WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.399 --> 00:00:07.719 Welcome to Bedtime Astronomy. Explore the wonders of the cosmos 2 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:12.279 with our soothing Bedtime Astronomie podcast. Each episode offers a 3 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:16.320 gentle journey through the stars, planets, and beyond, perfect for 4 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:20.239 unwinding after a long day. Let's travel through the mysteries 5 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:22.440 of the universe as you drift off into a peaceful 6 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:26.760 slumber under the night sky. 7 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:29.079 I want you to picture something for a second. Close 8 00:00:29.120 --> 00:00:33.039 your eyes if you can, and just imagine the ocean 9 00:00:33.079 --> 00:00:35.719 at night. Okay, but we are not talking about a calm, 10 00:00:35.799 --> 00:00:41.640 peaceful ocean reflecting the moonlight. Picture a vast, absolutely pitch 11 00:00:41.799 --> 00:00:48.479 black expanse. It's terrifyingly deep and completely chillingly silent. You 12 00:00:48.520 --> 00:00:51.039 were suspended in this water and moving through this dark 13 00:00:51.079 --> 00:00:55.240 expanse without a single sound. Are massive ancient rocks just 14 00:00:55.399 --> 00:00:58.600 drifting exactly, Some of the size of cars, some are 15 00:00:58.600 --> 00:01:01.719 the size of city blocks, and you know a few 16 00:01:01.719 --> 00:01:03.479 are the size of entire mountain ranges. 17 00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:05.359 Yeah, which is a terrifying thought. 18 00:01:05.640 --> 00:01:09.120 Right. They are just hurtling through the darkness, completely unbothered 19 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:11.879 by anything around them, just driven by momentum that was 20 00:01:11.879 --> 00:01:14.560 set in motion billions of years ago during the violent 21 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:16.000 birth of our solar system. 22 00:01:16.079 --> 00:01:17.879 Yeah, just ancient kinetic energy. 23 00:01:17.959 --> 00:01:21.480 Now Here is the truly unsettling part of this thought experiment. 24 00:01:21.840 --> 00:01:24.920 You are sitting in a tiny, incredibly fragile glass boat 25 00:01:25.239 --> 00:01:26.599 right in the middle of this ocean. 26 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:27.879 Oh wow, Okay, you have. 27 00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:30.319 A flashlight, but you know the beam is weak. It 28 00:01:30.359 --> 00:01:33.120 only penetrates a few feet into the murk. Most of 29 00:01:33.159 --> 00:01:35.840 the time, the massive rocks pass safely in the distance. 30 00:01:36.040 --> 00:01:37.599 You don't even know that you are there, You have 31 00:01:37.719 --> 00:01:41.879 no idea. But occasionally one of those colossal, silent shapes 32 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:45.159 crosses right through your path. It slips out of the dark, 33 00:01:45.319 --> 00:01:48.079 skims just past the fragile hull of your glass boat, 34 00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:50.879 and disappears back into the void before you even have 35 00:01:50.920 --> 00:01:54.000 a chance to draw breath, let alone, like brace for 36 00:01:54.040 --> 00:01:54.640 an impact. 37 00:01:54.959 --> 00:01:58.920 That is, I mean, that's a profoundly visceral way to 38 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:02.319 describe the reality of our orbital neighborhood. It really strips 39 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:03.640 away the abstract math. 40 00:02:03.760 --> 00:02:05.280 It puts you right there, right it does. 41 00:02:05.359 --> 00:02:08.000 It puts the listener right into the physical vulnerability of 42 00:02:08.039 --> 00:02:11.639 our situation. Because we tend to think of space as empty, 43 00:02:12.199 --> 00:02:15.599 but we are floating in a dynamic, incredibly active shooting gallery. 44 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:16.520 The shooting gallery. 45 00:02:16.639 --> 00:02:20.479 Yeah, our planet sits in a chaotic web of orbital trajectories, 46 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:23.919 and for a very long time, humanity strategy regarding near 47 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:28.599 Earth objects has basically been well to point our flashlights 48 00:02:28.599 --> 00:02:31.240 into the dark, cross our fingers and hope the bean 49 00:02:31.319 --> 00:02:32.560 catches the big ones. 50 00:02:32.759 --> 00:02:35.080 While there's still far enough away to do something about 51 00:02:35.080 --> 00:02:38.759 them exactly, And that terrifying reality is the core mission 52 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:41.879 of our discussion today. We are looking critically at our 53 00:02:41.960 --> 00:02:47.759 current and frankly alarming limitations in understanding what these asteroids 54 00:02:47.759 --> 00:02:48.360 actually are. 55 00:02:48.639 --> 00:02:51.000 Because just knowing a rock is out there in the 56 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:52.639 darkness isn't enough. 57 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:55.560 Not even close. We have to know what it is 58 00:02:55.599 --> 00:02:58.280 made of, how it is held together, and where its 59 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:01.159 momentum is taking it. Right, So we are going to 60 00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:05.960 explore a brilliantly unorthodox space mission architecture. It's proposed by 61 00:03:05.960 --> 00:03:07.479 researchers in the UK, and it's. 62 00:03:07.319 --> 00:03:10.199 Called Remorra R EMO R. 63 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:14.840 Step standing for Rendezvous Mission for Orbital Reconstruction of Asteroids, 64 00:03:14.879 --> 00:03:17.719 and it is designed to completely rewrite the rule book 65 00:03:17.719 --> 00:03:20.639 on how we interact with these ancient celestial bodies. 66 00:03:20.680 --> 00:03:22.439 And we really need to set the stakes right at 67 00:03:22.439 --> 00:03:25.719 the top here because analyzing romorra isn't just an academic 68 00:03:25.759 --> 00:03:26.960 exercise in geology. 69 00:03:27.080 --> 00:03:27.960 No, not at all. 70 00:03:28.080 --> 00:03:30.680 We aren't figuring out ways to catalog different types of 71 00:03:30.680 --> 00:03:33.439 space rocks just to fill out a textbook on the 72 00:03:33.479 --> 00:03:37.000 early Solar System. This architecture is fundamentally driven by the 73 00:03:37.159 --> 00:03:39.080 urgent need for planetary defense. 74 00:03:39.479 --> 00:03:40.479 It's about survival. 75 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:45.840 It is we are approaching a very real, very tangible deadline. 76 00:03:45.879 --> 00:03:48.599 In the year twenty twenty nine, humanity is going to 77 00:03:48.680 --> 00:03:53.639 experience an incredibly close encounter with a massive asteroid named 78 00:03:53.919 --> 00:03:55.400 Apofus Apofice. 79 00:03:55.560 --> 00:03:57.039 Yeah, we are definitely going to get into that. 80 00:03:57.080 --> 00:04:01.520 And beyond Apofus. We have this glaring, terrifying vulnerability in 81 00:04:01.560 --> 00:04:04.840 our observational network known as the sunword blind. 82 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:05.800 Spot, blind spot. 83 00:04:05.960 --> 00:04:08.599 Right there are entire vast regions of the sky where 84 00:04:08.599 --> 00:04:12.319 our most powerful ground based and orbal telescopes are rendered 85 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:15.680 completely blind by the overwhelming glare of our own sun. 86 00:04:15.800 --> 00:04:18.240 Like staring into a spotlight exactly. 87 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:21.959 Like that, Earth is entirely unprotected from any trajectory approaching 88 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:24.879 from that specific vector. If a kinetic threat comes at 89 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:26.560 us out of the Sun, we will not see it 90 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:28.800 until it is literally entering our upper atmosphere. 91 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:31.839 Okay, let's unpack this, because before we can fully grasp 92 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:34.959 the elegance of how the remot architecture fixes the problem, 93 00:04:35.160 --> 00:04:37.560 we have to establish the baseline. 94 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:39.480 The baseline of how we currently try to study these things. 95 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:42.480 Yeah, how we currently try and often fail to study 96 00:04:42.519 --> 00:04:45.720 these near earth objects right now. Our primary tools are 97 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:46.959 remote sensing. 98 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:48.839 Right, optical telescopes, radar. 99 00:04:49.040 --> 00:04:52.079 Yeah, we use ground based optical telescopes. We use planetary 100 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:55.720 radar like the Goldstone Solar System radar out in California. 101 00:04:56.040 --> 00:04:59.319 We use infrared orbital observatories. 102 00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:00.240 All looking from a distance. 103 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:04.439 Exactly, and all of these tools suffer from a fundamental limitation. 104 00:05:05.560 --> 00:05:08.439 I call it the skyscraper facade dilemma. 105 00:05:08.920 --> 00:05:12.000 The skyscraper facade dilemma. Okay, explain that well. 106 00:05:12.040 --> 00:05:15.480 Imagine you are an engineer tasked with determining if a 107 00:05:15.680 --> 00:05:18.959 massive skyscraper is going to collapse in an earthquake. Okay, 108 00:05:19.079 --> 00:05:20.720 but you are not allowed to go inside. You have 109 00:05:20.759 --> 00:05:21.759 to stand across. 110 00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:23.160 The street just looking at the outside. 111 00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:25.800 Right, you can look at the tint of the exterior glass. 112 00:05:26.040 --> 00:05:28.519 You can bounce a laser off the steel window frames. 113 00:05:28.879 --> 00:05:31.120 You can take thermal images to see which side of 114 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:32.560 the building is getting hit by the sun. 115 00:05:32.680 --> 00:05:33.800 But you're stuck on the street. 116 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:36.160 You are stuck on the outside. To truly know the 117 00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:39.480 structural integrity of that building, to know if the internal 118 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:43.240 load bearing columns are solid reinforced concrete or if they 119 00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:45.839 are structurally compromised and hollowing out, you have to walk 120 00:05:45.879 --> 00:05:46.639 through the front door. 121 00:05:46.759 --> 00:05:47.680 You have to get inside. 122 00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:52.279 Yeah, you cannot determine the internal macroporosity of a structure 123 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:56.079 just by analyzing how photons scatter off its outermost layer. 124 00:05:56.279 --> 00:05:59.319 That captures the physics of the problem perfectly. When we 125 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:02.639 use pictronoscopy through an optical telescope, we are really just 126 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:06.000 analyzing the reflectant spectra of the asteroid. 127 00:06:05.560 --> 00:06:07.319 The surface light exactly. 128 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:11.399 We measure which specific wavelengths of sunlight are absorbed and 129 00:06:11.480 --> 00:06:13.560 which are reflected by the minerals on the surface. 130 00:06:13.639 --> 00:06:17.279 So that tells us what the dust on the outside 131 00:06:17.360 --> 00:06:17.759 is made of. 132 00:06:18.120 --> 00:06:20.879 Basically, it tells us if the outer crust is rich 133 00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:24.680 in silicates or carbonaceous material or metallic iron. 134 00:06:24.839 --> 00:06:25.160 Okay. 135 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:28.279 And when we use synthetic aperture radar, we are bouncing 136 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:31.600 microwave pulses off the object. That gives us a radar 137 00:06:31.680 --> 00:06:35.160 cross section, which can reveal the asteroid's general shape, its 138 00:06:35.240 --> 00:06:37.519 rotation period, and surface roughness. 139 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:39.519 So we get the ship and the spin right. 140 00:06:39.800 --> 00:06:42.439 But both optical light and radar waves are superficial in 141 00:06:42.439 --> 00:06:45.639 this context. They scatter off the boundary layer. They cannot 142 00:06:45.720 --> 00:06:49.079 penetrate hundreds of meters of rock to reveal the interior 143 00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:52.720 mass distribution. Just bounce off. Yeah. And from a planetary 144 00:06:52.759 --> 00:06:57.199 defense perspective, that blind spot is a catastrophic lack of 145 00:06:57.360 --> 00:06:59.199 actionable intelligence. 146 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:01.000 Because if we spot one of these things on a 147 00:07:01.040 --> 00:07:04.040 collision course and we have to physically move it, the 148 00:07:04.079 --> 00:07:06.920 internal structure dictates everything about how we apply force. 149 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:10.279 Right, it dictates the entire physics profile of a deflection mission. 150 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:14.040 Take the concept of a kinetic impactor. Okay, this is 151 00:07:14.040 --> 00:07:17.279 the strategy where we launch a heavy spacecraft and intentionally 152 00:07:17.399 --> 00:07:19.959 ram it into the asteroid at extremely high. 153 00:07:19.879 --> 00:07:22.279 Velocities, playing cosmic billiards. 154 00:07:21.839 --> 00:07:26.240 Basically yeah, to alter its orbital momentum. We recently prove 155 00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:28.399 this concept works with NASA's DART. 156 00:07:28.199 --> 00:07:31.160 Mission, the Double Asteroid Redirection Tests right. 157 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:35.360 Which successfully altered the orbit of the asteroid Dimorphous. But 158 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:38.319 the success of a kinetic impactor is heavily dependent on 159 00:07:38.360 --> 00:07:42.360 something called the beta factor or the momentum enhancement factor. 160 00:07:42.040 --> 00:07:44.399 Which is essentially how much extra push you get from 161 00:07:44.439 --> 00:07:46.720 all the debris sprang back out in a space after 162 00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:47.120 the crash. 163 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:50.160 Right. Correct. If you smash an impactor into a monolithic, 164 00:07:50.279 --> 00:07:56.480 incredibly dense, solid iron asteroid, the energy transfer is relatively straightforward. 165 00:07:55.959 --> 00:07:57.160 Like hitting a bowling ball. 166 00:07:57.360 --> 00:08:00.600 Yeah, but the ejected, the debried, blown backward words might 167 00:08:00.639 --> 00:08:04.720 be minimal. However, many asteroids are what we call rubble piles. 168 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:06.720 Rubble piles, so they aren't solid. 169 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:09.920 No, they aren't single solid rocks. They are loose amalgamations 170 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:11.120 of boulders, gravel, and. 171 00:08:11.160 --> 00:08:13.439 Dust, just held together by gravity. 172 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:16.079 Their own incredibly weak collective microgravity. 173 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:16.920 Wow. 174 00:08:17.399 --> 00:08:19.720 So if you slam an impactor into a highly porous 175 00:08:19.800 --> 00:08:23.639 rubble pile, the impactor might just burrow deeply into the 176 00:08:23.639 --> 00:08:24.839 loose material. 177 00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:26.480 Like shooting a bullet into a sand bag. 178 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:30.399 Exactly. It compresses the empty void space inside the asteroid. 179 00:08:30.959 --> 00:08:33.879 The rubble pile absorbs the kinetic energy like a giant 180 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:35.120 celestial sponge. 181 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:37.080 Oh man, so it doesn't move. 182 00:08:37.399 --> 00:08:41.159 The beta factor changes completely. The asteroid might barely alter 183 00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:44.279 its trajectory. At all or worse. What's worse, if you 184 00:08:44.360 --> 00:08:46.519 hit it with too much energy, you might exceed its 185 00:08:46.519 --> 00:08:49.919 weak escape velocity and shatter it into a shotgun blast 186 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:50.600 of fragments. 187 00:08:50.759 --> 00:08:53.320 Oh god, so instead of one row hitting Earth, it's one. 188 00:08:53.279 --> 00:08:57.840 Hundred a shotgun blast of highly destructive fragments that stay 189 00:08:57.879 --> 00:09:01.639 on the same collision course with Earth. You absolutely cannot 190 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:05.879 design an optimal deflection mechanism without a high fidelity model 191 00:09:05.919 --> 00:09:07.639 of the internal structural integrity. 192 00:09:07.759 --> 00:09:10.480 And you just cannot get a high fidelity internal model 193 00:09:10.519 --> 00:09:13.440 from a telescope on a mountain in Hawaii. No, you 194 00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:15.519 have to get up close and personal with the rock. 195 00:09:16.120 --> 00:09:19.759 Which brings us to a really interesting geopolitical and economic 196 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:23.919 paradox currently playing out in the United Kingdom regarding space science. 197 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:26.039 Right the UK paradox. 198 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:29.480 Because the UK possesses a staggering amount of intellectual capital 199 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:32.759 in planetary science and astrodynamics. 200 00:09:31.960 --> 00:09:32.519 Huge amount. 201 00:09:32.639 --> 00:09:36.799 Yeah, researchers from institutions like Imperial College London or the 202 00:09:36.919 --> 00:09:41.120 University of Liverpool, where the core Remorra concept is being spearheaded, 203 00:09:41.519 --> 00:09:44.840 they are globally recognized heavyweights. Absolutely, they don't just sit 204 00:09:44.879 --> 00:09:47.919 on the sidelines. They are deeply integrated into the most 205 00:09:47.919 --> 00:09:51.679 complex headline grabbing international missions of our era. 206 00:09:51.720 --> 00:09:53.159 Like the Dart mission Right. 207 00:09:53.759 --> 00:09:56.679 UK teams were essential in analyzing the impact data from 208 00:09:56.679 --> 00:09:59.440 the Dart mission we just talked about. They played vital 209 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:04.120 roles in the Osiris REX mission, which executed an incredibly 210 00:10:04.200 --> 00:10:06.039 complex touch and go maneuver. 211 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:09.039 To snatch a physical sample of the asteroid venue. 212 00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:11.960 Right and bring it back to Earth. The UK scientific 213 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:13.559 footprint is everywhere. 214 00:10:13.679 --> 00:10:17.480 They are consistently producing the algorithms, the data processing techniques 215 00:10:17.480 --> 00:10:21.039 and the scientific analysis that make these billion dollar flagship 216 00:10:21.080 --> 00:10:22.000 mission successful. 217 00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:23.960 But you know, I look at that reality and I 218 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:27.159 have to ask the obvious administrative question. Sure, if I 219 00:10:27.159 --> 00:10:30.200 am sitting on a parliamentary budgetary committee looking at the 220 00:10:30.320 --> 00:10:34.120 national checkbook, I'm thinking, our scientists are already getting access 221 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:37.399 to the best data in the Solar System by collaborating 222 00:10:37.399 --> 00:10:39.759 with NASA and the European Space Agency. 223 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:41.120 Why do we need our own stuff? 224 00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:44.000 Exactly? Why do we need to aggressively fund our own 225 00:10:44.279 --> 00:10:48.639 UK specific domestic mission architecture. It seems infinitely cheaper to 226 00:10:48.679 --> 00:10:51.399 just keep paying a small membership fee to the ESA. 227 00:10:51.559 --> 00:10:54.480 Let the Americans and Europeans build the big rockets. 228 00:10:54.759 --> 00:10:58.480 Right, Let them build the billion dollar rockets and probes, 229 00:10:58.759 --> 00:11:01.519 and let our scientists analyze the data when it gets 230 00:11:01.600 --> 00:11:05.679 beamed back. Why try to build a sovereign deep space pipeline. 231 00:11:05.759 --> 00:11:09.240 What's fascinating here is the stark difference between holding a 232 00:11:09.279 --> 00:11:12.559 seat in the passenger cabin versus holding the steering wheel. 233 00:11:12.600 --> 00:11:13.799 Oh, that's a good way to put it. 234 00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:17.039 When a nation operates solely as a contributor to international 235 00:11:17.080 --> 00:11:20.759 flagship missions, no matter how value their scientific input is, 236 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:25.120 they are ultimately subjected to the strategic priorities of the lead. 237 00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:26.960 Agency, the agency paying the bills. 238 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:29.879 Right. If you are writing shotgun on a NASA mission, 239 00:11:30.519 --> 00:11:35.360 NASA's dicatal survey dictates the target asteroid. NASA engineers designed 240 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:38.879 the primary bus architecture. NASA sets the launch window. 241 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:40.679 So the UK is just along for the ride. 242 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:43.720 The UK scientists might be granted a principal investigator role 243 00:11:44.120 --> 00:11:48.519 on one specific onboard spectrometer, or they might get priority 244 00:11:48.519 --> 00:11:51.480 access to the telemetry data, but they do not control 245 00:11:51.559 --> 00:11:52.480 the mission parameters. 246 00:11:52.679 --> 00:11:55.879 So they are brilliant analysts, but they are entirely reactive. 247 00:11:55.919 --> 00:11:57.799 They have to wait for someone else to decide it 248 00:11:57.879 --> 00:11:59.200 is time to go look at a rock. 249 00:11:59.759 --> 00:12:03.320 When you are dealing with planetary defense or looking toward 250 00:12:03.399 --> 00:12:07.919 the massive economic potential of future asteroid mining, reactive posture 251 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:09.840 is a strategic vulnerability. 252 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:10.960 You can't just wait around. 253 00:12:11.200 --> 00:12:13.840 You do not want to be entirely dependent on the 254 00:12:13.879 --> 00:12:18.200 fluctuating budgets of the US Congress, where the complex multinational 255 00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:22.720 negotiations of the ESA to determine if or when a 256 00:12:22.759 --> 00:12:24.600 specific near Earth object gets. 257 00:12:24.440 --> 00:12:26.120 Investigated, because what if they say no? 258 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:31.039 Exactly? Developing a domestic pipeline allows a space sector to 259 00:12:31.200 --> 00:12:35.679 rapidly prototype its own sovereign engineering concepts, validate its own 260 00:12:35.720 --> 00:12:38.919 hardware in the void, and respond to threats or economic 261 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:42.320 opportunities on its own timeline. It builds an industrial base 262 00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:42.679 at home. 263 00:12:42.840 --> 00:12:47.480 But the reality is sovereign capability is breathtakingly expensive. If 264 00:12:47.480 --> 00:12:49.759 the UK wants to pick its own targets and steer 265 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:53.120 its own ships, it cannot do it by mimicking NASA's playbook. 266 00:12:53.440 --> 00:12:57.159 A country dealing with standard domestic economic pressures cannot just 267 00:12:57.320 --> 00:13:00.600 casually authorize a one billion dollar flagship mission to go 268 00:13:00.639 --> 00:13:01.440 map an asteroid. 269 00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:02.639 It's just not going to happen. 270 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:07.519 No, to solve this paradox, to achieve independent exploration without 271 00:13:07.559 --> 00:13:11.679 bankrupting the Science Directorate. You have to get ruthlessly, almost 272 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:15.200 uncomfortably creative, you really do. You have to abandon the 273 00:13:15.240 --> 00:13:19.960 idea of the massive gold plated spacecraft. And that severe 274 00:13:20.039 --> 00:13:24.240 budgetary constraint is exactly the evolutionary pressure that birthed the 275 00:13:24.360 --> 00:13:25.519 Remora architecture. 276 00:13:25.559 --> 00:13:28.720 We have to define budgetary constraint in this context because 277 00:13:28.759 --> 00:13:32.039 the numbers associate with the Remora proposal are almost hard 278 00:13:32.039 --> 00:13:35.720 to believe for anyone familiar with aerospace procurement. 279 00:13:35.799 --> 00:13:36.840 They're shockingly low. 280 00:13:37.159 --> 00:13:40.000 Right, the white papers classify this as a minif class 281 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:42.879 mission and they are targeting a total mission cost in 282 00:13:42.919 --> 00:13:44.919 the neighborhood of fifty million euros. 283 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:47.039 We really need to pause on that number because fifty 284 00:13:47.080 --> 00:13:50.440 million euros sounds like an astronomical sum in everyday life. 285 00:13:50.440 --> 00:13:51.799 Oh sure, you could. 286 00:13:51.600 --> 00:13:54.519 Fund a mid sized hospital for years, you could build infrastructure, 287 00:13:54.879 --> 00:13:57.759 but in the realm of deep space exploration, it's nothing. 288 00:13:57.919 --> 00:14:00.759 Fifty million euros is essentially a rounding error. It is 289 00:14:00.759 --> 00:14:03.559 the aerospace equivalent of trying to build a Formula one 290 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:06.679 car using the spare change you found under the surfer cushions. 291 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:10.879 It demands a total paradigm shift in engineering. For comparison, 292 00:14:10.960 --> 00:14:13.879 the Osiris REX mission you mentioned earlier had a life 293 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:18.240 cycle cost pushing well toward one billion dollars. Wow. The 294 00:14:18.360 --> 00:14:21.639 Dart impactor, which was relatively straightforward because its entire job 295 00:14:21.720 --> 00:14:24.399 was to crash and die, just hit a rock, it's 296 00:14:24.440 --> 00:14:27.519 still cost over three hundred million dollars. Even the most 297 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:32.879 stripped down aggressive Discovery class interplanetary missions at NASA rarely 298 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:35.559 drop below the two hundred million dollar threshold. 299 00:14:35.080 --> 00:14:38.840 So fifty million is just It's insane to propose intercepting 300 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:42.799 a fast moving chaotic body in deep space, characterizing its 301 00:14:42.840 --> 00:14:46.879 mass distribution, and operating a scientific payload for fifty million 302 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:50.320 euros means you cannot use standard deep space hardware. 303 00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:51.440 You have to rethink everything. 304 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:55.639 You cannot afford the massive radiation hardened command processors, you 305 00:14:55.639 --> 00:15:00.360 can afford the huge high gain parabolic antennas. Every single 306 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:04.720 subsystem has to be miniaturized, stripped of excess mass, and 307 00:15:04.919 --> 00:15:07.039 fundamentally reimagined. 308 00:15:06.519 --> 00:15:08.919 Which leads the researchers to abandon the concept of the 309 00:15:08.960 --> 00:15:13.440 monolithic probe entirely. Remora doesn't send one big, expensive box 310 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:15.679 into space, no, it does it. It relies on a 311 00:15:15.799 --> 00:15:19.559 swarm The proposal calls for a fleet of six autonomous 312 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:23.360 cube SATs, and the biological inspiration for this approach is 313 00:15:23.440 --> 00:15:26.320 bicked right into the acronym. They are looking at the 314 00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:27.240 Remora fish. 315 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:28.840 Right, the little fish that stick to sharks. 316 00:15:29.039 --> 00:15:31.679 Exactly. If you watch footage of a great white shark 317 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:34.399 or a massive manta ray gliding through the ocean, you 318 00:15:34.440 --> 00:15:38.679 almost always see these tiny slender fish section onto their 319 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:43.039 sides or swimming in absolute synchronicity just inches away. The 320 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:45.879 Remora fish don't waste their own energy swimming across the 321 00:15:46.039 --> 00:15:49.320 entire ocean. They let the apex predator do the heavy lifting, 322 00:15:49.399 --> 00:15:51.840 hitching a ride on the massive momentum of the host, 323 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:56.440 operating in a tight symbiotic envelope. The Remorse space architecture 324 00:15:56.480 --> 00:15:59.759 treats near Earth asteroids like the sharks of the Solar System. 325 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:02.519 It is a profound shift from the traditional orbit and 326 00:16:02.559 --> 00:16:07.200 observe model. These six cube SATs, each utilizing standard form factors, 327 00:16:07.639 --> 00:16:09.519 likely no larger than a shoe box or perhaps a 328 00:16:09.559 --> 00:16:10.480 small microevoven. 329 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:13.039 Wait, they are that small, yeah, very small. 330 00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:15.000 And they're not designed to fly across the Solar System 331 00:16:15.080 --> 00:16:17.159 under their own power. They will hitch a ride on 332 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:19.360 a larger launch vehicle into deep space. 333 00:16:19.639 --> 00:16:20.840 Okay, so they get dropped off. 334 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:23.080 Once they are deployed in the vicinity of a targeted 335 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:26.840 near Earth asteroid, the swarm approaches the body, they don't 336 00:16:26.879 --> 00:16:28.480 just fly by, They rendezvous. 337 00:16:28.519 --> 00:16:29.279 They match speed. 338 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:33.360 Yes, depending on the specific mission profile, they might attempt 339 00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:38.039 to physically dock with the asteroid's surface using microanchors, or 340 00:16:38.200 --> 00:16:42.080 more likely, they will establish an incredibly tight synchronized orbital 341 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:44.960 formation just meters above the tumbling surface. 342 00:16:45.240 --> 00:16:49.159 A swarm of space hitchhikers. I love that. But beyond 343 00:16:49.240 --> 00:16:52.480 just being cheap to build, there is a massive scientific 344 00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:55.759 advantage to breaking your sensors up into six tiny boxes 345 00:16:55.840 --> 00:16:56.919 instead of one big one. 346 00:16:56.960 --> 00:16:58.919 There is a huge advantage. 347 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:02.679 Because if you have a single billion dollar probe orbiting 348 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:06.000 a rock, you are fundamentally limited to a single point 349 00:17:06.039 --> 00:17:08.839 of observation. At any given millisecond. You have one pair 350 00:17:08.880 --> 00:17:11.680 of eyes. You are taking a local measurement of the 351 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:15.480 magnetic field or the gravity at one specific coordinate in. 352 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:20.359 Space, and that single point measurement creates ambiguity when you 353 00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:23.720 are trying to map a complex, irregular body. But when 354 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:27.200 you deploy a distributed swarm of six cube SATs. You 355 00:17:27.319 --> 00:17:30.720 instantly create a multi static, multi dimensional sensor network. 356 00:17:30.839 --> 00:17:32.599 You're seeing it from all sides at once. 357 00:17:32.759 --> 00:17:36.119 You are no longer observing the asteroid, you are enveloping it. 358 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:39.119 So how does enveloping it actually tell us what is 359 00:17:39.240 --> 00:17:42.519 inside the rock? How do six shoe boxes give us 360 00:17:42.559 --> 00:17:47.440 that internal structural map that the billion dollar telescopes couldn't through. 361 00:17:47.400 --> 00:17:50.200 The extreme precision of gravitational multipole expansion. 362 00:17:50.279 --> 00:17:51.759 Okay, you're gonna have to translate that for me. 363 00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:55.160 You'll break that down. Because the asteroid is an irregular 364 00:17:55.200 --> 00:17:57.839 rubble pile, its gravity is not uniform. 365 00:17:57.920 --> 00:17:58.599 It's lumpy. 366 00:17:58.839 --> 00:18:02.240 It's lumpy. If there is a massive, dense chunk of 367 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:06.000 iron buried fifty meters beneath the surface on the northern hemisphere, 368 00:18:06.279 --> 00:18:10.240 the gravitational pull will be microscopically stronger in that specific 369 00:18:10.359 --> 00:18:14.079 localized area compared to the dusty, porous southern hemisphere. 370 00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:16.240 Okay, so the gravity pulls harder near the iron. 371 00:18:16.480 --> 00:18:21.480 Yes. As the six CubeSats fly in formation around the asteroid, 372 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:26.279 their orbital paths will be slightly perturbed by these gravitational anomalies. 373 00:18:26.440 --> 00:18:29.960 The dense iron chunk pulls one of the CubeSats slightly out. 374 00:18:29.799 --> 00:18:33.039 Of line exactly, and the CubeSats are constantly communicating with 375 00:18:33.079 --> 00:18:36.079 each other, measuring the distance between themselves down to the 376 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:40.599 millimeter using optical intersatellite links or precise radio ranging. 377 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:43.400 So they know exactly where they all are relative to 378 00:18:43.480 --> 00:18:43.920 each other. 379 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:48.519 By mathematically analyzing exactly how the swarm's formation deforms over 380 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:51.279 time as they fly through the gravity field, you can 381 00:18:51.319 --> 00:18:55.640 solve for the specific mass distribution inside the asteroid. Oh wow, 382 00:18:55.720 --> 00:18:58.920 you are essentially using the microscopic wobbles of the CubeSats 383 00:18:59.240 --> 00:19:01.920 to perform a localized gravimetric MRI. 384 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:04.759 Of the rock an MRI. That's incredible. 385 00:19:04.880 --> 00:19:08.039 You map the internal density the voids and the monolithic 386 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:10.720 boulders without ever having to drill a single core sample. 387 00:19:10.839 --> 00:19:14.359 That is mathematically beautiful. You use the chaotic nature of 388 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:18.000 the asteroids gravity as the scanning mechanism itself. But here 389 00:19:18.079 --> 00:19:21.160 is the massive operational hurdle that I immediately run into. 390 00:19:21.279 --> 00:19:24.799 Let's look at the logistics. We are talking about six 391 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:26.599 independent spacecraft. 392 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:27.319 It's tinyins. 393 00:19:27.480 --> 00:19:31.839 They are flying in tight formation. They are mirror meters 394 00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:36.079 away from a tumbling, irregularly shaped asteroid that has a chaotic, 395 00:19:36.200 --> 00:19:39.519 lumpy gravity field right, and they are doing all of 396 00:19:39.559 --> 00:19:42.880 this millions of miles away from Earth. If I think 397 00:19:42.920 --> 00:19:46.480 about a standard mission control center for a single lunar lander, 398 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:51.279 I picture dozens of flight dynamics officers sweating over consoles, 399 00:19:51.640 --> 00:19:55.240 calculating orbital insertion burns, sending telemetry commands, the. 400 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:57.359 Whole NASA control room scene exactly. 401 00:19:57.960 --> 00:20:02.000