Known Universe (2009) s03e07 Episode Script

Narrator: In the known universe, if you're trying to escape earth, prepare for a big bang.
We're attempting to make it to the deepest reaches of space.
By any means possible.
Sigrid: You cheated! Narrator: How far and how fast can we travel? Man: Fire.
David: That was perfect.
Narrator: What groundbreaking technologies will take us there? Sigrid: This thing is massive.
Narrator: Don't blink.
Our voyage to the edge is closer than you realize.
Our next big journey into space starts right here, with a test of the largest hydrogen fueled rocket engine in the world.
Cory: The engine will burn about 100,000 gallons.
Andy: Wow, 100,000 gallons in about 3 minutes or so? Cory: 175 seconds.
Narrator: But this is no preliminary test, no early stage research.
It will show that this powerful engine is ready to launch rockets into space right now.
And it's time to turn it on.
Radio: 3, 2, 1 mark.
Narrator: We're headed off on a mission unlike any other to escape earth, travel to every part of the solar system, study our amazing cosmic neighborhood, and finally, see just how far in space we can reach.
Andy: The solar system is a really big place.
The Voyager probes have been traveling since the 70's and are only now reaching the edges of the solar system.
David: Now, that's very large, but it's miniscule compared to the size of the galaxy or the universe.
It takes 8 minutes for light to get from the sun to the Earth, but it takes 100,000 years for light to go across just our galaxy.
The next nearest full galaxy is the Andromeda galaxy, and that's two and a half million light years away.
Narrator: So where does this journey begin? Before testing a rocket engine, we need to check out our fuel options, and there's a lot to choose from.
So how do we know what makes the best fuels? Theoretical physicist David Kaplan and mechanical engineer and astronaut Mike Massimino are ready to test a few recipes with dueling cannons set up by scientist Steve Jacobs.
Steve: Do you recognize what these are? Mike: Giant salami holders.
Steve: They could be, but they're actually rocket fuel test cannons.
Now, I have two cannons.
I have a liquid fuel cannon and a solid fuel cannon.
We're gonna use some gasoline because it's a very common fuel.
Mike: We use that all the time.
Steve: And then here we're gonna use black powder.
We're gonna use some flash powder, which I like.
It's used in fireworks today.
Narrator: A high-speed camera will capture the cannon shots as they travel in front of this backdrop.
Each stripe is one foot wide, making it easy to calculate the speed for every firing.
A pane of glass at the end is the finish line, but there's one last step.
David: So where am I gonna be? Steve: You're gonna be on the hill.
What you have to do is watch where the ball impacts the hill, then put a flag down where it rolls up and see.
David: Then we can figure out how high it goes up? Steve: Absolutely.
David: So the reason I'm putting flags on the hill is actually the faster it's going, the farther it'll roll up the hill.
That's kinetic energy turning into potential energy.
Narrator: For this battle, each fuel has its own strengths.
Solid fuels, like the powders, are more stable, while liquid fuels can be turned on and off for variable thrust.
But which holds the most power? David is staying safely out of the line of fire.
David: Should we use the walkie talkie? Narrator: But he'll be ready to mark the final distance when the cannonballs reach the hill.
Mike: Alright, Jake, so what fuel are we gonna use first? Steve: We're gonna use black powder.
Mike: We've got the gun powder, we've got the fuse, we've got the cannonball.
Steve: They're all in there.
David: They're having a great time and I'm here on the hill, holding some flags.
Steve: The magic button.
Don't touch it.
Mike: Magic button.
Steve: And I've got right here the safety switch.
I'm gonna flip this and arm it.
Red light's on.
We're armed.
Mike: 3, 2, 1.
David: I don't think this is gonna work.
Mike: What's Dave doing way over there? David: Wow! I got it.
Mike: We're closer to it than he is.
Narrator: The first fuel gunpowder carried a pretty hefty bang.
But the next solid fuel flash powder could blow it away.
It's used in today's pyrotechnics.
Steve: Now, flash powder burns at a different rate than black powder and it has a different fuel and different oxidizer.
So we're just gonna see if it's the same as black powder or more or less.
Are you ready up on the hill? David: Ready on the hill.
Mike: I think you just woke him up.
You're not sleeping up there, are you? David: Well, what else am I gonna do? Mike: 3, 2, 1 fire! Steve: Wow, look at it.
Look at it.
David: Holy (bleep)! Basically, all that kinetic energy got transferred into potential and it fought gravity.
It almost cleared the hill, basically.
Narrator: A bigger blast and longer distance.
The flash powder could be the one to beat.
But how will the liquid fuel fare? Mike: Alright, Jake, those were our two solid fuels, and now it's time to move onto the liquid fuels.
Steve: Getting excited? Mike: Yes, these are getting better each time.
Narrator: For the third and final test, Mike and Steve will be using gasoline as their fuel.
Steve: This is #3.
Be ready.
Mike: Wake up.
Steve: Armed.
Mike: 3, 2, 1 liftoff! Steve: You hit the tree, man.
You hit the tree.
Mike: We hit the tree? David: Oh, man, it hit the tree.
Mike: Do we get points for that? Narrator: Since the final shot hit the tree, David can't mark where the cannonball would have landed or measure how far it traveled.
David: Well, we can't do that measurement.
Narrator: The only way to know which shot had the most power now is for David to crunch the numbers.
David: Now we have the high-speed footage, so we can actually do a calculation and figure out which cannonball was going the fastest and which fuel packs the most punch.
And, uh, hopefully that's the reason they brought me here.
Delta that's the time.
Mike: David is calculating right now.
If you were here, you would smell the smoke.
It's coming out of his ear.
It's David thinking right now as he's going over these numbers and calculating.
David: That's how many feet per second, and then we'll convert it to miles how many miles a second.
Yes! Mike: What did you find out, professor? David: Well, uh, okay, what was the first one? Steve: Black powder.
David: 205 feet per second, or 139 miles an hour.
Mike: Pretty fast.
David: That was fast.
Alright, what was #2? Steve: Remember? Flash powder.
Mike: Flash powder.
David: Flash powder.
142 miles an hour.
Mike: Okay.
David: Okay, last one.
What was the last one? Mike: That was gasoline.
David: Gasoline.
Mike: That was very powerful.
David: 222 feet per second, which was 151 miles an hour.
So the winner is.
Steve: Gasoline, liquid fuels.
David: Gasoline.
Narrator: While it was close, the gasoline, a liquid fuel, won the day.
And this demonstrates a general rule of rocket science liquid fuels usually have the most bang for their buck.
This is because molecules in liquid are free to move around, while molecules in a solid are fixed in place.
David: What we saw was gasoline contains more energy per volume than these other fuels.
But to get into space, we're gonna need something a lot more powerful.
Narrator: Currently, NASA's most reliable choice for power is the potent mix of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen.
The two are combined, then ignited to produce a massive blast that propels huge rockets like the Delta 4, used to launch satellites into orbit.
But you don't just need fuel for a rocket, you need an engine.
And at the NASA Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne is about to perform a final test for the largest hydrogen powered engine in the world.
And astronomer Andy Howell is getting special authorization to get up close.
Andy: There's a lot of rocket engines here.
This is pretty impressive.
What's this one? Steve: This is the RS68 engine.
This is the booster propulsion for the Delta 4 launch vehicle.
This engine is about 17 feet tall and it weighs around 15,000 pounds, and it's the same kind of engine that you'll see tested today.
Andy: The stakes are high here.
These are basically controlled explosions.
Steve: We don't even like to use the word explosion in our vocabulary when we're in the launch process, failure's not an option.
Andy: This place is amazing.
Steve: What do you say we go see a test? Andy: Let's do it.
Narrator: For security and safety reasons, Andy will be watching from one of Stennis' viewing platforms.
Andy: So what's the purpose of the test today? Dan: We're preparing for an R68 rocket engine test.
And what we do after we build the engine, it comes out here to the test stand.
And so this is the final verification that it was built correctly, so when it flies it's ready to go.
Narrator: And speaking of ready to go, this rocket engine is about to take it's final exam.
Radio: 3, 2, 1 mark! Narrator: To find the peak technology that will let us escape earth, we started by looking at some of the best fuels and engines in use today.
And at NASA's Stennis Space Center, one rocket engine test has Andy eager to see this power in action.
Radio: 3, 2, 1 mark! Andy: Now that is spectacular.
Dan: It's what it's all about.
Andy: You can get so much closer than at a launch.
Dan: You see it, you feel it, you hear it.
Andy: Yeah, that is just incredible.
Dan: And it's always something to come out and see one.
Andy: So I saw a big orange glow and then the plumes sort of shot out to the side.
Dan: What you're seeing with the flame was the liquid hydrogen and the liquid oxygen igniting.
All of the steam that you're seeing was we're pumping 26,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and about 68,000 gallons of liquid hydrogen.
Andy: Amazing that making water can send you to space.
Dan: Exactly.
Andy: It just blows my mind.
Narrator: This potent fuel and a powerful engine are the key components for some of the premiere rockets getting us into space today.
But all this power comes with a hefty pricetag, and it multiplies every time we launch a rocket.
Andy: Right now, getting to space is expensive, it's dangerous, it takes a lot of money.
Narrator: But what if there was a better option? Andy: With a space elevator, everything is cheaper, easier, uh, more reliable, and that could really revolutionize space.
Narrator: That's right a space elevator, which would allow for frequent round trips that could be up to 100 times cheaper than launching a rocket.
It all starts with the elevator cable, lowered from a ship orbiting earth.
It stretches over 20,000 miles long and connects to a docking station in the middle of the ocean.
Once attached, the cable is ready for the elevator itself.
This module will literally climb the cable, powered the entire way by a beam of laser light.
The elevator could ferry building materials, supplies, and people from an earth station to a space station.
David: It costs a lot to get things into space because you expend an enormous amount of fuel to get there.
If you had a space elevator if you could actually construct one of these things it would help economically to move things into space.
Narrator: But if we want to open this enormous gateway to space and put rocket launchers on the back burner, we need a big upgrade in technology.
And Sigrid Close is about to find out this concept isn't a fantasy.
At Laser Motive in Seattle, Washington, they've already built a prototype.
David B.
: This is Otis.
Otis is autonomous robotic vehicle.
So this is the world's first space elevator.
Well, this is the receiver for the light energy that we produce from the laser.
This takes the photons and we take that energy and we bring it up to a solar panels do for homes, except instead of sunlight, it turns laser light into electricity.
David B.
: We transfer that energy into a set of wheels.
These are inline skate wheels.
Sigrid: You use skate wheels? David B.
: This is a two-wheel drive to grip the steel cable that we climb.
Narrator: This prototype would work the same way as the space elevator, sending this platform up a cable.
And this version is so good at it, it won a prize from NASA in 2009.
Sigrid: So, Dave, I would love to actually see Otis climb.
David B.
: We can put Otis on the treadmill and run it with a laser.
Sigrid: Alright, let's do it.
David B.
: Okay.
Sigrid: Okay, Dave, can you explain this setup? David B.
: Because we can't hang Otis from something a kilometer high and do testing, we fix Otis in a position and we drive the cable through it.
Sigrid: So we're going to simulate what it's like if it were to be climbing up a space elevator? David B.
: That is correct.
Sigrid: I would love to see this.
David B.
: Let's go see.
Sigrid: Okay.
We're going to make Otis move up on a space elevator.
The laser is unbelievably powerful.
It has about the power of a million laser pointers.
And we're going to fog up the room so that we can really see where the lasers are pointing.
So Dave, we have an incredible amount of haze in this room.
Are we finally ready to fire up this laser? David B.
: I think we are.
Just push that lever up.
Sigrid: I get to do it? David B.
: You get to launch it, you bet.
Sigrid: Okay, great.
David B.
: You're all set.
We'll get the house lights off, please.
And lasers on, please.
Go ahead.
Sigrid: Okay.
David B.
: There you go.
Sigrid: He's climbing.
So how fast is Otis moving? David B: About 11 miles an hour, straight up.
Otis is a good robot.
Narrator: In this simulation, if Otis were a real elevator, he would have opened his doors more than twice as high as the empire state building.
But even though our elevator's power source is well on its way to becoming a reality, what will it be climbing? At over 20,000 miles in length, its cable is going to have to be more durable than anything around.
Andy: One of the hard parts about constructing a space elevator is that you've got to get incredibly strong material.
And, uh, until recently, people thought it was just kind of science fiction.
Narrator: But one emerging technology is turning science fiction into science fact: carbon nanotubes.
And at the University of Texas at Dallas, David Kaplan is seeing how a little of their magic can go a long way.
David: I am levitating this boot.
Okay, I'm not levitating the boot.
I am actually holding the boot up using a fiber a yarn created from carbon Nanotubes.
Narrator: Nanotubes are actually carbon atoms that accumulate and begin growing taller.
But to make them the right way, you need a very specific recipe.
David: So what are we cooking today? Raquel: We're cooking our Nanotubes.
David: So how do you cook Nanotubes? Raquel: In our case, we use iron.
We introduce it into our furnace and then we introduce the type of carbon gas.
David: Ah, so there's a gas of carbon in there.
Raquel: Right.
David: And it somehow attaches to the iron? Raquel: Yes, because of the high temperature, our smooth surface is gonna turn into little seeds.
David: And then you grow these tubes from those seeds? Raquel: Eventually, they will grow into a tube like.
David: Like a real tree? Raquel: Like a real tree.
And then we have so many of them, it just looks like a forest.
David: Wow, that really is a forest.
So the carbon nanotubes are small, but if you think about the width of the nanotube, 20 nanometers, which is roughly 100 or so atoms.
Compare that to the actual length they can get in these labs, which is about a millimeter.
That comparison is like a tree which grows to be a mile tall.
Alright, you said we can play with this stuff? Raquel: Yes.
David: Wow.
So when I pulled that material off the wafer, I got this very airy looking floaty material, which was very beautiful, but hard to manage.
It's lighter than air, but pound for pound, it's stronger than steel? Raquel: Yes.
David: This is not a very useful form.
We now want to get that material into a manageable state.
Narrator: That's the challenge currently being tackled.
Individual nanotubes are incredibly strong on a small scale, but for the size of an elevator cable, they're not strong enough yet.
David: What we're seeing here now is that the forest has been attached to this basic printer, and the idea is that if you can make large objects out of this incredibly dense and strong material, you could perhaps build something as crazy as a space elevator.
But this would be the jumping off point.
Sigrid: Once it's actually constructed, we could be sending up objects into orbit all the time.
It would be very advantageous if we had something like that.
Narrator: Having a permanent docking hub in space would extend our reach into the cosmos and prove very beneficial to going even deeper.
But to do that, we have to connect this station to others further out in space, and that requires mastering a technique so sensitive that getting it wrong can destroy everything we've built in seconds.
space than ever before has found powerful and efficient ways to get us off of earth.
But this expedition is just beginning, and there's a harsh reality ahead.
Reaching our destination is going to be no stroll through the solar system.
David: The next station we have to deal with is docking the spacecraft with other spacecraft out there.
You have two very heavy bodies that are moving potentially very fast and you need to land them into each other without crashing.
Narrator: Docking may look like a slow easy process.
Astronaut 1: Initiating docking sequence.
Astronaut 2: Target acquired.
Narrator: But any craft connecting to a space station is a dangerous scenario.
Astronaut 1: 10 feet and closing.
Astronaut 2: It seems a little fast.
Did you read the target correctly? Astronaut 1: Not sure.
3 feet and closing .
14.
Breaking pulse now.
Astronaut 2: Way too fast.
More breaking.
4 inches, 2 inches.
Narrator: It looks like just a bump, but the spacecraft and station could end up depressurized and critically damaged.
Mike: The only way to avoid a collision in space is to practice.
Make sure you know what you're doing so that bad thing doesn't happen on the big day.
Narrator: At NASA's Johnson Space Center, astronauts are trained to dock the space shuttle with the International Space Station in a one-of-a-kind dome simulator.
And now astronaut Mike Massimino is going to see if David Kaplan is up for the task.
David: So how do I do this? Mike: Okay, you're gonna be, uh, working that hand control that square, the translational hand controller.
David: This thing? Okay.
Mike: You push it in, it's gonna make you go faster.
Pulling it out is gonna slow you down.
Left, right, go to the right, up and down, and you do that by trying to fly that crosshair that green crosshair right into the center of the target that's located on the station.
You look skeptical.
Are you alright? David: I'm ready.
It seems a little I mean, it's gotta be very expensive.
Mike: It is very expensive and you've got, it's international, so you can get the whole world mad at you.
Narrator: At nearly $100 billion, there's a lot of cash invested in the ISS.
And at $1.
7 billion, the space shuttle's not cheap, either.
And that's not even mentioning the lives of around a dozen crew members at stake, also.
Mike: Okay, what we're gonna do is we're gonna start out at about 30 feet or so, and I'm gonna be telling you how fast you're going and, uh, how far we are away.
When you're down at 2 inches, you're gonna hit that button.
David: At 2 inches? Mike: 2 inches away, and it's gonna fire some extra thrusters, which is gonna give you an extra kick and pop you right into the grip of the station to lock us in.
Simple, isn't it? David: Well, we'll see.
Mike: Let's see what happens.
You ready? David: I'm ready.
Mike: Because we're moving in, as long as you hit the gas.
David: Hit the oh, hit the gas.
Mike: There you go.
David: I think my son can do this better than me.
Mike: Alright, you're 16 feet .
11, I know my son can do it better.
David: I went the wrong way.
Mike: Don't do that.
The space station's right ahead.
Now's a good time to say your prayers.
David: Say my prayers? Are we gonna hit that thing? Mike: I hope so, but not too hard.
Just hard enough.
Narrator: Though David's guiding the shuttle in towards the space station at just inches per second, separately both are travelling at more than 17,000 miles per hour in orbit.
It's a lot like trying to park your car driving 80 miles per hour, if your parking spot was also moving at 80 miles per hour.
David: It's almost there.
Mike: Almost.
3 feet, .
09.
Don't get too nervous.
David: I'm not near.
Stop yelling at me.
Mike: Be cool on that stick.
David: Oh, we're off a little bit here.
Mike: Make sure you've got to be aligned.
David: I'm trying, I'm trying.
Mike: 2 feet, .
08.
Alright, 2 feet, .
11.
Narrator: At this point, the entire rendezvous and docking process would have been going on for around 45 hours, and it all comes down to this final moment.
David: When do I push the button? Mike: At 2 inches.
David: 2 inches? Mike: Don't push the button yet.
One foot.
Getting close.
David: Okay.
Mike: .
05, slowing down a bit.
There's 6 inches.
2 inches? Hit it! Oh, very nice.
Well done.
Looks like you got it.
David: Holy cow.
Mike: Nicely done.
David: Alright, we docked.
Now what? Mike: So now we, uh, latch everything down, make sure we get a good seal, open up the hatch, and go say hello, see who's on the other side.
David: We float in.
Wow, space is cool.
Mike: Space is very cool.
Tricky thing with docking is you want everything to be right.
You want to be aligned, you want to be, uh, at the right speed, and be very, very careful.
It is kind of like a controlled crash.
Narrator: But if docking in space is like a controlled crash, trying to land on extraterrestrial soil is potentially like a high speed car wreck.
To ensure that no moon or planet is outside of our reach, our engineers are going to have to create the Lander to end all Landers.
Narrator: Racing towards deep space has provided its share of obstacles, but it turns out getting off-planet might not be as hard as getting back on.
The deeper in space we go, we will encounter all types of moons and planets that we'll want to explore, all with very different surfaces and atmospheres.
And trying to land on them comes with an entirely new set of challenges.
David: Let's say you're landing on a planet that has no atmosphere.
You can't use a parachute.
Why? Because a parachute uses air resistance.
But if there's no atmosphere, there's nothing to resist, so you would just be in freefall.
Narrator: If a probe was trying to land on an alien moon one without an atmosphere it could be in big trouble.
Its parachute never opens.
Its last hope is a series of airbags.
But with falling with this much speed, nothing will save it and the mission is a failure.
How can we avoid this crash and burn scenario? Engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama are rising to the challenge.
David: Deep in the basement.
Narrator: And David Kaplan is here to see if one of their latest solutions can stand on its own two feet.
And this is that new technology a lunar Lander that uses compressed gas to slowly lower itself to the planet's surface.
David: So you're gonna pull this thing up to the top of the net, release it, and you've got 20 feet below you to the ground, and it's gonna be in freefall until the thrusters come on? Brian: That's right.
As soon as we release it, the vehicle becomes active and it will autonomously lower itself down slowly.
David: So this thing is gonna drop from 20 feet up and while it's falling, you're gonna rotate it 90 degrees before it hits the net? Brian: Exactly right.
David: Got it.
Narrator: Directional thrusters controlled by an on-board computer release blasts of pressurized air to both steer and control the Lander's descent.
David: So do you know how much this whole thing weighs? Brian: When it's full of air, about 500 pounds.
David: 500 pounds? And the 500 pounds is gonna land like a feather? Brian: Yes.
David: Okay.
Narrator: Can compressed air really stop this 500-pound prototype from becoming a piece of space junk? David: So are we ready to go? Brian: We're just about ready to go.
David: Alright, let's do it.
Brian: Okay, Patrick, let's start the countdown.
Patrick: Okay, we're ready to fire.
Fire in 3, 2, 1, fire! David: That was perfect.
It actually fell like a feather.
Not only did it fall, but it turned itself 90 degrees and landed beautifully onto the net.
That was cool.
Narrator: But when trying to get off our planet and explore new territory, landing is just the first part of a lengthy process.
Next up will be exploring, to learn more about what makes up our lunar and planetary neighbors.
Andy: There are very exciting places that we can explore in our solar system.
Mars, for example, has these vast deserts that may once have had oceans and may once have had life.
Narrator: Two rovers, Spirit and Opportunity have explored over 20 miles of the Martian surface.
But they are extremely vulnerable to the terrain.
Spirit's mission ended when it got stuck in Martian sand.
To do more detailed exploration, we need better and more rugged vehicles.
And NASA scientist Issa Nesnas thinks one of their new creations the axle rover is just the right tool for the job.
Sigrid Close is coming along for the ride.
Issa: So this is the axle rover.
We are hoping that the potential targets for this could be the moon, as well as exploring the challenging terrain of Mars.
Sigrid: What is the definition of challenging terrain? Like, what are we talking about? How steep? Issa: Slopes like you see in the background here are very challenging for the rovers today.
Narrator: But how does a rover that looks like this get down a cliff like this? What Sigrid doesn't know is that the rover is full of tricks.
It has a secret ability that will bring challenging high risk terrain spread throughout the solar system right within our grasp.
Narrator: On our journey deeper into the cosmos, we've escaped earth, mastered docking in space.
Mike: 2 inches.
Hit it! Oh, very nice.
Narrator: And landed on planets and moons.
David: That was perfect.
Narrator: But once we reach these destinations, they won't come with paved highways or hazard signs.
To trek across these surfaces, we'll need technology that isn't easily intimidated.
And Sigrid Close is meeting what could be NASA's ace in the hole the axle rover.
Sigrid: I'm gonna put the pressure on, okay? I want to see if this rover can get to the bottom of the cliff before I do.
So he's gonna go down this way.
I'm gonna go down a different way.
See who's gonna get there first.
Issa: This is actually a pretty rough slope for it.
That's the kind of extreme terrain we designed this thing for.
So let's take the shortcut and see who wins.
Sigrid: Okay, I think it's gonna be me.
I'm gonna kick some rover butt.
Issa: Let's see.
Sigrid: Alright.
Issa: Challenge is on.
Narrator: The race is on.
But the rover is about to unleash its hidden ability.
Sigrid: So I'm reaching the turn in the path, which is also the halfway point.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to see the rover, but I'm hopeful that I'm still in front.
Clearly, the rover beat me, but it cheated.
Joel: Well, axle didn't cheat.
Axle is designed to handle these very tough terrains.
So when you saw axle up at the top of the cliff, it was in a four-wheel configuration, which is good for traveling for long distances.
But when it reaches a rough terrain, then it's supposed to split apart so this very maneuverable two-wheeled component can actually come down using the tether, the arm, and the complicated wheels to negotiate the very difficult-to-reach terrain.
Narrator: It's the ideal form of twins.
While one two-wheeled component acts like an anchor at the top, the other two-wheeler gets to travel up, down, and around wherever it can reach.
Sigrid: Joel, this is fantastic engineering.
Congratulations for beating me, but I still think you cheated.
Joel: Well, on a real mission, axle not only has to come down a complex terrain like this and do some science, it actually has to go back up, and you're welcome to try to race it to the top as well.
Sigrid: No, thank you.
Narrator: Nearby planets and moons represent ideal targets for our exploration, but if we want to set our sights further to the outer reaches of our solar system, we'll need something bigger to tackle these gargantuan distances.
Mike: You just can't say, okay, here I go, I'm on my way.
You want to launch those vehicles those rockets without burning too much fuel.
You really want to make sure that you're using all the advantages that nature can provide.
Narrator: Advantages like gravity.
David: There's a lot of moving bodies in the solar system.
Some are moving very fast.
Now, the motion actually could help you propel the spacecraft, because you can take advantage of the gravitational field around these objects and use some of that energy to propel faster.
Narrator: This maneuver is called a gravity assist, and the key to it is motion.
If a planet or moon wasn't moving in space, its gravity would speed up a spacecraft as it approached, but then slow it down as it left.
But since all planets and moons are on the move, their orbital motion can be used to send a spacecraft off on a high velocity shot that far exceeds the craft's normal pace.
Andy: A lot of people think you just gain speed by whipping around the planet, but really, you're getting the extra speed from the orbital motion of the planet.
Narrator: Channeling the mighty gravitational power of planets is a good trick, but we're going to need our own massive power source if we hope to travel the enormous distances in space.
A surprising solution is going to bring us full circle to a rocket that outdoes them all.
Narrator: Powerful rocket engines and gravity slingshots are spectacular tactics in space travel today, but there's a monumental technology out there has the potential to push us farther than ever before a rocket powered by the fourth state of matter, plasma.
Andy: Plasma is just ionized gas.
You just basically heat up gas.
I mean, this is just kind of what happens in lightning.
Get stuff hot enough and those electrons do not like to stick to the nucleus of the atom and they just zip off.
Narrator: And Sigrid Close is about to see that plasma is building the type of power that could open up space in a way we've never seen before, at the Ad Astra Rocket Company with Dr.
Leonard Cassady.
Sigrid: Okay, Leonard, here is the Vasimr VX-200.
So in a chemical rocket I could get my mind around that it's just basically an explosion.
We have been using chemical rockets for over 50 years.
So how does your rocket compare to traditional rockets.
Leonard: This is different in that we don't use a chemical reaction to produce the energy that turns into thrust.
We take the energy from an electric power source and put it into a gas, and then we accelerate it.
Narrator: So instead of creating a combustion explosion, this engine uses electricity to heat up a gas and magnets to turn that super-heated plasma into a powerful jet.
Sigrid: And the magnetic field basically makes sure it goes where you want it to go? Leonard: That's right, it guides the plasma.
Narrator: This complicated process can produce thrusts that will last longer than any of our current chemical rockets.
As the engine powers up, argon gas is fed into an ionization chamber, which turns the gas into plasma.
Normally this plasma would vaporize anything it touches, but a series of superconducting magnets hold the plasma in the center, guiding it towards the nozzle.
There, it's heated up millions of degrees and then shot out the back in a jet, creating incredible propulsion.
But before this rocket can make it into space it has to be tested here on earth in a vacuum chamber so large you could fit a school bus inside it.
Sigrid: This is a very big chamber.
Narrator: The 14-foot diameter chamber will simulate the vacuum of space, which will allow the test to make sure the engine has what it takes to succeed once off our planet.
Sigrid: Can we actually wheel it in and do the test? Leonard: Yes, we can.
Sigrid: Let's do it.
Narrator: The creator of this powerful concept is former astronaut Fanklin Chang Diaz, and if this test goes well, he's got big plans for the future.
Sigrid: How does your rocket compare with a chemical rocket, in terms of how long it would actually take to get to Mars? Franklin: Well, the Vasimr goes much faster.
Typically, we would go as fast as 39 days.
Sigrid: 39 days with your rocket? How long would a chemical rocket take? Franklin: Typically, a chemical rocket would take on the order of 7-8 months.
Sigrid: So that's less than a quarter of the time.
I could see why astronauts would be really interested in this.
Franklin: Absolutely.
I mean, we talk about destinations and you know, we're going to the stars.
Narrator: But before the rocket can go to the stars, it needs to be tested.
Max: Now hit the arm button and let everybody know that you're arming it.
Sigrid: Arming.
Max: You can go ahead and hit the pulse button.
Sigrid: Pulse.
Narrator: With just the push of a button, the rocket engine fires.
Sigrid: Oh, my gosh, that is so cool.
Narrator: Emitting a continuous jet of plasma.
Sigrid: Wow, it's blue.
Max: We've got plasma.
Blue's actually the color of, um, ionized argon, and that's what we want to be making, uh, with these shots.
So it turning blue, it shows us that we're doing it right.
Narrator: The next step for this amazing technology is an actual space test, and Chang Diaz has an agreement with NASA to bring it to the International Space Station.
If the engine is successful in those tests, suddenly the prospects of reaching Mars and beyond are very real.
Mike: We will get more efficient in navigating space as our rocket technology improves and we're able to get places more quickly.
We've progressed a long way, but it would be nice to get to that next step.
Sigrid: When I was 5 years old, i used to go outside and look up at the stars and just be completely overwhelmed with the possibilities up there.
Our species has such a history of exploration.
We're always pushing ourselves to go further.
We have to be planning for that future.
Andy: You know, there's great things out there and we need to get off of the earth and start going and finding that stuff.
Our ultimate destiny is in space.