Behind Disney's most INTENSE ride Mission Space at EPCOT

[Music] right now there's a large collaboration between spacex and nasa with the aim to significantly drive down the cost of space travel and to inspire the minds of students all over the world through their history nasa is no stranger to partnering with private companies to work on unique and ambitious projects that have led to innovations in science technology and life as we know it however none have arguably been as unique as nasa's past venture into the leisure market during their collaboration with disney and the creation of mission space this video is extremely spoiler heavy so if you've yet to ride mission space consider this your warning however if you like the impact technology you want to see how they pulled it off then you're in the right place today we'll take an in-depth look at one of the most infamous rides at epcot mission space we'll take a look at its history turn on the house lights and pull back the curtain to show you how this ride rocketed to the top as one of disney's most intense experiences so sit back relax or stand in a queue line which you're probably already doing because this is how mission space works we have main engine start five four three [Music] mission space was the long-awaited and perhaps of the most controversial replacement for the heavily beloved horizons dark ride after amid its unforeseen demise in early 1999 with a large sinkhole jeopardizing the structural integrity of the building horizons occupied disney sought after what they believed would be a worthy successor that would not only fit the future or mission but provide an unparalleled experience only disney could offer more or less construction for the land the ride sits on began with the unsightly demolition of their iconic horizon show building leaving nothing in the aftermath disney claimed that the building for mission space was so large it couldn't possibly fit within the old one which as we know was just a flat lie to resolve the sinkhole formation on site steel girders were placed into the ground vertically to prevent any shear or vertical loading from having adverse or negative impacts on the new building during foundation work careful eyed onlookers and park fans notice four distinct zones within the building's foundation each with what appeared to be a large ring of connection points in the middle with this large observation in mind speculation ran absolutely rampant with what disney could be bringing to epcot and if it would live up to its predecessor in collaboration with nasa and hp the three would put the heads together to devise a riot theme to training for space travel through the fictitious international space training center and using simulators and other equipment based on what nasa used to train the m-prime their astronauts headed to space disney would provide the creative work nasa would assist in the ride system's design and hp would slap their name on it after finding a large chunk of the ride this new simulator ride would allow guests to experience what it's like blasting off into space within a crash course adventure there was just one little minor string attached mission space soft opened on june 9 2003 but didn't officially open until october 3rd of that year the opening was attended by the heads of each firm as well as multiple astronauts to officially commemorate the opening of the soon to be iconic or more infamous attraction from the opening guests and fans were intrigued by the intense experience delivered by the ride system along with the moderate and immersive cabins and museum-style cue while the ride boasted an intense cutting-edge experience the shine and allure of the ride quickly wore down as the experience perhaps was a bit more pressing than expected on riders months after the opening sickness bags were installed into the cabins should a rider feel the effects of the ride too much additionally the ride also brought up many adverse effects for riders that were unaware of underlying health conditions which also led to two untimely deaths needing to take immediate action disney after the second death unveiled that the ride would be outfitted with far more safety advisories through the queue in order to sufficiently warn riders what they were about to experience often even to this day riders have no idea what kind of ride mission space is moreover disney announced that two of the ride bays would run with their main feature disabled the centrifuge starting in 2006. this was the main factor that led to the designation as one of the most intense riot disney had created so let's turn on those house lights and see how mission space works to increase throughput there are four centrifuge ride bays riders are split into ten groups of four and is tend to wait at five entry doors around the centrifuge ride bay when the doors open to load riders each group of four riders enters into one cabin each in order to understand the ride in general let's take a look at how each cabin works each rider sits in a confined box within the x2 flight trainer cabin to secure riders a simple over-the-shoulder restraint is used to keep riders from jostling around during the ride these seats are combined in order to reduce martian sickness in addition small fans are located to the sides of riders to blow cold air to prevent motion sickness often caused or triggered by heat exhaustion in front of riders is a large control console with many buttons and joysticks that will come in handy during the ride further in front of each rider is the early installation of a 3d parallax screen similar to 3d tvs that require no glasses developed in collaboration with walt disney imagineering the system uses two screens and angled glass to provide the left and right eyes slightly different views presenting writer's minds with a perceived three-dimensional view out of their cabin each cabin is articulated on two pivot points around the rider's heart line and through the center to roll the cavern left and right this articulation is performed by electric actuators which use a stepper motor and a lead screw to move a ram that manipulates the position of the cabin these actuators not only eliminate the need for pneumatic or hydraulic equipment but rid the ride of another point of potential failure as electric actuators are more reliable for the purpose of detail i've created this 3d printed model of the entire ride system as mentioned earlier riders load through 5 bay doors around the centrifuge this centrifuge is about 60 feet in diameter with 10 arms spreading out from the center and was created by environmental tektronix corporation in order to expedite the loading and unloading process the arms are split into five pairs and each arm is not equidistant from the next this allows for a wider gap between every two cabins allowing riders to load from one side where the gap is smaller and exit on the other side where the gap is larger forming an exit trail each cabin has communication and power cables that run up to a localized com box these cable connections not only control everything happening in the cabin but allow the resulting cables headed back to the center of the centrifuge to be reduced in the middle of the centrifuge is a large busbar slip ring system that assures the electronics a secure and reliable connection to power while still allowing the arm to spin and spin does it ever the centrifuge and resulting centripetal forces exerted on the riders are thanks to the variable motor located in the bottom of the base of the centrifuge however the centrifuge is actually secured 30 feet down in the basement where the drive motor is this powerful motor pushes a large bowl gear that ramps the arms up to about 16 to 17 rotations per minute maximum this may sound rather tame but at its size each cabin is now moving at 35 miles per hour and exerting two and a half g's and riders or about two and a half times your body weight another side note is that during the ride sequence the floors just under the cabins drop out to avoid collisions from the tilting feature now that we understand each part of the ride let's put it all together as before you'll be split into ten groups of four to fill the four different positions within the cabin you'll enter through the five doors on the outside of the centrifuge and load into your seats prior to the start of the ride attendants use an outside mounted panel to lean the console within close quarters of riders confining them to their seat and immersing them in the cabin the other green light is to confirm the restraints are all locked the doors then close and the riders become situated at the controls they'll use during their flight when cleared the floors beneath the cabins were tracked down out of the way depending on which side you've chosen a different sequence will unfold in front of you both the green team and orange team both used to offer the single mission to mars but as of late 2017 a new orbit around earth mission was created by international light and magic as well as updated graphics for the mars mission still offered on the orange side oddly enough the sequence of both missions is nearly identical in cabin movements which eliminated the need to program a completely new ride sequence for the new video now that we understand all the mechanics of the ride let's hop aboard the orange team's mission to mars and we'll explain how it pulls it all off thanks to our land dave on youtube we have a centrifuge view of the green mission which is essentially the same thing as the orange team mission without the spinning or so i thought as we can see the flooring below the cabins retracts downward in order to prevent collisions riders are now being tilted onto their backs to simulate the prep for launch in order to simulate acceleration this classic tilting method is used in place of real linear acceleration isn't possible due to the right system in the green mission the cabin tilts forward slightly in order to gain some more space it can then be used for a larger launch acceleration [Music] in the first stage you're separated the cabin is tilted forward to simulate a loss of the first stage to simulate zero gravity the cabin is tilted slightly forward take the rider's weight off the seat back [Music] here the cabin is being tilted back again to simulate the start of the second stage at this point the cabbages rock left and right to mimic the activation of the gravity-assisted slingshot around the [Music] the way to moon engineer activate hypersleep now similar to the zero gravity motion the hypersleep motion involves tilting the cabin slightly forward to ease riders into a sense of calm [Music] we then wake up to meteor shower over the landing site and riders are tossed back and forth as they try to avoid collision after collision [Music] the rocket descent motion has until actuators fully retract tilting the cabin and riders to about 25 degrees as they descend onto mars face first the gliding wing sequence now forces riders onto the back to imitate as if wings were suddenly taking over the flight path of the cabin [Music] now that we have lost autopilot the ride system now allows for a bit of interactivity by having riders control their flight through the terrain of mars on the old green mission where the century's agent supposed to spin it actually does still spin but only one revolution around onto the runway the cabin tilts forward where riders try to gain control of the rough landing finally as ice breaks the cabin is tilted far forward and finally rocked back to safety mission technically accomplished the floors come back up the restraint's unlocked the door swings open and riders can now safely dizzy walk out of the cabins making the way into the middle of the centrifuge down the long hallway and of course say it with me exit through the gift shop [Music] so why did the centrifuge still spin that one time the centrifuge of the green team side is likely still used for one rotation in order to give slight forces it's also likely used because not maintaining the centrifuge would pose aging and safety risks for the equipment and riders all together this technology works in unison to create a seamless and thrilling adventure that has amazed and inspired millions of riders and will continue to do so for decades to come i hope you've enjoyed this small dive into how mission space works if you still have questions you can ask them below and let me know what your favorite ride is and i might try to make a video on it also make sure to take a look at our other how it works videos in the icard above please subscribe ring the bell and if you really enjoyed the video please consider joining my patreon for as little as one dollar a month if you spotted all five gears comment the combined code below and you'll get a shout out in the next video once again thank you for watching and i'll see you in the parks [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Amusement Labs

Views: 775,899

Keywords: Six Flags, cedar point, roller coaster, how does this ride work, RMC, theme park, jurassic world ride, Disneyland, Universal, coasters, Epic Universe, rise of the resistance, Disney, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Jurassic Park Coaster, velocicoaster, mission space, intense, intense disney rides, disney world rides, top rides at epcot, space x, dragon launch, Mars, Elon musk, starship, rocket explosion

Id: ntFNno4lEGA

Length: 15min 31sec (931 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 14 2020