I'm a 72 year old retired mechanical engineer and really feel lucky to have lived during the time we began to explore space with methods other than just telescopes. Just hope I live long enough to see a manned mission to Mars. Fingers crossed! Having just discovered your channel, I'm doing a little binge watching. Keep up the great videos.
2 caveats here. Nuclear propulsion only gets a bunch of doomed dudes there. There is no remotely feasible return ticket to ever get anything back from Mars surface. There is nothing to be done a robo lander hasn't already done in confirming Mars to be a boring piece of barren red rock flying through a vast nothing of space. Short of interstellar antigrav drive and antigrav shield there is nothing left worth doing in space. Chances are high that 6th mass exnstinction induced by climate crisis gives us no chance to ever sttle anywhere habitable in space. This is called the Fermi Paradoxon. Pls. stick with what we have learned from exploring space. Consider that any rocket launch blows 166 megatons of CO2 into the atmosphere. For what gain to make humanity survive and improve our lives? There Is No Planet B. We are stuck here for 150+ years until we can crack our heads for real about antigravity tech. We got to fix a gross mess in our atmosphere and if we fail we are doomed to stay and go extinct. People need to be educated about that urgently. Anything that stoops being scientific is just a cargo cult. Google it where the landing strip is levelled here and the tower raised for someone praying cargo to be delivered by some magic.
I hope you stick around as long as you like, and while it's clear there are massive unresolved problems with Mars as a colony world, my attitude is pretty much that we have to do such things eventually, and given the incalculable benefits which the moon landings produced (not just tech, but most of all INSPIRING thousands of young people into becoming various types of scientist/engineer/etc --- if we could quantify the benefits of inspiring those generations I reckon it would be beyond our wildest dreams. This sort of thing costs peanuts right now (few % for the USA, which spends trillions on stupid wars at the same time as claiming it can't afford giving people health care and education) compared to the potential.
@@teejayaich4306 Yeah, we learned about climate crisis from SpaceEx Satellite tech. When learned Moon is a dusty barren rock, where the dust is so aggressive you can't do anything on it. We send a rover to Mars and learned it is a barren rock as well. Unless someone understands gravity and builds an interstellar faster than light antigrav drive we are on Earth as Planet A. If you ask to waste 16 Megatons for a liftoff, you have to explain the true benefit of a manned mission to Mars over the downsides. Fact is, you can not get back. No lander can get back into orbit w/o fuel production n Mars. A place where you have neither fossile fuel or water. Nothing Mars would be ever sustainable. Nuclear terraforming is a very remote option. It would still ask to live under substantially different gravity. Sorry, but if you claim "science" you are not supposed to wander off into some delusionary dreamlands. People in the US always dream about a "New Frontier". That's culture mumbo-jumbo not science. The is insurmountable physics in the way where we need at least 150 years to come up with solutions. Solutions that need another league of understanding space and physics of gravity. Means if grvity is particles or rays and how fast "instantaneous" is. If gravity is a push or pull force in it's "field". What a quantum of gravity is? If you can answer any of these you can shield a Mars Mission modules and colony ship from microparticle impact accelerating a vehicle to light speed. There is amazing talks about the challenges of Mars missions. Maybe entertain yourself with some good science and put thought and creativity in a productive direction for humanity.
Hey Brian, I'm just a rocket engineer telling you that you did a fantastic job on this video. You explained everything perfectly and all of the benefits and drawbacks of each approach. You should be proud of this one!
@@PresidentialWinner Well, the reference to the "dark side of the Moon" made it decidedly Un-perfect---especially when it shows that side lit up by the Sun.
Hey question as a sudden thought on storage. Couldn't we use water to make Hydrogen space stable and split the fuel in transit using electrolysis to split the water into its Hydrogen and Oxygen forms giving us 66.6% Hydrogen fuel and 33.3% Oxygen? Using oxygen for air or a hybrid fuel source for extra thrust, while spliting off the hydrogen to another container to be used short-term. Or something along those lines.
@@Yogosi Electrolysis need a lot of electricity (the same reason why hydrogen powered cars aren't popular in Earth, majority of our electricity is still supplied by fossil fuels, thus negating the supposed green-ness of hydrogen), something that is rare in space
@@MrSvenovitch humans have no respect for nature ...trying to rule that never gonna happen ....our planet is so complex and special still we keep abusing it .Colonizing Mars after destroying Earth ...running away from facing the destruction we have done .Well we can go to the end of the universe still as humans will fight till the end :(((
Rockets were invented long ago. Fireworks that is. Missile rockets were invented few hundred years back with the Mysore rockets followed by Congreve rocket.
I have always dreamed about us setting up a secondary launch point from the moon. Where we use a large portion of fuel to escape the earth. But, then refuel on a base at the moon and go from there with more fuel then we've ever had and the moon has way lesser gravity so it'll make this super effective towards efficiency.
@@david2869 I think so, too.... Though it is a long way until then and we would probably start with a facility on the moon as it is easier to build and operate as far as I know
You might as well launch two ships and refuel the first one with the second's tank. That way you don't have to spend extra fuel to launch from the moon. That is unless you find a fuel source on the moon.
If there would be fuel on the moon it would be a great ideea. If not, transfer of fuel in orbit is obviously more efficient. And with nuclear power, it makes more sense to use gases that can be scooped from orbit of a gas giant. A nuclear refuel spacecraft could go into the atmosphere of a gas giant, compress the already freezing dense gases and bring them as liquid to an orbital refinery. Ocean voyage out there, no land if you want to traverse the space in shortest time
Ion propulsion looks like it is straight out of science fiction. Amazing! So cool to see that it is probably gonna be a big part of the future. Just imagining a large space craft slowly drift with ion thrusters only to then fire up chemical combustion engines in a giant explosion in order to decelerate close to a celestial body has me creaming myself :O
I believe you could use the ion drive to accelerate continuously through the first half of any journey and then rotate the exhaust nozzles 180 deg to thrust in the reverse direction through the last half to slow it down.
So weird to hear Gary’s name. His family lived in our neighborhood when I was much younger. I was close to the same age as his oldest child. We knew he was involved with “space”....but it was years later before I understood the true impact of his accomplishments. He was an incredible pioneer.
@@kennarajora6532 why would he care that his name was mentioned in a UA-cam video, no offense to Real Engineering; the guy is like a rockstar in the space business.
No matter how finite fossil fuels are energy-dense and traded today cheaper than water, they are not plenty enough to propel humans far in the space. Thank god we still have some of them to let us driving on the ground; "No energy system can produce sum useful energy in excess of the total energy put into constructing it. This universal truth applies to all energy systems. Energy, like time, flows from past to future".
Looking at this video now makes me wish I could have seen it when I was doing physics in highschool... just the way the equations relate to the actual real world applications is just so fascinating
They might be able to get around the leakage issue with liquid hydrogen by liningg the interior of the tanks with multiple layers of graphene and holding it at a static potential to repel the attoms although that comes with other challenges.
@@arthurzettel6618dunno about that, you'd have to be going slower relative to the interstellar medium than your exhaust velocity, otherwise the kinetic energy you lose to catch the hydrogen can't be made up. Ironically this makes for a sort of "drag" effect.
I only knew about them because they came up on one episode of a show on discovery channel when I a child 20 years ago. I could've easily missed that one episode and haave the same realisation that they are real.
I just wanted to let you know that your videos pulled me out of a dark place of looming midlife crisis in my early 40's. I've started using Brilliant so I can be better at Maths and use it in my current CS degree with Machine Learning and AI. Thanks a lot! Greetings from Dublin!
@@canobenitez If you are struggling to understand books or lectures, Brilliant is good to make you understand things on a more intuitive and practical layer. However, I don't use any of them in isolation. I use both Brilliant and formal lectures/books.
Thanks for giving me a rudimentary understanding of this subject without making me feel stupid. I've been alive for the entirety of human space exploration, and wish to be alive for the first humans to Mars. I'm already 62, though, so I guess we'll see how that plays out.
@@arnavsadhu Actually that's nuclear fusion energy which is different from nuclear fission. Planet are fission reactors because they are too small for fusion and stars are fusion reactors.
@@KRYMauL the point is, it's nuclear energy. The sun is a nuclear reactor. A fusion reactor. Those of us in the know , know what's what and the differences.
I used to feel the same way before I went to university to get an engineering degree. I'm still no rocket scientist, but I can fathom how people are able to develop these technologies. Much is often said about the uselessness of a college degree, but I believe they are still very valuable.
@@Cyberspine, I would say it is not a question of if, but of when. It will be funded, perhaps by private corporations, but it will happen, baring a Earth shattering nuclear war.
I have no idea what this guy is talking about but it was entertaining. This is similar to my infant staring at me in awe as I talk to him about random things.
Modern day rockets use fuel(stuff that makes most tracked or wheeled vehicles go room room), hes explaining how this won't be fast enough for us to colonize Mars. Since it may take more than 35+ years, But if we started to make new types of engines(propulsion) its not only faster but less time making it more possible for us to bring life to the planet mars.
Really great presentation. I keep coming back to watch this one over and over. In the near future, we'll be adding thermonuclear propulsion to the mix. What a great time to be alive.
You can explain these topics so clearly, I wish my school teacher was half as skilled as you. I haven't even studied this part of mechanics that well yet, but was still able to understand most of what you said reasonably well.
Go play some Kerbal Space Program, thatll teach you! :D (also its one of the best games ever made and everyone should give it a try) edi: I legitimately didnt see someone else said the same xD
13:20 problem with Helium is that until we literally start mining gas giants it is far to precious to use in such applicatons, as opposed to commonplace hydrogen.
@Andre Hpunkt The moon is not hollow, it is made if light silicates, aka rock, not much metal. It would be pretty tough to wreck a 2100 mile diameter rock ball.
Was hoping to see some discussion on Nuclear Explosion Drives, where a small fission reaction explosion is the source of the thrust. Pretty interesting if not exceptionally challenging.
How would that work? you need to eject a lot of mass to create thrust. There is no enough uranium to simply explode and shoot out. Also won't it spread radioactive waste?
@@Ghost_of_Gaby It was called Project Orion, and it was cancelled in the 1960s for your reasons and every other reason you can think of. It was a fantastically horrible idea, done before the stronium-90 tooth surveys.
Fantastic content, love the humanist optimistic approach, being positive about our species. Too easy to find negative regressive attitudes from those declaring they're doing the opposite.
Hats off to the explanation!, All the complicated concepts in such simple explanation is an work of art... Seriously impressed by the explanation, Keep doing this...
How do you put out so high quality content in just 2 weeks!? I love these videos, they are so informative but still interesting. Keep up the great work!
I’m blown away from the quality of this video... hats off to you Irish sir ! Dumbing down rocket science to the point where a simple guy like me can understand it is a feat on its own !
Ya - you wanna believe everything your Teacher says. You were taught by Teachers - who were taught by Teachers - who were taught by Teachers - who were taught by Teachers - who were taught by Teachers - who were taught by Teachers - who were taught by Teachers - who were all taught what and what not to Teach you.
Explain, how anything can break, navigate or steer in a Vacuum. Likewise, explain how the air we breath, is not escaping into said Vacuum. Please, don't spit out the 'Theory Of Gravity', clues in the title, never been proven & only exists in Mathemagics, a non Science 'Abstract'. A Language manipulated to suit their ends. Deal with Objective Reality, use your senses. No rotation, no earth curve & no water bending around a rock, you do not live on the exterior of a Space rock. Grow up 'Condemnation without investigation, is the height of ignorance.
@@uppercut2246 “Explain, how anything can break, navigate, or steer in a Vacuum.” Well, breaking is quite easy. A few explosives here and there and boom. However, I assume you actually meant to say braking, as one would brake a car. Now, spacecraft in Earth’s orbit never really stop moving, as orbiting is essentially falling, except you are moving sideways fast enough to miss the ground. However, they can certainly slow down, and they generally do this by turning around so that the fiery end of the thrusters is pointed at the direction they are moving in, and then turning on the thrusters, accelerating propellent backwards and producing an equal and opposite reaction that pushes them forwards, in this case slowing them down. As far as navigation goes, it’s mostly just a lot of math to calculate how much and when you need to accelerate in what direction to catch up with any given object at some given time, and then waiting for that exact moment and accelerating by that exact amount. Steering in space is relatively simple. On Earth, an aircraft would tilt its control surfaces, using the flow of air to push the aircraft. However, there is no air in space, so instead spacecraft typically use small thrusters located in various positions around the craft to turn and stop turning. They’re called reaction control systems, look them up, they’re semi interesting. “Likewise, explain how the air we breath, is not escaping into said Vacuum.” Actually, it is escaping into the vacuum. According to phys.org, along with many, many organizations of all shapes and sizes, “Every day, around 90 tonnes of material escapes from our planet’s upper atmosphere and streams off into space.” Of course, your question would then likely shift to “Why isn’t all of it escaping?” I would then answer that question with gravity. Yes, shock, horror, I have listed a theory as evidence! Evidently, you do not know the meaning of a scientific theory, given your comment following immediately after the air escaping one. I believe the word you are looking for when describing something that is entirely hypothetical is, well, a hypothesis. However, the theory of gravity is a scientific theory, and, according to dictionary.com, a scientific theory is “a coherent group of propositions formulated to explain a group of facts or phenomena in the natural world and repeatedly confirmed through experiment or observation.” As such, I feel it acceptable to bring forth the idea that perhaps an entire planet the size of Earth would have a rather large amount of mass, and therefore a sizable gravity well, strong enough to keep most, but not all, of the various gases surrounding it close to it. However, I am listing all of these explanations with disregard to the fact that you seem disinterested in actual facts and science, as you soon declare that “Mathemagics, a non Science ‘Abstract’” is “A Language manipulated to suit their ends. Deal with Objective Reality, use your senses. No rotation, no earth curve % no water bending around a rock, you do not live on the exterior of a Space rock. Grow up ‘condemnation without investigation, is the height of ignorance.’” Shockingly, the flat Earther who proclaims that all should use objective truths and their senses, condemning all their enemies for “Condemnation without investigation”, believes that math, or as you call it “Mathemagics”, is some part of a conspiracy, hand crafted by some mysteriously powerful yet strangely incompetent They. It is also equally shocking that he believes that our senses contradict the Earth’s curvature, when really they only serve to prove it. For instance, were I to stand on the top of a nearby mountain, and then plant a decent telescope upon it, I would not be able to see the skyline of New York or Los Angeles, and most certainly would not see Beijing or Moscow. However, were I to visit the ports of one of the former and watch the ships by the horizon with said sufficiently powerful telescope, I would see that as they go over the horizon they would disappear bottom up, and vice versa, almost as if we were both on a curved surface, and now the surface of that spheroid was obstructing my view.
@@uppercut2246 I love you people you ask a question and then you say don’t answer with the answer your quite idiotic and ignorant you think that you are so intelligent when people who spent their whole life studying, confirming, and finding new results are wrong. Maybe you should stop being ignorant so legitimate tests yourself understand the mathematics and science behind these things and then you can start acting smart
Thank you for explaining how and why things are the way they are because most science videos just give a very dimmed-down explanation that I am never fully satisfied with.
Literally just started thinking about ideal non-chemical space propulsion methods these past few weeks, great timing to whet my mental appetite, and with such superb detail and panache. Another great video 👍
Minor correction: Radiation is not the means of dispersing heat in space. Ablation can also be used, although you'd need an impractical amount of ablative for the purpose you're talking about.
Surprised you didn’t talk about it here, but if you throw out the assumption that your nuclear core has to stay in the solid form, you can get specific impulses of up to 7000s with thrust to weight ratios of 1-5. Recently did a presentation on this at an AIAA conference for anyone who’s interested: ua-cam.com/video/eRDyRg-Bdos/v-deo.html
Even then you could have a nuclear salt water rocket the god of nuclear engines for its high trust and exuast velosities up to 1% the speed of light. More efficient but with less thrust is the dusty plasma fission fragment engine or reactor. This can have exaust velocities of up to 5% the speed of light. For fision fragment reactor www.researchgate.net/publication/228875834_Dusty_Plasma_Based_Fission_Fragment_Nuclear_Reactor For nuclear salt water rocket www.researchgate.net/publication/265934300_NUCLEAR_SALT_WATER_ROCKETS_HIGH_THRUST_AT_10000_SEC_ISP Wikipedia articles may have more information than these articles and have beter diagrams.
@@SpaceMan776 adding to this there’s a lot of interesting work on these concepts being done at NASA’s yearly NIAC conference. If you’re looking for when sci fi propulsion technology becomes reality, I’d place good money it comes from that funding initiative.
@@SpaceMan776 and of course, you can always blow up small nuclear warheads behind your craft for maximum Isp, but I’m not sure if that’s ITAR approved (or even politically feasible).
@@KRYMauL yeah but that’s putting out that much radiation for propulsion plus if we do it often would lead to problems no matter how cool it would be 😔
The F-23 was faster, has a radical look, and with its complex thrust vectoring just as maneuverable. I like the F-23 because as a teenager I correctly concluded that the wing shape would reduce drag over that of a conventional swept wing and drew fighter jets with it and would have preferred the F-23 to win but have to admit that the thrust vectoring system probably would not have made it past the cost cutters.
Hi, I really like your proposals for propulsion. My experience was pwr. I often look back on the simplicity of the designs that made them safe. This is a new generation and I hope you have success... I'm gonna stay here on Terra Firma though.
I remember hearing of VASIMR (a type of ion engine) with a game-changing mission profile: a 42-day trip to Mars, 6 weeks on the surface, and 6 weeks return to Earth. The entire mission can be completed with both Earth and Mars on the same side of the sun. If nuclear can achieve this 6-week trip time, it becomes feasible the same way. VASIMR hasn't proved out, so we may need the nuclear engine to pull off the mission.
@@TheNavalAviator Thanks, I also figured we'll need a fission reactor. Next would be what size, the power plant would not only have to supply the engines, a significant draw of electricity would go to the magnetic shield. The reactor would have to be launched as a separate module due to its weight, so our mars-bound ships would have to be assembled in orbit.
@@dtvjho The ambition was to do do away with the NTR and use only a VASIMR as propulsion for everything but you'll never get the same thrust-to-mass-ratio with a nuclear electric VASIMR system.
@@TheNavalAviator VASIMR does “work” but it still has some issues in the way preventing it from reaching its originally envisioned potential. Right now they’re not really all that practically different from ion thrust-wise (thrust is much more but not so much that it’d make a big difference) and efficiency is quite a bit less.
I have watched this channel from the start, literally from its first video. I even remember you replying to one of my comments a long time ago :). It's lovely to see how much this channel has grown and how much your videos inspire me. Your videos get better every single day. Keep up the great work!
Great job on the video you didn't only show the pros of the nuclear propulsion engines but also the cons which gave me a very good perspective on the situation.
It means a million molecules is so tiny it would be hard to even measure. To give some scale there are ~1.5 sextillion molecules in a drop of water. (That’s 1,500,000,000,000,000,000,000 molecules)
In book Mission Saturn, they cooled reactor core by transfering the heat into molten metal. After that they started releasing metal in thin rolls into space to radiate heat away and catch it after all heat was released
liquid metal cooling system could also be conductive so moving it through magnets will create a charge that you can run your hair dryer with, or whatever blows your hair back
I like that faster transfer times to Mars efforts are going to make the moon seem just around the corner. Lunar settlement just makes so much more sense. Even an extinction event like an asteroid strike are 1. More easily fought from the moon. 2. Earth more easily repopulated from the moon than from mars. 3. We won't feel so psychologically abandoned being able to see the earth from the moon & vice versa.
You should check out the Tintin comic *Destination Moon,* it imagined what a moon mission would look like before the real moon mission happened in real life, and has some neat engineering in it.
@@Hereicome. @Ayush Sinha I'd rather not, either this is some bot or just another account that person is using to advertise their channel, spamming replies is rather annoying and will make people dislike that channel even more. This message will now repeat.
I was about to quote this comic. Of course, We'll need this tournesolite matter to build the engine next.. Maybe the JPL should contact Sydalvian space agency..
Yes, my kids are reading this at the moment. The rocket is nuclear-powered, and accelerates at 1G towards the moon, turns around halfway and decelerates at 1G the rest of the way. It's a neat idea that lets the crew enjoy earthlike ”gravity” but I imagine the ship's speed would be pretty ridiculous halfway along. A ship able to achieve thrust over a long period of time (subject to supplies of Xenon, I guess) would be able to jump between planets quickly because of high average velocities.
Could you do a video on the specific impulse and feasibility of spacecraft powered by small-scale nuclear explosions like the ones proposed and tested in project Orion? They seem to be able to provide amazing specific impulse and thrust at the same time.
@@thesteaksaignant Sun does fusion, every nuclear bomb we do uses fission. Our hydrogen bombs use fission to initiate fusion. So all nuclear bombs we have use radioactive elements and create radioactive fallout
@@ThomasBomb45 Okay, maybe you misunderstood my point what is radioactive fallout? Something that emits harmful radiations What does the sun emits? A shitton of harmful radiations. That's all I was saying
Great video. Gives a very good bird's eye view of the problem of propulsion in space. I like the hybrid ion/ntr idea. Assuming the long-term hydrogen storage problem can be solved, how long would a non-gravity assisted flight that would go into orbit around Sedna take using such an ion/ntr hybrid? Assume a payload mass of ~1,000 kg. I'd love to see a calculation of a mission like that. Mars is not the only game it town.
@@Hereicome. I'd rather not, either this is some bot or just another account that person is using to advertise their channel, spamming replies is rather annoying and will make people dislike that channel even more. This message will now repeat.
If there's one thing I've learnt about modern rocket development is that you really don't know till you try. It would be great if there was more funding for ideas like this
What a great video! Thanks so much for this. I love how you explain and illustrate in easily understandable terms, and show the actual equations involved with these complex issues! So very nicely done! Thanks so much for this!!
its insane how far we humans have come. we were never suppost to be like this, but im glad we are, we are exploring SPACE, we are sending humans and robots out in space. its scary thinking how big the universe is and how we might be alone. but i hope i live to the day the first humans step foot on mars.
we really need to finish figuring out fusion, alot of this could be solved by that kinda power in fact the next steps in our journey amoung the stars probably rely in fusion power
Cool video! Although I feel you might have undersold Nuclear Thermal video a little - I get the point, since it's more about the potentials of NER, but NERVA is quite an early design that very much in the lower end of what can NTRs do (even for solid cores!). Not to mention that I feel like if we were indeed going with a nuclear thermal, it'd likely be an NTER instead of a simple NTR, as that can push the exhaust velocities much further into the 10+km/s range, or even NERVA-like performance using more easily storeable propellants.
I will have to look into this sight! Normally I struggle to understand a lot of this but I LOVE learning about it all! Thanks for this my dude! Truly thank you!
Hey Brian, I had always wondered why we didn’t have nuclear propelled rockets as well since I work as a nuclear operator and see the huge benefits of a long lasting fuel for space exploration. But working in the industry for a few years now and seeing how the US designs and operates its reactors, I don’t think this would ever be possible. I’m not going to get a whole lot into it just because what I’ve learned is technically classified, but there’s a lot of good information put out by the department of energy. Especially when it comes to material sciences, studies on brittle fracture and thermal limitations of materials if you’re interested. But the video itself was super informative and really got me thinking. Plus wasn’t boring. You made science look cool!
@@Hereicome. @Ayush Sinha I'd rather not, either this is some bot or just another account that person is using to advertise their channel, spamming replies is rather annoying and will make people dislike that channel even more. This message will now repeat.
The way stuff work in Star trek is technical babble it not how it will really work in real life there understand of science is more like the tip of the ice not more indepth like the expanse also the alien tech in the expanse is not explain that some tech that beyond our understanding
Problem number 1: To manufacture antimatter in current technology requires such a huge amount of money for a noticeable amount to be a fuel that it's just plain stupid Problem number 2: Due to how big the energy stored in antimatter(when annihilating matter), to control and direct the explosion(if being used as thermal engine), or as a power generator is quite difficult, and you'll lose the coolant or whatever other matter you are using to be annihilated by antimatter Problem number 3: Containment of antimatter, you can't use conventional method since if it touch other matter it'll just evaporate into big explosion. You need to create a perfect vacuum containment to store antimatter, and there's also problem in how you could pump out desireable amount of antimatter to use in any given time Problem number 4: most sci-fi film could be classed as space opera, since they just use other fantasy term to cover the loophole of their science logic, so to explain it in any meaningful scientific way is, well, won't go well
Another great video to put me to sleep, very quiet music in places, no sounds of any sort and very dull speaking with absolutely no excitement or enthusiasm. Perfect
Would a hybrid engine work, where you use incomplete combustion to generate high mass heavily charged particles (instead of pure ions, e.g. carbon-monoxide) which then can be accelerated by an ion drive/rail gun type system to generate thrust (could even thrown in an after burner step to complete the combustion if it helped...)?
Woops. The outro audio revealed Real Sciences next video by mistake. It's gonna be a banger though, ye should subscribe.
cant wait!!
Doesn't matter. This channel has extremely high quality! Keep it up!
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Hey subject zero uploaded a similar video 2 hours ago, was this a random thing or a collab
I'm a 72 year old retired mechanical engineer and really feel lucky to have lived during the time we began to explore space with methods other than just telescopes. Just hope I live long enough to see a manned mission to Mars. Fingers crossed! Having just discovered your channel, I'm doing a little binge watching. Keep up the great videos.
2 caveats here. Nuclear propulsion only gets a bunch of doomed dudes there. There is no remotely feasible return ticket to ever get anything back from Mars surface. There is nothing to be done a robo lander hasn't already done in confirming Mars to be a boring piece of barren red rock flying through a vast nothing of space. Short of interstellar antigrav drive and antigrav shield there is nothing left worth doing in space. Chances are high that 6th mass exnstinction induced by climate crisis gives us no chance to ever sttle anywhere habitable in space. This is called the Fermi Paradoxon. Pls. stick with what we have learned from exploring space. Consider that any rocket launch blows 166 megatons of CO2 into the atmosphere. For what gain to make humanity survive and improve our lives? There Is No Planet B. We are stuck here for 150+ years until we can crack our heads for real about antigravity tech. We got to fix a gross mess in our atmosphere and if we fail we are doomed to stay and go extinct. People need to be educated about that urgently. Anything that stoops being scientific is just a cargo cult. Google it where the landing strip is levelled here and the tower raised for someone praying cargo to be delivered by some magic.
Fingers crossed for you sir, I hope you’re doing good.
youll see it for sure
I hope you stick around as long as you like, and while it's clear there are massive unresolved problems with Mars as a colony world, my attitude is pretty much that we have to do such things eventually, and given the incalculable benefits which the moon landings produced (not just tech, but most of all INSPIRING thousands of young people into becoming various types of scientist/engineer/etc --- if we could quantify the benefits of inspiring those generations I reckon it would be beyond our wildest dreams.
This sort of thing costs peanuts right now (few % for the USA, which spends trillions on stupid wars at the same time as claiming it can't afford giving people health care and education) compared to the potential.
@@teejayaich4306 Yeah, we learned about climate crisis from SpaceEx Satellite tech. When learned Moon is a dusty barren rock, where the dust is so aggressive you can't do anything on it.
We send a rover to Mars and learned it is a barren rock as well. Unless someone understands gravity and builds an interstellar faster than light antigrav drive we are on Earth as Planet A.
If you ask to waste 16 Megatons for a liftoff, you have to explain the true benefit of a manned mission to Mars over the downsides. Fact is, you can not
get back. No lander can get back into orbit w/o fuel production n Mars. A place where you have neither fossile fuel or water. Nothing Mars would be ever sustainable. Nuclear terraforming is a very remote option. It would still ask to live under substantially different gravity.
Sorry, but if you claim "science" you are not supposed to wander off into some delusionary dreamlands. People in the US always dream about a "New Frontier". That's culture mumbo-jumbo not science. The is insurmountable physics in the way where we need at least 150 years to come up with solutions. Solutions that need another league of understanding space and physics of gravity. Means if grvity is particles or rays and how fast "instantaneous" is. If gravity is a push or pull force in it's "field". What a quantum of gravity is?
If you can answer any of these you can shield a Mars Mission modules and colony ship from microparticle impact accelerating a vehicle to light speed.
There is amazing talks about the challenges of Mars missions. Maybe entertain yourself with some good science and put thought and creativity in a productive direction for humanity.
Hey Brian,
I'm just a rocket engineer telling you that you did a fantastic job on this video. You explained everything perfectly and all of the benefits and drawbacks of each approach. You should be proud of this one!
When a literal rocket engineer tells you that you did a good job, you know you are doing a good job.
@@PresidentialWinner Well, the reference to the "dark side of the Moon" made it decidedly Un-perfect---especially when it shows that side lit up by the Sun.
@@jelink22 stop nitpicking
Hey question as a sudden thought on storage. Couldn't we use water to make Hydrogen space stable and split the fuel in transit using electrolysis to split the water into its Hydrogen and Oxygen forms giving us 66.6% Hydrogen fuel and 33.3% Oxygen? Using oxygen for air or a hybrid fuel source for extra thrust, while spliting off the hydrogen to another container to be used short-term. Or something along those lines.
@@Yogosi Electrolysis need a lot of electricity (the same reason why hydrogen powered cars aren't popular in Earth, majority of our electricity is still supplied by fossil fuels, thus negating the supposed green-ness of hydrogen), something that is rare in space
Pretty amazing for a species that just figured out flight in 1903.
...and will soon make itself extinct...
@@MrSvenovitch humans have no respect for nature ...trying to rule that never gonna happen ....our planet is so complex and special still we keep abusing it .Colonizing Mars after destroying Earth ...running away from facing the destruction we have done .Well we can go to the end of the universe still as humans will fight till the end :(((
@@MrSvenovitch No, no it won't
...and all thanks to Santos-Dumont, the guy was a genius.
Rockets were invented long ago. Fireworks that is. Missile rockets were invented few hundred years back with the Mysore rockets followed by Congreve rocket.
I have always dreamed about us setting up a secondary launch point from the moon. Where we use a large portion of fuel to escape the earth. But, then refuel on a base at the moon and go from there with more fuel then we've ever had and the moon has way lesser gravity so it'll make this super effective towards efficiency.
More likely we would use an assembly station in Earth-Moon orbit at L5 or L6 to assemble the spaceship from parts made on the Moon.
@@david2869 I think so, too.... Though it is a long way until then and we would probably start with a facility on the moon as it is easier to build and operate as far as I know
You might as well launch two ships and refuel the first one with the second's tank. That way you don't have to spend extra fuel to launch from the moon. That is unless you find a fuel source on the moon.
If there would be fuel on the moon it would be a great ideea. If not, transfer of fuel in orbit is obviously more efficient. And with nuclear power, it makes more sense to use gases that can be scooped from orbit of a gas giant. A nuclear refuel spacecraft could go into the atmosphere of a gas giant, compress the already freezing dense gases and bring them as liquid to an orbital refinery. Ocean voyage out there, no land if you want to traverse the space in shortest time
Yeah that's the artemis plan unfortunately it will take until like 2040
The only engineering channel on youtube with references.
The only “real” engineering channel
@@MrGtubedude that unfair to the other guy like practical engineering XD
Do you know about Shri Acharya Prashant? He is a Vedanta teacher!
Honestly one of the only channels in general that have references for science 👏🏽👏🏽
@@USSAnimeNCC- him too lol, but hes the only "practical" engineering channel xD
I was just about to get up and actually do something today.. that’ll have to wait 20mins
Same here..
Don't go down the UA-cam spiral though, it's pretty easy to waste the day
Oh, I thought it was only a 10 minute video. It was so interesting it didn't seem that long.
😂
1.: You got a new animator or the animator learned a lot
2.: The videos got longer
3.: I like that
(That is true for both the x-15 and this video)
Both 😉. Brought on Eli who is a legend at planes / shape shots and I learned 3D so we now incorporate more of it in the 2D stuff.
@@ekimoleksander6068 how you get such photorealistic results is beyond me and absolutely incredible
@@ekimoleksander6068
Dude
I was thinking about the fabulous animations too!
That was amazing, well done!
@Jorge Diaz
🤦🏻♂️
@Jorge Diaz 🤡
Ion propulsion looks like it is straight out of science fiction. Amazing! So cool to see that it is probably gonna be a big part of the future.
Just imagining a large space craft slowly drift with ion thrusters only to then fire up chemical combustion engines in a giant explosion in order to decelerate close to a celestial body has me creaming myself :O
ayo
HUH? 📸📸🤨🤨🤨
video proof?
I believe you could use the ion drive to accelerate continuously through the first half of any journey and then rotate the exhaust nozzles 180 deg to thrust in the reverse direction through the last half to slow it down.
It is science fiction.
So weird to hear Gary’s name. His family lived in our neighborhood when I was much younger. I was close to the same age as his oldest child. We knew he was involved with “space”....but it was years later before I understood the true impact of his accomplishments. He was an incredible pioneer.
if you still stay in contact with him, you should try showing him this video.
He was the guy who used to bring you toilet paper. You will never forget him.
If anything, I’d be offering as much TP as he requires.
@@kennarajora6532 why would he care that his name was mentioned in a UA-cam video, no offense to Real Engineering; the guy is like a rockstar in the space business.
ua-cam.com/video/WxYH5CXbpYA/v-deo.html
These animations seriously keep getting better and better
No matter how finite fossil fuels are energy-dense and traded today cheaper than water, they are not plenty enough to propel humans far in the space. Thank god we still have some of them to let us driving on the ground;
"No energy system can produce sum useful energy in excess of the total energy put into constructing it.
This universal truth applies to all energy systems.
Energy, like time, flows from past to future".
I live in Karachi Pakistan and I like your comment
@yuitr loing I live in Karachi Pakistan and I like your comment if you don't mind
@@sayyamzahid7312 it's fine friend, go ahead
they have probably learned from skill share
Looking at this video now makes me wish I could have seen it when I was doing physics in highschool... just the way the equations relate to the actual real world applications is just so fascinating
All make believe Larry.
Well if you could not imagine in high school that the equations are a language to describe the real world. Physics is not your thing.
@Golden Age Creation um, what does that mean? some of it is familiar to me but why did you but this comment here?
one thing i always said is that they don't teach you useless stuff in school. they just don't often tell you how useful it is.
I agree! If this video had been out when I was in HS, I would've probably pursued a career in science. I've always loved Star Trek, growing up! :)
They might be able to get around the leakage issue with liquid hydrogen by liningg the interior of the tanks with multiple layers of graphene and holding it at a static potential to repel the attoms although that comes with other challenges.
How about harnessing Interstellar hydrogen? Space is full of it.
@@arthurzettel6618dunno about that, you'd have to be going slower relative to the interstellar medium than your exhaust velocity, otherwise the kinetic energy you lose to catch the hydrogen can't be made up. Ironically this makes for a sort of "drag" effect.
I feel silly for not knowing ion thrusters are real. That blue glow is so eerie, but so beautiful
@sokin jon Random fact unrelated to the comment above but, neat.
And so weak
I only knew about them because they came up on one episode of a show on discovery channel when I a child 20 years ago. I could've easily missed that one episode and haave the same realisation that they are real.
I learned about them from ksp(a rocket building simulator)
Wait till they build a REAL ion thruster. At the moment we only have giant particle acellerators on earth. But in space it would be a new chapter.
First Subject Zero's video and now this, both in the same day, am I dreaming?
I was thinking the same thing
Same. Very interesting...
total conspiracy!
@@Feefa99 your mom is a conspiracy
@@Accept_Any_Bribe ur odd
These graphics and sound effects are out of this world (no pun intended).
I just wanted to let you know that your videos pulled me out of a dark place of looming midlife crisis in my early 40's. I've started using Brilliant so I can be better at Maths and use it in my current CS degree with Machine Learning and AI. Thanks a lot! Greetings from Dublin!
Awesome man!
Chin up Sublick.!! 👌💯👌😜
how is that going? I've considered using Brilliant as well; any comments?
@@canobenitez If you are struggling to understand books or lectures, Brilliant is good to make you understand things on a more intuitive and practical layer. However, I don't use any of them in isolation. I use both Brilliant and formal lectures/books.
are you the type like me that will totally refuse to start pronouncing uranus in order to not make it sound like "your anus"?
Thanks for giving me a rudimentary understanding of this subject without making me feel stupid. I've been alive for the entirety of human space exploration, and wish to be alive for the first humans to Mars. I'm already 62, though, so I guess we'll see how that plays out.
Misterrickschannel,
I’m a retired Engineer, and 81y. Imagine my problem at living long enough to see this through.
Wonderful as always sir!
Do you know about Shri Acharya Prashant? He is a Vedanta teacher!
Check out his channel on UA-cam!
@@Hereicome. no
Poda panni
@@earumamaadu aysheri
Hi
Me, who got a B- in Chemistry: *scratches chin* Ahh that makes sense.
These prequel episodes of "The Expanse" are getting really good!
Ah I see. You're a man of culture as well
I'm not disappointed to see The Expanse reference in the comments. I need a new season so badly.
When is the Real Engineering episode on the Epstein drive?
@@kelzuya Epstein drive didn't invent itself.
@@Rathbone_fan_account did u finish season 5?
The 3D models for the Mars spaceship look gorgeous
they do!
The iss is connected to it so i think its really funny
@@joaquinvillanueva2314 oh noes they stealin iss😥
I believe is based in the Hermes spacecraft from The Martian.
@@GBA811 the hermes is just beautiful and cool
Any problem in the world: exists
Nuclear Energy: Sounds like a job for me.
At the end of the day nuclear energy is what made this universe and still to this day keeps it moving.
@@arnavsadhu Yep even the stars burn because of nuclear energy.
@@arnavsadhu Actually that's nuclear fusion energy which is different from nuclear fission. Planet are fission reactors because they are too small for fusion and stars are fusion reactors.
Same with Starship, graphene, aerogel
@@KRYMauL the point is, it's nuclear energy. The sun is a nuclear reactor. A fusion reactor. Those of us in the know , know what's what and the differences.
I love it when your videos are just pure science and not the pet theories of someone - great job!
If you love them, surely you want more science-channel, yeah?
What's not to love?
It is hard for me to comprehend how brilliant these people are!
I used to feel the same way before I went to university to get an engineering degree. I'm still no rocket scientist, but I can fathom how people are able to develop these technologies. Much is often said about the uselessness of a college degree, but I believe they are still very valuable.
@BlackholeTtson452 It would be possible, if such a project was funded. I doubt it will be, though.
@@Cyberspine, I would say it is not a question of if, but of when. It will be funded, perhaps by private corporations, but it will happen, baring a Earth shattering nuclear war.
I have no idea what this guy is talking about but it was entertaining. This is similar to my infant staring at me in awe as I talk to him about random things.
Me 2
Modern day rockets use fuel(stuff that makes most tracked or wheeled vehicles go room room), hes explaining how this won't be fast enough for us to colonize Mars. Since it may take more than 35+ years, But if we started to make new types of engines(propulsion) its not only faster but less time making it more possible for us to bring life to the planet mars.
@@sinisterisrandom8537 thanks
@vladimir putin is andrei panin jfk is jimmy carter can't even tell if your joking or your being serious if so your an idiot.
@vladimir putin is andrei panin jfk is jimmy carter WAT
These guys do a great job. The way they explain and give references make their videos so complete. People like me need this channel. 🚀🚀🚀
Really great presentation. I keep coming back to watch this one over and over. In the near future, we'll be adding thermonuclear propulsion to the mix. What a great time to be alive.
You can explain these topics so clearly, I wish my school teacher was half as skilled as you. I haven't even studied this part of mechanics that well yet, but was still able to understand most of what you said reasonably well.
*Me acting like I perfectly understand what's going on but I'm actually a bumbling idiot*
monke
just play KSP, you'd be surprised how much you can learn from it (although fuel storage isn't a real problem in the game)...
Go play some Kerbal Space Program, thatll teach you! :D
(also its one of the best games ever made and everyone should give it a try)
edi: I legitimately didnt see someone else said the same xD
It really isn’t that complicated, nuclear energy makes spaceship go fast. Get it now?
@@thatbuckmulligan do physics in highschool and algebra in maths,you will understand
13:20 problem with Helium is that until we literally start mining gas giants it is far to precious to use in such applicatons, as opposed to commonplace hydrogen.
There is Helium on the moon and a lot of it is Helium 3, fusion reactor fuel.
@@MichaelClark-uw7ex How much of He-3 exists on mars?
@Andre Hpunkt The moon is not hollow, it is made if light silicates, aka rock, not much metal.
It would be pretty tough to wreck a 2100 mile diameter rock ball.
@@pranavkondapalli9306 Not much, less than the moon, it would be easier to skip Mars and just skim it from the upper atmosphere of Jupiter.
Dosen't the moon have a large amount of helium deposits?
Was hoping to see some discussion on Nuclear Explosion Drives, where a small fission reaction explosion is the source of the thrust. Pretty interesting if not exceptionally challenging.
How would that work? you need to eject a lot of mass to create thrust. There is no enough uranium to simply explode and shoot out. Also won't it spread radioactive waste?
@@Ghost_of_Gaby Details, Details...
@@Ghost_of_Gaby It was called Project Orion, and it was cancelled in the 1960s for your reasons and every other reason you can think of. It was a fantastically horrible idea, done before the stronium-90 tooth surveys.
Hohmann Transfer is not the fastest way, BUT the one with minimum energy requirements.
In this context it is since the alternative could take years instead of months to travel
These missions captured my imagination as a kid. Now I have 7 interplanetary mission under the belt. You just gotta go for it.
@JD Russell You mean project Starshot?
@JD Russell Do you have slightest idea how massive Deimos is?
Also right now we have 0 space mining tech.
@@ImieNazwiskoOK Ya it'd way more realistic to just try and construct a rotating habitat in Earth orbit and fly it to mars.
@@lurkag2672 But this creates fuel problem (as shown in video)
@JD Russell What?
Fantastic content, love the humanist optimistic approach, being positive about our species. Too easy to find negative regressive attitudes from those declaring they're doing the opposite.
Hats off to the explanation!, All the complicated concepts in such simple explanation is an work of art... Seriously impressed by the explanation, Keep doing this...
How do you put out so high quality content in just 2 weeks!? I love these videos, they are so informative but still interesting. Keep up the great work!
It’s more like a month. While the video is in production I’m writing the next one.
Many of the more educational oriented channels have insane video output, kinda making me jealous about their work ethics ^^
@@RealEngineering I read this with your voice in my mind.
I’m blown away from the quality of this video... hats off to you Irish sir !
Dumbing down rocket science to the point where a simple guy like me can understand it is a feat on its own !
Stayed 1 year indoors, can definitely handle that trip.
Ok enough inspiration for today, now back to circuits analysis.
You know the videos are good when your engineering teacher recommends them to you
Is UA-cam your engineering teacher?
Ya - you wanna believe everything your Teacher says. You were taught by Teachers - who were taught by Teachers - who were taught by Teachers - who were taught by Teachers - who were taught by Teachers - who were taught by Teachers - who were taught by Teachers - who were all taught what and what not to Teach you.
@@altheeathoone that’s the beauty of language and education baby!
u are the Apix preadator? our would is o fire, that is why they have wars?
"Nuclear spacecraft."
Ah he's gonna talk about Orion.
"Nuclear-powered ion drive."
I have underestimated you once again, good sir.
Orion: Still worth talking about.
Explain, how anything can break, navigate or steer in a Vacuum. Likewise, explain how the air we breath, is not escaping into said Vacuum. Please, don't spit out the 'Theory Of Gravity', clues in the title, never been proven & only exists in Mathemagics, a non Science 'Abstract'. A Language manipulated to suit their ends. Deal with Objective Reality, use your senses. No rotation, no earth curve & no water bending around a rock, you do not live on the exterior of a Space rock. Grow up 'Condemnation without investigation, is the height of ignorance.
@@uppercut2246 “Explain, how anything can break, navigate, or steer in a Vacuum.” Well, breaking is quite easy. A few explosives here and there and boom. However, I assume you actually meant to say braking, as one would brake a car. Now, spacecraft in Earth’s orbit never really stop moving, as orbiting is essentially falling, except you are moving sideways fast enough to miss the ground. However, they can certainly slow down, and they generally do this by turning around so that the fiery end of the thrusters is pointed at the direction they are moving in, and then turning on the thrusters, accelerating propellent backwards and producing an equal and opposite reaction that pushes them forwards, in this case slowing them down. As far as navigation goes, it’s mostly just a lot of math to calculate how much and when you need to accelerate in what direction to catch up with any given object at some given time, and then waiting for that exact moment and accelerating by that exact amount. Steering in space is relatively simple. On Earth, an aircraft would tilt its control surfaces, using the flow of air to push the aircraft. However, there is no air in space, so instead spacecraft typically use small thrusters located in various positions around the craft to turn and stop turning. They’re called reaction control systems, look them up, they’re semi interesting.
“Likewise, explain how the air we breath, is not escaping into said Vacuum.” Actually, it is escaping into the vacuum. According to phys.org, along with many, many organizations of all shapes and sizes, “Every day, around 90 tonnes of material escapes from our planet’s upper atmosphere and streams off into space.” Of course, your question would then likely shift to “Why isn’t all of it escaping?” I would then answer that question with gravity. Yes, shock, horror, I have listed a theory as evidence! Evidently, you do not know the meaning of a scientific theory, given your comment following immediately after the air escaping one. I believe the word you are looking for when describing something that is entirely hypothetical is, well, a hypothesis. However, the theory of gravity is a scientific theory, and, according to dictionary.com, a scientific theory is “a coherent group of propositions formulated to explain a group of facts or phenomena in the natural world and repeatedly confirmed through experiment or observation.” As such, I feel it acceptable to bring forth the idea that perhaps an entire planet the size of Earth would have a rather large amount of mass, and therefore a sizable gravity well, strong enough to keep most, but not all, of the various gases surrounding it close to it.
However, I am listing all of these explanations with disregard to the fact that you seem disinterested in actual facts and science, as you soon declare that “Mathemagics, a non Science ‘Abstract’” is “A Language manipulated to suit their ends. Deal with Objective Reality, use your senses. No rotation, no earth curve % no water bending around a rock, you do not live on the exterior of a Space rock. Grow up ‘condemnation without investigation, is the height of ignorance.’” Shockingly, the flat Earther who proclaims that all should use objective truths and their senses, condemning all their enemies for “Condemnation without investigation”, believes that math, or as you call it “Mathemagics”, is some part of a conspiracy, hand crafted by some mysteriously powerful yet strangely incompetent They. It is also equally shocking that he believes that our senses contradict the Earth’s curvature, when really they only serve to prove it. For instance, were I to stand on the top of a nearby mountain, and then plant a decent telescope upon it, I would not be able to see the skyline of New York or Los Angeles, and most certainly would not see Beijing or Moscow. However, were I to visit the ports of one of the former and watch the ships by the horizon with said sufficiently powerful telescope, I would see that as they go over the horizon they would disappear bottom up, and vice versa, almost as if we were both on a curved surface, and now the surface of that spheroid was obstructing my view.
@@uppercut2246 I love you people you ask a question and then you say don’t answer with the answer your quite idiotic and ignorant you think that you are so intelligent when people who spent their whole life studying, confirming, and finding new results are wrong. Maybe you should stop being ignorant so legitimate tests yourself understand the mathematics and science behind these things and then you can start acting smart
I prefer nuclear weapons powered spacecraft
Thank you for explaining how and why things are the way they are because most science videos just give a very dimmed-down explanation that I am never fully satisfied with.
Yes it can, I confirmed this in Kerbal Space Program 😁😁
You mean only with mods.
In vanilla it takes you to Duna
@@ilikeyourname4807 use RSS+RO then
@@ilikeyourname4807 haha you got me there, duna it was
Can't wait until KSP 2 is released
@@martiddy me toooooo. I think about it a lot
Only 20 seconds in and already blown away by the graphics in this one
Literally just started thinking about ideal non-chemical space propulsion methods these past few weeks, great timing to whet my mental appetite, and with such superb detail and panache. Another great video 👍
Minor correction: Radiation is not the means of dispersing heat in space. Ablation can also be used, although you'd need an impractical amount of ablative for the purpose you're talking about.
Please do more engineering videos about space, your work is amazing!
Many cover Space. Wnat to know some names of youtubers?
@@nenmaster5218 i would like to know some
@@spinodino9563 Cool.
@@spinodino9563 Sci Show, Sci Man Dan, Veritasium, Professor Dave, Hbomberguy, i know many.
Say if you want more and/or something specific.
Is that Spaceship a original creation? If yes damn you definatly nailed that!
I thought it looked a lot like how the Hermes from The Martian is portrayed in the film. At least the back half does.
@@kerbalaerospacelabs3445 The front is literally the ISS sideways.
@@kerbalaerospacelabs3445 so far I have only read the book. Is the movie good aswell?
@@birbstrike2085 its one of THe best space movie you should definitely watch it...
It's a kit bash with a few real and a few fake ships.
Subject Zero Science uploaded a video on exactly the same topic too today.
Both videos are phenomenal!
I'm in love with this channel. It's so easy to understand and encourage to learn more
Thank you so much
Love your videos I gain so much knowledge and I appreciate your work
you explain these confusing topics with such simplicity and accuracy. thanks so much great video
I like how the mars vehicle shown is literally just a Martian Hermes attached to the end of the ISS
for the ion only approach: why not just take longer to perform the capture burn? slowing down before reaching Mars such that you *can* capture?
Surprised you didn’t talk about it here, but if you throw out the assumption that your nuclear core has to stay in the solid form, you can get specific impulses of up to 7000s with thrust to weight ratios of 1-5.
Recently did a presentation on this at an AIAA conference for anyone who’s interested: ua-cam.com/video/eRDyRg-Bdos/v-deo.html
Even then you could have a nuclear salt water rocket the god of nuclear engines for its high trust and exuast velosities up to 1% the speed of light. More efficient but with less thrust is the dusty plasma fission fragment engine or reactor. This can have exaust velocities of up to 5% the speed of light.
For fision fragment reactor
www.researchgate.net/publication/228875834_Dusty_Plasma_Based_Fission_Fragment_Nuclear_Reactor
For nuclear salt water rocket
www.researchgate.net/publication/265934300_NUCLEAR_SALT_WATER_ROCKETS_HIGH_THRUST_AT_10000_SEC_ISP
Wikipedia articles may have more information than these articles and have beter diagrams.
@@SpaceMan776 adding to this there’s a lot of interesting work on these concepts being done at NASA’s yearly NIAC conference. If you’re looking for when sci fi propulsion technology becomes reality, I’d place good money it comes from that funding initiative.
@@SpaceMan776 and of course, you can always blow up small nuclear warheads behind your craft for maximum Isp, but I’m not sure if that’s ITAR approved (or even politically feasible).
@@colinwarn4606 I'm pretty sure ITAR would be fine with that seeing as how there's radiation in space anyway.
@@KRYMauL yeah but that’s putting out that much radiation for propulsion plus if we do it often would lead to problems no matter how cool it would be 😔
hey can you make a video discussing the Northrop YF-23 prototype and explain why till this day people think it was the better than the F-22
The F-23 was faster, has a radical look, and with its complex thrust vectoring just as maneuverable.
I like the F-23 because as a teenager I correctly concluded that the wing shape would reduce drag over that of a conventional swept wing and drew fighter jets with it and would have preferred the F-23 to win but have to admit that the thrust vectoring system probably would not have made it past the cost cutters.
I always see a Brilliant sponsorship coming, and I'm never disappointed to see one
Hi, I really like your proposals for propulsion. My experience was pwr. I often look back on the simplicity of the designs that made them safe. This is a new generation and I hope you have success... I'm gonna stay here on Terra Firma though.
LOVE THE NEW 3D MODELLING!
I remember hearing of VASIMR (a type of ion engine) with a game-changing mission profile: a 42-day trip to Mars, 6 weeks on the surface, and 6 weeks return to Earth. The entire mission can be completed with both Earth and Mars on the same side of the sun. If nuclear can achieve this 6-week trip time, it becomes feasible the same way. VASIMR hasn't proved out, so we may need the nuclear engine to pull off the mission.
VASIMR works, we just need an energy source. That would be a fission electric generator with today's tech.
@@TheNavalAviator Thanks, I also figured we'll need a fission reactor. Next would be what size, the power plant would not only have to supply the engines, a significant draw of electricity would go to the magnetic shield. The reactor would have to be launched as a separate module due to its weight, so our mars-bound ships would have to be assembled in orbit.
@@dtvjho The ambition was to do do away with the NTR and use only a VASIMR as propulsion for everything but you'll never get the same thrust-to-mass-ratio with a nuclear electric VASIMR system.
@@TheNavalAviator VASIMR does “work” but it still has some issues in the way preventing it from reaching its originally envisioned potential. Right now they’re not really all that practically different from ion thrust-wise (thrust is much more but not so much that it’d make a big difference) and efficiency is quite a bit less.
I have watched this channel from the start, literally from its first video. I even remember you replying to one of my comments a long time ago :). It's lovely to see how much this channel has grown and how much your videos inspire me. Your videos get better every single day. Keep up the great work!
Great job on the video you didn't only show the pros of the nuclear propulsion engines but also the cons which gave me a very good perspective on the situation.
Love this.
at 7:54 he says “millions upon millions of molecules” like it’s a lot. When in reality it is literally next to nothing!
Wat's mean?
It means a million molecules is so tiny it would be hard to even measure. To give some scale there are ~1.5 sextillion molecules in a drop of water. (That’s 1,500,000,000,000,000,000,000 molecules)
In book Mission Saturn, they cooled reactor core by transfering the heat into molten metal. After that they started releasing metal in thin rolls into space to radiate heat away and catch it after all heat was released
liquid metal cooling system could also be conductive so moving it through magnets will create a charge that you can run your hair dryer with, or whatever blows your hair back
I will watch this seven times, so I digest 70% of its meaning.
I like that faster transfer times to Mars efforts are going to make the moon seem just around the corner. Lunar settlement just makes so much more sense. Even an extinction event like an asteroid strike are 1. More easily fought from the moon. 2. Earth more easily repopulated from the moon than from mars. 3. We won't feel so psychologically abandoned being able to see the earth from the moon & vice versa.
Nice Kerbal Space Program: Interstellar Tutorial!
You should check out the Tintin comic *Destination Moon,* it imagined what a moon mission would look like before the real moon mission happened in real life, and has some neat engineering in it.
I remember now
Do you know about Shri Acharya Prashant? He is a Vedanta teacher!!
@@Hereicome. @Ayush Sinha I'd rather not, either this is some bot or just another account that person is using to advertise their channel, spamming replies is rather annoying and will make people dislike that channel even more.
This message will now repeat.
I was about to quote this comic. Of course, We'll need this tournesolite matter to build the engine next.. Maybe the JPL should contact Sydalvian space agency..
Yes, my kids are reading this at the moment. The rocket is nuclear-powered, and accelerates at 1G towards the moon, turns around halfway and decelerates at 1G the rest of the way. It's a neat idea that lets the crew enjoy earthlike ”gravity” but I imagine the ship's speed would be pretty ridiculous halfway along. A ship able to achieve thrust over a long period of time (subject to supplies of Xenon, I guess) would be able to jump between planets quickly because of high average velocities.
Could you do a video on the specific impulse and feasibility of spacecraft powered by small-scale nuclear explosions like the ones proposed and tested in project Orion? They seem to be able to provide amazing specific impulse and thrust at the same time.
Literally nothing could go wrong by scattering radioactive waste into orbit around the sun ;)
@@ThomasBomb45 well the sun does it and no one asked him to stop!
@@thesteaksaignant Sun does fusion, every nuclear bomb we do uses fission. Our hydrogen bombs use fission to initiate fusion. So all nuclear bombs we have use radioactive elements and create radioactive fallout
@@ThomasBomb45
Okay, maybe you misunderstood my point
what is radioactive fallout? Something that emits harmful radiations
What does the sun emits? A shitton of harmful radiations.
That's all I was saying
@@thesteaksaignant oh I see. Cosmic rays?
Great video. I've always wanted to put myself on a learning path to better understand these questions, so took you up on the Brilliant offer. :)
i was expecting this to be a colab with subject zero both of you posted nuclear rocket videos today
Great video. Gives a very good bird's eye view of the problem of propulsion in space. I like the hybrid ion/ntr idea. Assuming the long-term hydrogen storage problem can be solved, how long would a non-gravity assisted flight that would go into orbit around Sedna take using such an ion/ntr hybrid? Assume a payload mass of ~1,000 kg. I'd love to see a calculation of a mission like that. Mars is not the only game it town.
Woah, that's a really cool thumbnail! kudos to you man, great content!
Do you know about Shri Acharya Prashant? He is a Vedanta teacher!!
Check out his English channel!
@@Hereicome. I'd rather not, either this is some bot or just another account that person is using to advertise their channel, spamming replies is rather annoying and will make people dislike that channel even more.
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If there's one thing I've learnt about modern rocket development is that you really don't know till you try. It would be great if there was more funding for ideas like this
I think what the world lacks is IDEAS
Not money
People need cheap and original ideas.
What a great video! Thanks so much for this.
I love how you explain and illustrate in easily understandable terms, and show the actual equations involved with these complex issues!
So very nicely done! Thanks so much for this!!
“How does it feel to be on the most badass shuttle to ever grace this gods green earth”
Roger that Ed
It feels, animated. So fake it must be real. 🤦♂️ grasshoppers 🍆
@@johnvanderv.4219 you're a clown
Your animations are absolutely amazing, I can’t even describe it with words like, gorgeous or beautiful! Amazing work man!
That's why I keep coming back here!
its insane how far we humans have come. we were never suppost to be like this, but im glad we are, we are exploring SPACE, we are sending humans and robots out in space. its scary thinking how big the universe is and how we might be alone. but i hope i live to the day the first humans step foot on mars.
I've always wanted to go to "Meehrs", seems like a cool planet.
Ah yes. That's the next planet out in Kilkenny Space Programme.
This video is amazing.
I learned a lot from it.
Thank you very much!
Congrats with 3 mill :)
I just lost him after 2 minutes and had a very nice and cosy sleep of 19 minutes.
SAME
"We, as a species lieft eur meurk on Meurs" God i love his accent! :D
🤣😂😂
Awesome video bro. I would like if youtubers of my country produced videos like yours
“Dark side of the moon”
There is no dark side of the moon! Only a near and far side, both can be lit by the sun!
I hope that UA-cam analytics tells you that I've put this video in my favourite playlist
we really need to finish figuring out fusion, alot of this could be solved by that kinda power
in fact the next steps in our journey amoung the stars probably rely in fusion power
What about the nuclear salt-water engine? That’s also interesting concept.
Cool video! Although I feel you might have undersold Nuclear Thermal video a little - I get the point, since it's more about the potentials of NER, but NERVA is quite an early design that very much in the lower end of what can NTRs do (even for solid cores!). Not to mention that I feel like if we were indeed going with a nuclear thermal, it'd likely be an NTER instead of a simple NTR, as that can push the exhaust velocities much further into the 10+km/s range, or even NERVA-like performance using more easily storeable propellants.
Timberwind was supposed to be a lot better than the OG NERVA designs. What a shame we never built it.
I will have to look into this sight! Normally I struggle to understand a lot of this but I LOVE learning about it all! Thanks for this my dude! Truly thank you!
Hey Brian,
I had always wondered why we didn’t have nuclear propelled rockets as well since I work as a nuclear operator and see the huge benefits of a long lasting fuel for space exploration. But working in the industry for a few years now and seeing how the US designs and operates its reactors, I don’t think this would ever be possible. I’m not going to get a whole lot into it just because what I’ve learned is technically classified, but there’s a lot of good information put out by the department of energy. Especially when it comes to material sciences, studies on brittle fracture and thermal limitations of materials if you’re interested. But the video itself was super informative and really got me thinking. Plus wasn’t boring. You made science look cool!
Science is cool!
dang gurl, you cause my positive ions to accelerate
Very nice overview! Thank you! Have you heard of russion nuclear tug "nucleon"?
Yes,finally topic of my interest.love from 🇮🇳.
Do you know about Shri Acharya Prashant? He is a Vedanta teacher!!
@@Hereicome. @Ayush Sinha I'd rather not, either this is some bot or just another account that person is using to advertise their channel, spamming replies is rather annoying and will make people dislike that channel even more.
This message will now repeat.
Thanks for the video! The Flandro dude started the most effective space exploration program in human history. Thanks!!!!
I always wondered about antimatter engines like from Star Trek since we just learned about it in physics. Have you considered doing a video on them?
@Usemilter thanks
We currently don't have the technology to make so much of antimatter required for a spacecraft
I also like your cat Johnny
The way stuff work in Star trek is technical babble it not how it will really work in real life there understand of science is more like the tip of the ice not more indepth like the expanse also the alien tech in the expanse is not explain that some tech that beyond our understanding
Problem number 1: To manufacture antimatter in current technology requires such a huge amount of money for a noticeable amount to be a fuel that it's just plain stupid
Problem number 2: Due to how big the energy stored in antimatter(when annihilating matter), to control and direct the explosion(if being used as thermal engine), or as a power generator is quite difficult, and you'll lose the coolant or whatever other matter you are using to be annihilated by antimatter
Problem number 3: Containment of antimatter, you can't use conventional method since if it touch other matter it'll just evaporate into big explosion. You need to create a perfect vacuum containment to store antimatter, and there's also problem in how you could pump out desireable amount of antimatter to use in any given time
Problem number 4: most sci-fi film could be classed as space opera, since they just use other fantasy term to cover the loophole of their science logic, so to explain it in any meaningful scientific way is, well, won't go well
wow i totally forgot how essential the planet alignments were to the gravity assist of the voyagers lmao
love yr videos thx 4 sharing
Your animations are incredible. seeing you do this is really cool
Another great video to put me to sleep, very quiet music in places, no sounds of any sort and very dull speaking with absolutely no excitement or enthusiasm. Perfect
Would a hybrid engine work, where you use incomplete combustion to generate high mass heavily charged particles (instead of pure ions, e.g. carbon-monoxide) which then can be accelerated by an ion drive/rail gun type system to generate thrust (could even thrown in an after burner step to complete the combustion if it helped...)?