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>I want you to do something tonight, just you know,

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<v Speaker 2>for a minute or two.

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<v Speaker 3>Highly recommend it.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, right, step outside, look up at the night sky

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<v Speaker 2>and just find the moon. I mean really look at it.

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<v Speaker 3>Take a good long look.

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<v Speaker 2>Because for our entire lives, and honestly, for all of

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<v Speaker 2>human history, before this exact moment, that silver disc up

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<v Speaker 2>there has just been well, a symbol.

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<v Speaker 3>It's been poetry, basically.

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<v Speaker 2>Exactly, a destination for dreamers, a subject for artists, and

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<v Speaker 2>you know, for a very brief shining moment a few

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<v Speaker 2>decades ago, a place we actually visited, a very quick

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<v Speaker 2>camping trip. Yeah, camping trip. We went, we took some photos,

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<v Speaker 2>we'll have some footprints, collected some rocks, and we came.

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<v Speaker 3>Back and that was it for fifty years.

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<v Speaker 2>But looking up at it right now today in May

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<v Speaker 2>of twenty twenty six, everything has fundamentally changed. The Moon

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<v Speaker 2>is no longer just a celestial body floating out there

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<v Speaker 2>far from it. It is an active, heavily funded, rapidly

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<v Speaker 2>developing construction site. I mean, humanity is officially packing its

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<v Speaker 2>bags and we are not just visiting this time. We

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<v Speaker 2>are moving in.

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<v Speaker 3>We really are. And it is a profound psychological shift.

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<v Speaker 3>You know, the difference between a camping trip and building

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<v Speaker 3>a permanent homestead alter is literally every single engineering and

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<v Speaker 3>logistical parameter you can think of.

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<v Speaker 2>It changes the whole game completely.

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<v Speaker 3>When you look at the sheer scale of what is

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<v Speaker 3>unfolding right now. The blueprints aren't just theoretical anymore. They

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<v Speaker 3>are funded, they're contracted, The checks have cleared exactly, and

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<v Speaker 3>the hardware is actively being built, tested, and in some

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<v Speaker 3>case is it's literally already sitting on the launch pad.

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<v Speaker 3>We are watching the transition from exploration to sustained occupation

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<v Speaker 3>in real time.

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<v Speaker 2>And that's exactly what we're going to map out today.

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<v Speaker 2>We're going to walk through this newly operational, three phase

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<v Speaker 2>lunar base plan, which is frankly just mind blowing in

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<v Speaker 2>its scope. It really is stagger we'll examine the commercial

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<v Speaker 2>fleet that's actually making this possible, the specific architectural differences

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<v Speaker 2>between the landers, the buggies, and the drones that have

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<v Speaker 2>to somehow all work together.

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<v Speaker 3>That integration is a massive puzzle.

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<v Speaker 2>Huge puzzle. And then we're going to break down the

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<v Speaker 2>sheer brutal physics of building a localized power grid in

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<v Speaker 2>a vacuum.

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<v Speaker 3>Oh, the dust, we have to talk about the dust.

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<v Speaker 2>We'll definitely get into the razor dust. And finally we

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<v Speaker 2>are going to unpack the incredibly thorny international space law

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<v Speaker 2>involved here, the geopolitical side, right, the profound geopolitical implications

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<v Speaker 2>of establishing actual offworld territory, because you don't just build

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<v Speaker 2>a base that massive with out drawing a line in

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<v Speaker 2>the lunar dust.

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<v Speaker 3>And how you draw that line changes absolutely everything down

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<v Speaker 3>here on Earth too, Exactly those lines are going to

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<v Speaker 3>define the next century of human progress, really, both scientifically

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<v Speaker 3>and politically. The decisions being made right now, like this month,

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<v Speaker 3>are setting the precedent for how humanity will operate beyond

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<v Speaker 3>Earth orbit forever. No pressure right right, there is no

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<v Speaker 3>historical playbook for this, none to.

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<v Speaker 2>Put this in perspective. For you, think about the early

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<v Speaker 2>days of aviation, you had the right brothers. You had

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<v Speaker 2>those barn Stormers doing these incredible death defying stunts in biplanes, landing.

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<v Speaker 3>And cow pastures exactly.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, it was spectacular, but it was fleeting. That was

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<v Speaker 2>the Apollo era, incredible feats of human bravery and engineering,

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<v Speaker 2>but essentially they were magnificent stunts designed to prove a point,

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<v Speaker 2>to win a race. Yeah, have to beat the Soviets.

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<v Speaker 2>But what we are looking at now, right now, in

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<v Speaker 2>twenty twenty six, is the equivalent of someone walking onto

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<v Speaker 2>an empty field and saying, we are building an international

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<v Speaker 2>airport right here. Pour the concrete, pave the runways, build

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<v Speaker 2>a terminal, set up the air traffic control. It's the

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<v Speaker 2>shift from proving we can fly to building the actual

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<v Speaker 2>infrastructure so we can stay. And the part that is

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<v Speaker 2>just the timeline, the part that still breaks my brain

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<v Speaker 2>is the timeline. The velocity this entire operation is staggering,

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<v Speaker 2>it really is.

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<v Speaker 3>I mean, we can't even begin to analyze the actual

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<v Speaker 3>hardware they're building on the Moon until we understand the

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<v Speaker 3>immense time pressure under which it's being developed.

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<v Speaker 2>It's moving so fast.

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<v Speaker 3>So fast. The operational strategy is entirely dictated by this

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<v Speaker 3>highly aggressive cadence.

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<v Speaker 2>Let's ground this in where we are right this second.

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<v Speaker 2>Last month, April twenty twenty six, the Artemis the second

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<v Speaker 2>mission blew everyone away.

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<v Speaker 3>Oh it was gorgeous.

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<v Speaker 2>We had four astronauts fly around the Moon, and they

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<v Speaker 2>traveled deeper into space than any of the Apollo crews

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<v Speaker 2>did back in the late sixties and early.

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<v Speaker 3>Seventies, setting new distance records.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and there was that incredible moment on April sixth,

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<v Speaker 2>the lunar eclipse of the Sun, captured right from lunar orbit.

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<v Speaker 2>It just felt so historic.

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<v Speaker 3>A genuinely iconic image.

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<v Speaker 2>But the wild part is the space agencies aren't even

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<v Speaker 2>pausing to take a breast. They're already looking at Artemis

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<v Speaker 2>the Third, which is targeted for mid twenty twenty seven,

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<v Speaker 2>just next year, right, And for that mission, they're going

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<v Speaker 2>to be practicing docking the Orion capsule in Earth orbit

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<v Speaker 2>with the commercial lunar landers. All of this is setting

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<v Speaker 2>the stage for two astronauts to actually touch down on

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<v Speaker 2>the lunar surface as early as twenty twenty.

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<v Speaker 3>Eight, which is just around the corner. To go from

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<v Speaker 3>a deep space fly around right to orbital docking rehearsals

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<v Speaker 3>to a crude surface landing and essentially a two to

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<v Speaker 3>three year window. Is it's unprecedented?

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<v Speaker 2>It really is.

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<v Speaker 3>But that docking practice you mentioned for mid twenty twenty seven,

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<v Speaker 3>that is the critical linchpin of the entire endeavor.

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<v Speaker 2>See Okay, let's unpack this because I have to challenge

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<v Speaker 2>this timeline a bit. To a lot of people, practicing

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<v Speaker 2>docking in Earth orbit almost sounds like a step backward.

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<v Speaker 2>How so, Well, we just flew hundreds of thousands of

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<v Speaker 2>miles deeper into space than a hollow just a month ago.

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<v Speaker 2>Now we're talking about hanging out in low Worth orbit

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<v Speaker 2>next year just to practice connecting.

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<v Speaker 3>Two ships together, right, I see what you mean.

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<v Speaker 2>And then a crude surface landing the year after. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>I mean trying to dock in Earth orbit right before

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<v Speaker 2>you go to the Moon feels like, I don't know,

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<v Speaker 2>practicing putting your seat belt on while you're already backing

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<v Speaker 2>out of the driveway.

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<v Speaker 3>That's a great visual.

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<v Speaker 2>Is this timeline wildly optimistic? Or does having an entirely

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<v Speaker 2>new operational model change the math?

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<v Speaker 3>Oh? It changes the math completely. You have to remember

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<v Speaker 3>how the Apollo architecture worked. It was a single monolithic,

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<v Speaker 3>government driven.

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<v Speaker 2>Design the giant Saturn V.

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<v Speaker 3>The Saturn V launched everything at once, the command module,

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<v Speaker 3>the service module, the lunar lander. They were all stacked

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<v Speaker 3>on top of each.

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<v Speaker 2>Other like a giant layered cake.

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<v Speaker 3>Exactly built by the same core network of contractors under

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<v Speaker 3>a single guiding agency. Everything was custom built for one

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<v Speaker 3>specific linear sequence of events.

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<v Speaker 2>So they just undocked and redocked with the right.

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<v Speaker 3>But Artemis is entirely modular. You have an Orion capsule

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<v Speaker 3>built by Lockheed Martin launching on a Space Launch System rocket,

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<v Speaker 3>but it has to rendezvous and physically dock with a

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<v Speaker 3>lunar lander built by entirely different commercial entities.

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<v Speaker 2>Like SpaceX or Blue Origin.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, and those landers launched on their own separate rockets

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<v Speaker 3>days or weeks prior.

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<v Speaker 2>So it's not just one train leaving the station anymore.

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<v Speaker 2>It's multiple vehicles leaving from different places, built by different

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<v Speaker 2>companies that have to meet up mid journey precisely.

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<v Speaker 3>And that modularity requires intense orchestration practicing that docking in

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<v Speaker 3>Earth orbit isn't a step backward at all. It is

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<v Speaker 3>an absolute physical.

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<v Speaker 2>Necessity because the risk is so high.

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<v Speaker 3>Think of it this way, Orbital docking is like trying

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<v Speaker 3>to thread a needle while both you and the needle

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<v Speaker 3>are riding a roller coaster traveling at seventeen thousan five

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<v Speaker 3>hundred miles per hour.

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<v Speaker 2>That is terrifying.

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<v Speaker 3>And that's in Earth orbit. When you are two hundred

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<v Speaker 3>and forty thousand miles away from Earth, in the vacuum

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<v Speaker 3>of deep space, in a totally different gravity. Well, connecting

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<v Speaker 3>two massive, complex vehicles requires absolute perfection.

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<v Speaker 2>You can't just pull over a few miss No.

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<v Speaker 3>You have latency in communications. And more importantly, if something

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<v Speaker 3>goes wrong during docking and deep space, your abort options

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<v Speaker 3>are severely limited.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh, I get it, because if you're in lowerth orbit,

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<v Speaker 2>you're only a few hours from splashing down in the

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<v Speaker 2>ocean if you have to bail out.

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<v Speaker 3>Exactly, Earth orbit provides a relatively safe, highly monitored parking lot.

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<v Speaker 3>To ensure these distinct pieces of hardware with their totally

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<v Speaker 3>distinct software ecosystems can physically.

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<v Speaker 2>Integrate like a shakedown cruise.

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<v Speaker 3>They are testing the avionics, the reaction control thrusters, the

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<v Speaker 3>physical docking latches, and the life support and bilicles. They

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<v Speaker 3>have to prove that the modular architecture works before they

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<v Speaker 3>take it to the highway of translunar space.

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<v Speaker 2>Which perfectly illustrates why the old way of doing logistics

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<v Speaker 2>is completely out the window. The old way being where

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<v Speaker 2>the astronauts basically bring everything they need in their own backpacks.

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<v Speaker 2>This modular approach means you don't have to carry your

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<v Speaker 2>house on your back. You can send the house ahead of.

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<v Speaker 3>Time, which is a massive paradigm shift.

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<v Speaker 2>We are looking at hundreds of billions of dollars in

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<v Speaker 2>contracts just awarded to major US companies to build what

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<v Speaker 2>is effectively a commercial moving fleet. NASA is acting less

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<v Speaker 2>like a manufacturer and more like a general contractor hiring

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<v Speaker 2>out specialized firms.

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<v Speaker 3>It is a profound shift in procurement and it's what

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<v Speaker 3>enables the mass and scale required for a permanent base. Historically,

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<v Speaker 3>human spaceflight involved the crew arriving with their equipment right,

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<v Speaker 3>but the sheer tonnage required for sustained occupation makes that

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<v Speaker 3>impossible to launch on a single rocket.

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<v Speaker 2>So let's break down this fleet because the architecture is fascinating.

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<v Speaker 2>You have Blue Origin tasked with providing a pair of

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<v Speaker 2>cargo landers, big ones, too huge, and these landers aren't

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<v Speaker 2>for the crew, at least not initially. Their job is

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<v Speaker 2>precision delivery of heavy surface infrastructure. Specifically, they are delivering

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<v Speaker 2>the moon buggies for normally called lunar terrain vehicles which

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<v Speaker 2>are being built by Astrolab and lunar outposts, the surface rovers.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>Then you have SpaceX utilizing their massive starship architecture developing

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<v Speaker 2>the landers for the actual human crews.

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<v Speaker 3>Which is a skyscraper of a ship, literally a skyscraper.

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<v Speaker 2>And on top of all that, you have Firefly Aerospace

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<v Speaker 2>delivering the first autonomous drones to the Moon. Firefly already

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<v Speaker 2>proved they could do this when they successfully landed their

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<v Speaker 2>Blue Ghost lander on the Moon last year in twenty twenty.

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<v Speaker 3>Five, a huge milestone for them.

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<v Speaker 2>And all of this hardware is being aimed at the

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<v Speaker 2>lunar South Pole, and crucially, all these machines are scheduled

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<v Speaker 2>to arrive before the first Artemis astronauts even get there

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<v Speaker 2>in twenty twenty eight.

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<v Speaker 3>Sending the moving trucks first solves the most critical bottleneck

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<v Speaker 3>of surface operations, which is astronaut time.

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<v Speaker 2>Because they're on the clock the second day land.

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<v Speaker 3>Exactly when a human being is in a pressurized suit

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<v Speaker 3>on the lunar surface. Every single second is a multimillion

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<v Speaker 3>dollar resource.

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<v Speaker 2>You don't want them doing chores.

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<v Speaker 3>You do not want them. I'm spending their highly dangerous,

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<v Speaker 3>precious initial days on the surface unpacking crates, assembling solar panels,

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<v Speaker 3>or deploying basic transport.

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<v Speaker 2>It makes total sense by relying on.

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<v Speaker 3>Autonomous and remotely operated commercial hardware. The crew arrives to

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<v Speaker 3>a site that is already precked, the buggies are charged,

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<v Speaker 3>the science payloads are deployed, the communication relays are active.

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<v Speaker 2>I keep thinking of this like having a service deliver

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<v Speaker 2>your furniture, assemble all the Ikea beds, and set up

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<v Speaker 2>your Wi Fi radder before you even get the keys

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<v Speaker 2>to the new house.

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<v Speaker 3>It's a luxury, but a necessary one up there.

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<v Speaker 2>But looking at the hardware, the integration problem seems terrifying.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, Blue Origin is building the cargo landers, Astrolab

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<v Speaker 2>is building the buggies, SpaceX is building the crew modules,

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<v Speaker 2>Firefly is building the drones.

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<v Speaker 3>Lots of different cooks in the kitchen.

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<v Speaker 2>How do all these different commercial pieces seamlessly integrate in

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<v Speaker 2>a lethal vacuum. Honestly, if I buy a smart light bulb,

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<v Speaker 2>half the time, it won't connect to my phone.

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<v Speaker 3>Right in your living room. Isn't trying to kill you?

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<v Speaker 2>Exactly? What if the Firefly delivery drone uses a completely

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<v Speaker 2>different telemetry standard than the Astra Lab buggy.

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<v Speaker 3>That is the multi billion dollar engineering puzzle that keeps

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<v Speaker 3>systems integrators awake at night. You are dealing with disparate

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<v Speaker 3>corporate cultures, proprietary software stacks, and different engineering.

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<v Speaker 2>Philosophies, So how do they manage it?

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<v Speaker 3>However, this modular commercial approach is also the only way

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<v Speaker 3>to foster rapid innovation. By relying on a diverse ecosystem,

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<v Speaker 3>you eliminate the single points of failure that plagued government

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<v Speaker 3>only programs.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh like, if one thing breaks, the whole mission isn't scrapped.

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<v Speaker 3>Exactly, if a specific component of the Astra Lab buggy

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<v Speaker 3>is delayed, it doesn't ground the SpaceX crew lander or

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<v Speaker 3>the Firefly drone. They operate on standardized interfaces, agreed upon

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<v Speaker 3>mechanical and digital handshakes, and we are.

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<v Speaker 2>Seeing the physical evidence that this commercial sector is spooling

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<v Speaker 2>up to handle the mass requirements. Just look at the

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<v Speaker 2>hardware tests happening right now. The pace of testing is

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<v Speaker 2>relentless on May twenty third, just days ago, SpaceX launched

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<v Speaker 2>its biggest, most beefed up Starship yet on a flight test.

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<v Speaker 2>The payload capacity of that vehicle alone fundamentally changes what

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<v Speaker 2>we can put on the surface.

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<v Speaker 3>It really does.

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<v Speaker 2>We aren't talking about tiny, delicate, little probes anymore. We

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<v Speaker 2>are talking about hundreds of metric tons of steel, batteries

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<v Speaker 2>and life support systems.

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<v Speaker 3>The mass torbit capability of something like Starship, paired with

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<v Speaker 3>the precision landing capabilities of the Blue Origin platforms, gives

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<v Speaker 3>mission planners a toolkit they have just never had before.

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<v Speaker 2>It's a whole new ballgame.

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<v Speaker 3>But launching the mass is only half the battle. Navigating

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<v Speaker 3>it to the destination efficiently is just as critical, which

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<v Speaker 3>ties into the routing advancements, right.

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<v Speaker 2>I was actually looking at that new mathematical method calculated

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<v Speaker 2>on May fifteenth for the most efficient Earth Moon.

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<v Speaker 3>Route yet the orbital mechanics side of things.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, and my initial thought was, don't we just point

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<v Speaker 2>the rocket at where the moon is going to be

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<v Speaker 2>and hit the gas. Why do we need new math

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<v Speaker 2>for a route we've already flown.

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<v Speaker 3>Because orbital mechanics is not about flying in a straight line.

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<v Speaker 3>It's about surfing gravity wells surfing. Yeah, when Apalla went

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<v Speaker 3>to the Moon, they used a direct, high energy trajectory.

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<v Speaker 3>They burned a massive amount of fuel to get there

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<v Speaker 3>in three days, and they burn a massive amount of

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<v Speaker 3>fuel to break and enter lunar orbit.

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<v Speaker 2>So they were just powering through it, right.

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<v Speaker 3>That requires an enormous fuel fraction, meaning most of the

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<v Speaker 3>rocket's weight is just propellant, leaving very little room for

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<v Speaker 3>actual cargo.

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<v Speaker 2>So high speed, low efficiency, kind of like driving a

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<v Speaker 2>sports car on the highway but you're stuck in second gear.

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<v Speaker 3>That's a great analogy. What mission planners are using now

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<v Speaker 3>and what these new mathematical models optimize are concepts like

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<v Speaker 3>ballistic lunar transfers or utilizing the weak stability boundary.

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

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<v Speaker 3>Instead of brute forcing their way against Earth's gravity, they

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00:14:53.799 --> 00:14:57.559
<v Speaker 3>launched the spacecraft much further out, sometimes millions of miles,

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<v Speaker 3>allowing the subtle gravitational pull of the Sun to alter

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<v Speaker 3>the spacecraft's trajectory.

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<v Speaker 2>Wait, they go out past the Moon to get to

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<v Speaker 2>the Moon.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, the Sun's gravity effectively tugs the spacecraft's orbit, reshaping

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<v Speaker 3>it so that it perfectly intersects with the Moon's orbit

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<v Speaker 3>at the exact right velocity.

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<v Speaker 2>So instead of slam on the brakes when you get

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<v Speaker 2>to the Moon, you just sort of glide perfectly into

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<v Speaker 2>its lane at the exact same speed it's already traveling precisely.

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<v Speaker 3>It can take months instead of days. But the delta

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<v Speaker 3>vse savings the amount of fuel required to execute the

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<v Speaker 3>maneuvers is incredibly significant.

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<v Speaker 2>And less fuel means more cardo exactly.

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<v Speaker 3>And when you are a commercial company trying to deliver

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00:15:36.120 --> 00:15:39.000
<v Speaker 3>heavy infrastructure like a lunar buggy or a power station,

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<v Speaker 3>fuel efficiency directly translates to payload capacity. You can carry

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<v Speaker 3>more solar panels, more batteries, and more scientific gear if

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<v Speaker 3>you don't have to carry as much propellant.

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<v Speaker 2>And all of that heavy infrastructure is heading to a

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<v Speaker 2>very specific destination. They aren't going back to the equatorial

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<v Speaker 2>regions like the Sea of Tranquility where Apollo eleven land is.

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<v Speaker 3>No, they're heading south right.

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<v Speaker 2>They're aiming exclusively for the lunar south Pole, which applies

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<v Speaker 2>this isn't just about exploration anymore. This is a massive

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<v Speaker 2>hunt for resources.

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<v Speaker 3>The lunar south pole is, without hyperbole, the most valuable

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<v Speaker 3>real estate in the inner solar system right now.

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<v Speaker 2>Wow.

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00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:20.399
<v Speaker 3>It is defined by its extreme lighting conditions. Because the

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<v Speaker 3>Moon's axis is barely tilted relative to the sun, the

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<v Speaker 3>sunlight hits the poles at a very shallow horizontal angle.

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<v Speaker 2>So it casts really long shadows.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, it creates areas of permanent shadow at the bottom

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<v Speaker 3>of deep impact craters, regions that literally haven't seen sunlight

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<v Speaker 3>in billions of years.

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00:16:36.919 --> 00:16:38.039
<v Speaker 2>That's haunting to think about.

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<v Speaker 3>In those cold traps, temperatures drop to nearly absolute zero,

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<v Speaker 3>and they harbor immense reserves of volatile resources, most notably

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<v Speaker 3>water ice, And.

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<v Speaker 2>Right next to those freezing craters, you have the exact

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<v Speaker 2>opposite extreme.

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<v Speaker 3>Correct on the rims of those craters, and on adjacent

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<v Speaker 3>mountain peaks you have areas of near eternal sunlight.

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<v Speaker 2>Because they're elevated above the shadow.

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<v Speaker 3>Exactly so, within a few few kilometers of each other,

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<v Speaker 3>you have the two things necessary to sustain human presence

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<v Speaker 3>water ice for drinking breathable oxygen, and rocket fuel juxtaposed

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<v Speaker 3>with permanent sunlight for continuous solar power.

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<v Speaker 2>It's like an oasis.

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<v Speaker 3>That unique geography makes the South Pole the only logical

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<v Speaker 3>place to establish a permanent foothold, which brings.

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<v Speaker 2>Us to the most mind bending part of the timeline.

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<v Speaker 2>What happens after the moving trucks arrive and the astronaut's

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<v Speaker 2>land in twenty twenty eight the long term plan right,

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00:17:30.160 --> 00:17:33.079
<v Speaker 2>because twenty twenty eight is just the starting line. Once

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<v Speaker 2>they are there, the narrative completely shifts from getting there

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00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:39.920
<v Speaker 2>to staying there. We move into Phase two and Phase

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00:17:39.960 --> 00:17:41.599
<v Speaker 2>three of the operational.

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00:17:41.079 --> 00:17:43.960
<v Speaker 3>Plan, and this is where the sheer audacity of the

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<v Speaker 3>engineering required really comes into focus.

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<v Speaker 2>Let's lay it out for everyone. Phase two kicks off

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<v Speaker 2>in twenty twenty nine and runs into the early twenty thirties.

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<v Speaker 2>The entire focus of this phase is building permanent infrastructure,

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<v Speaker 2>heavy infrastructure, and the centerpiece of that infrastructure power grid,

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<v Speaker 2>a literal physical power grid on the surface of the Moon.

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<v Speaker 3>It sounds like Sci Fi, but it's happening.

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<v Speaker 2>Then, as we move into Phase three sometime in the

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<v Speaker 2>twenty thirties, the plan shifts to constructing specialized permanent habitats

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<v Speaker 2>to support astronauts for extended periods. There's this quote from

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<v Speaker 2>Carlos Garcia Gullin, the executive of NASA's Moon Base program,

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<v Speaker 2>that puts a pin in exactly what this means. He stated,

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<v Speaker 2>then we'll be able to say, hey, we're permanently here

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<v Speaker 2>and we're not giving it up.

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<v Speaker 3>The gravity of that statement is immense. We're permanently here

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00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:33.359
<v Speaker 3>and we're not giving it up. It is a definitive

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<v Speaker 3>policy shift.

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00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:34.680
<v Speaker 2>It's huge.

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<v Speaker 3>It marks the end of the exploratory era where we

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<v Speaker 3>plant a flag and return, and the beginning of the

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00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:40.519
<v Speaker 3>settlement era.

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00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:43.519
<v Speaker 2>See I hear power grid and my brain just stalls out.

388
00:18:43.839 --> 00:18:47.000
<v Speaker 2>We go from remotely driving astrolab buggies around in twenty

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00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:49.880
<v Speaker 2>twenty eight to laying down a functional electrical grid in

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00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:50.680
<v Speaker 2>just a year or two.

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00:18:50.839 --> 00:18:51.720
<v Speaker 3>It's a steep curve.

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00:18:52.119 --> 00:18:53.880
<v Speaker 2>Setting aside the fact that we have a hard enough

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00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:56.559
<v Speaker 2>time keeping the power grid running during a bad winter

394
00:18:56.640 --> 00:19:01.039
<v Speaker 2>storm here on Earth, how exactly do you build hard

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00:19:01.319 --> 00:19:06.119
<v Speaker 2>physical electrical infrastructure in a place with zero atmosphere, zero

396
00:19:06.200 --> 00:19:09.400
<v Speaker 2>wind or water for cooling, and a surface made of

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00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:10.880
<v Speaker 2>microscopic razor blades.

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00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:13.480
<v Speaker 3>It's a hostile work environment, to say the least.

399
00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:15.839
<v Speaker 2>What are the actual physics of building a grid there?

400
00:19:16.119 --> 00:19:19.119
<v Speaker 3>A localized power grid is the ultimate dividing line between

401
00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:23.119
<v Speaker 3>a temporary outpost and a permanent base. You simply cannot

402
00:19:23.240 --> 00:19:26.640
<v Speaker 3>run long term life support systems or heavy drills for

403
00:19:26.680 --> 00:19:30.720
<v Speaker 3>ice extraction or fuel processing plants on temporary batteries or

404
00:19:30.759 --> 00:19:32.680
<v Speaker 3>small lander mounted solar panels.

405
00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:33.799
<v Speaker 2>You need real juice.

406
00:19:33.880 --> 00:19:37.759
<v Speaker 3>You need reliable, continuous, high kill WoT power. But the

407
00:19:37.799 --> 00:19:41.799
<v Speaker 3>engineering environment is, as you said, actively hostile. Let's start

408
00:19:41.799 --> 00:19:43.680
<v Speaker 3>with the dust, the lunar regoliths.

409
00:19:43.400 --> 00:19:45.240
<v Speaker 2>Right, because it's not like sand at the beach. Sand

410
00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:47.559
<v Speaker 2>on Earth has been tumbling around in oceans and blowing

411
00:19:47.559 --> 00:19:49.160
<v Speaker 2>in the wind for millions of years.

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00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:53.039
<v Speaker 3>It's smooth exactly. Lunar regolith is created by billions of

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00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:57.000
<v Speaker 3>years of micrometeorite impacts smashing into the surface. There is

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00:19:57.079 --> 00:19:59.440
<v Speaker 3>no atmospheric weathering to smooth the edges.

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00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:00.559
<v Speaker 2>It's just sharp.

416
00:20:00.880 --> 00:20:06.000
<v Speaker 3>It is essentially composed of microscopic, jagged, asymmetrical shards of

417
00:20:06.039 --> 00:20:10.079
<v Speaker 3>glass and crush rock. It is incredibly abrasive.

418
00:20:09.799 --> 00:20:11.680
<v Speaker 2>Like breathing in fiberglass or worse.

419
00:20:12.039 --> 00:20:15.640
<v Speaker 3>It will degrade silicon seals, jam mechanical gears, and scratch

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00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:18.880
<v Speaker 3>the protective coatings right off of solar panels. But the

421
00:20:18.920 --> 00:20:21.319
<v Speaker 3>shape of the dust isn't even the worst part. It's

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00:20:21.319 --> 00:20:22.599
<v Speaker 3>the electrical charge.

423
00:20:22.759 --> 00:20:25.240
<v Speaker 2>I always forget about the charge. How does dust get

424
00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:26.880
<v Speaker 2>a static charge in a vacuum.

425
00:20:27.160 --> 00:20:30.400
<v Speaker 3>It's driven by the environment itself. On the sunlit side

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00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:32.920
<v Speaker 3>of the Moon, there is no atmosphere to block the

427
00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:37.880
<v Speaker 3>Sun's ultraviolet radiation. That intense UV light hits the silicate

428
00:20:37.920 --> 00:20:41.480
<v Speaker 3>regolith and actually knocks electrons off the dust particles through

429
00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:42.680
<v Speaker 3>the photoelectric effect.

430
00:20:42.759 --> 00:20:44.200
<v Speaker 2>Wow, just strip some right off.

431
00:20:44.279 --> 00:20:48.200
<v Speaker 3>Leaves the sunlit dust with a strong positive charge. Meanwhile,

432
00:20:48.200 --> 00:20:50.519
<v Speaker 3>on the night side, the solar wind, which is a

433
00:20:50.519 --> 00:20:53.279
<v Speaker 3>stream of charged particles from the Sun, sweeps past the

434
00:20:53.319 --> 00:20:56.519
<v Speaker 3>Moon and electrons from that plasma hit the dark side,

435
00:20:56.640 --> 00:20:59.359
<v Speaker 3>giving the dust there a strong negative charge.

436
00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:03.359
<v Speaker 2>So the dust literally clings to everything magnetically electrostatically.

437
00:21:03.480 --> 00:21:07.039
<v Speaker 3>Yes, because it's charged. It sticks to spacesuits, it coats

438
00:21:07.079 --> 00:21:11.000
<v Speaker 3>camera lenses, and crucially, it will coat the solar arrays

439
00:21:11.039 --> 00:21:13.039
<v Speaker 3>and thermal radiators of a power grid.

440
00:21:13.559 --> 00:21:14.799
<v Speaker 2>That's a nightmare for maintenance.

441
00:21:14.839 --> 00:21:17.839
<v Speaker 3>It gets crazier near the terminator line, the boundary between

442
00:21:17.960 --> 00:21:19.880
<v Speaker 3>day and night. The difference in charge can be so

443
00:21:20.039 --> 00:21:23.359
<v Speaker 3>strong that the dust actually levitates off the surface.

444
00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:25.720
<v Speaker 2>Wait, really levitating dust?

445
00:21:25.920 --> 00:21:29.279
<v Speaker 3>Yes? When you are trying to lay miles of power

446
00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:32.680
<v Speaker 3>cables to connect a solar array situated on a sunlit

447
00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:35.200
<v Speaker 3>peak down into a shadowed crater where the water ice

448
00:21:35.240 --> 00:21:38.400
<v Speaker 3>operations are. You have to engineer the cable shielding and

449
00:21:38.440 --> 00:21:42.039
<v Speaker 3>the mechanical connectors to survive being dragged through an abrasive,

450
00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:45.119
<v Speaker 3>highly charged levitating field of glass.

451
00:21:45.160 --> 00:21:47.680
<v Speaker 2>That is just wow. And what about the temperature swings

452
00:21:47.960 --> 00:21:51.640
<v Speaker 2>Because a power grid implies metal, cables, transformers, physical connections.

453
00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:53.880
<v Speaker 3>Oh, the thermal dynamics are brutal.

454
00:21:53.960 --> 00:21:56.720
<v Speaker 2>I know, heat causes metal to expand and coals causes

455
00:21:56.720 --> 00:21:59.279
<v Speaker 2>it to contract. What kind of temperatures are these cables?

456
00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:03.039
<v Speaker 3>Dealing with thermal dynamics are arguably the hardest physical constraint.

457
00:22:03.720 --> 00:22:06.400
<v Speaker 3>In direct sunlight at the lunar equator, temperatures can reach

458
00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:10.559
<v Speaker 3>two hundred and fifty degrees fahrenheit, boiling. Beyond boiling, in

459
00:22:10.599 --> 00:22:13.240
<v Speaker 3>the permanent shadows of the polar craters, they plunge to

460
00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:16.440
<v Speaker 3>minus three hundred degrees fahrenheit or even colder.

461
00:22:16.519 --> 00:22:17.400
<v Speaker 2>Oh my god.

462
00:22:17.680 --> 00:22:20.319
<v Speaker 3>If your power cable runs from a sunlit peak into

463
00:22:20.359 --> 00:22:23.960
<v Speaker 3>a shadowed crater, the coefficient of thermal expansion means the

464
00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:27.279
<v Speaker 3>sunlit portion of the cable is trying to aggressively expand

465
00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:31.039
<v Speaker 3>while this shadowed portion is violently contracting that sounds.

466
00:22:30.839 --> 00:22:33.400
<v Speaker 2>Like the metal would literally just shear itself apart over time.

467
00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:37.880
<v Speaker 3>It absolutely causes extreme material fatigue. It requires alloys and

468
00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:41.519
<v Speaker 3>composite materials that simply don't see typical use in Earth

469
00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:46.920
<v Speaker 3>based construction. Furthermore, without an atmosphere, there is no convective cooling.

470
00:22:47.079 --> 00:22:48.440
<v Speaker 2>What does it mean for the electronics.

471
00:22:48.839 --> 00:22:51.680
<v Speaker 3>Well, if a transformer or a power distribution node on

472
00:22:51.720 --> 00:22:54.799
<v Speaker 3>Earth gets hot, the air around it absorbs the heat

473
00:22:54.799 --> 00:22:55.400
<v Speaker 3>and carries it.

474
00:22:55.359 --> 00:22:56.960
<v Speaker 2>Away, ween just cools it down.

475
00:22:56.880 --> 00:22:59.680
<v Speaker 3>Right on the Moon in a vacuum. The only way

476
00:22:59.680 --> 00:23:02.640
<v Speaker 3>to show at excess heat from electrical resistance is through

477
00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:08.400
<v Speaker 3>thermal radiation, which requires large, heavy, highly specialized radiator panels.

478
00:23:08.759 --> 00:23:10.799
<v Speaker 3>And those panels, of course have to be kept clean

479
00:23:10.839 --> 00:23:12.960
<v Speaker 3>of the charged insulating lunar dust.

480
00:23:13.279 --> 00:23:17.680
<v Speaker 2>So to recap here we need highly specialized thermally resilient

481
00:23:17.720 --> 00:23:20.680
<v Speaker 2>cables that won't snap when half of them are freezing

482
00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:23.720
<v Speaker 2>and half are boiling, coded and shielding that won't get

483
00:23:23.799 --> 00:23:28.039
<v Speaker 2>shredded by static glass dust laid down by autonomous commercial

484
00:23:28.039 --> 00:23:30.680
<v Speaker 2>buggies across miles of jagged craters.

485
00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:31.839
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that songs it up.

486
00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:33.039
<v Speaker 2>And this is just phase two.

487
00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:36.759
<v Speaker 3>It is a monumental undertaking, but it is the necessary

488
00:23:36.799 --> 00:23:41.079
<v Speaker 3>prerequisite for phase three. Once you have a stable localized grid,

489
00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:45.640
<v Speaker 3>you can begin constructing the specialized habitats designed for extended habitation.

490
00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:48.400
<v Speaker 2>And the phrase extended periods does a lot of heavy

491
00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:51.599
<v Speaker 2>lifting in these plans. We aren't talking about Apollo astronauts

492
00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:54.039
<v Speaker 2>spending seventy two hours in a tin can, taking some

493
00:23:54.160 --> 00:23:55.000
<v Speaker 2>rocks and leaving.

494
00:23:55.160 --> 00:23:56.720
<v Speaker 3>No, these are long duration stays.

495
00:23:56.839 --> 00:23:59.279
<v Speaker 2>We are talking about crews living months at a time

496
00:23:59.319 --> 00:24:02.920
<v Speaker 2>on the surface. That fundamentally shifts the engineering from simple

497
00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:07.559
<v Speaker 2>survival to long term sustainability. You mentioned radiation earlier. I

498
00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:09.799
<v Speaker 2>imagine a thin aluminum hull isn't going to cut it

499
00:24:09.839 --> 00:24:11.079
<v Speaker 2>if you're staying for six months.

500
00:24:11.160 --> 00:24:14.480
<v Speaker 3>It absolutely won't without a thick atmosphere or a strong

501
00:24:14.559 --> 00:24:17.799
<v Speaker 3>global magnetic field like Earth has. The surface of the

502
00:24:17.799 --> 00:24:21.680
<v Speaker 3>Moon is bombarded by lethal radiation from the Sun. Partially,

503
00:24:22.160 --> 00:24:26.079
<v Speaker 3>you have solar proton events, which are sudden, massive bursts

504
00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:29.240
<v Speaker 3>of radiation from solar flares, but you also have galactic

505
00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:33.359
<v Speaker 3>cosmic rays, which are incredibly high energy particles from outside

506
00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:34.440
<v Speaker 3>our solar system.

507
00:24:34.319 --> 00:24:36.599
<v Speaker 2>Entirely just constantly pelting the surface.

508
00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:38.759
<v Speaker 3>Yes, if a crew is on the surface during a

509
00:24:38.759 --> 00:24:42.359
<v Speaker 3>major solar flare. Without proper shielding, it is a fatal event.

510
00:24:42.599 --> 00:24:45.359
<v Speaker 2>So how do you shield a habitat if you can't launch,

511
00:24:45.880 --> 00:24:50.160
<v Speaker 2>you know, feet thick walls of lead or water from Earth.

512
00:24:50.599 --> 00:24:54.279
<v Speaker 3>You use what is already there. The most viable architectural

513
00:24:54.319 --> 00:24:58.000
<v Speaker 3>plans for phase three involve utilizing the lunar regolith itself

514
00:24:58.160 --> 00:25:01.759
<v Speaker 3>sharp dust, the very same. The cargo landers or autonomous

515
00:25:01.839 --> 00:25:05.039
<v Speaker 3>rovers will likely use microwave centering to melt the regolith

516
00:25:05.079 --> 00:25:08.240
<v Speaker 3>into solid blocks, or use three D printing techniques to

517
00:25:08.319 --> 00:25:12.599
<v Speaker 3>construct thick protective shells over the pressurized habitat modules.

518
00:25:12.680 --> 00:25:13.920
<v Speaker 2>Oh, so they bury themselves.

519
00:25:14.079 --> 00:25:17.119
<v Speaker 3>By burying the habitats under several meters of lunar soil,

520
00:25:17.400 --> 00:25:21.559
<v Speaker 3>you provide excellent shielding against both radiation and micrometeorite impacts,

521
00:25:21.799 --> 00:25:25.200
<v Speaker 3>while also insulating the habitat against those wild thermal swings

522
00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:25.920
<v Speaker 3>we talked about.

523
00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:28.680
<v Speaker 2>It's essentially building a high tech bunker. But even if

524
00:25:28.720 --> 00:25:31.880
<v Speaker 2>you solve the physical shielding, what about the human element.

525
00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:35.799
<v Speaker 2>A closed loop life support system for months on end

526
00:25:36.160 --> 00:25:38.200
<v Speaker 2>is completely different from a short mission.

527
00:25:38.440 --> 00:25:42.519
<v Speaker 3>The life support engineering is incredibly complex. The International Space

528
00:25:42.559 --> 00:25:45.039
<v Speaker 3>Station has taught us a lot about water reclamation and

529
00:25:45.160 --> 00:25:49.960
<v Speaker 3>oxygen generation, but the ISS is in low Earth orbit.

530
00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:53.720
<v Speaker 3>They get grocery delivery, y it receives frequent resupply shipments.

531
00:25:54.720 --> 00:25:57.440
<v Speaker 3>A lunar habitat must achieve a much higher degree of

532
00:25:57.480 --> 00:26:01.559
<v Speaker 3>closed loop autonomy. Every month molecule of water, every breath

533
00:26:01.559 --> 00:26:05.240
<v Speaker 3>of oxygen has to be scrubbed, recycled, and reused with

534
00:26:05.319 --> 00:26:06.559
<v Speaker 3>near perfect efficiency.

535
00:26:06.680 --> 00:26:08.079
<v Speaker 2>You sweat it out, you drink it later.

536
00:26:08.200 --> 00:26:10.960
<v Speaker 3>That's the reality of it, and the mental health protocols

537
00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:14.480
<v Speaker 3>will be just as rigorous. Living in a confined subterranean

538
00:26:14.519 --> 00:26:18.119
<v Speaker 3>space in a lethal environment with communication delays and no

539
00:26:18.200 --> 00:26:23.119
<v Speaker 3>immediate rescue option requires a profound level of psychological resilience.

540
00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:25.960
<v Speaker 2>Which naturally leads us to a deeply fascinating and I

541
00:26:25.960 --> 00:26:30.039
<v Speaker 2>think highly controversial aspect of this entire plant, Because if

542
00:26:30.039 --> 00:26:35.039
<v Speaker 2>you have specialized buried habitats and you have a sprawling

543
00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:39.039
<v Speaker 2>power grid connecting solar rays to creater floors, you suddenly

544
00:26:39.039 --> 00:26:42.039
<v Speaker 2>have a massive physical footprint. You're taking a real estate,

545
00:26:42.200 --> 00:26:46.480
<v Speaker 2>You are occupying and actively modifying a large chunk of

546
00:26:46.480 --> 00:26:49.759
<v Speaker 2>physical space, and that brings us to the moonfall perimeter

547
00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:53.680
<v Speaker 2>and the incredible geopolitical friction. This is creating right now.

548
00:26:53.960 --> 00:26:57.480
<v Speaker 3>This is where the extreme engineering challenges intersect with the

549
00:26:57.519 --> 00:27:01.240
<v Speaker 3>ambiguities of international space law. It is arguably the most

550
00:27:01.279 --> 00:27:03.079
<v Speaker 3>complex and delicate part of the.

551
00:27:03.119 --> 00:27:05.440
<v Speaker 2>Entire endeavor because there was no Supreme Court.

552
00:27:05.319 --> 00:27:08.200
<v Speaker 3>Of Space exactly, no police force, no zoning board.

553
00:27:08.799 --> 00:27:11.000
<v Speaker 2>Let me lay out what they're actually planning here, because

554
00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:12.920
<v Speaker 2>when I first read it it sounded like science fiction.

555
00:27:13.559 --> 00:27:18.160
<v Speaker 2>Carlos Garcia Galon envisions this lunar base eventually sprawling over

556
00:27:18.440 --> 00:27:21.880
<v Speaker 2>hundreds of square miles. It's massive, hundreds of square miles.

557
00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:24.400
<v Speaker 2>That is not a little research station. That is the

558
00:27:24.400 --> 00:27:28.920
<v Speaker 2>footprint of a major metropolitan city. And to mark the

559
00:27:28.960 --> 00:27:33.279
<v Speaker 2>perimeter of this massive operational area, they're planning to use

560
00:27:33.319 --> 00:27:35.599
<v Speaker 2>those firefly drones we talked about earlier.

561
00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:36.480
<v Speaker 3>The autonomous landers.

562
00:27:36.599 --> 00:27:40.400
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, these drones are dubbed Moonfall, and they will be

563
00:27:40.440 --> 00:27:44.680
<v Speaker 2>stationed at the corners of this territory. Now. NASA Administrator

564
00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:47.799
<v Speaker 2>Jared Isaacman was very careful with his words when discussing this.

565
00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:50.519
<v Speaker 2>He framed it with heavy diplomatic.

566
00:27:50.039 --> 00:27:51.640
<v Speaker 3>Language, very intentional wording.

567
00:27:51.799 --> 00:27:54.720
<v Speaker 2>He said, these territory markers are meant to be respectful

568
00:27:55.279 --> 00:27:58.759
<v Speaker 2>of other countries spacecraft and equipment that might be operating nearby,

569
00:27:59.319 --> 00:28:02.680
<v Speaker 2>and then he added critical phrase that the US expects

570
00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:03.920
<v Speaker 2>reciprocity in the matter.

571
00:28:04.039 --> 00:28:07.799
<v Speaker 3>That statement is a masterclass in diplomatic framing and legal maneuvering.

572
00:28:08.319 --> 00:28:10.839
<v Speaker 3>To understand why it's so provocative, you really have to

573
00:28:10.880 --> 00:28:13.799
<v Speaker 3>look at the foundational text of international space law, which

574
00:28:13.839 --> 00:28:16.559
<v Speaker 3>is the nineteen sixty seven Outer Space Treaty, the Big

575
00:28:16.599 --> 00:28:20.359
<v Speaker 3>One right. Article two of the treaty explicitly states that

576
00:28:20.519 --> 00:28:23.799
<v Speaker 3>outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is

577
00:28:23.880 --> 00:28:26.839
<v Speaker 3>not subject to national appropriation by a claim of sovereignty,

578
00:28:27.079 --> 00:28:30.640
<v Speaker 3>by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.

579
00:28:30.720 --> 00:28:31.759
<v Speaker 2>So nobody owns it.

580
00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:34.519
<v Speaker 3>No nation can legally claim that a piece of the

581
00:28:34.519 --> 00:28:35.640
<v Speaker 3>Moon belongs to them.

582
00:28:35.680 --> 00:28:39.279
<v Speaker 2>But wait, if you draw a perimeter of drones around

583
00:28:39.279 --> 00:28:42.480
<v Speaker 2>one hundred square miles of the most valuable resource rich

584
00:28:42.559 --> 00:28:45.519
<v Speaker 2>real estate at the South Pole, and you tell everyone else, hey,

585
00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:49.319
<v Speaker 2>please respect our equipment inside this giant box, haven't you

586
00:28:49.400 --> 00:28:51.079
<v Speaker 2>just effectively claimed that box.

587
00:28:51.240 --> 00:28:52.160
<v Speaker 3>It sure looks that way.

588
00:28:52.279 --> 00:28:54.319
<v Speaker 2>I mean, it sounds exactly like putting up a digital

589
00:28:54.319 --> 00:28:57.799
<v Speaker 2>white picket fence and enforcing lunar zoning laws. Yeah, how

590
00:28:57.839 --> 00:29:02.319
<v Speaker 2>does expecting reciprocity not just quietly turn into an international land.

591
00:29:02.160 --> 00:29:05.519
<v Speaker 3>Grap It is the exact tension that international space lawyers

592
00:29:05.559 --> 00:29:09.640
<v Speaker 3>are debating right now. What Isacman is outlining is a nuanced,

593
00:29:09.960 --> 00:29:13.559
<v Speaker 3>very deliberate sidestep of the sovereignty limitation, a loophole. By

594
00:29:13.640 --> 00:29:17.000
<v Speaker 3>using the language of respecting equipment, he is invoking Article

595
00:29:17.119 --> 00:29:20.519
<v Speaker 3>NIES of that same Outer Space Treaty, which requires states

596
00:29:20.519 --> 00:29:23.559
<v Speaker 3>to conduct activities with due regard to the corresponding interests

597
00:29:23.559 --> 00:29:26.359
<v Speaker 3>of others and to avoid harmful interference.

598
00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:29.559
<v Speaker 2>Ah So they are arguing that they need the massive

599
00:29:29.559 --> 00:29:32.640
<v Speaker 2>perimeter not because they own the land, but because their

600
00:29:32.640 --> 00:29:36.720
<v Speaker 2>equipment is so sensitive or dangerous that anyone coming close

601
00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:38.160
<v Speaker 2>would cause harmful interference.

602
00:29:38.240 --> 00:29:41.680
<v Speaker 3>Precisely, and from an engineering standpoint, it is a highly

603
00:29:41.759 --> 00:29:42.759
<v Speaker 3>legitimate argument.

604
00:29:42.960 --> 00:29:43.240
<v Speaker 2>It is.

605
00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:45.880
<v Speaker 3>We touched on the physics of the lunar environment earlier,

606
00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:49.000
<v Speaker 3>but consider what happens when a heavy spacecraft lands or

607
00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:52.079
<v Speaker 3>takes off in a vacuum. This is known as plume

608
00:29:52.200 --> 00:29:56.079
<v Speaker 3>surface interaction cloud. On Earth, when a rocket fires, the

609
00:29:56.119 --> 00:29:59.200
<v Speaker 3>atmosphere slows down the exhaust and the dust billows into

610
00:29:59.240 --> 00:30:01.559
<v Speaker 3>a cloud. In the vacuum of the Moon, there is

611
00:30:01.599 --> 00:30:06.039
<v Speaker 3>no air resistance when a massive multiton lander fires its

612
00:30:06.039 --> 00:30:10.680
<v Speaker 3>descent engines, it accelerates the jagged, abrasive lunar regolith outward

613
00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:14.279
<v Speaker 3>horizontally at velocities exceeding three thousand meters per second.

614
00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:15.759
<v Speaker 2>That's basically the speed of a bullet.

615
00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:19.559
<v Speaker 3>It's faster than many bullets. And because the Moon's gravity

616
00:30:19.640 --> 00:30:23.000
<v Speaker 3>is only one sixth of earths, that ejecta can travel

617
00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:26.079
<v Speaker 3>for kilometers. Some of it can even achieve lunar orbit,

618
00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:29.160
<v Speaker 3>just keeps going. If a competing space agency or a

619
00:30:29.200 --> 00:30:32.799
<v Speaker 3>commercial rival lands their spacecraft two kilometers away from your

620
00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:36.920
<v Speaker 3>multi billion dollar solar array, the ejecta from their landing

621
00:30:36.960 --> 00:30:39.160
<v Speaker 3>could completely shred your equipment.

622
00:30:39.200 --> 00:30:41.039
<v Speaker 2>Oh I see. So the physics of landing on the

623
00:30:41.039 --> 00:30:44.680
<v Speaker 2>Moon literally mandate that you keep your distance exactly.

624
00:30:44.920 --> 00:30:48.359
<v Speaker 3>You physically require a massive safety zone to prevent destroying

625
00:30:48.359 --> 00:30:51.720
<v Speaker 3>each other's infrastructure. You aren't claiming the land belongs to

626
00:30:51.759 --> 00:30:54.359
<v Speaker 3>the United States and the way that say Texas does.

627
00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:57.640
<v Speaker 3>You are claiming that the operations within this perimeter require

628
00:30:57.680 --> 00:31:01.200
<v Speaker 3>a vast safety buffer. But the g so political reality

629
00:31:01.279 --> 00:31:03.359
<v Speaker 3>is that it achieves the exact same result.

630
00:31:03.480 --> 00:31:04.839
<v Speaker 2>It's a de facto territory.

631
00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:07.839
<v Speaker 3>It is a highly strategic way to monopolize the optimal

632
00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:11.400
<v Speaker 3>landing sites, the sunlit power peaks, and the deepest ice

633
00:31:11.440 --> 00:31:15.640
<v Speaker 3>craters without technically violating the letter of the law regarding sovereignty.

634
00:31:15.839 --> 00:31:18.359
<v Speaker 2>It's like calling shotgun on the best seat in the car,

635
00:31:18.799 --> 00:31:21.519
<v Speaker 2>but arguing you only need it because your legs are long,

636
00:31:21.720 --> 00:31:22.839
<v Speaker 2>not because you own the car.

637
00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:24.200
<v Speaker 3>That's a perfect way to put it.

638
00:31:24.440 --> 00:31:27.359
<v Speaker 2>But if I'm playing devil's advocate here from the perspective

639
00:31:27.400 --> 00:31:30.960
<v Speaker 2>of the European Space Agency or the China National Space Administration,

640
00:31:31.400 --> 00:31:35.599
<v Speaker 2>the physical result is a monopoly. If the US establishes

641
00:31:35.799 --> 00:31:38.960
<v Speaker 2>one hundred square mile safety zone around the Shackleton Crater,

642
00:31:39.519 --> 00:31:42.319
<v Speaker 2>neutral law or not, they have locked down the most

643
00:31:42.319 --> 00:31:43.480
<v Speaker 2>critical resources.

644
00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:47.079
<v Speaker 3>And that is exactly how competing powers view it. The

645
00:31:47.079 --> 00:31:50.640
<v Speaker 3>Moonfall drones serve a dual purpose. On the surface, they

646
00:31:50.640 --> 00:31:55.720
<v Speaker 3>are scientific tools, communication relays, or navigation beacons, but practically

647
00:31:55.720 --> 00:31:57.200
<v Speaker 3>they are digital boundary markers.

648
00:31:57.200 --> 00:31:58.119
<v Speaker 2>They're border guards.

649
00:31:58.559 --> 00:32:02.400
<v Speaker 3>When Isaacman demands ciprocity, he is setting a legal precedent.

650
00:32:02.480 --> 00:32:05.240
<v Speaker 3>He's saying, we respect your small safety zone over there,

651
00:32:05.279 --> 00:32:08.079
<v Speaker 3>so you are legally obligated under the treaty to respect

652
00:32:08.119 --> 00:32:11.279
<v Speaker 3>our massive hundreds of square mile safety zone right here.

653
00:32:11.599 --> 00:32:11.920
<v Speaker 2>Check me.

654
00:32:12.519 --> 00:32:15.839
<v Speaker 3>It forces the international community to accept the US operational

655
00:32:15.839 --> 00:32:18.440
<v Speaker 3>footprint as a de facto exclusion zone.

656
00:32:18.559 --> 00:32:21.319
<v Speaker 2>It's breathtaking when you really think about this scale and

657
00:32:21.359 --> 00:32:24.559
<v Speaker 2>the audacity of it. One hundred square miles of lunar

658
00:32:24.640 --> 00:32:29.880
<v Speaker 2>surface ringed by autonomous drones enforcing a legal loophole driven

659
00:32:29.920 --> 00:32:31.559
<v Speaker 2>by the physics of rocket exhausts.

660
00:32:31.599 --> 00:32:32.599
<v Speaker 3>That's quite the sentence.

661
00:32:32.880 --> 00:32:35.559
<v Speaker 2>It forces us to step back from the granular details,

662
00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:38.920
<v Speaker 2>the power cables, the regulates, the drones, and ask the

663
00:32:38.920 --> 00:32:44.079
<v Speaker 2>biggest question of all, why. What is the ultimate endgame

664
00:32:44.400 --> 00:32:47.880
<v Speaker 2>driving this unprecedented expenditure of capital and engineering.

665
00:32:47.960 --> 00:32:51.720
<v Speaker 3>The endgame is multifaceted, but it ultimately points entirely away

666
00:32:51.720 --> 00:32:54.359
<v Speaker 3>from the Moon. The space agencies have laid out three

667
00:32:54.640 --> 00:32:56.599
<v Speaker 3>primary goals for this architecture.

668
00:32:56.680 --> 00:32:59.920
<v Speaker 2>Let's walk through them. The stated goals are one, encourage

669
00:33:00.079 --> 00:33:04.160
<v Speaker 2>a lunar economy to conducting deep scientific research, and three,

670
00:33:04.359 --> 00:33:07.240
<v Speaker 2>which is the foundational goal preparing for a Mars expedition.

671
00:33:07.359 --> 00:33:09.119
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, third one is the real driver, right.

672
00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:12.640
<v Speaker 2>Administrator Isaacman put it incredibly bluntly. He said, for those

673
00:33:12.680 --> 00:33:15.359
<v Speaker 2>waiting patiently, the grand return is close at hand, and

674
00:33:15.400 --> 00:33:18.200
<v Speaker 2>we will not slow down. We are really just getting started.

675
00:33:18.400 --> 00:33:20.880
<v Speaker 3>We are really just getting started, is the key phrase.

676
00:33:21.279 --> 00:33:24.759
<v Speaker 3>It points directly to the future, specifically to Mars and

677
00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:28.319
<v Speaker 3>the broader solar system. But to get there they have

678
00:33:28.359 --> 00:33:31.279
<v Speaker 3>to solve the first goal, the lunar economy.

679
00:33:31.559 --> 00:33:33.599
<v Speaker 2>Let's focus on that first goal, because when I hear

680
00:33:33.759 --> 00:33:38.000
<v Speaker 2>lunar economy, my mind immediately defaults to sci fi tropes

681
00:33:38.160 --> 00:33:43.279
<v Speaker 2>like what space billboards? Incredibly expensive lunar tourism, maybe mining

682
00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:46.519
<v Speaker 2>some rare isotopes. But what does a lunar economy actually

683
00:33:46.559 --> 00:33:48.920
<v Speaker 2>look like in practice over the next decade.

684
00:33:49.039 --> 00:33:51.960
<v Speaker 3>It looks like heavy industry. The immediate lunar economy isn't

685
00:33:52.000 --> 00:33:55.720
<v Speaker 3>about tourism. It is about in situ resource utilization or

686
00:33:55.759 --> 00:33:59.400
<v Speaker 3>issru using what's already there exactly. It is about extracting

687
00:33:59.480 --> 00:34:02.319
<v Speaker 3>that water from the shadowed craters at the South Pole.

688
00:34:02.640 --> 00:34:04.680
<v Speaker 3>Once you have water H two and you have that

689
00:34:04.799 --> 00:34:08.800
<v Speaker 3>localized power grid generating continuous solar electricity, you can use

690
00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:12.000
<v Speaker 3>electrolysis to split the water into hydrogen and oxygen.

691
00:34:12.199 --> 00:34:13.360
<v Speaker 2>Okay, basic chemistry.

692
00:34:13.440 --> 00:34:16.039
<v Speaker 3>If you liquefy those gases, you have liquid hydrogen and

693
00:34:16.039 --> 00:34:18.960
<v Speaker 3>liquid oxygen. That is hydrolocks that is premium rocket fuel.

694
00:34:19.079 --> 00:34:21.199
<v Speaker 2>So the goal isn't just to survive on the Moon,

695
00:34:21.280 --> 00:34:23.239
<v Speaker 2>it's to manufacture fuel on the Moon.

696
00:34:23.480 --> 00:34:27.159
<v Speaker 3>Precisely, If you can manufacture fuel on the Moon, the

697
00:34:27.199 --> 00:34:29.960
<v Speaker 3>Moon becomes a massive gas station for the rest of

698
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:30.840
<v Speaker 3>the Solar System.

699
00:34:30.920 --> 00:34:31.519
<v Speaker 2>Oh wow.

700
00:34:31.559 --> 00:34:34.920
<v Speaker 3>To understand why this is an economic game changer, you

701
00:34:35.079 --> 00:34:37.719
<v Speaker 3>have to look at the tyranny of the rocket equation.

702
00:34:38.679 --> 00:34:43.519
<v Speaker 3>Launching anything from Earth requires escaping a massive gravity well

703
00:34:43.880 --> 00:34:46.000
<v Speaker 3>and pushing through a thick atmosphere.

704
00:34:46.079 --> 00:34:47.320
<v Speaker 2>It takes a lot of effort.

705
00:34:47.440 --> 00:34:50.320
<v Speaker 3>The vast majority of a rocket's mass when it sits

706
00:34:50.360 --> 00:34:52.920
<v Speaker 3>on a launch pad in Florida is just the fuel

707
00:34:52.960 --> 00:34:55.639
<v Speaker 3>required to lift its own weight into low Earth orbit.

708
00:34:55.840 --> 00:34:58.239
<v Speaker 2>Right, it takes a building sized rocket just to put

709
00:34:58.280 --> 00:34:59.960
<v Speaker 2>a car sized payload into space.

710
00:35:00.440 --> 00:35:03.639
<v Speaker 3>But the Moon's gravity is only one sixth of Earth's

711
00:35:03.719 --> 00:35:06.960
<v Speaker 3>and it has no atmosphere. Launching a massive payload from

712
00:35:06.960 --> 00:35:10.159
<v Speaker 3>the lunar surface requires a tiny fraction of the energy

713
00:35:10.239 --> 00:35:10.599
<v Speaker 3>because you.

714
00:35:10.599 --> 00:35:12.559
<v Speaker 2>Aren't fighting the air or the heavy gravity.

715
00:35:12.639 --> 00:35:15.400
<v Speaker 3>If you can launch a spacecraft from Earth empty, or

716
00:35:15.480 --> 00:35:18.760
<v Speaker 3>refuel it in orbit using propellant manufactured on the Moon

717
00:35:18.800 --> 00:35:21.400
<v Speaker 3>and launched out of the shallow lunar gravity well, the

718
00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:24.920
<v Speaker 3>economics of deep space travel completely.

719
00:35:24.199 --> 00:35:25.519
<v Speaker 2>Flatt It makes everything cheaper.

720
00:35:25.760 --> 00:35:29.280
<v Speaker 3>You can send massive payloads to Mars, to the asteroid

721
00:35:29.280 --> 00:35:31.559
<v Speaker 3>belt or to the outer planets for a fraction of

722
00:35:31.559 --> 00:35:34.000
<v Speaker 3>the cost. The Moon isn't just a destination, It's a

723
00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:35.679
<v Speaker 3>strategic logistical hub.

724
00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:38.880
<v Speaker 2>Okay, so the Moon becomes an industrial port city. But

725
00:35:39.000 --> 00:35:42.400
<v Speaker 2>regarding that third goal, laying the foundation from Mars, does

726
00:35:42.440 --> 00:35:44.199
<v Speaker 2>that mean the Moon is just a pit stop?

727
00:35:44.920 --> 00:35:45.639
<v Speaker 3>Not exactly.

728
00:35:45.840 --> 00:35:48.119
<v Speaker 2>Is it just a training ground or is it the

729
00:35:48.159 --> 00:35:51.639
<v Speaker 2>main attraction for the rest of this century? Because building

730
00:35:51.679 --> 00:35:53.719
<v Speaker 2>one hundred square mile base seems like a lot of

731
00:35:53.800 --> 00:35:55.079
<v Speaker 2>effort for a practice run.

732
00:35:55.280 --> 00:35:58.400
<v Speaker 3>It has to be both. It is an economic engine

733
00:35:58.440 --> 00:36:02.320
<v Speaker 3>in its own right, driving technological advancements and generating wealth

734
00:36:02.440 --> 00:36:06.480
<v Speaker 3>through that commercial ecosystem. But simultaneously it serves as the

735
00:36:06.519 --> 00:36:10.320
<v Speaker 3>most unforgiving, high stake simulation possible for Mars.

736
00:36:10.119 --> 00:36:11.880
<v Speaker 2>To make sure we don't fail when we go further.

737
00:36:12.039 --> 00:36:15.239
<v Speaker 3>Think about everything we just discussed, the life support systems,

738
00:36:15.280 --> 00:36:19.480
<v Speaker 3>the power grids, surviving thermal extremes, the radiation shielding using

739
00:36:19.519 --> 00:36:23.039
<v Speaker 3>local regolith, the integration of autonomous commercial fleets.

740
00:36:23.360 --> 00:36:25.719
<v Speaker 2>All of that applies directly to Mars exactly.

741
00:36:26.159 --> 00:36:28.760
<v Speaker 3>The systems being tested in the twenty thirties on the

742
00:36:28.760 --> 00:36:31.960
<v Speaker 3>Moon are the exact architectures needed to survive on Mars.

743
00:36:32.280 --> 00:36:35.039
<v Speaker 3>You cannot test a life support system designed for a

744
00:36:35.079 --> 00:36:37.760
<v Speaker 3>three year Mars mission in a sterile lab on Earth

745
00:36:37.880 --> 00:36:40.480
<v Speaker 3>right or even on the International Space Station where you

746
00:36:40.519 --> 00:36:43.400
<v Speaker 3>can get an emergency resupply in a few hours. You

747
00:36:43.440 --> 00:36:46.880
<v Speaker 3>have to test it in the brutal, abrasive reality of

748
00:36:46.920 --> 00:36:48.880
<v Speaker 3>a deep space environment, and.

749
00:36:48.840 --> 00:36:52.599
<v Speaker 2>The margin for error on Mars is essentially zero compared

750
00:36:52.599 --> 00:36:53.000
<v Speaker 2>to the Moon.

751
00:36:53.199 --> 00:36:55.760
<v Speaker 3>That is the crux of it. If a transformer blows

752
00:36:55.760 --> 00:36:58.400
<v Speaker 3>out on the lunar power grid, or a habitat seal

753
00:36:58.480 --> 00:37:00.719
<v Speaker 3>begins to leak, it is an emergent and see but

754
00:37:00.800 --> 00:37:03.599
<v Speaker 3>you are only a three to five day journey from Earth.

755
00:37:03.800 --> 00:37:04.920
<v Speaker 2>You can call for a tow truck.

756
00:37:05.000 --> 00:37:08.559
<v Speaker 3>Essentially you have near real time communication with mission control.

757
00:37:08.760 --> 00:37:11.119
<v Speaker 3>But if a power grid fails on Mars, you are

758
00:37:11.199 --> 00:37:14.239
<v Speaker 3>millions of miles away. The communication delay can be up

759
00:37:14.239 --> 00:37:15.440
<v Speaker 3>to twenty minutes each way.

760
00:37:15.639 --> 00:37:18.400
<v Speaker 2>You say help, and forty minutes later you hear.

761
00:37:18.360 --> 00:37:22.960
<v Speaker 3>What's wrong exactly. There is no immediate rescue, no rapid resupply.

762
00:37:23.360 --> 00:37:28.039
<v Speaker 3>The systems have to be autonomous, redundant, and flawlessly reliable.

763
00:37:28.320 --> 00:37:31.000
<v Speaker 3>The Moon base is the proving ground where humanity learns

764
00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:34.320
<v Speaker 3>how to survive long term offworld, where we shake out

765
00:37:34.360 --> 00:37:37.119
<v Speaker 3>the bugs in the hardware and the psychology before we

766
00:37:37.280 --> 00:37:38.519
<v Speaker 3>dare take the leap.

767
00:37:38.320 --> 00:37:40.679
<v Speaker 2>To another planet that makes total sense.

768
00:37:40.559 --> 00:37:43.760
<v Speaker 3>In many ways. The Moon is the harder environment. Mars

769
00:37:43.840 --> 00:37:46.440
<v Speaker 3>has a thin atmosphere and a day night cycle of

770
00:37:46.480 --> 00:37:48.960
<v Speaker 3>about twenty four and a half hours, pretty similar to Earth.

771
00:37:49.159 --> 00:37:51.519
<v Speaker 3>But the Moon has no atmosphere and a night that

772
00:37:51.599 --> 00:37:55.000
<v Speaker 3>lasts fourteen Earth days. If your power and thermal systems

773
00:37:55.039 --> 00:37:58.159
<v Speaker 3>can survive a lunar night, they can definitely survive Mars.

774
00:37:58.360 --> 00:38:00.519
<v Speaker 2>Let's take a breath and recap this year scale of

775
00:38:00.559 --> 00:38:03.239
<v Speaker 2>the reality we've just mapped out, because it is moving

776
00:38:03.280 --> 00:38:04.800
<v Speaker 2>faster than most people realize.

777
00:38:04.800 --> 00:38:06.000
<v Speaker 3>It's moving at light speed.

778
00:38:06.280 --> 00:38:09.519
<v Speaker 2>We started with the immediate present, that record breaking Artemis,

779
00:38:09.559 --> 00:38:11.960
<v Speaker 2>the second fly around that just happened in April twenty

780
00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:15.559
<v Speaker 2>twenty six, pushing humanity deeper into the gravity well than

781
00:38:15.599 --> 00:38:19.280
<v Speaker 2>ever before. We looked at the rapid fire timeline moving

782
00:38:19.280 --> 00:38:21.800
<v Speaker 2>toward orbital docking rehearsals in twenty twenty.

783
00:38:21.519 --> 00:38:24.000
<v Speaker 3>Seven, threading the needle on a roller coaster.

784
00:38:23.960 --> 00:38:26.480
<v Speaker 2>Exactly, and an actual crude landing in twenty twenty eight,

785
00:38:27.199 --> 00:38:31.000
<v Speaker 2>we broke down the massive, decentralized commercial fleet making it happen.

786
00:38:31.360 --> 00:38:34.880
<v Speaker 2>The blue Origin cargo haulers, the astrolab surface buggies, the

787
00:38:34.920 --> 00:38:38.599
<v Speaker 2>towering SpaceX crew modules, all acting as the vanguard moving trucks,

788
00:38:38.920 --> 00:38:42.400
<v Speaker 2>utilizing incredibly complex ballistic orbital.

789
00:38:42.159 --> 00:38:44.440
<v Speaker 3>Routing, surfing the gravity wells.

790
00:38:44.639 --> 00:38:48.239
<v Speaker 2>We envisioned the twenty thirties, the brutal physical reality of

791
00:38:48.280 --> 00:38:53.039
<v Speaker 2>constructing power grids, battling abrasive electrostatically charged lunar dust, and

792
00:38:53.119 --> 00:38:58.039
<v Speaker 2>burying specialized habitats under regolith to protect astronauts from cosmic radiation.

793
00:38:58.199 --> 00:38:59.039
<v Speaker 3>So a lot to take in.

794
00:38:59.239 --> 00:39:01.599
<v Speaker 2>And then we looked at the moonfall drones sitting at

795
00:39:01.639 --> 00:39:04.440
<v Speaker 2>the corners of one hundreds of square mile perimeter, quietly

796
00:39:04.519 --> 00:39:08.480
<v Speaker 2>enforcing massive safety zones to protect against rocket ejecta, and

797
00:39:08.480 --> 00:39:12.000
<v Speaker 2>in doing so, redefining the geopolitics of outer space under

798
00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:13.440
<v Speaker 2>the banner of respectful.

799
00:39:13.000 --> 00:39:15.559
<v Speaker 3>Reciprocity, creating de facto borders, all of.

800
00:39:15.480 --> 00:39:19.480
<v Speaker 2>It driving toward a heavy industry, lunary economy, manufacturing hydrolox

801
00:39:19.519 --> 00:39:22.440
<v Speaker 2>fuel to conquer the tyranny of the rocket equation and

802
00:39:22.519 --> 00:39:23.800
<v Speaker 2>make the ultimate leap to Mars.

803
00:39:24.159 --> 00:39:28.559
<v Speaker 3>It is a phenomenal acceleration of human capability. We are

804
00:39:28.599 --> 00:39:32.320
<v Speaker 3>watching the foundation of a multiplanetary infrastructure being laid in

805
00:39:32.360 --> 00:39:36.280
<v Speaker 3>real time. The contracts are sign the metal is being cut,

806
00:39:36.360 --> 00:39:39.280
<v Speaker 3>the physics have been calculated, and the hardware is flying.

807
00:39:39.440 --> 00:39:41.000
<v Speaker 2>Which brings me back to what I asked you to

808
00:39:41.039 --> 00:39:43.840
<v Speaker 2>do at the very beginning of our conversation tonight. When

809
00:39:43.880 --> 00:39:46.239
<v Speaker 2>you step outside and look up at the moon, I

810
00:39:46.280 --> 00:39:48.519
<v Speaker 2>want you to remember everything we've talked about today.

811
00:39:48.559 --> 00:39:49.920
<v Speaker 3>It's not just a rock anymore.

812
00:39:50.079 --> 00:39:53.360
<v Speaker 2>The hardware that will permanently mark humanity's first off world

813
00:39:53.360 --> 00:39:56.239
<v Speaker 2>borders has already been built. The funds have been cleared,

814
00:39:56.400 --> 00:39:59.519
<v Speaker 2>the timeline is locked in. The shift from visiting the

815
00:39:59.559 --> 00:40:02.360
<v Speaker 2>moon to residing on the Moon is happening right now

816
00:40:02.679 --> 00:40:03.440
<v Speaker 2>above your head.

817
00:40:03.559 --> 00:40:04.519
<v Speaker 3>It's a brand new era.

818
00:40:04.800 --> 00:40:06.960
<v Speaker 2>But as you look at that silver disk, I want

819
00:40:06.960 --> 00:40:09.199
<v Speaker 2>to leave you with one lingering question to chew on.

820
00:40:10.119 --> 00:40:14.000
<v Speaker 2>As we build these sprawling bases, lay down complex power

821
00:40:14.079 --> 00:40:16.960
<v Speaker 2>grids in the regolith, and set up our digital boundary

822
00:40:16.960 --> 00:40:21.519
<v Speaker 2>markers with autonomous drones to protect our multi billion dollar investments,

823
00:40:22.239 --> 00:40:25.599
<v Speaker 2>are we truly ready for the philosophical and moral complexities

824
00:40:25.599 --> 00:40:29.480
<v Speaker 2>of becoming a multiplanetary species or in our rush to

825
00:40:29.519 --> 00:40:31.760
<v Speaker 2>claim the resources of the South Pole. Are we simply

826
00:40:31.800 --> 00:40:35.480
<v Speaker 2>exporting our earthly borders, our industrial friction, and our geopolitical

827
00:40:35.519 --> 00:40:37.079
<v Speaker 2>conflicts straight to the stars