NASA’s latest mission could totally change the way we explore space! They’re working on a project to test a futuristic propulsion system called nuclear thermal propulsion, which could make space travel way faster. This tech uses nuclear reactions to heat up fuel and create powerful thrust, making trips to places like Mars much quicker—maybe cutting travel time in half. Faster journeys mean less time in harsh space conditions for astronauts and more opportunities for deep-space exploration. If it works, it could open the door to all kinds of cool missions, like building bases on other planets or even exploring moons in far-off systems. Credit:
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Animation is created by Bright Side.
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Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV
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FunTranscript
00:00For decades now, people have been dreaming of exploring space.
00:04And since the year 2000, there has indeed been a continuous presence of people in space.
00:09And recently, a new record has been set.
00:12Just a couple of weeks ago, there were 17 people from 5 different countries in Earth's
00:17orbit at the same time.
00:19The previous record was set in September 2021 during the privately funded Inspiration4 mission.
00:26At that time, the number of people in orbit reached 14.
00:29So let's see.
00:31Just recently, 3 more people have arrived at China's Tiangong Space Station.
00:35There were 3 more astronauts aboard the same station.
00:38But they've been there since November 2022 and are supposed to return back to Earth in
00:43June.
00:44Then, there are 7 people on board the International Space Station.
00:48And 4 more departed the ISS aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon named Freedom.
00:54They successfully returned to Earth on the 30th of May 2023, leaving 13 people in orbit.
01:00Interestingly, the current record also includes the 600th person to get into Earth's orbit.
01:07Specialist Reyana Barnai from X-2 mission became a space traveler number 600, as well
01:12as the first Saudi woman in space.
01:15But I've got something even more exciting to tell you.
01:18Oh my!
01:19The record for most people in space, and just not in Earth's orbit, was reset not so long
01:25ago too.
01:26But it lasted for a mere 5 minutes or so.
01:29But during this short period of time, there were 20 people off the planet.
01:34This record was set when 6 members of the Virgin Galactic Unity 25 Spaceship 2 crew
01:39happened to be in space at the same time as 3 Chinese Taikonauts living and working aboard
01:45Taikon, and 11 astronauts on board the International Space Station.
01:50That's getting crowded!
01:51Well, the International Space Station has always hosted the majority of space travelers
01:56from Earth.
01:57But I bet there are some cool facts about this marvel of technological development you
02:01haven't heard yet.
02:03The ISS is the 3rd brightest object in the night sky.
02:07And the coolest thing?
02:08You can sign up for a special service, and you'll get a text every time the ISS travels
02:13over your location and is visible with the unaided eye.
02:17I've seen it dozens of times myself, and it's very, very cool.
02:21Normally, you can see it between dusk and dawn.
02:24But be ready, because the station is very fast.
02:27It moves at a speed of 5 miles per second and circles our planet every 90 minutes.
02:33The International Space Station is a true record-breaker.
02:35It's the largest human-made object in space.
02:38The ISS is 357 ft long from end to end, which is about the same length as a soccer field.
02:45It also weighs about 450 tons.
02:48Eight spacecraft can dock at the ISS at the same time.
02:51The working and living space of the station is bigger than a 6-bedroom house.
02:56Astronauts have 6 sleeping quarters, a gym, 2 bathrooms, and a beautiful 360-degree view
03:03from their special bay window.
03:05Now to the nitty-gritty.
03:06On the ISS, you wouldn't have to deal with lots of disgusting smells.
03:11There is a specially trained person who smells everything astronauts take with them in space.
03:16It's done to protect them from unpleasant odors.
03:19The thing is that you can't really air the room out there if you don't like how it
03:23smells inside.
03:24That's why NASA is very careful about what kinds of smells are allowed to pass through.
03:30You'd also have to get rid of your clothes instead of washing them after each use.
03:34To bring a mere 1 pound of load to the International Space Station costs up to $10,000.
03:41That's why it's easier to throw your clothes away when they get dirty than to waste water
03:45washing them.
03:46While sleeping, you'd have exceptionally good airflow around you.
03:50Otherwise, the carbon dioxide you'd exhale would form a bubble around your head, and
03:55you'd get oxygen-deprived.
03:57And that's not good.
03:59People often think that in space, you experience zero gravity.
04:02Hence the weightlessness astronauts feel on the International Space Station.
04:07But that's not exactly true.
04:10Gravity is one of the most important forces that exist in the Universe.
04:13Thanks to it, the Moon can orbit Earth, and the Sun doesn't float away from our home
04:18Milky Way galaxy.
04:19But astronauts on the ISS experience not full-fledged, but microgravity, which means itsy-bitsy gravity.
04:27Earth's gravity on the space station is not only around 10-12% weaker than the gravity
04:32on the planet's surface, but astronauts are constantly in freefall.
04:37The spacecraft, the people inside, and all the objects aboard keep falling forward, not
04:42down, but around our planet, following a specific orbit.
04:47And since they're all falling together, the crew and the stuff inside seem to be floating.
04:52But our space exploration plans are much more ambitious than just orbiting our planet on
04:57board the ISS.
04:58We're planning to send a mission to the Moon and build a colony on Mars.
05:03Some experts claim that in the next 25 years, around 20,000 people are likely to leave Earth.
05:09But how many people would it take to colonize an entire star system?
05:14In 2002, anthropologist John Moore from the University of Florida stated that a spaceship
05:20with 150 passengers could leave Earth and set off on a several thousand years' journey
05:26to another star system.
05:27And upon arrival, the descendants of the original crew could build settlements in a new world.
05:33That seems like a lot of work to me.
05:35Let's continue.
05:37The nearest star system, Proxima Centauri, is 4.2 light-years away from our home planet.
05:43Talking about space is just next door.
05:46But for us, it's so far that we would need to build a generational spaceship to get us
05:51there.
05:52The question is how many people you'd need to send on such a mission to have enough genetic
05:57diversity.
05:58A new study disagrees with John Moore, claiming it must be way more than 150 people.
06:04According to a scientist from Portland State University, a spaceship traveling to such
06:09a distant world would have to carry at least 10,000 people.
06:13This number might secure the success of the mission.
06:1640,000 people would be even better.
06:18Who knows what could happen to the travelers during such a challenging and unprecedented
06:23journey?
06:24At the moment, NASA isn't ready to send humans even to Mars, let alone a distant solar
06:29system.
06:30But a few private organizations are working on this project.
06:34They hope to make interstellar trips possible in the next century.
06:38They count on a huge increase in propulsion speed, which could potentially reduce the
06:43travel time between stars to a mere few hundred years.
06:48Travelers have built several simulations to figure out how many various scenarios could
06:52play out during such an interstellar mission.
06:55And they have come to the conclusion that the success of this mission would greatly
06:59depend on the size of the starting population.
07:03Genetic diversity would keep the travelers healthy.
07:05The larger the population is, the more diversity it has.
07:09And 150 people is definitely not enough to maintain genetic variations.
07:15Even a population of 500 people wouldn't be sufficient enough.
07:18At the same time, if we sent to another solar system 40,000 people, we'd be able to maintain
07:24100% of the variation.
07:27Even 10,000 travelers would make the scenario relatively stable.
07:31Which means that any number between 10,000 and 40,000 people would be a pretty safe bet.
07:36But of course, we wouldn't be able to send so many people in space in just one spaceship.
07:41We'd have to build many and spread people among them.
07:45These ships could be modular, able to dock together for trade and some social gatherings
07:49– for the genetic variety, I'm guessing.
07:52But they would travel separately, so that if some disaster struck one of them, the rest
07:57would remain unharmed.
07:59But to make interstellar travel possible, researchers and engineers will have to overcome
08:04loads of obstacles.
08:06We still need to increase propulsion speed, deal with the negative health effects of living
08:10in space, and invent self-sustaining systems providing air, water, and food.
08:16Or we could just decide to fix our own planet and stay home.