1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:04,400 On today's episode, we are getting into the latest space news, including Amazon 2 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:09,400 launches their first Kuiper Internet satellite, Northrop Grumman partners up for the next NASA 3 00:00:09,439 --> 00:00:13,640 space station, and a new thermal imaging satellite is going to change the way 4 00:00:13,679 --> 00:00:19,320 we develop our cities. This is the space race. Amazon has finally launched 5 00:00:19,320 --> 00:00:25,000 their initial round of Project Kuyper communications satellites, beginning the first real competition to 6 00:00:25,039 --> 00:00:30,440 the SpaceX Starlink Internet service. The October sixth launch was completed by the United 7 00:00:30,519 --> 00:00:34,479 Launch Alliance aboard one of their Atlas five rockets. A pair of test satellites 8 00:00:34,479 --> 00:00:38,960 were loaded into a payload fairing and launched at about two pm Eastern Standard time. 9 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:44,200 Project Kuiper is Amazon's version of the SpaceX Starlink service, using a constellation 10 00:00:44,320 --> 00:00:49,759 of relatively small satellites to cast broadband Internet to customers by bouncing signals between the 11 00:00:49,799 --> 00:00:54,479 ground and the vehicles in orbit. As usual, Amazon is fairly tight lipped 12 00:00:54,479 --> 00:00:58,880 over exact specifications of their hardware. They even had the ULA cut the live 13 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:03,520 feed just before vehicle deployment started in the upper atmosphere. But we do know 14 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:07,159 that while Starlink can functionally provide anywhere from fifty megabits per second to one hundred 15 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:11,799 and fifty megabits per second with its standard package. Amazon is advertising up to 16 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:17,760 four hundred megabits per second with Kuyper. This is largely due to Amazon's twelve 17 00:01:17,799 --> 00:01:21,799 ground relay stations, which aren't built yet, and SpaceX has applied for their 18 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:25,760 own ground station permits, so the two seam neck and neck for capabilities, 19 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:30,920 with the exception of SpaceX actually having operating hardware. Obviously, Musk's company does 20 00:01:30,959 --> 00:01:34,000 have a bit of a head start in that department, with an estimated three 21 00:01:34,079 --> 00:01:38,680 thousand, five hundred satellites currently providing service, but Blue Origin has a plan 22 00:01:38,799 --> 00:01:44,000 to catch up and an FCC license to launch three thousand, two hundred and 23 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:48,519 thirty six new Kuiper SATs by twenty twenty six. Originally these were due to 24 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:52,519 go up on the new Ula Vulcan rocket, but with delays continuing for the 25 00:01:52,599 --> 00:01:57,120 ULA's new vehicle and their own new Glen rockets still in the prototype phase, 26 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:01,840 Blue Origin purchased a ride on nine Atlas five rockets instead. They also made 27 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:06,680 contracts with aary in Space to use their Arean six rocket, which is also 28 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:10,199 experiencing delays. The obvious choice here would be to make use of SpaceX to 29 00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:14,800 launch the Kuyper constellation, but it seems that Bezos is holding a bit of 30 00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:17,680 a grudge and is willing to get sued by his shareholders for it. But 31 00:02:17,719 --> 00:02:22,039 it seems like the company is only wasting time. Back in July, Amazon 32 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:27,080 announced its plan for a one hundred thousand square foot satellite processing plants at Florida's 33 00:02:27,159 --> 00:02:31,400 Launch and Landing Facility in NASA's Kennedy Space Center. This facility would be where 34 00:02:31,439 --> 00:02:36,840 Amazon would receive completed satellites from their factories, inspect them, and process them 35 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:39,840 for launch on a nearby pad once Blue Origin is able to get their rockets 36 00:02:39,919 --> 00:02:44,039 up and running. Of course, we probably don't have to remind anyone that 37 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:49,599 the FCC only just close their mishap investigation into Blue Origin's new Shepherd vehicle two 38 00:02:49,599 --> 00:02:53,919 weeks ago and demanded organizational changes as one of its requisites for a new launch 39 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:59,520 license. This leads to the obvious question. If Amazon and Blue Origin keep 40 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:05,199 stumbling around with delays and inefficient organization, then how exactly are they continuing to 41 00:03:05,319 --> 00:03:08,360 operate. Aside from the obvious wealth of the company, the real thing To 42 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:15,039 note here is the contract's Blue Origin holds with government agencies, specifically the US 43 00:03:15,159 --> 00:03:19,840 military. Again, this is not something Blue Origin has over SpaceX. Musk's 44 00:03:19,879 --> 00:03:23,479 company also has a lot of important military contracts, but Project Kuiper is built 45 00:03:23,560 --> 00:03:29,680 to directly link with the DoD's Mesh network of low Earth orbit satellites. Back 46 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:34,199 in October of last year, Amazon's execs sat down with folks from the military 47 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:38,240 to discuss using Project Kuiper to enhance the speed and reach of the military's orbital 48 00:03:38,280 --> 00:03:44,360 network, and they agreed. These first two Kuiper test satellites will reportedly also 49 00:03:44,479 --> 00:03:49,759 be testing the laser communications uplink with those very systems, meaning the DoD is 50 00:03:49,879 --> 00:03:54,280 very interested in getting Amazon caught up to competitors like SpaceX. Amazon and Blue 51 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:58,639 Origin certainly have their work cut out for them. It would be much easier 52 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:01,400 if they just asked space for some help, but it seems like they're fine 53 00:04:01,439 --> 00:04:05,120 with going it a bit slower. It is Amazon's mo to see what the 54 00:04:05,159 --> 00:04:10,280 competition is doing and then undercut their prices to kill off their business, So 55 00:04:10,599 --> 00:04:14,560 who knows, maybe they can do that with broadband satellites. On October fourth, 56 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:17,920 Voyager Space announced that they would be partnering with veteran aerospace company Northrop Grumman 57 00:04:18,199 --> 00:04:23,639 to build a commercial space station for NASA, meaning that Northrop Grumman would be 58 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:28,240 backing out of their previous solo contract to do the same. Voyager, and 59 00:04:28,399 --> 00:04:31,839 more specifically, its subsidiary, Nano Racks, was already planning their own station, 60 00:04:31,959 --> 00:04:36,240 called Starlab, due to launch as a single flight project sometime in twenty 61 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:41,839 twenty eight. Some of you might remember last year's orbital cutting tests from the 62 00:04:41,959 --> 00:04:46,480 Nano Racks team, who were attempting to showcase their orbital cutting technology. At 63 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:49,079 the time, the company believed they could make use of this tech to recycle 64 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:55,439 old rocket hulls for commercial use as station modules, something that Starlab could facilitate 65 00:04:55,519 --> 00:05:00,000 once complete. The original vision hasn't changed much yet. The station is design 66 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:03,079 and as a science park, allowing NASA and anyone who pays to gain access 67 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:09,319 to a slew of modern microgravity laboratories. Really, the only thing to change 68 00:05:09,319 --> 00:05:13,120 so far is that Northrop Grumman will be contracted to supply the station with an 69 00:05:13,199 --> 00:05:16,680 upgraded version of their Sickness Cargo drone for the first five years or so. 70 00:05:16,839 --> 00:05:20,319 Back in twenty twenty one, Northrop Grumman, along with Nano Racks and Blue 71 00:05:20,319 --> 00:05:26,160 Origin, were selected as part of NASA's Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development program to 72 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:30,800 design and construct new stations that the administration could use once the ISS is deorbited 73 00:05:30,959 --> 00:05:34,759 at the end of this decade. This is part of NASA's new tactic of 74 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:41,040 providing commercial entities their expertise and some funding in exchange for letting them make use 75 00:05:41,079 --> 00:05:45,360 of any new facilities and technology that comes out of the deal. But while 76 00:05:45,399 --> 00:05:48,879 the other two are going strong, Northrop Grumman has apparently decided their plan wasn't 77 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:53,680 going to be feasible. To be fair, Northrop Grummen has been mostly an 78 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:58,519 infrastructure company for some time now. Their Sickness cargo vehicle is reliable, for 79 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:01,120 sure, but they're a company that that's more used to making parts rather than 80 00:06:01,199 --> 00:06:06,399 pursuing large complex projects on their own. Aside from that, they likely didn't 81 00:06:06,439 --> 00:06:11,480 have the funding to finish. NASA gave each company some funding for the research 82 00:06:11,519 --> 00:06:15,680 and prototyping. Blue Origin got one hundred and thirty million, Nano Racks got 83 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,519 one hundred and sixty million, and Northrop Grumman got one hundred and twenty five 84 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:24,040 point six million. Amazon owned Blue Origin definitely had the capital to make a 85 00:06:24,079 --> 00:06:28,639 station all on their own, and Nano RAS is funded primarily by Voyager Space 86 00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:32,639 and had technology already to go for station building. So it looks like Northrop 87 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:38,240 Grumman made a pragmatic decision to help the other small company challenge one of the 88 00:06:38,319 --> 00:06:43,040 billionaires, and it's probably for the best. STARLAB seems like a solid plan 89 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:46,720 for a station, and Northrop Grumman are season professionals at cargo running. The 90 00:06:46,759 --> 00:06:49,879 only thing they had to give up was the rest of the research funding. 91 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:56,240 NASA says the remaining eighty nine million dollars will be spread among the active projects, 92 00:06:56,279 --> 00:07:00,120 including the new Northrop Grummen Voyager partnership and act Space, who have been 93 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:05,240 working on their own station using a habitation module from an earlier experiment. It 94 00:07:05,319 --> 00:07:10,560 must be pretty rough to realize you can't effectively compete with other companies, but 95 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:14,639 Northrom Gumman is definitely making the smart move here, so let's hope they see 96 00:07:14,639 --> 00:07:18,639 lots of contracts. The first images from the new hot Sat one thermal imaging 97 00:07:18,680 --> 00:07:25,720 satellite have just been released and the resolution is wild. Run by London based 98 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:30,519 company satview. The hot SAT one represents a huge leap forwards in thermal imaging 99 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:34,480 technology, opening the door to some extremely important uses for the type of images 100 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:39,600 we are seeing. Take these first images, for instance, the initial crop 101 00:07:39,639 --> 00:07:43,920 of red and blue scale pictures were taken of urban areas in Chicago and Las 102 00:07:44,000 --> 00:07:47,560 Vegas. As with most thermal imaging software, the darker and bluer an area 103 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:51,680 is the colder it is, and vice versa for heat. The big difference 104 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:56,720 with hot SAT one is the level of detail. Before this new satellite, 105 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:01,160 thermal imaging of this type had a resolution of only a about one hundred meters 106 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:05,240 or so at its finest, and this is mostly because of how difficult it 107 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:09,000 is to snag a thermal image. Some thermal imagers have been able to shoot 108 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:13,800 very fine detail shots, but those techniques can only show current thermal properties, 109 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:20,000 not change over time. For that, a lengthier exposure time is needed because 110 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:24,279 thermal wavelengths of light are longer, meaning a slow shutter speed has to be 111 00:08:24,399 --> 00:08:28,160 used. Even though most satellites travel at about seven kilometers per second, hots 112 00:08:28,199 --> 00:08:33,120 AT one is equipped with a midwave infrared camera and more importantly, better tracking 113 00:08:33,159 --> 00:08:37,120 software to keep the lens pointed at the target more smoothly, and the results 114 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:43,320 speak for themselves. Remember earlier when we said previous imagers could only grab resolutions 115 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:46,360 of one hundred meters at the finest detail level, Well, these new images 116 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:50,639 from hots at one are at ten meters of resolution, ten times finer, 117 00:08:50,879 --> 00:08:56,240 and it can even take short videos. So obviously this is the sort of 118 00:08:56,360 --> 00:09:01,600 thing that gets firefighters and climatologists excited. Which a good view of a moving 119 00:09:01,639 --> 00:09:05,440 wildfirefront or the heat mixing of a body of water in finer detail is wonderfully 120 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:11,519 helpful to both those fields. But for really the first time, hotsat one 121 00:09:11,679 --> 00:09:16,200 is letting a whole new field make use of thermal imaging. City planners. 122 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:20,559 One hundred meters of resolution is fairly useless for catching building to building evidence of 123 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:26,559 heat loss or gain, but ten meters that's a whole new ballgame. Look 124 00:09:26,559 --> 00:09:30,159 again at the pictures of Chicago and Las Vegas. You can see the right 125 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:33,679 lines of individual streets, not just highways, and the patches of parking lots. 126 00:09:35,519 --> 00:09:39,519 You can see most buildings are relatively cold because insulation generally does a good 127 00:09:39,559 --> 00:09:43,519 job, but that industrial buildings like oil tanks and processing factories are very hot 128 00:09:43,919 --> 00:09:48,879 and in some places, like sat Views, Native England homes are generally much 129 00:09:48,960 --> 00:09:54,639 older and have worse insulation. Hots At one could point out exactly which buildings 130 00:09:54,679 --> 00:09:58,600 need fixing. Aside from that, a lot of work is being done in 131 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:03,120 modern city planning to get rid of these heat islands as they're called. These 132 00:10:03,159 --> 00:10:05,679 are pockets of open air, parking lots, and knots of roadway that largely 133 00:10:05,759 --> 00:10:09,720 contribute to the higher heat range of most cities. And we knew that before 134 00:10:09,759 --> 00:10:13,679 hots At one, But it's hard to plan mitigation options when the roadway you're 135 00:10:13,720 --> 00:10:20,120 trying to see is actually a patchy blur. This technology is just a start. 136 00:10:20,159 --> 00:10:22,960 Of course, Satview has a plan to get a constellation of eight to 137 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:28,720 ten satellites up eventually. It is honestly wild to see satellite thermal imagery go 138 00:10:28,799 --> 00:10:33,840 from being useful for just weather pattern data to helping us build our homes and 139 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:35,519 cities more efficiently.