As more countries and companies set
their sights on space, it may make you
wonder what's the end goal. Do we simply
want to be a space fairing species
exploring the solar system for the
betterment of humanity? Or do people
smell profit in space? While researching
this video, I found out a lot of
eyeopening reasons why mining in space
and especially on our moon might well be
something that we see happening in the
next couple of decades.
Why? Well, just wait until you find out
what's actually there to be mined.
The first substance is known as helium
3. You may have heard of helium 3 in
sci-fi stories as theories suggest it is
the ideal substance for a clean type of
nuclear reactor with no radiation and no
dangerous byproduct. It also has uses in
medicine and radiation detectors.
However, it is really rare on Earth. It
does occur naturally and can be found in
deposits of natural gas, for instance,
but it's generally not viable to extract
as even in natural gas, there are only
around 100 parts per billion. So, let's
say we had 1 billion cub m of natural
gas, you'd only be able to extract
around 15 kg of helium 3 from it. A lot
of the time, that's not economically
viable. We can also produce helium 3 as
a byproduct of the radioactive decay of
tritium. The problem with that though is
that tritium is a crucial component of
nuclear weapons. And so when the world
slowed down the production of nuclear
weapons, helium 3 stockpiles also
started to diminish. Assuming we don't
want more tritium in the world, it means
we need to find another source of helium
3, especially if technology improves
enough for helium 3 reactors to become a
reality.
Fortunately, we have a world in orbit
around Earth right now which has been
bombarded by helium 3 for billions of
years thanks to the sun. Earth's
magnetic field deflects helium 3
traveling with the solar wind around the
planet. Whereas the moon with no
magnetic field for protection simply
absorbs it in the top layer of the
ground called regalith. We aren't
talking huge quantities. It has at most
50 parts per billion. But because it's
all over the moon, not just in tiny
pockets, it can be collected alongside
any other mining operation. It could
also be used to power reactors on the
moon itself, which would help a moon
base be self-sufficient.
Some people think that helium 3 mining
on the moon will not be viable. However,
China states that eventually mining
helium 3 is one of the primary goals of
their Chinese lunar exploration program.
American, European and Indian scientists
have all stated it is something they
will consider further and Russia is
conducting a feasibility study on this
right now. Even private companies are
eyeing up the possibility
because the parts per billion of helium
3 are relatively low even in the moon's
regalith. It would make sense that
whoever was mining for helium 3 would
also be mining for something else in the
regalith at the same time. But what else
can be found in it? As it happens, the
lunar regalith is packed with different
materials.
Look at this false color mosaic of the
moon. Each color indicating different
deposits of minerals found on the lunar
surface. There are plenty of metals to
be found on the moon in large quantities
like iron, titanium, aluminium, silicon,
calcium, and magnesium. Some of these
metals are locked into hard to access
minerals and oxides. However, separating
the metals will often also produce
useful byproducts like oxygen and
hydrogen. They are super basic and not
rare on Earth at all. But unlocking
these elements on the moon itself will
allow for a colony to be self-
sustaining as oxygen means breathable
air. Hydrogen can be converted to fuel
and combining the two will produce
water. Unprocessed regalith could also
prove useful as it could potentially be
turned into lunarrete. Useful for
building infrastructure on the moon
without having to transport the
materials from Earth. Glass could also
easily be produced from lunar regalith.
And as I mentioned in a previous video,
while it's not super ideal, some plants
can grow in lunar regalith, helping any
Luna base to be self-sufficient in
growing its own food short of using
hydroponics. But perhaps the most
important resource found on the moon
are, ironically enough, metals known as
rare earths. Interestingly, rare earths,
which consist of this section of the
periodic table, are not actually super
rare on Earth. However, the difficulty
in mining them is that they have not
really collected into big deposits.
Rather, they are dispersed through the
Earth's crust. This means that they are
exceptionally hard to mine on Earth and
there are only a few countries worldwide
that have deposits large enough to do
anything about it. Even then, most
countries don't bother at all because of
the massive environmental and human
damages that come from the pollution of
mining them. The only country that did
not waver from these problems is China,
as China has around 30% of the planet's
rare earth supply. And because it is one
of the only countries mining for them,
they have a 95% control of the market.
However, just as a side note, one of its
big mines was actually found in Myanmar.
And with the military coup that just
took place, there might have been a
shift in that mine's control. In any
case, 95% control of the market puts
China in a powerful position worldwide,
especially seeing as these minerals are
so valuable to our society, being
components of various electronics and
batteries. Because of the massive push
recently to switch to electric vehicles
with their huge battery packs, demand
for these materials will only increase.
So, it's worthwhile considering where
the minerals building these batteries
come from. Are countries with somewhat
sizable deposits like the US, Canada,
Australia, and South Africa going to
start digging up their backyard to
extract them? Or rather than pollute the
Earth further in our attempt to go
green, is it actually more feasible to
get these rare earths off the moon
instead? Rare Earths aren't any more
common on the moon than on Earth.
However, some deposits have already been
identified, and pollution on the moon
would certainly not have any of the
devastating environmental and human
consequences attached to doing it here.
As demand for these elements inevitably
goes up in the coming decades, it could
well be that mining for them on the moon
becomes economically viable. And not
only that, but a control on the market
means control of the market price. And
whichever country is in control will
have a tremendous advantage. Will it be
China maintaining their position or will
some of the other space fairing
countries and companies want a piece of
the pie? Only time will tell. Which
leads on to another curious question.
Who actually has mining rights on the
moon? Well, it's a bit unclear. The main
space treaty, which most countries in
the world have signed up to, is called
the Outer Space Treaty and covers things
like disallowing weapons of mass
destruction in space, disallowing
military bases in space, and disallowing
claiming any celestial body. However, it
doesn't really cover mining. Other
treaties have been put forward which
would cover mining in space, but so far
only non-space fairing countries have
signed up for it. Right now, it could
just be a matter of first come, first
served.
So, there we have it. A look into the
future of what may occur on the surface
of the moon. What do you think? Can
mining on the moon ever be worthwhile,
or is it an expensive, dangerous pipe
dream? I'd love to hear your thoughts in
the comments below.
If you're like me, you've probably spent
your life dreaming of a day when humans
would travel to distant planets and
build life supporting outposts across
the solar system. Well, we're not there
yet, but the Arteimus program may be the
start of this bold endeavor. Fittingly
named after Apollo's sister, the Greek
goddess of the moon, the Arteimus
program is a spiritual sibling of the
Apollo program, which landed the first
astronauts on the moon.
Not only does NASA plan to send human
crew members back to the moon for the
first time since 1972,
but its additional objectives seem like
straight up science fiction. They
include the construction of a permanent
lunar base and paving the way for the
first crude interplanetary mission,
Mars.
But to get there, NASA will first need
to take its new technology for an
uncrrewed test drive and do further
research into the effects of solar
radiation on travelers. With so much
riding on one mission, NASA will need
everything to go perfectly, which is why
they pushed back the launch date from
2017 to 2018, then 2019, and finally
2022.
Now, after years of intense planning,
the long awaited moment has arrived. Is
this the dawn of a new age of space
exploration? The answer will depend on
the success of Arteimus 1.
I'm Alex Mccoan and you're watching
Astramm. Join me today as we countdown
the history makingaking launch of
Arteimus 1, learn about NASA's ambitious
goals for the Arteimus program, and take
a look under the hood of the Orion, the
most advanced space shuttle ever built.
On Monday, August 29th, 2022, Artimus 1
will launch from complex 39B at the
Kennedy Space Center. If all goes as
planned, the day will see two firsts. It
will be the first launch of NASA's space
launch system rocket, a superheavy
vehicle that will propel the Orion
capsule into space and the first flight
of Orion itself, the only spacecraft
currently capable of human deep space
flight. While Artimus 1 will be an
uncrrewed mission, the Orion shuttle can
support a crew of up to six humans. It
is equipped with solar panels, a glass
cockpit,
an automated docking system, a life
support system,
and a launch abort system capable of
ejecting the crew module in case a
catastrophic failure occurs during
ascent.
The shuttle's primary propulsion comes
from a single AJ10 engine, while its
secondary propulsion uses eight R4D11
engines as thrusters. In total, the
Arteimus 1 mission will last 25 days,
traveling beyond the moon and back while
spending six of those days in a distant
retrograde orbit, meaning it will orbit
the moon opposite to the direction that
the moon orbits Earth.
In addition to testing NASA's latest
equipment, Arteimus 1 will have a
secondary payload of 10 cubats, which
contains small satellites that will
conduct some nifty independent testing.
These include an orbiter designed to
search for Luna ice and a solar powered
spacecraft capable of encountering
near-Earth asteroids.
Orion will be stacked on the space
launch system, a towering rocket
standing 111 m tall. At blastoff, it
will produce 8.8 million pounds of
thrust, making it the most powerful
rocket ever built. To create enough
force to send this heavy rocket past
Earth's gravitational pull, it will get
power in several stages. At blastoff,
the core stage and the two solid rocket
boosters will fire up. Within minutes,
the core stage, which houses four RS25
engines, will burn through nearly 3
million L of liquid propellant, while
each booster will also burn through
900,000 kg of solid fuel. This does
sound like a lot, but I don't think you
can appreciate this in real terms
without seeing it in action. So, purely
for your visual enjoyment, here is a
closeup of the engines being tested.
Absolutely remarkable power.
Once the core and boosters run out, the
rocket will drop them, shedding excess
weight. At this point, the space launch
system will have reached Earth's low
orbit. But the shuttle will still need
additional power in order to escape
Earth's gravity. To do this, the SLS
will perform a big move or trans lunar
injection. The upper part of the rocket,
called the intram cryogenic propulsion
stage, will then fire up and drop away,
accelerating the Orion shuttle to nearly
40,000 kmh, fast enough to send it on a
trajectory to the moon. After the ICPS
separates from Orion, it will drop its
payload of 10 small satellites to do
their own information gathering
missions, while Orion will cruise to
Luna space.
There, Orion will fire up its
maneuvering engines. These will send the
shuttle around the dark side of the moon
before its boosters can send it on a
trajectory back to Earth.
At this point, Orion will separate from
its service module and re-enter Earth's
atmosphere before splashing down with
the help of parachutes.
While other shuttles have used similar
technologies in the past, SLS is unique
in that it can carry extremely heavy
payloads while sending human crews much
further than they have ever traveled.
This extra power will be critical for
running complex and heavy payload
missions and hopefully end with NASA's
horizon goal of a crude mission to Mars.
Unlike future Arteimus missions,
Arteimus one will be uncrrewed. Well,
uncrewed by humans, but the shuttle will
have several passengers. One will be
Captain Munikin Campos, a mannequin
equipped with radiation sensors and
acceleration measurement instruments, as
well as two phantoms shaped like female
torsos. Keeping them company will be a
plush Snoopy and Sha the sheep.
While the latter two are presumably just
to come along for the ride, Captain
Campos and the Phantoms will have
important jobs to do. Captain Campos
will be testwearing the same Orion crew
survival system suit that astronauts on
future missions will wear during launch
and re-entry as well as the Matroska
Astroad Radiation Experiment or MAR
which collects data on solar radiation.
The female phantoms, meanwhile, contain
synthetic organs that mimic hard and
soft tissue integrated with hundreds of
radiation detectors. One phantom will
wear an astrod radiation vest and the
other will fly unprotected as a control.
NASA plans to send both men and women on
future Arteimus missions. So, it's
important to gather information on
various health risks specific to both
male and female biology.
NASA have sent men to the moon before,
but never a woman. This program will
take future crews outside of the Earth's
protective magnetic field, where they
will be fully exposed to harsh solar and
cosmic radiation. NASA hopes that the
information they collect will be useful
for protecting future crude missions
from that harm. If Artimus 1 is
successful, NASA has big plans for the
near future. Arteimus 2, currently
scheduled for launch in 2024, will carry
four human crew members on a lunar flyby
that will extend 16,000 km beyond the
moon, further than anyone has ever
traveled before.
In 2025, Arteimus 3 will carry four crew
members into lunar orbit, two of whom
will land on the moon's south pole for
the first time. This mission will also
be the first time a female astronaut
will walk on the moon. This will be a
special occasion and perhaps will be
instrumental in helping future
generations of women gain a love for
space and STEM topics. And 2025 is not
that far away. Only 3 years to go. The
astronauts that will be on this mission
are already training for it as we speak.
But after that, things will get even
more exciting. In 2027, NASA plans to
deliver the first module for the Luna
Gateway. The gateway will be a permanent
space station orbiting the moon, much as
the International Space Station orbits
Earth. It will house docking ports for
visiting spacecraft and a habitable
outpost called Halo for humans to live.
A few years further down the line, NASA
plans to build the Arteimus base camp at
the Shackleton Crater on the lunar south
pole. With access to water, ice, and
mineral resources, it's the ideal spot
for a permanent outpost that would house
up to four crew members for month-long
stays.
NASA also plans to develop an open top
lunar terrain vehicle or LTV, which
astronauts will be able to drive over 20
km from base camp on the rough lunar
surface. For longer ground trips, NASA
plans to build a pressurized rover,
which will allow astronauts to remain
inside without their space suits.
If all this sounds like a fun adventure
to you, there's good news. Because as we
continue to develop a human and robotic
presence on the moon, it may eventually
become a travel destination open to a
wider public. That's right. Sometime in
the future, you or I might be able to
visit the moon. What would you bring?
NASA is already asking people to share
their ideas. You can share yours on
Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram with the
# NASA moonkit.
This may make you wonder why there is
suddenly this rush to get to the moon
again. And while NASA would have never
stopped going, the real reason is
funding from the US government. And the
US is becoming acutely aware of heavy
competition in this sector. China's
plans to also get to the moon. It's
quickly becoming a race and the US
government does not want to be left
behind.
But as I mentioned earlier, the horizon
goal of the Aremus program is not only
to establish a sustainable human
presence on the moon, but to provide a
proving ground for an eventual crude
mission to Mars. In 2029, NASA will roll
out Block 2, an even more powerful
version of the space launch system fully
capable of sending the Orion space
shuttle to Mars. If all goes as planned,
NASA hopes to shift its attention to a
Mars mission sometime in the 2030s.
That's only a decade away. But to get
there, a lot will have to go right. And
it all starts with the Arteimus 1
mission. Arteimus 1 could be a watershed
moment that jumpst starts the golden age
of space exploration. I don't know about
you, but when Artimus 1 blasts off, I
will be glued to my computer watching
all the latest news and updates. The
time when we travel far beyond the Earth
and inhabit other worlds might be closer
than you think. So, if this is an idea
that excites you, you'll definitely want
to stick around because I'll have a lot
more about Arteimus and space
colonization in the future.
You may have heard me mention the
Arteimus program on this channel, the
ambition of NASA to get a human colony
on the moon and eventually on Mars.
A big part of this venture is Gateway,
a joint effort by NASA, issa, Roscosmos,
JAXA, and the CSA, the same space
agencies that are currently working
together on the ISS.
And like the ISS, Gateway will be a
space station, but not around the orbit
of Earth, but instead around the moon.
So, how will it work? What does it hope
to achieve and why have a space station
around the moon in the first place?
I'm Alex Mccoan and you're watching
Astramm. And in this video, we will
investigate the Gateway mission and find
out why it is such a crucial part of
NASA's ambitions.
This video is a special collaboration
with the Robotus channel and our own
Astram Spanish channel. If you are
Spanish speaking, then be sure to check
out their channels in the description
below.
The Gateway mission will coincide with
the launch of NASA's new rocket, the
SLS, or the Space Launch System. This
rocket is the most powerful built to
date, even surpassing the old Saturn 5
rocket.
It is huge and it has to be because NASA
hopes to be able to launch 130 tons
worth of payload into a low Earth orbit
with a smaller yet still very heavy
payload to even further destinations.
This will be important because as I
mentioned the end goal of the Arteimus
program is to get humans to the moon and
Mars and humans tend to need a little
bit more to keep them alive than a
robotic mission would. Launching all
this life support into space means that
not only has Gateway been designed to be
a communications repeater for several
deep space missions, but it will also
serve as a pit stop. It incorporates a
cabin module in which crews can prepare
before embarking on other missions.
However, unlike Space X rockets which
are trying to cut costs by utilizing
reusable boosters,
an SLS launch will be expensive as it
uses disposable boosters. Combine this
with the cost of research and
development, and this could bring the
cost per launch in the region of an
eyewatering $2 billion.
As such, the SLS has had its opponents
throughout development. But regardless,
they are committed now, and it's only a
year away from its first voyage. Putting
the arguments of cost aside, the SLS
will be the most powerful rocket ever
created by NASA.
A true monster capable of sending a
large amount of cargo into space with
more power than ever. Just look at some
of these tests they have recently run.
One launch alone could get around 45
tons to Mars.
The rocket's first task will be to get
the Orion module, a human ready capsule
that will provide the housing needed to
get a crew into space and back again,
re-entering into Earth's atmosphere
safely with a heat shield and parachute.
The loading capacity of the SLS will not
only allow the launch of Orion and its
crew, but also some of the different
modular components and instruments
needed to assemble Gateway. As such, the
construction of Gateway will be a long
process as they won't be able to launch
the whole of it in one go.
In fact, construction is not expected to
finish until 2026, and that's only for
the most basic and necessary modules.
Fortunately, due to Gateway's modular
design, possibilities to gradually
expand the space station is a real and a
likely possibility depending on the
needs of future missions.
Although NASA have plans to get to Mars
in the 2030s, NASA is also highly
dependent on the budget it receives. So
while there are several missions
proposed up until 2028, including
several piloted missions, they depend on
the success of the first missions and
whether NASA continues to get the budget
it's getting from the US government. At
this point though, I can't envision it
not going ahead, barring total disaster,
as China are hot on America's heels and
have equally ambitious sights set on the
moon and beyond. And America's efforts
are probably spurred on by China's
advances in space, we might have a good
old-fashioned space race on our hands.
Now, while this is done in the name of
science, with the billions of tons of
precious metals in space and with the
progress in technology space missions
bring, you could certainly see this
being commercially viable as well as
being important in a militaristic sense.
And you can be sure neither party wants
to be left behind on this one.
Going back to Gateway, NASA intends to
start with the basics. So the first
phase of Gateway's construction will
focus on installing the power and
propulsion modules to expand it later
with the halo module which will be a
very basic space habitat which will
allow the stay of at least 30 days for a
crew of four people. During the
construction process of Gateway, NASA
will send a rover to the lunar south
pole. The rover's special task is to map
the location of water trapped at the
bottom of the craters so we can better
understand just how much is there and to
see how pure it is. This is because one
of the proposed places for a settlement
on the moon is around its south pole
where the presence of water ice has been
confirmed. Hidden at the bottom of
eternally dark craters which protect the
ice from the sun's rays. These craters
could be perfect candidates for a
possible habitat as they would protect
astronauts residing there too. The peaks
around the craters, on the other hand,
would be exposed to the most amount of
sunlight, allowing solar arrays to
capture energy from the sun more easily
for power and for the cultivation of
plants.
Remember, solar arrays wouldn't be so
effective anywhere else on the moon due
to its days that last a month, and 2
weeks in the dark isn't so useful there.
Although we know from previous missions
that water does exist at the bottom of
the South Pole craters, we don't have a
good handle on how much as the lack of
light there makes observations from
space impossible. This is going to be
one of the obstacles the rover will need
to overcome. It will have to travel into
a crater on battery power alone and
leave again before it runs out so that
the rover can charge them up again using
the solar panels. The design of the
rover is still pending and in fact it
will be picked as part of a design
contest proposed by NASA to different
companies.
Once Gateway is built, NASA plans to
launch the Arteimus 3 mission, whose
crew will be stationed at Gateway using
the Orion module to expand the space
station's living space. Scientists will
be able to study the effect on
astronauts outside the substantial
protection of the Earth's magnetosphere.
During these short stays, they will test
whether radiation exposure can be
reduced to an acceptable amount. Also,
as part of the mission, two members of
the crew will remain in orbiting gateway
while the other two will land at the
south pole of the moon where they will
remain for about 1 week. They too will
be expected to perform several moon
walks again to examine samples of water
ice and perform other scientific
observations around the pole. It is
proposed that included in this team will
be the first female astronaut on the
moon, although names have not yet been
picked.
The space suits they use will be a vast
improvement over the Apollo
counterparts. They incorporate a new
design to grant much more mobility.
If you remember the videos of the first
Apollo missions to the moon, you will
remember that the astronauts moved
around very awkwardly, jumping around
like rabbits.
In this mission, they can walk and flex
their legs. So, thanks to this greater
mobility and the use of modern cameras,
we can expect a series of epic videos of
these astronauts walking on the moon.
Building on the Arteimus 3 mission, NASA
is planning to start construction on the
moon itself to build a lunar colony that
they hope will one day be
self-sufficient.
Everything that is learned in this
colony in the relative proximity to
Earth will be valuable experience which
can be used eventually on the red
planet. This includes oxygen production
systems, water recycling, plant
cultivation, and in general making the
room suitable for a long-term human
presence.
Going to the moon may be more
economically viable than going to Mars,
at least in the short term, because not
only are the costs of sending something
to the moon lower, but the moon can be a
source of rare materials. For instance,
helium 3, which would be useful in a
future nuclear fusion generator on the
moon, and it might have more uses on
Earth, too. This element is
exceptionally rare on Earth, and at one
point it reached the price of $2,000 per
gram.
In addition, the moon could be used as a
steel plant for the manufacturer of
metal foams. On Earth, this is achieved
by injecting pressurized air into cast
metal. But the process is tricky because
bubbles can be produced that rise and
explode, making the manufacturing of
metal foams on Earth very difficult and
expensive. On the other hand, in the low
lunar gravity, this process would be
much simpler and the spongy structure of
the metal much more uniform and of a
higher quality. Once the material is
ready, it is very easy to send it to
Earth since you don't need a large
rocket due to the weak lunar gravity.
One possibility is that it could be
launched back to Earth with a magnetic
catapult, something like a rail gun,
launching the order back to Earth or
into orbit around the moon to be picked
up by a spacecraft later on. Again
though, that's something for the far
future. After Arteimus 3, there are up
to four more proposed missions which
will continue to expand Gateway as a hub
for more lunar missions, but with the
end goal looking to finally send humans
to Mars.
So fingers crossed for the success of
these missions. I feel like exploration
is in humanity's blood, and these really
are the new frontiers in this day and
age. And with China pressing ahead with
their own space program, we could be in
for some exciting years ahead with
regards to space exploration.
You may have heard in the news last year
that Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos have
become the first billionaires to get
into space themselves. Whatever your
thoughts on this, it marks a fascinating
point in human history. In the past, the
space race was exclusively a contest or
collaboration of nations. But now
private companies are beginning to enter
the fray. Why this sudden change? And
what does this mean for the future of
space travel and exploration? Now that
businesses are starting to look to the
stars, what might it mean for humanity's
future?
I'm Alex Mccoan and you're watching
Astramm. And while it might be a little
too early to say for sure what the
future brings, we can perhaps gain
greater insights into these questions by
looking at why some of these companies
and individuals are reaching for the
stars.
The commercialization of space is not a
new thing. In 1962, just 5 years after
the first artificial satellite was
launched by the USSR, the first
commercial satellite Telstar 1, was
launched by the AT&T Corporation as a
means of broadcasting American
television programs to Europe. It was
launched using a NASA rocket.
In 1975, Ortra or the first company to
attempt to develop an alternative
propulsion system for rockets was
founded in Stoodgart, Germany.
And in 1984, the US President Ronald
Reagan signed the Commercial Space
Launch Act, intending to encourage
companies to explore space.
Satellites have been a staple of modern
life for many years now, enabling
internet connections and helping us to
navigate through tools like satnavs,
among other things. In other words,
companies have already been
commercializing space for some time. So,
what's different about these recent
space flights? Well, these flights are
the first time that private companies
have built their own rockets and flown
their own founders into space. They
represent a turning point in space
exploration and the beginning of a
fledgling space tourism industry where
wealthy individuals can pay to spend
time in space. This could have larger
future impacts than you might think, as
we'll explore later in the video.
But let's first take a look at some of
the companies that have been developing
their own rockets to travel into space.
In particular, we'll be looking at
Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin,
and SpaceX, as the differing approaches
of all of these companies offer us the
best glimpses of the many possible
outcomes of commercial space flights.
To begin with, let's examine Virgin
Galactic as it was Richard Branson who
won the race to be the first billionaire
to fly into space on their own rocket.
He did this on the 11th of July in 2021,
but had actually created Virgin Galactic
much earlier back in 2004.
Branson's company, the Virgin Group, had
taken an interest in the idea of space
tourism and had noted that another
smaller company, Scaled Composites, was
developing their own rocket called
Spaceship 1. Scaled Composites hoped to
win the Ansari X prize for the first
private crude spacecraft. Branson
reached out to scaled composits and
convinced them to make the Virgin Group
their sole customer of future
spacecrafts if they succeeded. They did
so on October 4th, 2004 with spaceship 1
flying to 112 km in altitude and
returning to the Earth safely and with a
crew.
It's worth noting that space is
officially recognized as starting at 100
km by many agencies at a point known as
the Carmon line named after Theodor on
Carmen, the first person who tried to
define such a boundary. Spaceship 1 did
successfully fly over the Carmon line
boundary. However, NASA sees space as
beginning at around 80 km.
With that success under their belt,
Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic
began working together to create a whole
fleet of new spaceships, model name
Spaceship 2, with Scaled Composites
providing the technical know-how and
Virgin Galactic providing much of the
initial capital.
Together, they founded the Spaceship
Company with Virgin owning 70% of the
shares, but eventually this rose to 100%
when Virgin bought out the company
completely.
The rocket they designed had one aim in
mind, space tourism. To get six
passengers and two pilots up into space,
to allow them to see incredible views of
the Earth and to experience a feeling of
weightlessness.
To do this, they used an interesting
method. Instead of just creating a
rocket, they actually attached their
spaceship 2 to a specialized aircraft
called White Knight 2, which carried the
Spaceship 2 up to an altitude of 15,000
m. Then the spacecraft is released and
activates its rocket booster, which
takes it to supersonic speeds in just 8
seconds. The spaceship 2 then begins
climbing, arcing higher and higher until
it was pointed straight up. It reaches
over 80 km, the NASA definition of the
boundary of space. All in all, this trip
up takes roughly an hour.
At the height of Spaceship 2's climb, it
cuts its thrusters and lets gravity
begin to slow its acceleration. This
drop in acceleration results in the
passengers on board feeling weightless.
Sort of like when you throw a ball
straight up in the air. There is a brief
moment when the ball is neither rising
nor falling. This moment of perfect
balance between upward motion and
gravitational pull lasts for roughly 5
minutes, after which the spaceship 2
begins to fall to the Earth.
It glides its way back down much slower
than a capsule re-entering the
atmosphere by using a feathered re-entry
system before gliding its way back to
its launch pad. This part of the trip
would also take about an hour, making
for a 2hour round trip total.
With the success of Richard Branson
getting into space, Virgin Galactic will
be looking to start flying passengers
into space within this year. But why
does this matter? Ticket prices for a
flight on Spaceship 2 or possibly
Spaceship 3 by then will cost $250,000,
far outside the price range of most
people.
Shouldn't that money instead be invested
in issues closer to home rather than
providing the rich with a fun day out?
Well, as our next billionaire has
pointed out, space tourism might just be
the way that space travel becomes
accessible to everyone.
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon,
created his own space company, Blue
Origin, with this aim in mind. Bezos has
always had an interest in space,
mentioning in an interview at the age of
18 his desire to build space hotels,
amusement parks, and colonies for 2 to 3
million people who would be in orbit.
However, this was not simply as a way to
make money. Bezos explained at the time
that this was a way of preserving Earth.
By moving certain amounts of the
population off the planet, it might
reduce the strain on the environment.
In 2000, when Bezos was wealthy enough
from the success of Amazon to start
making his dreams become a reality, he
began Blue Origin, funding it privately
with his own money. However, to begin
with, Bezos kept the project fairly
secret. He did not reveal publicly that
he had founded the company, and even in
2003, when he started buying land for a
possible launch site, the public was
left wondering what he wanted the land
for.
Unlike Virgin Galactic, which leaned on
investors to fund its research and so
was very open with its aims, Blue Origin
did not make much public noise for about
a decade. It accepted a contract from
NASA in 2009 and did publish a rough
report on the progress of the rocket it
was developing, but it was not until
2015 that it began to speak more openly
about its goals. And those goals had not
changed much from when Bezos was young.
Blue Origin's first commercial rocket,
the New Shepard, named after Alan
Shepard, the first American to go into
space, was also a tourism rocket. But
Bezos made it clear in speeches that he
did not intend to stop there. In his
mind, this was just a beginning. In
2016, he made a speech where he compared
the space industry now with aviation
back in his infant days. In the early
days of airplane flight, a big portion
of people flying were those seeking the
simple thrill of flying in a plane. This
tourism and entertainment factor
expanded interest in the industry, which
made it so many companies develop the
technology further. Nowadays, almost
anyone can buy a plane ticket. Although
spacecraft tickets are extremely
expensive for now, in the long run,
Bezos said that the space industry could
go the same way.
Bezos's rocket, the New Shepard, is a
little different in design from
Branson's. It has a more standard
thruster that carries an observation pod
up into the sky, which then detaches. It
also goes higher than Spaceship 2,
crossing the Carmon line to a height of
around 107 km. It also travels much
faster. The whole trip from takeoff to
landing will only last about 11 minutes,
unlike Virgin Galactic's 2 hours.
although it will no doubt carry a
similar price tag for tickets.
And Bezos is already looking ahead.
Although 107 km is over the Karman line,
it is still far from true orbit.
Blue Origin's future goal is to get
their next rocket named New Glenn after
another astronaut into orbit. And as for
the project after that, well, the name
is New Armstrong. It is clear that Blue
Origin intends to make its way to the
moon. This is in line with Bezos's
stated objectives to pave the way for
industry to more accessibly get into
space. Although he doesn't expect to see
it in his lifetime, Bezos has said that
he expects much of the Earth's heavy
industry to one day be done in space.
Our
last billionaire, however, has his eyes
on an even further goal. Elon Musk's
company, SpaceX, is a little different
from the other two. While Virgin
Galactic and Blue Origin focus on space
tourism, SpaceX has been more focused on
commercial ventures. Since its founding
in 2002, SpaceX has grown to dominate
the market, taking half of the contracts
to launch satellites into space.
Part of its success in this area is due
to the fact that its rocket, the Falcon
9, is reusable.
This reusability drastically reduces the
cost of launches, making launching
satellites and other cargo much cheaper.
The Falcon 9 is much larger than New
Shepard or Spaceship 2. While the latter
two are roughly comparable at 18 m in
length each, Falcon 9 is 70 m. Its
thrusters are powerful enough to get it
into orbit. It carries a reusable cargo
capsule named the Dragon, the first of
which carried supplies up to the
International Space Station. The Falcon
9 is able to carry 5,500 kg of weight
into orbit or more if they're willing to
sacrifice the reusability of the rocket.
This ability to transport cargo reflects
a possible future purpose of SP X to
carry freight to Mars.
Elon Musk has always made it clear that
he intends to one day see a colony on
Mars. And in 2001, his company
conceptualize green houses that might
grow plants there. Any such colony will
no doubt need supplies from Earth,
particularly in his early days as vital
equipment and personnel would need to be
transported over. Any company with the
large-scale capability to transport
heavy weights between Earth and Mars
would stand to make a lot of money. In
2001, Musk attempted to buy rockets that
might start the process of getting
supplies to Mars, but realized that it
would be cheaper to create his own.
Thanks to the success of SpaceX, which
is now currently valued at well over $75
billion, Musk has gained the funds
necessary to further his dream. SpaceX
is developing a new line of rocket known
as Starship, which they hope will be
able to go to the moon and later be able
to transport 100 tons to Mars before
refueling there and flying back. It will
be an incredible achievement and
although it takes roughly 6 months to
travel to Mars, it will make the red
planet far more accessible to humankind.
space tourism, lunar landings, orbiting
facilities and refueling stations,
shipping to Mars. These are all the
stated objectives of the commercial
interests looking at space. And although
they're still a long way from achieving
some of those goals, the fact that they
are making the progress they are makes
those future goals seem all the more
plausible. This is why billionaires
traveling into the edges of space in
their own rockets is exciting.
It not only marks the beginning of an
age where trips for the average person
traveling to another planet could one
day be real, but it could lead the way
for humanity truly being an
interplanetary species.
Now, I know these companies have their
controversies which I avoided in this
video. However, what company seems the
most promising to you? Maybe there's a
company I didn't mention that has real
potential, too. Do you think it's good
for there to be healthy competition in
this industry? Let me know what you
think in the comments below.
>> It would be pretty impressive if you
somehow missed the news over this last
weekend about the successful SpaceX NASA
launch to the International Space
Station.
Some of you may be wondering though,
what is so significant about this? We've
been sending humans to space for a long
time, and this trip isn't even to
anywhere far away. The ISS is only a few
hundred km above the surface of Earth,
after all. Well, there's a couple of
things that make this exciting for space
exploration and space travel in general.
The obvious one, the one everyone has
been talking about with every given
opportunity, is that this marks the
first time astronauts have lifted off
from American soil since 2011,
since the discontinuation of the space
shuttle program. This is significant
because it means the US is really back
in the game. Now
during this gap between the end of the
space shuttle program and today only the
Russians had capabilities to send
astronauts to space.
Every launch went via them and their soy
use rocket costing the US an estimated
$86 million per seat. Russia have put
their price up over this last decade,
perhaps cashing in on the fact that they
had a monopoly on the market. The lowest
NASA paid Russia was $21.8 million per
seat back in 2007. And the design of the
Soyos hasn't really changed since then.
Which brings us on to the second most
significant part of this mission. NASA
has commissioned private contractors to
build the next generation of manned
launch vehicles and capsules. The idea
is that having some competition in this
market will be a good thing for bringing
prices down.
So, while the Russians have been
charging $86 million per seat,
SP X on the other hand will be charging
about $55 million per seat initially. As
more orders come in, they expect to be
able to reduce this price tag down
further to the $10 to 20 million mark.
SpaceX can go so low because they
utilize reusable boosters, which should
reduce their overall cost considerably.
Another of the contractors, Boeing, are
also testing their own capsule. Although
their price per seat will be
considerably higher initially at $90
million.
SpaceX has had a big head start. They
have been flying robotic cargo missions
to the ISS since 2012, which has meant
Boeing has been playing catch-up to
match a similar launch schedule to
SpaceX.
With time though, those costs should
also be reduced. This competition in the
industry is good because cheaper manned
missions to space should mean a greater
capacity for more missions in the
future, which is great news for space
enthusiasts.
To give you some comparison about the
costs involved with space travel, NASA
is still working on their own launch
vehicle called the SLS. This will be
more than just a taxi service for
astronauts. It's designed to shift a
serious amount of cargo far out into our
solar system, too. However, if you
include all the R&D costs into each of
its expected flights, we are looking at
over $2 billion per launch
compared to Space X's Falcon Heavy,
which Elon Musk claims would only cost
NASA $150 million per launch. Now, the
SLS would get a little less than twice
the amount of cargo to low Earth orbit,
130 tons, compared to Falcon Heavy 70
tons. However, we are seeing signs
already that maybe the private sector
can do it better. We are still in early
days yet. In the coming years, seeing
the reliability of all the craft will be
one of the most important factors to
decide whether one way or another is the
most successful path or not. But the
fact that there are now options will be
crucially important for the future of
space flight.
So well done SpaceX and NASA and good
luck Boeing and the teams behind the SLS
and all other space agencies around the
world. Let's make this upcoming decade
one to remember for space travel.
When you think of the space race, you
probably imagine the tense cold war era
battle between the US and the Soviet
Union. But what if I told you there was
another player in the game? While the
superpowers wrestled for space
dominance, a small and newly independent
nation started developing its own
ambitions of reaching the stars and
beating the big dogs to it. The story of
Zambia's space program is a great
example of humanity's overpowering
curiosity to explore and understand the
cosmos, no matter where we're from and
how far we're willing to go to do so.
It's also a reminder that history is
shaped by those who get to tell it. And
it isn't only the loudest voices that
leave the biggest legacies.
I'm Alex Mccoan and you're watching
Astramm. Join me today as we dive into
the little known story of the Zambian
space program, their proposed mission,
unconventional training practices, and
the lasting impact of their leader
vision.
After World War II, the US and the
Soviet Union realized that in a world
with nuclear weapons, there can only be
one superpower. They entered a bitter
struggle for dominance. each racing to
stay one step ahead of the other,
engineering increasingly powerful
rocketry and weapons technology. It
didn't take long for their arms race to
become a space race. By the early 1960s,
new milestones in space exploration were
being made every year. Both programs had
unwavering political and public support,
which meant lots of funding, press, and
progress. All eyes were on them and the
stakes were super high.
Half a world away, Edward Muka Unaloso
was watching too. A passionate science
school teacher, he dreamed of one day
creating his own Zambian space program
to rival those of the Americans and
Soviets. The only problem, his country
was facing its own political struggle,
the struggle for independence.
Zambia, then called Northern Rhdesia,
had been under British colonial rule
since 1888.
Through the 1950s, Zambians grew
increasingly disillusioned with
colonialist policies such as racial
discrimination and limited political
representation for Africans. Colosso was
one of these Africans. After fighting in
World War II on behalf of Britain, he
opened a school for Zambians which was
promptly shut down by the British
authorities. This pushed him to join the
Zambian Resistance Movement and later
the United National Independence Party.
Unalos also worked hard for both causes
close to his heart. While one hand was
fighting for Zambian independence, the
other was building the Zambia National
Academy of Science, Space Research, and
Philosophy, which opened in 1960.
The details of what went down at his
academy are murky. But it seems this is
where Uncle's idea for a Zambian space
mission emerged. He was going to send
Zambian astronauts, or afronauts as he
called them, to the moon and then to
Mars. and he was going to do it before
the US or the Soviet Union.
"We have been studying the planet
through telescopes at our headquarters
and are now certain Mars is populated by
primitive natives," he says. "Specially
trained space girl, Mata Muam, two cats,
also specially trained, and a missionary
will be launched in our first rocket.
But I have warned the missionary, you
must not force Christianity on the
people of Mars if they do not want it.
If you're wondering about the cats, they
were thrown in partly for companionship
for Marta, partly as a survival testing
device. Marta was to throw one out onto
the Martian surface on arrival, and if
it survived, she'd know it was safe for
her to emerge, too.
In 1964, Enloso announced his mission
was ready. The first rocket was planned
to launch on Zambia's Independence Day,
October 24th, 1964.
Now, going up into space is never an
easy task. You've got to be in tip-top
physical and mental shape to be an
astronaut. In the early days of the
space age, some training exercises were
grueling or even downright dangerous. In
the 1960s, cosmonauts were undergoing
all kinds of rigorous physical training
and conditioning. For instance, they
were put in a centrifuge to recreate the
intense G forces of launch, which is
incredibly dangerous as it puts a lot of
strain on your heart and lungs. Such
training could lead to oxygen starvation
and cause trainees to pass out. It also
limits the ability of your heart to pump
blood upwards against gravity to your
brain and other vital organs. Long-term
exposure to multiple G forces can lead
to complications like arrhythmias over
time. Cosmonauts also underwent
parabolic flights for weightlessness
training, named for the parabolic flight
path the aircraft follows. At the top of
the curve, the acceleration of the
aircraft cancels out the acceleration
due to gravity, achieving a feeling of
momentary weightlessness for the
passengers. It's kind of like when
you're on a swing and at the highest
point of your swing, you feel weightless
for just a moment. Except in an aircraft
with the right trajectory, you can feel
that microgravity for up to 40 seconds.
While effective, these flights were
risky due to the high potential for
mechanical failure or pilot error, as
only the most skilled pilots at the time
could pull off the precise maneuvers
needed. Cosmonauts also had to be
prepared to confront an incredibly harsh
environment in the event their mission
might land far from recovery zones.
Wilderness survival training in Siberia
was an essential part of mission
training, which sounds absolutely
brutal.
Even in modern times, the length some
will go through to reach out for space
can be quite perilous. Daredevil Mike
Hughes discovered it after constructing
his own homemade rocket in attempt to
prove his belief that the Earth is flat.
In February 2020, his rocket tragically
malfunctioned during a test flight,
killing him instantly.
While no one died in the Zambia space
program, its training definitely raised
some eyebrows.
Unkos designed a series of mental and
physical tests to prepare his astronauts
for space travel. One such exercise was
teaching his recruits to walk on their
hands, claiming that this was the only
way people can walk on the moon. It's
unclear where that idea came from since
he was an educated man and was
presumably following the latest space
race updates closely. To simulate zero
gravity, he'd put his recruits in an oil
barrel one by one and roll them down a
hill, bouncing them over rough ground to
simulate turbulence.
When they hit a particularly big bump,
he celebrated, claiming they just
experienced anti-gravity conditions, an
exercise which is obviously
uncomfortable, potentially dangerous,
and definitely not scientifically sound.
Another approach they took to
weightlessness training actually
involved something I mentioned earlier.
They tied two ropes into a swing and
would swing on it, getting higher and
higher. At the time they least expected
it, another trainee would cut the rope
so they could experience the free fall
to the ground. Not a much better
approach. And the rocket ship they were
training for, it was a 10-ft oil barrel
with an air hole in it made of spacerade
aluminium and copper. Care to know how
they were initially planning to launch
it? With a catapult.
His willing recruits were a group of 12
teenagers he was training at the space
programs HQ, a secret location 7 miles
outside of Lusaka at an abandoned
farmhouse. Marta and Mamba, the girl who
was supposed to actually fly the
mission, was just 16 years old at the
time. NASA had exmilitary air force
pilots and engineers in state-of-the-art
purpose-built facilities. Unalos had a
dozen high school children in a field.
Now, I know it seems like I'm making
this up, but this really happened, as
absurd as it all sounds. And that's
what's so mysterious about Unaloso. He
was an intelligent guy. He read about
space. He was a science teacher, a
veteran, and a valued member of the
political movement that led to the
nation's independence.
So, what was his end game? Why was he
talking about this mission if he must
have known it wasn't viable? Some have
speculated that his motivation to join
the space race came from a place of
national pride and a desire to elevate
not just Zambia but all of Africa to the
world stage. He was seen as working to
dismantle stereotypes about Africans
that had held steady during the colonial
era and instead show that Africans are
capable of contributing to scientific
and technological advancements.
If his goal was to get the international
press talking, he certainly succeeded.
Time magazine ran an article about him,
as did several other outlets. News crews
went out to film video interviews with
him and record his team training. His
colorful personality and outlandish
claims definitely helped capture public
imagination and media curiosity, even if
it wasn't clear if he was serious or
not. Unasso maintained he was serious
until his death in 1989.
When asked about it in 2016, the first
president of Zambia, Kenneth Kawunda,
said it wasn't a real thing. It was more
for fun than anything else.
There's another theory that his whole
project was satire, a parody of the
western conquest of other nations. There
didn't seem to be a reason for such
goofy looking training exercises other
than to capture people's attention. Even
during his interviews, he always stayed
in character with his standard issue
helmet and flowing cape. But he'd throw
in subtle jibes at the world powers,
calling them imperialist neoc
colonialists who were scared of Zambia's
space knowledge.
Remember the Christian missionary he
wanted to send to Mars with the girl and
the cats? He had explicitly warned the
missionary he must not force
Christianity on the people of Mars if
they do not want it. A luxury many
colonizing nations did not afford their
conquered lands. Perhaps unsurprisingly,
Uncle Colosso's project never received
public or political support. He had
written to UNESCO asking for a 7 million
pound grant to make his mission a
reality. A drop in the bucket compared
to NASA's $25.4 billion Apollo funding.
It's also been reported he asked for
$1.9 billion from private foreign
sources, but the Ministry of Power,
Transport, and Communication was quick
to clarify this request was not made on
behalf of the government. In the end,
the only funding he got was 10 rupees
from a young Indian boy.
Most Zambians did not resonate with the
space program and didn't feel it
accurately represented the feelings of
the nation. In fact, his own afronauts
deserted him. Two recruits reportedly
went out drinking one night and were
never seen again. Another left to join a
traveling song and dance group, and
Marta ended up having a child of her own
and staying home instead of going to
Mars. In hindsight, we can only
speculate what Unkoso's true intentions
might have been. Maybe it was a ruse to
make international headlines and get the
name of a newly independent country out
there. Given Enalos's history as a
revolutionary, it wouldn't be out of
character for him to want to replace the
name northern Rhdesia with Zambia on the
world stage. And while he had everyone's
attention, he might have thrown in some
satire aimed at the superpowers just for
fun. Or he might have hoped against all
odds that their hard work and
determination would impress the right
people and actually get Zambians into
space. Or perhaps he was simply trying
to make some kids feel like they were
part of something big and important.
What we do know is that he never let
setbacks squander his determination and
belief in his vision. Thanks to him,
even for a brief moment, Zambia entered
the space race against the US and
Soviets.
This is a vibrant story of one man's
audacity, determination, and
self-belief. The reality is that not
everyone who dreams of making it into
space ends up going there. But whether
he meant to or not, Uncle told the
world, "We are here. We are Zambian and
we are free." In a way, he reminded us
that those epic larger than-l life
endeavors like reaching for the stars
and exploring the vastness of the
universe stem from a desire innate in us
all. And that in itself makes it a story
worth telling.
There are exactly two space stations in
orbit around planet Earth right now. One
of them you will have heard of, the
International Space Station. But what
about the other one? Tiangong or the
Heavenly Palace is the third in a series
of space stations launched and
maintained by the People's Republic of
China. It has been in orbit since 2021.
Yet, Western media reports much less on
what happens aboard this second
enigmatic bastion hanging in space's
expanse. So, what is going on up there?
I decided to look into it. And when I
found the list of their past and current
experiments, and as I pieced together
what it meant, the sheer scale of
China's ambitions stunned me. We are
familiar with the sorts of things being
done on the ISS. Experiments aimed at
better understanding how humans might
adapt to space environments and
uncovering the mysteries of our universe
and its physics. inevitably general in
scope, reflected in the differing
priorities and the emphases of each
nation collaborating within it. But
inside Tiangong, the goal is more
focused. What is that goal? The answer
might surprise you. I'm Alex Mcolgan and
you're watching Astramm. Join with me
today as we uncover the goings on within
Tiangong space station and discover what
implications this might have on the
future of humanity in space.
Unlike the ISS, which has been in orbit
for over 25 years, China's own space
station endeavors only started in 2011
with the launch of the first Tiangong
space station. That's right. They
launched the whole space station in one
go. This was not a complex construction.
Tiangong 1 was a simple tube-like
prototype consisting of a sleeping and
living station for Chinese astronauts,
otherwise known as Tyonauts, a habitable
lab for docking and orbital experiments,
and a module for propulsion. The whole
station was only 10.4 4 m long compared
to the ISS 108 m and had two solar
panels on either side. Its simplicity
was a reflection of China's purposes for
it to master rendevu and docking
techniques and to only dip their toes in
the water of space habitation. Tiangong
1 was only in space for a little under 7
years.
China did succeed in sending both crude
and uncrrewed missions to Tiangong 1.
And boyed by this success, they upped
their game with plans for a larger space
station. To achieve this goal, more
tests would be needed. In 2016, a second
space station was launched, which also
bore the name of Tiangong. Tiangong 2
was intended to field test key
technologies that would be needed for
the larger space station and was
de-orbited just a few years later in
2019 once its tasks were completed. The
road was paved for China's Tiangong 3.
Tiangong 3, often referred to as just
Tiangong, aims to be the home of
thousands of experiments. To further
this goal, Tiangong consists of the
Tanhi core module for crew to live in
and two science modules, Went and the
Mangtian. The former designed to see
space's impact on living things and to
develop medical technologies, while the
second focused on microgravity and its
effects on fluid behavior, combustion,
and more. Rotating solar panels connect
to the station and turn to face the sun,
allowing Tiangong to maximize its energy
collection. The Tiangong has an external
robotic arm that can carry a tyonaut to
various parts of the station, allowing
extra vehicular activities to be carried
out. The whole space station weighs 100
tons and is 55 m long and can house up
to six tyonauts at once. smaller than
the ISS, but still large enough that it
had to be assembled module by module in
space with modules launched between 2021
and 2022.
Life aboard the Tiangong is in many ways
similar to life aboard the ISS. China
tries to keep its typhenauts happy with
a wide range of space foods, 120
different kinds. Naturally, given the
muscle atrophying effect of
microgravity, it's important for
tyonauts to spend time each day
exercising, or else they'd have a very
bad time of things when they came back
to Earth.
Similar to the ISS, one of the main aims
of the Tiangong space station is the
popularization of science. So, Tyonaut
spend some of their time taking part in
presentations and collaborations with
schools in China. For instance, this
demonstration involving what fire looks
like when there's no gravity.
Students are also involved in growing
rice seeds from the same batch of seeds
growing on Tiangong, which will help
Chinese scientists explore the impacts
of microgravity on plant growth.
Tiangong is home to several life plants,
although some care has to be taken while
watering them.
Nothing so far here is too much out of
the ordinary. However, there is a theme
to the experiments being carried out on
Tiangong over the course of its 15-year
lifespan. Five themes, in fact, that all
point to a truly ambitious goal. The
five research themes are on orbit
assembly and construction technologies
in space, robotics and autonomous system
technology,
new energy and propulsion technology,
environmental control and life support
system technology,
and new generic technology for
spacecraft.
The technical terminology can make
things a little murky, so let's break
down what each of these means.
Even just the first of these areas of
research is all inspiringly ambitious.
By onorbit construction technologies in
space, we're talking about developing
all the technology necessary to build
large space facilities or even
spacecraft.
In a paper released in 2023, Chinese
scientists laid out their goal to
develop 3D printing capabilities and
other manufacturing tools in orbit.
They're already some of the way there.
In 2018, they pioneered the first
technology to 3D print ceramics under
microgravity, which is appropriate for
the nation that was one of the first to
work with that material 10,000 years
ago. Their desire to pursue this goal
makes a lot of sense. Getting parts into
orbit is a tricky proposition. The
Tiangong space station itself had to be
built over the course of several
launches with great costs involved and
with risk to delicate systems every time
a module was launched. Imagine how much
easier it would be if you could simply
send raw material up and have it
processed and manufactured into usable
parts in space or even better to use
extraterrestrial materials already up
there.
The idea is certainly logical, but from
the Tiangong's mission goals, it's clear
that this has gone beyond the idea stage
in China. They are looking for ways to
implement it. The paper also describes
inflatable, scalable structures in space
that could then be used as a habitat on
neighboring bodies. These lightweight
habitats, effectively tents on the moon,
would be easy to transport, but aren't
limited to the moon. More on that later.
Robotic systems would go hand in hand
with this. The manufacturing industry
back home on Earth greatly benefits from
robotic assembly lines. Chinese
scientists and engineers are looking at
ways robots can perform tasks in space,
such as repair work, construction, cargo
transfer, and more. Tyonauts are already
laying the groundwork by testing robots
and their ability to perform in
microgravity,
such as this test here, where a robot
was run through this pipe.
But it goes further than just plans for
Earth orbit or even the moon. The next
research area looks towards developing
new forms of energy and propulsion
systems.
Solar panels are a great way to get
electricity in space. However, China is
looking into other options, likely
because once you get out to the ranges
of planets like Jupiter, sunlight is no
longer strong enough. NASA's Juno
mission is the furthest spacecraft to
use solar panels to date, as I talk
about in another of my videos here. But
by that distance from the sun, light
levels drop to just 3% of what we get
here on Earth. hardly enough to support
large projects out at that distance. And
what this implies is that China is
considering large projects at that
distance, especially when combined with
their aim to create efficient propulsion
systems with long operating life. Any
rocket fuel propulsion system can get
heavy on long trips as you have to carry
all the fuel you use unless you can
develop it in situ.
Due to these increasing logistical
costs, outposts that are self-sufficient
are incredibly valuable. Which is why
tyonauts are also actively exploring
ways to recycle oxygen, water, grow
food, prevent microbial problems, and
harmless degradation of waste. This is
one of the reasons tyonauts are
experimenting growing rice in space.
They're also performing studies on the
effects of microgravity on living
organisms such as fruit flies to see how
the conditions of space affect life. And
just at the start of the year, Tyonaut
successfully tested a technology that
brings oxygen recycling and the need for
insitu rocket fuel together. In the
first experiment of its kind, using a
semiconductor catalyst, tyonauts on
Tiangong produce oxygen and hydrocarbon
ethylene out of carbon dioxide in an
instance of artificial photosynthesis.
Hydrocarbon ethylene can be used to make
rocket fuel. But researchers also
believe they could use the same process
to make methane, formic acid, or even
sugars, mimicking what plants do on
Earth.
This discovery is groundbreaking. On the
ISS, the electricity required to recycle
oxygen using electrolysis techniques is
thought to take up a third of the ISS's
energy usage. This new process is more
efficient, gets rid of the CO2 being
breathed, and can be done at room
temperature. That's an incredibly useful
technology to have on any long-d
distanceance space mission.
Finally, Tyonauts are testing their gear
to make sure it works in space. This is
the last of the five research themes,
and while not as flashy as the others,
it's a vital step in the process, and
one that's difficult to replicate on
Earth. The unique conditions of
microgravity can put a lot of different
strains on machinery, for one example.
Fluid dynamics are much harder to
currently model, for another. And if you
want to solve these things, it's
practically impossible to replicate
microgravity if you're deep within our
gravity well.
Putting it all together, it becomes
clear that China is already thinking
very carefully about not just a lunar
base, but a vast network of habitats
across the solar system.
self-sufficient, able to mine resources
wherever they are. And with the
manufacturing capabilities to construct
parts or whole new spacecraft out of it.
With this infrastructure and technology
in place, China will be able to mine
resources from asteroids across the
solar system and set up human presences
on countless moons or planets. Yes, it's
still early days and it's not like China
is alone in this, but it's a sign of how
far things have progressed.
If China is testing out the technology
to build manufacturing bases in space,
the platforms themselves can't be that
far behind. To be clear, China isn't
trying to be secretive about any of
this. In fact, the Chinese are very in
favor of collaboration.
However, under American law, American
astronauts are not allowed on board
Tiangong without express permission from
Congress, something not likely to be
given. And although Europe initially
planned to collaborate with China, they
pulled out in 2023, citing insufficient
budget and no political green light.
Although European and American nations
are wary of it, China has invited
scientists across the world to perform
joint experiments on the Tiangong
station in a spirit of international
collaboration and mutual benefit. It
remains to be seen whether other nations
will join China in these experiments or
whether Taikonauts will be doing these
thousands of experiments on Tiangong
alone.
artificial photosynthesis,
orbital construction facilities capable
of building a space rocket, robotics,
insitue, rapid growth of food, new power
sources, new propulsion.
All in all, we are entering into a new
stage of space exploration.
To date, the furthest a human has ever
traveled from our home planet is our
moon. We've set foot there, looked
around, but soon came home again.
China's experiments on Tiangong are
signs that a new approach to space is
fast arriving. One where humanity does
not simply go to space to come back
again. We as a species are well on the
way to leaving the nest of our mother
earth and spreading our wings to fly out
and discover new territories further and
further onwards from there. I hope we
are ready for all that entails.
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