The Real Reason We’re Racing to the Moon Again

0:00 As more countries and companies set their sights on space,

0:03 it may make you wonder what's the end goal.

0:06 Do we simply want to be a space fairing

0:08 species exploring the solar system for the betterment of humanity?

0:13 Or do people smell profit in space?

0:16 While researching this video,

0:18 I found out a lot of eyeopening reasons why mining in space and especially

0:23 on our moon might well be something that we

0:25 see happening in the next couple of decades.

0:29 Why?

0:29 Well, just wait until you find out what's actually there to be mined.

0:36 The first substance is known as helium 3.

0:39 You may have heard of helium 3 in sci-fi stories as theories suggest it is

0:44 the ideal substance for a clean type of nuclear

0:47 reactor with no radiation and no dangerous byproduct.

0:52 It also has uses in medicine and radiation detectors.

0:56 However, it is really rare on Earth.

0:59 It does occur naturally and can be

1:01 found in deposits of natural gas, for instance,

1:04 but it's generally not viable to extract as even in natural gas,

1:08 there are only around 100 parts per billion.

1:12 So, let's say we had 1 billion cub m of natural gas,

1:16 you'd only be able to extract around 15 kg of helium 3 from it.

1:21 A lot of the time, that's not economically viable.

1:25 We can also produce helium 3 as a byproduct of the radioactive decay of tritium.

1:30 The problem with that though is that tritium

1:33 is a crucial component of nuclear weapons.

1:36 And so when the world slowed down the production of nuclear weapons,

1:39 helium 3 stockpiles also started to diminish.

1:43 Assuming we don't want more tritium in the world,

1:45 it means we need to find another source of helium 3,

1:49 especially if technology improves enough for helium

1:51 3 reactors to become a reality.

1:54 Fortunately, we have a world in orbit around Earth right now which has

1:59 been bombarded by helium 3 for billions of years thanks to the sun.

2:04 Earth's magnetic field deflects helium 3 traveling

2:07 with the solar wind around the planet.

2:09 Whereas the moon with no magnetic field for protection simply

2:13 absorbs it in the top layer of the ground called regalith.

2:17 We aren't talking huge quantities.

2:19 It has at most 50 parts per billion.

2:22 But because it's all over the moon, not just in tiny pockets,

2:26 it can be collected alongside any other mining operation.

2:30 It could also be used to power reactors on the moon itself,

2:33 which would help a moon base be self-sufficient.

2:37 Some people think that helium 3 mining on the moon will not be viable.

2:41 However, China states that eventually mining helium 3 is one

2:45 of the primary goals of their Chinese lunar exploration program.

2:49 American, European and Indian scientists have

2:52 all stated it is something they will

2:54 consider further and Russia is conducting a feasibility study on this right now.

3:00 Even private companies are eyeing up the possibility because the parts per

3:05 billion of helium 3 are relatively low even in the moon's regalith.

3:10 It would make sense that whoever was mining for helium 3 would

3:13 also be mining for something else in the regalith at the same time.

3:17 But what else can be found in it?

3:19 As it happens, the lunar regalith is packed with different materials.

3:24 Look at this false color mosaic of the moon.

3:27 Each color indicating different deposits of minerals found on the lunar surface.

3:31 There are plenty of metals to be found

3:33 on the moon in large quantities like iron,

3:36 titanium, aluminium, silicon, calcium, and magnesium.

3:42 Some of these metals are locked into hard to access minerals and oxides.

3:47 However, separating the metals will often also

3:49 produce useful byproducts like oxygen and hydrogen.

3:53 They are super basic and not rare on Earth at all.

3:57 But unlocking these elements on the moon itself will allow

4:00 for a colony to be self- sustaining as oxygen means breathable air.

4:04 Hydrogen can be converted to fuel and combining the two will produce water.

4:10 Unprocessed regalith could also prove useful

4:12 as it could potentially be turned into lunarrete.

4:16 Useful for building infrastructure on the moon

4:19 without having to transport the materials from Earth.

4:22 Glass could also easily be produced from lunar regalith.

4:26 And as I mentioned in a previous video,

4:28 while it's not super ideal, some plants can grow in lunar regalith,

4:33 helping any Luna base to be self-sufficient

4:35 in growing its own food short of using hydroponics.

4:39 But perhaps the most important resource found on the moon are,

4:42 ironically enough, metals known as rare earths.

4:46 Interestingly, rare earths, which consist of this section of the periodic table,

4:52 are not actually super rare on Earth.

4:55 However, the difficulty in mining them is

4:57 that they have not really collected into big deposits.

5:01 Rather, they are dispersed through the Earth's crust.

5:04 This means that they are exceptionally hard to mine on Earth and there are

5:08 only a few countries worldwide that have

5:10 deposits large enough to do anything about it.

5:13 Even then, most countries don't bother at all because of the massive

5:17 environmental and human damages that come from the pollution of mining them.

5:21 The only country that did not waver from these problems is China,

5:25 as China has around 30% of the planet's rare earth supply.

5:29 And because it is one of the only countries mining for them,

5:32 they have a 95% control of the market.

5:36 However, just as a side note,

5:38 one of its big mines was actually found in Myanmar.

5:41 And with the military coup that just took place,

5:44 there might have been a shift in that mine's control.

5:47 In any case, 95% control of the market

5:50 puts China in a powerful position worldwide,

5:53 especially seeing as these minerals are so valuable to our society,

5:57 being components of various electronics and batteries.

6:01 Because of the massive push recently to switch

6:04 to electric vehicles with their huge battery packs,

6:07 demand for these materials will only increase.

6:10 So, it's worthwhile considering where

6:12 the minerals building these batteries come from.

6:14 Are countries with somewhat sizable deposits like the US, Canada, Australia,

6:20 and South Africa going to start digging up their backyard to extract them?

6:24 Or rather than pollute the Earth further in our attempt to go green,

6:28 is it actually more feasible to get these rare earths off the moon instead?

6:33 Rare Earths aren't any more common on the moon than on Earth.

6:37 However, some deposits have already been identified,

6:40 and pollution on the moon would certainly not have any

6:42 of the devastating environmental and human

6:45 consequences attached to doing it here.

6:48 As demand for these elements inevitably goes up in the coming decades,

6:52 it could well be that mining for them on the moon becomes economically viable.

6:57 And not only that, but a control

6:59 on the market means control of the market price.

7:02 And whichever country is in control will have a tremendous advantage.

7:07 Will it be China maintaining their position or will some of the other

7:11 space fairing countries and companies want a piece of the pie?

7:14 Only time will tell.

7:17 Which leads on to another curious question.

7:19 Who actually has mining rights on the moon?

7:23 Well, it's a bit unclear.

7:25 The main space treaty,

7:26 which most countries in the world have signed up to, is called the Outer

7:30 Space Treaty and covers things like

7:32 disallowing weapons of mass destruction in space,

7:35 disallowing military bases in space,

7:37 and disallowing claiming any celestial body.

7:40 However, it doesn't really cover mining.

7:43 Other treaties have been put forward which would cover mining in space,

7:47 but so far only non-space fairing countries have signed up for it.

7:52 Right now, it could just be a matter of first come, first served.

7:56 So, there we have it.

7:58 A look into the future of what may occur on the surface of the moon.

8:02 What do you think?

8:03 Can mining on the moon ever be worthwhile,

8:05 or is it an expensive, dangerous pipe dream?

8:08 I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

8:13 If you're like me, you've probably spent your life dreaming of a day when

8:17 humans would travel to distant planets and build

8:20 life supporting outposts across the solar system.

8:23 Well, we're not there yet,

8:25 but the Arteimus program may be the start of this bold endeavor.

8:30 Fittingly named after Apollo's sister, the Greek goddess of the moon,

8:34 the Arteimus program is a spiritual sibling of the Apollo program,

8:38 which landed the first astronauts on the moon.

8:42 Not only does NASA plan to send human crew members

8:45 back to the moon for the first time since 1972,

8:48 but its additional objectives seem like straight up science fiction.

8:53 They include the construction of a permanent lunar base

8:56 and paving the way for the first crude interplanetary mission, Mars.

9:02 But to get there, NASA will first need

9:05 to take its new technology for an uncrrewed test drive and do further research

9:09 into the effects of solar radiation on travelers.

9:13 With so much riding on one mission, NASA will need everything to go perfectly,

9:18 which is why they pushed back the launch date from 2017 to 2018,

9:23 then 2019, and finally 2022.

9:28 Now, after years of intense planning, the long awaited moment has arrived.

9:34 Is this the dawn of a new age of space exploration?

9:37 The answer will depend on the success of Arteimus 1.

9:42 I'm Alex Mccoan and you're watching Astramm.

9:45 Join me today as we countdown the history makingaking launch of Arteimus 1,

9:50 learn about NASA's ambitious goals for the Arteimus program,

9:53 and take a look under the hood of the Orion,

9:56 the most advanced space shuttle ever built.

10:02 On Monday, August 29th, 2022,

10:05 Artimus 1 will launch from complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center.

10:11 If all goes as planned, the day will see two firsts.

10:15 It will be the first launch of NASA's space launch system rocket,

10:19 a superheavy vehicle that will propel the Orion capsule

10:22 into space and the first flight of Orion itself,

10:26 the only spacecraft currently capable of human deep space flight.

10:31 While Artimus 1 will be an uncrrewed mission,

10:34 the Orion shuttle can support a crew of up to six humans.

10:38 It is equipped with solar panels, a glass cockpit,

10:43 an automated docking system, a life support system,

10:48 and a launch abort system capable of ejecting the crew

10:52 module in case a catastrophic failure occurs during ascent.

10:57 The shuttle's primary propulsion comes from a single AJ10 engine,

11:02 while its secondary propulsion uses eight R4D11 engines as thrusters.

11:09 In total, the Arteimus 1 mission will last 25 days,

11:13 traveling beyond the moon and back while spending

11:15 six of those days in a distant retrograde orbit,

11:19 meaning it will orbit the moon opposite

11:21 to the direction that the moon orbits Earth.

11:24 In addition to testing NASA's latest equipment,

11:27 Arteimus 1 will have a secondary payload of 10 cubats,

11:31 which contains small satellites that will

11:33 conduct some nifty independent testing.

11:36 These include an orbiter designed to search for Luna ice

11:40 and a solar powered spacecraft capable of encountering near-Earth asteroids.

11:45 Orion will be stacked on the space launch system,

11:48 a towering rocket standing 111 m tall.

11:53 At blastoff, it will produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust,

11:58 making it the most powerful rocket ever built.

12:02 To create enough force to send

12:03 this heavy rocket past Earth's gravitational pull,

12:06 it will get power in several stages.

12:09 At blastoff, the core stage and the two solid rocket boosters will fire up.

12:14 Within minutes, the core stage, which houses four RS25 engines,

12:19 will burn through nearly 3 million L of liquid propellant,

12:23 while each booster will also burn through 900,000 kg of solid fuel.

12:29 This does sound like a lot, but I don't think you can appreciate

12:33 this in real terms without seeing it in action.

12:36 So, purely for your visual enjoyment,

12:39 here is a closeup of the engines being tested.

12:43 Absolutely remarkable power.

12:48 Once the core and boosters run out,

12:50 the rocket will drop them, shedding excess weight.

12:53 At this point, the space launch system will have reached Earth's low orbit.

12:57 But the shuttle will still need additional

12:59 power in order to escape Earth's gravity.

13:02 To do this, the SLS will perform a big move or trans lunar injection.

13:08 The upper part of the rocket, called the intram cryogenic propulsion stage,

13:13 will then fire up and drop away,

13:15 accelerating the Orion shuttle to nearly 40,000 kmh,

13:20 fast enough to send it on a trajectory to the moon.

13:23 After the ICPS separates from Orion, it will drop its payload of 10 small

13:28 satellites to do their own information gathering missions,

13:32 while Orion will cruise to Luna space.

13:36 There, Orion will fire up its maneuvering engines.

13:40 These will send the shuttle around the dark side of the moon

13:42 before its boosters can send it on a trajectory back to Earth.

13:47 At this point, Orion will separate from its service module

13:50 and re-enter Earth's atmosphere before splashing

13:53 down with the help of parachutes.

13:55 While other shuttles have used similar technologies in the past,

13:59 SLS is unique in that it can carry extremely heavy payloads

14:04 while sending human crews much further than they have ever traveled.

14:08 This extra power will be critical for running complex and heavy payload missions

14:12 and hopefully end with NASA's horizon goal of a crude mission to Mars.

14:18 Unlike future Arteimus missions, Arteimus one will be uncrrewed.

14:23 Well, uncrewed by humans, but the shuttle will have several passengers.

14:28 One will be Captain Munikin Campos, a mannequin equipped with radiation

14:33 sensors and acceleration measurement instruments,

14:36 as well as two phantoms shaped like female torsos.

14:40 Keeping them company will be a plush Snoopy and Sha the sheep.

14:46 While the latter two are presumably just to come along for the ride,

14:50 Captain Campos and the Phantoms will have important jobs to do.

14:54 Captain Campos will be testwearing the same Orion crew

14:57 survival system suit that astronauts on future missions will wear

15:01 during launch and re-entry as well as the Matroska Astroad

15:05 Radiation Experiment or MAR which collects data on solar radiation.

15:11 The female phantoms, meanwhile,

15:13 contain synthetic organs that mimic hard and soft

15:16 tissue integrated with hundreds of radiation detectors.

15:20 One phantom will wear an astrod radiation vest

15:23 and the other will fly unprotected as a control.

15:27 NASA plans to send both men and women on future Arteimus missions.

15:31 So, it's important to gather information on various

15:34 health risks specific to both male and female biology.

15:38 NASA have sent men to the moon before, but never a woman.

15:43 This program will take future crews

15:45 outside of the Earth's protective magnetic field,

15:47 where they will be fully exposed to harsh solar and cosmic radiation.

15:52 NASA hopes that the information they collect will be

15:54 useful for protecting future crude missions from that harm.

15:59 If Artimus 1 is successful, NASA has big plans for the near future.

16:04 Arteimus 2, currently scheduled for launch in 2024,

16:08 will carry four human crew members on a lunar

16:10 flyby that will extend 16,000 km beyond the moon,

16:15 further than anyone has ever traveled before.

16:18 In 2025, Arteimus 3 will carry four crew members into lunar orbit,

16:24 two of whom will land on the moon's south pole for the first time.

16:29 This mission will also be the first time

16:31 a female astronaut will walk on the moon.

16:34 This will be a special occasion and perhaps will be instrumental in helping

16:38 future generations of women gain a love for space and STEM topics.

16:43 And 2025 is not that far away.

16:46 Only 3 years to go.

16:48 The astronauts that will be on this mission

16:50 are already training for it as we speak.

16:54 But after that, things will get even more exciting.

16:57 In 2027, NASA plans to deliver the first module for the Luna Gateway.

17:03 The gateway will be a permanent space station orbiting the moon,

17:07 much as the International Space Station orbits Earth.

17:10 It will house docking ports for visiting spacecraft

17:13 and a habitable outpost called Halo for humans to live.

17:18 A few years further down the line, NASA plans to build the Arteimus base camp

17:23 at the Shackleton Crater on the lunar south pole.

17:27 With access to water, ice, and mineral resources,

17:30 it's the ideal spot for a permanent outpost that would

17:33 house up to four crew members for month-long stays.

17:38 NASA also plans to develop an open top lunar terrain vehicle or LTV,

17:43 which astronauts will be able to drive over 20

17:46 km from base camp on the rough lunar surface.

17:50 For longer ground trips, NASA plans to build a pressurized rover,

17:54 which will allow astronauts to remain inside without their space suits.

17:59 If all this sounds like a fun adventure to you, there's good news.

18:04 Because as we continue to develop a human and robotic presence on the moon,

18:08 it may eventually become a travel destination open to a wider public.

18:12 That's right.

18:13 Sometime in the future, you or I might be able to visit the moon.

18:18 What would you bring?

18:19 NASA is already asking people to share their ideas.

18:23 You can share yours on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram with the# NASA moonkit.

18:30 This may make you wonder why there is

18:32 suddenly this rush to get to the moon again.

18:35 And while NASA would have never stopped going,

18:38 the real reason is funding from the US government.

18:41 And the US is becoming acutely aware of heavy competition in this sector.

18:45 China's plans to also get to the moon.

18:48 It's quickly becoming a race and the US

18:51 government does not want to be left behind.

18:54 But as I mentioned earlier, the horizon goal of the Aremus program is not

18:59 only to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon,

19:02 but to provide a proving ground for an eventual crude mission to Mars.

19:07 In 2029, NASA will roll out Block 2,

19:11 an even more powerful version of the space launch system

19:14 fully capable of sending the Orion space shuttle to Mars.

19:18 If all goes as planned,

19:19 NASA hopes to shift its attention to a Mars mission sometime in the 2030s.

19:24 That's only a decade away.

19:27 But to get there, a lot will have to go right.

19:30 And it all starts with the Arteimus 1 mission.

19:34 Arteimus 1 could be a watershed moment

19:36 that jumpst starts the golden age of space exploration.

19:40 I don't know about you, but when Artimus 1 blasts off,

19:43 I will be glued to my computer watching all the latest news and updates.

19:47 The time when we travel far beyond the Earth

19:50 and inhabit other worlds might be closer than you think.

19:54 So, if this is an idea that excites you,

19:56 you'll definitely want to stick around because I'll have

19:59 a lot more about Arteimus and space colonization in the future.

20:05 You may have heard me mention the Arteimus program on this channel,

20:08 the ambition of NASA to get a human colony on the moon and eventually on Mars.

20:15 A big part of this venture is Gateway, a joint effort by NASA, issa, Roscosmos,

20:22 JAXA, and the CSA, the same space agencies

20:26 that are currently working together on the ISS.

20:30 And like the ISS, Gateway will be a space station,

20:35 but not around the orbit of Earth, but instead around the moon.

20:41 So, how will it work?

20:42 What does it hope to achieve and why have

20:45 a space station around the moon in the first place?

20:49 I'm Alex Mccoan and you're watching Astramm.

20:52 And in this video, we will investigate the Gateway mission and find

20:56 out why it is such a crucial part of NASA's ambitions.

21:02 This video is a special collaboration with the Robotus

21:05 channel and our own Astram Spanish channel.

21:08 If you are Spanish speaking,

21:09 then be sure to check out their channels in the description below.

21:14 The Gateway mission will coincide with the launch of NASA's new rocket,

21:18 the SLS, or the Space Launch System.

21:22 This rocket is the most powerful built to date,

21:25 even surpassing the old Saturn 5 rocket.

21:30 It is huge and it has to be because

21:33 NASA hopes to be able to launch 130 tons worth

21:37 of payload into a low Earth orbit with a smaller

21:40 yet still very heavy payload to even further destinations.

21:45 This will be important because as I mentioned the end goal

21:49 of the Arteimus program is to get humans to the moon

21:52 and Mars and humans tend to need a little bit

21:55 more to keep them alive than a robotic mission would.

21:59 Launching all this life support into space means that not only has

22:02 Gateway been designed to be a communications

22:05 repeater for several deep space missions, but it will also serve as a pit stop.

22:10 It incorporates a cabin module in which

22:13 crews can prepare before embarking on other missions.

22:16 However, unlike Space X rockets which are

22:20 trying to cut costs by utilizing reusable boosters,

22:24 an SLS launch will be expensive as it uses disposable boosters.

22:29 Combine this with the cost of research and development,

22:33 and this could bring the cost per launch

22:35 in the region of an eyewatering $2 billion.

22:39 As such, the SLS has had its opponents throughout development.

22:43 But regardless, they are committed now,

22:45 and it's only a year away from its first voyage.

22:48 Putting the arguments of cost aside,

22:51 the SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever created by NASA.

22:58 A true monster capable of sending a large amount

23:00 of cargo into space with more power than ever.

23:04 Just look at some of these tests they have recently run.

23:07 One launch alone could get around 45 tons to Mars.

23:15 The rocket's first task will be to get the Orion module,

23:18 a human ready capsule that will provide the housing

23:21 needed to get a crew into space and back again,

23:24 re-entering into Earth's atmosphere safely with a heat shield and parachute.

23:29 The loading capacity of the SLS will not

23:32 only allow the launch of Orion and its crew,

23:34 but also some of the different modular

23:36 components and instruments needed to assemble Gateway.

23:40 As such, the construction of Gateway will be a long process as they

23:44 won't be able to launch the whole of it in one go.

23:48 In fact, construction is not expected to finish until 2026,

23:53 and that's only for the most basic and necessary modules.

23:57 Fortunately, due to Gateway's modular design,

24:00 possibilities to gradually expand the space station is a real

24:03 and a likely possibility depending on the needs of future missions.

24:10 Although NASA have plans to get to Mars in the 2030s,

24:13 NASA is also highly dependent on the budget it receives.

24:17 So while there are several missions proposed up until 2028,

24:22 including several piloted missions,

24:24 they depend on the success of the first missions and whether

24:28 NASA continues to get the budget it's getting from the US government.

24:32 At this point though,

24:33 I can't envision it not going ahead, barring total disaster,

24:37 as China are hot on America's heels and have

24:40 equally ambitious sights set on the moon and beyond.

24:43 And America's efforts are probably spurred on by China's advances in space,

24:48 we might have a good old-fashioned space race on our hands.

24:52 Now, while this is done in the name of science,

24:56 with the billions of tons of precious metals in space

24:59 and with the progress in technology space missions bring,

25:02 you could certainly see this being commercially viable

25:05 as well as being important in a militaristic sense.

25:09 And you can be sure neither party wants to be left behind on this one.

25:14 Going back to Gateway, NASA intends to start with the basics.

25:18 So the first phase of Gateway's construction will focus on installing

25:21 the power and propulsion modules to expand it later with the halo module

25:26 which will be a very basic space habitat which will allow

25:30 the stay of at least 30 days for a crew of four people.

25:33 During the construction process of Gateway,

25:36 NASA will send a rover to the lunar south pole.

25:39 The rover's special task is to map the location

25:42 of water trapped at the bottom of the craters

25:44 so we can better understand just how much is there and to see how pure it is.

25:50 This is because one of the proposed places for a settlement on the moon

25:53 is around its south pole where the presence of water ice has been confirmed.

25:58 Hidden at the bottom of eternally dark craters

26:01 which protect the ice from the sun's rays.

26:04 These craters could be perfect candidates for a possible

26:07 habitat as they would protect astronauts residing there too.

26:11 The peaks around the craters, on the other hand,

26:13 would be exposed to the most amount of sunlight,

26:16 allowing solar arrays to capture energy from the sun

26:19 more easily for power and for the cultivation of plants.

26:24 Remember, solar arrays wouldn't be so effective anywhere else

26:27 on the moon due to its days that last a month,

26:30 and 2 weeks in the dark isn't so useful there.

26:35 Although we know from previous missions that water does

26:38 exist at the bottom of the South Pole craters,

26:40 we don't have a good handle on how much

26:43 as the lack of light there makes observations from space impossible.

26:47 This is going to be one of the obstacles the rover will need to overcome.

26:51 It will have to travel into a crater

26:53 on battery power alone and leave again before

26:56 it runs out so that the rover can charge them up again using the solar panels.

27:01 The design of the rover is still pending and in fact it will

27:04 be picked as part of a design contest proposed by NASA to different companies.

27:10 Once Gateway is built, NASA plans to launch the Arteimus 3 mission,

27:15 whose crew will be stationed at Gateway using

27:17 the Orion module to expand the space station's living space.

27:21 Scientists will be able to study the effect

27:23 on astronauts outside the substantial protection of the Earth's magnetosphere.

27:28 During these short stays, they will test whether radiation exposure

27:31 can be reduced to an acceptable amount.

27:34 Also, as part of the mission,

27:37 two members of the crew will remain in orbiting gateway while the other two will

27:41 land at the south pole of the moon where they will remain for about 1 week.

27:45 They too will be expected to perform several moon walks again to examine

27:50 samples of water ice and perform other scientific observations around the pole.

27:55 It is proposed that included in this team

27:57 will be the first female astronaut on the moon,

28:00 although names have not yet been picked.

28:05 The space suits they use will be

28:06 a vast improvement over the Apollo counterparts.

28:09 They incorporate a new design to grant much more mobility.

28:14 If you remember the videos of the first Apollo missions to the moon,

28:17 you will remember that the astronauts moved around very awkwardly,

28:21 jumping around like rabbits.

28:23 In this mission, they can walk and flex their legs.

28:26 So, thanks to this greater mobility and the use of modern cameras,

28:30 we can expect a series of epic videos of these astronauts walking on the moon.

28:37 Building on the Arteimus 3 mission,

28:39 NASA is planning to start construction on the moon itself to build

28:43 a lunar colony that they hope will one day be self-sufficient.

28:47 Everything that is learned in this colony in the relative proximity to Earth

28:51 will be valuable experience which can be used eventually on the red planet.

28:56 This includes oxygen production systems, water recycling, plant cultivation,

29:01 and in general making the room suitable for a long-term human presence.

29:08 Going to the moon may be more economically viable than going to Mars,

29:12 at least in the short term,

29:13 because not only are the costs of sending something to the moon lower,

29:17 but the moon can be a source of rare materials.

29:20 For instance, helium 3,

29:22 which would be useful in a future nuclear fusion generator on the moon,

29:26 and it might have more uses on Earth, too.

29:29 This element is exceptionally rare on Earth,

29:31 and at one point it reached the price of $2,000 per gram.

29:36 In addition, the moon could be used

29:38 as a steel plant for the manufacturer of metal foams.

29:42 On Earth, this is achieved by injecting pressurized air into cast metal.

29:47 But the process is tricky because bubbles can be produced that rise and explode,

29:52 making the manufacturing of metal foams on Earth very difficult and expensive.

29:56 On the other hand, in the low lunar gravity,

29:59 this process would be much simpler and the spongy structure

30:02 of the metal much more uniform and of a higher quality.

30:06 Once the material is ready, it is very easy to send it to Earth since you

30:10 don't need a large rocket due to the weak lunar gravity.

30:13 One possibility is that it could be

30:15 launched back to Earth with a magnetic catapult, something like a rail gun,

30:20 launching the order back to Earth or into orbit around

30:23 the moon to be picked up by a spacecraft later on.

30:26 Again though, that's something for the far future.

30:29 After Arteimus 3, there are up to four more proposed missions which

30:33 will continue to expand Gateway as a hub for more lunar missions,

30:37 but with the end goal looking to finally send humans to Mars.

30:42 So fingers crossed for the success of these missions.

30:45 I feel like exploration is in humanity's blood,

30:48 and these really are the new frontiers in this day and age.

30:52 And with China pressing ahead with their own space program,

30:55 we could be in for some exciting years ahead with regards to space exploration.

31:01 You may have heard in the news last year that Richard Branson

31:04 and Jeff Bezos have become the first billionaires to get into space themselves.

31:09 Whatever your thoughts on this, it marks a fascinating point in human history.

31:14 In the past, the space race was

31:16 exclusively a contest or collaboration of nations.

31:20 But now private companies are beginning to enter the fray.

31:23 Why this sudden change?

31:25 And what does this mean for the future of space travel and exploration?

31:29 Now that businesses are starting to look to the stars,

31:32 what might it mean for humanity's future?

31:36 I'm Alex Mccoan and you're watching Astramm.

31:39 And while it might be a little too early to say for sure what the future brings,

31:44 we can perhaps gain greater insights into these questions by looking

31:48 at why some of these companies and individuals are reaching for the stars.

31:56 The commercialization of space is not a new thing.

32:00 In 1962, just 5 years after the first

32:03 artificial satellite was launched by the USSR,

32:06 the first commercial satellite Telstar 1,

32:09 was launched by the AT&T Corporation as a means

32:12 of broadcasting American television programs to Europe.

32:16 It was launched using a NASA rocket.

32:20 In 1975, Ortra or the first company to attempt to develop

32:24 an alternative propulsion system for rockets was founded in Stoodgart, Germany.

32:31 And in 1984, the US President Ronald

32:34 Reagan signed the Commercial Space Launch Act,

32:37 intending to encourage companies to explore space.

32:42 Satellites have been a staple of modern life for many years now,

32:46 enabling internet connections and helping us to navigate

32:49 through tools like satnavs, among other things.

32:53 In other words, companies have already been commercializing space for some time.

32:59 So, what's different about these recent space flights?

33:02 Well, these flights are the first time that private companies have

33:06 built their own rockets and flown their own founders into space.

33:11 They represent a turning point in space

33:13 exploration and the beginning of a fledgling

33:15 space tourism industry where wealthy individuals can pay to spend time in space.

33:21 This could have larger future impacts than you might think,

33:24 as we'll explore later in the video.

33:28 But let's first take a look at some of the companies

33:30 that have been developing their own rockets to travel into space.

33:34 In particular, we'll be looking at Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and SpaceX,

33:41 as the differing approaches of all of these companies offer us

33:45 the best glimpses of the many possible outcomes of commercial space flights.

33:51 To begin with, let's examine Virgin Galactic as it was Richard Branson who won

33:56 the race to be the first billionaire to fly into space on their own rocket.

34:01 He did this on the 11th of July in 2021,

34:04 but had actually created Virgin Galactic much earlier back in 2004.

34:10 Branson's company, the Virgin Group, had taken an interest in the idea of space

34:14 tourism and had noted that another smaller company,

34:18 Scaled Composites, was developing their own rocket called Spaceship 1.

34:24 Scaled Composites hoped to win the Ansari

34:26 X prize for the first private crude spacecraft.

34:30 Branson reached out to scaled composits and convinced them to make

34:33 the Virgin Group their sole customer of future spacecrafts if they succeeded.

34:38 They did so on October 4th, 2004 with spaceship 1 flying to 112 km in altitude

34:45 and returning to the Earth safely and with a crew.

34:50 It's worth noting that space is officially

34:52 recognized as starting at 100 km by many

34:55 agencies at a point known as the Carmon line named after Theodor on Carmen,

35:00 the first person who tried to define such a boundary.

35:04 Spaceship 1 did successfully fly over the Carmon line boundary.

35:09 However, NASA sees space as beginning at around 80 km.

35:14 With that success under their belt,

35:16 Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic began working together

35:20 to create a whole fleet of new spaceships, model name Spaceship 2,

35:25 with Scaled Composites providing the technical know-how

35:28 and Virgin Galactic providing much of the initial capital.

35:33 Together, they founded the Spaceship Company

35:35 with Virgin owning 70% of the shares,

35:38 but eventually this rose to 100% when Virgin bought out the company completely.

35:44 The rocket they designed had one aim in mind, space tourism.

35:49 To get six passengers and two pilots up into space,

35:53 to allow them to see incredible views

35:55 of the Earth and to experience a feeling of weightlessness.

35:59 To do this, they used an interesting method.

36:02 Instead of just creating a rocket, they actually attached their spaceship 2

36:07 to a specialized aircraft called White Knight 2,

36:10 which carried the Spaceship 2 up to an altitude of 15,000 m.

36:15 Then the spacecraft is released and activates its rocket booster,

36:19 which takes it to supersonic speeds in just 8 seconds.

36:23 The spaceship 2 then begins climbing,

36:26 arcing higher and higher until it was pointed straight up.

36:30 It reaches over 80 km, the NASA definition of the boundary of space.

36:35 All in all, this trip up takes roughly an hour.

36:40 At the height of Spaceship 2's climb,

36:42 it cuts its thrusters and lets gravity begin to slow its acceleration.

36:47 This drop in acceleration results in the passengers on board feeling weightless.

36:51 Sort of like when you throw a ball straight up in the air.

36:54 There is a brief moment when the ball is neither rising nor falling.

36:59 This moment of perfect balance between upward motion

37:02 and gravitational pull lasts for roughly 5 minutes,

37:06 after which the spaceship 2 begins to fall to the Earth.

37:10 It glides its way back down much

37:12 slower than a capsule re-entering the atmosphere

37:15 by using a feathered re-entry system before

37:18 gliding its way back to its launch pad.

37:21 This part of the trip would also take about an hour,

37:24 making for a 2hour round trip total.

37:28 With the success of Richard Branson getting into space,

37:30 Virgin Galactic will be looking to start

37:32 flying passengers into space within this year.

37:36 But why does this matter?

37:38 Ticket prices for a flight on Spaceship 2

37:41 or possibly Spaceship 3 by then will cost $250,000,

37:47 far outside the price range of most people.

37:51 Shouldn't that money instead be invested in issues closer to home

37:55 rather than providing the rich with a fun day out?

37:58 Well, as our next billionaire has pointed out,

38:01 space tourism might just be the way

38:03 that space travel becomes accessible to everyone.

38:07 Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, created his own space company,

38:12 Blue Origin, with this aim in mind.

38:15 Bezos has always had an interest in space,

38:18 mentioning in an interview at the age of 18 his desire to build space hotels,

38:23 amusement parks, and colonies for 2 to 3 million people who would be in orbit.

38:30 However, this was not simply as a way to make money.

38:33 Bezos explained at the time that this was a way of preserving Earth.

38:37 By moving certain amounts of the population off the planet,

38:40 it might reduce the strain on the environment.

38:43 In 2000, when Bezos was wealthy enough from the success

38:46 of Amazon to start making his dreams become a reality,

38:50 he began Blue Origin, funding it privately with his own money.

38:54 However, to begin with, Bezos kept the project fairly secret.

38:58 He did not reveal publicly that he had founded the company, and even in 2003,

39:03 when he started buying land for a possible launch site,

39:06 the public was left wondering what he wanted the land for.

39:10 Unlike Virgin Galactic, which leaned on investors to fund its research

39:14 and so was very open with its aims,

39:17 Blue Origin did not make much public noise for about a decade.

39:21 It accepted a contract from NASA in 2009 and did publish

39:25 a rough report on the progress of the rocket it was developing,

39:28 but it was not until 2015 that it began to speak more openly about its goals.

39:33 And those goals had not changed much from when Bezos was young.

39:38 Blue Origin's first commercial rocket,

39:41 the New Shepard, named after Alan Shepard,

39:43 the first American to go into space, was also a tourism rocket.

39:48 But Bezos made it clear in speeches that he did not intend to stop there.

39:52 In his mind, this was just a beginning.

39:55 In 2016, he made a speech where he compared

39:58 the space industry now with aviation back in his infant days.

40:03 In the early days of airplane flight,

40:05 a big portion of people flying were those seeking

40:08 the simple thrill of flying in a plane.

40:10 This tourism and entertainment factor expanded interest in the industry,

40:15 which made it so many companies develop the technology further.

40:19 Nowadays, almost anyone can buy a plane ticket.

40:23 Although spacecraft tickets are extremely expensive for now, in the long run,

40:27 Bezos said that the space industry could go the same way.

40:31 Bezos's rocket, the New Shepard, is a little different in design from Branson's.

40:37 It has a more standard thruster that carries an observation pod up into the sky,

40:41 which then detaches.

40:43 It also goes higher than Spaceship 2,

40:45 crossing the Carmon line to a height of around 107 km.

40:50 It also travels much faster.

40:53 The whole trip from takeoff to landing will only last about 11 minutes,

40:58 unlike Virgin Galactic's 2 hours.

41:01 although it will no doubt carry a similar price tag for tickets.

41:06 And Bezos is already looking ahead.

41:08 Although 107 km is over the Karman line, it is still far from true orbit.

41:15 Blue Origin's future goal is to get their next

41:18 rocket named New Glenn after another astronaut into orbit.

41:23 And as for the project after that, well, the name is New Armstrong.

41:29 It is clear that Blue Origin intends to make its way to the moon.

41:33 This is in line with Bezos's stated objectives to pave

41:37 the way for industry to more accessibly get into space.

41:41 Although he doesn't expect to see it in his lifetime,

41:44 Bezos has said that he expects much of the Earth's

41:46 heavy industry to one day be done in space.

41:52 Our last billionaire, however, has his eyes on an even further goal.

42:00 Elon Musk's company, SpaceX, is a little different from the other two.

42:04 While Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin focus on space tourism,

42:08 SpaceX has been more focused on commercial ventures.

42:12 Since its founding in 2002, SpaceX has grown to dominate the market,

42:17 taking half of the contracts to launch satellites into space.

42:23 Part of its success in this area is due to the fact that its rocket,

42:26 the Falcon 9, is reusable.

42:30 This reusability drastically reduces the cost of launches,

42:33 making launching satellites and other cargo much cheaper.

42:38 The Falcon 9 is much larger than New Shepard or Spaceship 2.

42:41 While the latter two are roughly comparable at 18

42:44 m in length each, Falcon 9 is 70 m.

42:49 Its thrusters are powerful enough to get it into orbit.

42:52 It carries a reusable cargo capsule named the Dragon,

42:56 the first of which carried supplies up to the International Space Station.

43:00 The Falcon 9 is able to carry 5,500 kg of weight into orbit

43:06 or more if they're willing to sacrifice the reusability of the rocket.

43:10 This ability to transport cargo reflects a possible future

43:14 purpose of SP X to carry freight to Mars.

43:19 Elon Musk has always made it clear that he

43:21 intends to one day see a colony on Mars.

43:24 And in 2001, his company conceptualize

43:27 green houses that might grow plants there.

43:30 Any such colony will no doubt need supplies from Earth,

43:33 particularly in his early days as vital equipment

43:36 and personnel would need to be transported over.

43:39 Any company with the large-scale capability to transport heavy weights between

43:43 Earth and Mars would stand to make a lot of money.

43:46 In 2001, Musk attempted to buy rockets that might

43:50 start the process of getting supplies to Mars,

43:53 but realized that it would be cheaper to create his own.

43:56 Thanks to the success of SpaceX,

43:58 which is now currently valued at well over $75 billion,

44:02 Musk has gained the funds necessary to further his dream.

44:06 SpaceX is developing a new line of rocket known as Starship,

44:09 which they hope will be able to go to the moon and later

44:12 be able to transport 100 tons to Mars before refueling there and flying back.

44:18 It will be an incredible achievement and although

44:20 it takes roughly 6 months to travel to Mars,

44:23 it will make the red planet far more accessible to humankind.

44:30 space tourism, lunar landings,

44:33 orbiting facilities and refueling stations, shipping to Mars.

44:38 These are all the stated objectives

44:39 of the commercial interests looking at space.

44:42 And although they're still a long way from achieving some of those goals,

44:46 the fact that they are making the progress they

44:48 are makes those future goals seem all the more plausible.

44:52 This is why billionaires traveling into the edges

44:55 of space in their own rockets is exciting.

44:58 It not only marks the beginning of an age where trips

45:01 for the average person traveling to another planet could one day be real,

45:06 but it could lead the way for humanity truly being an interplanetary species.

45:15 Now, I know these companies have

45:17 their controversies which I avoided in this video.

45:21 However, what company seems the most promising to you?

45:24 Maybe there's a company I didn't mention that has real potential, too.

45:28 Do you think it's good for there to be healthy competition in this industry?

45:32 Let me know what you think in the comments below.

45:38 It would be pretty impressive if you somehow missed the news over

45:42 this last weekend about the successful SpaceX

45:45 NASA launch to the International Space Station.

45:55 Some of you may be wondering though, what is so significant about this?

46:00 We've been sending humans to space for a long time,

46:03 and this trip isn't even to anywhere far away.

46:07 The ISS is only a few hundred km above the surface of Earth, after all.

46:11 Well, there's a couple of things that make

46:13 this exciting for space exploration and space travel in general.

46:17 The obvious one, the one everyone has

46:20 been talking about with every given opportunity,

46:22 is that this marks the first time astronauts

46:25 have lifted off from American soil since 2011,

46:29 since the discontinuation of the space shuttle program.

46:33 This is significant because it means the US is really back in the game.

46:37 Now during this gap between the end of the space shuttle program

46:44 and today only the Russians had capabilities to send astronauts to space.

46:50 Every launch went via them and their soy use

46:52 rocket costing the US an estimated $86 million per seat.

46:58 Russia have put their price up over this last decade,

47:01 perhaps cashing in on the fact that they had a monopoly on the market.

47:05 The lowest NASA paid Russia was $21.8 million per seat back in 2007.

47:11 And the design of the Soyos hasn't really changed since then.

47:16 Which brings us on to the second most significant part of this mission.

47:20 NASA has commissioned private contractors to build

47:24 the next generation of manned launch vehicles and capsules.

47:27 The idea is that having some competition in this market

47:30 will be a good thing for bringing prices down.

47:34 So, while the Russians have been charging $86 million per seat,

47:39 SP X on the other hand will be charging about $55 million per seat initially.

47:45 As more orders come in, they expect to be able to reduce

47:48 this price tag down further to the $10 to 20 million mark.

47:54 SpaceX can go so low because they utilize reusable boosters,

47:59 which should reduce their overall cost considerably.

48:02 Another of the contractors, Boeing, are also testing their own capsule.

48:08 Although their price per seat will

48:10 be considerably higher initially at $90 million.

48:14 SpaceX has had a big head start.

48:16 They have been flying robotic cargo missions to the ISS since 2012,

48:20 which has meant Boeing has been playing catch-up

48:23 to match a similar launch schedule to SpaceX.

48:27 With time though, those costs should also be reduced.

48:30 This competition in the industry is good because cheaper manned missions

48:35 to space should mean a greater capacity for more missions in the future,

48:39 which is great news for space enthusiasts.

48:43 To give you some comparison about the costs involved with space travel,

48:47 NASA is still working on their own launch vehicle called the SLS.

48:52 This will be more than just a taxi service for astronauts.

48:55 It's designed to shift a serious amount

48:57 of cargo far out into our solar system, too.

49:00 However, if you include all the R&D costs into each of its expected flights,

49:05 we are looking at over $2 billion per launch compared to Space X's Falcon Heavy,

49:13 which Elon Musk claims would only cost NASA $150 million per launch.

49:18 Now, the SLS would get a little less than

49:21 twice the amount of cargo to low Earth orbit,

49:25 130 tons, compared to Falcon Heavy 70 tons.

49:28 However, we are seeing signs already that maybe

49:31 the private sector can do it better.

49:34 We are still in early days yet.

49:36 In the coming years,

49:37 seeing the reliability of all the craft will be one of the most important

49:41 factors to decide whether one way or another is the most successful path or not.

49:46 But the fact that there are now options will

49:49 be crucially important for the future of space flight.

49:53 So well done SpaceX and NASA and good luck Boeing and the teams

49:58 behind the SLS and all other space agencies around the world.

50:02 Let's make this upcoming decade one to remember for space travel.

50:07 When you think of the space race, you probably imagine the tense cold war era

50:12 battle between the US and the Soviet Union.

50:15 But what if I told you there was another player in the game?

50:20 While the superpowers wrestled for space dominance,

50:23 a small and newly independent nation started developing its own ambitions

50:28 of reaching the stars and beating the big dogs to it.

50:32 The story of Zambia's space program is a great example

50:36 of humanity's overpowering curiosity to explore and understand the cosmos,

50:41 no matter where we're from and how far we're willing to go to do so.

50:46 It's also a reminder that history is shaped by those who get to tell it.

50:51 And it isn't only the loudest voices that leave the biggest legacies.

50:59 I'm Alex Mccoan and you're watching Astramm.

51:02 Join me today as we dive into the little

51:05 known story of the Zambian space program,

51:08 their proposed mission, unconventional training practices,

51:13 and the lasting impact of their leader vision.

51:20 After World War II, the US and the Soviet

51:23 Union realized that in a world with nuclear weapons,

51:26 there can only be one superpower.

51:29 They entered a bitter struggle for dominance.

51:31 each racing to stay one step ahead of the other,

51:34 engineering increasingly powerful rocketry and weapons technology.

51:39 It didn't take long for their arms race to become a space race.

51:43 By the early 1960s, new milestones

51:46 in space exploration were being made every year.

51:49 Both programs had unwavering political and public support,

51:53 which meant lots of funding, press, and progress.

51:57 All eyes were on them and the stakes were super high.

52:02 Half a world away, Edward Muka Unaloso was watching too.

52:07 A passionate science school teacher,

52:09 he dreamed of one day creating his own Zambian

52:12 space program to rival those of the Americans and Soviets.

52:17 The only problem, his country was facing its own political struggle,

52:21 the struggle for independence.

52:24 Zambia, then called Northern Rhdesia,

52:27 had been under British colonial rule since 1888.

52:31 Through the 1950s, Zambians grew

52:34 increasingly disillusioned with colonialist policies

52:37 such as racial discrimination and limited political representation for Africans.

52:43 Colosso was one of these Africans.

52:46 After fighting in World War II on behalf of Britain,

52:49 he opened a school for Zambians which

52:51 was promptly shut down by the British authorities.

52:54 This pushed him to join the Zambian Resistance

52:56 Movement and later the United National Independence Party.

53:01 Unalos also worked hard for both causes close to his heart.

53:05 While one hand was fighting for Zambian independence,

53:09 the other was building the Zambia National Academy of Science,

53:12 Space Research, and Philosophy, which opened in 1960.

53:16 The details of what went down at his academy are murky.

53:20 But it seems this is where Uncle's idea for a Zambian space mission emerged.

53:25 He was going to send Zambian astronauts,

53:28 or afronauts as he called them, to the moon and then to Mars.

53:33 and he was going to do it before the US or the Soviet Union.

53:38 "We have been studying the planet through telescopes at our headquarters

53:42 and are now certain Mars is populated by primitive natives," he says.

53:47 "Specially trained space girl, Mata Muam, two cats, also specially trained,

53:53 and a missionary will be launched in our first rocket.

53:56 But I have warned the missionary,

53:58 you must not force Christianity on the people of Mars if they do not want it.

54:03 If you're wondering about the cats,

54:05 they were thrown in partly for companionship for Marta,

54:08 partly as a survival testing device.

54:11 Marta was to throw one out onto the Martian surface on arrival,

54:15 and if it survived, she'd know it was safe for her to emerge, too.

54:20 In 1964, Enloso announced his mission was ready.

54:24 The first rocket was planned to launch

54:26 on Zambia's Independence Day, October 24th, 1964.

54:35 Now, going up into space is never an easy task.

54:39 You've got to be in tip-top physical and mental shape to be an astronaut.

54:43 In the early days of the space age,

54:45 some training exercises were grueling or even downright dangerous.

54:50 In the 1960s, cosmonauts were undergoing all

54:53 kinds of rigorous physical training and conditioning.

54:57 For instance, they were put in a centrifuge

54:59 to recreate the intense G forces of launch,

55:02 which is incredibly dangerous as it puts

55:04 a lot of strain on your heart and lungs.

55:07 Such training could lead to oxygen starvation and cause trainees to pass out.

55:13 It also limits the ability of your heart to pump

55:15 blood upwards against gravity to your brain and other vital organs.

55:20 Long-term exposure to multiple G forces can

55:22 lead to complications like arrhythmias over time.

55:26 Cosmonauts also underwent parabolic flights for weightlessness training,

55:31 named for the parabolic flight path the aircraft follows.

55:34 At the top of the curve,

55:36 the acceleration of the aircraft cancels out the acceleration due to gravity,

55:40 achieving a feeling of momentary weightlessness for the passengers.

55:44 It's kind of like when you're on a swing and at the highest point of your swing,

55:48 you feel weightless for just a moment.

55:51 Except in an aircraft with the right trajectory,

55:53 you can feel that microgravity for up to 40 seconds.

55:57 While effective, these flights were risky due

56:00 to the high potential for mechanical failure or pilot error,

56:04 as only the most skilled pilots at the time

56:06 could pull off the precise maneuvers needed.

56:09 Cosmonauts also had to be prepared to confront an incredibly harsh

56:13 environment in the event their mission might land far from recovery zones.

56:18 Wilderness survival training in Siberia was

56:20 an essential part of mission training, which sounds absolutely brutal.

56:25 Even in modern times,

56:27 the length some will go through to reach out for space can be quite perilous.

56:31 Daredevil Mike Hughes discovered it after constructing his own homemade rocket

56:35 in attempt to prove his belief that the Earth is flat.

56:39 In February 2020, his rocket tragically malfunctioned during a test flight,

56:44 killing him instantly.

56:46 While no one died in the Zambia space program,

56:50 its training definitely raised some eyebrows.

56:55 Unkos designed a series of mental and physical

56:59 tests to prepare his astronauts for space travel.

57:02 One such exercise was teaching his recruits to walk on their hands,

57:06 claiming that this was the only way people can walk on the moon.

57:10 It's unclear where that idea came from since he was an educated

57:15 man and was presumably following the latest space race updates closely.

57:20 To simulate zero gravity,

57:21 he'd put his recruits in an oil barrel one by one and roll them down a hill,

57:26 bouncing them over rough ground to simulate turbulence.

57:30 When they hit a particularly big bump,

57:33 he celebrated, claiming they just experienced anti-gravity conditions,

57:37 an exercise which is obviously uncomfortable,

57:40 potentially dangerous, and definitely not scientifically sound.

57:45 Another approach they took to weightlessness

57:47 training actually involved something I mentioned earlier.

57:50 They tied two ropes into a swing and would swing on it,

57:53 getting higher and higher.

57:55 At the time they least expected it, another trainee would cut the rope so they

58:01 could experience the free fall to the ground.

58:03 Not a much better approach.

58:06 And the rocket ship they were training for, it was a 10-ft oil

58:09 barrel with an air hole in it made of spacerade aluminium and copper.

58:14 Care to know how they were initially planning to launch it?

58:18 With a catapult.

58:20 His willing recruits were a group of 12

58:22 teenagers he was training at the space programs HQ,

58:26 a secret location 7 miles outside of Lusaka at an abandoned farmhouse.

58:32 Marta and Mamba, the girl who was supposed to actually fly the mission,

58:37 was just 16 years old at the time.

58:39 NASA had exmilitary air force pilots

58:42 and engineers in state-of-the-art purpose-built facilities.

58:46 Unalos had a dozen high school children in a field.

58:52 Now, I know it seems like I'm making this up,

58:55 but this really happened, as absurd as it all sounds.

58:59 And that's what's so mysterious about Unaloso.

59:03 He was an intelligent guy.

59:05 He read about space.

59:07 He was a science teacher, a veteran, and a valued member of the political

59:11 movement that led to the nation's independence.

59:14 So, what was his end game?

59:17 Why was he talking about this mission if he must have known it wasn't viable?

59:22 Some have speculated that his motivation to join

59:24 the space race came from a place of national

59:27 pride and a desire to elevate not just

59:29 Zambia but all of Africa to the world stage.

59:33 He was seen as working to dismantle

59:35 stereotypes about Africans that had held steady during

59:38 the colonial era and instead show that Africans

59:41 are capable of contributing to scientific and technological advancements.

59:45 If his goal was to get the international press talking, he certainly succeeded.

59:51 Time magazine ran an article about him, as did several other outlets.

59:56 News crews went out to film video

59:58 interviews with him and record his team training.

1:00:01 His colorful personality and outlandish claims definitely

1:00:05 helped capture public imagination and media curiosity,

1:00:09 even if it wasn't clear if he was serious or not.

1:00:13 Unasso maintained he was serious until his death in 1989.

1:00:18 When asked about it in 2016, the first president of Zambia,

1:00:22 Kenneth Kawunda, said it wasn't a real thing.

1:00:25 It was more for fun than anything else.

1:00:31 There's another theory that his whole project was satire,

1:00:35 a parody of the western conquest of other nations.

1:00:39 There didn't seem to be a reason for such

1:00:41 goofy looking training exercises other than to capture people's attention.

1:00:46 Even during his interviews,

1:00:48 he always stayed in character with his standard issue helmet and flowing cape.

1:00:53 But he'd throw in subtle jibes at the world powers,

1:00:56 calling them imperialist neoc colonialists who

1:00:59 were scared of Zambia's space knowledge.

1:01:02 Remember the Christian missionary he wanted to send

1:01:04 to Mars with the girl and the cats?

1:01:06 He had explicitly warned the missionary he must not force Christianity

1:01:10 on the people of Mars if they do not want it.

1:01:13 A luxury many colonizing nations did not afford their conquered lands.

1:01:18 Perhaps unsurprisingly,

1:01:20 Uncle Colosso's project never received public or political support.

1:01:25 He had written to UNESCO asking for a 7

1:01:28 million pound grant to make his mission a reality.

1:01:31 A drop in the bucket compared to NASA's $25.4 billion Apollo funding.

1:01:37 It's also been reported he asked for $1.9 billion from private foreign sources,

1:01:43 but the Ministry of Power,

1:01:45 Transport, and Communication was quick to clarify this request

1:01:48 was not made on behalf of the government.

1:01:51 In the end, the only funding he got was 10 rupees from a young Indian boy.

1:01:58 Most Zambians did not resonate with the space program

1:02:01 and didn't feel it accurately represented the feelings of the nation.

1:02:05 In fact, his own afronauts deserted him.

1:02:08 Two recruits reportedly went out drinking one night and were never seen again.

1:02:13 Another left to join a traveling song and dance group,

1:02:16 and Marta ended up having a child of her own

1:02:19 and staying home instead of going to Mars.

1:02:22 In hindsight, we can only speculate

1:02:25 what Unkoso's true intentions might have been.

1:02:28 Maybe it was a ruse to make international headlines

1:02:31 and get the name of a newly independent country out there.

1:02:35 Given Enalos's history as a revolutionary,

1:02:38 it wouldn't be out of character for him to want

1:02:40 to replace the name northern Rhdesia with Zambia on the world stage.

1:02:45 And while he had everyone's attention,

1:02:47 he might have thrown in some satire aimed at the superpowers just for fun.

1:02:52 Or he might have hoped against all odds that their hard work

1:02:56 and determination would impress the right

1:02:57 people and actually get Zambians into space.

1:03:01 Or perhaps he was simply trying to make some kids

1:03:03 feel like they were part of something big and important.

1:03:08 What we do know is that he never let

1:03:11 setbacks squander his determination and belief in his vision.

1:03:15 Thanks to him, even for a brief moment,

1:03:17 Zambia entered the space race against the US and Soviets.

1:03:24 This is a vibrant story of one man's audacity, determination, and self-belief.

1:03:29 The reality is that not everyone who dreams

1:03:32 of making it into space ends up going there.

1:03:34 But whether he meant to or not, Uncle told the world, "We are here.

1:03:39 We are Zambian and we are free." In a way, he reminded us that those epic larger

1:03:44 than-l life endeavors like reaching for the stars

1:03:46 and exploring the vastness of the universe stem from a desire innate in us all.

1:03:52 And that in itself makes it a story worth telling.

1:03:56 There are exactly two space stations in orbit around planet Earth right now.

1:04:02 One of them you will have heard of, the International Space Station.

1:04:06 But what about the other one?

1:04:08 Tiangong or the Heavenly Palace is the third in a series

1:04:13 of space stations launched and maintained by the People's Republic of China.

1:04:18 It has been in orbit since 2021.

1:04:20 Yet, Western media reports much less on what happens

1:04:24 aboard this second enigmatic bastion hanging in space's expanse.

1:04:30 So, what is going on up there?

1:04:34 I decided to look into it.

1:04:36 And when I found the list of their past and current experiments,

1:04:40 and as I pieced together what it meant,

1:04:43 the sheer scale of China's ambitions stunned me.

1:04:47 We are familiar with the sorts of things being done on the ISS.

1:04:51 Experiments aimed at better understanding how humans might adapt to space

1:04:55 environments and uncovering the mysteries of our universe and its physics.

1:05:00 inevitably general in scope,

1:05:02 reflected in the differing priorities and the emphases

1:05:05 of each nation collaborating within it.

1:05:08 But inside Tiangong, the goal is more focused.

1:05:12 What is that goal?

1:05:13 The answer might surprise you.

1:05:16 I'm Alex Mcolgan and you're watching Astramm.

1:05:19 Join with me today as we uncover the goings on within Tiangong space station

1:05:25 and discover what implications this might have

1:05:28 on the future of humanity in space.

1:05:33 Unlike the ISS, which has been in orbit for over 25 years,

1:05:38 China's own space station endeavors only started in 2011

1:05:42 with the launch of the first Tiangong space station.

1:05:45 That's right.

1:05:46 They launched the whole space station in one go.

1:05:50 This was not a complex construction.

1:05:53 Tiangong 1 was a simple tube-like prototype consisting

1:05:57 of a sleeping and living station for Chinese astronauts,

1:06:00 otherwise known as Tyonauts,

1:06:03 a habitable lab for docking and orbital experiments,

1:06:06 and a module for propulsion.

1:06:09 The whole station was only 10.4 4 m long compared

1:06:12 to the ISS 108 m and had two solar panels on either side.

1:06:18 Its simplicity was a reflection of China's purposes for it to master rendevu

1:06:24 and docking techniques and to only dip

1:06:26 their toes in the water of space habitation.

1:06:30 Tiangong 1 was only in space for a little under 7 years.

1:06:35 China did succeed in sending both crude and uncrrewed missions to Tiangong 1.

1:06:41 And boyed by this success,

1:06:42 they upped their game with plans for a larger space station.

1:06:46 To achieve this goal, more tests would be needed.

1:06:50 In 2016, a second space station was launched,

1:06:53 which also bore the name of Tiangong.

1:06:55 Tiangong 2 was intended to field test key

1:06:58 technologies that would be needed for the larger

1:07:00 space station and was de-orbited just a few

1:07:04 years later in 2019 once its tasks were completed.

1:07:08 The road was paved for China's Tiangong 3.

1:07:16 Tiangong 3, often referred to as just Tiangong,

1:07:20 aims to be the home of thousands of experiments.

1:07:24 To further this goal, Tiangong consists of the Tanhi core module

1:07:28 for crew to live in and two science modules, Went and the Mangtian.

1:07:34 The former designed to see space's impact

1:07:36 on living things and to develop medical technologies,

1:07:40 while the second focused on microgravity and its effects on fluid behavior,

1:07:45 combustion, and more.

1:07:47 Rotating solar panels connect to the station and turn to face the sun,

1:07:51 allowing Tiangong to maximize its energy collection.

1:07:55 The Tiangong has an external robotic arm that can

1:07:58 carry a tyonaut to various parts of the station,

1:08:01 allowing extra vehicular activities to be carried out.

1:08:05 The whole space station weighs 100 tons and is 55

1:08:09 m long and can house up to six tyonauts at once.

1:08:13 smaller than the ISS, but still large enough that it had to be assembled module

1:08:18 by module in space with modules launched between 2021 and 2022.

1:08:27 Life aboard the Tiangong is in many ways similar to life aboard the ISS.

1:08:32 China tries to keep its typhenauts happy with a wide range of space foods,

1:08:37 120 different kinds.

1:08:39 Naturally, given the muscle atrophying effect of microgravity,

1:08:43 it's important for tyonauts to spend time each day exercising,

1:08:47 or else they'd have a very bad time of things when they came back to Earth.

1:08:52 Similar to the ISS, one of the main aims

1:08:54 of the Tiangong space station is the popularization of science.

1:08:59 So, Tyonaut spend some of their time taking

1:09:01 part in presentations and collaborations with schools in China.

1:09:05 For instance, this demonstration involving what

1:09:08 fire looks like when there's no gravity.

1:09:11 Students are also involved in growing rice seeds

1:09:14 from the same batch of seeds growing on Tiangong,

1:09:18 which will help Chinese scientists explore

1:09:20 the impacts of microgravity on plant growth.

1:09:23 Tiangong is home to several life plants,

1:09:26 although some care has to be taken while watering them.

1:09:31 Nothing so far here is too much out of the ordinary.

1:09:34 However, there is a theme to the experiments being carried

1:09:37 out on Tiangong over the course of its 15-year lifespan.

1:09:42 Five themes, in fact, that all point to a truly ambitious goal.

1:09:47 The five research themes are on orbit

1:09:50 assembly and construction technologies in space,

1:09:53 robotics and autonomous system technology, new energy and propulsion technology,

1:10:00 environmental control and life support system technology,

1:10:04 and new generic technology for spacecraft.

1:10:09 The technical terminology can make things a little murky,

1:10:12 so let's break down what each of these means.

1:10:16 Even just the first of these areas of research is all inspiringly ambitious.

1:10:22 By onorbit construction technologies in space,

1:10:26 we're talking about developing all the technology necessary

1:10:30 to build large space facilities or even spacecraft.

1:10:35 In a paper released in 2023, Chinese scientists laid out their goal to develop

1:10:40 3D printing capabilities and other manufacturing tools in orbit.

1:10:45 They're already some of the way there.

1:10:47 In 2018, they pioneered the first

1:10:49 technology to 3D print ceramics under microgravity,

1:10:53 which is appropriate for the nation that was one

1:10:56 of the first to work with that material 10,000 years ago.

1:11:00 Their desire to pursue this goal makes a lot of sense.

1:11:03 Getting parts into orbit is a tricky proposition.

1:11:06 The Tiangong space station itself had to be

1:11:09 built over the course of several launches

1:11:11 with great costs involved and with risk

1:11:14 to delicate systems every time a module was launched.

1:11:18 Imagine how much easier it would be if you

1:11:20 could simply send raw material up and have it

1:11:23 processed and manufactured into usable parts in space

1:11:28 or even better to use extraterrestrial materials already up there.

1:11:34 The idea is certainly logical, but from the Tiangong's mission goals,

1:11:39 it's clear that this has gone beyond the idea stage in China.

1:11:43 They are looking for ways to implement it.

1:11:46 The paper also describes inflatable,

1:11:48 scalable structures in space that could then

1:11:51 be used as a habitat on neighboring bodies.

1:11:54 These lightweight habitats, effectively tents on the moon,

1:11:58 would be easy to transport, but aren't limited to the moon.

1:12:03 More on that later.

1:12:05 Robotic systems would go hand in hand with this.

1:12:08 The manufacturing industry back home on Earth

1:12:10 greatly benefits from robotic assembly lines.

1:12:13 Chinese scientists and engineers are looking

1:12:15 at ways robots can perform tasks in space,

1:12:18 such as repair work, construction, cargo transfer, and more.

1:12:23 Tyonauts are already laying the groundwork by testing

1:12:27 robots and their ability to perform in microgravity,

1:12:30 such as this test here, where a robot was run through this pipe.

1:12:37 But it goes further than just plans for Earth orbit or even the moon.

1:12:42 The next research area looks towards developing

1:12:46 new forms of energy and propulsion systems.

1:12:50 Solar panels are a great way to get electricity in space.

1:12:54 However, China is looking into other options,

1:12:57 likely because once you get out to the ranges of planets like Jupiter,

1:13:01 sunlight is no longer strong enough.

1:13:04 NASA's Juno mission is the furthest spacecraft to use solar panels to date,

1:13:08 as I talk about in another of my videos here.

1:13:11 But by that distance from the sun,

1:13:14 light levels drop to just 3% of what we get here on Earth.

1:13:18 hardly enough to support large projects out at that distance.

1:13:23 And what this implies is that China

1:13:25 is considering large projects at that distance,

1:13:29 especially when combined with their aim to create

1:13:32 efficient propulsion systems with long operating life.

1:13:36 Any rocket fuel propulsion system can get heavy on long trips as you have

1:13:41 to carry all the fuel you use unless you can develop it in situ.

1:13:47 Due to these increasing logistical costs,

1:13:50 outposts that are self-sufficient are incredibly valuable.

1:13:54 Which is why tyonauts are also actively exploring ways to recycle oxygen,

1:14:00 water, grow food, prevent microbial problems, and harmless degradation of waste.

1:14:06 This is one of the reasons tyonauts are experimenting growing rice in space.

1:14:12 They're also performing studies on the effects

1:14:14 of microgravity on living organisms

1:14:16 such as fruit flies to see how the conditions of space affect life.

1:14:22 And just at the start of the year,

1:14:24 Tyonaut successfully tested a technology that brings oxygen

1:14:28 recycling and the need for insitu rocket fuel together.

1:14:32 In the first experiment of its kind, using a semiconductor catalyst,

1:14:37 tyonauts on Tiangong produce oxygen and hydrocarbon ethylene out

1:14:42 of carbon dioxide in an instance of artificial photosynthesis.

1:14:48 Hydrocarbon ethylene can be used to make rocket fuel.

1:14:51 But researchers also believe they could use the same process to make methane,

1:14:55 formic acid, or even sugars, mimicking what plants do on Earth.

1:15:02 This discovery is groundbreaking.

1:15:05 On the ISS, the electricity required

1:15:07 to recycle oxygen using electrolysis techniques

1:15:10 is thought to take up a third of the ISS's energy usage.

1:15:15 This new process is more efficient, gets rid of the CO2 being breathed,

1:15:20 and can be done at room temperature.

1:15:22 That's an incredibly useful technology to have

1:15:26 on any long-d distanceance space mission.

1:15:29 Finally, Tyonauts are testing their gear to make sure it works in space.

1:15:34 This is the last of the five research themes,

1:15:37 and while not as flashy as the others, it's a vital step in the process,

1:15:42 and one that's difficult to replicate on Earth.

1:15:45 The unique conditions of microgravity can put a lot

1:15:47 of different strains on machinery, for one example.

1:15:51 Fluid dynamics are much harder to currently model, for another.

1:15:55 And if you want to solve these things,

1:15:57 it's practically impossible to replicate microgravity

1:16:01 if you're deep within our gravity well.

1:16:05 Putting it all together, it becomes clear that China is already thinking

1:16:10 very carefully about not just a lunar base,

1:16:13 but a vast network of habitats across the solar system.

1:16:18 self-sufficient, able to mine resources wherever they are.

1:16:23 And with the manufacturing capabilities to construct

1:16:26 parts or whole new spacecraft out of it.

1:16:30 With this infrastructure and technology in place,

1:16:33 China will be able to mine resources from asteroids across the solar

1:16:37 system and set up human presences on countless moons or planets.

1:16:42 Yes, it's still early days and it's not like China is alone

1:16:45 in this, but it's a sign of how far things have progressed.

1:16:51 If China is testing out the technology to build manufacturing bases in space,

1:16:56 the platforms themselves can't be that far behind.

1:17:00 To be clear, China isn't trying to be secretive about any of this.

1:17:05 In fact, the Chinese are very in favor of collaboration.

1:17:09 However, under American law, American astronauts are not allowed on board

1:17:14 Tiangong without express permission from Congress,

1:17:18 something not likely to be given.

1:17:21 And although Europe initially planned to collaborate with China,

1:17:24 they pulled out in 2023,

1:17:26 citing insufficient budget and no political green light.

1:17:30 Although European and American nations are wary of it,

1:17:35 China has invited scientists across the world to perform joint experiments

1:17:39 on the Tiangong station in a spirit

1:17:41 of international collaboration and mutual benefit.

1:17:45 It remains to be seen whether other nations will join China in these experiments

1:17:49 or whether Taikonauts will be doing

1:17:51 these thousands of experiments on Tiangong alone.

1:17:57 artificial photosynthesis,

1:17:59 orbital construction facilities capable of building a space rocket,

1:18:03 robotics, insitue, rapid growth of food, new power sources, new propulsion.

1:18:11 All in all, we are entering into a new stage of space exploration.

1:18:17 To date, the furthest a human has ever

1:18:19 traveled from our home planet is our moon.

1:18:22 We've set foot there, looked around, but soon came home again.

1:18:27 China's experiments on Tiangong are signs

1:18:30 that a new approach to space is fast arriving.

1:18:33 One where humanity does not simply go to space to come back again.

1:18:38 We as a species are well on the way to leaving the nest of our mother earth

1:18:43 and spreading our wings to fly out and discover

1:18:46 new territories further and further onwards from there.

1:18:51 I hope we are ready for all that entails.

1:18:56 A massive thank you to our astronauts on Patreon.

1:18:59 This video had no sponsors,

1:19:02 but it was still made possible thanks to the hundreds of members we have there.

1:19:06 Link is in the description to join our growing community.

1:19:10 Patreon is where Astramm truly take shape.

1:19:13 A place for people who love space,

1:19:15 who want to see these videos keep improving and reaching more curious minds.

1:19:20 Every new member keeps the channel focused on what really matters,

1:19:24 making the complexity of space available to everyone.

1:19:27 If you enjoy what we do, come join the Astramm community today.