WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.640 Oh hey, it's that friend whose calls it. You always 2 00:00:02.640 --> 00:00:05.200 pick up because if they are actually wanting to speak 3 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:07.559 instead of text with their phone, it must be either 4 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:10.560 really good or really bad news, Ali Ward, and that 5 00:00:10.599 --> 00:00:13.400 one is very true. Back with another episode of this 6 00:00:13.519 --> 00:00:16.320 show called Ologies. Okay, I'm going to try and make 7 00:00:16.320 --> 00:00:19.039 this intro speedy as I can. We are a race 8 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:21.559 to get to space junk. This episode so good. Thank 9 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:23.640 you to everyone at Patreon. Did you know what cost 10 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:25.199 a dollar a month to join? That's it? And then 11 00:00:25.239 --> 00:00:28.719 you can submit questionstologists patreon dot com slash ologies, and 12 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:32.280 then thank you everyone also who rates, who subscribes, who 13 00:00:32.359 --> 00:00:35.039 leaves reviews. I read the hell out of all of 14 00:00:35.079 --> 00:00:37.880 your reviews, and then I am a laser pointer at 15 00:00:37.880 --> 00:00:40.840 one each week, such as dear Westler, who wrote, I'll 16 00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:44.520 be honest, I didn't like podcasts okay, but Ologies has 17 00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:47.600 had me hooked since day one, and then Wesler called 18 00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:50.679 me an informed closet goblin, and I thank them for that. 19 00:00:50.880 --> 00:00:53.039 If you left a review this week or ever, I 20 00:00:53.119 --> 00:00:55.679 have read it and I have appreciated it. Okay, Onward. 21 00:00:55.799 --> 00:00:58.640 Space archaeology. Space is a word that's been around since 22 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:01.759 the thirteen hundreds. It comes from the Latin spaceum, which 23 00:01:01.799 --> 00:01:04.959 means room or area, and by the mid seventeen hundreds 24 00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:09.319 it meant the cosmic expanse, the stellar landscape, the crushing 25 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:13.359 enormity of nothingness, which is filled with everything, including all 26 00:01:13.400 --> 00:01:16.560 of our secrets and maybe some broken glass and someone's 27 00:01:16.560 --> 00:01:20.439 car keys, which comes from Greek's archaeologia, the study of 28 00:01:20.599 --> 00:01:24.840 ancient things, which TBD to be discussed. Okay, so patron 29 00:01:24.920 --> 00:01:27.319 Kevin Biemer posted this on the patreon dot com slash 30 00:01:27.319 --> 00:01:30.120 ologies community board. They said, I'd like to nominate three 31 00:01:30.239 --> 00:01:34.159 related but distinctologies. Astro archaeology, the study of how people 32 00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:39.120 in the past understood and used astronomy. Remote sensing archaeology 33 00:01:39.159 --> 00:01:41.799 the use of satellites and other remote sensing techniques to 34 00:01:41.879 --> 00:01:46.159 help with archaeology stuff on Earth and space. Archaeology the 35 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:50.439 study of human artifacts in space. Kevin Biemer space archaeology. 36 00:01:50.480 --> 00:01:52.519 We're doing it. A lot of folks on Twitter also 37 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:56.359 pointing me toward this particular ologist. Her Twitter handle is 38 00:01:56.519 --> 00:02:00.599 doctor space Junk I say no more, and she got 39 00:02:00.599 --> 00:02:03.599 her PhD in archaeology with a specialty in stone and 40 00:02:03.640 --> 00:02:07.519 glass tool used post colonization and has worked for years 41 00:02:07.519 --> 00:02:10.840 in Indigenous heritage management. Is a member of the Australian 42 00:02:10.840 --> 00:02:14.759 Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. Is the 43 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:17.960 president of the Anthropological Society of South Australia. She's a 44 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:21.759 member of the Advisory Council of the Space Industry Association 45 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:25.879 of Australia. She's an associate professor at Flinders University in Australia. 46 00:02:26.280 --> 00:02:30.520 Is recognized as a world expert in orbital debris and 47 00:02:30.639 --> 00:02:33.560 launch sites. She's also a TED speaker. She writes the 48 00:02:33.639 --> 00:02:36.840 Space Age Archaeology Blog. Is the vice chair of the 49 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:40.800 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronauts ADELAIDE chapter, and is 50 00:02:40.840 --> 00:02:44.280 a founding member of the nonprofit organization Archaeology, Science and 51 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:48.800 Heritage Council for All Moonkind Incorporated, which helps protect cultural 52 00:02:48.879 --> 00:02:52.759 archaeology sites in space. Oh and on top of all 53 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:55.439 of this, she somehow found time to author the book 54 00:02:55.479 --> 00:02:58.879 Doctor Space Junk Versus the Universe, Archaeology and the Future. 55 00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:01.599 So we got on the whole when it was afternoon 56 00:03:01.639 --> 00:03:05.319 in la and the future in Australia. And every so 57 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:07.719 often you might hear the delicate tinkling of a spoon 58 00:03:08.039 --> 00:03:11.479 against her mid morning tea, So strap in helmets on 59 00:03:11.879 --> 00:03:15.599 for a chat that covers everything from Sputnik to sports cars, 60 00:03:15.840 --> 00:03:21.319 cosmic litter, flaming garbage machines raining down on fields, alien 61 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:27.439 debris collision, potential radioactive rubbish clean up possibilities, the cutest 62 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:31.520 space garbage burials in the void, and how does one 63 00:03:31.800 --> 00:03:35.479 do archaeology without sitting on a rocket? To get to 64 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:41.400 work with doctor space junk space archaeologist, doctor Alice Gorman. 65 00:03:53.879 --> 00:04:02.879 Quite side five three two one. Oh. So I'm Alice 66 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:07.000 Gorman and I'm she her. 67 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:10.800 Okay, cool, love God, we have a love God. Do 68 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:12.919 you think that you may have been one of the 69 00:04:12.960 --> 00:04:16.600 first space archaeologists? Was this a thing before? 70 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:19.319 I think I probably was one of the first ones. 71 00:04:19.519 --> 00:04:23.600 I wasn't the first one, and I was not the 72 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:26.439 only one back then, and I'm not the only one now. 73 00:04:27.079 --> 00:04:29.639 But when I think about it, there was something going 74 00:04:29.720 --> 00:04:32.480 on in the year two thousand, so I sort of 75 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:36.759 round about their. My colleague Beffalora O'Leary, who's from New 76 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:41.920 Mexico State University, started thinking about cultural heritage on the Moon, 77 00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:46.199 and bizarrely, there was actually a few people in Australia 78 00:04:46.279 --> 00:04:48.959 who were thinking about space archaeology as well. You wouldn't 79 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:52.360 think Australia would be a big space archaeology hub, but 80 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:55.560 I had a couple of colleagues who were thinking about 81 00:04:55.600 --> 00:04:57.800 the Moon and Mars and also the kind of much 82 00:04:57.879 --> 00:05:05.720 broader kind of zeno archaeological astrobiological thing as well. But 83 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:10.399 around the year two thousand, it kind of all started 84 00:05:10.439 --> 00:05:13.720 to come together, like we all met each other and 85 00:05:13.879 --> 00:05:17.879 we started running conference sessions together, and we started sort 86 00:05:17.920 --> 00:05:24.160 of developing the ideas and the principles, and more importantly, 87 00:05:24.199 --> 00:05:28.000 I guess we started trying to get a bit of 88 00:05:28.040 --> 00:05:32.879 credibility with the broader archaeological community. We all kind of 89 00:05:32.920 --> 00:05:36.079 focused on different things. So I started with space junk 90 00:05:36.279 --> 00:05:40.879 and that's continued to be one of my major research interests, 91 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:44.600 and of sessions others were working on the Moon or 92 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:50.040 Mars or terrestrial space sites, rocket launch sites, that kind 93 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:53.240 of thing. So I guess this little group of us 94 00:05:53.519 --> 00:05:59.319 kind of just started putting stuff out there, trying to 95 00:05:59.600 --> 00:06:03.720 build a profile for the idea that this very recent 96 00:06:03.879 --> 00:06:08.560 staff actually had things to tell us about how we 97 00:06:08.600 --> 00:06:12.600 operate in the world and might have heritage value. And 98 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:16.199 I think sort of twenty years on. I think we've 99 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:17.000 achieved that. 100 00:06:17.399 --> 00:06:20.600 Yeah, it kind of makes me wonder how old does 101 00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:24.439 something have to be for it to be archaeological. Did 102 00:06:24.439 --> 00:06:26.560 we have to wait until we had gotten enough junk 103 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:29.360 up there and it was old enough. Does it have 104 00:06:29.399 --> 00:06:33.399 to be thirty years ten years? Can something be archaeological 105 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:36.120 if it's only ten minutes old? 106 00:06:36.639 --> 00:06:40.360 My answer to that is absolutely it can be. Oh. 107 00:06:40.680 --> 00:06:44.600 So there's a couple of interesting things going on with 108 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:47.279 this idea. I mean, one is when does the past 109 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:52.240 actually start? And Isaac Asimov actually wrote a very interesting 110 00:06:52.600 --> 00:06:56.399 short story about this called The Dead Past. A time 111 00:06:56.480 --> 00:06:59.399 machine had been invented, and there was an archaeologist who 112 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:03.120 was dea spread to go back to ancient Carthage and 113 00:07:03.439 --> 00:07:07.360 see what happened. And he kept applying for permission to 114 00:07:07.480 --> 00:07:12.199 use the chronoscope and kept getting turned back, and in 115 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:14.240 the event, in the end he was so persistent that 116 00:07:14.279 --> 00:07:17.959 he found out why no archaeologist or historian was allowed 117 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:20.879 to use the chronoscope to look into the past, And 118 00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:25.040 it is because the past could start a milli second ago, 119 00:07:25.319 --> 00:07:28.720 and such a machine is actually a powerful surveillance tool. 120 00:07:29.920 --> 00:07:32.240 So it's an interesting story, but it makes the point 121 00:07:32.279 --> 00:07:36.800 that our definitions of the past are pretty arbitrary, and 122 00:07:37.560 --> 00:07:43.519 things that are a thousand years old aren't necessarily more 123 00:07:44.279 --> 00:07:47.639 They don't have more heritage value or more ability to 124 00:07:47.720 --> 00:07:52.199 inform us about human behavior than things that are ten 125 00:07:52.199 --> 00:07:55.639 minutes old. And archaeology really, at the end of the day, 126 00:07:56.319 --> 00:08:01.959 isn't about old things. It's about human inter with material things. 127 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:05.759 So that means you and I, sitting at our desks 128 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:10.600 right now are creating an archaeological layer that somebody could 129 00:08:10.600 --> 00:08:13.399 come along and interpret once we got up and left 130 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:13.839 the desk. 131 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:17.000 Hear that if your workplace is just a repository of 132 00:08:17.079 --> 00:08:20.600 Chaoss type up a museum placard, sling a velvet barrier 133 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:23.199 in front of those moldy coffee cups and unopened bills, 134 00:08:23.319 --> 00:08:28.600 those artifacts must remain undisturbed and unjudged. And I have 135 00:08:28.759 --> 00:08:34.039 heard that a lot of archaeology deals with discarded items, 136 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:38.279 or shall we say, just historical garbage. That garbage is 137 00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:42.200 just like chef's kiss when it comes to an archaeologist. 138 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:46.320 Is that true? Is that true for archaeology and space 139 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:50.720 junk and the work that you were doing with indigenous 140 00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:53.279 cultures in Australia. 141 00:08:52.519 --> 00:08:56.600 Well, you're right allie that your standard archaeological site is 142 00:08:56.639 --> 00:09:02.159 what's left behind. It's people's rubbish, it's structures and buildings 143 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:08.639 that existed at the moment people left or died or 144 00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:12.559 moved to another location. So you're looking at what's left. 145 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:17.440 But when we're looking at the very recent past, so 146 00:09:17.480 --> 00:09:21.639 I guess space archaeology fits into what we're calling the 147 00:09:21.759 --> 00:09:25.679 archaeology of the contemporary past, another kind of paradox. It's 148 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:29.000 the past of ten minutes ago. Again, so this isn't 149 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:33.000 always stuff that people have abandoned or discarded. Often it's 150 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:37.120 stuff that people are actually using or living in the 151 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:39.960 International Space Station being a great example of that. 152 00:09:40.720 --> 00:09:43.919 Just a side note for context. So the ISS, the 153 00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:47.600 International Space Station is a joint effort by several countries, 154 00:09:47.720 --> 00:09:51.559 with the top contributors being NASA, Russia's Space program, and 155 00:09:51.720 --> 00:09:55.600 the European Space Agency or the ESA, and the ISS 156 00:09:55.799 --> 00:09:59.159 launched into the void of Eternity in nineteen ninety eight 157 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:02.919 and it's been taken a low hovering lap two hundred 158 00:10:02.919 --> 00:10:05.720 and forty eight miles above your face, just circling Earth 159 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:09.919 every ninety minutes pretty much since the Clinton Lewinsky scandal 160 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:13.720 erupted and Titanic came out, So between three and ten 161 00:10:13.799 --> 00:10:15.919 people tend to be up there at any given time, 162 00:10:16.360 --> 00:10:21.600 just defying what our ancestors could ever even imagine was possible, 163 00:10:21.960 --> 00:10:26.720 just doing experiments, making music videos. Sometimes peel into a 164 00:10:26.759 --> 00:10:30.200 suction hose. What a blast. Also, the US had a 165 00:10:30.200 --> 00:10:34.279 different space station before, named Skylab, but in nineteen seventy nine, 166 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:37.759 five years after the astronauts bounced and left it uninhabited, 167 00:10:37.919 --> 00:10:41.080 its orbit started to decay and it got sucked back 168 00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:44.320 into our gravitational poll. And because it was so large 169 00:10:44.360 --> 00:10:47.080 and chunky and made of some pretty hardy metals, pieces 170 00:10:47.120 --> 00:10:50.159 as big as a small car crashed into an Australian 171 00:10:50.200 --> 00:10:53.360 sheep field, just scattering parts that were gathered and then 172 00:10:53.399 --> 00:10:55.519 put into a modest tourist museum. 173 00:10:55.879 --> 00:11:01.759 So these objects and sides are still often active and 174 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:06.440 people have relationships to them. So this does add another 175 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:10.120 ethical dimension, I guess to doing this kind of archaeology. 176 00:11:10.399 --> 00:11:14.159 It also gives you huge advantages because you can ask 177 00:11:14.279 --> 00:11:17.919 people what was going on at a place. But you 178 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:21.120 make a good point there is an intersection with indigenous 179 00:11:21.240 --> 00:11:25.080 archaeology here and this was my main career before I 180 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:29.440 became a space archaeologist. I was a heritage consultant working 181 00:11:29.480 --> 00:11:36.840 with Aboriginal communities in Australia, and for those communities, similarly, 182 00:11:36.919 --> 00:11:38.960 you don't say, oh, this is one hundred years old, 183 00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:41.240 so it has a different kind of value. A lot 184 00:11:41.240 --> 00:11:45.919 of the value comes because things are still very present 185 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:49.519 and interwoven in everyday life. So it does give you 186 00:11:49.559 --> 00:11:54.679 a different kind of sensibility about stuff that is recent 187 00:11:55.720 --> 00:12:00.240 and stuff that well definitions of rubbish as well. So 188 00:12:00.840 --> 00:12:03.759 something that is not being used or appears to have 189 00:12:03.799 --> 00:12:07.840 been abandoned when we're looking at the present those that's 190 00:12:07.879 --> 00:12:09.120 not necessarily the case. 191 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:13.120 So while archaeology means this study of ancient history, that's 192 00:12:13.159 --> 00:12:15.679 not always the case in practice. And the significance of 193 00:12:15.720 --> 00:12:18.759 an artifact might have everything to do with the cultural 194 00:12:18.840 --> 00:12:22.440 significance of its I guess it's impact, so to say, 195 00:12:22.519 --> 00:12:25.279 and how we interacted, whether it was something we accidentally 196 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:29.240 left behind or deliberately abandoned. But what kind of objects 197 00:12:29.240 --> 00:12:33.360 are we talking? And how do you define space junk? 198 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:38.440 I picture just like broken satellites and like a booster 199 00:12:38.720 --> 00:12:42.799 that's just up there rusting. What is it exactly? 200 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:45.720 But this my answer to that, I guess relates to 201 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:48.080 what we've just been talking about, because I'm kind of 202 00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:52.799 really uneasy with the term junk. Okay, there's all kinds 203 00:12:52.840 --> 00:12:58.440 of other words for things that are discarded or considered 204 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:02.039 to be waste. You know, we havesh garbage, all of 205 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:05.600 these kinds of words. There is actually a definition of 206 00:13:06.039 --> 00:13:09.879 space junk, a technical definition, and it says, a piece 207 00:13:09.919 --> 00:13:14.080 of space junk is an object that does not now 208 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:18.039 or in the foreseeable future have a use. 209 00:13:18.679 --> 00:13:20.559 Okay, let's repeat that because it's important. 210 00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:24.519 A piece of space junk is an object that does 211 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:30.759 not now or in the foreseeable future have a use. Ah. 212 00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:35.960 So that's the kind of engineering definition I guess. So 213 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:39.879 the kinds of things people routinely think of as junk 214 00:13:40.120 --> 00:13:44.720 are all of the old and abandoned satellites and rocket 215 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:49.200 bodies and fragments of those objects that are floating around 216 00:13:49.200 --> 00:13:52.519 in Earth orbit. And you could also technically say that 217 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:57.360 places like the Apollo landing sites on the Moon are 218 00:13:57.480 --> 00:14:02.879 junk because they have been abandoned or discarded by some definitions. 219 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:05.080 But the way I look at it, our definition of 220 00:14:05.159 --> 00:14:09.200 junk is a very cultural thing. So something that one 221 00:14:09.240 --> 00:14:13.000 person abandons or discards may actually have very high value 222 00:14:13.080 --> 00:14:17.759 for somebody who is from a different place or class, 223 00:14:17.879 --> 00:14:21.399 or has a different understanding of material objects. 224 00:14:21.879 --> 00:14:25.600 Hey, one person's trash is another's treasure. And this applies 225 00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:30.440 to everything from old barbecues to romantic partners. And that's beautiful. 226 00:14:30.840 --> 00:14:36.919 And we do have examples of spacecraft which ceased to 227 00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:41.200 be used but was still capable of being used, so 228 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:44.440 they did actually have a use in the foreseeable future. 229 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:49.159 And some very clever people have gone out and reactivated 230 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:53.559 old spacecraft, old satellites to repurpose them for I know. 231 00:14:53.720 --> 00:14:54.440 Is that amazing? 232 00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:57.440 Yeah, that's great. That's like when you watch a program 233 00:14:57.440 --> 00:14:59.879 and Discovery where it's like someone in the Rust Belt 234 00:15:00.120 --> 00:15:02.799 putting together an old Chevy and getting it to run 235 00:15:02.840 --> 00:15:11.120 again some serious technological makeover. How do they do that? 236 00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:12.759 Are they able to do it from Earth and just 237 00:15:12.799 --> 00:15:14.360 get some codes and start tippy tapping? 238 00:15:14.519 --> 00:15:16.320 Yes, well, a lot of the time it is as 239 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:18.320 simple as that. They just need to get the codes. 240 00:15:18.759 --> 00:15:22.440 But the really interesting thing is those codes are often lost. 241 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:25.639 And this is the case with the UK satellite Prospero, 242 00:15:26.159 --> 00:15:29.720 which had its fortieth anniversary a few years back, and 243 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:32.799 a group of students tried to re establish contact with it, 244 00:15:33.320 --> 00:15:35.720 but the codes had been lost in you know, like 245 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:37.000 an office move or something. 246 00:15:37.080 --> 00:15:40.840 Oh god, Oh it's like, so what they need last 247 00:15:40.879 --> 00:15:42.960 pass or just one of those books. It just is 248 00:15:43.799 --> 00:15:49.039 it's all lowercase password one, two, three, just drive on too, 249 00:15:49.039 --> 00:15:50.279 three fours? Do you ever work? 250 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:53.279 You know, it's such an interesting thing because we kind 251 00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:55.759 of have this idea of the space age as something 252 00:15:55.799 --> 00:16:02.080 that's very orderly and where nothing goes wrong, where technology 253 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:05.440 is perfect. And you know, it's the same kind of thing. 254 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:07.799 You clear up the filing cabinet in your office and 255 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:10.639 you throw out the one file that had the things 256 00:16:10.679 --> 00:16:13.600 that you needed in it, and suddenly there's a spacecraft 257 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:17.639 a drift that nobody can use again. So I think 258 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:23.639 around this idea of junk it's really interesting things that 259 00:16:23.720 --> 00:16:28.320 are considered junk mate still have social uses, for example. 260 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:33.320 So an example I often think of when it comes 261 00:16:33.320 --> 00:16:37.399 to that is a rather famous red sports car that 262 00:16:37.480 --> 00:16:41.360 was launched into space in twenty eighteen by a rather 263 00:16:41.480 --> 00:16:44.000 famous space person. 264 00:16:44.279 --> 00:16:49.320 Well, I think it looks so ridiculous and impossible, and 265 00:16:49.399 --> 00:16:52.159 you can tell it's real because it looks so fake. Honestly, 266 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:56.879 we'd have way better cegif we'll speak yes. 267 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:00.799 And it was quite controversial when it was launched because 268 00:17:00.840 --> 00:17:03.919 people said, why couldn't it have been a proper scientific experiment. 269 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:06.880 We could have got something out of it, And other 270 00:17:06.920 --> 00:17:10.599 people said, you know, this is amazing. It's a visionary 271 00:17:11.960 --> 00:17:15.400 it's whimsical and quirky, and you know, I love a 272 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:18.039 bit of whimsy and quirk with the best of them. 273 00:17:18.359 --> 00:17:22.720 But it was a red sports car, and we know 274 00:17:22.799 --> 00:17:25.599 what red sports cars symbolize? Or should I spell it 275 00:17:25.640 --> 00:17:27.200 out early a week? 276 00:17:27.240 --> 00:17:29.960 Am I missing something? Are we talking about a different 277 00:17:30.039 --> 00:17:35.079 kind of space junk? I'm thinking it's just like a 278 00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:39.039 very much midlife crisis in a phallic symbol, but very much. 279 00:17:39.480 --> 00:17:46.000 It's also wealth and power, representing membership of an elite organization. 280 00:17:46.519 --> 00:17:48.759 And you know, there's probably lots of other meanings that 281 00:17:48.839 --> 00:17:51.960 you could find. But the point about that red sports 282 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:56.759 car it didn't do anything. It didn't collect data, it 283 00:17:56.799 --> 00:18:01.559 wasn't part of any experiment. But it's funk was social. 284 00:18:01.920 --> 00:18:05.000 Its function was to be a symbol. So for all 285 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:08.000 of the people who said, oh, it's just another piece 286 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:11.440 of space junk clogging up the orbital paths of the 287 00:18:11.480 --> 00:18:17.519 Solar System, even though I personally disliked the symbolism. It 288 00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:21.319 makes a wonderful argument that the function of a spacecraft 289 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:24.279 can be social, and if that's the case, then it 290 00:18:24.359 --> 00:18:27.359 isn't actually junk even if it's not working. 291 00:18:27.759 --> 00:18:30.079 Okay, just some quick trivia on this. I looked it 292 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:32.799 up and Elon didn't get the idea of launching his 293 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:35.079 roadster into space while he was like on a Cradam 294 00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:38.279 bender in a hat up. Apparently, SpaceX announced that they 295 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:41.440 needed a boilerplate or a dummy payload for the Felcon 296 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:44.119 Heavy test launch, and they were looking for the silliest 297 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:46.880 ideas possible. One Twitter user, someone by the name of 298 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:51.119 Evelyn Janity, a twenty something Texan self described as a 299 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:54.480 Latina writer and poet who's also a trained dental technician 300 00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:59.440 but a Cosmos enthusiast and aspiring SpaceX employee, suggested launching 301 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:03.200 musks swinky commute vehicle into orbit. Musk faved it, and 302 00:19:03.240 --> 00:19:05.480 the internet to vote. The rest is history that will 303 00:19:05.559 --> 00:19:08.599 last roughly a billion years. So whether the car is 304 00:19:08.680 --> 00:19:14.000 a whimsical nod to human potential or an egomaniacal automotive 305 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:18.160 version of gas station dick pills, just this object existing 306 00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:20.799 has a function because we're talking about it and we're 307 00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:24.839 thinking about it, which might be its greatest use marketing tool. 308 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:28.400 And that's a very archaeological sort of way to look 309 00:19:28.440 --> 00:19:32.400 at things. I think something that we do as archaeologists 310 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:38.359 is to look at everyday objects, sometimes really special objects, 311 00:19:38.400 --> 00:19:41.279 but often it's just everyday objects and look at them 312 00:19:41.319 --> 00:19:45.000 beyond their strict function to see what roles they perform 313 00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:52.000 in creating social cohesion, or supporting certain power structures or 314 00:19:52.079 --> 00:19:56.279 undermining certain power structures. So an artifactor on object is 315 00:19:56.359 --> 00:19:59.960 never just that. There's always more going on, because that's 316 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:00.920 how humans work. 317 00:20:01.079 --> 00:20:05.240 Yeah, there's context behind every artifact in every museum, and 318 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:09.400 that artifact, when it's interpreted with context, has so much 319 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:14.000 more social and emotional value for sure. And now when 320 00:20:14.039 --> 00:20:18.079 it comes to a timeline here, we haven't been catapulting 321 00:20:18.119 --> 00:20:21.880 things into orbit for our entire existence on Earth. So 322 00:20:22.039 --> 00:20:25.480 what do you think was the first piece of space 323 00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:28.680 debris that was up there? When did we start flinging stuff? 324 00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:32.160 There's a rather wonderful story in that. I think the 325 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:40.400 early nineteen fifties, a nuclear explosion in our underground cavity 326 00:20:40.480 --> 00:20:43.680 which had what is often called a manhole cover on 327 00:20:43.720 --> 00:20:48.960 the top actually caused that manhole cover to jet off 328 00:20:49.000 --> 00:20:52.440 the Earth and get into Earth orbit. So this was 329 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:54.680 in the early fifties, and many people say this is 330 00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:57.839 the first thing that actually made it into space. 331 00:20:58.440 --> 00:21:01.440 Probably I'm freaking out about that. That's crazy to think 332 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:03.759 that there's a manhole cover somewhere up there that's the 333 00:21:03.799 --> 00:21:05.119 first piece of space junk. 334 00:21:05.720 --> 00:21:08.759 Okay, there does seem to be some evidence that this 335 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:12.599 story isn't apocryphal and may actually have happened. And of 336 00:21:12.599 --> 00:21:14.880 course we've got a difference here between things that can 337 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:19.200 get high, like they get super high that's doing it, 338 00:21:19.079 --> 00:21:21.680 is super dup bright and kind of be in space, 339 00:21:22.200 --> 00:21:24.599 but they don't stay in space. They just come straight 340 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:28.039 back down. So really, if we're looking at the first 341 00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:32.720 objects that got into Earth orbit, we have butt Neck 342 00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:36.359 one in nineteen fifty seven, And I often think about this. 343 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:40.880 So in nineteen fifty seven, the first time that a 344 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:45.279 human object that people can watch for and listen to, 345 00:21:45.839 --> 00:21:48.519 but Nick one had a little beat beat beat radio 346 00:21:48.599 --> 00:21:54.279 signal that became absolutely iconic. How extraordinary that must have 347 00:21:54.359 --> 00:21:57.920 been to think that there was a human object up 348 00:21:57.960 --> 00:22:02.079 there with the stars above your head, and of course, 349 00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:05.160 then you know later that year there's Sputnik two, which 350 00:22:05.200 --> 00:22:08.480 had poor little Laika the dog on board. 351 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:12.359 Why poor little Leicho, what happened? Okay? So, Leika was 352 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:16.400 a Russian dog plucked from the streets and quite literally 353 00:22:16.440 --> 00:22:20.799 thrust into fame as the first living creature to orbit Earth. 354 00:22:21.079 --> 00:22:23.799 She was launched in the thirteen foot tall Sputnik two 355 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:27.039 the month after Sputnik one went up, and her name 356 00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:30.519 means the barker, and she only survived a few hours 357 00:22:30.559 --> 00:22:34.599 because the temperature controls failed, but her body continued to 358 00:22:34.759 --> 00:22:38.880 orbit the planet two thousand, five hundred and seventy times 359 00:22:38.920 --> 00:22:42.440 over the course of five months before a cremation caused 360 00:22:42.440 --> 00:22:47.359 by incineration re entering the atmosphere. Truly a rags to 361 00:22:47.519 --> 00:22:51.000 riches to ash's tail, but it got people very fired 362 00:22:51.079 --> 00:22:54.119 up about travels unbound by gravity. 363 00:22:54.359 --> 00:23:00.440 Then you had the first US spacecraft, So by nineteen 364 00:23:00.480 --> 00:23:04.400 fifty eight, it's not an extraordinary thing anymore. You know, 365 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:07.400 there's two or three up there at any one time, 366 00:23:08.279 --> 00:23:12.920 and then suddenly it's like boom. This whole thing takes 367 00:23:12.960 --> 00:23:17.799 off every year, more and more and more, until we 368 00:23:17.920 --> 00:23:21.559 get to the point here in twenty twenty where there 369 00:23:21.640 --> 00:23:26.160 is going to be a predicted thirty thousand Starlink satellites 370 00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:30.839 manufactured by SpaceX in Earth orbit in the next ten years. 371 00:23:31.640 --> 00:23:35.319 At the present time, there are around about two thousand 372 00:23:35.599 --> 00:23:44.279 functioning satellites, maybe around four thousand not functioning whole satellites, 373 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:50.799 and over thirty five thousand bits of junk that are 374 00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:54.880 greater than ten centimeters. So going from nineteen fifty seven, 375 00:23:54.920 --> 00:23:57.279 when there's just that one little beat beat beep up 376 00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:02.839 in the sky to twenty twenty, when we'll be looking 377 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:07.799 at the night sky changing so radically that in fact 378 00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:11.720 the easiest things to see will be human manufactured objects. 379 00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:15.599 They will be spacecraft and satellites, and this will be 380 00:24:15.640 --> 00:24:19.400 part of people's everyday experience of going out at night. 381 00:24:20.200 --> 00:24:23.559 So that's an extraordinary change. 382 00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:26.880 Yeah, okay, I'm going to repeat those figures just to 383 00:24:26.920 --> 00:24:29.319 wrap our brains around them. So two to three thousand 384 00:24:29.559 --> 00:24:33.799 working satellites are up there now, plus four thousand defunct 385 00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:37.640 old ones, and there are thirty five thousand bits of 386 00:24:37.799 --> 00:24:40.359 space junk bigger than about the palm of your hand, 387 00:24:40.759 --> 00:24:44.480 and millions of smaller, shall we say, micro junk, And 388 00:24:44.519 --> 00:24:49.200 then soon thirty thousand new satellites will join five times 389 00:24:49.240 --> 00:24:52.079 the number that are up there now. But SpaceX can 390 00:24:52.160 --> 00:24:56.119 launch something like this because as a private Cosmos courier service, 391 00:24:56.480 --> 00:24:59.400 they have made launches much more affordable for themselves. So 392 00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:02.640 why not go into the satellite business itself instead of 393 00:25:02.720 --> 00:25:06.640 just being a four higher satellite delivery business for other companies, 394 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:10.400 is their reasoning, and astronomer doctor Samantha Lawler wrote via 395 00:25:10.440 --> 00:25:13.480 the website The Conversation quote, We're about to undergo a 396 00:25:13.559 --> 00:25:17.839 dramatic transition and our experience of satellites. No longer will 397 00:25:17.880 --> 00:25:20.319 you escape your city for a camping trip and see 398 00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:23.319 the stars unobstructed. You'll have to look through a grid 399 00:25:23.400 --> 00:25:26.960 of crawling, bright satellites. No matter how remote your location. 400 00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:30.599 Starlinks are lower in orbit and brighter than ninety nine 401 00:25:30.640 --> 00:25:33.799