 564 00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:37,439 Speaker 1: while you're out there in space and somehow convert that 565 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:41,560 Speaker 1: to thrust and instead of brain to fuel with you. Yeah, 566 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:43,960 Speaker 1: because it's lower mass, right, So if you can gather 567 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:46,280 Speaker 1: the energy along the way, then you can have this 568 00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:48,560 Speaker 1: plasma thruster and you don't need to bring all that 569 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:50,919 Speaker 1: fuel with you. But it can also be a disadvantage, right, 570 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:54,040 Speaker 1: because you need to gather that solar energy and that's complicated, 571 00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:56,480 Speaker 1: or you need to have some other source of electricity. 572 00:27:56,720 --> 00:27:58,679 Speaker 1: The nice thing about rocket fuels that it's sort of 573 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:00,800 Speaker 1: like all in one, as you say, So there are 574 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:04,200 Speaker 1: pros and cons there. What are some of the other cons. Well, 575 00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:06,520 Speaker 1: one of the cons is that plasma is really really 576 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:09,240 Speaker 1: hard to contain. You know, like you have a plasma, 577 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:11,760 Speaker 1: it's going to be eating away at the walls that 578 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:13,800 Speaker 1: you're trying to use to contain it all the time. 579 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:16,479 Speaker 1: One of the big challenges we have with fusion research 580 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:18,520 Speaker 1: here on Earth is that we're trying to make a 581 00:28:18,560 --> 00:28:20,959 Speaker 1: plasma and contain it. We can't just like have our 582 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:23,280 Speaker 1: own little sun a little destroy the Earth. So we 583 00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:25,760 Speaker 1: need to build these magnetic bottles. But they are hard. 584 00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:29,040 Speaker 1: Plasmas are always trying to escape and keeping them stable 585 00:28:29,040 --> 00:28:32,240 Speaker 1: and keeping them contained is really tricky. And you don't 586 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:35,480 Speaker 1: want your spaceship engine breaking down or the plasma leak 587 00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:38,160 Speaker 1: out and basically destroy your ship. So it's got to 588 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,600 Speaker 1: be really really robust, especially if you're talking about like 589 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:43,720 Speaker 1: a year's or decades long journey and there are no 590 00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:46,560 Speaker 1: repair stations along the way, right. Yeah, you need like 591 00:28:46,680 --> 00:28:50,840 Speaker 1: a cool container to keep that plasma in check. Yeah, 592 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:53,280 Speaker 1: And the plasma gets hot and it generates a lot 593 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:56,000 Speaker 1: of waste heat, and so you need some like large 594 00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:58,640 Speaker 1: way to radiate off all of that heat from the 595 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:01,040 Speaker 1: plasma that you're not using, and so that's a huge 596 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:04,120 Speaker 1: waste of energy. It's inefficient and sometimes it requires like 597 00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:08,320 Speaker 1: large fins just to cool this thing, which means more mass, 598 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:10,320 Speaker 1: which means that you're not going to be moving as quickly. 599 00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:13,040 Speaker 1: So there really are some disadvantages there. I think the 600 00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:16,600 Speaker 1: main disadvantage though, is that plasmas don't get particles up 601 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:20,120 Speaker 1: to very very high speeds like a rocket engine or 602 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:23,680 Speaker 1: ion thrusters or other things that have like active acceleration 603 00:29:24,040 --> 00:29:27,480 Speaker 1: of these ions can get much higher exhaust velocities. A 604 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:29,720 Speaker 1: plasma is basically just saying, hey, you've got something that's 605 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:32,440 Speaker 1: kind of already hot, The particles are already kind of 606 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:35,040 Speaker 1: moving around, so why don't you just use that. You're 607 00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:37,920 Speaker 1: not really getting very high exhaust velocity. Yeah, it doesn't 608 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:41,560 Speaker 1: seem that efficient because you're you're basically just throwing stuff 609 00:29:41,600 --> 00:29:44,520 Speaker 1: out the back, right, You're not sort of like releasing 610 00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:47,479 Speaker 1: any sort of inherent energy on it. You're literally like 611 00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:49,479 Speaker 1: just pushing stuff out the back, like you're throwing your 612 00:29:49,520 --> 00:29:52,120 Speaker 1: couches out the back of Yeah. Well, there is some 613 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:55,720 Speaker 1: extra flexibility there, for example, because you can almost use anything, 614 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:58,000 Speaker 1: Like you said, you can turn anything into a plasma, 615 00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:00,720 Speaker 1: and so you can use like astro not urine or 616 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:03,160 Speaker 1: astronaut waste and throw it in the engine and it 617 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:06,760 Speaker 1: will turn into fuel. Yes, you really can, or your 618 00:30:06,800 --> 00:30:08,920 Speaker 1: couch if you want to take more cleanly. You know, 619 00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:12,000 Speaker 1: other things sometimes require very special chemicals, like you got 620 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:14,360 Speaker 1: to use rocket fuel in a chemical engine, or if 621 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,240 Speaker 1: you have an ion thruster for example, and needs some 622 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:20,240 Speaker 1: very sort of like inert gas like zenon. You know, 623 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:23,640 Speaker 1: things that like those Starlink satellites have. These are little 624 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:26,600 Speaker 1: ion engines that create a little plasma, but they have 625 00:30:26,640 --> 00:30:29,160 Speaker 1: to start from zenon. But if you have a real 626 00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:32,000 Speaker 1: plasma engine on your spaceship, you can basically toss anything 627 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:36,280 Speaker 1: in their banana peels, coffee grounds, astronaut urine, whatever. Right, 628 00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:40,200 Speaker 1: you can have a poop plasma. That's a crappy idea, 629 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:43,880 Speaker 1: I know, let's flush that down the toilet. All right. 630 00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:46,400 Speaker 1: Well then, so what are some of the pros of 631 00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:49,560 Speaker 1: using a plasma thruster? Like why convinced me that it's 632 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:51,360 Speaker 1: a good thing? Well, I'm not sure I can give 633 00:30:51,360 --> 00:30:52,960 Speaker 1: in too is a great thing. This is sort of 634 00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:56,160 Speaker 1: the basic design for a plasma thruster. There are improvements 635 00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:58,400 Speaker 1: will talk about in a minute that make it more appealing, 636 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,840 Speaker 1: but they do have some advantages over other approaches, like, 637 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:06,640 Speaker 1: for example, the exhaust is naturally uncharged, doesn't have electric 638 00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:10,040 Speaker 1: charge because what you have are both positive and negative 639 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:12,680 Speaker 1: particles shooting out the back, and so as they come 640 00:31:12,720 --> 00:31:16,160 Speaker 1: out the back, they naturally sort of recombine into neutral particles. 641 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:18,280 Speaker 1: You don't need to do something extra to make sure 642 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:21,840 Speaker 1: their neutral. Like for ion thrusters, you're only shooting positively 643 00:31:21,920 --> 00:31:24,000 Speaker 1: charged particles out the back, and you need to add 644 00:31:24,040 --> 00:31:26,320 Speaker 1: electrons to them as they come out the back to 645 00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:28,680 Speaker 1: recombine them so they don't get like sucked back into 646 00:31:28,720 --> 00:31:32,080 Speaker 1: your ship. So there's one positive. Another positive is that 647 00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:34,920 Speaker 1: they're sort of simple. You know, they're basically just magnetic 648 00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 1: bottles that you're heating up using some sort of electrical energy, 649 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:40,400 Speaker 1: So there's not a whole lot of stuff to break, 650 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:43,560 Speaker 1: except of course, for the plasma eating the bottle. All right, Well, 651 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:47,680 Speaker 1: it sounds like simplicity and flexibility in the kind of 652 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:51,160 Speaker 1: fuel is a good thing. So let's get into how 653 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:54,000 Speaker 1: it to actually make one of these and whether or 654 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:57,320 Speaker 1: not it would be practical to do. First, let's take 655 00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:12,880 Speaker 1: another quick break. Or we're talking about plasma thrusters that 656 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:14,480 Speaker 1: may or may not be made out of p and 657 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:19,320 Speaker 1: poop in space. Definitely on the mayn or hopefully not. 658 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,080 Speaker 1: You don't want to be like the car behind that 659 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:27,560 Speaker 1: spaceship that's getting all that you know, high energy waste. Yeah, 660 00:32:27,560 --> 00:32:29,320 Speaker 1: then again, do you really want to carry all that 661 00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:31,320 Speaker 1: waste with you to Alpha Centauri so that when you 662 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:33,040 Speaker 1: show up and you meet the aliens, the first thing 663 00:32:33,080 --> 00:32:34,480 Speaker 1: you ask him is like, Hey, do you have a 664 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:36,680 Speaker 1: place I could put all this stuff? Because I have 665 00:32:36,760 --> 00:32:40,600 Speaker 1: a huge storage tank filled with it? Right, do you 666 00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:44,320 Speaker 1: want to recycle it? All? Right, we'll talk to us 667 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:46,800 Speaker 1: about whether or not people are actually making this and 668 00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:50,560 Speaker 1: maybe what kind of specific technology people are focusing on. 669 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:53,120 Speaker 1: So people are definitely working on this. They are developing 670 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:55,640 Speaker 1: these things in the laboratory, and the one that we 671 00:32:55,720 --> 00:32:58,440 Speaker 1: just talked about, the most basic sort of plasma thruster. 672 00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:01,600 Speaker 1: There's a version of a called Vasa mirror v A 673 00:33:01,640 --> 00:33:04,480 Speaker 1: s I m ARE that people are working on, and 674 00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:06,880 Speaker 1: it has like a magnetic nozzle at the end of it, 675 00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:09,080 Speaker 1: so you can sort of tune how much of the 676 00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:12,240 Speaker 1: plasma comes out and at what velocity. That's cool because 677 00:33:12,280 --> 00:33:15,040 Speaker 1: it lets you adjust this exhaust velocity and so you 678 00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:16,880 Speaker 1: can like ramp it up when you get into outer 679 00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:19,280 Speaker 1: space and get more thrust. So that's pretty cool. People 680 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:21,080 Speaker 1: are working on that. But then there are some other 681 00:33:21,200 --> 00:33:24,280 Speaker 1: exciting ideas that's sort of more cutting edge that people 682 00:33:24,280 --> 00:33:26,840 Speaker 1: are working on to improve plasma thrusters and sort of 683 00:33:27,000 --> 00:33:30,480 Speaker 1: next generation devices. Yeah, and these involve another pretty cool 684 00:33:30,520 --> 00:33:33,960 Speaker 1: science fiction work, which is fusion. Are we actually considering 685 00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:37,560 Speaker 1: like making fusion plossible for space travel, Yeah, we are, 686 00:33:37,600 --> 00:33:40,040 Speaker 1: because what we talked about so far is just plasma 687 00:33:40,160 --> 00:33:42,760 Speaker 1: right now. Plasma is an important component of fusion in 688 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:45,280 Speaker 1: the sun, but you can have plasma without fusion or 689 00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:48,240 Speaker 1: plasma and your fluorescent light is not doing nuclear fusion. 690 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:50,760 Speaker 1: It's not like a bomb. But the way that we 691 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:54,040 Speaker 1: do fusion is through a plasma. You gotta get a gas, 692 00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:56,440 Speaker 1: you've gotta heat it up, then you've gotta squeeze it 693 00:33:56,480 --> 00:33:59,560 Speaker 1: down so that those very high energy particles smash into 694 00:33:59,600 --> 00:34:02,400 Speaker 1: each other and make heavier elements. And so people are 695 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:04,960 Speaker 1: working on taking plasma thrusters to the place where they 696 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:09,120 Speaker 1: actually can fuse some fuel to release additional energy as 697 00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:11,960 Speaker 1: a way to avoid having a pump in external energy 698 00:34:12,000 --> 00:34:15,120 Speaker 1: like from solar panels or from some sort of electrical source. 699 00:34:15,280 --> 00:34:18,840 Speaker 1: So now we're talking about making fusion in space. Fusion 700 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,840 Speaker 1: in space like a fusion engine that you put on 701 00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:24,680 Speaker 1: a spaceship. Yeah, and it's called a direct fusion drive. 702 00:34:24,840 --> 00:34:26,680 Speaker 1: And you might be wondering why you would want to 703 00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:29,160 Speaker 1: do that, because the whole idea of a plasma thruster 704 00:34:29,239 --> 00:34:31,360 Speaker 1: was that you could take energy from all sorts of 705 00:34:31,360 --> 00:34:34,600 Speaker 1: different directions. What the idea here is that, again, like 706 00:34:34,640 --> 00:34:38,080 Speaker 1: a chemical rocket, you're now bringing the fuel that has 707 00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:41,360 Speaker 1: the energy inside it. Right, it's more like a chemical rocket, 708 00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:44,280 Speaker 1: but this fuel is very, very dense. You know, fusion 709 00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:47,880 Speaker 1: is much more efficient than chemical burning because you're turning 710 00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:51,840 Speaker 1: mass into energy much more effectively. That's why I like, 711 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:55,279 Speaker 1: for example, hydrogen bombs are much more powerful than T 712 00:34:55,480 --> 00:34:58,279 Speaker 1: and T because fusion is much more powerful than just 713 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:00,959 Speaker 1: chemical burning, and so you have a much denser source 714 00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:03,719 Speaker 1: of fuel, and so it's more efficient transformation of that 715 00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:06,000 Speaker 1: fuel into energy. So you just don't have to bring 716 00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:09,080 Speaker 1: nearly as much fuel if you can use fusion as 717 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:11,680 Speaker 1: the source of energy. Right, it's like you're bringing all 718 00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:14,759 Speaker 1: the energy that's trapped inside of the bonds or that's 719 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:17,520 Speaker 1: trapped in the potential bonds of the fuel that you're 720 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:20,359 Speaker 1: bringing so it's almost like you're being extra clever about it. Yeah, 721 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:22,920 Speaker 1: it's all about getting as much energy as possible out 722 00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:25,680 Speaker 1: of the same mass of fuel, because then you need 723 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:28,160 Speaker 1: less fuel mass for that energy. You know, the best 724 00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:31,440 Speaker 1: case scenarios to bring like antimatter fuel and to smash 725 00:35:31,520 --> 00:35:35,520 Speaker 1: matter and antimatter together because it's total annihilation of mass 726 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:38,520 Speaker 1: into energy. But you know, antimatter is basically impossible to 727 00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:42,000 Speaker 1: fabricate in large quantities and very difficult to transport. Fusion 728 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:45,120 Speaker 1: is sort of like at the edge of plausibility, like 729 00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:48,239 Speaker 1: it might be possible to build a fusion reactor in 730 00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:52,400 Speaker 1: space that transforms the energy stored in the nucleus into 731 00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:54,719 Speaker 1: energy you can throw at the back of your rocket. Yeah, 732 00:35:54,719 --> 00:35:56,960 Speaker 1: that's the thing, because I feel like, you know, we've 733 00:35:57,000 --> 00:35:59,560 Speaker 1: been working on trying to get fusion working here on 734 00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:03,040 Speaker 1: Earth for like fifty years, and we still don't have 735 00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:07,000 Speaker 1: a pretty good or a working or an efficient fusion generator. 736 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:08,759 Speaker 1: What makes this thing that we can suddenly do it 737 00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:12,319 Speaker 1: in space? Well, I talked to some plasma physicists and 738 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:15,839 Speaker 1: they don't They don't think this is possible. They're like, no, 739 00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:18,560 Speaker 1: I don't think so. I mean, some people make the 740 00:36:18,680 --> 00:36:21,120 Speaker 1: argument that it's simpler. They think it doesn't have to 741 00:36:21,120 --> 00:36:23,440 Speaker 1: be such a huge, massive thing, like you could build 742 00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:27,560 Speaker 1: basically a minivan sized fusion container rather than like the 743 00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:30,480 Speaker 1: fusion reactors were building here on Earth, like either this 744 00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:34,120 Speaker 1: new reactor they're building in France is like sixty meters high, 745 00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:36,520 Speaker 1: and so they think it could be simpler. It can 746 00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:39,440 Speaker 1: be smaller. But frankly, there's a lot of skepticism in 747 00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:42,560 Speaker 1: the plasma physics community about whether this is plausible at all. 748 00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:47,840 Speaker 1: It's basically relying on an uninvented technology, small scale fusion 749 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:50,800 Speaker 1: that would have to work and be reliable for years. 750 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:53,360 Speaker 1: And so what's the basic idea that we somehow trapped 751 00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:57,760 Speaker 1: plasma and then somehow ignited so that it fuses together 752 00:36:57,960 --> 00:37:00,400 Speaker 1: and then that energy goes out the back. That's the 753 00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:03,760 Speaker 1: basic idea. You start the plasma with some other external 754 00:37:03,760 --> 00:37:06,440 Speaker 1: heat source, maybe r F energy or whatever you've captured 755 00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:08,719 Speaker 1: from before, and then once you've got it hot, you 756 00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:11,719 Speaker 1: put in your fuel and then that fuel releases more 757 00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:13,400 Speaker 1: energy and sort of then it's sort of like a 758 00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:16,960 Speaker 1: fire because it releases the energy needed to ignite the 759 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:19,640 Speaker 1: next piece of fuel, and so it's self sustaining, So 760 00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:21,840 Speaker 1: you're putting in energy, but only in terms of this 761 00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:25,520 Speaker 1: like very very dense fuel that releases a huge amount 762 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:28,400 Speaker 1: of energy. So then the particles are now very high 763 00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:31,319 Speaker 1: speed and they flow around the field lines of your 764 00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:33,799 Speaker 1: magnetic bottle and they shoot out the back. And so 765 00:37:33,880 --> 00:37:37,040 Speaker 1: that's pretty cool. It generates very high speed particles, which 766 00:37:37,080 --> 00:37:39,320 Speaker 1: are very good for a rocket engine, and at the 767 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:41,759 Speaker 1: same time you can capture some of that energy and 768 00:37:41,880 --> 00:37:44,640 Speaker 1: turn it into energy for your spaceship. Right, you also 769 00:37:44,719 --> 00:37:48,080 Speaker 1: want to like heat coffee and power your life support systems. Well, 770 00:37:48,080 --> 00:37:50,560 Speaker 1: you have a fusion reactor on board now that not 771 00:37:50,719 --> 00:37:54,080 Speaker 1: just is generating thrust, but also can generate direct electricity. 772 00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:56,480 Speaker 1: I guess when maybe one advantage to is that, unlike 773 00:37:56,480 --> 00:37:58,680 Speaker 1: a future generator here on Earth, you're not trying to 774 00:37:58,680 --> 00:38:01,520 Speaker 1: like power a whole city, right, Like it doesn't have 775 00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:05,680 Speaker 1: to me maybe energy positive for a space engine, like 776 00:38:05,920 --> 00:38:08,440 Speaker 1: you actually want to spend some energy to push yourself, 777 00:38:08,640 --> 00:38:11,440 Speaker 1: so it doesn't maybe have the same requirements as a 778 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:14,640 Speaker 1: fusion generator here on Earth. Yeah, that's true. Some of 779 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:17,160 Speaker 1: these designs that are even more complicated than the ones 780 00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:19,439 Speaker 1: that are working on here on Earth, Like here on Earth, 781 00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:22,839 Speaker 1: we try to use simpler fuels like deuterium and tritium. 782 00:38:22,880 --> 00:38:25,799 Speaker 1: These are isotopes of hydrogen with extra neutrons on them. 783 00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:28,720 Speaker 1: But the ones that people are talking about for space 784 00:38:28,719 --> 00:38:32,200 Speaker 1: travel use like advanced fuels like helium three. And these 785 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:34,200 Speaker 1: are cool because you can find like deposits of it 786 00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:37,240 Speaker 1: on the Moon. But nobody has made fusion for helium 787 00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:39,759 Speaker 1: three work. It's even much more complicated than the kind 788 00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:42,480 Speaker 1: of fusion we're talking about on Earth that we also 789 00:38:42,600 --> 00:38:45,160 Speaker 1: haven't made work. And so this is definitely in the 790 00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:48,359 Speaker 1: category of like the could work, would be awesome, might 791 00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:52,120 Speaker 1: never work. It's currently at the science fiction novel stage. Yeah, 792 00:38:52,200 --> 00:38:55,040 Speaker 1: it's currently at the Marvel movie name drop stage. No, 793 00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:57,480 Speaker 1: they're like, there are prototypes. They are working on it 794 00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:00,839 Speaker 1: at Princeton. Princeton has an incredible plasma physics obratory. They're 795 00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:03,680 Speaker 1: grade at fusion, and so there are people working on it, 796 00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:06,839 Speaker 1: but you know, it's far away from being a proven technology. Well, 797 00:39:06,840 --> 00:39:09,359 Speaker 1: there are some pretty new and interesting ideas. I think 798 00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:11,759 Speaker 1: you spoke to some of the scientists there at the 799 00:39:11,800 --> 00:39:14,839 Speaker 1: Princeton Lab and they have some new concepts for making 800 00:39:14,840 --> 00:39:17,399 Speaker 1: this happen. Yeah, there was a new idea just this 801 00:39:17,520 --> 00:39:22,320 Speaker 1: year from an Iranian scientist at plasma, Dr Fatima Abrahimi, 802 00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:24,879 Speaker 1: And she was actually thinking about the way the Sun 803 00:39:24,960 --> 00:39:27,640 Speaker 1: works because the Sun is a huge ball of plasma 804 00:39:27,719 --> 00:39:30,600 Speaker 1: and the Sun has these crazy releases of energy, right, 805 00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:34,520 Speaker 1: like these huge coronal mass ejections, and these happened when 806 00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:37,840 Speaker 1: the magnetic fields on the Sun like reconfigure themselves and 807 00:39:37,960 --> 00:39:40,279 Speaker 1: snap into a new direction in which you get are 808 00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:42,920 Speaker 1: these like bubbles of plasma that are trapped in these 809 00:39:42,960 --> 00:39:46,440 Speaker 1: little magnetic field ripples and they move really really fast 810 00:39:46,440 --> 00:39:48,560 Speaker 1: through the plasma. So she thought, well, I wonder if 811 00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:50,759 Speaker 1: you could use that to build an engine, Like what 812 00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:53,960 Speaker 1: if you could have a plasma to generate these little 813 00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:57,239 Speaker 1: magnetic bubbles and then shot them out the back. That 814 00:39:57,280 --> 00:40:00,040 Speaker 1: would be an effective way to take your plasma. You 815 00:40:00,040 --> 00:40:02,880 Speaker 1: wouldn't necessarily need it to be fusing and to shoot 816 00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:06,520 Speaker 1: really high energy plasmoids out the back. So that's what 817 00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:10,400 Speaker 1: these little magnetic bubbles are called plasmoids. This is just 818 00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:14,320 Speaker 1: some like phenomenon that happens with all plasmas. And she's saying, 819 00:40:14,440 --> 00:40:17,120 Speaker 1: let's capture those bubbles and use them. Yeah, let's capture 820 00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:19,319 Speaker 1: those bubbles and direct them and if we can make 821 00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:21,880 Speaker 1: our magnetic fields in such a way that they always 822 00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:24,440 Speaker 1: shoot in one direction, then we can basically shoot these 823 00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:27,000 Speaker 1: magnetic bubbles out the back. And because they move at 824 00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:30,640 Speaker 1: very high speeds, like twenty kilometers per second, then you 825 00:40:30,680 --> 00:40:33,240 Speaker 1: can get a very high exhaust velocity from your plasma, 826 00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:36,239 Speaker 1: much higher than the generic plasma thruster we were talking 827 00:40:36,239 --> 00:40:38,279 Speaker 1: about before, which is just like a hot gas with 828 00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:41,960 Speaker 1: stuff leaking out. This is like magnetically directed and accelerated 829 00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:45,200 Speaker 1: inside the plasma. Yeah, the generic version is always you know, 830 00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:48,799 Speaker 1: a little suspect cheaper, but yeah, cheaper, Yeah, but you 831 00:40:48,840 --> 00:40:52,080 Speaker 1: never know, right, So this is sort of like using 832 00:40:52,120 --> 00:40:54,719 Speaker 1: plasma burbs, right, Like this could be called the plasma 833 00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:57,760 Speaker 1: burp engine. Yeah, the plasma burp engine. I'm sure she'd 834 00:40:57,760 --> 00:40:59,960 Speaker 1: love to have it called that, better than the other 835 00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:03,400 Speaker 1: name you could give it for, you know, shooting gas. Yeah, well, 836 00:41:03,440 --> 00:41:06,560 Speaker 1: these are high velocity burps. Right. This is like ten 837 00:41:06,719 --> 00:41:10,440 Speaker 1: times faster exhaust speed than a generic plasma engine. And 838 00:41:10,480 --> 00:41:13,279 Speaker 1: that's exciting because the exhaust speed is key, right, That's 839 00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:15,719 Speaker 1: the thing that gives you that push of momentum. That's 840 00:41:15,719 --> 00:41:18,200 Speaker 1: what lets you really get your spaceship going up to 841 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:21,520 Speaker 1: high speeds very quickly. Yeah, these are name brand burps, 842 00:41:21,560 --> 00:41:25,000 Speaker 1: not the generic kind. All right, Well, let's be hopeful, 843 00:41:25,040 --> 00:41:26,560 Speaker 1: and so let's say they make this work and we 844 00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:29,279 Speaker 1: have this exciting technology. Can it takes us around the 845 00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:32,040 Speaker 1: source system faster? Like could we get to Mars in 846 00:41:32,520 --> 00:41:34,440 Speaker 1: less than a month? Yeah? If you had this kind 847 00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:37,040 Speaker 1: of technology and it was reliable and you trusted it, 848 00:41:37,320 --> 00:41:40,320 Speaker 1: then you could get to Mars in like thirty nine days. 849 00:41:40,800 --> 00:41:43,880 Speaker 1: They've done these calculations and this kind of engine again, 850 00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:46,360 Speaker 1: if it works can get you to Mars in a 851 00:41:46,400 --> 00:41:48,759 Speaker 1: pretty short amount of time. That's great because it means 852 00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:50,840 Speaker 1: you could also get to like Saturn in just a 853 00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:53,200 Speaker 1: couple of years. You can get to Pluto in like 854 00:41:53,360 --> 00:41:56,080 Speaker 1: less than five years where its currently it takes more 855 00:41:56,120 --> 00:41:58,440 Speaker 1: than a decade to get out to those outer parts 856 00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:00,799 Speaker 1: of the Solar system Mars and already nine days that 857 00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:05,439 Speaker 1: is like a Marvel movie a day. So your dream 858 00:42:05,520 --> 00:42:07,960 Speaker 1: might come true. Yeah, and they keep making them so 859 00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:09,960 Speaker 1: they can just beam them to you. You You can download them. 860 00:42:10,560 --> 00:42:13,120 Speaker 1: There you go. I hope they have free WiFi. You 861 00:42:13,160 --> 00:42:16,440 Speaker 1: can you can burp your way through the Marble catalog. 862 00:42:17,160 --> 00:42:19,520 Speaker 1: What if you shoot avengers movies out the back of 863 00:42:19,560 --> 00:42:23,279 Speaker 1: your ship. That's the potential engine right there. They're pretty massive. Yeah, 864 00:42:23,480 --> 00:42:25,640 Speaker 1: definitely takes them. All the money that marble and is 865 00:42:25,719 --> 00:42:28,560 Speaker 1: made to make these engines work. So and it's not 866 00:42:28,640 --> 00:42:30,640 Speaker 1: just humans that need to get around the Solar System. 867 00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:33,799 Speaker 1: They're very real reasons why we want faster ways to 868 00:42:33,800 --> 00:42:37,440 Speaker 1: move around the Solar System, and one is to intercept asteroids. 869 00:42:37,719 --> 00:42:39,920 Speaker 1: You know that we're always on the lookout for objects 870 00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:42,680 Speaker 1: that might hit the Earth, that might come and impact 871 00:42:42,680 --> 00:42:45,360 Speaker 1: the Earth and cause an extinction event, and we're pretty 872 00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:47,600 Speaker 1: good at watching these things, but sometimes they appear with 873 00:42:47,719 --> 00:42:50,879 Speaker 1: very little warning. And the critical thing when you're trying 874 00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:53,120 Speaker 1: to avoid getting hit by a rock is just spotted 875 00:42:53,200 --> 00:42:55,840 Speaker 1: as early as possible, because that's when you can give it, 876 00:42:55,880 --> 00:42:57,919 Speaker 1: like just a little bit of a nudge and push 877 00:42:57,960 --> 00:42:59,800 Speaker 1: it off course to spare the Earth. But if you 878 00:43:00,040 --> 00:43:02,319 Speaker 1: see this rock, you gotta get to it. You gotta 879 00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:04,239 Speaker 1: get out there to give it a nudge. And so 880 00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:08,640 Speaker 1: a faster rocket like a plasma based interceptor might literally 881 00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:11,399 Speaker 1: save the Earth someday if it means that we can 882 00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:13,880 Speaker 1: get it out there and give that asteroid a nudge 883 00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:17,239 Speaker 1: before it comes and hits the Earth. Interesting, just gives 884 00:43:17,239 --> 00:43:20,000 Speaker 1: you faster first responders in case of an emergency. Yeah, 885 00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:22,040 Speaker 1: so you can get to it sooner, which means you 886 00:43:22,040 --> 00:43:24,520 Speaker 1: need a smaller push, which means there are a lot 887 00:43:24,560 --> 00:43:27,600 Speaker 1: more asteroids that you could deflect. Right, A really really 888 00:43:27,640 --> 00:43:30,759 Speaker 1: tiny push two years in advance is the equivalent of 889 00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:34,160 Speaker 1: like a massive nuclear thrust five minutes before it hits 890 00:43:34,160 --> 00:43:36,640 Speaker 1: the Earth. It's much easier to deflect these things if 891 00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:38,400 Speaker 1: you catch them early. All right, Well, then maybe you 892 00:43:38,400 --> 00:43:40,920 Speaker 1: should stop watching so many Marvel movies and get to 893 00:43:40,960 --> 00:43:44,239 Speaker 1: work on this, Daniel. Come on, would you never know 894 00:43:44,280 --> 00:43:46,080 Speaker 1: when that asteroid might come? I would happily do it 895 00:43:46,120 --> 00:43:48,600 Speaker 1: if anything I did ever had any practical benefits. But 896 00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:53,360 Speaker 1: you know that's not true. Yeah, maybe you're not the 897 00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:57,800 Speaker 1: person to put on this project. All right, Well, last question, Daniel. 898 00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:00,760 Speaker 1: If somebody did make a spaceship but it is powered 899 00:44:00,760 --> 00:44:04,839 Speaker 1: by direct fusion and plasma plasma thruster, would you buy 900 00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:08,680 Speaker 1: it if it was used? Well, I guess it depends 901 00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:11,160 Speaker 1: on what happened the last people who used it, Right, 902 00:44:11,239 --> 00:44:13,640 Speaker 1: if they're still around and they had a good trip, 903 00:44:13,680 --> 00:44:16,200 Speaker 1: then yeah, I would trust it better than spending all 904 00:44:16,200 --> 00:44:19,439 Speaker 1: that money on a new fusion drive. Geez who space? 905 00:44:21,000 --> 00:44:23,160 Speaker 1: All right, Well, I think that answer is the question 906 00:44:23,280 --> 00:44:26,479 Speaker 1: what is a plasma thruster and how that might work 907 00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:28,800 Speaker 1: and how it could work in the future. And again, 908 00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:31,239 Speaker 1: scientists are hard at work trying to get us out 909 00:44:31,280 --> 00:44:33,640 Speaker 1: there into space so that we can explore more and 910 00:44:33,719 --> 00:44:36,360 Speaker 1: see things up close and learn more about the universe. 911 00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:39,040 Speaker 1: That's right. Some of these things are real and working 912 00:44:39,040 --> 00:44:41,000 Speaker 1: in the laboratory, and some of these things are still 913 00:44:41,080 --> 00:44:43,759 Speaker 1: pipe dreams that scientists are working on. And there's lots 914 00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:45,799 Speaker 1: of room for new ideas. So if you have an 915 00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:48,279 Speaker 1: awesome idea for a new spaceship engine that let's just 916 00:44:48,320 --> 00:44:51,200 Speaker 1: get around the Solar system. Hey, get to work, that's right, 917 00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:54,640 Speaker 1: and you could create the next name brand spaceship. All right, 918 00:44:54,680 --> 00:45:05,320 Speaker 1: thanks for joining us, see you next time. Thanks for listening, 919 00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:08,040 Speaker 1: and remember that Daniel and Jorge explained. The Universe is 920 00:45:08,080 --> 00:45:11,560 Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio or more podcast from 921 00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:15,359 Speaker 1: my Heart Radio. Visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 922 00:45:15,480 --> 00:45:18,800 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. H