1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:12,479 Speaker 1: Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from iHeartRadio. Hey there, 2 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 1: and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 3 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer with iHeartRadio and a love of 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:21,320 Speaker 1: all things tech. And for today's show, we're actually going 5 00:00:21,320 --> 00:00:24,759 Speaker 1: to listen to a podcast I recorded last year about 6 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:30,480 Speaker 1: the Artemis Project, a NASA project to return American astronauts 7 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:34,479 Speaker 1: to the Moon. Because the Office of the Inspector General, 8 00:00:34,760 --> 00:00:40,720 Speaker 1: a department within NASA, conducted an audit and discovered that 9 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,080 Speaker 1: there is really no way NASA is going to have 10 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:50,479 Speaker 1: space suits ready for a twenty twenty four return to 11 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: the Moon. That was the proposed deadline. We are not 12 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:58,200 Speaker 1: going to make that. According to the audit, the earliest 13 00:00:58,280 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 1: those space suits would be ready with be sometime in 14 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:06,039 Speaker 1: the spring of twenty twenty five. So according to that, 15 00:01:06,160 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: and that's just one piece, obviously, of a very complicated 16 00:01:10,319 --> 00:01:13,720 Speaker 1: series of pieces necessary for us to return to space, 17 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:16,320 Speaker 1: we're not going to be back on the Moon by 18 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:19,640 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, which even at the you know, when 19 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: I recorded the episode last year, I thought was an 20 00:01:22,280 --> 00:01:27,160 Speaker 1: incredibly aggressive target in the first place. So I thought 21 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:29,840 Speaker 1: it would be good to go back and listen to 22 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:34,920 Speaker 1: that episode about the Artemis project and to understand what 23 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:38,759 Speaker 1: the parameters are, what the purpose is, and then at 24 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:42,120 Speaker 1: the end I'll talk a little bit more about space suits. 25 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: So let's get to it today. We're going to talk 26 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:53,040 Speaker 1: about space and NASA's most recent program intended to put 27 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:57,400 Speaker 1: American astronauts back on the Moon and eventually to go 28 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:00,800 Speaker 1: beyond the Moon. But first let's do a wick look 29 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: back into the history of the space program. So back 30 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:08,960 Speaker 1: in the early nineteen sixties, the United States was in 31 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: a fierce competition with the then Soviet Union. The Soviets 32 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:17,840 Speaker 1: had shocked Americans upon the launch of the satellite Sputnik 33 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:21,600 Speaker 1: that was the first man made object launched into orbit 34 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:25,360 Speaker 1: around the Earth. Sputnik didn't really do a whole lot 35 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: other than send out a little beep of a radio 36 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 1: signal as it traveled miles above the Earth's surface, but 37 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 1: the implications of that launch were enormous. First, the fact 38 00:02:37,080 --> 00:02:40,600 Speaker 1: that the Soviets could launch an object into orbit suggested 39 00:02:40,600 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: that the USSR also had the capability of launching, say, 40 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: you know, a missile somewhere else, like across the world 41 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:54,079 Speaker 1: at the United States. Coupled with a nuclear warhead. That 42 00:02:54,280 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: was a chilling thought. The US and the USSR held 43 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: a great deal of animal aimosity for each other, which 44 00:03:01,760 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: is putting it lightly, or at least the governments of 45 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:08,040 Speaker 1: those countries did, and each government supported an awful lot 46 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:12,040 Speaker 1: of propaganda aimed at vilifying the other side. As a 47 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:14,359 Speaker 1: child of the eighties, I remember a lot of sort 48 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:18,919 Speaker 1: of anti Soviet, anti Russian kind of messaging in pop 49 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:22,640 Speaker 1: culture and beyond well. Anyway, the second part of this 50 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: is that the world is a stage, as Shakespeare once wrote, 51 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,280 Speaker 1: and on that stage, the Soviets were poised to take 52 00:03:30,320 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: on the role of most technologically and scientifically advanced nation 53 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:37,839 Speaker 1: on the planet. And that was something that the US 54 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 1: government wasn't too keen on either, and so there was 55 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: a very strong incentive to give the US space industry 56 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: its own shot in the arm to catch up and 57 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: then ultimately to pass the Soviet space program. The space 58 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: race would showcase the best and worst of human traits. 59 00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:03,080 Speaker 1: Among the best were ingenuity, problems, solving, collaboration, exploration, and curiosity. 60 00:04:03,800 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: Among the worst, you had pride, you had boasting not 61 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:10,520 Speaker 1: to mention the fact that the finish line kept getting 62 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: pushed back whenever one side would achieve something notable, like 63 00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:17,159 Speaker 1: you might say, oh, well, really, the real test is 64 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:19,720 Speaker 1: to put the first person up in space, And then 65 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 1: the Soviets did that, and the Americans said, well, really, 66 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 1: the real test is docking two spacecraft in space together. 67 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:30,600 Speaker 1: And then the Americans did that, and the Soviets said, well, 68 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:33,520 Speaker 1: really it's and so they kept pushing that back until 69 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:37,320 Speaker 1: finally it got to the real goal isn't to put 70 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 1: something into orbit, but to get to the moon, and 71 00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: that was viewed as the ultimate goal, the ultimate finish line. Now, 72 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:48,000 Speaker 1: I mean, for reals, a lot of the space race 73 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:50,320 Speaker 1: was really just about moving those goal posts so that 74 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:54,400 Speaker 1: one side could not easily declare victory and superiority over 75 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:57,560 Speaker 1: the other side. And yes, it is more than a 76 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:00,719 Speaker 1: little bit childish. It might remind you of kids playing 77 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:02,919 Speaker 1: a game where they keep changing the rules whenever it 78 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: seems like they're losing. However, that childish desire is also 79 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:12,400 Speaker 1: what helped drive and perhaps more importantly, fund, the actual 80 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:14,760 Speaker 1: engineering and science that would lead to some of the 81 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:18,200 Speaker 1: greatest achievements in human history. These are achievements that would 82 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 1: spin off numerous beneficial technologies that we rely upon and 83 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: benefit from. Today anyway. In nineteen sixty three, the US 84 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:32,040 Speaker 1: Space Agency NASA initiated a new program named Apollo, and 85 00:05:32,080 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 1: this was an official response to a promise that had 86 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:38,960 Speaker 1: been made in nineteen sixty one by US President John F. Kennedy. 87 00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 1: He announced a commitment to get astronauts to the Moon 88 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:45,159 Speaker 1: by the end of that decade. Now, in Greek mythology, 89 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:48,640 Speaker 1: Apollo is the son of Zeus. He's the god of 90 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: the arts, of poetry, and of the Sun. The Apollo 91 00:05:53,160 --> 00:05:57,440 Speaker 1: missions saw several successful moon landings, beginning with Apollo eleven 92 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:01,720 Speaker 1: in July nineteen sixty nine, an ending with Apollo seventeen 93 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: in December nineteen seventy two. The program also had its 94 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:10,440 Speaker 1: share of tragedy. In nineteen sixty seven, three astronauts died 95 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:13,159 Speaker 1: in a pre flight test when a fire broke out 96 00:06:13,200 --> 00:06:16,479 Speaker 1: in the cockpit of the command module. NASA would later 97 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:20,040 Speaker 1: designate this mission, originally known as Apollo two oh four, 98 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:24,640 Speaker 1: Apollo one, in an effort to honor the three astronauts 99 00:06:24,640 --> 00:06:28,679 Speaker 1: who lost their lives in this accident. Apollo seventeen would 100 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 1: mark the last time a human would set foot on 101 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:34,240 Speaker 1: the Moon, and that stands true up to the date 102 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:37,560 Speaker 1: of this recording. No human has been back to the 103 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:41,799 Speaker 1: Moon since December nineteen seventy two, and that's what brings 104 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:46,240 Speaker 1: us to today's topic, because once again NASA and numerous 105 00:06:46,279 --> 00:06:50,400 Speaker 1: partnering companies and organizations are looking to send people back 106 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:53,719 Speaker 1: to the Moon's surface. This time, the goal is to 107 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:58,279 Speaker 1: include women astronauts in the project, something that just didn't 108 00:06:58,560 --> 00:07:02,280 Speaker 1: happen back in the sixty and seventies. The new program 109 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 1: is called Artemis. Now, like Apollo, the name Artemis comes 110 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:11,320 Speaker 1: to us from Greek mythology. She's actually Apollo's twin sister, 111 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:14,160 Speaker 1: which makes sense. This is sort of the twin Sister 112 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:18,120 Speaker 1: project to Apollo. Now. Frankly, I would argue Artemis is 113 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 1: much better suited as a name for this project because 114 00:07:21,640 --> 00:07:24,840 Speaker 1: she's the goddess of the Moon. She's also the goddess 115 00:07:24,840 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 1: of the wilderness and hunting and other stuff. The Greek 116 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 1: gods were famous multitaskers. As goddess of the Moon, she 117 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: does have the perfect name for the NASA endeavor to 118 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:38,680 Speaker 1: put people up there. She did not just spring into being, 119 00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:42,880 Speaker 1: either in mythology or in the space project. In space terms, 120 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:46,600 Speaker 1: Artemis follows some earlier attempts to get astronauts back to 121 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:49,320 Speaker 1: the Moon. She's sort of the evolution of some earlier 122 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:54,680 Speaker 1: programs that have since been either canceled or just transformed. 123 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:57,480 Speaker 1: So this means we need to look at a span 124 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:02,680 Speaker 1: of time between the Apollo mission and the upcoming Artemis missions. 125 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 1: In the first decade of the twenty first century, NASA 126 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:11,400 Speaker 1: announced a program called Constellation. The scope of Constellation was 127 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:15,360 Speaker 1: pretty darn big. It laid out the many advances NASA 128 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:19,480 Speaker 1: identified as being pivotal for the most extensive missions to 129 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 1: the Moon and beyond. It called for the retirement of 130 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:25,840 Speaker 1: the Space Shuttle program. It was already on its way out, 131 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:29,240 Speaker 1: and so the reason for that was that the Space 132 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:32,400 Speaker 1: Shuttle program was limited in its ability. Really could only 133 00:08:32,440 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: go into orbit. It can't go to the Moon or beyond. 134 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:40,320 Speaker 1: And also the Columbia disaster had brought up serious questions 135 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:43,240 Speaker 1: about the viability of the Space Shuttle program in general, 136 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:48,520 Speaker 1: it was an aging fleet of spacecraft. So this particular 137 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:52,120 Speaker 1: Constellation program laid out requirements for a new type of 138 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:57,200 Speaker 1: spacecraft called Orion, also known as the Crew Exploration Vehicle, 139 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:00,520 Speaker 1: and it's similar to the old Apollo CAP but it's 140 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: actually larger and has a lot more features and could 141 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:07,720 Speaker 1: support a crew of astronauts on a mission to the 142 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 1: Moon and back, or extended trips to the International Space Station. 143 00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:14,760 Speaker 1: I'll talk more about the Orion in detail a little 144 00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:18,880 Speaker 1: bit later. So the Constellation program, in turn, was a 145 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:22,959 Speaker 1: response to a call from the US President, George W. Bush, 146 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:26,040 Speaker 1: and he was asking NASA to really shoot for these goals. 147 00:09:26,040 --> 00:09:30,679 Speaker 1: He wanted something really aspirational and inspirational to kind of 148 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:34,320 Speaker 1: get people excited about this. Presidents tend to do this, 149 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:37,880 Speaker 1: by the way, when they need a kind of a 150 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:41,680 Speaker 1: boost in their own popularity. It's great that we benefit 151 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:44,880 Speaker 1: from it from a scientific perspective, but it does not 152 00:09:45,040 --> 00:09:51,000 Speaker 1: always come from a genuine desire to push science. Sometimes 153 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:53,960 Speaker 1: that desire is more linked to the politics of the 154 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:58,160 Speaker 1: situation than the actual scientific goal of the situation. And 155 00:09:58,200 --> 00:10:01,360 Speaker 1: in fact, there are plenty of people who argued that 156 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:06,600 Speaker 1: this whole approach was not the right thing for NASA 157 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: to do, that putting people back on the Moon didn't 158 00:10:09,920 --> 00:10:14,000 Speaker 1: really solve any big issues or didn't open up any 159 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:16,959 Speaker 1: other opportunities. We had already been to the Moon. People 160 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:18,960 Speaker 1: were arguing that maybe we wouldn't be able to learn 161 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:22,360 Speaker 1: anything new by going back to the Moon, that we 162 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:28,280 Speaker 1: should instead dedicate our efforts toward other things. But the 163 00:10:28,280 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 1: Moon is one of those things that's easy to point 164 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:32,920 Speaker 1: at and say that is a big challenge. How do 165 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:35,800 Speaker 1: we get back there? And then you can worry about 166 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:38,160 Speaker 1: the other stuff later on down the line. I think 167 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:40,199 Speaker 1: that there is value going back to the Moon. By 168 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:42,840 Speaker 1: the way, I don't want to dismiss it out of hand, 169 00:10:42,960 --> 00:10:46,559 Speaker 1: but I can see the validity of arguments that state 170 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:50,800 Speaker 1: maybe we should look at other goals instead, goals that 171 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:56,520 Speaker 1: might have a more obvious payout in either the benefits 172 00:10:56,559 --> 00:11:00,520 Speaker 1: we get from technological advancement or the directors of the 173 00:11:00,559 --> 00:11:05,720 Speaker 1: missions themselves. So I could see both sides of both arguments, 174 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:07,640 Speaker 1: and so I haven't I guess I haven't really fully 175 00:11:07,640 --> 00:11:11,720 Speaker 1: made up my mind of which side I really subscribed to. Anyway, 176 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:17,920 Speaker 1: So we get this deadline set for this idea of 177 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 1: going back to the moon. The vehicle, the Orion spacecraft, 178 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:26,880 Speaker 1: was supposed to be ready by twenty fourteen, and then 179 00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:29,400 Speaker 1: you had the goal of actually getting people back on 180 00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:33,360 Speaker 1: the Moon by twenty twenty. It is twenty twenty, and 181 00:11:33,480 --> 00:11:37,319 Speaker 1: spoiler alert, that ain't gonna happen this year. NASA Administrator 182 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:40,680 Speaker 1: Michael Griffin unveiled this plan in two thousand and five, 183 00:11:41,040 --> 00:11:44,920 Speaker 1: and that included a plan for two new rocket systems 184 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:47,880 Speaker 1: that would provide the umph needed to get the Orion 185 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:50,640 Speaker 1: spacecraft out into space on its way to the Moon 186 00:11:51,040 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 1: or the International Space Station. And those rockets were the 187 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: ARES one and the ARES five launch vehicles. No two 188 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:02,560 Speaker 1: in three, just one in five, and they were or four, 189 00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:05,600 Speaker 1: i should say, but one in five were also meant 190 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:08,280 Speaker 1: to kind of mirror the Saturn one and Saturn five 191 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:12,000 Speaker 1: rockets that were used in previous NASA programs. ARES one 192 00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:14,600 Speaker 1: was the smaller of the two rockets. That one was 193 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:18,080 Speaker 1: intended to launch payloads like the Orion spacecraft and its 194 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:21,840 Speaker 1: crew into orbit. The ARES five would be a heavy 195 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:25,520 Speaker 1: lifting rocket and it would be used to launch significance 196 00:12:25,559 --> 00:12:29,880 Speaker 1: amounts of a payload into space of cargo. So if 197 00:12:29,880 --> 00:12:33,320 Speaker 1: you wanted to create say a Moon station, you know, 198 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:35,480 Speaker 1: to actually build a station on the Moon, you would 199 00:12:35,559 --> 00:12:38,960 Speaker 1: use a series of ARES five rockets to launch those 200 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:42,280 Speaker 1: payloads into space, and then presumably you would find a 201 00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:46,320 Speaker 1: way of getting them to the Moon for construction. So 202 00:12:46,360 --> 00:12:50,280 Speaker 1: it's not that different from models like SpaceX, where they 203 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:54,280 Speaker 1: have the Falcon nine rocket or launch vehicle that can 204 00:12:54,360 --> 00:12:58,560 Speaker 1: send a capsule into space, or the Falcon nine Heavy, 205 00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:02,320 Speaker 1: which is meant to push much heavier payloads into space. 206 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:06,800 Speaker 1: Developing the rockets would be another really big task on 207 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:11,680 Speaker 1: top of building this Orion spacecraft. But this was a 208 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:15,680 Speaker 1: thing that Griffin thought was necessary. Lunar missions are going 209 00:13:15,679 --> 00:13:17,800 Speaker 1: to require a lot of support systems in order to 210 00:13:17,800 --> 00:13:20,439 Speaker 1: make sure the astronauts can get to the Moon, they 211 00:13:20,440 --> 00:13:22,680 Speaker 1: can land there, they can operate on the Moon, and 212 00:13:22,679 --> 00:13:25,240 Speaker 1: then they can return from the Moon safely back to Earth. 213 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,760 Speaker 1: That requires a lot of work. So according to NASA estimates, 214 00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:32,720 Speaker 1: relying on older launch vehicles like the Delta or Atlas 215 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:37,000 Speaker 1: rockets would require many more launches to get the required 216 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:41,080 Speaker 1: equipment back into space. So that would drive up the 217 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:44,360 Speaker 1: cost of the program. And Griffin was saying, well, it's 218 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:46,240 Speaker 1: going to cost a huge amount of money to develop 219 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:49,480 Speaker 1: new rockets, but it will cost another huge amount of 220 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:52,199 Speaker 1: money if we rely on older rockets, because we we'll 221 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:54,719 Speaker 1: have to use more of them. And so he was 222 00:13:54,760 --> 00:13:57,480 Speaker 1: weighing those two options and ultimately decided that it made 223 00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:02,360 Speaker 1: more sense to push for brand new launch systems. Now 224 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:05,960 Speaker 1: spoiler alert, this whole plan that was laid out in 225 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:09,240 Speaker 1: two thousand and five did not pan out, at least 226 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:13,480 Speaker 1: not as Constellation had laid it all out. We didn't 227 00:14:13,559 --> 00:14:16,960 Speaker 1: have a spacecraft ready in time, nor are we ready 228 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:19,880 Speaker 1: to put anyone on the Moon this year. And one 229 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:24,320 Speaker 1: of the main contributors to the shortfall was down to budget. 230 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:28,200 Speaker 1: The original Apollo program had a budget of twenty five 231 00:14:28,320 --> 00:14:33,720 Speaker 1: point eight billion dollars from nineteen sixty to nineteen seventy three. 232 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:37,520 Speaker 1: If we adjust that for inflation and look at it 233 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:40,760 Speaker 1: in today's money, that would come out to about two 234 00:14:40,880 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 1: hundred sixty billion dollars, a truly princely sum. But that 235 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:50,880 Speaker 1: was across the entire lifespan of the Apollo program, not 236 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:55,080 Speaker 1: just one particular year. In nineteen sixty six, the peak 237 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:58,960 Speaker 1: year the Apollo program. From a vedgetary perspective, the agency 238 00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:03,440 Speaker 1: spent the equivalent of forty seven point eight billion dollars 239 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:07,680 Speaker 1: in today's money, and that was just for the Apollo program. 240 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:11,040 Speaker 1: So the budget for all of NASA in two thousand 241 00:15:11,040 --> 00:15:13,960 Speaker 1: and five, not just Constellation, but all the programs that 242 00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:19,680 Speaker 1: NASA oversees was fifteen point six billion dollars. That's a 243 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:21,840 Speaker 1: lot less than forty seven point eight billion. Trust me, 244 00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:25,520 Speaker 1: I ran the math. Even adjusted for inflation, that comes 245 00:15:25,520 --> 00:15:28,880 Speaker 1: out to just under seventeen billion dollars. It is an 246 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:34,600 Speaker 1: enormous amount less than what was spent in nineteen sixty six, 247 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:37,560 Speaker 1: or the equivalent of what was spent in nineteen sixty six. 248 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:42,520 Speaker 1: And yet Griffin was describing Constellation as Apollo on steroids. 249 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:44,920 Speaker 1: So that got a lot of people asking, can you 250 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:49,200 Speaker 1: really design Apollo on steroids if you're using a budget 251 00:15:49,320 --> 00:15:53,320 Speaker 1: that's less than half of what Apollos program spent in 252 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:58,360 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six. So this was a question that a 253 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:01,000 Speaker 1: lot of people were asking, and ultimately the answer appears 254 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:04,720 Speaker 1: to be no, you can't really do it. So despite 255 00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:08,320 Speaker 1: having access to less money, NASA still really tackled this challenge. 256 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:11,040 Speaker 1: I mean, a lot of people poured a ton of 257 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:14,200 Speaker 1: work and effort into trying to make this happen. In 258 00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:16,640 Speaker 1: two thousand and nine, the agency released a statement saying 259 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:20,120 Speaker 1: the Orion would not be ready for a twenty fourteen launch. 260 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:22,720 Speaker 1: They were hoping that they could maybe make it a 261 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:29,800 Speaker 1: twenty fifteen deadline. But here's the thing. While on the 262 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:32,040 Speaker 1: surface that says, oh, it's a delay of just one year. 263 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:34,320 Speaker 1: That's actually not that bad, especially when you consider the 264 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:38,400 Speaker 1: budgetary restraints. It actually was three years later than what 265 00:16:38,480 --> 00:16:41,040 Speaker 1: Griffin had been hoping for. He had hoped to have 266 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:44,920 Speaker 1: the Orion ready for launch by twenty twelve, so now 267 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:46,440 Speaker 1: they were sure it wasn't going to be ready till 268 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:49,560 Speaker 1: at least twenty fifteen. The agency was really trying to 269 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:52,280 Speaker 1: narrow a gap that was going to exist when the 270 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:56,400 Speaker 1: space shuttles retired and the USA would no longer have 271 00:16:56,480 --> 00:17:01,240 Speaker 1: a spacecraft capable of launching and docking the newly finished 272 00:17:01,280 --> 00:17:05,320 Speaker 1: International Space Station, So the ISS gets finished around twenty 273 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:08,480 Speaker 1: ten at the same time the space shuttle program retires. 274 00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:13,520 Speaker 1: Now the USA is reliant on other countries and their 275 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:16,439 Speaker 1: space program in order to get astronauts to and from 276 00:17:16,600 --> 00:17:22,080 Speaker 1: the space station, typically Russia, so that's not ideal, and 277 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:26,840 Speaker 1: they were waiting on commercial space companies like SpaceX to 278 00:17:26,920 --> 00:17:31,080 Speaker 1: catch up, but that just hadn't happened yet. So the 279 00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:33,560 Speaker 1: real hope was that the Orion spacecraft could take over 280 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:37,679 Speaker 1: those duties and make USA independent of other countries and 281 00:17:37,880 --> 00:17:43,000 Speaker 1: also of commercial spacecraft companies, where NASA would be owning 282 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:46,840 Speaker 1: and operating these vehicles. But that just wasn't going to happen. 283 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:49,760 Speaker 1: That gap was going to get wider and wider, not narrower. 284 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:53,920 Speaker 1: NASA did have a cost overrun of three point one 285 00:17:54,240 --> 00:17:57,560 Speaker 1: billion dollars, though again this was much less than what 286 00:17:57,640 --> 00:18:00,719 Speaker 1: the agency spent during the Apollo program years. But that 287 00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:04,560 Speaker 1: delay of the program and the twenty six percent overrun 288 00:18:04,680 --> 00:18:08,720 Speaker 1: in costs gave Constellation a really bad reputation. That was 289 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:13,080 Speaker 1: a reputation that President Barack Obama actually referenced back in 290 00:18:13,080 --> 00:18:16,760 Speaker 1: two thousand and eight. NASA also predicted that the program 291 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:20,400 Speaker 1: would continue to cost more than had been originally projected, 292 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:23,600 Speaker 1: with an increase of about one hundred and forty percent 293 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:26,240 Speaker 1: of the original budget marked out for the years between 294 00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:30,600 Speaker 1: twenty ten and twenty fourteen, not great news. On top 295 00:18:30,640 --> 00:18:34,320 Speaker 1: of that, the focus of NASA was almost entirely on 296 00:18:34,359 --> 00:18:39,119 Speaker 1: the Orion spacecraft and the Areas One launch vehicle. Again 297 00:18:39,160 --> 00:18:41,760 Speaker 1: no big surprise here. The idea of sending people to 298 00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:45,600 Speaker 1: the moon is generally one that people really get excited about, 299 00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:52,840 Speaker 1: and excitement translates into governments approving bigger budgets because you know, 300 00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:56,959 Speaker 1: representatives want to support the things that their constituents are 301 00:18:56,960 --> 00:19:00,359 Speaker 1: really excited about. But that meant that the ARES five rocket, 302 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:04,760 Speaker 1: the heavy lifting rocket, had a much smaller development budget. 303 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:09,240 Speaker 1: All the focus was on the crude stuff the Orion 304 00:19:09,520 --> 00:19:13,800 Speaker 1: crew doesn't see rewed the Orion spacecraft and the ARES 305 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:16,720 Speaker 1: one launch vehicle, not the ARES five, but the AREAS 306 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:18,200 Speaker 1: five was going to need a lot of money. I mean, 307 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:22,160 Speaker 1: this was a heavy lifting rocket concept. But that meant 308 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:24,880 Speaker 1: that because it didn't get that big budget, the development 309 00:19:24,920 --> 00:19:27,080 Speaker 1: was getting delayed over and over again, and that led 310 00:19:27,119 --> 00:19:29,960 Speaker 1: to a point where analysts believe that based on the 311 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:34,960 Speaker 1: budgetary trajectory at NASA, the earliest the ARES five rocket 312 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:38,320 Speaker 1: would be able to launch the lunar landing hardware that 313 00:19:38,359 --> 00:19:41,400 Speaker 1: would be necessary to actually land on the Moon would 314 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:45,399 Speaker 1: be sometime in the twenty thirties, if that were at 315 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:50,280 Speaker 1: all possible even then, so that would delay that deadline 316 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:52,800 Speaker 1: of landing on the Moon by more than a decade. 317 00:19:53,359 --> 00:19:56,240 Speaker 1: The idea here was that the Space Agency would put 318 00:19:56,640 --> 00:20:00,639 Speaker 1: a lunar landing spacecraft into Earth orbit, and it was 319 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:04,200 Speaker 1: to be called the Lunar Surface Access Module or el SAM. 320 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:08,679 Speaker 1: Later it was renamed the Altair, and an ARIS five 321 00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:13,280 Speaker 1: would launch this Altair into Earth orbit. Because it was 322 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:15,840 Speaker 1: heavier than the Orion spacecraft, so you wouldn't want to 323 00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:18,000 Speaker 1: use like an ARES one rocket, you need the heavy 324 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:22,640 Speaker 1: lifting rocket. There a separate areas. One rocket would launch 325 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:26,719 Speaker 1: an Orion spacecraft into Earth orbit, and then the Orion 326 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:31,119 Speaker 1: spacecraft would rendezvous with the orbiting Altair. The two would 327 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:34,000 Speaker 1: dock and then together they would make the rest of 328 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:36,919 Speaker 1: the trip to the Moon. Upon entering lunar orbit, the 329 00:20:36,960 --> 00:20:40,520 Speaker 1: two spacecraft could separate. The entire crew of the Orion 330 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:43,000 Speaker 1: could move over into the Altair because the Orion would 331 00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:45,160 Speaker 1: be automated and it would just remain in orbit around 332 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:48,400 Speaker 1: the Moon. Then the Altair would land on the Moon. 333 00:20:48,720 --> 00:20:51,920 Speaker 1: The astronauts would go out and you know, do moon stuff. 334 00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:55,119 Speaker 1: Then they would come back to the Altair, launch off 335 00:20:55,160 --> 00:20:59,160 Speaker 1: the Moon, back into orbit, dock with the Orion, transfer 336 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:02,120 Speaker 1: back over to the R spacecraft, and then they could 337 00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 1: make the trip back to Earth. But because of these 338 00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:08,760 Speaker 1: budget limitations, the focus on the Orion and the ARES 339 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:11,919 Speaker 1: IE vehicles meant that all of this other stuff, the 340 00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:15,159 Speaker 1: ARES five and the lunar module, all of that just 341 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:19,680 Speaker 1: remained hypothetical. It was a proposal, not an actual spacecraft. 342 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:23,200 Speaker 1: So while the agency might have produced an Orion spacecraft, 343 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:25,880 Speaker 1: in time to get into space. By twenty fifteen, there 344 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:28,560 Speaker 1: was just no hope of making enough progress to land 345 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:31,399 Speaker 1: on the Moon any earlier than the twenty thirties, and 346 00:21:31,520 --> 00:21:35,720 Speaker 1: some people thought that even that was too ambitious. Meanwhile, NASA, 347 00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:39,399 Speaker 1: the agency was struggling with budget constraints in general, not 348 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:43,439 Speaker 1: just for the Constellation program. Sometimes one project would have 349 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:47,280 Speaker 1: to siphon funds intended for a totally different project. You 350 00:21:47,359 --> 00:21:50,199 Speaker 1: had a lot of internal battles in NASA as different 351 00:21:50,440 --> 00:21:55,240 Speaker 1: project leads would kind of squirrel budgetary money away that 352 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:58,679 Speaker 1: was intended for some other project for their own. That 353 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:01,240 Speaker 1: did not help morale in the game agency. And moreover, 354 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:03,199 Speaker 1: it was never enough to cover all the costs that 355 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:07,160 Speaker 1: were mounting up. In twenty ten, NASA received its new 356 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:11,119 Speaker 1: budget from the US government, and that budget listed zero 357 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:15,320 Speaker 1: for the Constellation project. I'll explain more in just a moment, 358 00:22:15,359 --> 00:22:24,720 Speaker 1: but we'll take a quick break. So why did the 359 00:22:24,800 --> 00:22:27,359 Speaker 1: US government pull the plug in twenty ten on the 360 00:22:27,400 --> 00:22:31,000 Speaker 1: Constellation project? Well, it's actually pretty complicated to answer that, 361 00:22:31,040 --> 00:22:34,400 Speaker 1: but it comes down to several factors. So, for one thing, 362 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:37,480 Speaker 1: the design specs or the various components in the Constellation 363 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:40,800 Speaker 1: project had changed over time, some of them had changed 364 00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:43,760 Speaker 1: a few times since two thousand and five. The team 365 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:47,280 Speaker 1: made various determinations that then led them down different paths, 366 00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:50,800 Speaker 1: requiring NASA to invest more in new technologies and new 367 00:22:50,840 --> 00:22:54,159 Speaker 1: designs and launch craft. And the initial plan would have 368 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:58,840 Speaker 1: seen using them using more components that already existed right, 369 00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:01,040 Speaker 1: that were already in production. But a lot of the 370 00:23:01,080 --> 00:23:02,960 Speaker 1: decisions they made meant, oh, no, we're going to have 371 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:06,080 Speaker 1: to actually make new stuff. So that meant that the 372 00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:09,280 Speaker 1: process was going to take longer and also cost more. 373 00:23:09,680 --> 00:23:13,439 Speaker 1: The prospects didn't look promising as far as achieving goals 374 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,439 Speaker 1: on time, so that was another strike against it. And 375 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:20,520 Speaker 1: you also had the case of a change in political administrations, 376 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:25,080 Speaker 1: which frequently shakes things up with government funded projects. In fact, 377 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:29,080 Speaker 1: that's one of the biggest challenges NASA faces with space travel. 378 00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:33,600 Speaker 1: It's not just the incredibly difficult task of designing technology 379 00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:37,119 Speaker 1: capable of bringing people into space safely and back home again. 380 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:40,719 Speaker 1: It's dealing with a changing political climate that may have 381 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:45,120 Speaker 1: vastly different priorities than the previous administration, which in turn 382 00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:48,359 Speaker 1: can mean that the funding you were counting on early 383 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:53,320 Speaker 1: in the project disappears midway through the project, and that 384 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:58,359 Speaker 1: just means it's the end of your whole process, not 385 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:01,439 Speaker 1: a way to run a space railway. Right. So, in 386 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:06,000 Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, when Obama won the presidency, one 387 00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:09,639 Speaker 1: of the things that followed was a change in NASA administrators. 388 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:12,200 Speaker 1: He and his advisors had a different set of priorities 389 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,680 Speaker 1: than the previous administration, which included dedicating more money toward 390 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:19,639 Speaker 1: commercial space companies like SpaceX rather than going down the 391 00:24:19,720 --> 00:24:23,160 Speaker 1: traditional path in which NASA would contract with big companies 392 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:27,800 Speaker 1: like Boeing or Lockheed. Griffin resigned upon Obama taking office, 393 00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:30,200 Speaker 1: which in turn is not an unusual thing to happen 394 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:34,840 Speaker 1: when you have a change in administrations. It's not out 395 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:41,120 Speaker 1: of the realm of normal practice for administrators to resign. 396 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:45,840 Speaker 1: In those cases, it often happens. His replacement would eventually 397 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:50,360 Speaker 1: be Charles Bolden, himself a former astronaut, though it takes 398 00:24:50,400 --> 00:24:54,960 Speaker 1: several months before Bolden would be appointed that position and 399 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:59,080 Speaker 1: confirmed as the new administrator of NASA. These challenges are 400 00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:02,000 Speaker 1: part of why the private space industry was able to 401 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:06,040 Speaker 1: get a foothold. Private companies aren't beholden to a government 402 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:08,879 Speaker 1: for their budgets. Although a private company might find itself 403 00:25:08,880 --> 00:25:11,159 Speaker 1: burning through its startup cash before it can become a 404 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:15,439 Speaker 1: viable business, and private space companies like SpaceX were becoming 405 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:18,400 Speaker 1: prominent right around the same time, which in turn created 406 00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:21,440 Speaker 1: a chance to rely on those companies for key components 407 00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:25,160 Speaker 1: rather than having them all be designed or contracted through NASA. 408 00:25:25,680 --> 00:25:29,679 Speaker 1: After a committee evaluated Constellation and determined that the program 409 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:34,400 Speaker 1: simply could not succeed given its very ambitious goals coupled 410 00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:38,040 Speaker 1: with its very limited resources, the project got the axe. 411 00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:41,520 Speaker 1: It wasn't necessarily that the project was bad, just that 412 00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:45,600 Speaker 1: its reach was further than its grasp. NASA was to 413 00:25:45,640 --> 00:25:48,680 Speaker 1: shift money over to long range goals such as developing 414 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:52,160 Speaker 1: new heavy lift rockets and propulsion systems to be used 415 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:55,280 Speaker 1: in space, all with an eye toward powering missions to 416 00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:58,480 Speaker 1: Mars in the future. The areas rockets and the Orion 417 00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:04,120 Speaker 1: were scrapped, at least temporarily. Congress reacted negatively to these 418 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:08,960 Speaker 1: changes because, well mostly because they weren't included in the decisions. 419 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:15,280 Speaker 1: Obama amended his decision after encountering intense opposition from certain 420 00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:18,600 Speaker 1: members of Congress, and he brought Oriyan back into the 421 00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:21,120 Speaker 1: picture so it no longer was scrapped, it was now 422 00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:24,480 Speaker 1: back on the docket, and he set a deadline for 423 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:27,239 Speaker 1: a new launch system to be ready to go by 424 00:26:27,280 --> 00:26:30,959 Speaker 1: twenty fifteen. Congress then took that plan and tweaked it 425 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:35,040 Speaker 1: by giving NASA the directive to repurpose the rocket designs 426 00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:38,600 Speaker 1: for the Constellation project and have that ready to go 427 00:26:38,680 --> 00:26:41,520 Speaker 1: by twenty sixteen. The new launch vehicle would be called 428 00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:46,359 Speaker 1: the Space Launch System or SLS. One of Obama's advisors 429 00:26:46,359 --> 00:26:49,520 Speaker 1: said it was it was pretty clear that members of 430 00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:52,480 Speaker 1: Congress were doing their best to keep contracts with big 431 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:55,800 Speaker 1: companies that had been involved in Constellation, indicating that this 432 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:58,880 Speaker 1: might have been some sort of you know, smokey filled 433 00:26:59,000 --> 00:27:04,840 Speaker 1: room politics going on here rather than technical discussions. One 434 00:27:04,880 --> 00:27:07,200 Speaker 1: other goal in this era was to develop a mission 435 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:10,679 Speaker 1: in which NASA would send astronauts to an asteroid, again 436 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:13,800 Speaker 1: as sort of a staging ground for an eventual mission 437 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:19,480 Speaker 1: to Mars, and that's where things mostly stayed. During Obama's administration, 438 00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:23,119 Speaker 1: NASA was working on developing these initiatives, and the private 439 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:26,520 Speaker 1: space industry began to grow at the same time. Now, 440 00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:29,920 Speaker 1: ultimately that asteroid mission would get scrapped, but it would 441 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:32,720 Speaker 1: stick around for quite some time. Now, when Donald Trump 442 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:36,760 Speaker 1: won the presidency, things would change again. So one thing 443 00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:39,679 Speaker 1: you do often see with these changes in administrations is 444 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 1: that a succeeding administration will attempt to set more ambitious 445 00:27:44,080 --> 00:27:47,400 Speaker 1: goals than the preceding one. It's a way for presidents 446 00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:50,280 Speaker 1: to kind of set themselves apart and to try and 447 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:55,160 Speaker 1: get the nation excited about some particular initiative. So Obama's 448 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:58,320 Speaker 1: administration was looking at the moon and asteroids, with a 449 00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:01,359 Speaker 1: further goal being Mars in the future. Trump's approach was 450 00:28:01,359 --> 00:28:03,879 Speaker 1: similar in that it was Moon and then straight on 451 00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:06,200 Speaker 1: to Mars. Now. I'm not going to go into all 452 00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:09,600 Speaker 1: the budget details here except to say, despite the fact 453 00:28:09,640 --> 00:28:12,439 Speaker 1: that you kept seeing these lofty goals in place, you 454 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:16,600 Speaker 1: didn't necessarily see an enormous boost in budgets at NASA, 455 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:19,280 Speaker 1: certainly nothing close to the peak that was spent back 456 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:22,640 Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty six with the Apollo program. The budget 457 00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:26,440 Speaker 1: fluctuated year to year. In twenty sixteen it was nineteen 458 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:30,480 Speaker 1: billion dollars, but a year later the budget had reduced 459 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:34,439 Speaker 1: down to eighteen point eight billion dollars. In twenty eighteen, 460 00:28:34,480 --> 00:28:37,800 Speaker 1: it would bounce back to nineteen point five billion, but 461 00:28:37,880 --> 00:28:41,000 Speaker 1: it kind of hovered right around that area just under 462 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:45,440 Speaker 1: twenty billion dollars, and there's still political battles being fought 463 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:48,880 Speaker 1: around the subject of relying on commercial space companies like 464 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:54,040 Speaker 1: SpaceX versus going the traditional route where NASA lands contracts 465 00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:57,760 Speaker 1: with specific big companies like Boeing and Lockheed in order 466 00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:03,000 Speaker 1: to build spacecraft. Wells typically play out with congressional representatives 467 00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:06,640 Speaker 1: from states that rely on big manufacturing jobs, with those 468 00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:10,040 Speaker 1: companies like Boeing and Lockheed arguing that the key elements 469 00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:13,360 Speaker 1: of any mission should ultimately be owned and operated by NASA. 470 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:17,520 Speaker 1: Then others say that the financially responsible thing to do 471 00:29:17,720 --> 00:29:21,360 Speaker 1: is to outsource this to commercial space companies, whom they 472 00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:24,200 Speaker 1: argue can do the same work but for less money. 473 00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:26,960 Speaker 1: And a lot of these arguments come down to financial 474 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:30,680 Speaker 1: and political matters, again, not technological decisions, and it gets 475 00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:36,360 Speaker 1: really messy. Tech is way easier to explain. In April 476 00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:40,080 Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, NASA announced that the Artemis program and its 477 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:42,560 Speaker 1: ambitious goal of putting a man and woman on the 478 00:29:42,560 --> 00:29:46,440 Speaker 1: Moon by twenty twenty four would become a reality. Of course, 479 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:49,200 Speaker 1: we have to remember that elements of this plan had 480 00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:52,400 Speaker 1: been in development since two thousand and five, But because 481 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:55,800 Speaker 1: the SLS is largely built upon the bones of the 482 00:29:55,880 --> 00:30:00,360 Speaker 1: proposed Ares five rocket design. Heck, the Orion spacecraft, which 483 00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:05,000 Speaker 1: will actually hold the crew of a NASA Artemis mission, 484 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:08,120 Speaker 1: has been the one piece that's been most consistently in 485 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:12,120 Speaker 1: development since George W. Bush was president. In February twenty twenty, 486 00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:17,560 Speaker 1: the document titled Moon twenty twenty four Mission Manifest made 487 00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:21,120 Speaker 1: the rounds now. NASA has since disputed the contents of 488 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:24,000 Speaker 1: this document, saying that it does not accurately reflect the 489 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:27,560 Speaker 1: current state of the Artemis program. However, as of the 490 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:30,720 Speaker 1: time of this recording, it's the most recent version of 491 00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:33,719 Speaker 1: the plan I can find. Everything else is kind of 492 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:39,440 Speaker 1: gone dark, So I'll explain the manifest version of the 493 00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:42,800 Speaker 1: mission here with the caveat that things have already changed. 494 00:30:43,080 --> 00:30:45,440 Speaker 1: But this plan kind of gives us a peek into 495 00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:50,640 Speaker 1: the ambition surrounding the Artemis program, even if the subsequent 496 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:53,560 Speaker 1: plan that will get announced probably right around the time 497 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:57,080 Speaker 1: this episode publishes, might have more details. So here we go. 498 00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:02,600 Speaker 1: In April twenty twenty one, according to this manifest, NASA 499 00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:07,800 Speaker 1: would test a Block one SLS launch vehicle carrying an 500 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:12,520 Speaker 1: unmanned Orion spacecraft in a mission dubbed Artemis one. So 501 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:17,040 Speaker 1: that raises a question, what's a Block one SLS. Well, 502 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:20,120 Speaker 1: the SLS is designed in a way that will allow 503 00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:24,200 Speaker 1: NASA to swap out elements further down the line to 504 00:31:24,400 --> 00:31:29,400 Speaker 1: give it a boost in performance. Specifically, it will allow 505 00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:34,080 Speaker 1: NASA to include more powerful boosters and rockets that are 506 00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 1: intended to get a crew to Mars. But those are 507 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:41,600 Speaker 1: still being designed and constructed, and so we don't even 508 00:31:41,960 --> 00:31:45,800 Speaker 1: have an example to point at for the more advanced ones. 509 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:48,120 Speaker 1: And rather than wait on all of that to finish 510 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:52,240 Speaker 1: before making any other progress, NASA has placed a strategy 511 00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:55,960 Speaker 1: in which an initial version of the Space Launch System 512 00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:59,400 Speaker 1: Block one will be used to get the Orion into orbit, 513 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:01,640 Speaker 1: or to say, it to the Moon, and the future 514 00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:05,840 Speaker 1: will get a more powerful Block two SLS that would 515 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:08,840 Speaker 1: be able to send the Orion and cargo to Mars. 516 00:32:09,360 --> 00:32:13,200 Speaker 1: So how does all this play out? Well, keep in 517 00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:16,560 Speaker 1: mind that the Block two doesn't really exist yet, so 518 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:19,640 Speaker 1: things could change dramatically by the time we actually have 519 00:32:19,800 --> 00:32:23,640 Speaker 1: something built, if it even gets built. The Block one 520 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:29,080 Speaker 1: SLS is the version that's currently being finalized now, and 521 00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:32,560 Speaker 1: it will have two boosters similar to the Space Shuttle, 522 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:35,080 Speaker 1: and it will also have a core stage like a 523 00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:41,120 Speaker 1: central rocket tank with four engines. The pair of solid 524 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,880 Speaker 1: propellant rocket boosters are really similar to what the Space 525 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:48,000 Speaker 1: Shuttle used. In fact, some of the early SLS launch 526 00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:54,160 Speaker 1: vehicles will be using unused Space Shuttle booster casings. Then 527 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:57,040 Speaker 1: in the future new casings will have to be made 528 00:32:57,040 --> 00:32:59,600 Speaker 1: because we'll have run out of ones that weren't used 529 00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:02,640 Speaker 1: in the space program. But the old Space Shuttle boosters 530 00:33:02,920 --> 00:33:07,320 Speaker 1: had four segments of solid propellant rocket fuel. The Block 531 00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:12,760 Speaker 1: one SLS boosters will have five segments the core stage. 532 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:17,360 Speaker 1: That central rocket will have four engines, and it will 533 00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:21,640 Speaker 1: use liquid propellant. Once in space and the Orion spacecraft 534 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:25,640 Speaker 1: separates from its launch vehicle, the Orion spacecraft will use 535 00:33:25,640 --> 00:33:29,800 Speaker 1: what is called the interim cryogenic propulsion stage to travel 536 00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:33,240 Speaker 1: to its destination, such as the Moon. This version of 537 00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:37,160 Speaker 1: the SLS will be able to send fifty seven thousand 538 00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:41,320 Speaker 1: pounds or twenty six metric tons of payload into space. 539 00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:44,400 Speaker 1: In fact, it'll be able to deliver payloads of that 540 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:49,320 Speaker 1: size into orbits beyond the Moon now between Block one 541 00:33:49,560 --> 00:33:53,120 Speaker 1: and Block two. NASA also plans a version of the 542 00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:56,720 Speaker 1: SLS called Block one B. It will have a little 543 00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:00,680 Speaker 1: bit more oomph. The central core will have more fuel, 544 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:04,040 Speaker 1: it'll be a bigger fuel tank, and it will be 545 00:34:04,040 --> 00:34:06,800 Speaker 1: able to put not just the Orion spacecraft into orbit, 546 00:34:07,320 --> 00:34:10,399 Speaker 1: but an orbiting habitat up into space. It can lift 547 00:34:10,440 --> 00:34:14,600 Speaker 1: a heavier payload up into space, creating opportunities for missions 548 00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:19,319 Speaker 1: and more ambitious goals. Block two's goal is to create 549 00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:22,239 Speaker 1: a launch vehicle capable of putting forty five tons of 550 00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:25,320 Speaker 1: payload into deep space and will be used for missions 551 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:27,879 Speaker 1: that aim to go to Mars. All right, so let's 552 00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:31,320 Speaker 1: get back to this timeline that has since been disputed 553 00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:34,759 Speaker 1: by NASA. So, according to that original timeline, or at 554 00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:39,080 Speaker 1: least the manifest timeline, NASA planned for the first crude 555 00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:43,080 Speaker 1: Orion mission, The first mission to have astronauts aboard the 556 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:47,080 Speaker 1: Orion spacecraft, which would be called the Artemis two mission, 557 00:34:47,360 --> 00:34:51,319 Speaker 1: would launch in January twenty twenty three. The mission will 558 00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:55,759 Speaker 1: use a Block one SLS as the launch vehicle, and 559 00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:58,480 Speaker 1: it would see the astronauts go on a path around 560 00:34:58,560 --> 00:35:01,439 Speaker 1: the Moon and back to Earth, not landing on the Moon, 561 00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:04,320 Speaker 1: but doing an orbit of the Moon and then returning 562 00:35:04,840 --> 00:35:06,399 Speaker 1: or maybe not even a full orbit. I think it's 563 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:09,520 Speaker 1: just a flyby behind the Moon, similar to some of 564 00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:14,200 Speaker 1: the earlier Apollo missions. In August twenty twenty four, NASA 565 00:35:14,239 --> 00:35:18,160 Speaker 1: plans to launch the Artemis three mission. This mission's purpose 566 00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:20,520 Speaker 1: is to send a lunar lander to the Moon on 567 00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:25,400 Speaker 1: a Block one bsls. More on the whole lunar lander 568 00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:27,600 Speaker 1: thing in a bit, because that part of the plan 569 00:35:27,719 --> 00:35:32,040 Speaker 1: has definitely changed a couple of times. October twenty twenty 570 00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:35,280 Speaker 1: four is the big one. That would be a mission 571 00:35:35,320 --> 00:35:38,040 Speaker 1: called Artemis four, and the purpose would be to send 572 00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:41,480 Speaker 1: astronauts to actually set foot on the Moon, including at 573 00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:45,520 Speaker 1: least one woman. This mission would use a Block one 574 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:51,200 Speaker 1: SLS to send the Orion to rendezvous with a thing 575 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:54,480 Speaker 1: around the Moon's orbit. We'll get back to that because 576 00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:56,440 Speaker 1: it has changed. It originally was just going to be 577 00:35:56,440 --> 00:36:00,560 Speaker 1: a lunar lander. Now it's slightly different. And this does 578 00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:04,160 Speaker 1: not end the Artemis program right The landing on the 579 00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:08,360 Speaker 1: Moon is not the ultimate end of Artemis. NASA plans 580 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:12,000 Speaker 1: a few other missions. One would happen in September twenty 581 00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:16,880 Speaker 1: twenty five. This one is not technically an Artemis mission, 582 00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:20,360 Speaker 1: but it will use the same spacecraft it'll use the 583 00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:26,919 Speaker 1: SLS Block one in order to launch a satellite called 584 00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:30,239 Speaker 1: the Europa Clipper, and this one would fly over to 585 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:33,920 Speaker 1: Jupiter and get an orbit around Jupiter and do flybys 586 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:37,040 Speaker 1: of Jupiter's moon Europa to get a closer look. And 587 00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:38,680 Speaker 1: part of the purpose of this mission is to see 588 00:36:38,680 --> 00:36:42,000 Speaker 1: if Europa has environments that could potentially support life, so 589 00:36:42,040 --> 00:36:46,240 Speaker 1: that's really exciting. Then in June twenty twenty six, NASA 590 00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:48,960 Speaker 1: plans to send another mission to the Moon, this one 591 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:53,600 Speaker 1: designated Artemis five, with more astronauts visiting Old Luna, using 592 00:36:53,600 --> 00:36:57,279 Speaker 1: a Block one B SLS to get there, so this 593 00:36:57,320 --> 00:37:02,120 Speaker 1: is the slightly larger version of the SLS. The following June, 594 00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:05,160 Speaker 1: NASA would launch a lander to head to Europa, giving 595 00:37:05,239 --> 00:37:07,520 Speaker 1: us an even closer look at Jubiter's Moon because we'd 596 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:13,280 Speaker 1: have a lander setting foot, a lander uncrewed lander setting 597 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:17,160 Speaker 1: foot or landing on Europa. But that would be super cool. 598 00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:21,680 Speaker 1: In August twenty twenty eight, NASA, according to this manifest 599 00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:24,520 Speaker 1: would plan to launch the Artemis six mission, which would 600 00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:26,480 Speaker 1: once again take astronauts to the Moon, but this time 601 00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:30,360 Speaker 1: aboard a Block one B SLS, And in February twenty 602 00:37:30,400 --> 00:37:33,919 Speaker 1: twenty nine, Artemis seven would send cargo to the Moon 603 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:36,319 Speaker 1: and would be the first mission to rely on a 604 00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:40,640 Speaker 1: Block two SLS. August twenty twenty nine also brings us 605 00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:45,959 Speaker 1: to Artemis eight, and that is also using a block 606 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:49,840 Speaker 1: to SLS to send people astronauts aboard and orion mission. 607 00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:52,239 Speaker 1: I have no idea where that one's specifically going. It 608 00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:55,120 Speaker 1: might be a mission to test the block two for 609 00:37:55,719 --> 00:38:00,239 Speaker 1: a manned spaceflight mission in general, but maybe it's going 610 00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:02,640 Speaker 1: to the Moon. I don't know. The manifest was unclear, 611 00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:05,360 Speaker 1: and the final two Artemist missions that were in that 612 00:38:05,480 --> 00:38:10,080 Speaker 1: manifest included a twenty thirty one called Artomus nine that 613 00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:13,040 Speaker 1: would be a cargo mission using an SLS Block two 614 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:16,239 Speaker 1: and an Artomis ten that would also use a astronaut 615 00:38:16,560 --> 00:38:21,200 Speaker 1: led mission on a block to SLS. So that's what 616 00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:25,000 Speaker 1: the manifest had laid out, which NASA again has disputed, 617 00:38:25,040 --> 00:38:28,759 Speaker 1: saying that there are numerous errors or discrepancies with their 618 00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:32,359 Speaker 1: current plan. But that's the most information I have as 619 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:34,239 Speaker 1: of the recording of this podcast. It gives us a 620 00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:37,080 Speaker 1: general idea of what they were thinking. When we come back, 621 00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:40,000 Speaker 1: I'll talk about some other things that have complicated this 622 00:38:40,239 --> 00:38:50,279 Speaker 1: But first let's take a quick break. As I record this, 623 00:38:50,440 --> 00:38:53,680 Speaker 1: we're in a blackout on information about further details of 624 00:38:53,719 --> 00:38:57,640 Speaker 1: the Artimist program, largely because NASA is in contract negotiations 625 00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:01,200 Speaker 1: with multiple companies for different parts of this program. So 626 00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:03,879 Speaker 1: there's a lot of details that haven't been nailed down. 627 00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:07,400 Speaker 1: There's nothing to share because they haven't decided which version 628 00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:10,360 Speaker 1: they're going with on some of these things. Meanwhile, the 629 00:39:10,440 --> 00:39:13,640 Speaker 1: clock is ticking. But while we don't have concrete facts 630 00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:15,359 Speaker 1: to talk about, we can at least go over what 631 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:19,200 Speaker 1: NASA has in mind. Now, I've mentioned the Orion spacecraft 632 00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:22,920 Speaker 1: several times without really going into any real detail about it. Again, 633 00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:25,239 Speaker 1: out of all the pieces for the Artemis program, this 634 00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:27,960 Speaker 1: one has had the most consistent support behind it. Since 635 00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:31,200 Speaker 1: two thousand and five, the first Orion spacecraft has been 636 00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:35,800 Speaker 1: completed in manufacturing. So it's something that we can actually 637 00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:38,919 Speaker 1: talk about because there is one. It hasn't been used yet, 638 00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:42,279 Speaker 1: but it exists. It has changed a few times since 639 00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:45,920 Speaker 1: its original concept. The prime company responsible for building the 640 00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:50,160 Speaker 1: Orion spacecraft is Lockheed. Now lots of folks call Orion 641 00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:53,680 Speaker 1: a gum drop shaped spacecraft, and to me, it looks 642 00:39:53,719 --> 00:39:56,680 Speaker 1: really similar in design of the old Apollo capsules, but 643 00:39:56,719 --> 00:40:00,439 Speaker 1: it's larger and fancier than those old spacecraft. It could 644 00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:03,279 Speaker 1: carry more people. The Apollo spacecraft would carry a crew 645 00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:06,200 Speaker 1: of three, the Orion is designed to carry a crew 646 00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:10,520 Speaker 1: of four. A lot of the documentation says they could 647 00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:14,480 Speaker 1: carry a crew of up to six, but NASA consistently 648 00:40:14,520 --> 00:40:19,239 Speaker 1: describes it as being a four person spacecraft. It is 649 00:40:19,320 --> 00:40:23,719 Speaker 1: capable of traveling in space for twenty one days, or 650 00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:27,000 Speaker 1: it can exist out in space for up to six 651 00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:31,000 Speaker 1: months when docked with some other spacecraft like the International 652 00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:35,839 Speaker 1: Space Station. NASA's plan is to crew the Orion spacecraft 653 00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:38,959 Speaker 1: with four astronauts, though as I said before, it could 654 00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:41,279 Speaker 1: potentially hold as many a six at least according to 655 00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:45,880 Speaker 1: most documentation I've read. The crew module, which is the 656 00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:48,719 Speaker 1: bit that the astronauts will actually be in, is the 657 00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:51,080 Speaker 1: part that looks like an old Apollo capsule, but bigger. 658 00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:55,120 Speaker 1: It has three hundred and sixteen cubic feet of habitable volume. 659 00:40:55,840 --> 00:40:59,360 Speaker 1: The old Apollo spacecraft had numerous dials, switches, buttons, and 660 00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:03,319 Speaker 1: screens all over the place, but the Orion has just 661 00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:06,320 Speaker 1: three computer screens, and it distills all of those various 662 00:41:06,360 --> 00:41:09,279 Speaker 1: technologies that were represented by those buttons and dials and 663 00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:14,440 Speaker 1: switches into a computer controlled system accessible through on screen commands, 664 00:41:14,440 --> 00:41:17,880 Speaker 1: which in itself is a pretty big departure and a 665 00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:19,759 Speaker 1: big bet. It's one of those things that makes some 666 00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:23,920 Speaker 1: people nervous, the idea that you have these computerized systems 667 00:41:23,920 --> 00:41:26,360 Speaker 1: and you question, well, what happens if something goes wrong? 668 00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:29,680 Speaker 1: How do you take manual control of a spacecraft. I've 669 00:41:29,719 --> 00:41:32,919 Speaker 1: already talked about the SLS, but there's a third part 670 00:41:33,000 --> 00:41:35,480 Speaker 1: of that that we need to mention really quickly, which 671 00:41:35,520 --> 00:41:40,000 Speaker 1: is what NASA calls the Exploration Ground Systems or EGS. 672 00:41:41,040 --> 00:41:44,560 Speaker 1: I would call that a launch pad. The SLS will 673 00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:47,160 Speaker 1: use new ones constructed for that purpose, and the project 674 00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:50,759 Speaker 1: will also make use of two new spacesuit designs. But 675 00:41:51,560 --> 00:41:54,000 Speaker 1: rather than go into detail about those spacesuits, I'm going 676 00:41:54,040 --> 00:41:56,239 Speaker 1: to save that for its own podcast to talk about 677 00:41:56,280 --> 00:42:00,760 Speaker 1: the evolution of the spacesuit and how that has changed 678 00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:04,879 Speaker 1: over the past few decades. To actually visit the Moon. 679 00:42:05,320 --> 00:42:08,160 Speaker 1: NASA does have some other plans, and one of those 680 00:42:08,239 --> 00:42:11,239 Speaker 1: now is the Lunar Gateway. Before I was talking about 681 00:42:11,239 --> 00:42:16,200 Speaker 1: a lunar lander that the Orion would have presumably rendezvous 682 00:42:16,239 --> 00:42:18,960 Speaker 1: with around orbit in the Moon and then gone down 683 00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:22,719 Speaker 1: to the surface. But things have changed since then. So 684 00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:26,600 Speaker 1: here's how it's supposed to work. You have what is 685 00:42:26,719 --> 00:42:31,799 Speaker 1: essentially a lunar satellite or lunar space station. This not 686 00:42:31,800 --> 00:42:34,960 Speaker 1: as big as the International Space Station, but a station 687 00:42:35,120 --> 00:42:39,800 Speaker 1: in orbit around the Moon itself, and NASA would launch 688 00:42:39,960 --> 00:42:43,839 Speaker 1: this in parts in several launches and then construct it 689 00:42:43,960 --> 00:42:48,720 Speaker 1: in space around lunar orbit, and when finished, it should 690 00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:52,720 Speaker 1: be the size of a studio apartment, according to NASA, 691 00:42:53,080 --> 00:42:56,160 Speaker 1: capable of supporting astronauts for several months at a time 692 00:42:56,239 --> 00:43:02,440 Speaker 1: if necessary. Orion would be docking with this gateway satellite 693 00:43:02,560 --> 00:43:06,040 Speaker 1: or gateway station in order to go to Moon missions, 694 00:43:06,520 --> 00:43:09,960 Speaker 1: and astronauts would not stay aboard the Lunar Gateway all 695 00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:12,120 Speaker 1: year round. Instead, they would just be there for the 696 00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:15,240 Speaker 1: duration of a mission before departing in the Orion capsule 697 00:43:15,280 --> 00:43:18,799 Speaker 1: to come back home, and you would have to occasionally 698 00:43:19,080 --> 00:43:25,360 Speaker 1: or frequently send cargo up to replenish the Lunar Gateway. 699 00:43:26,719 --> 00:43:31,319 Speaker 1: From the gateway, astronauts would board a spacecraft that would 700 00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:35,200 Speaker 1: be a type of transfer module, so they would dock 701 00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:39,279 Speaker 1: their Orion capsule with the lunar Gateway, transfer over into 702 00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:42,880 Speaker 1: the Lunar Gateway, get stuff ready for their Moon adventures. 703 00:43:43,200 --> 00:43:46,200 Speaker 1: Then they would go over into this transfer module and 704 00:43:46,280 --> 00:43:51,239 Speaker 1: that would detach from the Lunar Gateway. It would make 705 00:43:51,280 --> 00:43:55,560 Speaker 1: its way to the descent point for the Moon's surface. 706 00:43:56,160 --> 00:43:58,000 Speaker 1: It would then separate so that you would have a 707 00:43:58,080 --> 00:44:03,200 Speaker 1: descent stage descent module that would go down and land 708 00:44:03,280 --> 00:44:06,239 Speaker 1: on the surface of the Moon. Astronauts would then do 709 00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:10,360 Speaker 1: their thing on the lunar surface, using the descent stage 710 00:44:10,400 --> 00:44:12,560 Speaker 1: as sort of a base of operations for up to 711 00:44:12,600 --> 00:44:15,960 Speaker 1: two weeks. Then they would board the part of that 712 00:44:16,120 --> 00:44:19,040 Speaker 1: module that would be the ascent module. So this is 713 00:44:19,040 --> 00:44:23,000 Speaker 1: the part that actually launches back off of the Moon's surface, 714 00:44:23,800 --> 00:44:27,799 Speaker 1: leaving part of it behind. Right, So everyone piles into 715 00:44:27,880 --> 00:44:31,480 Speaker 1: the ascent module, they launch, and then that puts them 716 00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:36,240 Speaker 1: into a trajectory where they can rendezvous with the Lunar Gateway, 717 00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:39,120 Speaker 1: dock with it, and come back to that studio apartment 718 00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:42,000 Speaker 1: floating around the surface of the Moon. They could then 719 00:44:42,040 --> 00:44:45,360 Speaker 1: continue work in the Lunar Gateway, or they could transfer 720 00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:48,640 Speaker 1: over to the Orion spacecraft for the journey home. Now 721 00:44:48,640 --> 00:44:51,600 Speaker 1: that part of the plan is largely being left to 722 00:44:51,680 --> 00:44:55,640 Speaker 1: commercial space programs. So this is really not a description 723 00:44:55,760 --> 00:44:58,600 Speaker 1: of a specific piece of technology. It's more of a 724 00:44:58,640 --> 00:45:02,680 Speaker 1: description of what NASA wants in order for them to 725 00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:05,319 Speaker 1: be able to have these missions work. So it's more like, 726 00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:08,239 Speaker 1: this is what the technology needs to be able to do, 727 00:45:08,640 --> 00:45:12,280 Speaker 1: but we're leaving it up to various companies to present 728 00:45:12,360 --> 00:45:16,040 Speaker 1: proposals on how they want to do that. So while 729 00:45:16,040 --> 00:45:20,919 Speaker 1: there's some concept art, it's all just a placeholder. These 730 00:45:20,960 --> 00:45:23,480 Speaker 1: companies could each come up with very different proposals on 731 00:45:23,520 --> 00:45:26,640 Speaker 1: how to achieve the same goal, and then ultimately NASA 732 00:45:26,680 --> 00:45:30,200 Speaker 1: will select whichever one the agency feels is the most 733 00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:33,880 Speaker 1: the perfect one for their mission. Hard to say the best, 734 00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:38,239 Speaker 1: because things like not just the technological capability, but also 735 00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:41,960 Speaker 1: the price factor into this sort of stuff. Anyway, honestly, 736 00:45:42,920 --> 00:45:46,480 Speaker 1: that's pretty much where Artemis shakes out today. It's a 737 00:45:46,520 --> 00:45:49,000 Speaker 1: lot of placeholders. Even to this day that still blows 738 00:45:49,000 --> 00:45:51,920 Speaker 1: my mind considering that the goal is to get boots 739 00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:55,839 Speaker 1: on the Moon by twenty twenty four. But then we've 740 00:45:55,880 --> 00:45:58,799 Speaker 1: moved pretty quickly in the past in the space race, 741 00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:01,719 Speaker 1: and honestly, this might be exactly what we need to 742 00:46:01,840 --> 00:46:05,360 Speaker 1: drive innovation. We'll be right back with more about the 743 00:46:05,480 --> 00:46:17,440 Speaker 1: Artemis program after these short messages. So there are generally 744 00:46:17,440 --> 00:46:19,839 Speaker 1: two paths you can take when you're making these sort 745 00:46:19,880 --> 00:46:23,080 Speaker 1: of big, big programs. One is you can work on 746 00:46:23,160 --> 00:46:26,400 Speaker 1: the technology that you're going to need for space exploration, 747 00:46:26,880 --> 00:46:29,480 Speaker 1: and then you can set a timeline based on your 748 00:46:29,520 --> 00:46:34,120 Speaker 1: progress as you produce these pieces of technology. But that 749 00:46:34,239 --> 00:46:36,680 Speaker 1: opens up the chance for projects to fall into an 750 00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:41,839 Speaker 1: observation called Parkinson's law that's named after Cyril Northcote Parkinson, 751 00:46:41,920 --> 00:46:46,040 Speaker 1: a British author, and Parkinson observed that work tends to 752 00:46:46,160 --> 00:46:50,200 Speaker 1: expand to fill the time available for it to be completed. So, 753 00:46:50,320 --> 00:46:54,120 Speaker 1: for example, let's say I'm researching a podcast and initially 754 00:46:54,480 --> 00:46:57,120 Speaker 1: I have a deadline of four hours to finish my 755 00:46:57,160 --> 00:46:59,560 Speaker 1: research before I have to go into the studio, and 756 00:47:00,040 --> 00:47:01,600 Speaker 1: that means it's going to take me four hours to 757 00:47:01,680 --> 00:47:03,839 Speaker 1: complete that research. I've got it all planned out, I'm 758 00:47:03,880 --> 00:47:06,560 Speaker 1: ready to go. I'm hitting the ground running. I'll be 759 00:47:06,640 --> 00:47:09,520 Speaker 1: done in four hours. But let's say that something happens. 760 00:47:09,719 --> 00:47:12,920 Speaker 1: Let's say that there's another podcast in the studio where 761 00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:16,080 Speaker 1: I was supposed to go in they're running late. Then 762 00:47:16,239 --> 00:47:18,879 Speaker 1: I'm told, hey, it's actually going to be two hours later. 763 00:47:18,960 --> 00:47:21,360 Speaker 1: Than what you thought. Now you have six hours to 764 00:47:21,440 --> 00:47:25,879 Speaker 1: finish that research. Well, according to Parkinson's law, the work 765 00:47:25,920 --> 00:47:29,400 Speaker 1: of that research will actually expand for that six hours. 766 00:47:29,719 --> 00:47:32,880 Speaker 1: That does not necessarily mean that the podcast I record 767 00:47:32,920 --> 00:47:35,040 Speaker 1: is going to be longer than it would have been 768 00:47:35,600 --> 00:47:38,800 Speaker 1: if it had stated its original studio time, or that'll 769 00:47:38,840 --> 00:47:41,600 Speaker 1: even be better than it would have been when I 770 00:47:41,719 --> 00:47:44,479 Speaker 1: was supposed to go in, rather than just the work 771 00:47:44,520 --> 00:47:48,480 Speaker 1: itself expanded to fill in those extra two hours. So 772 00:47:49,160 --> 00:47:51,719 Speaker 1: let's say we're working on a project and we're not 773 00:47:51,920 --> 00:47:54,240 Speaker 1: sure how long it's going to take us to complete 774 00:47:54,280 --> 00:47:57,200 Speaker 1: this project, but we're supposed to give an estimate. So 775 00:47:57,280 --> 00:48:00,760 Speaker 1: if we're conservative, then we'll give an estimate that's further 776 00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:03,920 Speaker 1: out than what we think we actually need, and the 777 00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:07,200 Speaker 1: idea being well, things are going to pop up, we're 778 00:48:07,239 --> 00:48:10,000 Speaker 1: gonna have to deal with them. So let's plan for 779 00:48:10,120 --> 00:48:13,040 Speaker 1: it to take twenty days, but we think it's really 780 00:48:13,040 --> 00:48:16,120 Speaker 1: going to only take ten. Well, according to Parkinson's law, 781 00:48:16,160 --> 00:48:18,040 Speaker 1: the work we're doing is actually going to expand to 782 00:48:18,040 --> 00:48:20,400 Speaker 1: fill up those extra ten days. So at the end 783 00:48:20,400 --> 00:48:22,359 Speaker 1: we're going to say, boy, aren't we glad we said 784 00:48:22,400 --> 00:48:24,720 Speaker 1: twenty days? Because it turned out that's how long we needed. 785 00:48:25,480 --> 00:48:29,840 Speaker 1: But there's also the possibility that you could have completed 786 00:48:29,880 --> 00:48:32,720 Speaker 1: it in ten days, and that you really just allowed 787 00:48:32,719 --> 00:48:36,000 Speaker 1: the work to expand to fill that space. That if 788 00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:38,040 Speaker 1: you had given a ten day deadline, you still have 789 00:48:38,080 --> 00:48:41,840 Speaker 1: gotten the work done. There is a diminishing return here, though. 790 00:48:41,960 --> 00:48:44,160 Speaker 1: There is a point where you might give a deadline 791 00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:46,560 Speaker 1: that's just too aggressive, right that maybe you say, oh, 792 00:48:46,640 --> 00:48:48,799 Speaker 1: it's going to take us five days when you really 793 00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:50,799 Speaker 1: think it's going to take you ten, and you're doing 794 00:48:50,840 --> 00:48:53,160 Speaker 1: it so that you motivate yourself, but it turns out 795 00:48:53,280 --> 00:48:56,040 Speaker 1: you've sabotaged the whole project because there's just no way 796 00:48:56,080 --> 00:48:58,279 Speaker 1: to get it all done in five days. That can 797 00:48:58,320 --> 00:49:02,600 Speaker 1: also happen. So it's a delicate line you have to walk, right. So, 798 00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:05,640 Speaker 1: Parkinson's law is really more about how we let time 799 00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:08,279 Speaker 1: get away from us, or how we allow bureaucracy to 800 00:49:08,280 --> 00:49:11,240 Speaker 1: play a large role in things, or otherwise bog ourselves 801 00:49:11,239 --> 00:49:13,200 Speaker 1: down in the stuff that keeps us from getting the 802 00:49:13,239 --> 00:49:16,480 Speaker 1: core work done. However, it does not mean we can 803 00:49:16,760 --> 00:49:20,560 Speaker 1: set these arbitrarily short deadlines and then magically get things 804 00:49:20,600 --> 00:49:23,800 Speaker 1: done faster. As I said, there is that tipping point 805 00:49:23,840 --> 00:49:26,920 Speaker 1: that you have to look at. NASA's approach is to 806 00:49:27,080 --> 00:49:32,320 Speaker 1: set aggressive but potentially achievable deadlines that in turn sets 807 00:49:32,360 --> 00:49:35,520 Speaker 1: expectations and the pace of work. It also gets people 808 00:49:35,560 --> 00:49:38,880 Speaker 1: into the habit of looking at practical approaches. If the 809 00:49:38,920 --> 00:49:41,279 Speaker 1: goal is to get people back on the Moon by 810 00:49:41,320 --> 00:49:44,960 Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, what are the things that have to 811 00:49:45,080 --> 00:49:48,480 Speaker 1: happen in order to achieve that goal. If we're going 812 00:49:48,480 --> 00:49:51,239 Speaker 1: to send people to Mars in the following decade in 813 00:49:51,320 --> 00:49:55,280 Speaker 1: twenty thirties, what do we absolutely have to have nailed 814 00:49:55,280 --> 00:50:00,160 Speaker 1: down to make that happen, Rather than just having feature 815 00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:02,120 Speaker 1: come in where we say, oh, wouldn't it be nice 816 00:50:02,120 --> 00:50:05,680 Speaker 1: if we also added this. By saying these aggressive goals, 817 00:50:05,719 --> 00:50:08,400 Speaker 1: you kind of push feature creep to the side because 818 00:50:08,400 --> 00:50:12,239 Speaker 1: you say, listen, our main concern is getting this to 819 00:50:12,360 --> 00:50:16,800 Speaker 1: happen by this date. The things that would be nice 820 00:50:16,960 --> 00:50:20,759 Speaker 1: are out of the discussion because that doesn't contribute to 821 00:50:20,880 --> 00:50:25,480 Speaker 1: what we actually have as our goal. So that's kind 822 00:50:25,520 --> 00:50:29,680 Speaker 1: of what happened in the nineteen sixties to a large extent, 823 00:50:30,239 --> 00:50:34,279 Speaker 1: and it does work as a motivating factor to a 824 00:50:34,320 --> 00:50:38,640 Speaker 1: certain level. Now, besides, these timelines have to be aggressive anyway, 825 00:50:39,239 --> 00:50:42,640 Speaker 1: because NASA can't count on having a budget sufficient for 826 00:50:42,719 --> 00:50:46,719 Speaker 1: achieving its goals from one year to the next. Definitely 827 00:50:47,080 --> 00:50:51,200 Speaker 1: not between presidential administrations, and there's the potential for the 828 00:50:51,200 --> 00:50:54,960 Speaker 1: presidential administration to make a big change in twenty twenty, 829 00:50:55,440 --> 00:50:59,919 Speaker 1: so who knows what the next president might prioritize when 830 00:51:00,000 --> 00:51:03,600 Speaker 1: it comes to budgets. So if they set longer timelines, 831 00:51:03,600 --> 00:51:06,840 Speaker 1: if NASA said, OK, we're gonna give ourselves more space, 832 00:51:08,000 --> 00:51:11,640 Speaker 1: no pun intended, to get this stuff done, there'd be 833 00:51:11,719 --> 00:51:14,560 Speaker 1: a lot more chances for things like budget cutbacks which 834 00:51:14,600 --> 00:51:17,759 Speaker 1: would sabotage emission just as effectively as hitting some sort 835 00:51:17,800 --> 00:51:21,560 Speaker 1: of technical or design challenge that would become harder to 836 00:51:21,600 --> 00:51:25,080 Speaker 1: solve than you thought. NASA is moving forward with their 837 00:51:25,120 --> 00:51:26,799 Speaker 1: goals that we're going to have to wait and see 838 00:51:26,800 --> 00:51:29,880 Speaker 1: if they actually are achievable. But in the meantime, the 839 00:51:29,920 --> 00:51:33,000 Speaker 1: agency has opened up the application process for people who 840 00:51:33,040 --> 00:51:37,560 Speaker 1: are interested in becoming astronauts. Right now, the US Astronaut 841 00:51:37,640 --> 00:51:40,479 Speaker 1: program has about forty eight people in it. NASA needs 842 00:51:40,480 --> 00:51:44,320 Speaker 1: more for this program to be workable, so it's possible 843 00:51:44,400 --> 00:51:47,320 Speaker 1: someone listening to this podcast could be the first woman 844 00:51:47,560 --> 00:51:49,399 Speaker 1: or the next man to set foot on the moon. 845 00:51:49,960 --> 00:51:53,279 Speaker 1: To apply, you have to meet some pretty high standards, 846 00:51:53,320 --> 00:51:57,200 Speaker 1: which again is understandable. There are three general types of 847 00:51:57,200 --> 00:52:00,560 Speaker 1: folks that NASA is looking for during this application process. 848 00:52:01,080 --> 00:52:03,920 Speaker 1: They're looking for people who hold at least a master's 849 00:52:03,920 --> 00:52:07,840 Speaker 1: degree in a STEM related field, so like engineering or 850 00:52:07,920 --> 00:52:11,440 Speaker 1: astrophysics or something like that. They are also looking for 851 00:52:11,520 --> 00:52:15,239 Speaker 1: people who are medical doctors. It gets more specific than that, 852 00:52:15,440 --> 00:52:17,800 Speaker 1: but that's one of the three types, and the third 853 00:52:17,960 --> 00:52:22,080 Speaker 1: are people who are certified test pilots. Those are the 854 00:52:22,120 --> 00:52:25,000 Speaker 1: three types that NASA's looking for. So if you belong 855 00:52:25,080 --> 00:52:27,000 Speaker 1: to one of those three groups, you can look into 856 00:52:27,080 --> 00:52:29,279 Speaker 1: the requirements that NASA has in place to see if 857 00:52:29,280 --> 00:52:33,040 Speaker 1: you meet all the criteria. The application process includes an 858 00:52:33,080 --> 00:52:36,080 Speaker 1: online component for the very first time, which, as I 859 00:52:36,160 --> 00:52:39,000 Speaker 1: understand it takes a couple of hours to complete. I 860 00:52:39,040 --> 00:52:42,560 Speaker 1: wouldn't know because I don't meet the initial criteria, but 861 00:52:42,600 --> 00:52:45,080 Speaker 1: maybe one of you guys can find out. And we'll 862 00:52:45,120 --> 00:52:47,040 Speaker 1: have to wait and see if Artemis actually gets people 863 00:52:47,080 --> 00:52:49,200 Speaker 1: to the moon. We just don't know if it's going 864 00:52:49,239 --> 00:52:52,080 Speaker 1: to be possible yet. I have high hopes. I would 865 00:52:52,120 --> 00:52:55,520 Speaker 1: love to see it happen. I don't know how useful 866 00:52:55,560 --> 00:52:57,720 Speaker 1: it will be in the long term, unless we're actually 867 00:52:57,760 --> 00:52:59,759 Speaker 1: able to use the stuff we learn on the Moon 868 00:53:00,480 --> 00:53:04,520 Speaker 1: as a platform for learning how we can get to Mars. 869 00:53:05,239 --> 00:53:09,520 Speaker 1: But it's definitely something that is inspirational and that alone 870 00:53:09,640 --> 00:53:12,840 Speaker 1: has value. You just have to weigh that value against 871 00:53:12,920 --> 00:53:17,840 Speaker 1: other considerations, like risk and the other goals that you 872 00:53:17,960 --> 00:53:20,560 Speaker 1: have with the agency, because NASA is doing obviously a 873 00:53:20,560 --> 00:53:24,440 Speaker 1: lot more than just these programs, and you don't want 874 00:53:24,640 --> 00:53:30,000 Speaker 1: to have a big, high risk, high payoff project fail 875 00:53:30,280 --> 00:53:34,120 Speaker 1: like the Constellation project did and potentially set the agency backward. 876 00:53:34,320 --> 00:53:38,680 Speaker 1: So it's a complicated thing, all right. So that was 877 00:53:38,719 --> 00:53:43,520 Speaker 1: the Artemis Project. I hope you enjoyed that episode, and 878 00:53:43,560 --> 00:53:46,160 Speaker 1: I am working on an update to this where we're 879 00:53:46,200 --> 00:53:50,759 Speaker 1: going to talk more about space suits, their evolution, and 880 00:53:51,640 --> 00:53:55,720 Speaker 1: why things got out of control. According to the Office 881 00:53:55,719 --> 00:53:59,400 Speaker 1: of the Inspector General, the amount of money being spent 882 00:53:59,560 --> 00:54:04,480 Speaker 1: on new spacesuits so far just the development costs have 883 00:54:04,600 --> 00:54:08,200 Speaker 1: been around four hundred and twenty million dollars, and the 884 00:54:08,239 --> 00:54:11,560 Speaker 1: office expects that another six hundred million or so would 885 00:54:11,600 --> 00:54:16,799 Speaker 1: be spent before they were fully tested and ready to go, 886 00:54:17,160 --> 00:54:19,560 Speaker 1: which means that more than a billion dollars would be 887 00:54:19,560 --> 00:54:22,720 Speaker 1: spent on the development of these spacesuits, and that also 888 00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:26,520 Speaker 1: prompted some other folks to pipe up and suggest that 889 00:54:26,560 --> 00:54:29,719 Speaker 1: perhaps NASA's approach is not the best way, one of 890 00:54:29,719 --> 00:54:34,000 Speaker 1: those being Elon Musk. So I'm gonna do a follow 891 00:54:34,040 --> 00:54:37,480 Speaker 1: up episode to this one about spacesuits in general and 892 00:54:37,560 --> 00:54:40,680 Speaker 1: talk about what has been going on in more detail. 893 00:54:41,600 --> 00:54:44,239 Speaker 1: But for this one, I really wanted to revisit that 894 00:54:44,760 --> 00:54:48,640 Speaker 1: whole story about the Artemis program to really talk about, 895 00:54:49,400 --> 00:54:52,440 Speaker 1: you know, what are we trying to achieve in the 896 00:54:52,480 --> 00:54:56,560 Speaker 1: first place, and then kind of see what elements are 897 00:54:56,560 --> 00:54:59,440 Speaker 1: holding us back, because the space suits are just one 898 00:54:59,480 --> 00:55:03,480 Speaker 1: of them, but it is one that definitively states we 899 00:55:03,520 --> 00:55:07,840 Speaker 1: will not make that twenty twenty four goal. Barring some 900 00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:14,280 Speaker 1: Deos x Machina kind of solution. Perhaps Elon Musk will 901 00:55:14,640 --> 00:55:20,960 Speaker 1: produce spacesuits within the next three years that would be 902 00:55:21,040 --> 00:55:24,840 Speaker 1: fully tested and ready to go. I doubt it, but 903 00:55:24,960 --> 00:55:28,680 Speaker 1: who's to say. Anyway, If you have suggestions for future 904 00:55:28,680 --> 00:55:31,120 Speaker 1: topics of tech Stuff, let me know. You can reach 905 00:55:31,160 --> 00:55:33,160 Speaker 1: out to me on Twitter. The handle is text stuff 906 00:55:33,320 --> 00:55:42,640 Speaker 1: HSW and I'll talk to you again really soon. Tech 907 00:55:42,680 --> 00:55:47,120 Speaker 1: Stuff is an iHeartRadio production. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 908 00:55:47,440 --> 00:55:51,120 Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen 909 00:55:51,160 --> 00:55:56,160 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.