WEBVTT

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Bedtime Astronomy. Explore the wonders of the cosmos

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<v Speaker 1>with our soothing Bedtime Astronomie podcast. Each episode offers a

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<v Speaker 1>gentle journey through the stars, planets, and beyond, perfect for

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<v Speaker 1>unwinding after a long day. Let's travel through the mysteries

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<v Speaker 1>of the universe as you drift off into a peaceful

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<v Speaker 1>slumber under the night sky.

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<v Speaker 2>Imagine stepping out of your front door, right and your

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<v Speaker 2>front porch is bathed in sunlight, but it's at a

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<v Speaker 2>blistering two hundred and fifty degrees fahrenheit.

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<v Speaker 3>You'd practically be baking, exactly.

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<v Speaker 2>You are literally baking. But then the moment you step

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<v Speaker 2>off that porch and your foot lands in the shadow

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<v Speaker 2>of a tree, the temperature instantly plummets to minus three

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<v Speaker 2>hundred degrees and.

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<v Speaker 3>That transition takes less than a second.

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<v Speaker 2>Less than a second.

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<v Speaker 3>It's wild, right, And because there's no atmosphere up there,

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<v Speaker 3>you know, there's no ambient air to soften that transition at.

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<v Speaker 2>All, no breeze to distribute the heat or.

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<v Speaker 3>Anything, no, nothing. It is just the raw, completely unfiltered

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<v Speaker 3>radiation of the sun or the absolute freezing void of

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<v Speaker 3>deep space.

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<v Speaker 2>And that is the daily reality of the lunar surface.

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<v Speaker 2>It's just a completely hostile, violently extreme environment. Yet right now,

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<v Speaker 2>as you're listening to this, we are watching one of

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<v Speaker 2>the most aggressive, incredibly ambitious projects in human history unfold

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<v Speaker 2>in real.

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<v Speaker 3>Time, aiming directly for that exact environment.

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<v Speaker 2>Right we're talking about the absolute sprint to establish a

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<v Speaker 2>permanent human presence on the Moon by twenty twenty nine.

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<v Speaker 3>Which is an incredibly tight window.

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<v Speaker 2>It's basically tomorrow in aerospace terms. And the sheer scale

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<v Speaker 2>of this endeavor, I mean, it's enough to make your

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<v Speaker 2>head spin. We are looking at a brand new, twenty

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<v Speaker 2>billion dollar strategic pivot. We're dealing with a spectacular, literal,

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<v Speaker 2>explosive setback involving a major tech billionaire's hardware. Yeah, that

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<v Speaker 2>was a massive hurdle, huge, and we're witnessing this sparate,

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<v Speaker 2>almost Magiver style scramble to just throw equipment together to beat.

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<v Speaker 3>The clock because the timeline alone is staggering. I mean,

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<v Speaker 3>we are shifting completely away from that romanticized mid century

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<v Speaker 3>idea of space exploration.

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<v Speaker 2>Like the Apollo days.

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<v Speaker 3>Exactly where we just you know, visit a location, plant

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<v Speaker 3>a flag, take some rocks and come home, right. This

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<v Speaker 3>new plan is about laying down heavy, permanent infrastructure in

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<v Speaker 3>an environment that actively wants to destroy everything we put there.

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<v Speaker 2>So today we're going to break down every single piece

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<v Speaker 2>of this puzzle for you. We're unpacking the newly announced

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<v Speaker 2>robotic vanguard that's heading to the moon right now.

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<v Speaker 3>It's a really fascinating approach they're taking, it.

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<v Speaker 2>Really is, and we're going to decode why the Space

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<v Speaker 2>Agency suddenly abandon its plans for this pristine orbiting space

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<v Speaker 2>station in favor of a really messy, dirt level surface space.

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<v Speaker 3>And the dirt itself is a huge part of that problem.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh, we are definitely getting into the dirt, and we're

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<v Speaker 2>also diving deep into the intense, breathe down your neck

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<v Speaker 2>international competition that's forcing these engineers to make some incredibly

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<v Speaker 2>risky decisions because honestly, you cannot understand the engineering of

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<v Speaker 2>this lunar base without understanding the geopolitical fires burning right

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<v Speaker 2>behind it.

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<v Speaker 3>No, you really can't engineering in a vacuum, you know,

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<v Speaker 3>both literally and figuratively. It just doesn't exist. Yeah, every

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<v Speaker 3>single choice about suspension systems or power grids or landing sites,

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<v Speaker 3>all of it is being dictated by political and temporal pressures.

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<v Speaker 2>So let's start with this vanguard, because before any human

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<v Speaker 2>boots actually hit the lunar dirt, there is just a

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<v Speaker 2>massive amount of prep work that has to happen. Right,

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<v Speaker 2>NASA just announced three brand new uncrewde missions designed specifically

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<v Speaker 2>to lay the groundwork for this future surface base.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, these are entirely autonomous.

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<v Speaker 2>Right, But they aren't building these robots in house at

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<v Speaker 2>some government lab, which I found really interesting. They just

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<v Speaker 2>awarded contracts totally nearly six hundred million dollars to three

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<v Speaker 2>different US companies to deliver this.

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<v Speaker 3>Cargo, which is a huge deal. The cargo itself represents

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<v Speaker 3>a fundamental shift in strategy for the agency. How so, Well,

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<v Speaker 3>it includes complex scientific instruments, sure, but the core objective

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<v Speaker 3>here is foundational infrastructure. This builds on some earlier announcements

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<v Speaker 3>they made back in May, and it all points toward

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<v Speaker 3>a total reliance on autonomous robotic vehicles.

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<v Speaker 2>To just build the base before we get there, literally.

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<v Speaker 3>Build the environment that future astronauts will step into. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm trying to wrap my head around the mechanics of

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<v Speaker 2>this though, because I mean, when we build a house

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<v Speaker 2>on Earth, you have contractors coordinating right right, the plumber

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<v Speaker 2>talks to the electrician, You pour the concrete, you frame

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<v Speaker 2>the walls, doing this with autonomous robots millions of miles

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<v Speaker 2>away in a total vacuum. I mean, how does an

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<v Speaker 2>uncrude infrastructure build actually function and reality?

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<v Speaker 3>Well, we have to look at the historical contrast first.

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<v Speaker 3>So during the Apollo missions, humans were the primary operators

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<v Speaker 3>of everything.

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<v Speaker 2>They were hands on exactly yea.

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<v Speaker 3>The astronauts landed the module themselves. They manually deployed the

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<v Speaker 3>solar wind experiments on the dirt. They physically drove the

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<v Speaker 3>rover around. Right now, the approach is entirely decentralized, this

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<v Speaker 3>robotic vanguard. They're tasked with surveying this chaotic terrain, identifying

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<v Speaker 3>the safest landing zones, and theoretically laying down the early

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<v Speaker 3>stages of power distribution, all without humans.

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<v Speaker 2>It's like, okay, it's like hiring three independent contractors to

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<v Speaker 2>drop off lumber, run the electrical lines, and pour a

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<v Speaker 2>foundation on a completely empty lot. But they aren't allowed

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<v Speaker 2>to talk.

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<v Speaker 3>To each other, and they're doing it in the dark, right.

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<v Speaker 2>And the architect hasn't even finalized the blueprints for the house.

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<v Speaker 2>Yet the margin for error seems incredibly thin here. If

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<v Speaker 2>one company's robot fails to deploy a power relay, does

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<v Speaker 2>the other company's habitat module just freeze to death on arrival?

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<v Speaker 3>Basically, Yes, the synchronization required is immense. I mean, think

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<v Speaker 3>about it. On Earth, if the lumber is late, you

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<v Speaker 3>just reschedule the framers for next Tuesday.

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<v Speaker 2>Right, no big deal.

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<v Speaker 3>But in space, orbital mechanics completely dictate your launch windows, so.

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<v Speaker 2>You can't just delay a few days.

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<v Speaker 3>Exactly. If a piece of infrastructure misses its delivery window,

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<v Speaker 3>you can't just send another delivery truck the next day.

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<v Speaker 3>You might have to wait months for the planets to align, literally,

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<v Speaker 3>which throws that entire twenty twenty nine deadline into serious jeopardy. Wow,

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<v Speaker 3>and coordinating three separate commercial entities, each with their own

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<v Speaker 3>proprietary hardware, their own software, trying to get them to

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<v Speaker 3>seamlessly integrate on a hostile world is a logistics puzzle

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<v Speaker 3>we have never truly solved before.

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<v Speaker 2>That is terrifying. Let's talk about the money side of

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<v Speaker 2>this puzzle too, because that six hundred million dollars is

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<v Speaker 2>a number that really stands out.

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<v Speaker 3>It does to you or me.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, that's generational wealth. But in aerospace, where a

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<v Speaker 2>single rocket engine can cost fifty million dollars just to

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<v Speaker 2>develop and test, six hundred million to lay the foundation

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<v Speaker 2>of a lunar base, seems suspiciously cheap.

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<v Speaker 3>It is very cheap.

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<v Speaker 2>Is this actually enough capital to get the job done?

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<v Speaker 2>Or is this just like a down Oh, it's.

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<v Speaker 3>Entirely a down payment. It's basically a mechanism to seed

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<v Speaker 3>the market.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, what does that mean?

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<v Speaker 3>So NASA isn't actually buying the physical vehicles anymore, They're

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<v Speaker 3>purchasing the delivery service.

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<v Speaker 2>Ah, like a courier.

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<v Speaker 3>Exactly like a courier. It's a fixed price contract model.

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<v Speaker 3>They go to the companies and tell them, look, we

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<v Speaker 3>will give you this set amount of money if you

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<v Speaker 3>deliver our payload to this specific crater on the moon.

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<v Speaker 2>And if it costs the company more to build the rocket.

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<v Speaker 3>The companies are expected to invest their own private capital

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<v Speaker 3>to make up the difference. The gamble for them is

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<v Speaker 3>that once they develop the technology, they can sell similar

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<v Speaker 3>delivery services to other nations or private industries or whoever

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<v Speaker 3>else wants to go to the Moon.

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<v Speaker 2>So NASA is basically acting as an anchor tenant in

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<v Speaker 2>a brand new shopping mall.

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<v Speaker 3>That's actually a great way to put it.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, hoping their initial investment convinces the developers to actually

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<v Speaker 2>finish building the mall.

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<v Speaker 3>That is a very accurate way to view this commercial

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<v Speaker 3>lunar payload strategy. But to your point about the money,

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<v Speaker 3>the true financial weight of this entire endeavor really becomes

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<v Speaker 3>clear when you look at the broader overarching budget. Right,

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<v Speaker 3>that's six hundred million for the robotic Vanguard. It is

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<v Speaker 3>absolute pocket change compared to the staggering twenty billion dollars

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<v Speaker 3>the agency recently pledged to the surface base effort.

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<v Speaker 2>As a whole twenty billion. And that twenty billion dollar

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<v Speaker 2>pledge is where this whole story takes wild left turn,

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<v Speaker 2>I think, because up until very recently, I mean March

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<v Speaker 2>of this year to be exact, a permanent base in

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<v Speaker 2>the lunar dirt wasn't even the main objective.

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<v Speaker 3>It wasn't for the last decade. Really. The crown jewel

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<v Speaker 3>of the entire lunar return architecture was a project called Gateway.

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<v Speaker 2>The orbital space station.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, Gateway was designed to be this highly sophisticated space

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<v Speaker 3>station in lunar orbit. Think of it as a floating harbor.

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<v Speaker 3>The logic was totally sound. Astronauts would launch from Earth,

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<v Speaker 3>they'd dock at Gateway, live in a relatively safe orbital environment,

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<v Speaker 3>conduct their research up there, and then take small landing

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<v Speaker 3>craft down to the surface for short.

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<v Speaker 2>Excursions, just day trips, basically right.

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<v Speaker 3>Before returning safely to the station in orbit.

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<v Speaker 2>But then in March, the agency dramatically overhauled that entire architecture.

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<v Speaker 2>They just hit the pause button on Gateway completely and

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<v Speaker 2>pivoted the entire twenty billion dollars to surface operations.

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<v Speaker 3>From the massive shock to the industry.

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<v Speaker 2>They just abandon orbit for the dirt. And I really

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<v Speaker 2>want to figure out why does this pivot mean Gateway

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<v Speaker 2>was fundamentally a flawed concept or is an orbiting station

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<v Speaker 2>just a luxury they realize they don't have the time

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<v Speaker 2>or money to build before twenty twenty nine.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, it's definitely not flawed. Gateway is mathematically and logically sound,

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<v Speaker 3>but it represents a totally different philosophy of space exploration,

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<v Speaker 3>which is an orbital station is a known quantity for us.

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<v Speaker 3>We have over twenty years of continuous human habitation on

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<v Speaker 3>the International Space Station. We know how to do it right.

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<v Speaker 3>The ISS orbit is a controlled void. Yes, you have

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<v Speaker 3>to deal with radiation and microgravity, which are tough, but

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<v Speaker 3>it's a clean environment, clean, very clean. The lunar surface,

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<v Speaker 3>on the other hand, is arguably the most unforgiving, mechanically

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<v Speaker 3>destructive environment we have ever attempted to inhabit.

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<v Speaker 2>And it really comes down to the dust, right, the regolith.

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<v Speaker 2>I feel like people hear lunar dust and they immediately

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<v Speaker 2>picture like sand at a beach. But that's entirely wrong,

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<v Speaker 2>isn't it.

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<v Speaker 3>It is entirely wrong, and frankly, the fundamental chemistry and

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<v Speaker 3>physical structure of lunar regolith is terrifying from an engineering perspective, terrifying, terrifying.

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<v Speaker 3>Sand on Earth, as you mentioned, has been tumbled and

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<v Speaker 3>smoothed by water and wind for millions of.

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<v Speaker 2>Years, right, the edges get rounded off exactly.

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<v Speaker 3>But on the Moon there was no wind, there's no water,

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<v Speaker 3>there's zero weathering whatsoever for billions of years. The surface

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<v Speaker 3>has just been relentlessly bombarded by micro meteorites traveling at

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<v Speaker 3>tens of thousands of miles per hour.

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<v Speaker 2>So these tiny rocks just smash into the Moon they.

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<v Speaker 3>Smash into the bedrock, and they generate immense heat and

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<v Speaker 3>pressure in a fraction of a second, So the rock

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<v Speaker 3>flashes into a liquid melt instantly, and then because it's

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<v Speaker 3>exposed to the freezing vacuum of space, it instantly solidifies

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<v Speaker 3>again into what into microscopic jagged shards of glass.

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<v Speaker 2>So every single particle of dust is literally a tiny

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<v Speaker 2>razor sharp piece of shrapnel.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, shrapnel that also happens to carry an electrostatic charge.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh why is it charged.

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<v Speaker 3>Because it's constantly bombarded by unfiltered solar radiation, So it

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<v Speaker 3>clings to absolutely everything. It gets into the microscopic seals

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<v Speaker 3>of spacesuits and degrades the rubber, It works its way

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<v Speaker 3>into the joints of rovers and grinds away of.

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<v Speaker 2>The lubricants, eats right through it.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah. During the apollomissions, astronauts actually reported that the regolithe

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<v Speaker 3>wore completely through layers of their kevlar boots in just

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<v Speaker 3>a matter of days.

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<v Speaker 2>Wore through kevlar in days. That is insane, and that

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<v Speaker 2>is exactly what makes this twenty billion dollar pivot so

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<v Speaker 2>shocking to me. Because orbit is the clean room, right

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<v Speaker 2>and the surface is a trench filled with electrostatically charged

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<v Speaker 2>glass shards.

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<v Speaker 3>That's a perfect analogy.

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<v Speaker 2>Committing to a surface base means you are deciding, hey,

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<v Speaker 2>let's stop visiting the clean room and start living permanently

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<v Speaker 2>in the trench.

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<v Speaker 3>Right. You have to solve the dust problem, the extreme

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<v Speaker 3>thermal swings, we talked about, the radiation shielding, all of it,

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<v Speaker 3>and you have to do it permanently on the ground.

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<v Speaker 2>It just forces a complete realignment of all your technology.

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<v Speaker 3>It does because if you don't have Gateway hovering above

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<v Speaker 3>you to act as a communication relay or a safe

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<v Speaker 3>haven or a massive supply depot, your surface base has

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<v Speaker 3>to be incredibly robust right out of the.

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<v Speaker 2>Gate You have no safety net orbiting above you.

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<v Speaker 3>None. If a life support system fails on the surface,

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<v Speaker 3>you cannot simply launch a lifeboat up to Gateway to

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<v Speaker 3>wheap for a rescue ship from Earth. You're entirely on

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<v Speaker 3>your own.

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<v Speaker 2>Which brings up the next critical piece of this puzzle. Honestly,

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<v Speaker 2>if you are going to bet twenty billion dollars on

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<v Speaker 2>a piece of lunar real estate and you're going to

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<v Speaker 2>commit to fighting the jagged glass and the brutal temperatures,

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<v Speaker 2>you don't just throw a dart at a map of

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<v Speaker 2>the Moon.

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<v Speaker 3>To pick a spot, No, absolutely not.

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<v Speaker 2>You have to place that base where the absolute most

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<v Speaker 2>valuable resource is located.

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<v Speaker 3>And that leads us to the strategic heart of this

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<v Speaker 3>entire twenty twenty nine initiative, which is the lunar South.

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<v Speaker 2>Pole Location, Location, Location exactly. The plan site for this

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<v Speaker 2>base is specifically targeted at the South Pole region, and

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<v Speaker 2>the driving force behind this choice is the confirmed presence

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<v Speaker 2>of water ice trapped in the lunar soil.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, the water ice is everything.

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<v Speaker 2>Let's really dig into this water ice detail, because I

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<v Speaker 2>think the instinct for a lot of people is to

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<v Speaker 2>hear water on the Moon and think, oh great, the

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<v Speaker 2>astronauts have something to drink. We don't have to pack

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<v Speaker 2>as many water bottles like a cosmic drinking fountain exactly.

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<v Speaker 2>But hydration is just the tip of the iceberg here.

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<v Speaker 3>Conceptually speaking, hydration is almost a secondary benefit honestly, really yeah,

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<v Speaker 3>the true value of water ice is fundamentally about orbital

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<v Speaker 3>economics and long term sustainabil To understand this, you really

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<v Speaker 3>have to look at the sheer tyranny of the rocket equation.

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<v Speaker 2>The rocket equation break that down For.

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<v Speaker 3>Me, watching mass from Earth is incredibly expensive because Earth

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<v Speaker 3>has a very deep gravity.

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<v Speaker 2>Well it pulls everything back down right.

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<v Speaker 3>So every single drop of water, every breath of oxygen,

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<v Speaker 3>every pound of fuel has to fight immense gravity just

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<v Speaker 3>to get into space.

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<v Speaker 2>So it takes a massive amount of fuel just to

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<v Speaker 2>lift the fuel itself.

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<v Speaker 3>Decisely, that is the core problem of space travel. But

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<v Speaker 3>water H two O is a chemical gold mine if

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<v Speaker 3>you find.

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<v Speaker 2>It already up there, because you can break it apart.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, using solar power, you can run an electrical current

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<v Speaker 3>right through that water in a process called electrolysis.

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<v Speaker 2>Which splits the water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen exactly.

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<v Speaker 3>You capture the oxygen and suddenly you have a limitless

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<v Speaker 3>supply of breathable air for your pressurized habitats.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, that's huge.

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<v Speaker 3>It gets better. The real magic happens when you capture

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<v Speaker 3>both the liquid oxygen and the liquid hydrogen. Why because

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<v Speaker 3>those of the two primary components of high efficiency cryodoscroga propellant.

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<v Speaker 2>No way, So the water ice isn't just a drinking well,

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<v Speaker 2>it is a literal gas station.

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<v Speaker 3>It is a self sustaining propellant depot located entirely outside

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<v Speaker 3>of Earth's massive gravity.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, that changes everything.

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<v Speaker 3>It fundamentally changes the entire economic model of space travel.

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<v Speaker 3>If you can successfully mine that ice, separate it, and

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<v Speaker 3>liquefy the gases future missions to Mars or the outer

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<v Speaker 3>Solar System, they wouldn't have to launch from Earth carrying

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<v Speaker 3>all their heavy fuel, right.

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<v Speaker 2>Because that takes too much fuel to lift exactly.

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<v Speaker 3>They could launch with just enough fuel to reach the Moon,

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<v Speaker 3>fill their tanks at the South Pole, and then head

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<v Speaker 3>out into deep space. The Moon ceases to be a

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<v Speaker 3>destination and becomes this vital interplanetary logistics hub.

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<v Speaker 2>But getting to that ice, I mean that requires navigating

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<v Speaker 2>some of the most extreme geography in the Solar System. Right.

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<v Speaker 2>We aren't talking about just skating on a frozen lunar lake.

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<v Speaker 3>No, not at all. They only exists because of the

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<v Speaker 3>unique geometry of the lunar poles. How So, well, the

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<v Speaker 3>Moon's axis is barely tilted relative to the Sun. This

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<v Speaker 3>means that at the poles, the Sun is always sitting

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<v Speaker 3>right on the horizon. It just circles the horizon.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, I'm picturing that.

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<v Speaker 3>So if you are standing on the rim of a

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<v Speaker 3>deep crater at the south pole. You might be bathed

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<v Speaker 3>in constant eternal sunlight.

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<v Speaker 2>Which is great for solar panels.

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<v Speaker 3>Perfect for solar panels, But the floor of that exact

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<v Speaker 3>same crater, which could be miles below you, it has

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<v Speaker 3>not seen a single photon of sunlight in billions of years.

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<v Speaker 2>It is in permanent shadow.

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<v Speaker 3>Permanent shadow, and those permanently shadowed regions are some of

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<v Speaker 3>the coldest places in our entire solar system. They act

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<v Speaker 3>as these massive cold.

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<v Speaker 2>Traps, so the water just gets stuck there.

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<v Speaker 3>Exactly over billions of years, Any water molecules deposited by

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<v Speaker 3>comets or asteroids migrated across the lunar surface and eventually

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<v Speaker 3>they just froze solid in the pitch black depths of

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<v Speaker 3>those craters.

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<v Speaker 2>Okay, wait, if the ice is down in the pitch

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<v Speaker 2>black freezing depths is of the c and our extraction

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00:17:01.799 --> 00:17:05.759
<v Speaker 2>equipment runs on solar power, how do those two things

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<v Speaker 2>ever interact?

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<v Speaker 3>That is the paradox.

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<v Speaker 2>It seems insurroundable. You need the sun to power the base,

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<v Speaker 2>but the resource you desperately need is in eternal darkness.

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<v Speaker 3>Navigating that thermal and topographical gradient is arguably the primary

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<v Speaker 3>engineering challenge of the next decade.

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<v Speaker 2>How do they plan to do it?

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<v Speaker 3>You have to build your habitats and your massive solar

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<v Speaker 3>arrays on the peaks of eternal light those crater rims.

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<v Speaker 3>Then you have to somehow send mining equipment down into

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<v Speaker 3>the abyss, where the ambient temperature will instantly freeze normal

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<v Speaker 3>lubricants and literally shatter structural metals, chattermental Oh yeah, extreme

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<v Speaker 3>cold makes metal brittle, And you have to power that

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<v Speaker 3>equipment down there, extract the ice and haul it back

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<v Speaker 3>up a steep, jagged inclined to the rim.

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<v Speaker 2>And the agency wants to start construction on this extreme

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<v Speaker 2>paradox filled gas station by twenty twenty nine. I mean,

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<v Speaker 2>we are talking less than three years from now.

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<v Speaker 3>It is an incredibly aggressive schedule.

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<v Speaker 2>Twenty twenty nine is tomorrow in the world of aerospace.

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<v Speaker 2>If the engineering required to build a solar powered base

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<v Speaker 2>that extracts ice from a dark, freezing crater, is this

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<v Speaker 2>far beyond our current capabilities? Why are we arbitrarily chaining

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<v Speaker 2>ourselves to the year twenty twenty nine? What is forcing

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<v Speaker 2>this breakneck pace?

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<v Speaker 3>When you see a timeline that aggressive applied to an

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<v Speaker 3>environment that hostile, you have to look beyond the science. Okay,

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00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:26.160
<v Speaker 3>this timeline is entirely driven by looking over our shoulder.

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<v Speaker 3>It is the geopolitical reality of the new space race.

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<v Speaker 2>Right We have to address the elephant in the room here.

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<v Speaker 2>The reports clearly note that NASA's highly ambitious plan is

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<v Speaker 2>openly acknowledged to be and I quote vague in several aspects.

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<v Speaker 2>It was conceived, drafted, and pushed forward specifically to compete

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<v Speaker 2>with China, which is also aggressively aiming to send humans

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<v Speaker 2>to the Moon and establish their own permanent, crude base.

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<v Speaker 3>The competitive aspect is the engine driving this entire vehicle

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00:18:54.119 --> 00:18:56.279
<v Speaker 3>right now, it has to be one. A major space

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00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:59.559
<v Speaker 3>agency pivots a twenty billion dollars strategy away from a

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<v Speaker 3>safe order station, targets the single most dangerous region of

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<v Speaker 3>the Moon, and sets an eye wateringly fast deadline of

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00:19:06.279 --> 00:19:09.279
<v Speaker 3>twenty twenty nine for a plan that they openly admit

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00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:11.960
<v Speaker 3>is vague. It tells you everything you need to know

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<v Speaker 3>about the underlying geopolitical panic.

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00:19:14.039 --> 00:19:16.640
<v Speaker 2>But why would an agency pledge twenty billion dollars to

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<v Speaker 2>a vague plan. Usually you don't break ground on a

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00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:22.079
<v Speaker 2>house until the blueprints are perfect. Pledging that kind of

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00:19:22.119 --> 00:19:27.440
<v Speaker 2>capital without a finalized engineering roadmap feels incredibly uncharacteristically risky.

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00:19:27.319 --> 00:19:31.599
<v Speaker 3>Because in a geopolitical space race, claiming the strategic high ground,

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00:19:31.880 --> 00:19:35.319
<v Speaker 3>or in this case, the water rich ground, takes precedence

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00:19:35.559 --> 00:19:37.279
<v Speaker 3>over having a perfect blueprint.

391
00:19:37.480 --> 00:19:39.359
<v Speaker 2>Just get their first figured out later.

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00:19:39.559 --> 00:19:42.880
<v Speaker 3>Exactly because the strategic value of the lunar south pole

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00:19:43.160 --> 00:19:46.400
<v Speaker 3>is very finite, there are only a very small handful

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00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:49.839
<v Speaker 3>of prime locations on those crater rims that offer both

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<v Speaker 3>continuous sunlight for solar power and immediate traversible access to

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00:19:54.680 --> 00:19:56.400
<v Speaker 3>the shadowed regions for water ice.

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00:19:56.799 --> 00:19:59.640
<v Speaker 2>So it really is a gold rush. But for frozen water,

398
00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:02.680
<v Speaker 2>there are only so many plots of riverfront property that

399
00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:03.599
<v Speaker 2>have gold in the water.

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00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:07.599
<v Speaker 3>That's it. Exactly, if another nation establishes a permanent operational

401
00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:11.519
<v Speaker 3>presence on those prime locations, first, they effectively control the

402
00:20:11.519 --> 00:20:14.240
<v Speaker 3>logistics hub of the entire future lunar.

403
00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:16.519
<v Speaker 2>Economy because they have the power in the gas station, they.

404
00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:18.160
<v Speaker 3>Get the solar power, they get the ice, and they

405
00:20:18.200 --> 00:20:20.799
<v Speaker 3>control the access roots. So the vagueness of the twenty

406
00:20:20.799 --> 00:20:23.240
<v Speaker 3>twenty nine plant is just a direct byproduct of the

407
00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:26.160
<v Speaker 3>necessity for speed. You commit the budget, you set the deadline,

408
00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:28.559
<v Speaker 3>and you just force the engineering teams to catch up.

409
00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:31.599
<v Speaker 3>It is a classic fire ready aim approach.

410
00:20:31.799 --> 00:20:33.839
<v Speaker 2>But think about the implications of this for a moment.

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00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:36.519
<v Speaker 2>I want to ask you, does this kind of intense

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00:20:36.680 --> 00:20:40.119
<v Speaker 2>neck and neck competition actually result in better science and

413
00:20:40.200 --> 00:20:45.079
<v Speaker 2>more robust engineering or does it just introduce dangerous schedule pressure,

414
00:20:45.559 --> 00:20:48.960
<v Speaker 2>Like are we prioritizing planting a flag on a crater

415
00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:53.799
<v Speaker 2>rim over having a solid, rigorously tested blueprint for human survival?

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00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:59.880
<v Speaker 3>That tension, right there is the defining characteristic of modern spacelight. Really, Historically, yes,

417
00:21:00.119 --> 00:21:04.400
<v Speaker 3>competition has spurred incredible leaps in technological innovation. Look at

418
00:21:04.440 --> 00:21:07.960
<v Speaker 3>the Apollo program, the Saturn B rocket, the Lunar module.

419
00:21:08.279 --> 00:21:10.839
<v Speaker 3>None of that would have happened without the existential pressure

420
00:21:10.839 --> 00:21:13.279
<v Speaker 3>of the Cold War. True, this sheer volume of funding

421
00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:16.359
<v Speaker 3>and political will generated by a race forces breakthroughs that

422
00:21:16.440 --> 00:21:20.440
<v Speaker 3>might otherwise take decades. However, you're absolutely right that it

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00:21:20.519 --> 00:21:22.759
<v Speaker 3>introduces massive schedule risks.

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00:21:22.559 --> 00:21:24.880
<v Speaker 2>Because when you compress a timeline from ten years to

425
00:21:24.920 --> 00:21:27.480
<v Speaker 2>three years, you have to cut out the testing iterations, you.

426
00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:31.519
<v Speaker 3>Reduce the testing, you end up relying on unproven prototype systems.

427
00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:34.559
<v Speaker 3>You accept much higher margins of risk across the board.

428
00:21:34.759 --> 00:21:36.839
<v Speaker 2>And when you were dealing with the lunar environment.

429
00:21:37.240 --> 00:21:40.680
<v Speaker 3>Higher risk margins translate directly to a much higher probability

430
00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:41.759
<v Speaker 3>of catastrophic failure.

431
00:21:41.799 --> 00:21:45.640
<v Speaker 2>And imagine the diplomatic nightmare if both global superpowers are

432
00:21:45.640 --> 00:21:49.200
<v Speaker 2>simultaneously trying to claim the exact same strategic water ice

433
00:21:49.240 --> 00:21:52.160
<v Speaker 2>deposits at the South Pole. How does that even work? Legally?

434
00:21:53.079 --> 00:21:56.000
<v Speaker 2>Space law is notoriously sparse, right, it.

435
00:21:55.960 --> 00:21:59.000
<v Speaker 3>Is very sparse. The foundational document is the Outer Space

436
00:21:59.039 --> 00:22:02.160
<v Speaker 3>Treaty of nineteen six sixty seven, right, and it strictly

437
00:22:02.200 --> 00:22:05.640
<v Speaker 3>prohibits any nation from claiming sovereign territory on the Moon

438
00:22:05.839 --> 00:22:08.559
<v Speaker 3>or any other celestial body. You cannot just plant a

439
00:22:08.599 --> 00:22:10.599
<v Speaker 3>flag and declare this crater belongs to.

440
00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:12.480
<v Speaker 2>Us, Okay, so no one owns the Moon.

441
00:22:13.160 --> 00:22:18.480
<v Speaker 3>Technically, however, the treaty has significant operational loopholes, primarily revolving

442
00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:20.119
<v Speaker 3>around this concept of safety zones.

443
00:22:20.200 --> 00:22:22.359
<v Speaker 2>Safety zone so you can't own the land, but you

444
00:22:22.359 --> 00:22:24.759
<v Speaker 2>can put up like do not cross tape.

445
00:22:24.920 --> 00:22:28.880
<v Speaker 3>Essentially, yes, the treaty allows for the establishment of facilities.

446
00:22:29.480 --> 00:22:32.839
<v Speaker 3>If you build a multi billion dollar ice extraction base,

447
00:22:33.240 --> 00:22:36.039
<v Speaker 3>you could establish a perimeter around that base where other

448
00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:39.160
<v Speaker 3>entities are not allowed to interfere. With your operations under

449
00:22:39.160 --> 00:22:40.079
<v Speaker 3>the justification of.

450
00:22:40.039 --> 00:22:41.839
<v Speaker 2>Safety because it's dangerous equipment.

451
00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:45.920
<v Speaker 3>Right. You cannot claim ownership of the regulith itself, but

452
00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:49.440
<v Speaker 3>you can definitely dictate who is allowed to operate near.

453
00:22:49.240 --> 00:22:53.039
<v Speaker 2>It, which means whoever gets their infrastructure down first, whoever

454
00:22:53.400 --> 00:22:56.960
<v Speaker 2>have their robotic vanguard pouring that foundation and deploying those

455
00:22:57.000 --> 00:23:00.799
<v Speaker 2>solar rays first, dictates the operational reality on the ground.

456
00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:03.920
<v Speaker 3>They set the rules of engagement for that entire region.

457
00:23:04.359 --> 00:23:07.880
<v Speaker 3>That is exactly why twenty twenty nine is the magic number.

458
00:23:07.960 --> 00:23:08.839
<v Speaker 2>It's a blockade.

459
00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:11.960
<v Speaker 3>Yes, it is not a scientific milestone where all the

460
00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:15.799
<v Speaker 3>technology suddenly matures. It is a strategic blockade. It is

461
00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:19.119
<v Speaker 3>a race to establish the safety zone before anyone else can.

462
00:23:19.319 --> 00:23:21.640
<v Speaker 2>But, as we know from any complex project, when you

463
00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:24.559
<v Speaker 2>rush a vague plan to beat a rival, the pressure

464
00:23:24.559 --> 00:23:28.400
<v Speaker 2>finds the weak points always, and recently, a very specific,

465
00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:32.119
<v Speaker 2>incredibly expensive week point broke in a spectacular fashion.

466
00:23:32.200 --> 00:23:34.319
<v Speaker 3>We have to look at the bottleneck of the billionaires

467
00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:34.920
<v Speaker 3>here we do.

468
00:23:34.960 --> 00:23:37.599
<v Speaker 2>This is where the grand twenty twenty nine vision collides

469
00:23:37.720 --> 00:23:42.319
<v Speaker 2>violently with physical reality. NASA's lunar ambitions are currently facing major,

470
00:23:42.680 --> 00:23:46.480
<v Speaker 2>very public setbacks following the spectacular explosion this spring of

471
00:23:46.519 --> 00:23:47.279
<v Speaker 2>the New Glen.

472
00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:48.759
<v Speaker 3>Rocket, which was a massive blow.

473
00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:53.400
<v Speaker 2>For context, this is a massive heavy lift orbital rocket

474
00:23:53.640 --> 00:23:57.359
<v Speaker 2>built by tech billionaire Jeff Bezos' company, Blue Origin, and.

475
00:23:57.319 --> 00:24:01.240
<v Speaker 3>It was a catastrophic hardware failure at a critical juncture

476
00:24:01.240 --> 00:24:01.960
<v Speaker 3>in the timeline.

477
00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:04.839
<v Speaker 2>Senior agency officials have had to openly acknowledge that this

478
00:24:04.920 --> 00:24:08.319
<v Speaker 2>explosion is likely going to cause lunar program delays, but

479
00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:11.079
<v Speaker 2>the way they are handling it publicly is fascinating to me.

480
00:24:11.319 --> 00:24:13.160
<v Speaker 3>The phrasing was very deliberate. Right.

481
00:24:13.480 --> 00:24:17.279
<v Speaker 2>The NASA program manager for the moonbase, Carlos Garcia Galon,

482
00:24:17.720 --> 00:24:21.680
<v Speaker 2>made a very carefully worded statement. He said, and I quote,

483
00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:24.960
<v Speaker 2>we're working with Blue Origin very closely to understand their

484
00:24:24.960 --> 00:24:28.240
<v Speaker 2>timelines to recovery and also looking at other options in

485
00:24:28.279 --> 00:24:30.039
<v Speaker 2>case it doesn't meet our timeline.

486
00:24:30.279 --> 00:24:33.279
<v Speaker 3>That right, there is a masterclass in diplomatic pressure.

487
00:24:33.400 --> 00:24:36.400
<v Speaker 2>It sounds polite, but it feels like there's absolute steel

488
00:24:36.519 --> 00:24:37.519
<v Speaker 2>underneath that quote.

489
00:24:37.559 --> 00:24:40.640
<v Speaker 3>Oh there is. When a program manager publicly states that

490
00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:44.160
<v Speaker 3>they're looking at other options for a mission critical component,

491
00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:46.720
<v Speaker 3>it is an enormous warning shot across the bow of

492
00:24:46.720 --> 00:24:47.359
<v Speaker 3>the contractor.

493
00:24:47.400 --> 00:24:50.200
<v Speaker 2>They are threatening to walk absolutely and.

494
00:24:50.200 --> 00:24:54.400
<v Speaker 3>It reveals the acute vulnerability of NASA's current operational model.

495
00:24:54.839 --> 00:24:58.319
<v Speaker 2>I really want to break down that vulnerability because for

496
00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:01.599
<v Speaker 2>the last decade, the prevalance narrative has been that commercial

497
00:25:01.640 --> 00:25:06.319
<v Speaker 2>spaceflight is the ultimate solution. Companies like SpaceX and Blue

498
00:25:06.359 --> 00:25:10.240
<v Speaker 2>Origin are supposed to be cheaper, faster, and more innovative

499
00:25:10.720 --> 00:25:14.480
<v Speaker 2>than the old, slow government bureaucracy that built the Space Shuttle.

500
00:25:14.680 --> 00:25:18.880
<v Speaker 3>And in many ways that commercial model has revolutionized lower

501
00:25:18.880 --> 00:25:21.759
<v Speaker 3>Earth orbit. I mean, the cost to launch a kilogram

502
00:25:21.839 --> 00:25:24.799
<v Speaker 3>of mass into space has plummeted. Sure, but there is

503
00:25:24.839 --> 00:25:26.960
<v Speaker 3>a flip side to that coin that we are seeing

504
00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:31.319
<v Speaker 3>play out right now. Under the old model, NASA owned

505
00:25:31.319 --> 00:25:34.319
<v Speaker 3>the rocket, they built it, they designed it, they managed

506
00:25:34.359 --> 00:25:37.440
<v Speaker 3>the data day engineering, they dictated the safety culture from

507
00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:40.559
<v Speaker 3>top to bottom. Now NASA relies on these fixed price

508
00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:41.720
<v Speaker 3>commercial contracts.

509
00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:43.480
<v Speaker 2>They just buy the ticket exactly.

510
00:25:43.759 --> 00:25:46.400
<v Speaker 3>They have handed over an immense amount of control. They're

511
00:25:46.440 --> 00:25:49.319
<v Speaker 3>no longer the builders. They are simply the customer waiting

512
00:25:49.359 --> 00:25:50.559
<v Speaker 3>for a delivery.

513
00:25:50.240 --> 00:25:53.000
<v Speaker 2>And if the delivery truck explodes on the launch pad,

514
00:25:53.079 --> 00:25:54.799
<v Speaker 2>the customer is just stuck on the curb.

515
00:25:55.119 --> 00:25:57.440
<v Speaker 3>Furthermore, they are stuck with a supply chain that they

516
00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:01.839
<v Speaker 3>do not control. NASA contracted Blue Origin to develop a

517
00:26:01.960 --> 00:26:06.240
<v Speaker 3>highly advanced, multi billion dollar lunar lander, right.

518
00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:08.119
<v Speaker 2>The vehicle that actually lands on the Moon.

519
00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:11.039
<v Speaker 3>Right, the actual spacecraft that will ferry equipment and eventually

520
00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:14.960
<v Speaker 3>humans from orbit down to the surface. But that lander,

521
00:26:15.279 --> 00:26:19.079
<v Speaker 3>no matter how advanced it is, is completely useless if

522
00:26:19.079 --> 00:26:21.839
<v Speaker 3>it doesn't have a heavy lift rocket capable of carrying

523
00:26:21.839 --> 00:26:24.079
<v Speaker 3>it out of Earth's gravity in the first place.

524
00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:26.640
<v Speaker 2>And New Glenn was supposed to be that rocket.

525
00:26:26.759 --> 00:26:29.440
<v Speaker 3>The New Glenn rocket was supposed to be that delivery mechanism.

526
00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:32.240
<v Speaker 2>Put yourself in the shoes of a NASA engineer. Right

527
00:26:32.279 --> 00:26:36.400
<v Speaker 2>now you have this incredibly sophisticated lander. It is packed

528
00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:39.319
<v Speaker 2>with cutting edge scientific instruments. It might even hold pieces

529
00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:42.519
<v Speaker 2>of that six hundred million dollar robotic vanguard we talked

530
00:26:42.519 --> 00:26:43.200
<v Speaker 2>about earlier.

531
00:26:43.319 --> 00:26:44.680
<v Speaker 3>Almost certainly it.

532
00:26:44.599 --> 00:26:49.039
<v Speaker 2>Is sitting in a pristine, clean room warehouse, fully built, theoretically,

533
00:26:49.119 --> 00:26:51.039
<v Speaker 2>ready to go to the Moon. And it is a

534
00:26:51.160 --> 00:26:54.880
<v Speaker 2>high tech paperweight because the billionaire's rocket that was supposed

535
00:26:54.920 --> 00:26:56.720
<v Speaker 2>to carry it literally blew up.

536
00:26:56.880 --> 00:26:59.920
<v Speaker 3>It is the ultimate supply chain nightmare magnified to a

537
00:27:00.039 --> 00:27:03.920
<v Speaker 3>planetary scale, and it highlights just how fragile the twenty

538
00:27:03.960 --> 00:27:07.359
<v Speaker 3>twenty nine deadline truly is reaching the Moon by that

539
00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:10.759
<v Speaker 3>date doesn't just require one piece of technology to work perfectly.

540
00:27:11.240 --> 00:27:15.400
<v Speaker 3>It requires an incredibly complex, interconnected chain of technologies, many

541
00:27:15.400 --> 00:27:18.960
<v Speaker 3>of which are being built by completely different, fiercely competitive

542
00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:19.920
<v Speaker 3>commercial companies.

543
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:22.160
<v Speaker 2>So if one link snaps.

544
00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:25.000
<v Speaker 3>If one link snaps, if one rocket engine fails a test,

545
00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:27.880
<v Speaker 3>the entire timeline collapses like a house of cards.

546
00:27:27.960 --> 00:27:31.359
<v Speaker 2>When Garcia Gallin says they're actively looking at alternatives to

547
00:27:31.440 --> 00:27:34.759
<v Speaker 2>launch the lander, that tells me the agency is sweating.

548
00:27:34.920 --> 00:27:35.400
<v Speaker 3>Oh they are.

549
00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:38.119
<v Speaker 2>They are terrified of losing the geopolitical race to the

550
00:27:38.160 --> 00:27:41.519
<v Speaker 2>South Pole simply because of a private contractor couldn't get

551
00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:43.160
<v Speaker 2>their engines to stop exploding.

552
00:27:43.240 --> 00:27:47.000
<v Speaker 3>It demonstrates a willingness to ruthlessly pivot. If Blue Origin

553
00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:51.039
<v Speaker 3>cannot guarantee or recovered flight proven safe rocket in time

554
00:27:51.079 --> 00:27:54.279
<v Speaker 3>to meet the twenty twenty nine window, NASA will absolutely

555
00:27:54.319 --> 00:27:55.519
<v Speaker 3>strip them of the launch duties.

556
00:27:55.559 --> 00:27:56.640
<v Speaker 2>Who would they even use.

557
00:27:56.880 --> 00:27:59.960
<v Speaker 3>They will find another launch provider, perhaps a SpaceX Falcon

558
00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:02.720
<v Speaker 3>Heavy or an upcoming starship, even if it means spending

559
00:28:02.759 --> 00:28:06.000
<v Speaker 3>millions to redesign the payload adapters in integration hardware at

560
00:28:06.039 --> 00:28:07.359
<v Speaker 3>the absolute last.

561
00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:09.279
<v Speaker 2>Minute, just to make it fit a different rocket.

562
00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:13.599
<v Speaker 3>Yes, they cannot let the schedule slip because the geopolitical

563
00:28:13.640 --> 00:28:17.759
<v Speaker 3>competitor eyeing those exact same water ice craters is not

564
00:28:18.039 --> 00:28:21.240
<v Speaker 3>going to wait for Blue Origin to fix their telemetry issues.

565
00:28:21.519 --> 00:28:24.640
<v Speaker 2>This desperate overriding need to keep the twenty twenty nine

566
00:28:24.759 --> 00:28:29.119
<v Speaker 2>dream alive despite exploding rockets and fragile commercial supply chains.

567
00:28:29.720 --> 00:28:33.039
<v Speaker 2>It's forcing the agency to get uncomfortably creative with the

568
00:28:33.079 --> 00:28:35.640
<v Speaker 2>actual hardware they plan to deploy on the surface.

569
00:28:35.759 --> 00:28:38.920
<v Speaker 3>We are definitely moving past traditional engineering and into the

570
00:28:38.960 --> 00:28:40.119
<v Speaker 3>realm of improvisation.

571
00:28:40.519 --> 00:28:43.920
<v Speaker 2>The level of on the fly improvisation being seriously discussed

572
00:28:43.960 --> 00:28:46.960
<v Speaker 2>in these reports is unprecedented for a space agency that

573
00:28:47.079 --> 00:28:49.720
<v Speaker 2>usually plans missions a decade or more in advance.

574
00:28:49.880 --> 00:28:50.480
<v Speaker 3>It really is.

575
00:28:50.880 --> 00:28:52.960
<v Speaker 2>NASA has started to roll out the vision for the

576
00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:56.119
<v Speaker 2>tech roster of this lunar base. We are talking about

577
00:28:56.359 --> 00:29:01.920
<v Speaker 2>next generation lunar landers, specialized rovers, and surprise drones designed

578
00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:04.000
<v Speaker 2>to rapidly survey the chaotic terrain.

579
00:29:04.200 --> 00:29:06.279
<v Speaker 3>That's a huge shift in mobility right.

580
00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:10.880
<v Speaker 2>Their infrastructure goals explicitly include establishing a full power grid

581
00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:15.200
<v Speaker 2>and pressurized habitats. But the single most shocking detail, the

582
00:29:15.240 --> 00:29:17.720
<v Speaker 2>one that forces you to realize just how tight this

583
00:29:17.839 --> 00:29:22.279
<v Speaker 2>timeline is is that NASA floated the very real possibility

584
00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:25.279
<v Speaker 2>of repurposing a Mars rover to use on the Moon.

585
00:29:25.880 --> 00:29:31.400
<v Speaker 3>It blurs the line between brilliant adaptability and sheer engineering desperation.

586
00:29:31.680 --> 00:29:34.079
<v Speaker 2>Before we tackle the madness of the Mars rover, let's

587
00:29:34.119 --> 00:29:36.319
<v Speaker 2>break down the rest of this tech list, because even

588
00:29:36.359 --> 00:29:38.440
<v Speaker 2>the baseline requirements sound like science fiction.

589
00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:38.880
<v Speaker 3>They do.

590
00:29:39.519 --> 00:29:41.480
<v Speaker 2>Let's start with a power grid on the Moon. What

591
00:29:41.640 --> 00:29:44.880
<v Speaker 2>does a lunar power grid actually look like in practice?

592
00:29:45.079 --> 00:29:47.759
<v Speaker 3>Well, establishing a power grid at the lunar south pole

593
00:29:47.880 --> 00:29:51.160
<v Speaker 3>is a staggering challenge. As we discussed. You're placing your

594
00:29:51.160 --> 00:29:53.680
<v Speaker 3>solar arrays on the high crater rims to catch the

595
00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:57.839
<v Speaker 3>eternal sunlight, but your massive power sinks the thermal regulation

596
00:29:57.920 --> 00:30:01.519
<v Speaker 3>for the habitats, the ice mining drill, the rovers. Those

597
00:30:01.599 --> 00:30:04.839
<v Speaker 3>might be operating miles away, deep inside the permanently shadowed,

598
00:30:05.079 --> 00:30:06.480
<v Speaker 3>freezing crater floors.

599
00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:08.160
<v Speaker 2>So how do you bridge that gap? Do you just

600
00:30:08.240 --> 00:30:10.519
<v Speaker 2>run a really long extension cord down a cliff?

601
00:30:10.839 --> 00:30:14.720
<v Speaker 3>Running physical cables is one option, but it is fraught

602
00:30:14.759 --> 00:30:18.920
<v Speaker 3>with issues like what you would need extremely long, heavily

603
00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:24.000
<v Speaker 3>insulated superconducting cables just to minimize power loss over that distance.

604
00:30:24.440 --> 00:30:28.519
<v Speaker 3>These cables are incredibly heavy. Transporting spools of heavy cable

605
00:30:28.519 --> 00:30:32.279
<v Speaker 3>to the moon is incredibly expensive, and deploying them autonomously

606
00:30:32.400 --> 00:30:37.119
<v Speaker 3>using robots down a jagged, glassy incline is a logistical nightmare.

607
00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:41.240
<v Speaker 2>Oh right, the glass dust would probably shred the cables anyway, exactly.

608
00:30:41.559 --> 00:30:45.200
<v Speaker 3>The alternative, which is seriously being researched right now is

609
00:30:45.319 --> 00:30:46.240
<v Speaker 3>directed energy.

610
00:30:46.519 --> 00:30:48.680
<v Speaker 2>Directed energy like beaming.

611
00:30:48.400 --> 00:30:53.039
<v Speaker 3>Power, Yes, using high powered lasers or microwave transmitters located

612
00:30:53.079 --> 00:30:56.000
<v Speaker 3>on the sunlit rim to beam energy directly to receivers

613
00:30:56.000 --> 00:30:57.720
<v Speaker 3>on the equipment operating in the dark crater.

614
00:30:57.960 --> 00:31:00.480
<v Speaker 2>Wait, really, lasers powering mining drills.

615
00:31:00.680 --> 00:31:04.400
<v Speaker 3>It's completely viable theoretically, but beaming megawats of power via

616
00:31:04.519 --> 00:31:08.079
<v Speaker 3>laser across a dusty, dynamic environment where astronauts might eventually

617
00:31:08.079 --> 00:31:11.680
<v Speaker 3>be walking introduces a whole new array of safety efficiency concerns.

618
00:31:11.720 --> 00:31:13.839
<v Speaker 2>I would imagine walking in front of that laser would

619
00:31:13.839 --> 00:31:15.000
<v Speaker 2>be bad, very bad.

620
00:31:15.400 --> 00:31:20.519
<v Speaker 3>Both options, superconducting cables and laser transmission are bleeding edge

621
00:31:20.559 --> 00:31:23.079
<v Speaker 3>technologies that have never been tested at this scale in

622
00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:25.839
<v Speaker 3>a lunar environment, and they need this operational by twenty

623
00:31:25.839 --> 00:31:27.759
<v Speaker 3>twenty nine, and what about the drones.

624
00:31:28.319 --> 00:31:31.799
<v Speaker 2>The report specifically mentions drones designed to survey the terrain.

625
00:31:31.960 --> 00:31:33.960
<v Speaker 2>If I buy a drone at a camera store, it

626
00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:38.319
<v Speaker 2>has four propellers, right, it flies by pushing air down

627
00:31:38.359 --> 00:31:41.960
<v Speaker 2>to create lift, Yes, aerodynamic lift. How do you fly

628
00:31:42.039 --> 00:31:44.799
<v Speaker 2>a drone on the Moon where there is absolutely zero

629
00:31:44.920 --> 00:31:48.920
<v Speaker 2>atmosphere to push against? Propellers would just spin uselessly in

630
00:31:48.960 --> 00:31:49.559
<v Speaker 2>a vacuum.

631
00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:53.319
<v Speaker 3>You cannot use aerodynamic lift. A traditional drone is completely useless.

632
00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:56.759
<v Speaker 3>When the agency uses the term lunar drone, they're talking

633
00:31:56.799 --> 00:31:59.519
<v Speaker 3>about a completely different paradigm of flight. They're essentially talking

634
00:31:59.559 --> 00:32:02.559
<v Speaker 3>about pulse of hoppers hoppers. A hopper is a small

635
00:32:02.599 --> 00:32:07.480
<v Speaker 3>autonomous vehicle equipped with highly precise, miniaturized rocket thrusters instead

636
00:32:07.480 --> 00:32:10.559
<v Speaker 3>of propellers. To survey the train, it would fire a

637
00:32:10.559 --> 00:32:13.400
<v Speaker 3>burst of chemical thrust to leap off the ground, follow

638
00:32:13.440 --> 00:32:16.960
<v Speaker 3>a calculated ballistic arc over the craters, take its survey

639
00:32:17.000 --> 00:32:19.839
<v Speaker 3>photos or sensor readings while in some orbital flight, and

640
00:32:19.880 --> 00:32:22.759
<v Speaker 3>then fire retro rockets to land softly on the other side.

641
00:32:22.839 --> 00:32:26.559
<v Speaker 2>It is effectively a miniature rocket ship, executing hundreds of

642
00:32:26.599 --> 00:32:30.519
<v Speaker 2>tiny successive launches and landings exactly The fuel management alone

643
00:32:30.519 --> 00:32:31.480
<v Speaker 2>sounds impossible.

644
00:32:31.559 --> 00:32:35.400
<v Speaker 3>It is incredibly complex. The autonomous navigation has to be

645
00:32:35.480 --> 00:32:39.039
<v Speaker 3>flawless to avoid crashing into boulders. The fuel budget is

646
00:32:39.079 --> 00:32:42.799
<v Speaker 3>strictly limited, and every time the hopper takes off or lands,

647
00:32:43.279 --> 00:32:47.000
<v Speaker 3>the rocket exhaust violently kicks up that abrasive glass like

648
00:32:47.039 --> 00:32:49.960
<v Speaker 3>regulith we talked about to damage it, potentially damaging its

649
00:32:49.960 --> 00:32:53.799
<v Speaker 3>own sensors or any nearby equipment. Yes, but the advantage

650
00:32:53.839 --> 00:32:58.240
<v Speaker 3>is speed. A hopping drone can survey a highly chaotic,

651
00:32:58.599 --> 00:33:01.400
<v Speaker 3>heavily cratered region in a fraction of the time it

652
00:33:01.400 --> 00:33:04.519
<v Speaker 3>would take a wheeled rover to carefully navigate around every

653
00:33:04.559 --> 00:33:07.559
<v Speaker 3>single rock. When your deadline is twenty twenty nine, speed

654
00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:08.759
<v Speaker 3>of surveying is paramount.

655
00:33:08.799 --> 00:33:11.680
<v Speaker 2>So we have laser power grids and rocket powered jumping drones.

656
00:33:11.839 --> 00:33:14.839
<v Speaker 2>That is the baseline. But then we hit the Mars

657
00:33:14.960 --> 00:33:20.279
<v Speaker 2>rover revelation. NASA is seriously considering taking a rover that

658
00:33:20.440 --> 00:33:24.400
<v Speaker 2>was designed and engineered specifically for Mars and repurposing it

659
00:33:24.440 --> 00:33:27.039
<v Speaker 2>for the Moon, simply to save time on development.

660
00:33:27.160 --> 00:33:30.880
<v Speaker 3>From a system's engineering standpoint, it is a staggering proposition.

661
00:33:30.960 --> 00:33:33.759
<v Speaker 2>Think about what they are suggesting. It's like taking a

662
00:33:33.839 --> 00:33:38.440
<v Speaker 2>custom built, high end desert off roading vehicle and frantically

663
00:33:38.480 --> 00:33:41.720
<v Speaker 2>trying to retrofit it to survive an Arctic blizzard just

664
00:33:41.799 --> 00:33:44.319
<v Speaker 2>because you don't have the time to build a snowmobile

665
00:33:44.359 --> 00:33:45.000
<v Speaker 2>from scratch.

666
00:33:45.160 --> 00:33:48.039
<v Speaker 3>The environmental differences between Mars and the Moon are just

667
00:33:48.079 --> 00:33:51.200
<v Speaker 3>as extreme as the desert and the Arctic. People tend

668
00:33:51.200 --> 00:33:54.279
<v Speaker 3>to group them together as generic space environments, but to

669
00:33:54.319 --> 00:33:56.359
<v Speaker 3>a machine, they could not be more distinct.

670
00:33:56.519 --> 00:33:59.440
<v Speaker 2>Let's dissect this. Why is a Mars rover fundamentally a

671
00:33:59.480 --> 00:34:02.039
<v Speaker 2>bad fit for the lunar surface. Let's start with gravity.

672
00:34:02.119 --> 00:34:05.680
<v Speaker 3>Okay, gravity is huge. Mars has roughly one third of

673
00:34:05.680 --> 00:34:07.680
<v Speaker 3>Earth's gravity. The Moon has one.

674
00:34:07.640 --> 00:34:09.480
<v Speaker 2>Sixth, so half the gravity of Mars.

675
00:34:09.760 --> 00:34:13.519
<v Speaker 3>Right when engineers design of Mars rover, every aspect of

676
00:34:13.559 --> 00:34:17.840
<v Speaker 3>its chassis is meticulously calibrated for that specific one third

677
00:34:17.880 --> 00:34:22.280
<v Speaker 3>gravitational pull. The suspension system, the shock absorbers, the traction

678
00:34:22.400 --> 00:34:25.760
<v Speaker 3>control algorithms, the way the wheels bite into the soil.

679
00:34:26.360 --> 00:34:27.880
<v Speaker 3>It is all tuned for Mars.

680
00:34:28.320 --> 00:34:32.119
<v Speaker 2>So if you drop that exact same rover onto the Moon.

681
00:34:32.079 --> 00:34:34.280
<v Speaker 3>It is suddenly twice as light as it was designed

682
00:34:34.280 --> 00:34:34.440
<v Speaker 3>to be.

683
00:34:34.599 --> 00:34:36.559
<v Speaker 2>It wouldn't drive correctly at all.

684
00:34:36.679 --> 00:34:39.920
<v Speaker 3>It would bounce unpredictably over rocks, it might lose traction

685
00:34:40.119 --> 00:34:42.840
<v Speaker 3>entirely on loose slopes, and if it needs to dig

686
00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:45.239
<v Speaker 3>or drill into the ice, it might not be able

687
00:34:45.320 --> 00:34:48.480
<v Speaker 3>to exert enough downward force against the lower lunar gravity

688
00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:49.440
<v Speaker 3>to actually penetrate the.

689
00:34:49.440 --> 00:34:51.920
<v Speaker 2>Surface, because it just pushes itself up instead.

690
00:34:52.079 --> 00:34:52.599
<v Speaker 3>Exactly.

691
00:34:52.679 --> 00:34:56.480
<v Speaker 2>Okay, so the entire suspension and traction system is wrong.

692
00:34:56.920 --> 00:34:58.519
<v Speaker 3>What else the thermal environment?

693
00:34:58.760 --> 00:34:58.920
<v Speaker 2>Right?

694
00:34:58.960 --> 00:35:01.960
<v Speaker 3>The temperature Mars has atmosphere. It is very thin, mostly

695
00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:05.679
<v Speaker 3>carbon dioxide, but it exists. That thin atmosphere provides a

696
00:35:05.719 --> 00:35:09.360
<v Speaker 3>tiny bit of thermal regulation and convection cooling. Mars gets

697
00:35:09.480 --> 00:35:13.360
<v Speaker 3>very cold, but the temperature swings are somewhat moderated by

698
00:35:13.360 --> 00:35:13.639
<v Speaker 3>the air.

699
00:35:13.679 --> 00:35:15.280
<v Speaker 2>But the Moon has zero atmosphere.

700
00:35:15.519 --> 00:35:20.599
<v Speaker 3>Right, the temperature transition from full baking sunlight to pure

701
00:35:20.679 --> 00:35:24.280
<v Speaker 3>freezing shadow is instantaneous. We were talking about swings of

702
00:35:24.440 --> 00:35:26.239
<v Speaker 3>hundreds of degrees in seconds.

703
00:35:26.320 --> 00:35:28.880
<v Speaker 2>So the rovers heaters and coolers wouldn't keep up.

704
00:35:29.039 --> 00:35:33.679
<v Speaker 3>A Mars Rovers thermal management system, its radiators, its internal heaters,

705
00:35:33.719 --> 00:35:37.519
<v Speaker 3>its insulation is simply not designed to handle the instantaneous

706
00:35:38.079 --> 00:35:40.760
<v Speaker 3>raw thermal shock of the lunar vacuum.

707
00:35:40.800 --> 00:35:44.760
<v Speaker 2>The onboard computers would either freeze solid or overheat almost

708
00:35:44.800 --> 00:35:46.039
<v Speaker 2>immediately exactly.

709
00:35:46.320 --> 00:35:50.119
<v Speaker 3>And then there is the final most destructive element, the dust.

710
00:35:50.320 --> 00:35:51.920
<v Speaker 2>We are back to the jagged glass.

711
00:35:51.960 --> 00:35:54.239
<v Speaker 3>We are always back to the glass. Mars dust and

712
00:35:54.320 --> 00:35:57.639
<v Speaker 3>lunar dust are fundamentally different materials. Mars has weather, It

713
00:35:57.639 --> 00:36:00.320
<v Speaker 3>has wind and massive global dust storms that can lasts

714
00:36:00.320 --> 00:36:00.679
<v Speaker 3>for months.

715
00:36:00.760 --> 00:36:02.320
<v Speaker 2>So the dust gets blorn around a lot.

716
00:36:02.320 --> 00:36:05.199
<v Speaker 3>Right and over billions of years, that wind has tumbled

717
00:36:05.199 --> 00:36:08.639
<v Speaker 3>and eroded the Martian dust particles, smoothing off their sharp edges.

718
00:36:09.199 --> 00:36:11.800
<v Speaker 3>Martian dust is pervasive, and it is a nuisance, but

719
00:36:11.880 --> 00:36:14.719
<v Speaker 3>it is relatively smooth, somewhat like fine tail compowder.

720
00:36:14.840 --> 00:36:17.519
<v Speaker 2>Okay, but lunar does, as we discuss, has never experienced

721
00:36:17.559 --> 00:36:21.239
<v Speaker 2>wind or water erosion. Every single particle is a microscopic

722
00:36:21.320 --> 00:36:22.719
<v Speaker 2>razor sharp shard.

723
00:36:22.679 --> 00:36:25.880
<v Speaker 3>So a seal or a mechanical joint designed to keep

724
00:36:25.920 --> 00:36:28.480
<v Speaker 3>out smooth Martian tilcmpowder.

725
00:36:27.920 --> 00:36:30.679
<v Speaker 2>Will get absolutely shredded by lunar glass.

726
00:36:30.840 --> 00:36:33.960
<v Speaker 3>Within days. The regulus would grind away the seals, infiltrate

727
00:36:34.000 --> 00:36:37.360
<v Speaker 3>the bearings, and destroy the moving parts. Wow. Repurposing a

728
00:36:37.360 --> 00:36:42.159
<v Speaker 3>Mars rover means you have to somehow retrofit every exposed seal,

729
00:36:42.280 --> 00:36:45.559
<v Speaker 3>every wheel, bearing every joint to withstand a highly abrasive

730
00:36:45.599 --> 00:36:49.000
<v Speaker 3>material it was never meant to encounter, all while dealing

731
00:36:49.000 --> 00:36:51.360
<v Speaker 3>with the wrong gravity and a thermal environment that will

732
00:36:51.400 --> 00:36:52.239
<v Speaker 3>shock the systems.

733
00:36:52.400 --> 00:36:55.880
<v Speaker 2>And there considers this purely because of the clock, Because

734
00:36:55.920 --> 00:36:58.519
<v Speaker 2>designing a lunar specific rover from a blank sheet of

735
00:36:58.559 --> 00:37:02.880
<v Speaker 2>paper takes years of design, iteration and testing.

736
00:37:02.639 --> 00:37:04.840
<v Speaker 3>Years that they simply do not have if they are

737
00:37:04.880 --> 00:37:06.039
<v Speaker 3>chained to twenty twenty nine.

738
00:37:06.119 --> 00:37:08.719
<v Speaker 2>It highlights a borderline desperation it does.

739
00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:11.880
<v Speaker 3>It shows incredible adaptability. I mean, the fact that engineers

740
00:37:11.920 --> 00:37:15.000
<v Speaker 3>can even conceive of hot swapping planetary hardware like this

741
00:37:15.559 --> 00:37:18.639
<v Speaker 3>is a testament to human ingenuity. But it also reveals

742
00:37:18.679 --> 00:37:23.119
<v Speaker 3>the immense looming risk profile they are operating under. When

743
00:37:23.159 --> 00:37:27.320
<v Speaker 3>you start cannibalizing complex hardware built for a completely different

744
00:37:27.360 --> 00:37:30.840
<v Speaker 3>planet just to hit a politically driven deadline, you are

745
00:37:30.880 --> 00:37:33.239
<v Speaker 3>walking a very dangerous tightrope.

746
00:37:33.360 --> 00:37:35.679
<v Speaker 2>It is truly breathtaking. A step back and look at

747
00:37:35.679 --> 00:37:39.360
<v Speaker 2>the sheer velocity of this entire operation. We are watching

748
00:37:39.400 --> 00:37:44.559
<v Speaker 2>an agency fundamentally rewrite its operational playbook in real time

749
00:37:44.920 --> 00:37:47.719
<v Speaker 2>under the most intense pressure imaginable, and.

750
00:37:47.679 --> 00:37:50.400
<v Speaker 3>They are attempting to do it, largely by coordinating an

751
00:37:50.480 --> 00:37:55.599
<v Speaker 3>orchestra of commercial contractors who are themselves experiencing catastrophic hardware

752
00:37:55.599 --> 00:37:58.000
<v Speaker 3>failures and supply chain bottlenecks.

753
00:37:58.239 --> 00:38:01.000
<v Speaker 2>Let's do a rapid fire recap of evering we've explored today,

754
00:38:01.039 --> 00:38:03.119
<v Speaker 2>because we have covered an immense amount of ground, we

755
00:38:03.199 --> 00:38:05.800
<v Speaker 2>really have. We started by looking at the robotic vanguard,

756
00:38:05.880 --> 00:38:09.480
<v Speaker 2>that initial six hundred million dollar wave of commercial contracts

757
00:38:09.679 --> 00:38:13.280
<v Speaker 2>designed to drop instruments and autonomously pour the foundation for

758
00:38:13.480 --> 00:38:15.079
<v Speaker 2>a permanent presence.

759
00:38:14.760 --> 00:38:16.119
<v Speaker 3>Right the autonomous builders.

760
00:38:16.559 --> 00:38:21.519
<v Speaker 2>Then we dissected the massive twenty billion dollar grand pivot,

761
00:38:21.880 --> 00:38:26.960
<v Speaker 2>exploring why NASA dramatically abandoned its safe, pristine orbital Gateway

762
00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:30.320
<v Speaker 2>station to commit to the abrasive, dangerous bert of the

763
00:38:30.360 --> 00:38:31.119
<v Speaker 2>lunar surface.

764
00:38:31.239 --> 00:38:34.000
<v Speaker 3>And we identify the location of that dirt, the highly

765
00:38:34.039 --> 00:38:37.880
<v Speaker 3>strategic Lunar South Pole, chosen specifically for its deep crater

766
00:38:37.960 --> 00:38:42.199
<v Speaker 3>deposits of water ice, which serves as the foundational economic

767
00:38:42.239 --> 00:38:44.800
<v Speaker 3>resource for all future deep space.

768
00:38:44.559 --> 00:38:47.079
<v Speaker 2>Exploration because it's a gas station. We looked at the

769
00:38:47.159 --> 00:38:51.039
<v Speaker 2>geopolitical engine driving this frantic timeline too, the high stakes

770
00:38:51.119 --> 00:38:53.440
<v Speaker 2>race against China to claim the prime real estate on

771
00:38:53.480 --> 00:38:57.320
<v Speaker 2>those South Pole crater rims and establish operational safety zones.

772
00:38:57.440 --> 00:39:00.199
<v Speaker 3>The race that's forcing all of these risky decisions exactly.

773
00:39:00.559 --> 00:39:04.079
<v Speaker 2>We examined the explosive bottleneck threatening the whole endeavor with

774
00:39:04.199 --> 00:39:07.559
<v Speaker 2>Blue Origins New Glen rocket failure, forcing the agency to

775
00:39:07.639 --> 00:39:10.719
<v Speaker 2>issue diplomatic threats and scramble for alternative launch.

776
00:39:10.480 --> 00:39:12.800
<v Speaker 3>Options because the supply chain is so fragile.

777
00:39:12.960 --> 00:39:17.039
<v Speaker 2>Right. And finally we unpack the absolute wild extremes of

778
00:39:17.079 --> 00:39:21.519
<v Speaker 2>the tech roster, from theoretical laser power grids and rocket

779
00:39:21.519 --> 00:39:24.880
<v Speaker 2>powered hoppers to the desperate mcguiver move of trying to

780
00:39:25.039 --> 00:39:28.840
<v Speaker 2>retrofit a Mars rover to survive the jagged glass dust

781
00:39:28.840 --> 00:39:29.280
<v Speaker 2>of the Moon.

782
00:39:29.719 --> 00:39:33.519
<v Speaker 3>It is a profound shift from the methodical, step by

783
00:39:33.519 --> 00:39:37.199
<v Speaker 3>step scientific exploration of the past several decades into an

784
00:39:37.280 --> 00:39:43.280
<v Speaker 3>era of rapid, high stakes geopolitically fueled infrastructure deployment.

785
00:39:43.480 --> 00:39:45.320
<v Speaker 2>And that brings us to a final thought something I

786
00:39:45.360 --> 00:39:47.159
<v Speaker 2>want you to really mull over as you go about

787
00:39:47.159 --> 00:39:49.719
<v Speaker 2>the rest of your day. We have talked extensively about

788
00:39:49.719 --> 00:39:52.559
<v Speaker 2>the incredible desperate lengths we are going to in order

789
00:39:52.599 --> 00:39:55.800
<v Speaker 2>to meet this twenty twenty nine deadline. We are aggressively

790
00:39:55.840 --> 00:39:58.079
<v Speaker 2>sending a vanguard of robots to lay it on power

791
00:39:58.119 --> 00:40:01.880
<v Speaker 2>grids and build pressurized habitats. Right now, we are rushing timelines,

792
00:40:01.920 --> 00:40:06.519
<v Speaker 2>accepting massive risk margins, and even cannibalizing mismatched wrong planet

793
00:40:06.599 --> 00:40:08.400
<v Speaker 2>rovers just to get the foundation built.

794
00:40:08.440 --> 00:40:11.920
<v Speaker 3>The autonomous robotic construction phase is basically taking precedence over

795
00:40:11.960 --> 00:40:12.679
<v Speaker 3>the human element.

796
00:40:12.920 --> 00:40:15.360
<v Speaker 2>Right So what happens if that works? What happens if

797
00:40:15.360 --> 00:40:18.440
<v Speaker 2>these brilliant autonomous systems successfully pull it off?

798
00:40:18.639 --> 00:40:19.920
<v Speaker 3>That's a fascinating question.

799
00:40:20.159 --> 00:40:23.679
<v Speaker 2>The solar arrays deploy on the crater rooms, the directed

800
00:40:23.840 --> 00:40:27.159
<v Speaker 2>energy lasers where the superconducting cables are laid down into

801
00:40:27.159 --> 00:40:30.880
<v Speaker 2>the dark, the habitats pressurized with oxygen extracted from the

802
00:40:30.880 --> 00:40:31.480
<v Speaker 2>ancient ice.

803
00:40:31.559 --> 00:40:32.280
<v Speaker 3>It's all working.

804
00:40:32.519 --> 00:40:36.159
<v Speaker 2>The base is sitting there, humming with power fully sustainable,

805
00:40:36.480 --> 00:40:38.719
<v Speaker 2>waiting in the dark at the south pole, but the

806
00:40:39.079 --> 00:40:43.639
<v Speaker 2>human delivery system remains broken. What if commercial heavy lift

807
00:40:43.719 --> 00:40:46.159
<v Speaker 2>rocket failures like the ones we are seeing right now

808
00:40:46.559 --> 00:40:50.159
<v Speaker 2>compound and delay the actual human missions for years. Are

809
00:40:50.159 --> 00:40:54.440
<v Speaker 2>we accidentally frantically building the Solar System's most expensive, fully powered,

810
00:40:54.440 --> 00:40:56.800
<v Speaker 2>pressurized ghost town let that sink in