WEBVTT - Who's Going to Put a Colony on Mars First? 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.320 Guess what mango with that? Well, you remember back in 0:00:02.360 --> 0:00:05.000 our episode on Hawaii, we we talked about this year 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:08.200 long simulation by a group of brave scientists and what 0:00:08.280 --> 0:00:11.040 they endured on the side of mounta Loa. Right, Yeah, 0:00:11.119 --> 0:00:13.159 they were trying to simulate what life might be like 0:00:13.200 --> 0:00:16.480 on Mars, that's right. So physicist Christiane Heineke, she wrote 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:20.000 this great piece about the experience in Scientific American and 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:22.000 I'd only read a little bit about it before, so 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:25.280 it was fascinating to read this piece. But the experiment 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:27.480 was to test a bunch of things, Like they obviously 0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:29.760 know that a real mission to Mars would be much 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:32.560 more complicated than surviving in a dome on the side 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:36.120 of a volcano, you know, especially when that volcanoes in Hawaii. 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:38.800 As a side note, this is not the volcano that's 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:41.240 been erupting recently. That might have made it a little 0:00:41.240 --> 0:00:44.199 bit more of a difficult experiment. But they did want 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:45.839 to see what it would do to people if they 0:00:45.840 --> 0:00:48.919 were isolated for a year in a pretty barren environment 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:52.440 and really only able to depend on each other. Yeah. 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:54.560 I mean, there's actually a term for that type of scenario. 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:58.440 It's called ice, which stands for isolated, confined, and extreme. 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:01.080 But the thing that's rucked me was the team they 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:04.559 assembled for this mission was incredible. Yeah, it really makes 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:06.920 you think about the different types of skills you need 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:09.720 if you send a group like this too Mars for 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:12.440 the simulation. They had a pilot and a flight controller 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:16.760 that served as their engineer. There was a physician, an astrobiologist, 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:20.480 a soil scientist. They even had an architect focused on 0:01:20.560 --> 0:01:23.800 space habitats. I mean, talk about an interesting job. And 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:26.959 then there was Heineke who was a geophysicist. Yeah, it's 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:30.040 so varied, it's awesome. Well there's a short bit from 0:01:30.080 --> 0:01:32.280 her piece that I thought was worth reading, and here's 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:35.120 what she says. She said, cut off from civilization, we 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:37.880 were dependent on ourselves and on each other. We had 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:40.520 to perform any work that needed doing and fix anything 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:43.679 that broke. All we had was the material contained and 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:47.480 the storage unit dubbed the c can. The nearest supermarket 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:51.440 was months away. We received news from Earth electronically with 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:54.240 a twenty minute delay. That's about how long it takes 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:57.120 for signals to travel the maximum distance of two hundred 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:00.720 and forty million miles between the two planets to be honest, 0:02:00.800 --> 0:02:02.960 it took weeks for me to realize just what I've 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:06.160 gotten into. Yeah, I mean, it's impossible to imagine what 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:08.520 that would be like, but that hasn't stopped us from 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:11.880 being incredibly curious about the experience. And I'm actually sure 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:15.320 that many of our listeners know there's this new podcast 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:19.519 from Gimlet called The Habitat and it's about this very simulation. Yeah, 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:21.760 and you know, it's just one of many recent projects, 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:24.960 both in fiction and in nonfiction, focused on what this 0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:28.000 journey to Mars, or even living on Mars might actually 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:30.600 be like. And it's definitely starting to feel like we 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:34.280 might witness humans landing or living on Mars in our lifetime. 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:37.320 So in today's episode, we thought we'd explore questions like 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:40.320 who will be the first to get to Mars, why 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:42.919 are we so consumed with getting there? And how will 0:02:43.000 --> 0:02:46.080 humans survive once we do get there? So let's dive in. 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:10.160 He their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:12.440 Will Pearson and it's always I'm joined by my good 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:14.679 friend man guest Ticketer and on the other side of 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:17.760 the soundproof glass wearing a shirt that reads in Musk, 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:21.680 we trust Mars. Or bust. That's our friend and producer 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:24.120 Tristan McNeil. And you know, I've got to say Tristan 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:26.440 must know a guy, because I'm guessing this is yet 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:29.880 another of his custom printed shirts, right actually, you know, 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:33.000 I've seen that one advertised online. They're just so much 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:35.280 excitement right now about the prospect to go into Mars, 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:38.200 and it does kind of look like Elon Musk might 0:03:38.240 --> 0:03:40.520 be the guy to get us there well, and Tristan 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:43.360 is definitely not the only one putting his trust in Musk. 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:46.600 You know, after doing some research for today's show, I've 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:49.040 got to say it's not such a bad bet. You know, 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:52.120 the SpaceX program has made some serious strides towards getting 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:55.800 mankind to the Red Planet within our lifetime, but SpaceX 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:57.760 is hardly the only game in town. I mean, there 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:00.240 are plenty of other companies, not to mention country Eas 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:02.840 that have their eyes set on launching the first man 0:04:02.880 --> 0:04:06.200 mission to Mars, and their goal now seems closer than 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:09.240 it ever has before. So with all that excitement in 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:10.760 the air, I thought it'd be fun to kind of 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:14.360 take stock of all these competing Mars missions and hopefully 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:16.640 give us a clearer picture not only of who will 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:20.920 make it to Mars first and when that might actually happen. Really, 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:23.279 why we're also dead set on getting there in the 0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:26.359 first place. Yeah, So why don't we start by getting 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:28.960 a little perspective on just how much public interest there 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:32.800 currently isn't going to Mars. So historically there's always been 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:35.960 this uptick and applicants anytime a new milestone starts to 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:39.279 look achievable. So if you think about like nineteen seventy eight, 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:41.640 that's the year the Voyager mission set out on its 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:44.760 tour the Solar System, NASA actually set a record with 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:49.039 eight thousand applicants, and that record stood for nearly forty 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:51.799 years until the agency's most recent call for new hires. 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:55.000 You know, I was actually gonna ask how often NASA 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:58.320 accepts applications, because if I'm not mistaken, it's not a 0:04:58.400 --> 0:05:01.760 yearly thing, right not. So, they typically bring on a 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:04.320 new class of astronauts every few years or so, and 0:05:04.360 --> 0:05:07.320 the most recent class began applying in late two thousand fifteen, 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:10.239 and the time before that was in late two thousand eleven. 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:13.839 But this most recent crop of applicants was the biggest yet. 0:05:14.200 --> 0:05:17.080 More than eighteen thousand people applied to be part of 0:05:17.160 --> 0:05:20.679 NASA's new class, and that totally destroys the previous record 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:24.080 by more than ten thousand people, which is pretty crazy. 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:26.480 I mean, there must have been more disappointed applicants than 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:29.800 ever before. And I can't imagine NASA's in need of 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:33.320 tens of thousands of astronauts and you know one time, Yeah, 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:36.960 definitely not. In fact, the newest class consists of just 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:40.000 twelve people. There are five women and seven men, and 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:43.120 even that is like three times the number of people 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:45.560 needed for the four person crew NASA has a mind 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:49.599 for its first Mars mission, So eighteen thousand people, which 0:05:49.680 --> 0:05:52.279 is we died down to twelve people and then from 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:55.160 that only four will end up going on the mission. 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:58.240 I mean, it's clearly more than enough interest out there. 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:01.000 But did you get any sense of where all of 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:02.720 this is coming from? And I know, we had the 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:05.360 Matt Damon movie just called The Martian and it was 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:07.479 a big hit, but there's got to be more to 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.680 it than that, right, So I know it sounds strange, 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:12.719 but The Martian is actually a great example of a 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:16.560 kind of cross pollination between space flight and pop culture 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:19.560 that's taken place in the last few years and it's 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:22.239 actually no coincidence that the movie premiered just two months 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:25.480 before NASA announced his latest call for astronauts, like the 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:28.320 agency actually consulted a lot for the makers of that movie, 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:30.560 largely because it saw the film as a way to 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:33.680 generate more excitement for a future Mars mission. And if 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:36.640 you took any marketing classes in college, which I think 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:38.960 you might have taken one or two, you'll remember one 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:41.560 of the golden rules of marketing, and that's, you know, 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:44.960 nothing stokes the public interests like the promise of growing 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:48.440 space potatoes fertilized with your own feces. I think it 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:51.720 was like rule number seven marketing one on one. Rule 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:55.719 seven's right. But the Martian isn't the only new recruitment 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:58.400 tool to benefit NASA in recent years, like the one 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:02.520 that's actually helped the most social media. So when NASA 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:04.680 called for new hires back in two thousand eleven, the 0:07:04.680 --> 0:07:07.480 Shuttle program had just ended and this mission to Mars 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:10.120 seemed too far off to put much stock in. But 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:13.120 even then, like NASA's crop of applicants that year was 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:16.600 still strong. It was I think around like six thousand total. 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:19.440 But clearly something happened between then in the record setting 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:22.200 response that we saw in two thousand and fifteen. And 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:25.920 so you're saying that really was just social media. Yeah, 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:27.680 I mean I think it played a big role. So 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:30.600 between two thousand eleven and two thousand fifteen, the number 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:33.440 of American adults who used at least one social media 0:07:33.440 --> 0:07:37.560 platform grew by fiftent and you know, you can bet 0:07:37.680 --> 0:07:40.520 NASA took notice of that growth. So, according to NASA 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:45.360 spokeswoman Stephanie Sheerholtz, she says, uh, we made a concerted 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:49.280 outreach effort that incorporated social media like never before. So 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.000 all of a sudden, you have like astronauts tweeting pictures, 0:07:52.520 --> 0:07:54.920 you know, from their training sessions. You've got these like 0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:59.840 live streamed rocket launches and YouTube videos where astronauts on 0:07:59.880 --> 0:08:02.400 the s s are like cutting their nails and showing 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:05.440 you how they take showers. It's pretty amazing. Yeah, And 0:08:05.520 --> 0:08:08.120 I know, we also liked watching Chris Hadfield's cover of 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:11.240 Space Oddity, and he obviously did that from space and 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:13.880 where we had him on the show. Such a nice guy. 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:16.440 But in a way, it feels like social media made 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:18.560 astronauts cool again, kind of like they had been in 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:21.040 the early days of the Space program. Yeah, I mean, 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:23.800 the public had never gotten such an intimate and real 0:08:23.840 --> 0:08:25.960 time look at the life and work of astronauts before that, 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:29.680 and ultimately it sparked this like new generation of people 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:33.240 who were super passionate. Well, and so now we've covered 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:36.000 a few factors behind the current space boom, I feel 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:37.800 like we should talk about some of the major players 0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:40.240 that are hoping to capitalize on this interest. So we've 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:43.560 already mentioned Elon Musk and the space X venture. You know, 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:46.320 they've set this rather lofty goal of sending a manned 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:50.680 rocket to Mars By and whether that actually happens, it's 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:52.319 i'd say it's still pretty much up in the air 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:55.000 at this point. Yeah, I mean, they've been testing the 0:08:55.000 --> 0:08:58.960 world's first partially reusable rockets, which could cut launch costs 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:01.880 by as much as thirty then and obviously make the 0:09:01.920 --> 0:09:04.880 missions to Marrows much more feasible. But while the tests 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.600 have been this huge success, like, there's still a lot 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:10.600 of room for improvement, and it's tough to imagine making 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:12.720 that much progress and just I don't know, five or 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:14.520 six years. Well, you do have to remember that Musk 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:16.680 has a secret weapon for getting to Mars and that's 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:19.520 his so called bf are what he calls the big 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:22.800 eff ng rocket, And this would be this massive three 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:26.520 fifty feet tall rocket and it's propelled by thirty one 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:30.040 smaller methane fueled rockets. Now, once again, the whole system 0:09:30.080 --> 0:09:32.800 would be completely reusable. So the idea is that the 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:35.040 b FR would send a hundred people to Mars aboard 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:38.640 a detachable spaceship. Now that you've got the system's rocket booster, 0:09:38.679 --> 0:09:41.000 that would just detach and then land back on Earth 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:44.720 and be reused again and again. I mean, when when 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:46.520 we watched that recent test that they did, it was 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:49.319 just amazing to watch them land, and it would be 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:51.360 really cool if they could manage to pull it off. 0:09:51.360 --> 0:09:54.080 But I'm curious, like, why does Musk want to go 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:56.360 to Mars so badly? Like what does he know that 0:09:56.440 --> 0:09:58.800 we don't Well, I don't know. I was starting to 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:01.000 think about that too, and and more likely than not, 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:03.520 he's just eager for humans to explore more of that 0:10:03.600 --> 0:10:06.599 final frontier that we've heard so much about. And I 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:07.960 don't know. You can kind of be the judge though. 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:10.280 Here's here's one of must statements on the importance of 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:13.240 a mission to Mars. He says, you want to wake 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:15.120 up in the morning and think the future is going 0:10:15.160 --> 0:10:17.439 to be great. And that's what being a space faring 0:10:17.440 --> 0:10:20.640 civilization is all about. It's about believing in the future 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:23.200 and thinking that the future will be better than the past. 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:26.040 And I can't think of anything more exciting than going 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:29.240 out there and being among the stars. History is going 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:32.360 to buy for Kate along two directions. One path as 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:34.600 we stay on Earth forever and eventually there will be 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:37.800 some extinction event. The alternative is to be a space 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:42.760 faring civilization and a multi planet species. So I mean, 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:44.880 it sounds like there are two ideas of play from 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:49.280 us here, Like one is exploration for the sake of exploration, right, 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:52.960 It's like this desire to like see the cosmos and 0:10:53.160 --> 0:10:56.160 learn new things. And the other is this idea of 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:59.480 self preservation that, like, you know, if you take a 0:10:59.480 --> 0:11:02.240 long enough timeline, something bad is bound to happen on 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:04.600 this planet, so it's in our own best interest to 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:06.920 set up shop on another one sooner rather than later. 0:11:07.960 --> 0:11:10.000 That sounds right, and I think there's merit to both 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:12.760 of those ways of thinking. But you know, not all 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:16.760 Mars hopefuls have such clear cut motivations. For instance, you've 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:19.960 heard of Mars one, right, you know it's this private, 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:23.439 nonprofit Dutch. Yeah. Yeah, And so they aimed to colonize 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:27.439 Mars by I think one, And unlike other missions that 0:11:27.480 --> 0:11:30.240 we're talking about today, Mars one isn't worried about bringing 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:33.480 space colonists back to their home planet. Mars one would 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:36.600 actually just be this one way trip. I mean, I've 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:40.600 heard about this obviously, and it's super controversial. I remember 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:43.240 reading a study from M I T where scientists analyzed 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:45.959 the proposed plan and they concluded that all the Mars 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:49.600 one astromis would actually be dead within sixty eight days. 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:53.040 Isn't that crazy? I would not consider that a successful 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:55.600 mission if that's what's happened, and all the money that 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:58.280 would be spent for those sixty eight days. But you know, 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:01.400 if you look at their initial proposal was super unrealistic. 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:03.440 I mean, for one thing, the Mars one team isn't 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:06.120 developing its own technology. They're they're really just planning to 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:09.640 use whatever the other aerospace companies come up with. And 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:12.720 they're estimating it would only cost six billion dollars to 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:15.400 send four people to Mars. And I say, only six 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:17.800 billion dollars. That sounds like a ton of money, but 0:12:18.200 --> 0:12:21.320 it's really a low number when you consider the Apollo program. 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:23.840 They spent about a hundred and forty billion dollars to 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:27.880 send twelve people to the Moon. Wait, so not only 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:30.319 are they pinning all their hopes on using someone else's tech, 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.160 but they're also hoping to score that tech for like 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:37.600 bargain basement deals. That's exactly right. But you know what 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:40.199 else is crazy about this is that, you know, Mars 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:42.800 one hasn't even secured that low ball funding that they're 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.400 hoping for. And this is where it really just gets 0:12:45.480 --> 0:12:48.960 even nuttier. Apparently the plan is to finance the mission 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:52.599 through a reality TV show and a series of documentaries 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:55.920 that would follow the crew through their training and this is, 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:57.920 you know, all of that training leading up to going 0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:00.480 to Mars, And honestly, it just sounds like the worst 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:04.520 plan ever. I mean, I can't see how a show 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:06.320 like that would work, unless, like they were trying to 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:09.200 make the first boy band assembled on Mars, or I 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:12.680 guess send some Jersey housewives to Mars. Like that feels 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:15.200 like a show i'd watch, but you're right, i'd watch that. 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:19.360 But like, what if the show tanks as they're up 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:22.200 there and people just lose interest, Like once that funding 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:25.040 drives up, does the crew just like end up there 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:28.520 on their own? I mean, I guess so, and and 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:30.559 it it turns out that's just one of the many 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:33.320 flaws in the Mars one plan. But but it actually 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:36.840 doesn't stop more than two hundred thousand people from applying 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:39.440 for the privilege to be, as Pacific Standards put it, 0:13:39.800 --> 0:13:42.680 among the first humans to die on Mars. I just 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:45.120 thought that was great. I mean, I don't know who 0:13:45.120 --> 0:13:47.679 wants that title, but I can imagine how some like 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:51.680 I guess Daredevil astronauts might be really into it. Yeah, 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:53.400 you know, I think about it kind of like it 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:55.680 is with cloning. I mean, if we ever find a 0:13:55.679 --> 0:13:59.079 way to bring back the dinosaurs, there's gonna be somebody 0:13:59.120 --> 0:14:01.800 that's gonna be the first to get eaten by the dinosaurs, 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:04.199 you know, And I think I'd want my biggest claim 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:06.120 to feign me that I was the first person ever 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:08.520 eaten by a t rex. But yeah, maybe there's a 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:11.280 certain kind of appeal there for something someone wants that. 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:14.480 But I do think we should just like table this 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:16.120 for another time, because I think it'd be fun for 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:18.520 another episode. But right now, let's talk a little bit 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:20.600 about NASA's plan for getting to Mars as well as 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:22.880 some of the other challenges that are definitely gonna crop off. 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:24.520 All right, that sounds like a plan, But first let's 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:39.840 take a quick break. They're listening to Part Time Genius 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:42.320 and we're talking about the who, when, why, and how 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:45.560 of human kinds first mission to Mars. All right, Mango, 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:48.920 So we've covered one promising program and one maybe not 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:52.600 so promising program from the private sector. But now let's 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:55.240 talk about the organization that probably stands the best chance 0:14:55.280 --> 0:14:57.920 of making it to Mars first, and that of course 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:00.720 is NASA. Yeah. So NASA's car plan is to get 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:04.080 humans into low Mars orbit by the early twenty thirties, 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:06.280 and then they want to have a crew actually land 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:08.560 on the planet's surface before the end of that decade. 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:11.880 And to make that happen, the agency is hard at work, 0:15:11.960 --> 0:15:14.240 like testing this equipment they hope we'll get humans there 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:16.760 and back. I'm sure you're probably wondering what type of 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:19.440 stuff they're gonna use. Like one of the most promising 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:21.520 pieces of hardware that they're working on is called the 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:24.960 Space Launch System SLS. Is this new rocket meant to 0:15:25.000 --> 0:15:28.760 propel humans and cargo out of Earth's orbit. So this is, 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:30.880 I guess, kind of like NASA's answer to the to 0:15:30.960 --> 0:15:33.920 the big fing rocket, right, yeah, exactly like muss And 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:36.160 and for the crew itself, NASA is testing it's a 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:38.840 Ryan capsule, which is meant to lay the groundwork for 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:42.160 even larger deep space exploration vehicles. It's the kind of 0:15:42.160 --> 0:15:45.080 thing that could consumably support a full crew for the 0:15:45.320 --> 0:15:49.040 entire one million mile trip. And that's you know, the 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:51.400 distance is to get to Mars, all right, So it 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:53.560 sounds like, no matter how you slice it, we're good, 0:15:53.760 --> 0:15:56.520 what fifteen to twenty years away from landing a human 0:15:56.680 --> 0:15:59.600 on Mars. And that's all assuming that research doesn't hit 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.800 a brick all along the way. But given that timeline, 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:04.760 who do you think is going to get there first? 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:08.800 So NASA obviously has the you know, the best track 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:11.400 record when it comes to space faring, and they've got 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:14.640 like the technical know how, they've got you know, the crew. 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:18.760 But like the biggest potential stumbling block is funding, and 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:22.040 the Space Program's budget ebbs and flows with each administration. 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:25.760 So even if NASA knows what it's doing there's zero 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:27.800 guarantee that the money will be there to carry out 0:16:27.800 --> 0:16:30.440 the mission when the time comes. And of course, you know, 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:34.080 NASA is totally aware its status as like a political football, 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:36.600 so that's why the agency has been going all out 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:39.920 on these marketing efforts, which we talked about earlier. Yeah, 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:41.840 and I know those funding concerns are a big part 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:44.720 of why some people consider SpaceX to be the front runner. 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:47.280 And Elon musk pockets might not be as deep as 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:49.720 the governments, but you know, in the past several years, 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:52.080 he's definitely proven himself a lot more willing to put 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:55.040 up the cash for space research than Congress has. But 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:57.480 it is worth keeping in mind that a large chunk 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:01.320 of SpaceX revenue is thanks to its own contracts with NASA, 0:17:01.960 --> 0:17:04.440 So if NASA's budget gets slashed, then you know, there's 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:07.280 no guarantee that SpaceX will have the cash needed to 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:10.000 fill that gap. So in a sense, the best chance 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:12.080 of getting to Mars in the next couple of decades 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:15.080 might actually be of SpaceX and NASA were to team 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:18.479 up and and maybe pool those resources. Yeah, I mean, 0:17:18.520 --> 0:17:20.480 it would be fascinating to watch if that happens, And 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:23.280 I actually think there's a decent chance it could happen 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:25.480 as we get closer to their planned launch dates. But 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:27.840 you know, we're getting a little ahead of ourselves here. 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:30.040 There are still all kinds of problems that need to 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:32.000 be worked out before we can send anyone to Mars, 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:35.440 and that includes challenges both for the journey itself as 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:38.439 well as when we get there. Yeah, I mean speaking 0:17:38.440 --> 0:17:40.080 of that, I was actually reading about some of the 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:43.160 physical strains that astronauts have to deal with when when 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:46.080 they're there, and it's not a pretty picture. I mean, 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:49.480 the g forces alone would be insane, so much so 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:52.719 in fact, that some researchers have suggested removing the appendix 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:55.200 and the gall bladder of any of these Mars bound 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:57.399 crew members ahead of time. I mean, just to avoid 0:17:57.480 --> 0:18:01.479 the organs rupturing from all the pressure changes. Huh. Well, 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:03.880 I mean you can think about that, which is crazy, 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:06.840 but also the psychological effects of such a long trip, 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:09.679 like the voyage to Mars will take about four or 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:12.880 five months each way. I mean, that's an awful lot 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:14.919 of time to spend in those quarters with you know, 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:18.040 just a handful of people, and that's while moving at 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:20.520 the speeds you were talking about, Um, I even read 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:23.960 this one study that suggested that, like, the prolonged exposure 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:27.520 to cosmic radiation might actually mess with the astronauts brains, 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:32.000 So mess with them how exactly? Yeah, this is based 0:18:32.000 --> 0:18:34.520 on research out at University of California, and it was 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:37.879 one of several studies meant to examine the neurological effects 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:41.159 of sending people on long outer space missions. It was 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:43.440 to get an idea of what these cosmic rays might do. 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:46.760 The researchers irradiated a bunch of lab mice with particles 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:49.480 found in space, and the dosage they used was actually 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:52.040 equivalent to what a human might experience on like a 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:55.280 tended thirty day mission. And then the mice underwent a 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:58.199 series of behavioral tests, and as you might expect, the 0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:01.399 irradiated mice performed much worse on these tests than the 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:05.159 non irradiated ones. But strangers still, when the scientists actually 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:07.920 dissected the mice two weeks later, they found that the 0:19:08.040 --> 0:19:11.840 radiation had effectively prune the mice's brain cells. I mean, 0:19:11.880 --> 0:19:14.680 it's crazy. Many of the branches that allow the brain 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:18.560 cells to communicate with one another, We're just straight up gone, Oh, 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:21.240 it's just terrifying. So so would the same thing happen 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:23.800 in a human brain. I mean, that's the thing, right, 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:26.800 there's every reason to think so. And the biggest mystery, 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:28.800 like once you know that, is that we don't know 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:32.080 how these missing brain cells might actually impact the humans behavior, 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:35.600 Like it's doubtful that these cosmic rays would actually prove 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:38.959 life threatening, but they could jeopardize the mission in all 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:41.639 sorts of other ways, Like researchers worried that the prune 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:44.480 brain cells might reduce someone's ability to respond to new 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:48.240 situations and you know, come up with creative solutions for things. 0:19:48.520 --> 0:19:51.080 It would obviously be a huge problem when exploring a 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:54.119 different planet. So it's weird because this is the first 0:19:54.240 --> 0:19:56.600 I've heard about this, and I know we've obviously sent 0:19:56.640 --> 0:19:59.520 plenty of people into space by now. So what about 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:01.840 the astronat aunts who landed on the Moon and came back, 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:04.800