WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.399 --> 00:00:07.719 Welcome to Bedtime Astronomy. Explore the wonders of the cosmos 2 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:12.279 with our soothing Bedtime Astronomi podcast. Each episode offers a 3 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:16.320 gentle journey through the stars, planets, and beyond, perfect for 4 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:20.239 unwinding after a long day. Let's travel through the mysteries 5 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:22.440 of the universe as you drift off into a peaceful 6 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:23.839 slumber under the night sky. 7 00:00:26.920 --> 00:00:28.800 Okay, okay, stop me if you've heard this one before. 8 00:00:29.160 --> 00:00:33.479 A mysterious object from a totally a different star system 9 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:37.560 just waltzes into our solar system. It's weird, it's moving 10 00:00:37.600 --> 00:00:42.200 impossibly fast, and it's basically carrying secrets from some alien world. 11 00:00:42.799 --> 00:00:44.560 And then just as we figure. 12 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:46.719 Out what it is, poof, it's gone. 13 00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:48.479 It's gone. It's already on its way out. 14 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:51.520 It really does feel like a recurring theme, doesn't it. 15 00:00:51.520 --> 00:00:56.399 It's the cosmic equivalent of meeting someone fascinating in an airport, 16 00:00:56.479 --> 00:00:59.359 having a great conversation, and then their flight gets called. 17 00:00:59.399 --> 00:01:01.759 It's the ultimate at cosmic Teas we're sitting here, it 18 00:01:01.799 --> 00:01:06.079 is February sixteenth, twenty twenty six, and the entire astronomy 19 00:01:06.120 --> 00:01:07.480 world is buzzing about this thing. 20 00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:08.680 Three I at Lass. 21 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:10.040 Yeah, the third one. 22 00:01:10.200 --> 00:01:14.079 This is it the third interstellar object humanity has ever detected. 23 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:17.760 First we had Umumua back in what twenty seventeen, that 24 00:01:17.879 --> 00:01:19.560 weird tumbling cigar. 25 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:21.200 Shaped thing caused so much debate. 26 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:23.359 Then Boresov came along a couple of years later, and 27 00:01:23.400 --> 00:01:25.000 it looked a little more familiar, bit more like a 28 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:27.920 normal commet a bit. Yeah, and now at LUs but 29 00:01:27.959 --> 00:01:29.680 the headline feels exactly the same. 30 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:31.879 Hello, goodbye, nice knowing you. 31 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:34.680 It's just so frustrating. I mean, the geometry of these 32 00:01:34.760 --> 00:01:39.599 encounters is it's just unforgiving. By the time our telescopes 33 00:01:39.640 --> 00:01:42.799 are powerful enough to spot them, they are usually already 34 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:45.480 screaming past the sun and heading for the exit door. Right, 35 00:01:45.560 --> 00:01:48.959 the universe is like throwing these incredible gifts at us, 36 00:01:49.280 --> 00:01:51.640 but it's throwing them really, really hard, exactly. 37 00:01:52.120 --> 00:01:54.239 And the mood today, you can feel it online. It 38 00:01:54.319 --> 00:01:57.159 feels a bit somber, right, like we missed the bus again. 39 00:01:57.760 --> 00:02:00.000 I was just looking at the trajectory maps this morning, 40 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:02.519 arning you know, tracking it on the NASA dashboard, and 41 00:02:02.599 --> 00:02:07.000 three Iadolass is moving at something like sixty kilometers per second. 42 00:02:07.079 --> 00:02:09.960 Sixty yeah, that's not just fast, that is I mean 43 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:13.039 that is, don't even bother trying to chase me fast. 44 00:02:12.719 --> 00:02:15.479 Well, under normal circumstances. Yes, yes, that's exactly what the 45 00:02:15.479 --> 00:02:19.439 physics would tell you. Sixty kilometers per second is it's 46 00:02:19.719 --> 00:02:20.759 blisteringly fast. 47 00:02:20.840 --> 00:02:22.159 Put that in perspective for us. 48 00:02:22.240 --> 00:02:25.400 Okay, So a high velocity rifle bullet travels at about 49 00:02:25.400 --> 00:02:28.319 one kilometer per second, give or take. So this rock 50 00:02:28.439 --> 00:02:31.280 is moving sixty times faster than a speeding bullet. It's 51 00:02:31.319 --> 00:02:34.319 completely unbound from the Sun's gravity, which means it isn't 52 00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:37.919 coming back. It's a one time visitor, a true interstellar tourist, 53 00:02:37.960 --> 00:02:41.560 a cosmic drive by precisely, and usually when something is 54 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:43.599 moving that fast and is already on its way out, 55 00:02:43.639 --> 00:02:48.039 we just we wave, We take our telescope pictures, we 56 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:51.599 analyze the light spectrum from afar, and we write our 57 00:02:51.639 --> 00:02:52.960 papers about the one that got away. 58 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:55.759 But I hear a butt in your voice. 59 00:02:55.919 --> 00:02:58.280 But and this is why today is actually a very 60 00:02:58.360 --> 00:03:01.639 very exciting day. The entire narrative has just shifted in 61 00:03:01.639 --> 00:03:03.080 the last few hours, shifted. 62 00:03:03.159 --> 00:03:05.560 How the thing is leaving. It's got to be halfway 63 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:07.199 to Jupiter's orbit by now, isn't it. 64 00:03:07.199 --> 00:03:09.960 It is leaving and you're right. We absolutely can't catch 65 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:12.159 it with a normal chase, A direct shot is impossible. 66 00:03:12.520 --> 00:03:14.560 But a new proposal just dropped today that suggests we 67 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:15.520 actually can catch it. 68 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:16.599 Your kid is. 69 00:03:16.599 --> 00:03:21.159 It's just that the method is well, it's completely unhinged. 70 00:03:21.479 --> 00:03:24.759 Unhinged. I like unhinged. Unhinged usually means interesting. 71 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:29.360 Oh, it's audacious, it's beautiful. The proposal comes from a 72 00:03:29.400 --> 00:03:33.360 team including Adam Hibberd who's with the Initiative for Interstellar Studies. 73 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:36.439 They've crunched the numbers and they are saying, we can 74 00:03:36.520 --> 00:03:39.439 run this object down, but we don't do it by 75 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:40.240 flying towards it. 76 00:03:40.319 --> 00:03:42.479 Okay, I'm listening. Where do we fly them? 77 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:44.360 We catch it by flying directly into the sun. 78 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:45.479 I'm sorry, what come again? 79 00:03:45.639 --> 00:03:45.919 Yep? 80 00:03:46.039 --> 00:03:48.719 We want to catch a freezing cold rock that's heading 81 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:51.479 out into the blackness of deep space. And step one 82 00:03:51.520 --> 00:03:54.319 of the plan is fly into the giant ball of fire. 83 00:03:54.520 --> 00:03:57.199 Step one is fly into the fire. It's a technique 84 00:03:57.240 --> 00:03:59.759 called a solar O birth maneuver. And if this paper 85 00:03:59.800 --> 00:04:02.879 is that's right, it is the only way humanity is 86 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:05.680 going to get a close up look at an alien 87 00:04:05.759 --> 00:04:06.960 object in our lifetimes. 88 00:04:07.120 --> 00:04:09.800 Okay, we have to unpack this immediately, because that sounds 89 00:04:09.840 --> 00:04:12.360 like suicide, not science. But hold on, before we even 90 00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:14.120 get to the whole flying into the Sun part, we 91 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:17.000 need to set the stage properly. What exactly is three 92 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:19.360 eye out lists? Why are we so desperate to catch 93 00:04:19.399 --> 00:04:22.399 this thing that we're seriously considering roasting a multi billion 94 00:04:22.480 --> 00:04:23.519 dollar spacecraft. 95 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:26.360 Well, you have to think about what these objects really represent. 96 00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:29.920 Three eyelis isn't just a rock or you know, a 97 00:04:29.959 --> 00:04:34.199 dirty snowball. It's debris. It's leftover building material from the 98 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:36.800 formation of a completely different solar system. 99 00:04:36.920 --> 00:04:38.680 It's literally a message in a bottle. 100 00:04:38.759 --> 00:04:42.439 Precisely, it's a physical package containing the chemical history of 101 00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:46.959 an exoplanet system. We spend billions and billions of dollars 102 00:04:47.319 --> 00:04:51.079 building these incredible telescopes like web to just stare at 103 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:54.720 the atmospheres of planets light years away, trying to guess 104 00:04:54.920 --> 00:04:57.240 what they're made of from these tiny squiggles in a 105 00:04:57.279 --> 00:04:57.959 light spectrum. 106 00:04:58.079 --> 00:04:59.639 Right, it's all remote analysis. 107 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:02.759 The universe has literally mailed a piece of one to 108 00:05:02.839 --> 00:05:06.000 our front door. If we can actually sample it, touch it, 109 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:09.560 put it in a mass spectrometer and analyze its isotopes. Yeah, 110 00:05:09.560 --> 00:05:11.439 my god, it would be the scientific gold mine of 111 00:05:11.480 --> 00:05:11.959 the century. 112 00:05:12.040 --> 00:05:14.120 It would tell us if our own Solar system is 113 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:17.240 unique or if we're just common? 114 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:19.600 Are we common or are we a fluke. That's one 115 00:05:19.639 --> 00:05:21.759 of the biggest questions there is, right, It's. 116 00:05:21.639 --> 00:05:23.800 The difference between looking at a picture of a cake 117 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:25.560 and actually getting to eat a slice. 118 00:05:25.959 --> 00:05:26.519 But here's the. 119 00:05:26.519 --> 00:05:30.000 Problem, and this is what everyone is lamenting today. We 120 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:32.279 can't eat the slice because the slice is moving at 121 00:05:32.279 --> 00:05:34.480 sixty kilometers per second away from us. 122 00:05:34.839 --> 00:05:38.040 And that speed is the whole key to the problem. 123 00:05:38.199 --> 00:05:41.120 To put that sixty number in perspective again, the fastest 124 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:43.639 spacecraft we've ever launched out of the Solar System is 125 00:05:43.720 --> 00:05:44.920 Voyager one, and it's. 126 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:46.879 Been going for what almost fifty years now. 127 00:05:46.759 --> 00:05:50.240 Almost fifty years, and it's moving it about seventeen kilometers 128 00:05:50.279 --> 00:05:54.959 per second seventeen and that took decades of gravity assists 129 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:57.519 to build up. Three ied lass is moving more than 130 00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:00.720 three almost four times faster than our fastest dever probe. 131 00:06:01.480 --> 00:06:03.040 We just can't catch it conventionally. 132 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:04.680 So why can't we just I mean, this is the 133 00:06:04.720 --> 00:06:07.120 obvious question, right, why can't we just launch a bigger rocket? 134 00:06:07.240 --> 00:06:11.360 We have these huge new rockets, the sls. We've got starship. 135 00:06:11.639 --> 00:06:13.720 Can't we just strap a probe to one of those 136 00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:14.680 and just floor it. 137 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:18.160 That's the direct mission approach. Yeah, it's a totally logical 138 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:20.639 question and the first thing every mission designer looks at. 139 00:06:20.800 --> 00:06:24.360 But the math it just falls apart almost immediately. The 140 00:06:24.439 --> 00:06:27.600 issue isn't just the sheer speed, it's the timing. It's 141 00:06:27.639 --> 00:06:31.120 a combination problem. Three i Atlis was detected far too 142 00:06:31.160 --> 00:06:34.639 late in the game. It had already crossed inside Jupiter's 143 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:37.000 orbit and swung around the Sun before we even knew 144 00:06:37.040 --> 00:06:37.600 it was there. 145 00:06:37.720 --> 00:06:40.079 It totally snuck up on us, it really did. 146 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:44.319 And because it was detected so late, the optimal launch window, 147 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:46.720 you know, that perfect time when Earth was in just 148 00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:49.279 the right spot in its orbit to simply shoot a 149 00:06:49.360 --> 00:06:53.120 rocket to intercept it, that window had already slammed shut. 150 00:06:53.319 --> 00:06:55.399 It was gone before we even knew it existed. 151 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:58.319 It's like trying to merge onto a highway. If you 152 00:06:58.360 --> 00:07:00.639 see a car coming from way down on the on ramp, 153 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:02.839 you can time it, you speed up, you merge in. 154 00:07:02.839 --> 00:07:05.319 Smoothly, perfect analogy, But if that car. 155 00:07:05.160 --> 00:07:07.879 Is already blown past you while you're at a dead stop, 156 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:10.759 you can't just accelerate from zero to one hundred miles 157 00:07:10.759 --> 00:07:12.160 an hour instantly to catch up. 158 00:07:12.439 --> 00:07:13.560 The physics doesn't work. 159 00:07:13.720 --> 00:07:16.720 You're standing on the train platform and the bullet train 160 00:07:16.759 --> 00:07:19.920 has already screamed past the station. That's the situation we're in. 161 00:07:19.879 --> 00:07:22.079 Okay, But what if we were already in space. I 162 00:07:22.120 --> 00:07:24.720 know the European Space Agency has this mission planned, the 163 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:27.800 Comet Interceptor. The idea is to have a probe just 164 00:07:27.879 --> 00:07:29.800 kind of waiting. 165 00:07:29.720 --> 00:07:35.120 Right, loitering. Yeah. The concept is to park a spacecraft 166 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:37.639 at a stable point in space the suner till two 167 00:07:37.720 --> 00:07:40.680 point and just wait for a suitable long period commet 168 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:43.920 or ideally an interstellar object to show up. 169 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:46.240 So even if we had one of those waiting right now, 170 00:07:46.279 --> 00:07:46.959 it wouldn't work. 171 00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:49.240 It would matter. The angle is all wrong and the 172 00:07:49.279 --> 00:07:52.439 speed is just too high. The sheer change in velocity 173 00:07:52.519 --> 00:07:55.800 required we call delta V and orbital mechanics is just 174 00:07:56.279 --> 00:07:59.319 monumentally beyond the capability of any chemical rockets we have 175 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:01.399 sitting on a or even waiting in space. 176 00:08:01.639 --> 00:08:04.199 So delta V is basically a measure of how much 177 00:08:04.279 --> 00:08:05.160 oomph you need. 178 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:08.319 It's the currency of space travel. Every maneuver costs a 179 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:11.319 certain amount of delta V. Getting from Earth orbit to 180 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:14.680 the Moon causes a certain amount. Getting to Mars costs more. 181 00:08:15.000 --> 00:08:17.480 Trying to catch three i ellas from a standing start 182 00:08:17.560 --> 00:08:20.240 costs an astronomical amount. If you tried to pack enough 183 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:22.399 fuel to do it, you'd need a rocket the size 184 00:08:22.439 --> 00:08:25.079 of a skyscraper just to get a tiny coffee cup 185 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:27.800 sized pro moving fast enough. And we can't build that. 186 00:08:28.680 --> 00:08:31.639 So the direct approach is dead on arrival. Conventional wisdom 187 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:34.120 says we wave goodbye, write some sad poetry, and wait 188 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:36.279 for the next one in what another couple of years. 189 00:08:36.399 --> 00:08:38.519 That was the conventional wisdom until this morning. 190 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:42.039 Okay, so enter the visionaries. Who are these people proposing 191 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:44.279 the dive into the Sun plan? This sounds like a 192 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:46.720 pretty Maverick idea, it is. 193 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:49.879 But they're not Mavericks in a a reckless sense. It's 194 00:08:49.879 --> 00:08:53.000 a fascinating team. You have Adam Hibberd, who is a 195 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:57.120 just a brilliant orbital mechanic from the Initiative for Interstellar 196 00:08:57.159 --> 00:09:00.279 Studies or ifour okay, then you have t Mar Marshal 197 00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:03.960 U Banks from Space Initiatives, Inc. And Andreas Hine at 198 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:07.559 the University of Luxembourg. These aren't just random enthusiasts. These 199 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:10.919 are the folks who specialize in impossible navigation. They live 200 00:09:11.039 --> 00:09:12.200 for these kinds of problems. 201 00:09:12.279 --> 00:09:13.440 They like the hard problem. 202 00:09:13.559 --> 00:09:16.759 They love them. And Hibberd in particular is the main 203 00:09:16.840 --> 00:09:21.039 architect behind a really unique piece of software called os. 204 00:09:20.440 --> 00:09:23.120 OITS what's that It stands. 205 00:09:22.759 --> 00:09:27.399 For Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software. It sounds dry, I know, 206 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:29.200 but you should think of it as a kind of 207 00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:32.919 GPS for the impossible hasso. Most mission planning software is 208 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:37.000 designed to look for the most efficient direct routes, you know, 209 00:09:37.080 --> 00:09:39.600 a home and transfer from Earth to Mars. It's about 210 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:43.679 saving fuel on established paths. Always. Hays is different. It's 211 00:09:43.679 --> 00:09:46.159 designed to look for cosmic bank shots. It looks for 212 00:09:46.559 --> 00:09:48.200 gravitational pinball. 213 00:09:47.960 --> 00:09:49.960 So it's not looking for the straightest line. It's looking 214 00:09:49.960 --> 00:09:50.759 for loopholes. 215 00:09:50.879 --> 00:09:53.759 It's looking for leverage points in the Solar System. And 216 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:56.720 this isn't its first rodeo. It was the same software 217 00:09:56.799 --> 00:10:00.159 used to design Project Lyra, which was the big theoretic 218 00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:03.240 mission concept to go back and chase down umua oh. 219 00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:05.960 I remember that that also seemed impossible at the time. 220 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:09.000 It did, and a direct mission was but always found 221 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:13.159 these wild looping trajectories using Venus and Jupiter and Earth 222 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:16.240 to eventually build up enough speed. So this software has 223 00:10:16.240 --> 00:10:20.039 a pedigree in solving these exact kinds of impossible navigation redeals. 224 00:10:20.279 --> 00:10:23.120 Okay, so these guys fed all the data on three 225 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:26.720 I clus its speed, its direction into this super smart 226 00:10:26.759 --> 00:10:29.440 software and just ask it a simple question, a very 227 00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:30.080 simple question. 228 00:10:30.440 --> 00:10:33.240 Is there any way, anyway at all using any combination 229 00:10:33.320 --> 00:10:36.519 of planets and burns to catch this thing with current technology? 230 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:38.240 And the computer didn't just crash. 231 00:10:38.360 --> 00:10:42.000 The computer came back with a resounding yes. But the 232 00:10:42.039 --> 00:10:47.360 path it plotted it's just wild. It's elegant and terrifying 233 00:10:47.399 --> 00:10:47.799 all at. 234 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:51.000 Once, which brings us back to the Solar. 235 00:10:50.639 --> 00:10:52.679 O birth maneuver, the solar obirth. 236 00:10:52.759 --> 00:10:54.720 Okay, lay it on me. I think I understand a 237 00:10:54.759 --> 00:10:58.559 basic gravity assist. That's where you fly by a planet 238 00:10:58.600 --> 00:11:01.360 like Jupiter and you kind of steal a little bit 239 00:11:01.399 --> 00:11:04.879 of its orbital momentum to speed yourself up. Right, Voyager 240 00:11:04.919 --> 00:11:05.600 did that a bunch of. 241 00:11:05.519 --> 00:11:08.240 Times, exactly right. A standard gravity assist is like you're 242 00:11:08.240 --> 00:11:10.840 on a skateboard and you grab onto the back of 243 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:13.840 a moving bus for a second. The bus barely notices, 244 00:11:14.120 --> 00:11:16.639 but you get a huge boost. But the overt effect 245 00:11:16.679 --> 00:11:19.840 is different. It's more profound. It relies on a quirk 246 00:11:19.960 --> 00:11:24.200 of orbiter mechanics. That feels it almost feels like a 247 00:11:24.279 --> 00:11:25.120 cheat code for the. 248 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:28.000 Universe, a cheat code. I'm listening. I like cheat codes. 249 00:11:28.120 --> 00:11:31.279 The basic principle is this. A rocket engine is more efficient. 250 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:33.639 It gives you a bigger booth than kinetic energy when 251 00:11:33.639 --> 00:11:35.320 the rocket is already moving very fast. 252 00:11:35.399 --> 00:11:38.559 Wait, hang on, why that seems backwards. A rocket provides 253 00:11:38.600 --> 00:11:40.600 a certain amount of for ust a certain push. Why 254 00:11:40.600 --> 00:11:43.000 doesn't matter how fast I'm already going when I fire it? 255 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:46.440 It's all about kinetic energy. The formula for kinetic energy 256 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:50.240 is one half mass times velosoity squared. The key is 257 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:53.759 that squared part. Okay, So because of that squared relationship, 258 00:11:54.320 --> 00:11:56.679 if you add a fixed amount of velocity, Let's say 259 00:11:56.679 --> 00:11:59.480 you fire your engine and add one kilometer per second 260 00:11:59.480 --> 00:12:02.639 to your speed, the amount of energy you gain from 261 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:07.120 that burn is massively larger if you're already going, say 262 00:12:07.279 --> 00:12:10.039 fifty kilometers per second, than if you're only going five. 263 00:12:10.879 --> 00:12:13.480 You get more bang for your buck from the exact 264 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:14.360 same puffet gas. 265 00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:15.919 Okay, I think I'm starting to get it. 266 00:12:15.960 --> 00:12:17.639 So you want to save your biggest engine burn for 267 00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:20.240 the moment you are moving at your absolute maximum speed. 268 00:12:20.440 --> 00:12:23.200 Precisely that is the key to the whole thing. So 269 00:12:23.360 --> 00:12:26.279 this question is obvious. Where in our Solar system does 270 00:12:26.320 --> 00:12:28.399 an object move the fastest when. 271 00:12:28.279 --> 00:12:30.159 It's falling towards something really really heavy? 272 00:12:30.519 --> 00:12:34.240 The Sun? The Sun is the biggest deepest gravity while 273 00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:36.600 we have by a long long shot. If you just 274 00:12:36.679 --> 00:12:38.799 drop a space graft and let it fall towards the Sun, 275 00:12:39.000 --> 00:12:41.679 gravity pulls it in, accelerating it faster and faster. 276 00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:43.840 And faster, like rolling down the universe's biggest hill. 277 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:46.559 Exactly by the time it gets really close to the surface, 278 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:50.039 or well, the photosphere, it is just screaming. It's moving 279 00:12:50.120 --> 00:12:53.120 faster than any man made object has ever moved in history. 280 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:55.679 So you let the Sun do all the hard work 281 00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:57.279 of acceleration for you. 282 00:12:56.639 --> 00:13:00.840 You let gravity do the heavy lifting. You die. You 283 00:13:00.919 --> 00:13:03.159 fall all the way down into the deepest part of 284 00:13:03.159 --> 00:13:06.240 the well, and right at the very bottom of that dive, 285 00:13:06.360 --> 00:13:08.679 the point called perihelium, at closest point to the Sun, 286 00:13:09.240 --> 00:13:13.399 you are moving at these incredible mind bending speeds, and 287 00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:16.519 that that is when you fire your engine. 288 00:13:16.679 --> 00:13:18.639 You hit the gas at the very bottom of the hill. 289 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:20.559 That's it. It's like being on a swing set. If 290 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:22.279 you try to pump your legs at the very top 291 00:13:22.320 --> 00:13:25.120 of the arc, when you're almost motionless, it doesn't do 292 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:25.559 much right. 293 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:26.360 You just kind of wiggle. 294 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:29.039 But if you give a huge kick right at the 295 00:13:29.159 --> 00:13:32.279 very bottom of the swing, when you're moving fastest, you 296 00:13:32.279 --> 00:13:34.799 go flying so much higher on the other side. This 297 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:37.799 is the ultimate cosmic swing set. You dive at the 298 00:13:37.840 --> 00:13:41.360 Sun and at that single precise moment of closest approach, 299 00:13:41.639 --> 00:13:44.559 you burn everything. You have. The combination of the Sun's 300 00:13:44.639 --> 00:13:48.639 intense gravity and that perfectly timed rocket burn flings you 301 00:13:48.679 --> 00:13:50.679 out of the Solar System like a stone from a 302 00:13:50.679 --> 00:13:51.720 god's slingshot. 303 00:13:51.799 --> 00:13:55.200 That is terrifyingly brilliant. So we're not really chasing three 304 00:13:55.240 --> 00:13:58.480 iolase at all. We're using the Sun to catapult ourselves 305 00:13:58.519 --> 00:14:01.559 onto a trajectory that will evente intercept it way out 306 00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:02.240 in deep space. 307 00:14:02.360 --> 00:14:05.240 Yes, we're setting in ambush. The math in this new 308 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:07.600 paper suggests that this maneuver can generate the kinds of 309 00:14:07.639 --> 00:14:10.559 exit speeds we need well over sixty, maybe seventy even 310 00:14:10.600 --> 00:14:13.600 eighty kilometers per second to actually run down an interstellar 311 00:14:13.639 --> 00:14:15.440 object that had a massive headstart. 312 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:17.559 But there's a catch, right, there's always a catch. This 313 00:14:17.639 --> 00:14:20.279 sounds too perfect. You can't just launch this mission tomorrow. 314 00:14:20.519 --> 00:14:24.720 No, absolutely not. And this is where the beautiful, frustrating 315 00:14:24.759 --> 00:14:28.039 reality of celestial mechanics comes back in. It's a game 316 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:30.759 of alignment. You need the planets to be in exactly 317 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:35.759 the right places literally, for this to work. We need Earth, Jupiter, 318 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:38.919 and the Sun to be in very specific positions relative 319 00:14:38.960 --> 00:14:40.759 to three iiizes escape path. 320 00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:43.240 Okay, wait, why Jupiter? You lost me there? I thought 321 00:14:43.240 --> 00:14:44.240 this was all about the Sun. 322 00:14:44.360 --> 00:14:46.039 It is, but we can't just fly from Earth to 323 00:14:46.080 --> 00:14:49.960 the Sun directly. It's actually, and this sounds crazy, it's 324 00:14:50.080 --> 00:14:51.200 really hard to hit the Sun. 325 00:14:51.360 --> 00:14:53.159 It's the biggest thing around. How can it be hard 326 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:53.679 to hit. 327 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:56.559 Because the Earth isn't stationary, We're moving sideways at about 328 00:14:56.559 --> 00:14:58.879 thirty kilometers per second in our orbit. To fall into 329 00:14:58.919 --> 00:15:00.720 the Sun, you first have to get rid of all 330 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:04.360 that sideways momentum. It takes a huge amount of breaking fuel. 331 00:15:04.519 --> 00:15:08.000 So the clever plan is this launch from Earth and 332 00:15:08.080 --> 00:15:09.399 first fly out to Jupiter. 333 00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:11.720 So you go outwards to go inwards. That makes no sense. 334 00:15:11.759 --> 00:15:15.159 It's the bank shot. We use Jupiter's massive gravity not 335 00:15:15.279 --> 00:15:17.799 to speed up, but to slam on the brakes. We 336 00:15:17.879 --> 00:15:21.039 do a gravity assistant reverse. It kills our orbital speed, 337 00:15:21.399 --> 00:15:23.919 turns the spacecraft around and drops it into a dead 338 00:15:24.000 --> 00:15:25.200 dive straight at the Sun. 339 00:15:25.559 --> 00:15:25.879 Wow. 340 00:15:25.960 --> 00:15:29.840 So the full itinerary is launch from Earth, fly out 341 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:32.720 to Jupiter for a few years, use Jupiter to U 342 00:15:32.759 --> 00:15:35.039 turn and dive into the Sun, do the crazy O 343 00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:37.679 birth run, and then shoot out into the void to 344 00:15:37.799 --> 00:15:40.200 chase Atla's a bank. 345 00:15:40.279 --> 00:15:42.600 Shot off the King of Planets into the heart of 346 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:44.480 the star to catch a ghost. 347 00:15:44.919 --> 00:15:47.639 So according to Hibberd and his team, when does this 348 00:15:47.759 --> 00:15:50.399 magical cosmic window open? When are all the pieces in. 349 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:50.919 The right place? 350 00:15:51.080 --> 00:15:51.960 Twenty thirty five? 351 00:15:52.039 --> 00:15:54.360 Twenty thirty five, Okay, so that's nine years. 352 00:15:54.200 --> 00:15:56.919 From now, nine years, which in the world of designing 353 00:15:56.919 --> 00:16:00.480 and building major flagship space missions is It's actually a 354 00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:03.840 very comfortable timeline. It's not a frantic scramble. It's doable. 355 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:04.799 We could do this. 356 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:07.080 Well, let's talk about the tech for a minute, because 357 00:16:07.120 --> 00:16:09.840 usually when I hear people talk about chasing interstellar objects, 358 00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:12.399 they immediately start talking about, you know, laser arrays and 359 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:16.519 light sales and antimatter engines, stuff that belongs in star trek. 360 00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:17.600 Is that what this requires? 361 00:16:17.799 --> 00:16:20.840 No, and that is probably the most important and exciting 362 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:23.360 part of this new proposal. They are not asking for 363 00:16:23.399 --> 00:16:27.080 science fiction. They're not asking for directed energy propulsion or 364 00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:29.440 giant laser arrays on the dark side of the. 365 00:16:29.320 --> 00:16:32.200 Moon, which is cool, but decades away. 366 00:16:32.360 --> 00:16:36.039 Decades away at best. Yeah, this proposal is based on 367 00:16:36.240 --> 00:16:41.279 using solid rocket motors, chemical propulsion, the same fundamental stuff 368 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:43.919 we've been using to launch satellite since the nineteen sixties. 369 00:16:43.960 --> 00:16:47.039 You're kidding me, Just standard rockets. How can that possibly 370 00:16:47.080 --> 00:16:48.120 be powerful enough? 371 00:16:48.240 --> 00:16:50.919 Well specialized? Of course, you need a kickstage that can 372 00:16:50.960 --> 00:16:54.360 survive the heat. But the physics of the solar overirth 373 00:16:54.399 --> 00:16:57.879 maneuver are so powerful that they compensate for the relative 374 00:16:57.879 --> 00:17:00.919 weakness of our chemical fuel. We don't need a sci 375 00:17:00.919 --> 00:17:04.000 fi engine because we are using the Sun itself as 376 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:07.160 our primary engine. The physics gives us the leverage our 377 00:17:07.240 --> 00:17:08.119 chemistry lacks. 378 00:17:08.359 --> 00:17:10.799 That makes it feel incredibly real. This isn't some maybe 379 00:17:10.799 --> 00:17:13.200 in one hundred years academic paper. This is a we 380 00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:16.200 could start bending metal for this tomorrow kind of paper. 381 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:19.279 It is the technological readiness level or TRL for all 382 00:17:19.319 --> 00:17:21.799 the key components is very high. We know how to 383 00:17:21.799 --> 00:17:24.400 build heat shields. We did it with the Parker solar probe, 384 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:28.880 which is practically touching the Sun's atmosphere right now, and surviving. 385 00:17:28.680 --> 00:17:30.000 Parker is a huge success. 386 00:17:30.440 --> 00:17:34.240 We absolutely know how to do Jupiter flybys, who've been 387 00:17:34.240 --> 00:17:36.920 doing them since the pioneer missions in the seventies. And 388 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:39.920 we definitely know how to make reliable solid rocket motors. 389 00:17:40.119 --> 00:17:42.319 The pieces are all on the board, we just need 390 00:17:42.359 --> 00:17:44.880 to assemble them in this new audacious way. 391 00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:47.759 Okay, so we have the target three IAD lists, we 392 00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:50.839 have the mind bending method, the solar o birth, we 393 00:17:50.920 --> 00:17:53.880 have the technology. It's basically off the shelf. But now 394 00:17:53.880 --> 00:17:56.079 we have to talk about the elephant in the room, 395 00:17:57.000 --> 00:17:58.480 or maybe the tortoise in the room. 396 00:17:58.599 --> 00:17:59.000 The duration. 397 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:01.599 The duration, because I saw the number in the abstract 398 00:18:01.640 --> 00:18:02.960 of the paper and I had to read it twice 399 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:04.039 to make sure it wasn't a typo. 400 00:18:04.440 --> 00:18:06.640 How long does it actually take for this probe after 401 00:18:06.680 --> 00:18:09.440