Mysterious Objects in Space We Can't Explain & Other Space Videos (Space Compilation)

here at the infographic show we'd like to investigate life-altering enigmas and crucial issues such as how you can defeat jason voorhees or the best life hacks for surviving a zombie attack yet while our teams of world-class researchers historians philosophers and undead experts are busy finding new and exciting matters to look into what we really love is answering questions directly from you our viewers today we're going to be answering a question by wayne who emailed us asking what would happen if an asteroid was hurtling toward earth and we exploded a nuclear device in space to stop it well we're going to tell you join us as we dive into the world of astrophysics nuclear technology and simple mechanics to find out what would happen if we detonated a nuke in space let's set the scene a giant asteroid is speeding toward the earth humanity seems doomed and since world governments in this scenario are following the direction of michael bay the solution they have come up with to stop a speeding asteroid is detonating a nuclear device in space as the brave and surprisingly attractive men and women on this mission tearfully start their nuclear bomb planting and detonation journey they leave the earth's atmosphere and enter the vacuum of space where they encounter the enemy asteroid and push the button to blast it into smithereens with their nuke first of all what would this blast even look like most of us are familiar with the mushroom cloud look of a nuclear blast but in space this would look entirely different when a nuclear bomb goes off it releases a massive amount of radiation when this radiation comes into contact with air on earth it rapidly expands the air causing the classic blast wave that destroys everything around a nuke in space with no air around there would be no blast wave just a spherical looking rapid soundless explosion of light heat and radiation in every direction the nuclear bombs of radiation in the form of gamma rays and x-rays would affect a much larger radius in space than on earth as there's no atmosphere to slow down or disrupt its spread the good news is there are much fewer humans in space than on earth that will experience this radiation the bad news is the radiation would also make its way down to earth's atmosphere in no time side effects of the blast would be seen on the planet almost immediately charged particles from the nuclear bomb would interact with earth's magnetic field creating ribbons of light that would stick around for hours or even days depending on the blast size imagine seeing the northern lights but less instagram friendly and more expansive and terrifying in addition debris from the blast in the asteroid would rain down into the atmosphere though most fragments from the bomb itself would burn up and just leave heavy ions behind in the planet's atmosphere the fragments from the asteroid depending on its size are a different story we'll address soon as a side effect of a nuclear blast in space most power sources and electronics on earth under the blast area would be shut off and there would be disruptions in navigation systems high speed highly charged electrons from the detonation would create a dense but powerful magnetic field known as an electromagnetic pulse or emp for short the emp would disrupt the flow of electricity for hundreds of miles around the blast how do we know this for sure well because the u.s already detonated a nuke in space that's right during the cold war arms race the u.s was worried that the soviets would launch nuclear bombs into space to stop u.s intercontinental ballistic missiles naturally then the u.s set up project fishbowl so they themselves could test the effects of nuclear explosions in space one fine morning on july 9 1962 the u.s mounted a w49 thermonuclear warhead on a thor rocket to conduct the test known as starfish prime it was launched from johnston island 900 miles southwest of hawaii past the upper atmosphere at 9 00 am gmt time 11 pm in hawaii when the missile was on its way back down and had reached 240 miles above sea level the us detonated the nuke the explosion released 1.4 megatons of energy that means that the blast unleashed the energy equivalent of 1.4 million tons of tnt because it took place in space this massive energy burst was strangely soundless it caused a spherical blast that created an aurora for over a thousand miles in almost every direction the effects of the exploding nuke were much larger and emerged much further away than u.s scientists said ever anticipated the electromagnetic impulse generated by the blast changed the flow of electricity in hawaii 900 miles away roughly the distance from new york city to orlando florida while people in hawaii were getting ready to sleep and suddenly wondered why the northern lights had moved several dozen degrees lower in latitude they were quickly distracted by blown out street lights radio and telephone outages and a whole host of other electronic malfunctions the nuclear bombs detonation done close to the altitude of the international space station which orbits at 254 miles above sea level caused extensive satellite damage as well the high-speed high-powered electrons moving through the atmosphere hit at least six satellites causing malfunctions that eventually made them fail this was in 1962 when earth had much fewer satellites in orbit today a nuclear blast in space would probably hit hundreds of satellites as of 2018 there are 4987 satellites orbiting the earth and 1957 of them are operational this means a nuclear blast in space would not only send a huge surge of light and radiation charging through the earth's atmosphere but also disrupt your siriusxm deeptrax radio station all things considered messed up radio stations in a weird hours-long light show would be worth it to save the earth from a major homo sapiens destroying catastrophe right well it's not that simple depending on where the nuclear bomb had to be detonated for example if the location happens to be right over a country the resulting damage could disable a whole country if not several in one blow by disrupting communications and electronic functions if satellites are hit this disruption could go on for an extremely long time but wait would a nuclear bomb even break apart an asteroid and more importantly would breaking it apart even save the earth in the first place most known asteroids in our solar system are found in the asteroid belt where they orbit the sun between the orbits of mars and jupiter scientists believe that the asteroids are the remains of planetesimals which were early pieces of the solar system some asteroids are primitive unchanged pieces of the original solar system that never formed into larger bodies while others are the remains of differentiated pieces of the solar system smashed to bits by jupiter's strong gravity while many asteroids mined their own business orbiting within the asteroid belt some are affected by outside gravitational pulls and flung out setting into different orbits around the solar system if an asteroid is big enough to pose a threat to at least part of humanity then it must be at least 1 312 feet in diameter 6.2 miles in diameter is the threshold for extinction-class asteroids which pose a much larger existential threat extinction class is a nice scientific way of saying everything on earth would be dead if an asteroid that big collided with our planet except maybe cockroaches and keith richards the asteroid that caused the chichalube impact and wiped out three quarters of plant and animal life on the planet 66 million years ago including the dinosaurs was at least six miles in diameter with some scientists theorizing that it was up to 50.3 miles long the bad news is plenty of asteroids in this extinction class still exist rocketing all around space the largest known asteroid ceres is a whopping 294 miles in diameter or almost 48 times larger than the size needed to end us the good news is sizable asteroids rarely collide with the earth only once every 160 000 years according to nasa scientists also according to nasa detonating a nuclear bomb planted at or beneath the surface of a large asteroid even an asteroid at the bare minimum threshold of 1312 feet would just cause the asteroid to break apart into still large pieces rather than obliterated these asteroid chunks might continue racing toward the earth and still be big enough to cause significant damage nasa believes it would be very difficult if not outright impossible to determine the way in which a nuke would break an asteroid apart so there's little hope of controlling the size of the fractured pieces factors like size center of gravity and material some asteroids contain carbon while others are made of iron or stony iron would affect the way an asteroid would fracture in most unpredictable ways however a nuclear device still could be used to guide asteroids away from the earth through deflection in fact nasa scientists think this would be the best way to use nuclear bombs to avoid colossal damage to humanity and the planet by rogue asteroids while surface and subsurface explosions would probably just split the asteroid nuclear bombs that explode near but not on the asteroid in a process called standoff explosions would hopefully release enough energy to change the asteroid's course thus the recommended strategy for winning people versus asteroid is a series of standoff nuclear explosions to push the asteroid another way we might end up with a shattered moon but that's a risk we'll take is there any real chance we'll have to use this strategy soon well scientists think it's unlikely as the probability of a large asteroid hitting our earth in the near future is slim however the apophis asteroid even though it's relatively small at 1100 feet is worrying a few governments it's projected to pass within 19 000 miles of earth's surface on april 13 2029 even though this seems like a massive distance it's relatively close in space terms if you make the comparison the moon is 238 900 miles away from the earth the fact that apophis is swinging by the earth on friday the 13th probably doesn't help ease people's fears however most scientists are looking at this event as a data gathering bonanza as objects that large rarely make their way toward earth still the director of the russian federal space agency anatoly permanoff announced in 2009 that russia will brainstorm ways of deflecting apophis if it should come too close of course apophis isn't the only sizable asteroid making its way around the universe which is why nasa's planetary defense coordination office exists it may sound like a division of star trek but the pdco is a real agency that uses technology like telescopes and radar to map out the orbits of existing asteroids and detect new ones asteroids movements are compared to known constants like background stars in order to estimate the speed and direction of their orbit radar is then used to obtain information about their size and shape of the asteroid so if the pdo detects an incoming asteroid emergency would detonating nuclear weapons to stop them still be on the table sorry to disappoint fans of explosions but that's unlikely if it helps the existing options sound even more interesting lindley johnson of the pdco assures us that technology such as kinetic impactors and gravity tractors would be used to divert the asteroid a kinetic impactor is a special high-speed spacecraft that collides into an asteroid to push it onto another path while a gravity tractor is a spacecraft that flies alongside an asteroid using its own gravity to pull the asteroid in another direction mars a cold lifeless place yet just a few meters beneath the surface a secret underground base homes with activity american astronauts walk the hallways of the secret base talking and exchanging research notes with aliens from another planet this might sound like the opening to a fantasy novel but according to one of the most credible individuals in the world it's our present day reality dr heim eshed is not a backwoods country bumpkin talking about strange lights in the sky and little green men putting probes where the sun doesn't shine he's one of the most respected men in israel and america both a former general in the israeli military he's also the co-founder of israel's space agency and considered a national hero for his efforts to launch israel into the space age more on that he's a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and a member of the american institute of aeronautics and astronautics as far as credentials go short of being president he can't get any better and he has one message for the world revealed in a shocking interview in early december 2020 aliens are real and the american and israeli governments are cooperating with them according to dr ashev aliens representing a galactic federation of like-minded species have made contact with at least two governments on earth the israeli and american governments at this time it's unknown if other governments are involved and that it's likely israel's involvement is due to american cooperation which would mean the other close u.s allies such as britain and france are also likely aware of the existence of these extraterrestrials don't worry these aliens aren't here to eat your brains instead they're curious about humanity and awaiting a time when humanity is mature enough to join their galactic federation of allied species who share the ultimate goal of understanding the universe well admittedly that's exactly what brain-eating space aliens would want you to believe but according to dr shedd their intentions are so far peaceful in fact cooperation agreements have already been signed between the u.s and these aliens resulting in a research laboratory on mars itself where american astronauts work side by side with extraterrestrials current president donald trump as of this writing not only knows about the existence of these aliens he nearly revealed their existence publicly but was warned not to due to concerns over mass hysteria surprisingly if dr hashed's claims are true it's the one piece of advice donald trump seems to have listened to so wait is this for real let's explore the reasons why this claim is likely a fabrication and why it might actually be real as you'll soon see dr ashed is far from the only high level credible individual to have come out making a startlingly similar claim first let's investigate why this claim is likely false dr haim eshet is certainly a credible witness as far as qualifications go yet he is currently selling a book dedicated at least in part to his claims of extraterrestrial contact that can't help but cast aspirations on his claim of space aliens as the old saying goes it can be hard to trust a man with a book to sell in both the united states and israel though there's another saying amongst the intelligence communities responsible for both protecting each nation's highest national secrets and discovering those of the enemies and that's saying is that aliens make great cover stories a uscia agent once famously said i love ufo stories because as long as people look up into the sky and see something weird and they're thinking alien spacecraft they're not thinking secret u.s plane this idea is pretty sound and the fact is that it now has been proven that many ufo sightings over the years have in fact been sightings of aircrafts such as the american f-117 stealth fighter the b-2 stealth bomber and specially modified black hawk helicopters used by special operations forces especially true when those aircraft are still in their secret design and testing phases and not quite yet public knowledge the simple truth is that aliens make for a great cover story for secret government programs and that leads us back to dr haim eshet dr hashed has a career in israeli military attaining the rank of general he also helped found the israeli space program a vital element of the israeli intelligence apparatus as it was largely geared toward establishing a space-based military and surveillance infrastructure for a country with as many enemies as israel a robust space capability is of the utmost importance while dr hashed may not have been directly employed by israelis intelligence agencies he was no doubt heavily in support of them in his duties with israel's space agency given the extremely crafty nature of israeli intelligence operations amongst the most legendary in the world it's not at all unbelievable that dr haimashed is merely fulfilling one final task on behalf of the american and israeli intelligence services disseminating disinformation to act as a cover story for current and future secret programs as he has himself stated publicly he's 87 years old and no longer cares about his reputation the claims of human alien cooperation are also dubious at best according to dr shedd american astronauts work side by side with aliens in a secret base on mars conducting research together if an alien species is intelligent enough to cross the galaxy and get to us in a timely fashion then what possible use are humans to them in conducting research even their calculators would be smarter than us having humans assist space-faring aliens in research would be like inviting a wild chimpanzee into a research lab to help develop a covid vaccine given humanity's behavior throughout 2020 both scenarios would likely involve equal amounts of poop throwing but what if the claims are real well there might be quite a lot of factors proving dr shedd's story is actually true first we have dr haimashed himself a career military professional co-founder of a space agency respected academic and no history of mental illness or delusions he served with the israeli space program for nearly 30 years receiving the israeli defense award three times twice for technological inventions that remain classified to this day the doctor is clearly intelligent and possesses a high amount of integrity nobody lasts as long as he has in high security clearance work without impeccable integrity in short if anyone was going to leak the news that aliens are real then dr o'shead is quite literally the perfect most trustworthy candidate to do so the only possible way this announcement could have been more believable is if the claim was made by a serving head of state themselves in an official capacity what we have here is one step short of the perfect witness which makes it curious that his claims are so easily dismissed ask yourself the question who would you believe if not a man of dr shed's qualifications but dr hashed isn't alone in his belief of extraterrestrials in a 2014 interview with jimmy kimmel former president bill clinton said that he wouldn't be surprised if aliens visited the earth however he denied knowledge of actual aliens recovered from roswell or being held in area 51. he's hardly the only member of his administration with the belief in aliens though with john podesta president clinton's former chief of staff making his belief in visiting extraterrestrials very public but much is his former boss stopping short of confirming any knowledge in government involvement two of the most shocking claims of aliens visiting earth however come from political leaders in canada and russia in 1997 kirsan illuminov head of the russian-controlled republic of calmikia said that he was shocked to discover a hovering ufo right outside his balcony the aliens flew illumijin off to space and showed him the truth about ufos his claims prompted a bit of political panic in russia with some questioning his fitness to remain in office though curiously some of russia's duma members were concerned with the potential leaking of classified state secrets to alien beings and asked for a direction on how to properly respond if approached by extraterrestrials perhaps even more shocking though might be the revelation of one of canada's former defense ministers until today the highest ranked state official to reveal the potential existence of alien life on earth serving from 1963 to 67 as a defense minister for america's polite top hat paul hellyer shocked the world during a speech at the university of calgary mr hellyer claims that aliens have been visiting earth for thousands of years and perhaps unsurprisingly don't seem particularly impressed with humanity according to him the alien's chief critique of humanity is that we spend entirely too much time fighting each other spend too much money on our militaries and not enough on feeding the poor and helping sick people according to hellyer aliens even walk amongst us with up to 80 different species visiting the earth and some looking so human that we don't even notice the good news is that most of the aliens seem to be benevolent and concerned over our previous use of nuclear weapons and that we might use them again in the future generally concerned over humanity's future the aliens are waiting for humanity to mature before sharing advanced technology with us however several species have outright hostile intentions that we need to be wary of though he declined to share any specifics on those evil aliens both of our previous figures have been painted as crackpots in the media but our next witness is a real american hero and one of the few men to ever set foot on another heavenly body with man-made technology anyway astronaut edgar d mitchell is famous for landing on the moon and helping save the lives of all aboard the apollo 14 mission as it descended to the moon's surface however in recent years he's also come out with claims that aliens are not just real but actively involved in monitoring mankind unlike other leakers mitchell however stops short of claiming close cooperation between aliens and world governments and has never claimed to have met one himself instead mitchell claims that his experience in both the u.s air force and nasa put him in contact with many individuals all telling the same story ufos have been closely monitoring humanity and especially its nuclear weapons in fact he believes that their goal has been to avert a nuclear war between the us and russia or then the soviet union mitchell's claims aren't solitary either over the years dozens of nuclear facility and nuclear missile silo security maintenance and launch personnel have come forward all claiming to have witnessed ufos over nuclear facilities and at times even shutting down nuclear missiles in fact the writer and researcher of this episode having been former military and with a high security clearance can confirm multiple sightings of ufos over a nuclear facility though has to stress that these were true ufos as in unidentified flying objects not necessarily of an alien origin simply unknown something seems to be out there but whether it's alien or not remains undecided certainly evidence is mounting however that somebody on earth is flying craft with unusual flight characteristics as shown in now multiple videos declassified by the us navy of their aircraft in pursuit of ufos but if these craft are truly alien or not remains unknown though perhaps dr jaime shed has had the answer all along the true mystery however might be why a man with such impeccable credentials as dr ashed is willing to risk his reputation on such outlandish claims the date is april 11 1970 and outside of the kennedy space center three men sit atop millions of pounds of explosive fuel american astronauts james a lovell jr t kenneth mattingly ii and fred w hayes jr have been safely sealed into the crew module of their saturn rocket 45 minutes ago and have spent that time strapped into their seats awaiting the long list of final checks required before launch command is given at last flight control receives the all clear from dozens of different department heads whose jobs are all to ensure a successful launch and at 2 13 pm eastern the massive saturn rocket roars to life almost 5 million pounds of fuel ignite and the mighty saturn slowly lifts off the launch pad gradually increasing speed in moments the crew is already breaking the sound barrier roaring into the heavens on a mission for the next manned landing on the moon the rocket is a multi-stage vehicle that conserves fuel by gradually shedding spent stages and thus lowering the total mass that needs to be lifted up into orbit this allows the saturn to achieve the fuel efficiency required to bring significant loads such as the apollo spacecraft itself into orbit but it's not without its risks according to the plan the first stage burns for 2 minutes and 41 seconds shooting the rocket to an altitude of 42 miles at a speed of 6164 miles per hour at that point explosive separators would disengage the first stage from the second stage shedding tens of thousands of pounds of dead weight the second stage's five engines would then flare to life accelerating the spacecraft for six minutes to a height of 109 miles and 15 647 miles per hour which is almost orbital velocity or the speed needed for an object to remain in orbit then the second stage would separate and the third stage would fire to put the spacecraft on a parking orbit around the earth at that point the apollo command and service module would detach from the third stage turn around and dock with the lunar module which was secured right below the csm during launch and extract the lunar module from the spent third stage all of this required an incredible amount of careful engineering and with millions of moving parts anything could go wrong at any time for the astronauts of apollo 13 though those first few seconds after engine ignition were the most terrifying as all aboard knew that if the engines failed while they were still only a few feet off the ground the entire rocket would come crashing down and the millions of pounds of fuel would incinerate everything in fact the fully fueled saturn vehicle could release an energy equivalent to two kilotons of tnt if it failed at liftoff giving the astronauts on board no chance of survival yet today the rocket seems to be working fine and in moments the crew is breaking the sound barrier and speeding toward their first stage separation almost three minutes later the crew hears the explosive bolts fire off as the first stage is successfully cast off and a moment later they're kicked back into their seats as the five engines of the second stage fire off carrying a much smaller payload the engines quickly accelerate the spacecraft pinning the astronauts to their seat yet in what would turn out to be a precursor for the doomed mission the center engine suddenly shuts down as alarms ring both on the ground at mission control and inside the command module unbeknownst to the engineers on the ground and the astronauts aboard the flight computer has automatically shut the engine off due to several oscillations caused by uneven burn of that engine's fuel if left unchecked the uneven thrust could produce even more severe oscillations which could lead directly to mechanical damage and possibly outright destruction of the engine luckily for the crew though the computer has detected the pending problem and shut the engine off just in time but even more luckily for the crew the afflicted engine is the center engine had it been one of the four outboard engines the spacecraft could have tumbled out of control at the speeds apollo is now traveling through the atmosphere that would have ended in certain death as wind resistance shredded the spacecraft to compensate for the loss of the center engine the computer replots its flight profile and burns the four outboard engines for longer than planned as the second stage separates and is cast off the third stage's single engine burns longer than originally planned as well to compensate for the lost engine in the second stage and though fuel margins are incredibly tight luckily the spacecraft has enough fuel to compensate for the emergency well over a hundred miles over the earth the spacecraft is now in a parking orbit and the crew runs system checks and prepares for their burn window to send them to the moon when some final checks sound the all clear both on the spacecraft and on the ground the third stage begins its translunar injection burn after a successful burn sets apollo on a non-free return orbit to the moon meaning the spacecraft won't simply swing by the moon and be pulled back to the earth the command module separates from the third stage and as planned spins around the dock with the lunar module which is then released from the third stage moments later the command module makes a small burn to alter its own trajectory the original translucer injection burn has put the third stage directly on a collision course with the moon as part of an experiment that nasa plans on conducting the third stage is plotted to impact within just a few kilometers of where apollo 12 had deployed seismometers with the resulting seismic shock giving nasa scientists insight to the inner structure of the moon the astronauts are now safely on their way to the moon and broadcast live to the world below after their brief tv broadcast the astronauts remove their heavy pressure suits and settle in for the long three-day ride to the moon their goal is the fromaro highlands a region fraught with hazards as it's rather hilly and will make landing challenging yet the site promises to hold a treasure trove of geological data as it's full of ejected debris from the impact that had formed the huge mare imbrium lava plane the remains of one of the largest craters discovered in the solar system and the iconic large dark spot visible to us every night on the moon's face 30 hours into their flight the astronauts light up the command module's engines for a small mid-course correction in order to fine-tune their final orbit around the moon all is still well aboard the spacecraft and on the ground all systems are reading green the historic mission is set to be the success that all of the usa's previous moon landings have been to date 56 hours into the mission apollo 13 is 205 000 miles from earth the astronauts have just ended a live tv broadcast and are stowing the equipment when flight controllers ask command module pilot john l swigert to turn on the stirring fans inside the hydrogen and oxygen tanks in the service module which would help them get even more accurate readings on their levels two minutes later there's a large bang and the electrical power inside the command module begins to fluctuate wildly while outside the spacecraft the attitude control thrusters fire briefly and what have become the second most famous words ever uttered in space swigert radio's home saying houston we have a problem electrical power is slowly being drained from the service module and oxygen tank number two reads completely empty the astronauts are confused and initially think that they may have been struck by a micro meteorite not realizing that one of the oxygen tanks has exploded on the ground nasa technicians and engineers have been recalled to mission control from home and their offices the situation already looking dire three minutes later two more fuel cells fail plunging power levels in the service module to critically low levels outside the window astronaut james lovell can see that the spacecraft is venting gas into space likely oxygen over the next two hours the main oxygen tank also depletes until finally running empty the crew is in serious trouble and desperately needs a way back home lead flight director gene krantz officially orders an abort of the mission and engineers on the ground begin scrambling to find a way to provide enough power to the remaining fuel cells to save the astronauts lives with the service module which was meant to return the crew to earth out of commission the flight engineers fall back on an abort plan originally drawn up in 1966 but never actually put into practice or even tested the crew will shut down all systems aboard the command module completely and move into the cramped lunar module which they'll then use as a lifeboat to get them back to earth designed for only two astronauts the ride is not going to be comfortable for the three-man crew but it's the only chance the crew has to get back home safe the original plan for an abort though had called for the jettison of the lunar module entirely and burning the command module's engines at exactly 60 hours flight time in order to achieve a free return lunar flyby however the crew would die without the lunar module so the planned burn is scrapped with the moon's sphere of gravitational influence just a few hours away flight planners have to work fast to figure out a way to bring the crew home using the lunar module yet there's another critical problem to solve as well the lunar module was designed to sustain two people for a day and a half not three people for four days as it now needs to the spacecraft still carries plenty of oxygen as the lunar module had to repressurize after each eva on the moon's surface but the lithium hydroxide which is critical for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is in short supply most of the lunar modules lithium hydroxide canisters are stored on the descent stage and out of reach of the astronauts who cannot conduct a space walk to retrieve them if a solution is not found swiftly the crew will asphyxiate long before returning to earth the command module has enough lithium hydroxide stores to safely clean the crew's air supply yet the cm's canisters are cube shaped and the lunar module sockets are cylindrical as nasa engineers go into a flurry of brainstorming to figure out a solution flight control works on figuring out a safe return trajectory for the stricken spacecraft flight director crans orders a crew to burn the lunar module's descent engines for 30 seconds this will allow the spacecraft to slingshot around the moon and be hurled back to earth and after a second burn on the far side of the moon apollo 13 would be on its way for a splashdown in the south pacific but if the crew can't breathe all the us navy would be recovering from the spacecraft are three perfectly preserved corpses inside mission control nasa engineers furiously work at solutions to the lithium hydroxide problem gathering together a store of all materials available to the astronauts themselves with just hours of clean air left an ingenious solution is found the crew was ordered to cut off one of their spacesuits air hoses using tape velcro and other odds and ends fashion it into an adapter for the cube-shaped lithium hydroxide canisters from the command module much to everyone's relief the improvide solution works brilliantly and at last the crew of apollo 13 sees some real hope of returning to earth safely yet the crew is not out of the woods yet to conserve very limited power supplies most of the lunar module systems in all of the command modules computers have been shut down this means temperature control as well and the plummeting temperature has the crew shivering even more dangerous though condensation has begun to form on the inside of the stricken spacecraft and there are serious concerns that when the command module is powered up it will cause catastrophic electrical shorts to add to the astronauts worries the command module was never designed to be completely shut down in flight and then restarted with time running out and power at too low of levels for a normal power up routine flight controller john aaron and astronaut kenneth mattingly who was originally supposed to be on board work with engineers to figure out a way to restart the power hungry command module with the limited power supply available working tirelessly and without sleep the ground team manages to figure out a way to restart the cm systems while avoiding unnecessary power draws with the earth in their sights and re-entry just a few hours away apollo 13's crew begins to power up the cm per houston's very careful instructions back on earth the ground team holds its breath as apollo 13 systems come back online one by one and then explode into cheers as the command module comes fully to life yet as the earth looms large before the astronauts one final challenge remains the lunar module must be safely separated from the command module before re-entry or both vehicles will burn up in the atmosphere typically the service module's reaction control system would fire off a small series of thrusters to gently pull away from the undocked lunar module yet the power failure has left the rcs system inoperable and the now useless service module was going to be released before the lunar module anyways on the ground nasa engineers in conjunction with counterparts at the university of toronto conclude that the only way to separate the command module from the lunar module would be to pressurize the tunnel connecting the two just before separation and once separated the rush of gases venting into space would push the lunar module away yet the ground team has to carefully calculate the exact pressure required to do so as too much pressure will damage the command module's hatch and seal leading to the astronauts burning up in the atmosphere too low pressure would not push the lunar module far enough away putting the two craft at risk of collision during re-entry using just slide rules and with six hours before atmospheric reentry the ground team led by bernard atkin work furiously at their calculations with an hour left the exact figure is radioed up to apollo 13 and the astronauts seal the hatch the command module venting oxygen into the tunnel that connects them to the lunar module the astronauts hold their breath as they prepare to undock knowing that if the calculations are wrong they are certainly dead men and with no way of averting atmospheric reentry anymore they'll have a long time to think about their certain death at last the lunar module is undocked and with a hiss of escaping air the vented oxygen successfully pushes the lunar module away to a safe distance apollo 13 would go on to splash down just southeast of american samoa in the south pacific easily the most harrowing mission ever undertaken in manned space flight apollo 13 may have been a technical failure but was a complete success in testing mankind's ingenuity and resolved in the face of incredible odds and adversity more than a successful mission ever could have apollo 13 proved that mankind truly has what it takes to make the bold move into space so vital for our shared future even if sadly just a few years later the united states and other nations of the world would seemingly lose all interest in ever visiting the heavenly bodies above us ever again the date is july 22 1969 and for the last 21 hours and 36 minutes america and the world at large has been glued to its television sets watching the incredible exploits of humanity's first steps on another world the culmination of thousands of years of mankind's dreams and fantasies to reach past the bounds of earth and touch the heavens the american moon landing has ushered a new age of humanity and signaled the first brave steps of our civilization into the universe live updates on the mission have poured over televisions and radios around the world and from time to time glimpses of this historic mission have made their way back home to earth now the world awaits the return of these bravest of men ready to be welcomed back home not just as american heroes but heroes for all the world suddenly though television screens all over the globe cut from the non-stop news coverage of the historic moon landing to the white house where a sovereign looking president nixon stares directly into the camera with a faltering start he clears his throat and begins to speak fate is ordained that men who went at the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace these brave men neil armstrong and edwin aldrin know that there's no hope for their recovery but they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice the president continues finally nearing the end of his speech in ancient days men looked at the stars and saw their heroes in the constellations in modern times we do much the same but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood others will follow and surely find their way home man's search will not be denied but these men were first and they will remain the foremost in our hearts for every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come we'll know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind the screen cuts to the massive mission control room in nasa the place where the hopes and dreams of every nation on earth has rested for the last six days with battery power failing on the lunar lander communications with the men trapped on the moon are near an end finally the two brave astronauts make their final goodbye to their loved ones and the world at large imploring that the world should not mourn for them but be inspired for their many accomplishments the radio cuts out the landers gone dark trapped on the surface of the moon the men will continue to have a few hours worth of oxygen but will soon suffocate if they don't freeze to death first on tv screens around the world a priest appears live from inside the historic st john's episcopal church in washington dc the father commends the souls of neil armstrong and buzz aldrin to the deepest of the deep much as if he were conducting a burial at sea for fallen sailors then he finishes with the lord's prayer the previous scenario was a very real possibility in a carefully crafted response should the historic apollo 11 suffer some form of catastrophic failure and be unable to return to the earth given the incredible number of unknowns involved in the mission from the suitability of the lunar surface for a heavy lander to touch down on to an unknown environmental hazard on the moon and their effects on men and equipment nasa and the american government had made every preparation for the first manned moon landing to end in disaster the real apollo 11 of course ended in a historic victory for all of mankind and signaled america's triumph over its soviet rivals in the space race yet at many points throughout the mission failure was only ever a heartbeat away for example when the lander undocked from the command module the lander received a tiny bit of thrust from venting gases in the docking tunnel while minor in the weightless state of the spacecraft in orbit this small amount of thrust actually placed the lander four nautical miles away from the point it was supposed to be when it was to begin its descent burn in turn this placed the planned landing site amidst a dangerous boulder field on the rim of a crater armstrong was famously forced to eyeball the landing and burned his fuel reserves dangerously low in doing so but found a suitable landing spot nonetheless what if the astronauts had died on the moon though what if you died in space today what would happen to your body and how would nasa respond if armstrong and aldrin had died on the moon there were already plans in the u.s government to designate the site an official memorial that meant that the site would be off limits to anybody else in the future in essence the astronauts bodies would remain forever undisturbed inside their spacecraft for all eternity or at least until the sun swallows the earth and moon up as it becomes a red giant one day even in some far-off future where the u.s or other nations had significant lunar presence recovery of the bodies would be off limits how much would be left of the bodies is debatable though if the lunar module had not suffered any penetration of its hull and the astronauts died say because of a power failure or a failure to ignite their ascent engine and return to the command module then there would remain an atmosphere within the lunar module this would also be true if the astronauts had simply stayed inside their spacesuits in that case bacteria would have begun to decompose the body much the same as they do here on earth using up the remaining oxygen in the atmosphere there may not have been enough oxygen to keep humans alive but there would have been enough for bacteria to thrive for a short while when the oxygen ran out however bacterial respiration would switch to fermentation and the process of decomposing would continue much as here on earth at least for a short while the lunar lander was equipped with multiple layers of mylar insulation to help keep the heat of the sun from cooking the astronauts to death and destroying sensitive equipment while other parts that wanted to receive warmth from the sun were coated in darker more heat absorbent materials this ultimately would have seen the lunar lander very quickly go cold and as the lander froze on the inside so would the astronauts how much decomposition would take place before all bacteria froze or suffocated to death is unknown but the remains would likely remain very recognizable to future archaeologists who visited the site what happens though if you die on a spacewalk let's say you're hanging out on the outside of the international space station and suddenly through some error you're blown clear of the iss with no hope of rescue you suffocate within a few short hours in this scenario bacteria would begin to consume you much the same as on the moon scenario as your suit will still retain an atmosphere for bacteria to thrive in eventually the bacteria would die off though you'd probably remain pretty warm for a long time as your remains would remain exposed to sunlight while space itself is cold objects can be pretty warm thanks to the non-stop glare of the sun and the lack of an atmosphere means that heat cannot be easily leeched away the same way it does here on earth on a chilly winter day your body's heat is steadily leeched away by the atmosphere it's constantly in contact with but in a vacuum there's no medium to wick heat away from the body this is why heat management is vitally important for all spacecraft and satellites eventually though the blast of never-ending radiation from the sun and passing cosmic rays would begin to destroy the integrity of your spacesuit over the course of a few months to a few years the spacesuit will eventually suffer a structural failure and with your suit being full of your decomposing gases it'll promptly explode as air rapidly expands due to the leak you'll then litter your personal orbit with chunky bits of your leftover flesh and spacesuit both like a gross overripe meat balloon that burst open space is risky business and nasa has already planned on what to do about fatalities during one of its missions during the age of the space shuttle a crew fatality would be dealt with much in the same way that a current fatality would be handed aboard the international space station the dead crew member would be very quickly placed inside a pressurized spacesuit and sealed inside and then moved to the coldest part of the spacecraft for storage this would be done to protect the rest of the crew and ship from contamination and because dead bodies are well if you've ever been around anyone who's died then you know it can be a messy affair even if they die peacefully in a zero-g environment you really don't want to be dealing with the waste stomach contents and gases that would be voiding from the corpse aboard the space shuttle the body would then simply be returned to earth for a proper burial aboard the iss though things would be a little trickier as obviously the crew can't return whenever they feel like it there the body would likely be moved to an airlock so it could remain as cold as possible and preserve for a proper burial back home and then could be placed inside one of the unmanned resupply craft that routinely visits the iss on a longer voyage though say like a trip to mars nasa has to be prepared to handle crew fatalities as well while astronauts are carefully selected to avoid any potential health issues that could cause a space fatality sometimes tragedy is simply unpredictable and there are plenty of hazards out there in space waiting to claim lives an extremely long duration mission such as a trip to mars is rife with possibilities for disaster and fatalities must be planned for in this situation how to deal with the fatality would likely fall on the mission commander much like in the iss a fatality could simply be stored in a suit and then kept in an airlock but mission constraints may not make that a feasible option with such a long duration mission there's simply no way the crew could keep the body around indefinitely both for practical reasons such as possible contamination from a suit failure but also for moral reasons in this event simply jettisoning the body into space may be necessary the spacecraft itself would likely be in an orbit which would have it enter partially into the martian atmosphere in order to help it slow down enough to get caught by mars gravity instead of simply being slingshotted into orbit around the sun again this means that the body would likely burn up in the martian atmosphere being much lighter and smaller than the spacecraft itself so if the astronauts wanted the body to have any chance of recovery by future space travelers they don't have to be ejected with enough force to alter its trajectory and avoid burning up in mars's atmosphere as long as the spacecraft was far enough away from mars this could very easily be accomplished and require minimal thrust the body would remain in orbit around the sun and in a century or two could be recoverable by future space archaeologists wishing to give it a proper burial if you were to die on the surface of another planet though then much like dying on route there what happens to you would likely end up being the choice of the mission commander if feasible you may be stuffed into a suit and returned with the rest of the astronauts for burial at home but likely whatever foreign body you happen to be on at the time would end up being your permanent resting place in order to avoid contaminating another planet with earth life though your body would need to be thoroughly cremated something which may prove difficult to do on an early mission to mars or another planet but which would be critical someone someday is bound to die during a space mission and what to do with their remains when they do is of vital importance not just for the safety and comfort of the crew but for the bereaved family members back home and the world whose hopes and dreams rested in them hopefully we don't have to find out what nasa actually does with a dead crew member in space for a long time but it's good to know that they're at least prepared to handle this eventuality president john f kennedy once shocked the world with the words we choose to go to the moon by we he meant america and thereby insinuated that once astronauts got there that the entire country would share in their success fast forward decades later and yusaku mizawa a japanese citizen said something almost identical yet critically different with excitement he said the following i choose to go to the moon what was once a goal that brought millions together has now become something that wedges an even wider gap between the top one percent and the rest of society was he right let's look at the privatization of space travel in this episode of the infographic show is spacex creating a world for only the rich usaku mezawa is not just anyone he has a net worth of over 2 billion dollars and is famous for creating the largest online mall in japan known as zozotown with his profits he has already spent millions on priceless art which he plans to showcase in his own museum but he doesn't want to make a name for himself only with his eye for art and fashion he also wants to be one of the first private citizens to go to the moon how he plans to get there is with the big falcon rocket manufactured by spacex spacex has so far designed three rockets falcon 1 which launched in 2006 falcon 9 which launched in 2010 and falcon heavy which launched in 2018. what has set these apart from the competition is the fact that they're cheaper than other models and in the case of falcon heavy can carry twice as much for a fraction of the cost spacex created the dragon spacecraft as well with room for seven astronauts on board this was launched successfully on march 2nd using the falcon 9 rocket while unmanned a mannequin named ripley was on board fitted with sensors to measure the impact of space throughout the trip its launch was a necessary step to prove travel on spacex's innovative machinery is safe for humans before manned travel can begin only then and likely after a few additional such tests can big falcon rocket the one mizawa will use on his 2023 trip be given the green light for its journey the behemoth is 35 stories tall and while similar in function to falcon 9 is capable of propelling a spacecraft carrying as many as dozens into space the anticipated trip to the moon is just a starting point for the rocket and the company once spacex has proven it can successfully take humans there and back it wants to do much much more the ultimate goal is to expand to the extent that the company transports people to other planets to live in fact according to its creator elon musk who was also the co-founder of paypal and investor and ceo of car manufacturer tesla his motivation in first forming the company was to find an out for humanity when not if it is to survive he believes in the case of a nuclear catastrophe a colony on mars may be the only hope for mankind he has set his sights on mars as a more hospitable location for human life than the moon by building a colony there musk believes that come what may there's a chance that earth can later be repopulated despite the accusations of many musk says that mars isn't intended to be any type of escape for just the wealthy the 1 million he hopes to take there will have to brave dangers he claims many as yet unknown in fact there's a good likelihood that several among the first inhabitants won't survive while those who do will revel in the excitement of making it it will also be far from a leisurely experience at least at first settlers will be responsible for helping develop its infrastructure and making prolonged life on its surface even possible he compares it to settling antarctica those who will go will be the ones whose desire for thrill will exceed the fear of danger not simply the rich many of whom will enjoy a life of cushy comfort on their home planet he does have a point that mars is quite different from earth with a unique set of obstacles to overcome it is smaller with less gravity and a thinner atmosphere that is almost entirely carbon dioxide without earth's magnetic field harmful levels of radiation are not deflected from its surface it's also very cold and average temperatures are minus 81 degrees fahrenheit days are longer and years last 687 days it would take some adjusting to thrive on mars and without the use of assistive technology it would not be possible then of course there are the dangers of the trip over as well to enter and exit earth's atmosphere means exposure to extreme changes in gravity as well as millions of pounds of thrust at thousands of miles per hour this is not exactly comfortable and even seasoned astronauts have been known to develop a condition known as space motion sickness interestingly it has been shown that those with medical conditions that are well controlled are not at risk during space flight psychological stress on the other hand is currently a challenge for private space travel companies questionnaires meant to screen potential passengers for their emotional fitness have proven far less than accurate many look to pre-flight training as a chance to familiarize passengers with what to expect and to avoid in-flight anxiety after all the flight will be unlike anything people have ever seen or experienced before and it's quite incomparable to relatively comfortable and for many rather unremarkable travel via plane then there's the fact that even in ideal circumstances the risk of dying on a spacecraft is 10 000 times greater than on a commercial aircraft having this knowledge in the back of their minds may prove more than a little unsettling for some for legal reasons each and every person who is taken to the moon or in time to mars will be well versed on the risks of such a trip however as mizawa has shown despite its known dangers many of the wealthy elites remain excited about boarding a spacecraft for the experience of a lifetime and clearly musk believes his company and its mission will ultimately be quite successful in fact when society does eventually take hold on the red planet musk has gotten far enough along in his planning that he's considered the type of government that will rule its people in his opinion it will not be a democracy like current day america but more of a direct democracy where the majority wins ideally legislation passed would be short and sweet easier to repeal than implement and when society needs a break from legal issues musk has joked that there will be plenty of bars in which it can grab a drink mars bars he is also joked rather eerily of an alternative system in which he is the emperor of the planet as one of the few in control of who gets there and when as well as who can eventually make it back this is a little less amusing this is not the only thing he said that rubs people the wrong way for example despite his denials that his company will cater to only the rich space travel is obviously not an option for the average person as we mentioned yusaku mizawa is a billionaire and while musk won't share just how much he spent to reserve his trip to space he acknowledged that it was significant significant to a billionaire must be a hefty sum and mizawa not only bought his own seat but also the eight others available for the trip he now gets to dictate just who will join him and has decided it will be a combination of musicians artists and designers in other words joe the plumber will not be on board the trip to the moon will also be relatively short according to nasa the moon is 238 855 miles or 384 400 kilometers away this is the distance of 30 earths in contrast mars with a distance that varies depending on just where it is in the orbit is on average 140 million miles or 225 million kilometers away that's obviously much further currently if technology is not improved many estimate that the much lengthier trip to mars would cost 10 billion dollars a person however musk believes that reusable rockets and fitting 100 to 200 people per flight will significantly drive down the cost his revised estimate if these conditions are met is something more like the average cost of a house or two hundred thousand dollars he thinks that those who start saving should be able to acquire this some or something close to it and herein lies the problem in being a billionaire while to him two hundred thousand dollars is mere change to others it represents the largest investment they'll ever make in their lives not to mention many who will live in a house do not actually own it the bank does and they never had two hundred thousand dollars available as cash and say the people do sell all that they own and move to mars once this is done they will effectively be stuck without the means to return although in a worst case scenario they may well not want to musk also has shared that perhaps in about a century going to mars might be as little as 100 000 or even less that means just 100 years to wait and see if a combination of conflict natural disaster or pollution that have chased the elite off the planet don't wipe out the poor segment of society that will be left behind not to mention many still won't be able to afford even this much he's claimed that there's a 70 chance that he will go to mars himself to live in other words he will be quite safe no matter earth's circumstances which is why his argument that many of the richest might not want to populate mars due to its harsh climate and lack of infrastructure is a relatively weak one as well in interviews musk has made it perfectly clear that mars will not be a vacation destination but a means for self-preservation if nuclear war on planet earth seemed imminent or other situations occurred where life was threatened one would think that the dangers of mars would seem relatively insignificant in comparison in these scenarios it would literally be a difficult life or certain death scenario which to most is not a difficult decision to make the fact remains that mars has half the diameter of earth earth's population is projected to be around 9 billion by 2050 a colony of 1 million is a small fraction of this amount and even if its space was utilized to its fullest mars simply cannot support that many people so by the nature of the game many will inevitably be left out as this is the case just who would the one million colony on mars be as we have discussed it would definitely not be the poor and likely not the middle class either it would be the wealthy most of the companies attempting to privatize space flight to mars are american such as musk's spacex and amazon founder jeff bezos's blue origin one would assume that many of those their spacecraft will carry with them would be american as well while the wealthiest around the world might reserve a seat entire impoverished nations would likely lack any representation at all unlike other modes of travel meant to benefit entire populations such as bikes cars buses boats trains or planes due to the unparalleled cost of its operation space travel is inherently discriminatory the plan to populate other planets will not improve the quality of life for most it's limited on many fronts and will ultimately exclude a majority of the world while accommodating only a select few as the private for-profit industry works these few will most likely be the ones who have the most money to offer and who will make the trip the most financially worthwhile for as long as humans have been staring up into space we've been absolutely mesmerized by the stars have you ever tried to count them it's thought at best in the ideal location the naked human eye will be able to see no more than 5 000 stars that's hardly any considering there are 170 billion galaxies in the observable universe and in each one of them there might be 1 to 100 trillion stars observable stars number about a septillion but that's what we can observe using equipment even the milky way the galaxy that contains our solar system has about 400 billion stars it's mind-boggling what could be out there today we are going to look at some of the mysteries of space in this episode of the infographic show mysterious objects in space we can't explain yet don't forget to subscribe and click the bell button so that you can be part of a notification squad going back to the time we really didn't know much about space ancient people could of course see the stars and also the planets mercury venus mars jupiter and saturn then it all changed in 1608 when a dutch man named hans lippershay patented the telescope our window to outer space hot on his heels was italian galileo galilei who made his own telescope he spotted mountains on the moon a stream of white lights now called the milky way some of jupiter's moons and those rocky rings that encircle the wonderful planet of saturn this was a high time for astronomy and we have of course come much further but what have we found that we just can't fathom perhaps the space mysteries that make us the most curious are the ones that compel us to think aliens did it one such mystery is what looks like a perfect hexagon embossed on the planet saturn found in 2006 by astronomers this hexagon sitting right on saturn's north pole had people thinking it might have been left there by an intelligent alien species sticking with saturn did you know that we still can't figure out how those rings formed or why they maintain that seemingly perfect shape they are made of ice and also rocks that we know and we think they formed right at the beginning of the solar system about 4.4 billion years ago are they made of bits of destroyed moons are they much younger than that we just don't rightly know shooting stars as you know are not actually shooting stars but meteors that come into our atmosphere but there is such a thing as a shooting star and they are brilliant known as hyper velocity stars these things rocket through space at millions of miles per hour they could have a mass similar to our sun and are sent wandering around the cosmos at 2 million miles per hour after interacting with a super massive black hole according to nasa this is what happens a galaxy devours one star in a binary system and ejects its twin flinging it through space at super fast speeds we know a fair bit about them but we are still speculating we have stars that get kicked out and we also have planets that get the boot these are known as rogue planets one such planet is cfb dsir 2149 this planet didn't gel with its solar system and so was ejected into space where it wanders alone for well we don't know for how long astronomers tell us there are probably billions of these rogue planets looking for a home in the universe being a lonely planet without a home is probably better than being eaten alive there is a term for when galaxies eat each other and this is not surprisingly called galactic cannibalism two galaxies collide and one eats the other does this mean our closest galaxy andromeda could devour us no because it's too far away at 2.5 million light years that said some experts believe the milky way and andromeda will collide in about 4 billion years we don't have to worry for now but that's not the case for other galaxies that encroach on each other's space literally the galaxy with the strongest gravitational pull will always win the battle speaking of being devoured or in this case sucked away we have something scientists call dark flow which lies just outside the observable universe the observable universe is set to have a diameter of 93 billion light years and beyond that lies the dark flow scientists don't know exactly what it is but it might have formed around the time of the big bang this flow is pulling things into it it is quite complicated but one astronomer simply said there is a structure beyond the horizon of our universe and that structure is exerting a force on our universe enough of all this eating and beating what about all the pretty things in space well how does giant diamond star sound according to space.com that is exactly what it is a diamond the size of planet earth it's the coldest white dwarf ever found and so cold for a star that is that all the carbon crystallized and formed what for all intents and purposes is a diamond a very expensive one if a diamond star isn't a wonderful thing to behold what about a planet that is made of extremely hot ice you might ask how can you have hot ice ice is cold right astronomers call this neptune size world the hot ice planet it hangs out about 30 light years from our planet and is also less poetically called gj436b it orbits a sun that is much less bright and much smaller than ours and is also very close to that sun that's called gliese 436 because it's so close it is obviously really hot on that planet about 980 degrees fahrenheit but because of its strange gas makeup it has a really bizarre form of what is called water ice or ice x as astronomers call it no one is sure what this gas makeup is but it's weird say scientists this hot ice covers the planet and it is so hot it would melt right through you now let's come closer to home what are the strangest things that have ever gotten close to earth well someone once said there were blueberries on mars but they turned out to be rocks it just looked really cool and if we are going to be cute what about the mickey mouse impression on mercury are aliens making fun of us no the shape is merely a coincidence just as when jesus christ turns up on american toast possibly the strangest recorded object ever to get near earth is the one all the news media is talking about now this is an interstellar asteroid that has sailed into our solar system and it looks like an alien spaceship the strange object has been wandering around space for hundreds of millions of years and now it's waving at us nasa was over the moon about this stating for decades we've theorized that such interstellar objects are out there and now for the first time we have direct evidence they exist it's called omoamwa and it traveled at about 59 030 miles per hour it's thought that it came from the star vega which is about 25 light years away the 400 meter diameter object is dark and red and smooth consisting of metals water and ice it's so special because this is the first time we've ever had a visitor from another part of the galaxy on record anyway it's still a mystery as we don't really know where it's been and how it got to us in war the high ground refers to the most strategic position available on a battlefield and its occupation and exploitation gives the force occupying it major military advantages with the dawn of the space age it quickly became clear that the space around earth was the ultimate high ground and whoever conquered it first would put all other militaries at a severe disadvantage so why hasn't it happened yet that's what we'll find out today in this episode of the infographic show why can't we put weapons on space stations the first and most obvious answer is a simple matter of physics newton's third law of motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction if you throw a ball the ball pushes back on you but the friction between your feet and the ground keeps you in place if you were to try throwing a ball on roller skates though the force of the ball pushing back on you would knock you backwards because space is a vacuum there is no friction so basic physics tells us that if you tried to shoot a rocket or fire a big enough gun from a space station you would send that space station flying out of control you would have to either counteract the force of the firing weapon with reaction control thrusters or make a station massive enough that the force pushing back on the station is minimal though of course you would still need to adjust your orbit after every shot to make sure you didn't accidentally deorbit your entire space station with an average cost of putting objects or fuel into orbit resting at 1 million dollars per pound either option makes for a very very expensive weapon guns are pretty much out of the question but you could potentially design a missile that's gently released with a small puff of accelerant before its rocket motor ignites and carries it away similar to how the international space station undocks visiting spacecraft so why not do that well basic physics is again the most obvious answer a missile re-entering the earth's atmosphere would experience the same extreme heating that a returned space capsule does in order to protect the chemical warhead from accidentally blowing up you would have to spend a lot of money on shielding materials to keep the warhead cool during re-entry ultimately it's just not worth it conventional land air and sea-fired missiles are much cheaper and less risky but there is one type of missile that would be worth the cost risk and difficulty of firing from orbit a nuclear-tipped missile the goal of a nuclear arsenal is not just to respond to a nuclear attack but ideally to be able to destroy an enemy's own nuclear arsenal before they have a chance to retaliate with nuclear weapons speed is key yet even at a whopping 4 miles per second an icbm launched from russia at the united states would still need about 41 minutes to reach the east coast if we put nuclear weapons in orbit though that flight time would potentially shrink to mere minutes the international space station or iss orbits the earth at five miles per second making a complete orbit in just 92 minutes if a nation were to build a constellation of just six nuclear-armed orbital stations at the same altitude as the iss 250 miles above earth there would always be one station loaded with nuclear weapons flying over enemy territory and the next station with its nuclear payload would be a maximum of 15 minutes away most nuclear nations operate a nuclear launch and detection system made up of a small fleet of satellites that are constantly scanning the earth for the telltale massive heat signature of an icbm being fired once detected other satellites and ground tracking stations use radar to track the icbm but a nuclear-tipped missile fired from orbit wouldn't need a big rocket motor instead each missile could simply be released use small rcs thrusters like those used on space capsules when docking to orient each missile to a different target and then let gravity pull them down to earth without a big very hot rocket motor an early warning and detection system would be useless and outfitting a missile with radar absorbent materials like those used on modern stealth aircraft would make radar tracking extremely difficult basically a nation could launch a crippling sneak attack against another nation decimating its nuclear stockpiles and icbm launch complexes and 15 minutes later have another salvo ready to fire as a new orbital station moves into position overhead so why especially during the heated rivalry of the cold war hasn't any nation done this the official reason is the un's outer space treaty ratified on october 1 1967 by 107 countries including china the united states and the soviet union the treaty served as the basic legal framework upon which international space laws could be built upon with the space race and full swing and humanity's imagination picturing a near future of space colonies and interplanetary travel it became clear to the un that space itself would soon have to be regulated much the same way we regulated the open seas with international maritime laws much more pressing though than a need for basic laws governing the use of space was the reality of potential conflict between two very hostile nuclear powers the soviet union and the united states mad or mutually short destruction had for the moment maintained the peace and kept either nation from even flirting with the possibility of nuclear war as each nation knew it could never survive a retaliatory strike but with space technologies and capabilities rapidly evolving in both nations the possibility of one nation putting nuclear weapons into space and thus circumventing the safeguards of the mad doctrine became very real thus while the outer space treaty governs the use of space and prohibits nations from claiming sovereignty over any moon planet or anything in between the main goal of the treaty was to ban the use of nuclear weapons in space and thus maintain the security of the mad doctrine this is the legal reason why no nation has ever tried to put weapons into space but the outer space treaty only governs weapons of mass destruction and while as we saw before missiles or guns would do very little good in space other weapons known as kinetic impactors would be extremely effective basically nothing more than a very large and very dense projectile a kinetic impactor uses only its own mass velocity and kinetic energy to deliver incredible devastation the impactor has no chemical explosive and relies on fundamental physics because force equals mass times acceleration by dropping something very massive or dense from orbit and letting the force of gravity accelerated to thousands of miles an hour as it falls you could potentially deliver a destructive blast on par with a small tactical nuclear weapon in fact the u.s military has used similar weapons before in both the korean and vietnam war known as lazy dog bombs the projectiles were nothing more than two inch long pieces of steel outfitted with fins when dropped from an aircraft the projectiles would reach 500 miles an hour and be capable of penetrating nine inches of solid concrete not bad for having absolutely no explosive so then why has no nation put kinetic impact or weapons in space the reason it turns out is a matter of simple self-preservation if any nation began such a program every other nation on earth would face three choices a allow that nation to complete its orbital weapon system program and be at their mercy forever or b begin their own orbital weapon system program or c immediately go to war with that nation before they can complete building their orbital weapon system in order to avoid all-out war or risk creating an environment where even if it fields its own orbital weapons a nation is still critically vulnerable to hostile orbital weapons it cannot possibly counter the united states russia and other space-faring nations have to date simply refuse to build these weapons in the best case scenario putting orbital weapons in space would simply force other nations to do the same creating yet another mutually assured destruction scenario given how many close calls we've had already with our earthbound nuclear arsenals it's ultimately best we simply stay away from putting any weapons in space period as has been famously said space is the final frontier the greatest of unknowns space is far more vast than we can comprehend and filled with phenomenon we barely understand while we've been watching the heavens in awe for millennia space exploration and discovery only began in earnest in the mid-20th century yet even what are no doubt our primitive findings still point at a universe more incredible than we ever thought hello and welcome to another episode of the infographic show today we're taking a look at 50 incredible facts about space 50 until 1923 scientists thought that the entire universe was just our milky way until astronomer edwin hubble discovered that the astronomical feature known as andromeda a fuzzy spot in the night sky was actually an entire other galaxy overnight the size of the universe was effectively doubled 49. hubble made his discovery from the hooker telescope built atop a mountain in california it was the first mountaintop telescope in the world and at the time an incredible feat of engineering 48. to measure the distance between galaxies in space astronomers use cepheids or stars that periodically dim and brighten henrietta levitt discovered that by monitoring the time it took these stars to dim and brighten you could calculate how far away they were 47. levitt's discovery of how to calculate the distance based on the cycling of cepheid stars allowed hubble to prove that andromeda was located outside the milky way and was thus its own galaxy 46. hubble scanned andromeda for nights on end looking for cepheid stars until finally discovering one in october 1923 after monitoring it for a week he used levitt's formula and discovered it was indeed located outside the milky way 45. in 2011 the hubble space telescope captured a picture of that star called the variable number 1 or v1 it has been called the most important star in the history of cosmology 44. of all the planets in our solar system only mercury and venus don't have moons 43 the hottest planet in our solar system is not mercury as most would assume but venus due to runaway global warming venus's temperature is an incredible 863 degrees fahrenheit 42. not only is venus's atmosphere blazing hot but it also has an atmospheric pressure 92 times greater than earth's that would crush you flat as a soda can if you walked on its surface 41. in 1966 the soviet union's venera 3 was the first man-made craft to land on venus unfortunately its communication systems had failed long before reaching venus and it was unable to relay back any data 40. although it crash-landed and didn't send any data back home venera 3 is the first human-made object to impact another planet's surface 39 on the 18th of october 1967 venera 4 became the first spacecraft to measure the atmosphere of another planet the soviets initially claimed the craft reached the surface intact but when the american mariner 5 spacecraft flew by venus the very next day it measured a surface pressure of 75 to 100 atmospheres well out of the range of the narrow force 25 atmosphere hole strength the claim by the soviet union was quickly redacted 38. venus's atmosphere is so dense that parachutes are only necessary to slow down the soviet union's venera 9 released its parachutes at an atmospheric height of 31 miles and landed at a speed of only 15 miles per hour it was also the first spacecraft to transmit photos from another planet 37 our solar system is about 4.6 billion years old and scientists believe it will last another 5 billion years before our sun turns into a red giant 36. the tallest mountain known to man is olympus mons an extinct volcano on mars with a peak 15 miles high it's nearly three times larger than mount everest 35. a light year is the distance light travels in one year or 5.88 trillion miles 34. the width of our milky way galaxy according to nasa is about one quintillion kilometers or 621 quadrillion 371 trillion 192 billion 237 million three hundred thirty three thousand eight hundred eighty eight miles or in astronomical terms one hundred thousand light years thirty three because most stars are so far away when you look up into the night sky you're not seeing them as they currently are but as they were thousands of years ago that's how long their light takes to reach us 32 our sun is 300 000 times larger than the earth but in the universe it's a lightweight 31 the largest star in the known universe is vy canis majoris it's 1400 times larger than our own sun if you stuck it in our solar system it would extend all the way past jupiter 30. red giants are really old stars that form when stars 10 times the mass of our sun runs out of hydrogen in its core as it collapses the hydrogen and the outer shells begin the process of fusion and the entire star begins fusing hydrogen all at once they will burn through all of their fuel in just a few million years unlike the billions it takes our sun and shine 100 000 times brighter than our own sun 29 these stars often explode as a supernova the most powerful explosion in the universe 28 the original universe consisted solely of hydrogen and helium every other element on the periodic table and every single thing you see around you today was formed in the heart of exploding stars 27. that's because when a star goes supernova it releases huge amounts of energy and neutrons which produces heavier elements the carbon in your body and the gold in the jewelry you wear were all made from exploding stars 26. only hydrogen and helium were formed in the big bang the next time you suck down helium from a party balloon you are sucking down a gas that probably formed just three minutes after the big bang twenty five red giant beetlejuice one thousand times larger than our sun is a cosmic neighbor and expected to go supernova in the next 1 000 years 24. some scientists theorize that life is only possible in the outer edges of a galaxy where large stars are rare and thus supernovas don't routinely sterilize worlds of life 23. we ourselves are between two arms of the milky way and in a relatively rural part of the galaxy 22 extending well past the orbit of pluto is a massive sphere of icy objects known as the oort cloud these are remnants from the formation of the solar system held in place by the weak gravity of the very distant sun 21 every few million years as we orbit the center of the milky way we enter a region of space full of cosmic debris some scientists theorize that this debris may disturb the fragile orbits of the objects in the oort cloud and send them hurtling into the solar system the timing of our entry into this region of the milky way coincides with several mass extinction events here on earth 20. panspermia is the theory that life is transmitted like a virus from planet to planet by asteroid and comet impacts 19. a meteorite discovered in antarctica was found to originate from mars and after careful examination some scientists believe it shows fossilized evidence of microscopic organisms giving serious credibility to the panspermia theory we might all actually be martians 18. it's thought that this meteorite was launched into space from mars when a massive asteroid struck the planet sending debris hurtling out of the atmosphere in time its orbit intersected with the earth and may have brought its martian hitchhikers with it 17. in 2008 an esa mission sent tardigrades tiny microscopic organisms into space after 10 days of exposure to the vacuum of space ultraviolet radiation from the sun and cosmic rays they were returned to earth still alive 16. before the tardigrades only some lycan and bacteria were known to survive exposure to space meaning panspermia may be a valid theory for the origin of life on earth 15. because there is no atmosphere on the moon the footprints and tire prints left on the moon by american astronauts will never disappear unless an asteroid impact wipes them out 14. not only does jupiter have the most moons in our solar system with 79 but as of right now it has the most moons of any known planet in our galaxy 13. many scientists think that without jupiter life on earth would be impossible that's because the giant of our solar system exerts such a strong gravity that it pulls in many comets and asteroids that might have impacted earth jupiter is like our personal bodyguard 12. once thought rare outside of the earth water has been found practically everywhere in the solar system even on mercury where scientists never dreamed it would be possible in 2011 nasa's messenger probe discovered water ice and craters on mercury's north pole that's despite a surface temperature of 800 degrees fahrenheit on the day side 11. not only does earth rotate as it orbits the sun but the sun itself also rotates at a rate of once every 25 to 35 days 10. earth is the only solar system planet not named after a god nine pluto is smaller in diameter than the united states eight the first theory positing the existence of black holes was from an english clergyman named john mitchell in november 1784. he even correctly noted that these features would not be visible to the naked eye but that they could be detected by their gravitational effects on other bodies seven despite proving through general relativity that black holes could form einstein himself did not believe they could form in the natural world it wouldn't be until 1972 that cygnus x1 became the first observed black hole taking them from the realm of theory to the realm of reality 6. in 2002 astronomers presented evidence that a super massive black hole lurks at the center of our own milky way five in 2012 suvi jazari and his team published the first visual evidence of a black hole using the pan stars one telescope in hawaii they photographed the supermassive black hole 2.7 million light years away swallowing a red giant four in 2015 gravity waves from the merging of a pair of black holes into one were detected the violence of their merging created a ripple through space-time that was detectable here on earth millions of light years away three not only did general relativity predict that black holes were possible but it also predicted that white holes could also be possible the polar opposite of a black hole a white hole is a region of space time where matter cannot enter two a growing theory suggests that white holes are the opposite ends of black holes and that our own big bang was a supermassive white hole that existed for fractions of a second one afraid that returning astronauts might be carrying unknown and deadly lunar germs the apollo astronauts were quarantined immediately after their arrival on earth space the final frontier and for anyone unfortunate enough to be sucked out an airlock without a spacesuit it will definitely be the fatal frontier it's an old hollywood trope humans inside a flimsy spacecraft have an accident of some type and now the hole's been breached and everyone is about two seconds away from becoming human popsicles or having their eyeballs explode but is that really what happens to you if you stepped out of a spacecraft unprotected hello and welcome to another episode of the infographic show today we're taking a look at what would happen to your body in space the most obvious problem you're going to have if you're stuck down into space is a lack of oxygen space is a nearly perfect vacuum meaning there's not much gas to breathe in let alone breathable o2 so if you find yourself aboard some space disaster then you clearly should hold your breath and try to claw your way to safety right wrong that would actually be almost instantly fatal for you as we mentioned space is an almost perfect vacuum and if you tried to hold your breath you would be pitting your own chest muscles against the strength of space itself and that's a fight you're gonna lose the oxygen in your lungs will immediately expand and rupture your lungs being released into the circulatory system and ripped out of your chest along with large parts of your now shredded lung tissues so instead of holding your breath you want to breathe out as completely as possible and make sure your lungs are empty don't worry your brain will continue to remain conscious for about 15 seconds and you can survive up to two minutes with little risk of permanent damage with no atmospheric pressure squeezing down on your body the next thing to happen will be the vaporization of water in your body in a normal situation water molecules are constantly being blown off but by being repelled with their air molecules the water remains in equilibrium with the air without any atmosphere though water will begin to evaporate throughout your entire body causing you to start swelling like a naughty kid inside willy wonka's chocolate factory you'll eventually swell to about twice normal size but because human skin is incredibly elastic and durable you won't burst like a giant meat balloon if you get rescued at this point you'll actually return to normal and you should be fine though we wouldn't recommend it if rescue isn't forthcoming though then you're going to be in incredible amounts of pain and if you were hoping to instantly black out due to the lack of blood pressure then we got some bad news for you your circulatory system is so robust that it's able to keep your blood pressurized even in the vacuum of space so as you swell up like a party balloon you can look forward to retaining full consciousness as the blood keeps on pumping at least until the oxygen stored in your blood runs out after 15 seconds moisture on the exterior of your body though and in places like your eyes and tongue will immediately begin to boil due to the lack of atmospheric pressure yet this isn't a hot type of boiling but rather a very violent form of evaporation so you won't cook yourself alive either if you are ejected into space in direct line of sight of a star then you can expect to receive an incredibly bad sunburn on whatever side of your body is facing that star thanks to unfiltered solar radiation depending on how far you are from the star though you might not receive enough heat to be seriously burnt but if you went for a stroll outside the international space station's airlock with no spacesuit you could expect a severe and very immediate sunburn you'll likely also be bombarded by huge amounts of cosmic radiation especially if you're outside the protective magnetosphere of a large planet our suggestion is to spin rapidly that way you'll be crispy nice and evenly we all know space is cold roughly 2.7 kelvin or negative 270 degrees celsius or negative 455 degrees fahrenheit you'd probably expect that your corpse would then rapidly freeze without any protection but actually you could stay relatively warm for a pretty long amount of time that's because your body and skin is a pretty excellent insulator and because space is a vacuum there's nothing to lose heat to via convection or conduction here on earth we're constantly surrounded by atmospheric gases so when it gets cold they're able to leech heat from our body and carry it away making us cold in space though there's no medium to lose heat to so your core body temperature would remain warm for a decent amount of time once you're dead though well you're not going to change much for a long long long time on earth we decompose as we're eaten up by the bacteria inside of us billions of tiny hungry little life forms just waiting to eat you alive that keeps your body in constant check throughout your immune system but once that immune system fails those bacteria finally have their chance to turn you into a buffet and they gorge themselves while rapidly procreating think about that next time you buy some probiotic yogurt you're just making those little bacteria stronger and they're patiently waiting for your immune system to slip up so they can eat you from the inside out in space though the extreme radiation in temperatures will kill that bacteria before it can consume much of your body leaving your corpse perfectly preserved for millions and millions of years if you're close to a star you'll mummify much like an ancient egyptian only when aliens find you millions of years later you'll actually be in a lot better shape than them [Music] space the final frontier and for our modern militaries the indispensable high ground whereas decades ago whoever controlled the sky would likely win the war space has become the new critical high ground that nations must protect and defend against their enemies if they want to ensure victory in today's episode of the infographic show we ask space force what would it do why is space so important to a modern military the answer to that question lies in the unique vantage point that space provides with a small constellation of satellites you can see everything happening in the world at once and with cloud penetrating radar even a rainy day won't hide the enemy from your sight being able to see means being able to target an enemy with today's high-tech weapons everything from cruise missiles to gps guided artillery shells take advantage of advanced recon capabilities to locate track and destroy an enemy this is why we don't carpet bomb our foes the way we used to back in world war ii but space is important for communications too typical radio communications only work for short ranges thanks to the curvature of the earth and can be prone to atmospheric interference or interception or jamming by the enemy with a satellite in orbit though military units can always be in direct communication with each other no matter where in the world they are and satellites allow a military to deploy advanced and very secure communication technologies that are difficult to intercept or jam basically space is important because with eyes in the sky you can always see your enemy and you can always talk to your friends and with so many high-tech weapon systems there's no nation on earth that space is more important to than the united states who with 123 assets in space has nearly twice as many military satellites as russia the number two contender with 74. but what would an american space force do exactly well at first it wouldn't be as glamorous as what you see in sci-fi movies though given the rate of human technological advancement it's only a matter of time before we take to the stars and war inevitably comes with us the first job of a u.s space force would be to consolidate all the various space assets each american military service branch has right now american military satellites are divided up between the major branches of the military the air force army and navy as well as some of the federal institutions such as the national reconnaissance office in the event of a major war it may be hard to coordinate between all those assets and share information freely back and forth between the services this is where the us space force would come in by consolidating u.s space assets into a single branch of the military the space force would make it easier to coordinate the sharing of critical information and respond to enemy attempts to sabotage or destroy american military satellites commanders in a battle zone would have just one agency to ask for help from rather than trying to get information from multiple agencies at once the space force would also be tasked with military surveillance and reconnaissance it would be responsible for developing new recon technologies and coordinating with american industry on how best to get them into space once in space the space force would monitor for enemy activity and be ready to immediately raise the alarm if an attack is suspected but space force surveillance would also be important during peacetime in recent years american space assets have been the leading source of information on the north korean nuclear program by carefully monitoring suspected test sites american space assets were able to determine when underground detonations were taking place as well as estimating yield and even giving insights to the type of weapon tested reconnaissance photos of missile test sites showed us how close to building and perfecting a long-range missile the north koreans actually were in the future the us space force would take over these duties meaning its members would have to be on constant alert against rogue states another area of responsibility for the u.s space force would be in the realm of logistics where it would take a day or more to move even just a few pieces of military hardware from one place to the next by air sea or land an orbital logistics hub could have that same hardware anywhere in the world in just a few hours while this is still currently outside the realm of our technology it's not as far off as one might think and america's defense advanced research projects agency or darpa has been looking into what it would take to deliver supplies from orbit to the ground safely for years while in the next few years we might see orbital drops of hardware such as food ammunition and medical supplies it might not be long before american servicemen are themselves stationed in orbit and ready to deploy within a moment's notice as one senior american official once said getting 2 000 american boots on the ground anywhere in the world within 2 hours could stop a lot of wars before they even begin but why put troops in space if you can put weapons instead while the militarization of space is a hot-button topic and most american defense officials are not eager to open up another arena of weaponized conflict the reality is that in all likelihood someone sooner or later will put physical weapons in space despite the outer space treaty banning weapons of mass destruction in space it does not specifically prohibit conventional weapons a fact that the soviet union took advantage of in the 1970s when it was the first and only nation to put a weapon in space installed aboard its almas space station the r-23m car tech cannon was designed to fire explosive shells at american space vessels but the car tech was only the tip of the iceberg for what's possible if you really want to weaponize space known as rods from god and codenamed thor the us military studied the possibility of creating an orbital strike platform that used nothing more than solid tungsten rods about 20 feet long and one foot in diameter to deliver devastating bombardments against enemy installations or troop concentrations hopelessly outnumbered by the hordes of soviet tanks that threatened to swallow up cold war europe american scientists were looking for a way to neutralize large armored columns without the use of nuclear weapons and thus avoid the risk of nuclear war they theorized that using kinetic energy alone a telephone pole sized rod made of solid tungsten and equipped only with a very basic guidance package and a pair of fins could deliver a blast along the lines of a small tactical nuclear weapon physics shows that they weren't wrong dropped from orbit those rods could have reached speeds up to 10 times the speed of sound since force equals mass times acceleration each rod would have generated an incredible amount of energy despite president trump's executive order the purpose and aim of the u.s space force is still under official review with most defense insiders saying that the need for a dedicated space force isn't yet critical yet as the expansion of the american commercial space industry has shown humanity's expansion into the solar system and beyond is inevitable and as our own history shows where man goes war follows eventually the united states and every other modern nation on earth is going to need a space force or be at the mercy of those who already have one but who can think about space wars right now when we have no idea what to eat for dinner tonight allow us to introduce you to blue apron we're going to try and portray the excitement of tearing into our first blue apron box and cooking our first blue apron meal but if we're being completely honest we've been using blue apron for over two years and we absolutely love it check out these beautiful farm fresh ingredients exquisite corn fresh peppers locally sourced meats today we're making smoky shrimp and polenta with fresh corn and sweet peppers the meal is super easy to make by following the step-by-step directions outlined on the recipe card they even include pictures of the prep work and the finished product so you can confirm you're doing everything right and best of all everything you need for the meal is delivered right to your doorstep in exactly the right proportions also for you bob's burgers fans out there blue apron has partnered with 20th century fox to bring you three burger recipes from bob's burgers the emmy award-winning animated series on fox the absentee shallot burger with caramelized shallots and fontina cheese fries which will be featured in the season 9 premiere of bob's burgers will be available for blue apron customers to create in their home kitchens during the week of september 17th so what are you waiting for click the link in the description for 50 off your first two weeks and enjoy your first meal with blue apron a better way to cook so what do you think about the u.s space force should the u.s be preparing for future conflicts now so as to help prevent them in the first place or would it only invite other nations to start militarizing space let us know your thoughts in the comments also be sure to check out our other video called moab the mother of all bombs thanks for watching and as always don't forget to like share and subscribe see you next time

Channel: The Infographics Show

Views: 4,522,031

Keywords: space, space facts, space video, outer space, NASA, aliens, UFO, spaceX, space shuttle, space travel, what happens if you die in space, apollo 11, history, military, space weapons, the infographics show, compilation, space discoveries, mystery, mysterious, space study, black hole, black holes, the sun, gravity, the moon, mars

Id: xrdzzpl3lfA

Length: 96min 42sec (5802 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 17 2021